Autobiography

It is customary to write an autobiography by reviewing the past from the earliest time possible, flashing back and reciting what went before, in chronological order. In this autobiography, I am intending to describe some aspects of myself at the present! This observation is a checkup or a review of my physical being. People usually appear to others the way they like to be perceived. Therefore, the closest person may discover ten percent of what one allows that person to grasp, even if the observer’s only engagement is to analyze the subject all day long! We, humans, are very complicated and at the same time self centered creatures. We decipher from our pet’s behavior what that animal means (interpreted to human world) by certain body language, or look, or sound, that we use as symbols. In fact, the animal learns from our reaction what meaning we decode from their particular behavior, and acts accordingly! People may do the same, by acting the way others expect them to. Sometimes, we try to meet others’ expectations only with the intension of appeasing to them. When someone is interested in another person, it becomes a task for the interested party to discover all the thoughts and attitudes and habits of the other. However, understanding others, or what is in an individual’s psyche, is very difficult.  Psychology is the science of finding out what is in one’s mind. One may try to represent himself or herself through an autobiographical account of what he or she thinks to be, rather than what he or she actually is. Only with honest records of autobiography, others who are interested can reach inside that person’s mind. Hence, putting everything on the plate, sincerely, is not such an easy task! At any rate, I am intending to disclose a few of my physical features, instead of retelling past events or representing my knowledge and thoughts.

I am over half a century old. This was the maximum age for an average person of a few centuries ago. Many famous people accomplished their ultimate goal long before reaching such an age. Emily Bronte died at age 30. Jack London and Edgar Allen Poe died at the age 40. Sadegh Hedayat ended his life at age 49. If you look through a book of biographies of people impacted civilization in one way or another, you will find many who created their masterpiece in an earlier age. On the other hand, we have people such as Khomeini (died at 86) or Stalin (died at 74) or Genghis Khan (died at 65) whom one would wish a lesser age or status for them, as they were nothing but malady to humanity. Therefore, we may end up with the cliché that quality is more important than the quantity! Quality of life is said to have a reverse relationship with age, passed the adulthood. We are also told that people learn and experiment until they reach a ripe age (say 30), and then they accomplish all they want within the next decade, before descending to a lower quality of life. However, I am in the belief that one’s quality of life keeps increasing up to the last days, except when the brain degenerates due to Alzheimer or Parkinson or other such diseases. It is also through that at the time of an ailment the function of each organ can hamper mental progression, as the thoughts are deviated to a most immediate problem, an illness. Keeping the body healthy to fend for itself, as it is well known, keeps the organs safe from the attack of many microbes, viruses, bacteria, and other small species trying to lurk into it. As the Persian expression goes: a healthy mind is in a healthy body. In addition, thinking about the function of each body part may increase the chance of keeping that part in good health, as the expression of mind over matter goes. For this reason, I started analyzing each part of my body, studying them historically as the memory cooperated, and evaluating its functions, a few of which I share with you.

It seems that we are always in the process of metamorphism. When I look at my pictures when I was an infant, and then when my age was only a single digit, and compare those with the pictures of my teens, youths, adulthood, and middle age, it is as if looking at different individuals. No one but myself can distinguish whom those pictures belong to. A few months ago, my cousin sent me a picture of me when I was about two years old, sitting among a group of relatives, and asked if I knew those in the picture. I recognized myself immediately, and no one else could. My wife showed me a picture of her childhood she took with parents and siblings. I could not recognize her, hence she is supposed to be the closest person to me. We can trace changes in ourselves, physically and mentally, especially when the change is as a result of a dramatic event.

One of the most amazing changes or metamorphism of body happens to hair. When I look at the hair on my head (or rather lack of!) I realize that not only the quantity is reduced by about 95%, but the quality of it (shape, density, and of course color) has changed as well. On the other hand, I find new hair in some unlikely places! As a man, having hair all over the body is not considered culturally wrong. However, growing hair between cheeks and lower eye lid, or all over the ears is not pleasing either, especially when removing them is such an effort. Being self consciously bothered by that, sometimes I catch myself pulling hair with my fingertips from my earlobe in the middle of a meeting with co-workers. It is more embarrassing when they all turn towards me after noticing a jerking move I make to pull a hair! I have made an extensive research about unwanted hair and I found no help. In general, there are two kinds of unwanted hair, one exclusive to women (hirsutism) and the other one for both men and women (hypertrichosis), as explained below:

 Everyone is born with a fixed number of hairs on his or her body. This is genetically determined (inherited). There are two types of excess hair: one, hirsutism, is the growth of excess hair in the areas of the skin, such as the face and chest, that are reserved for male hair growth. (See below.) Hypertrichosis, on the other hand, is a disorder where unwanted hair is more or less generalized in distribution. (Hypertrichosis, by the way, also occurs in men.) Hair grows on every portion of the skin except the palms and soles and a few other small areas. Most of these hairs are of the “peach-fuzz” variety (vellus hairs). Others are of the terminal variety – the long, thicker hairs of the scalp (Lady Godiva and Rapunzel), the chest (mostly men), and the pubic region. Excess hairiness results from the vellus hairs becoming longer, darker, and thicker in areas where one expects to have only peach-fuzz.

While excess hair may be due to many factors, for some groups of people it is the normal state of affairs. People from Southern Europe and Middle-Eastern cultures are much hairier than those from Northern Europe and Scandinavian countries; white people are hairier than black people; and Asians and Native Americans are the least hairy of all. The most common cause of excess hair growth in females is the aging process. Along about the time of menopause, women become deficient in the production of the female hormone estrogen. Emotional stress and tension often lead to a disturbance in the delicate balance of these hormones which, in turn, can result in a stimulation of the hair follicle leading to excess hair – not, however, on the head. These hormonal imbalances also can arise in connection with tumors and cysts of the ovaries, diseases of the adrenal glands, and abnormal functioning and tumors of other hormone- secreting glands, such as the thyroid or pituitary.

Loosing eyesight is another problem that is hard to cope with. Every time I check with an optometrist, a thicker lens is prescribed! It is not only reading that is problematic, but for seeing far another pair of glasses has to be used. I tried bifocal and progressive, with no avail. The problem is changing glasses depending on the activity. Another problem is that the distance of a book (when it is held for reading) is different from the distance of a computer screen. This adds to a third pair of glasses to haul around wherever I go. In addition to using all these various glasses, I should make sure to have clean napkins or tissues around, since my tears are at hand and at all times! I researched on how to improve eyesight, with less success. The most useful article I found however follows:

You should visit your eye doctor for an eye exam -- if you are over age 40 -- at least once every couple of years to help maintain good eyesight. See your ophthalmologist if you experience eye infections or symptoms of disease like loss of or blurred vision, light flashes, eye pain, redness, itching, swelling, and irritation around the eye or eyelid. Eye disease is the number one cause of blindness. Most diseases that cause blindness, like glaucoma and diabetes, can be treated or their progression slowed down with the proper diagnosis and management. While there is no cure for some eye conditions, there have been major medical advances for age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and cataracts. By visiting your eye doctor on a regular basis, you can catch any eye problems in their early stage when they are easier to treat. Constant exposure to the sun's ultraviolet light can damage your eyes. Too much exposure increases pigmentation in the eye, causing a discoloration known as "brown" or "sunshine" cataracts. Some eye diseases, such as macular degeneration, have also been linked to UV exposure.

I also feel losing my taste sensitivity, as I am able to eat more spicy food than I used to. Speaking of food, I feel overweight by about 15 pounds. It has become a habit of eating for the sake of eating, without enjoying the taste, fragrances, or presentation. I think the professional term for it is gluttony! I have found out that the best diet is eating less of everything. That is very difficult for me to maintain, as I get headache and stomach ache when I stay hungry for a long period of time. There is only one solution I have found to the problem of being overweight, which is to change my diet to fruits and vegetables only. I researched how to cut out meat from my diet and I found the following article very useful:

Different people follow different forms of vegetarianism. A true vegetarian eats no meat at all, including chicken and fish. A lacto-ovo vegetarian eats dairy products and eggs, but excludes meat, fish, and poultry. It follows, then, that a lacto vegetarian eats dairy products but not eggs, whereas an ovo vegetarian eats eggs but not dairy products.

A stricter form of vegetarianism is veganism (pronounced: vee-gun-izm). Not only are eggs and dairy products excluded from a vegan diet, so are animal products like honey and gelatin.

Vegetarians have to be careful to include the following key nutrients that may be lacking in a vegetarian diet:

·         Iron- Sea vegetables like nori, wakame, and dulse are very high in iron. Less exotic but still good options are iron-fortified breakfast cereals, legumes (chickpeas, lentils, and baked beans), soybeans and tofu, dried fruit (raisins and figs), pumpkin seeds, broccoli, and blackstrap molasses. Eating these foods along with a food high in vitamin C (citrus fruits and juices, tomatoes, and broccoli) will help you to absorb the iron better.

·         Calcium- Milk and yogurt are tops if you're eating dairy products — although vegetarians will want to look for yogurt that does not contain the meat by-product gelatin. Tofu, fortified soy milk, calcium-fortified orange juice, green leafy vegetables, and dried figs are also excellent ways for vegetarians (and vegans) to get calcium.

·         Protein- Current recommendations are that vegetarians eat a wide variety of foods during the course of a day. Eggs and dairy products are good sources of protein, but also try nuts, peanut butter, tofu, beans, seeds, soy milk, grains, cereals, and vegetables to get all the protein your body needs.

·         Vitamin D- People need vitamin D to get calcium into our bones. Your body manufactures vitamin D when your skin is exposed to sunlight. Cow's milk is top on the list for food sources of this vitamin.

·         Vitamin B12- B12 is an essential vitamin found only in animal products, including eggs and dairy.

·         Zinc- If you're not eating dairy foods, make sure fortified cereals, dried beans, nuts, and soy products like tofu and tempeh are part of your diet so you can meet your daily requirement for this important mineral.

My tolerance level has increased and I feel to be more composed, with more tranquility and serenity. It is totally opposite of what I have heard from many people that aging increases impatience. I believe life gets to a point of relaxed and it subsides more until it reaches the end. In that respect, one thing that we do not want to face, while inescapable, is to confront end of life and prepare for that. The person who leaves this world becomes a part of the non-living earth. Therefore, the preparation is in fact for others, who are left behind. Not only it is important for the survivors to know what to do when a beloved person dies, but also what to do if the person become debilitated. Preparing a will is usually the first step. A will is not necessarily how much each person receives of the inheritance or the bequeath, but to put it bluntly, what to do with the corpse! I found the following article in Center for Disease and Prevention Control (CDC) about aging:

Public health strategies, coupled with medical advances, have resulted in a 30-year increase in life expectancy since the dawn of the twentieth century. People are living longer and their expectations about their health and the quality of their lives are increasing. These expectations extend to wanting to ensure that the last months and days of life are lived as fully as possible, as pain-free as possible, and with dignity and choice.

Traditionally, much of the nation’s public health network’s efforts have focused on ensuring a healthy start in life for infants and that children thrive and are protected from injury and infectious diseases. In more recent decades, additional strides have been made in ensuring that our nation’s adults practice healthy behaviors and take advantage of preventive measures that reduce their risk of chronic disease, injury, and infectious diseases such as influenza and pneumonia.

Now, in addition to focusing on the dawn of life and continued good health throughout life, CDC is extending its focus to life’s close. As more and more baby boomers reach their older years, unprecedented opportunities exist through the nation’s public health network to help ensure that Americans have the knowledge and resources needed to make informed choices and decisions about how their final months and days are spent. Planning for the end of life is increasingly being viewed as a public health issue given its potential to prevent unnecessary suffering and to support an individual’s decisions and preferences related to the end of life.

There are many other body parts that I have problems with and I would like to share. However, I just remembered that once Samuel Goldwyn said: "I don't think anybody should write his autobiography until after he is dead!"