The process of restoring or replacing lost, damaged or degraded elements that are necessary to fully function, is known as regeneration. It means moving from a state of decline to one of renewal and wellness.

In our human bodies this happens on a cellular level and in our organs. Now, look at this:

• Your skin regenerates every 28 days.
• Your thyroid regenerates in 3 to 6 months.
• Bone repair takes 6 to 8 weeks.
• Your pancreas regenerates every 6 to 12 weeks.
• The heart regenerates every 4,5 to 5 years.
• Muscle repair takes 4 to 5 weeks.
• Your liver regenerates in 365 days.
• Brain/nerve tissue regeneration takes 1 to 12 years.
• Kidney and adrenal glands take 6 to 8 months to regenerate.

Breathtaking isn’t it? Someone texted me this list in one of those pretty images most of us love to receive and re-post. I did not fact check any of these statements – my apologies to any physicians and Brilliant Blue people who can point out inaccuracies. I simply enjoy these marvellous ideas …

When you are only two to three decades on the go in this world, perhaps you don’t think of growing older, slower and more creaky and just enjoy your health and youth. We who have been here for more than four decades need to be reminded how wonderfully we have been made by our Creator.

Under relatively normal circumstances, regeneration happens without us directing or managing the process. In other words, even while we take a nap or are busy in a meeting or sharing a joke with a friend or beloved, these processes are happening.

But of course we can support these functions (or hinder them). The positive things we can do are …

• Eat proper, nutritional foods: A diet rich in protein, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants provides the essential building blocks for cellular repair. Ask a qualified dietitian for advice – not an influencer on social media.
• Sleep enough and go to bed long before midnight: Most cellular repair and regeneration, including muscle and tissue repair, occurs during deep sleep cycles. Maintain proper sleep hygiene just as you maintain your physical hygiene.
• Move, move, move: Physical activity boosts blood flow, delivering vital nutrients and oxygen to cells, and helps activate stem cells involved in tissue repair. Find a form of exercise that you can do regularly and with enjoyment so that you will continue to do it.
• Drink water: Adequate water intake supports cellular activity and helps flush out toxins. Don’t stress about it – boil it and add a tea bag if you prefer, or add cucumber slices or lemon, just hydrate yourself properly.
• Cut the toxins: Smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and exposure to pollutants and UV radiation can impair the body’s regenerative abilities. You can, to some extent, stop them or at least minimise their impact.
• Rest and relax: This facilitates muscle repair, energy replenishment, and hormone regulation, which in turn boosts performance, reduces injury risk, and strengthens the immune system. While you take a break, the body repairs microscopic tears in muscle tissue, replenishes glycogen stores, and releases the hormones needed for recovery and growth. 

As we use our bodies to traverse our lives and impact this world as we have been called to do, there will be wear and tear. We will feel tired, exhausted and worn out – because we literally are using up all our resources.

But the body we have been given will quietly and invisibly restore itself. It will do so diligently and with full use of all the resources you provide. Please give it all the nutrition, hydration and rest it needs.

Take real good care of the temple of God that you were given so that the Holy Spirit that dwells in it can regenerate your spirit to full health and efficiency as a follower of Jesus.