There's a lot to be gained, even in our health, when we embrace change, says environmental health expert Dr Peter Dingle.

"Within every setback there is contained the seed of an equal or greater advantage or benefit": Napoleon Hill's observation after studying successful people for 22 years.

Change is inevitable, we can't stop it. Within everything is the seed of change. The laws of physics recognise that it is the nature of all matter to change. Change is the natural state of the universe from the smallest sub atomic particle to the most complex of organisms. Our cells are constantly being altered, created and destroyed, as our bodies are renewed. There is no such thing as an enduring status quo. The law of continual change applies to physics, biology and all aspects of our lives including our personal growth. To try not to change in a world that is changing around you is not only futile, it's self defeating. Doing what you did in the past will only get you to where you wanted to be yesterday. To succeed tomorrow you need to do something different today, to change both what you are doing and how you are thinking. Einstein himself said, "The level of thinking that has got us to where we are now is different to the thinking we need in the future".

If we accept that the only constant in life is change, then the important questions are how to embrace change; how to manage the effects of change; how to manage our lives and ourselves during times of change and how to create beneficial changes in all aspects of our lives. When Charles Darwin proposed the survival of the fittest, he was not necessarily referring to those with the biggest muscles or brains. He was also referring to the most adaptable - those who can cope with change most readily, those who are sufficiently flexible to grow and develop.

The desire to meet and overcome challenges is fundamental to being human. Obstacles, setbacks and hard times have the potential to make us the best we can be. The capacity to respond to change is what took our ancestors out of the trees in Africa and has enabled us to build cities and taken us into space. Challenge is what we seek in our youth and we respect and admire others when we see them meet it. Seeing someone else meet a challenge can touch the deepest part of our emotions.

We don't usually change our habits and conditioning unless we are challenged, so changing is also about the courage to examine the choices we make in our lives and challenge our behaviour and our thinking. We have to make the choice, the conscious choice, to continue to grow and actively pursue the personal challenges we set for ourselves. Then we need to have this in the forefront of our minds and to keep prompting our subconscious mind with how we want to maintain and sustain our body, mind and spirit. Meeting these challenges is what will make us. Our other choice is to stagnate, to go backwards, stultifying our creativity and potential.

Change creates opportunities for us to make new and beneficial choices. Within every challenge is the potential for a new and alternative future, one that you may have never envisaged but for that setback or obstacle. Adapting positively to change, or making changes for yourself now, will repay you many times over in the future. In hindsight, you'll see those changes were so obviously necessary and beneficial that you will wonder why you didn't make them earlier.

Sometimes change is painful, but difficult challenges can bring us the greatest rewards and deepest satisfaction. Without a willingness to change and to challenge ourselves we remain trapped in the past, locked into our conditioned patterns of behaviour. Life changing events such as a major illness, loss of a job, the breakdown of a relationship or the death of a loved one bring with them our greatest pain, but also the greatest opportunity to challenge ourselves. Whether it be emotional or physical pain, this is an enormous opportunity to grow. Or as Paramahansa Yogananda said in Journey to Self Realization, "Your trials do not come to punish you but to awaken you".

Successful people are those who have the capacity to meet adverse circumstances and grow by the experience. The changes keep coming and they keep meeting them. Creating change or adapting constructively to it, takes time, energy and focus. Some of these circumstances are enormous in their impact, others small. Whatever they are, they help us improve in everything we do. In fact, changing ourselves is one of the most important protective mechanisms we have.

We grow only when we push ourselves beyond our normal limits. We can build muscle bulk and strength by systematically challenging it. Our immune system also grows stronger if it's challenged. As kids we suffered with various childhood illnesses. These made our immune system more robust through the development of antibodies, giving us protection. As we adjust to change we also grow stronger, and have more resources to meet future challenges. There is, however, a crucial factor here - the need for a period of recuperation and consolidation. Just as our bodies seek balance and harmony through the process of homeostasis, so we also need to allow times of rest and renewal, establishing a period of equilibrium. Too many changes too quickly can be destabilising and depleting.

There is overwhelming evidence that if you keep challenging your mind your risk of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, will be lower. Cancer, heart attack and stroke patients who challenge their diseases live longer, with better quality of life and have a better survival rate. In a study of 1600 patients with diverse health problems, from back pain to cardiovascular disease, prolonged bed rest resulted in a longer average recovery time. Those patients who challenged themselves to get out of bed as soon as possible recovered more quickly. Stroke victims who use their 'good' or unaffected side, such as their right arm, to do all the work, can get by quite well, but will lose a lot of the function in their other arm. However, if they tie their 'good' arm so that it can't be used and challenge themselves to use their damaged arm, their chances of recovering the ability of that arm are dramatically increased. These sorts of challenges are extremely difficult, requiring much persistence and patience, and a high tolerance for frustration.

As young children, we continually challenge ourselves. Ask a five year old if they can sing, dance or run super fast. Their response is "Yes". Ask if they want to learn a foreign language. You'll get the same response. Ask a 15 year old those questions and most of the answers will be "No". We soon learn through peer pressure that it's "safer" to conform, that it's 'cool' to be part of the group. At puberty we become acutely conscious of what everyone else thinks of us and we begin adopting what we perceive as more "acceptable" modes of behaviour - the behaviour of the group to which we want to belong. Many of our greatest innovators were ridiculed in their day. Great thinkers, musicians, artists, inventors, and those involved in social and cultural change were labelled as eccentric, even crazy or stupid or time wasters by the powers that be - those who resisted change.

Throughout our childhood and throughout life we are conditioned, and we develop a comfort zone. As we age, we fear stepping out of this comfort zone and our fear is often far greater than the situation warrants. We may associate with friends and develop pursuits that keep us in our comfort zone and reinforce our old conditioning. We are influenced and conditioned by the media in all its forms, particularly television, all types of advertising and movies. We find we are living a life that is non-challenging. The problem with our comfort zone is that it becomes smaller and smaller unless we take steps to expand it. Once you start pushing the boundaries of your comfortable limits you'll feel more comfortable with change than with complacency. It's the acceptance of the comfort zone that prevents many people from being successful. Most people don't succeed because they don't challenge themselves.

Challenging our thoughts, beliefs and actions is difficult. Repeating the same patterns and rhythms every day is what the ancient reptilian brain loves. Nothing out of the ordinary. You know what is going to happen. The mammalian brain thrives on the stimulation of challenges and change. Challenging our routines and habits demands energy and focus. Whether the change you initiate is avoiding certain foods or taking up an exercise program or meditation, brain scanning techniques and laboratory experiments have shown that certain types of activities require more 'brain energy' and greater brain activity. Challenges, complexity and novelty are the things that light up both hemispheres of our brain.

We are often so busy in the 21st century that we say we cannot find the time to invest in our own wellbeing or challenge the patterns that are slowly killing us. As a result we just keep plodding along in the same direction. Beneath the "being too busy" to change is often the denial and avoidance of our unwillingness to change. Avoidance can be a useful short-term skill which will help you through difficult times. However, long-term it only compounds the problem and creates more obstacles.

We often choose to ignore information if it does not suit us (our conditioning). People eat nutritionally empty foods, don't exercise, make health depleting choices and then are surprised when their health deteriorates and they become ill. Illness is also change but not necessarily a positive one for our physical wellbeing. We can prevent some illnesses and disability by making better choices, and we can make those choices now rather than become the victims of our own complacency.

Challenge is never far from the horizon, and we are better off going to meet it than trying to hide from it. It is easy to continue to do what you have always done. It is too easy to drift along without making any effort to change your habits or your attitude. Inaction leads to more inaction and one day inaction has insidiously taken control of your life. Lack of change and challenge isn't only boring for our mind, body and spirit, it is deadening: "If you're not ripening you're going rotten."

Albert Einstein said, "Life is like riding a bike; once you stop, you fall off".

Maybe it is time to get back on that bicycle and challenge yourself?

Dr Peter Dingle