Do you know your reason for being?
“Ikigai” is the Japanese word which roughly translates into your reason for being or a sense of purpose. It’s the reason you jump out of bed in the morning.
A recent article of mine focused on the importance of the brain in relation to the other vital organs in the body. It highlighted the multitude of functions of the brain in comparison to other organs, and since there is no ability (yet) to transplant a brain, we must protect and preserve it.
Another function of the brain is its ability to think about and determine one’s ikigai. This, I believe, is a fundamental question we all should think about and attempt to answer. In Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s book “Keep Sharp,” he discusses the health benefits of having a sense of purpose, a reason to get out of bed in the morning. According to Dr. Gupta, dozens of studies have shown that people who have a sense of purpose in their lives are less likely to develop health problems such as cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease and strokes. They also are more likely to live longer than people without a sense of purpose.
A Journal of the American Medical Association study (JAMA Psychiatry 74, no.10 (Oct 2017): 1039-1045.) revealed that people with a strong sense of purpose tended to retain grip strength and walking speed as they aged; and these two skills have been associated with better health and greater longevity. These are indicators of how quickly a person is aging. There seems to be a correlation between how fast you can walk and how fast you are aging. Another predictor of health is the ability to get up from the floor without using your hands to prop yourself up.
Now getting back to your ikigai. It seems that with purpose comes motivation, not only to do certain things outside of oneself, but also to remain physically active and take better care of one’s health. In addition to keeping the body healthy, being physically active also keeps the brain healthy. The brain is very resilient and in the past, scientists believed that we were born with a finite number of brain cells, but we know now that this is not true. The term for regeneration of the brain is neuroplasticity. Research shows that having a sense of purpose helps preserve cognitive function and also decreases the risk of depression, memory decline, stroke, and dementia (Stroke 46, no. 4 (April 2015): 1071- 1076).
According to the research in Dr. Gupta’s book, in 2018, a Global Council on Brain Health reported that “optimism
was among some of the most important elements of mental well-being alongside things such as self-acceptance, vitality and positive relationships.” When you have a sense of purpose, you focus without distraction and behave in a way which has been described as being in the flow.
During my 27 years in the field of medicine I have asked many people, “Why are you here?” More often than not they answer, “I don’t know.” Given the research detailed above and much more extensively in Dr. Gupta’s book, it’s apparent that we all need to think about this question and try to come up with an answer because our physical and mental health might depend on it.
Understanding your ikigai defines your sense of purpose, drives motivation, makes you more eager to get out of bed in the morning, increases optimism, decreases the risk for depression and possible other brain ailments, gets you in the flow (in the groove), and improves physical as well as mental health. Set aside time to be quiet, mindful and see if you can define your ikigai. This might help you to understand your life more clearly and how this sense of purpose not only influences your but also those around you.
By living our ikigai, we can leave a legacy which hopefully would have made the world a better place.
For more information on this and other health care topics visit drsallifestylemed.com and check out “Grow Up without Getting old!”