The Health Gazette - Holistic Health

Quality Health Advice Reflects Good Communication

Sun, 26 Feb 2006 20:41:53 -0600

The very nature of health practice in medicine and related professions is interpersonal. The concept of the person - practitioner relationship is central. This relationship is established and maintained at a level sufficient for acceptable standards of health care only if and when effective communication is achieved.

Unfortunately, most orthodox medical practice seems deficient in this key area. Even medical textbooks on the topic talk about the "doctor - patient" relationship. Notice that the doctor comes first in this dyad. Further, the profession's cultural norms are evident in the language they prefer, like the socially strong term for themselves and the very passive term, 'patient' for those who seek their services (although they prefer the phrase, need their treatment).

Healthy People 2010 A Pipe Dream

Fri, 27 Jan 2006 06:22:34 -0600

If you ask most people to tell you what health means, or simply ask, what is health, you will come up with some interesting findings. I know, I've asked plenty of people. Most troubling to me are three observations.

Most people will say words to the effect that health is not being sick.
Very few people can talk about health without actually talking about disease.
The above applies equally to most so-called health professionals.

The concept of health as a truely positive state seems to be beyond most people's grasp. Perhaps that's because the experience of health, real health, is also beyond their grasp.

On Life and The Butterfly

Mon, 21 Nov 2005 02:06:46 -0600

Here is a short parable on finding value in the struggles of life. I have seen many people fail in one way or another in life, whether in business, career or more importantly, in character. Many wish for the easy life, for themselves, their family and friends. But that is not always the blessing it may at first appear. Quite a few of those failures I have seen were experienced by people for whom things in life just came too easily, they had never been tested in the fire, they knew no real struggles.

Like most people I don't advocate going out of your way to find struggles, though I have seen some do it. What I do say however, is don't despair when you find yourself facing struggles of one type or another. Finding your way through is the path of growth, and to me, when you cease growing, you die.

Age on Your Own Terms

Sat, 19 Nov 2005 06:12:44 -0600

I came across an article in a newsletter recently that I finally found a minute to read. It is about sensibly resisting the aging process and I noted that with very little change, it is quite consistent with material already published here in The Health Gazette. Since it's an important topic I have provided a significant excerpt below.

From "Secrets of Feeling Younger" by Carole Jackson.

CHOOSE YOUR AGE

One example of youth-focused living is the group of seniors who tour in their own rock show (no, I don't mean the current tour of the Rolling Stones), belting out witty takes on aging like "Stairway to Heaven," "Every Breath You Take" and "Forever Young." These seniors and many like them choose to live not by the calendar or number of candles on their birthday cake but from their heart -- and to enjoy all their time on earth.

Better Brains for All

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 00:23:06 -0600

I came across an interesting book recently and was immediately taken by how much it agreed with what I've said for years. That must sound aweful, but it's true. What is it they say; there's nothing new under the heavens? Maybe they're right.

Anyway, this book is about making a good brain great and it employs the deceptively obvious observation that your brain is involved in everything you do. That is almost so obvious as to be trite, but the author, Dr Daniel Amen, draws some very practical user guidelines based on the perfectly obvious.

Aging Myths Part 6

Wed, 19 Oct 2005 21:12:02 -0500

Here we are finally at Part 6 of our short series on the myths of aging. We will conclude the series with a debunking of the magic bullet to eternal youth myth and a brief consideration of just how you can go about slowing, stopping or reversing the aging process.

Actually, if you have paid attention to the earlier parts of this series you'll realize straight away that I should say reversing the aging processes. It clearly has to be plural, since there are various dimensions to aging. This is true not merely because aging is an holistic experience, but even in the terms we have already introduced.

Aging Myths Part 5

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 03:59:34 -0500

Welcome to Part 5 of this short series on the myths of aging. In Part 4 we briefly introduced two theories of aging. One was the free radical theory, a physical theory with a large body of evidence to support it. The other was disengagement theory, a psycho-social theory of aging that happens to have a good fit with observable behavior.

In Part 3 we made five useful observations about aging. Of those, we noted that the details of aging observed in both physical and mental function (items 3 and 4 on our list) were so thoroughly observed and documented as to provide a detailed normative data set that describes what occurs at different ages.

Dimensions of Health Part 7

Sat, 08 Oct 2005 03:55:06 -0500

This is Part 7 in our ongoing series exploring the dimensions of health. Parts 5 and 6 have been concerned with the physical dimension and we will now complete that dimension with the elements of exercise, rest and sleep.

The tenth item on our list of the determinants of physical health (from Part 5) was concurrent health in the other dimensions. This covers all of the rest of this series, so I won't attempt to elaborate on it within the physical dimension. Hopefully at or towards the end of our series we will be able to expand on the holistic nature of all of the dimensions.

Aging Myths Part 4

Thu, 06 Oct 2005 05:01:08 -0500

My goodness, how time flies. Here we are at Part 4 of our little series on the myths of aging. We concluded Part 3 with the intention to introduce one physical theory of aging and one psycho-social theory of aging in the next Part, and here we are already.

I'm not going to revise what was covered in the first three parts of the series. If you missed any you can always find them quickly and easily on the Health Gazette site, so just go now and take a quick look, then come back to Part 4.

So, do you remember the first myth now? Yes; good. Since the reality is that aging is not anywhere near as well understood as most people believe, it is always more appropriate to talk about theories of aging rather than to pontificate about aging as though it were well understood. Smart people, wise people, informed people, talk about the theories of aging. Ironically it's the less well educated who say they have all the answers.

Aging Myths Part 3

Mon, 03 Oct 2005 04:57:21 -0500

It is time to check in on aging again. I think I've been aging quite rapidly lately actually; something to do with being a parent! Oh well, I can reverse the process so it's nothing to lose sleep over. That's a fairly bold claim isn't it? Let's take a closer look at aging.

We noted in Part 2 that aging is neither linear nor uniform. Various illustrations drawn from the casual observations of everyday life were sufficient to make these points clear. Or, at least, I hope so.

This rather begs the question though; what actually is aging? So in this article we'll explore some ideas about that and consider various ways the aging process may be understood.

Dimensions of Health Part 6

Sat, 01 Oct 2005 07:23:51 -0500

Here we are finally. No, this won't be the final part of the series, I simply mean that we have finally managed to arrive at Part 6 in our ongoing series on the Dimensions of Health. In this series we are exploring the concept of health in order to understand it better. Hopefully greater knowledge will empower changes resulting in improved experience of health for readers and many others whom you will reach.

Those following the series will recall that we are currently exploring the physical dimension of health. In Part 5 we considered 10 basic determinants of physical health and very briefly noted the importance of the first two: fresh air and pure water. We will equally briefly consider the remaining eight from the list and we'll attempt as many as possible in Part 6 today.

Aging Myths Part 2

Wed, 28 Sep 2005 08:23:55 -0500

Well some time has passed since Part 1 on Aging Myths. Actually two days have passed. Are you two days older? Yes. But, have you aged two days? Probably not. We'll cover this apparent conundrum today in Part 2.

Recall that in Part 1 we discussed the widespread myth that aging is well understood. This myth, like most myths, is based on what superficially appears as though it might be so. There is a certain self-evident plausibility to the idea, leading people to believe it to be the case, or at least to seriously consider that it may well be the case, even though it is actually not true at all.

Aging Myths Part 1

Mon, 26 Sep 2005 08:46:44 -0500

Aging myths, hmmm, let's see, ... is this about some very old myths? Well, yes and no. All a bit cryptic isn't it. I've noticed that a lot of information about aging is rather difficult to decipher. Why is that, I wonder?

I think part of the problem is that many theories abound about aging but the truth is no one really understands it. That is hard enough to understand for some people. Many hold the view that since one can see evidence of aging all around us, surely medical scientists have a good understanding of it even if they can't quite figure out how to stop it.

Again, the truth is, no one really understands it. So the first myth is that aging is understood and that scientists know all the secrets to stoping the clock. The reality is that a great deal is known but that doesn't always help. Sounds strange doesn't it? Let me explain.

Dimensions of Health Part 5

Fri, 23 Sep 2005 00:01:00 -0500

Well here we are at Part 5 of this series on the dimensions of health. We ended Part 4 with a promise to explore the very determinants of physical health. So that is what we shall do.

Recall that last time we noted that physical health related quite simply to the body and that a state of health was akin to being normal. We further noted that normal could be understood in both statistical and functional terms. It is worth knowing that normal doesn't mean perfect.

I want to remind everyone following this series that we are deliberately taking a western, and therefore somewhat unavoidably, reductionist approach at this stage. This means that over time we will establish a catalog of related and explored concepts and have a view of health that details several dimensions largely in isolation from one another. Don't worry, I'll do my best to stitch the dimensions into one whole again later.

Dimensions of Health Part 4

Tue, 20 Sep 2005 00:50:30 -0500

Here we are at Part 4 where we'll begin to consider the physical dimension of health. I have waited almost a week since Part 3 to allow plenty of time for you to think through the concepts covered so far. Recall that in the last installment we considered health as something we could consider as occupying various places on a continuum.

Essentially, I wanted to achieve two things. I wanted you to see a way that we could conceptualize varying degrees or levels or even amounts of health and I wanted to make crystal clear that health and disease are entirely separate concepts and not actually opposites of one another.