The Five Fingers of Heath

Focusing on the five fingers of health will give you a better chance
to maintain optimal prevention and achieve optimal wellness.

The first “finger” is perhaps the most important, is managing stress.
Stress is a very particular antiquated physiologic automatic response which results from external or internal perceived stimuli. The chain of hormone driven events leads to negative changes in our bodies. Management of this stress comes in many forms and must be personalized. Whether it is meditation, yoga, or other relaxation techniques, one must develop a consistent habit of dealing with this unavoidable aspect of our lives. In the same vain, working to improve interpersonal relationships and communication is essential for a balanced, relaxed mind. This in turn has been shown to have positive effects on immune system function.

Article: Meditative Technique in Balancing Stress

The second “finger” is proper diet.
As the saying goes, “you are what you eat.” Many of us in western society are diabetics or well on the way to becoming diabetics because of what we eat. I have developed a plan that is consistent with our physiology and also considers that many factors, besides hunger, drive our eating habits.

The third “finger” is exercise.
Consistent exercise is essential to keep blood flow optimal to our muscles and prevent premature breakdown. Aerobic exercise is essential to maintain proper cardiovascular and pulmonary health as well as aiding in the maintenance of a healthy body weight. Anaerobic and flexibility exercises (such as weight training, Pilates, and yoga) help to strengthen and keep flexible our muscles and joints. We need this in order to minimize the development of chronic bone and joint diseases such as osteoporosis and arthritis. Exercise, too, is a vital component in balancing stress.

The fourth “finger” is appropriate, and aggressive, nutritional supplementation.
If we all lived in a glass bubble, we might be able to get away with very basic nutritional supplements to avoid deficiency states. Fortunately we live in an active, exciting, interactive world that, although filled with endless possibilities, is also bathed in the exhaust from environmental pollutants, industrial chemicals, agricultural pesticides, emissions from fossil fuels and cigarette smoke, and radiation. These cause reactions in our bodies that lead to a daily assault by free radicals and also can mimic certain hormones. If gone unchecked, these reactions and xenohormones (as they are referred to) form the basis of chronic inflammation, cell injury, cell mutation and ultimately cell death or uncontrolled cell division, i.e. cancer. There are excellent studies from peer reviewed journals that reveal the power of nutritional supplements to prevent such processes.

The fifth “finger” is our uniqueness as individuals.
None of us are textbooks. Our state of health is intimately shaped by our past and present life experiences. That is what makes us unique. Optimal health therefore requires a full understanding how our uniqueness effects our overall physiology – from blood pressure to heart disease, from cholesterol to blood sugar, from hormones to obesity. Soon our genetic uniqueness will be measured through the evaluation of our human genome to reveal single nucleotide polymorphisms, which are slight mutations that may make an individual more prone to a certain disease.

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