The Perfect Storm

When everything comes together and all aspects of a system begin to meld and work in concomitance the results could be beyond expectation.  Exponential results can occur when elements align, which is what we are most interested in.  This idea could be likened to a perfect storm, where under the right barometric pressure and other varying conditions, the results can be catastrophic.  

I use the idea of a perfect storm to look at obesity in our society.  The reason being, that the results we are seeing in our society are on a epidemic level. The reason for this is just as diverse as the population it affects.  To better look at obesity, I've found it more interesting (and less frustrating) to look at the system in place to achieve such results.  If we think of the system it would take to produce the results we are seeing, I feel it is easier to understand what elements impact obesity, and which merely support it.  

An example of this would be, if I wanted to lose weight I could develop a system that could help me achieve this goal.  By regularly eating healthy foods and exercising I could directly impact my objective.  Whereas by merely watching less television or reading more material on weight-loss would only support my objective rather than impacting it.  

When thinking about what this system would impact I noticed four components that could aid this system in bringing about the results we see in our society today.  These categorical systems are: environmental, genetic, cultural and educational.  

Over several discussions, we will delve into these individually as subsets of the idea of a systems approach to obesity.  I feel that to look at how this storm sustains or creates its power, gives us better insight to how to reduce its impact, thus lessening the damage it produces.       

Moving In The Right Direction (Part 7, Physical)

Physical activity could be the conduit that empowers all facets

In conclusion of this series, I save the physical health portion for last.  Why?  Well, I felt it was important to introduce and expose the other facets of health that are often overlooked before venturing into the only aspect of health a majority of people pay the most attention to.  Physical health is important, however, we would do well to understand that physical health only addresses a portion of our overall health.

Movement of the Mind is not so much interested in devaluing physical activity, nor placing it on a pedestal either.  However, we feel that physical activity plays a huge part in possibly opening all other facets of health to an individual, and bringing satisfaction on multiple levels.  Being active leads to benefits that can last a lifetime.  There is so much research on the benefits of activity, like physical activity, and even as we age physical activity remains most important to ward off illness, disease and complications.

Our journey through physical health should take on the same approach as our previous escapades; looking at the issue in a more meaningful and abstract way, that delves into more than just the obvious (of course, to the best of our ability).  So, let's go shall we?  Our body starts to move from the moment we receive our first heart beat in our mothers womb, till our final movement as life begins to cease.  We are constantly moving, thinking, feeling, responding and living, everyday of our lives.  Though the degree to which each one of us moves differ greatly, it is our belief that we were born to move, born to interact, born to live.  Physical health leads us to understand or appreciate our ability to be active; to live every moment in full appreciation of our abilities.

Our abilities define us, in some way.  Runner's run, dancers dance, and children play.  Having activity in our lives, gives us more purpose, more energy and helps us define what type of life we want.  Understanding that there are several types of physical activity should help everyone better share in having an active life.  Exercise is structured, consistent movement, whereas physical activity is movement (of any kind).  So, whether you're walking, dancing, cleaning, gardening, playing, swimming, or moving furniture; all these constitute physical activity.

In this epidemic of fitness, we are often led astray to believe that fitness is health.  This, in fact is the most cloddish and disconcerting correlation in health.  To be fit, which is the forming and strengthening of muscle, is not to be confused with being healthy (though, there are relations, however, by no means are they related).  Being "skinny" as it were, isn't synonymous with being healthy, or being muscular for that matter.  Our body's ability to "do", more closely associates with health, than the previous.  Our ability to  walk up the stairs with no discomfort, or run around with our children or friends, or even more bio-metrically sound, having a well functioning body, that can process, consume, filter and secrete properly is health.  Having access to healthcare, healthy foods, safe environments and having peace, are the very staples of health.  I find great frustration with everyone looking to a certain poundage, or pant or dress size to reach to "be healthy".  Distortion of health in the media around us, cripple or cloud our clear thinking of what health really is, and what is needed to be healthy.  Finding the balance between our outwardly appearance, our ability to accomplish tasks (ranging from challenging to easy) and maintaining a proper functioning body, should be absolute key for us.

Physical health should be exciting, sustainable and challenging.  It should also, produce a better us, with the help of all the other facets mentioned and bring definition to our lives.  It is impossible to stop moving, in hopes to start living; we are designed to move and experience.  My hope, or our hope, is to create the mind frame that moves our thoughts, our perceptions, our understandings, to a place where moving is a stationary thought in our lives.  Though, understandably it isn't easy; we challenge you to think of what in life is?  Especially, those things that are worth while.

Buddha believed a clear mind stemmed from a healthy body, however, I'll take it a bit further.  How we think is an extension of how we feel, and how we feel, will move us in one direction or another.  Let us always do well to ourselves, movement is life, and we should all have a share.  No one, is perfect and no one exercise or physical activity program works for everyone.  Find you, in your movement and set your bar for yourself.

"Regimen is superior to medicine."  - Voltaire

    

I Don't Mind Growth (Part 6, Intellectual)

First and foremost, let me apologize for not making my September deadline.  I try to get at least one entry in a month, but life really got in the way this past month.  All in all, I'm back on a routine and eager to forge forward and onward as expected.  

This entry is part 6 in the concluding  series on the seven dimensions of wellness, which discusses intellectual health.  This, I find most stimulating and also challenging.  Mental stimulation is often confused or misrepresented, as are other facets of stimuli or actions. For instance, visual and audio stimuli often replace mental stimuli. We spend more time listening to music or engrossed in screen time, instead of reading, writing and researching. To which there is nothing wrong with the aforementioned in moderation, intellectual health is vital for us to feel whole or engaged cognitively.  This, in turn, provides us with mental food (if you will) that sustains our cognitive development.  Just as food sustains and provides nutrients to our body, mental stimuli provides nutrients to our mind and energy to strengthen our cognitive development.  

I often say, "We will never be, what we never think.", and this is true.  The question here is, do we allow or challenge ourselves to think?  Of course, I know we think everyday; often about what to wear, what time to get up, things that define our mundane routines.  However, I'm talking about thinking about matters and occurrences that define us, the work we do, and the people we impact.  Intellectual health and stimulation is largely impacted by those one associates with.  As the old cliche reminds us, birds of a feather flock together... Though the caliber of person we would like to associate with be of a feather, we would do well to find those who challenge our thoughts.  

Our intellectual health can be and is vital to our overall health, and of course most would whimsically and systematically draw the simple (and at times puerile) conclusion, that information unlearned is not acted upon.  Though, this over simplified correlation has truth written in it, it's just not comprehensive.  

So, let's think about this a little deeper, shall we?  Our health is based off numerous factors (many of which have been discussed in this blog under The Seven Dimensions of Wellness series) and are all related in one way or another.  Our intellectual health can impact our ability to socialize, by our limited exposure to information or our own poor cognitive development.  Also, by not challenging ourselves intellectually, we may choose poor environments that affect our health, or undermine the importance of spiritual health and give no attention to our own inner peace; this in turn could lead to forms stress, and affect our emotional health.  By drawing more comprehensive lines through intellectual health towards all other matters of health, gives us an ability to think collaboratively about how all aspects of our life are impacted and vital to one another.

Our health is important, and addressing only one aspect (health, through diet and exercise) can only lead to lapse in our overall progression.  Think of it this way, if diet and exercise encompass one aspect of health (physical health) out of seven total sections, that is only 14% of the complete person.  This from any perspective proves to be inadequate, at best.  

Having a healthy intellectual existence, bodes well, and continues to ask us to persist in challenging ourselves in both thought and action.  We can improve the way we understand concepts, position opposing views, and aid others in comprehending vital points necessary to meeting objectives.  Our ability to be cognitive, or present in thought demands for us to be intellectually healthy.  

This may be one  of the areas of health that require the most external support.  Creating environments, groups and activities that could strengthen us in this area could open so many more opportunities that impact far more of us than intended.  So, as we look at intellectual health, keep in mind that the more we invest in this area the more we can impact others.  

"The measure of your health is in your ability to do..., but the measure of your intelligence is showing your wisdom." - Jason Gillette

I Heart my job! (Part 5, Occupational)

Do you Really love your job?!

After taking a short sabbatical from our seven dimensions of wellness to delve into more health relation stuff, we now can reconvene to further discuss another interesting topic.  We are on our fifth section and closing fast on the conclusion of the seven dimensions of wellness.  Our objective, to refresh ourselves, is to understand fully or to the best of our ability what health really means and what aspects of our life it truly impacts.

In this section, we will discuss occupational health.  It's fascinating that we spend more time at work than we do with our families, design or otherwise; you be the judge.  Spending that much time in any aspect of our lives will definitely impact our health.  Most people really don't know how to rate their occupational health, and for that reason, we will develop four questions that will help us find out if we are healthy within our jobs.  Most of us work the nine to five respectively.  While others have a more flexible schedule, while yet others are in search for either.  Can occupational health be an impact if you don't have an occupation?  We'll unearth a few points to see how it can.  But for now, lets define occupational health.

Occupational health, "is the ability to achieve a balance between work and leisure time, addressing workplace stress and building relationships with co-workers. It focuses on our search for a calling and involves exploring various career options and finding where you fit."(UCR)  Work/Life balance, workplace stress and working relationships are vital to defining our occupational health.  So let's discuss these and our four questions that will help us identify and evaluate our occupational health.

Work/Life Balance:  The ability to balance your workload and family effectively, giving due attention and energy to both successfully.  Do we feel as if we are giving too much to work; or are we not giving enough to our jobs due to family occurrences?  If either of these resonate with you, we may need to make adjustments where possible.  This will give you a great sense of job satisfaction and purpose, knowing your doing your job successfully, while handling and enjoying matters at home.

Workplace Stress:  I think I can fairly speak for a great majority of people, by saying work is stressful at times.  Nevertheless, as we've mentioned in our article on stress, stress is not the presence of a problem, but the absence of a solution.  We need to allow ourselves time to utilize, leverage and create options for ourselves in our workplace to alleviate stressors, and bring a fresh, calm and sharp mind to the issue or person.

Working Relationships:  This one is most important to me, for the simple fact that our relationships (especially in Public Health and Non-Profit) can aid in reducing imbalance in Work/Life and reduce Workplace Stress.  Our relationships, both inside our organization and outside are vital to mission completion and building a more efficient work area.  Having a strong relationship with our immediate boss or manager, and our workmates are vital.  This free flowing communication helps accomplish objectives, relieves stress and builds camaraderie.  Having this as a goal to evaluate is important.  Do you feel you have a great working relationship with your boss, and workmates, do you feel communication is strong and constant?  These are good indicators and if you feel they aren't; a direct approach (I feel) works best to getting these lines of communication on track.

So, let's ask our four questions that will help us evaluate how healthy we are occupationally.

1.  Do we have a strong Work/Life balance, and is your workload sufficient?

2.  Do we enjoy what we do? 

3.  Do you feel that you have a great line of communication with those you work with, including those over you? 

4.  Does your occupation impede other facets of health in your life?  

These questions can give you a good idea where you stand and also provide goals for you to work towards.  Remember, every second, every minute and hour are yours to give.  They are never taken from you, you give them to respective matters, entities or organizations.  If it is within your power, enjoy every moment of your life, even at work.  We spend so much time at work, it's only fair to make adjustments to provide the best atmosphere possible for you to have a healthy balance.

"Waste money, and you're only out of money, but waste time and you've lost part of your life." - Michael LeBoeuf

Happy Two Year Anniversary MOTM

Hello Everyone,

I can't believe it's been two years since I've started this blog.  I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed sharing my thoughts and really expressing myself through this medium.  Thank you so much, for all of your support and I hope the next couple of years fly by as fast as the first two!

What is Health and Where is it Going?

How do we define our health?

Our mastery over health is a challenging and at times confusing one.  Is health a bicep curl, or a leafy green salad (with dressing on the side, of course).  Is health how we feel, or the way we live?  Solving the often illusive and ambiguous riddle of health and defining it appropriately has quite a few health professionals and community leaders befuddled.  In defining health, there are many factors to include and consider, however, not all of them are measurable.  This poses a problem for researchers and clinicians alike.  How can we treat, evaluate, educate and/or prevent an intrinsic value?  Do to so, we need qualities no short of magic to accomplish this.  Or, we can look at innovative ways to define health that allows us to measure how populations and individuals alike integrate health in their lives.  This blog will delve into a series of ideas and also define health so it may be easier to measure.  How we define health is key to finding ways to create a healthy community, population and beyond.

Fitness magazines, and personal trainers lead us to see health as fitness, the higher the concentration of lean, dense muscle, the healthier, supposedly, we are.  Though there are correlations between fitness and positive health outcomes, this is not a direct causation for health.  Pharmaceutical companies promote health and their products, by introducing medicines as forms of health management, or treatment.  This in and of itself is fine, however, treatment often times is a dollar short and a day late, when it comes to prevention.  Physicians, clinicians and health professionals alike focus on treatment as well, and have made wonderful strides to ensure patients and their numerous symptoms at treated.  In the book What Doctor's Think by Dr. Jerome Groopman, he suggests that doctors are asked to be superhuman more often and are required to accomplish tasks that put both the doctor and patients at risk.  All these factors define health in ways that exclude, restrict and segregate populations; like the elderly, poor, etc.

As we look at the image for this blog, we see an interesting diagram, something that stands out as odd, or concerning.  If care (or the access to it) ranks so little on what makes us healthy, why do we spend so much on it in the first place?  Also, if behavior is so important to health (which I completely agree), why do we spend so little on advancing or progressing this area?  These are very interesting and defining questions, so let's work to find the solution.

In this diagram, our environment is twice as important than our need for health services, likewise our genetics rank the same.  Also, on the left, health is defined by what we can control and the factors that we can't; which measure out to about thirty percent (genetics, and access to care).  The right model, emphasizes or defines health by what we have little control over, ranking behavior (and we'll assume "other" falls into our controllable) and other as twelve percent.  A quote comes to mind when looking at this model, William Glasser, refers to choices being a form of control, thus if we have limited choices in how we define and access health, we have limited control.  Though, I'd rather not, go "Big Brother" on the matter, but its interesting how little variation there is in what we spend on our health as a society.  We can see a much more balanced model on the left that gives us control to define health as we see fit, and as science confirms, contributes more fully to our overall health.

Having structure is one thing, and I'm completely okay with that.  However, confining structures reminds me of Henry David Thoreau's, "An unjust law, is no law at all" idea.  Structure that limits, excludes and weakens, isn't much of a structure, as much as it is a institution or confinement.  Our abilities are the essentials to health even from a holistic approach.  What we are able to do, should be the absolute definition that measures our health.  Our ability to run, live, work, play, socialize, love, pray, grow, and recover, truly defines our health.  So to define health we simply need to measure our ability to do.....

A life you don't live is still lost.  - John Rzeznik

The Big Word Theorem

Can looking for a big word, make us miss the point?

Can we as a society deem big words floccinaucinihilipilificatious?  Could we dare to shun conversations steeped in hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian from a society bent on over complication?  Either way, the theorem of big words lends to more underlying notions that shape our thought processes outside of just vocabulary.  Some time ago (even up until recent) using big words meant that you were intelligent or educated.  Big words, by definition consist of several syllables and more than nine or ten letters.  But this theory can define a lot of things we do, over and above what we say or how we say it.  Bigger is better, one television ad proclaimed.  But, is that true, or better yet, is that all?  What I mean by all, is, is the only thing thats good, big?  Can better be small, or can it be relative.  The Big Word Theorem is the idea that big words define what is pinnacle or "good" in our speech, and other aspects.  The whole notion that bigger is better exists greatly in this theorem.  But, we, those of us who enjoy the thought of defiance (within modest, or prude reason), notice that it's not the big word that deems it better, but the rare employment of the word.  Just as most of us have never seen, heard and quite frankly ever had to pronounce hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian, the usage of words that aren't readily accessible in our cognitive library points to how we define what is a "big word".  When often times, words like airling, bilk, and abrogate are just as scarcely used in common amicable circles.

Okay, so what does THIS have to do with health...?  Well, the theorem, confers the idea that health solutions (when looking at this under the microscope of the Big Word Theorem) need to be big, complex or even lean towards cumbersome (just like our hippo- word up there...).  When this isn't always, and hopefully not often the case.  Small and unique changes and plans can modify behaviors and improve lifestyles.  Small words that aren't used as much, lend to more manageable and easier to use ways of communicating, which in turn improve our speech.  Likewise, these small adjustments can improve our lifestyle gradually and allow us to feel better.  For instance, for soda drinkers, instead of cutting out soda cold turkey and moving towards water, as small adjustment to replace half of your intake to water or low calorie or sugar juice will encourage more gradual and sustainable change.  Of course, you'll want to build on that progress and soon, find the taste for soda far from your pallet.

Health indicators never start out as a big word, but small ones, linking together.  Like the letter a; by itself it isn't much of a word, but then if we add fore to the single letter it compounds.  Furthermore, if mentioned accompanied the previous, we now have aforementioned, which respectfully is a much larger word than what we started with.  This is similar to how disease and obesity seeps around us with little hesitation, but with great cautiousness. 

When looking for big words to define our success or abilities, we miss the point.  Not looking to over complicate or confuse matters saves time, energy and quite frankly lives.  If we're looking for big things to change our healthcare system, or community health, or our personal health; keep looking... It's a long way off, if it comes at all.  We'd do well to be conscious of the small and adequate solutions to our health that are manageable like our unassuming friend bilk.  Incremental changes allow us to be effective in both measuring and accomplishing our health goals and not waiting or actively searching for the next "big" thing.

The Big Word Theorem, is the notion that what is big is good or better and what is not isn't.  Our health is a big deal, big issue, and big question, but it doesn't need "big" things to solve it.  Small words are just as effective and more likely to find themselves in the mouths of people.  In the same instance, measurable and manageable health objectives are also key and most effective in sacking our dear opponent obesity and its disconcerting cousin disease.  Our efforts need to be geared towards behavior change, and prevention, this way we can all take an active approach to our own health.

So, how do you conquer a big mountain, long journey, or huge math problem?  One small manageable step at a time....