How Does a Study on Rabbits Reveal the Secret to Living a Longer Life?

So, there was a study done in 1978 that became known as the “Rabbit Effect” There has since been additional studies and a book written about it. It has opened up new and groundbreaking research. What is this study you might ask and how did it reveal the secret to living longer? Let’s start with the study. Dr Robert Nerem and his research staff performed a study to establish the relationship between a high fat diet and heart health. To do this they put together several groups of New Zealand White rabbits and feed them a diet high in fat. They expected to find high cholesterol levels in the rabbits and fatty deposits in the small blood vessels like the long proven and recited results of today. But they came upon a problem: there was a significantly large number of rabbits that did not have the results they were expecting. So how does this play into our lives? In a day when heart health is part of most conversations about health. In a society that speaks constantly about “Low Fat” At least 48% of the US adults have some form of cardiovascular disease. Half of the adults in the US have some form of heart disease. That is so huge! But the important question is why? Well, the difference that was found in the rabbit effect had nothing to do with the high fat diet. In fact, it had nothing to do with what the rabbits ate.  It all boiled down to how they were treated. It had more to do with the love they felt from the researcher. Well in a day when we are more apt to get someone hating on us for what we said rather than love for who we are. In an age when depression affects more than 18 million adults in the US and is the primary cause of disability for ages 15-44. This is a huge problem, to more than just our mental health! How is it that something that accounts for $23 billion in lost workdays each year doesn’t have every headline? Some Politicians are concerned with gun violence. If we compare homicide at 16,000 lives per year in comparison to suicide which is over 41,000. Homicide is less than half. Where is the outrage that people are killing themselves? If we look at Veterans it affects even more of this small population. Up to 20 out of every 100 Vets deal with PTSD. This is something that needs more people talking about it. But what can we do to have a longer life? Well, the answer is pretty simple: surround yourself with love and show love to everyone else. It doesn’t matter if you agree with people or not. It is possible to love people and disagree with them. I have many family members that I don’t agree with on so many levels but I still love them. It doesn’t matter what they believe or think. But so many times in society we judge not only the beliefs but the person for having them. We have to hate on others because they see things differently. Hate is the opposite of love. We close ourselves off from love and cripple our ability to feel it when we have hate, inside of us. Please subscribe to this podcast and leave a rating and review, to help others find this podcast. Also join the Facebook group. Here is the spot to click and set up a time so we can discuss how you can use these tools and others to get your amazing life!