What is health? Ms Webster defines Health as: “a condition of being sound in body, mind, or spirit … freedom from physical disease or pain.” A more colloquial standard may mean something different. Does it mean freedom from all disease? Not having chronic disease? Managing the symptoms of the ailment of the day? Not having a bad flu? Or is it something different yet again.
When speaking of health and disease, we may believe it is a bad flu and our success of avoiding it is what makes us healthy for the year. It may mean one of the many chronic ailments that can grow from a nagging semi-awareness to the thing that defines and rules our days. Or it may mean not feeling your utmost, not being free from the background fatigue, not sleeping restfully, having daily worry, anxiety, constant aches that hound us day to day.
Disease itself has its own definition. Again, we may have our own vision and definition that does not correlate with Ms Webster. She defines disease as “a condition of the living animal or plant body or one of its parts that impairs normal functioning and is typically manifested by distinguishing signs and symptoms.”
A deeper and more comprehensive view is needed in the new world. Health is not absence of disease, it is not absence of all ailments, it is not freedom from every seasonal flu or malady. It is the PRESENCE of resilience, vitality, and well-being that would allow one to withstand life’s challenges with grace and purpose. I view health as a slick and fast sailboat with a deep keel that can withstand the storms. A storm may come, the boat may heel to the side with the rails in the water but it won’t capsize.
The underlying integrity allowing for ability to withstand life’s stressors is made up of interconnected parts that cannot function without each other. Human evolutionary DNA combined with thousands of years of adaptation and optimization of cellular processes gives humans an incredible ability to perform, adapt and innovate. Tapping into those sources and providing not only support function but optimization of the many cellular networks allows for infinite possibilities driving toward health and wellness.
It is truly a master boat: sleek, fast strong. It needs all its parts and they are all interconnected. The four main principles are: proper staged and restful sleep, proper nutrition, good activity, and an orderly emotional house. Each one of the parts cannot function without another. And each one of these parts deserves special focus and work.
That work cannot be done alone. Time, in-depth analysis and high level diagnostics combined with comprehensive review, and in-depth exploration is needed. A deeper relationship with your physician, more lengthy conversations and utility of multi-modal tools. Integration of healthcare is the truly comprehensive approach that will pave the way for success.
This brings about a new focus for the new year, a novel approach to health. Rather than management of the disease, the focus is on prevention, on resilience and vitality, energy and clarity, the ability to weather the storms with the structure intact.
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