BODY WEIGHT AND LONGEVITY

British researchers recently found a surprising fact about the link between human body weight and longevity. The British researchers found that long human life is reserved mostly for people who are slightly overweight and somewhat less for those whose body weight is calculated according to current optimal standards. S-observed that, according to statistics, slightly overweight people have a survival rate up to 6% higher than those with a weight so-so-called normal or "optimal".

Examining the causes of this phenomenon, surprising at first glance, British researchers have discovered two aspects that may explain the longevity benefits of a slight excess body weight.

The first reason is that those who are slightly heavier than the standard body weight also have greater vitality. Increased vitality is determined by the slight extra weight only as long as the being does not exceed a certain threshold of excess weight and thus does not end up facing the disadvantages that usually over-excessive corpulence brings them. Thus, researchers have found that such individuals with a small body weight in excess of the standard can successfully cope with mild imbalances, which usually require even more attention to environmental factors or a healthy lifestyle to remedy. We add to this first conclusion the observation that, according to the traditional data provided by the millenary science of Ayurveda, vitality can currently counterbalance up toto a certain degree, possible slight imbalances of vital factors (dosha), as long as the degree of disturbance of the dosha-urges does not go beyond the first phase, that of accumulation (sancaya), which is described in Ayurveda as a reversible condition.

Another reason for the advantage of having a little extra body weight for longevity is that in case of illness the body has more resources and natural reserves for natural regeneration. In Ayurveda it is known that in times of illness the body's individual vital energy potential (bala) tends to be strained and thus can become considerably diminished due to illness. The vital potential (bala) is essential in the natural healing process, so that the depletion of energy resources from the standard threshold can, under these conditions, delay natural healing, even in the case of slight imbalances for people with standard body weight. However, for those with a body weight slightly above standard the vital potential is considerably higher. British researchers have also found that inIndeed, those with a body weight that is slightly above the standard values have sufficient vital reserves to overcome such difficult periods by using these extra resources of vitality that the small excess weight gives them for natural regeneration and healing.

Therefore, based on these remarkable observations confirming some of the traditional Ayurvedic recommendations, we can further state that, according to Ayurvedic teachings, the assessment of the optimal human body weight needs to be made mainly from the perspective of the wise use of vital reserves and not only from the limited perspective of the strict assessment of body weight against a certain standard, calculated by measuring it exclusively under normal conditions. This remarkable observation by British researchers highlights the practical value of traditional Ayurvedic advice and recommendations regarding the "small healthy surplus of body weight", which is found especially in human beings with a harmonious constitutional predominance of kapha dosha or, more generally, in those who, by natural means, manage to have and maintain a body weight slightly above the value calculated according to body height.