The Innate Escape... (Part 3, Spiritual)

Where did this go?

Isn't it true, there's something almost euphoric, or pure about the happiness or glee of a baby.  When we look at children (babies in particular) we see this innocence that rivals even the most honest-hearted man or woman, eclipsing  all our efforts of good and cheer, leaving us in awe of their delight.  They have it figured out, don't they? Scientists list human babies as one of the most vulnerable newborns on planet earth.  Rightfully so, at least infant zebras can walk, though with some difficulty, they walk nonetheless.  However, the potential of the two (zebra and human infant) are vastly different, one will excel to amazing abilities that mark them highest on the food chain, while the other, sadly enough, may find the speed and strength of the lion insurmountable.  

This aspect of health deals with the baby - no, more so its spirit.  We will discuss how this unrivaled beauty embraces spirit, and if competent and compassionate enough, we too can garner some of that goodness within ourselves.  Spiritual health is often discussed in a abstract manner, as not to conflict with popular belief or to create what we want in spirituality.  Take a moment and look again at the picture, just as Mona Lisa's smile tells so many stories, this picture too, shows us how to smile from within.  Happiness is fleeting, but joy is internal.  Being happy with yourself and believing it, are the foundations of growth beyond one's perceived limits.  An infant doesn't worry about tomorrow, or what he or she is wearing (or if they're wearing anything at all...), life isn't scary, nor cumbersome.  Their joy is in the moment, however, their confidence (though that idea and word is far removed from them at the moment) is in the strength, love, and mercy of their parents.  

Let's delve into this a little, remember, human infants are the most vulnerable of creatures this world produces, thus, they are helpless and completely dependent on their guardians for help.  In like manner, a good guardian is always there, even when they're not needed (or so it may seem), to ensure that their needs are met.  When a baby cries, it's consoled, when it's hungry it's fed until there is no more want.  Lastly, it's given attention in such quantity (and with admirable quality, I might add) that the child has to escape to rest to conclude the activities.  All these are innate in all of us, thus, escaping to that respective place is possible and at a turn necessary.  

Spirituality isn't our creation, though the word was created by us, the idea existed far before we labeled it.  With that being said, spirituality isn't what can we do for it, rather, what can our spirituality can do for us.  Just like that infant we too need to develop trust and rely on spirituality to guide, protect and keep us while we meander through this most difficult and sometimes daunting existence.  Wouldn't it be great to have the responsibility of an infant, which is to say none?  Well, that may not be possible, but to a measure, we could learn to give place to the idea of making things simpler for ourselves.  

The idea of God comes to mind when addressing the rank of spirituality, and rightfully so.  However, let us not be bound by foolish thought and think that a God is invisible.  The word God, is nothing more than a title.  This simple explanation will make sense, once we define the title itself.  Anything that you value as supreme, all that is complete and is zenith in our lives can hold the title of a God.  With this foundation, now it is easier to see what we cherish most, and there our spirituality will be best placed.  We as human beings, especially in the US, we find "things" to consume a large portion of that definition.  Stuff, put simply, has a high value amongst us, and not to overly criticize, some of the stuff we see is pretty cool.  However, it's just stuff....  

Our spiritual health will rely on our ability to peek through the mire of material, and place our focus on defining our spirituality to accomplish super human feats.... And why not, if it is humanly possible, than how much faith, and hope should it require, not much.... The infant, so proudly displayed above reflects spirituality by giving way to joy, and enjoying the moment of life it has so preciously been introduced to.  Though, it is impossible to revert (and frankly, counterproductive) we would be fortunate to love, laugh, live, play and enjoy others to such a degree.  

Being complete is our goal as humans, and our spiritual health is a key part of that.  Let your spiritual health be defined by things unimaginable by mankind, but by the things unrivaled in this world.  Stuff  will always be here, and new stuff is only tomorrows old stuff.  Look to love, and laugh everyday, be encouraging and uplifting to all you come in contact with.  Live like you've been truly forgiven and love like your life depended on it.  Be kind to yourselves, and never let a moment go by without telling all who are deserving, how wonderful they are to you.  

Live like you'll never die, because you just may not.........

What Emoticon's Can't Convey... (Part 2, Emotion)

Sometimes our emotions are misunderstood...

Health can sometimes be trial by fire.  Often times we only know how good our health is, by experiencing points of poor health or injury.  However, we'll discuss a segment of health that rivals social and most all other aspects of health.  This being our emotions, most often referred to as our inner selves. This enigma stems from so many factors; for instances or experiences, likes, dislikes, fears, beliefs, hopes and our background.  To venture effectively down this once taboo road, we need to really stress how important our emotions are.  Our emotions drive so many aspects of our life and tend to cloud better judgement if we aren't careful.  I liken our emotions to a  sword, there are multiple uses, yet the purpose of it is clear.  Our emotions serve so many purposes, they protect us, guide us, inspire us, and comfort us, all the while they are all small parts of the complete us. 

 

How are our emotions related to health?  Well, that would be easy for most of us, but let's think of this in a more constructive fashion.  With the epidemic of obesity looming on several corners, signs and commercials, we have very little doubt that this is a serious issue.  Can our emotions be a culprit, or can our emotions be the identifying factor why we have this issue in the first place?  Though, some could draw basic conclusions to eating disorders as a clue to how emotions affect obesity and health, we however, cannot rely on general knowledge or surface thoughts to measure emotion's role in our health struggles. We need a more challenging and full spectrum approach to even glean slight understandings to what's really happening in our society.  

We will discuss, as legitimate factors, stress, suppression, optimism and change.  These effect our emotions everyday and have the greatest impact on our emotional well-being, thus our health as well.  The first of these, stress, is a serious issue.  I define stress as such, "Stress is not the presence of a problem, but the absence of an answer."  When we have no answers for our problems, we can find ourselves stressed.  Sometimes we may have the answer, but cannot come to terms with it.  Either way stress is related to many health conditions including hypertension, heart-attack and stroke.  We would do well to take time to diligently search for solutions, or if there isn't one, come to terms with the circumstance with a resilient resolve to manage it effectively.  

Suppression, is our ability to feel as if we have to keep our emotions from ourselves.  As odd as that may sound, it is rather common and quite dangerous.  Giving place to our emotions is healthy, we are our own worst critics sometimes, however, we need to express ourselves freely.  Though tact and positivity be our guide, we need to understand that what we've experienced, saw, or felt was real and affected us.  By giving space to such thoughts we give ourselves the opportunity to live and heal from less than pleasant experiences.  In regards to optimism, this one is rather disheartening, and from my vantage point, it isn't us to blame.  I find that our ever pressing and unstable society crams our thoughts and optimism with unceasing intensity.  Job security, crime, vanishing IRA's, unyielding debt, rising costs of living, and many other distresses causes one to have a unhealthy dose of doubt and uncertainty.  This coupled with our own personal matters, makes it easy to see how, being optimistic is more a word than a way of thinking. 

Lastly, change, this one, I believe is beautiful and scary at times.  Change, and being comfortable with change are skills that we need to hone and embrace.  In our ever changing world we need to know things will NOT stay the same.  The good old days, are mere moments and the moments we experience have changed so fast we often forget them.  If we look positively for the change to come with a "Could be good, could be bad, it's too soon to tell" attitude we will fair well.  

Coping with emotions can be difficult, sometime we can struggle on how to identify with them, or even how to share our feelings effectively.  Though this was a surface discussion, that if given the time, could be a novel or dense public discussion on many levels, we can see that our emotions play a vital part in our personal assimilation and growth.  Our emotions are misunderstood, even by us, having a positive view takes effort and rightfully so.  

What we know, how we learn and what we apply can affect how we think, thus, in turn, shape our emotions.  I believe Bertrand Russell said, "The degree of one's emotions varies inversely with one's knowledge of the facts."  Being cognitively fit means knowing who we are and settling with the idea that we will never stop growing.  

Take to Talking... (Part 1, Social)

We are all characters, but we aren't all playing our part.

We have approached a new segment that delves into the thought of the seven dimensions of wellness.  These, though rather new to our thinking, are in fact primary and fundamental ideals of how the human body functions.  We pick up our thought here, at the first part of wellness; prior to that, we should define wellness.  Wellness is the state of well-being, though this concept is more abstract the essential identifying mark is measured in our ability.  Our ability to do the simplest of tasks, ranging toward the more difficult or complex, this ability aids us in measuring our overall wellness.  

When asked, "How are you doing?", what comes to mind?  What aspect of your life are you basing your response off of?  Is it the recent experience at work or school, is it the level of comfort you have with the person asking, or do we base it off an agile or alert evaluation of our physical health?  The idea yields to the concept of wellness; all of those factors play into the response and should be factored in appropriately.  Wellness is a culmination of all that we experience, feel, and interact with.  Such a simple question, but such a loaded response... 

The first segment of wellness we will discuss together is Social Wellness.  With a key understanding of wellness we can confidently address our social wellness.  Our society is quite the oddity isn't it?  We live by agreement, yet we thrive on reassurance, all the while making unconscious yet pointed efforts to isolate ourselves.  The dichotomy of our society and its social makeup can be confusing.  When is a good time to speak, should you speak, how to speak and the like can be intimidating and also confusing.  What is a friend, or who do you divulge information to, and how much also make matters of social engagement disconcerting.  Being yourself has become so popular that everyone is the same, we run from conformity for conformity sake, yet we yield to the primitive and essential idea that collaboration and community are the staples of life.  Balancing this all while trying to find a niche (if you will) in the social arena can make for strange and sometimes, humorous occurrences.  

The ability to have a social experience with others is necessary and often substituted for a more manageable and accepting backup.  This backup is the realm of technology, where we have no face, but the one we want, and have a voice more scripted and without the inflection of meaning and sincerity.  A place where miles and borders are mere formalities and lines.  A place where Egypt, Alaska, and Japan are all as close as arms reach.  However, this isn't without its flaws and shortcomings, who we are or who we are speaking with may not be fact.  Intentions, and ideals may be unclear and deception is as probably (if not more so) as success.  

Speaking, interacting and having a physical relation with others can not be ignored or devalued.  We are finding the written and verbal arts deteriorate at alarming pace.  Conversing with others and engaging in social context are becoming prized events, rather than the norm.  Our society is a busy one, and becoming more the case as we "progress".  Our social health depends on our ability to function in our society effectively.  Text messages, social media and the like have their respective place in our society and serve a purpose.  However, it would be unwise of us to supplant our innate design to have a healthy social experience, for the injudicious stints of updates, likes, favorites and "lol's". 

This is not to say social media is bad, but to say it is essential is rather troubling too.  The more we plug in we disconnect, the same way the more we break the mold we set the pattern.  Social health is very important and young and old can truly benefit from it.  Our older populations are often isolated and illnesses can begin to express themselves; our younger population the same, start to find less than desirable things to occupy their minds when fronted with anti-socialism. 

Lifting weights and eating kale is all fine and well, but that's not all there is to health.  We need to be more diverse and more open and engage in all aspects of our lives.  We don't just clean the outside of a dirty cup do we?  Likewise, we pay attention to all parts, ensuring that we are complete.  Have fun, and truly enjoy the ability to socialize, we learn so much from one another and strengthen one another in the process.  Human interaction seems to be going out of style in some parts.  Lets resolve to bring it back.    

Out of the Mouth, Healing...

Our speech can be likened to our diets.

When discussing the power of our words Dr. Maya Angelou went as far as to suggest that, the power of words had lasting and remaining effects on the human, tangible sphere.  To this point we indulge in another journey through thought to, in hopes, evoke some level of personal change.  

The amount of words spoken each day, in each city, in each part of the world has to be one of the largest and most unmeasurable statistics there is.  We communicate through the spoken word and have come to evolve our language to express detail and impactful thoughts and emotions.  We've come to understand how to convey numbers so large that only characters and letters could comprehend their mass.  We've expressed love, hate, struggle and betrayal all with the finesse of the written and spoken word.  So, what we ingest through the written and spoken word could also impact us, just as what we take in through our diet could.  Both yielding results that are representative of what we've taken in.  

With Dr. Angelou's theory in mind, which lends to the idea the words are tangible, could we for a moment think of words as fragments of matter that are formed, seasoned, energized and then released into the air around us?  With this being so, could words affect us personally?  Well, we all know the answer to that, so without going down that road, let's dig a little to see what else we can glean from this idea.  We hear the sayings, words hurt, and words sting, we also hear words can up build and words can strengthen.  How can letters formed together and expressed through audible sounds create a physical reaction?  It would seem Dr. Angelou's theory is no more theory than actuality.  If a word could cause pain, just as a strike or internal body malfunction (which are both physical manifestations), then it would be reasonable to assign them a measure of physical property.  

For the more versed and well rounded, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue..." Proverbs 18:21 (NWT).  In a simplified way, good and bad words have lasting and serious affects.  How impactful, then, are words that strike with the intent to harm?  To the contrasting side, how wonderful and appreciative are words that build up?  Verbal abuse has often been listed as the one most hurtful and lasting form of abuse.  Why?  The scour of hurtful words can have lasting and often deep seeded affects on our emotions or psyche.  Words can be used as the cheapest, quickest and easily accessible munitions with long range, high impact and devastating outcome.  Moreover, words, like bad experiences, are far harder to remove and shape how we engage the world around us.  

So, then, what does this have to do with health (which is the premise)?  Obesity, is a physical manifestation of more secluded and deeper emotions and thoughts most of the time.  Be advised, that there are forms of obesity that have little to do with diet and are results of malfunctioning Thyroids; however, these  contribute to a significantly small percentage of the population. In the article Who Is Food? We discussed how food satiates emotional and psychological gaps within us.  Some (if not a large number of) these gaps arise from past experiences that have hurt us or caused us to think less of ourselves.  Words from a loved one or close friend or spouse could have ignited a poor perception of us in our minds and causes personality traits that could damage our esteem or outlook.  

Encouragement, is critical and essential to all of us.  Health requires that we are encouraged to forge ahead making decisions that require discipline and confidence.  Doctors, nurses, personal trainers, physical therapists, surgeons, public health officials, community health liaisons and many more should be the voice and pillar of encouragement.  More than those, are our friends and loved ones, these make up our life and support system.  Health is a community effort, especially since disease has a corporate reach.  What we say, shows sincerely, what we mean and intend.  How vital it is as health professionals, and friends it is to resolve to always up build our colleagues, friends and communities to achieve the best or the most good we can.  Our speech is one of the few things we can control, and yet it is one of the many things we allow to spew forth discouragement, disdain and separations.  

Mental health, and community health relies on our ability to speak in a way, and work in a way that implies our endearment for better.  Inconsistency in our speech could convey inconsistencies on our abilities.  A healthy mind reflects on what we should say and how we could say it, this being said, let health be a mental attitude as much as a internal one.  Happy is healthy, just as confidence is a sign of health as well.  Both, are subject to the harms and attacks of someones speech.  

In closing, "do not withhold a kind saying, if it is in your power to do so..."

What does it take to blossom (Part 6)

A flower's uniqueness is its own, but a flower earns its grace from its stem

During this migration through thought and botany, I feel it is fair to address the objective of this series once more.  Movement of the Mind is dedicated to providing insight to focus on cognitive plyometrics.  Cognitive plyometrics is indeed necessary, with all the discussion in our society of being fit, exercising and eating healthy, very little asks us to think differently.  "We will never be what we never think", we as human beings are obligated to use our thinking faculties to generate not only thoughts, but change.  Before conditioning the body, which is important, we need to exercise  the ability to think, rationalize, and reason.  The most important muscle in the body, is often under worked and over strained and under appreciated.  I am a firm believer in health and the magic of proper diet and exercise.  I am more enthused by how we think and why we think about matters pertaining not only to us but our surroundings.

In this piece of What it takes to Blossom I am intrigued to go with you down this path of understanding on the significance of the stem or pedicel.  The stem is often overlooked and devalued as a part of the plant, but not distinctly part of the flower.  The stem is often portrayed as the "thing" that supports the flower upright.  However, the larger the flower the stronger the stem, right?  A stem actually does more than just support the beauty that is the flower, but it is its main source of life and energy.  A flower's uniqueness is it's own, but the flower earns its grace from its stem.  The stem distributes food to all parts of the flower and also transports energy and nutrients from the roots.  All this happens while the flower lauds its grandeur to the world.

What about us?  What is our stem?  More importantly, if we have a stem, is it providing the essentials of what is needed to put forth the best us?  While I can't answer that for your, I do implore you to search your thoughts appropriately for the answer.  But, let's digress a bit.  What is a stem in our case anyway?  Our stem could be linked to our exercise or active leisure.  -Wait ...What?!  Well, yes, having a measure of physical activity, can be likened to the stem of a flower.  Let's look at some similarities and let's see if exercise could be interchanged.  A stem is a source of energy, offers balance (both physical and emotional), provides nutrients, source of strength, has the ability to support, and provides a connection to our roots (Read Part 4 of this series regarding roots).

It's almost uncanny the comparison, the ties between the two.  But, don't worry, this is not a suggestion to start power-lifting and mountain climbing.  Physical activity or active leisure time can be a family event or mild enough for the most novice of exercisers.  Yet and still it is very important to incorporate into our daily existence. 

Being active is subjective, but the effects are not.  Having either active leisure time or exercise can also reduce the effects of some chronic conditions and lower the risk of them appearing in the first place.  A stem only exists to support the flower, so, physical activity should only be a means to support us.  There is a healthy balance between too much exercise, or exercise consuming our existence, and too little exercise, or giving no credulity to its life changing power.  So the question now is, how strong is our stem?  Could you attest to the strength and effectiveness of your physical activity or stem?  Notice the two points that represent the stem, both strength and effectiveness.

A stem strong and almost woody, but cannot transport nutrients bodes well for no one.  Eventually that strength becomes irrelevant and the flower dies.  But, when coupled with effectiveness the stem can provide the positives and be strong enough to support the flower and both can thrive and put forth the amazing wonder we see in gardens and fields today.  Can we label our physical activity as both strong, or engaging and effective, beneficial and sustainable?  If so, congrats, and if not, there's work to do.

Physical activity can be much more sustainable in a community setting, just as a field of flowers stand more impressive and stronger together.  We as a society can do this, it will take sacrifice and discipline, but tell me, what worth while in life doesn't?  I find a lot of people have given up or lost their ability to try.  This disheartening reality is becoming more and more apparent, especially in our youth.  Can a flower exist aside from the petal, or pistil?  Then we would do well to understand that the stems supports us in all aspects of our life.  Finding someone, a friend, partner or group to share in this realm of life can make the difference and prove most successful.  Let our stem not define us but refine us and help us put forth the most radiant, beautiful and best us.

"If you want to go somewhere fast you run, but if you want to go far you bring a friend" - Old African Proverb

 
 

Whose Elephant Is This Anyway?!

Why does the idea of a multifaceted solution concept seem so absurd in a multifaceted world?

In a world plagued with differentiating views, ideas, resolves, stances and approaches, is it fair to approach health and health literacy in a single linear fashion?  I mean, a one size fits all approach to multifaceted health problems.  Well, if we look at obesity and disease they seem to have distinct identifying marks.  Obesity, simply put is excess weight on the body, which in turn may lead to more severe co-morbidities.  Disease, in the same fashion, is a disorder or malfunction in the body.  Two very simple definitions, but very difficult opponents to sack.  In reading February 2011's Scientific American by David H. Freedman on, How To Fix The Obesity Crisis, they found that there are a lot of confined ideas that, though with good intention, were isolating or relating obesity and its causes to individual (or linear) aspects of life.  For example, claiming that soda is linked to obesity, and causes obesity.  Though, soda does have high concentrations of sugar and carries three percent of your daily sodium intake; it isn't equitable.

The parable of the four blind men and the elephant (which was referred to in the article), lends to an idea, a notion of looking at the same problem and finding different faults or causes within it.  The men, though genuinely impartial, described an animal based on two factors 1) their position, or vantage point, and 2) their feelings, or interpretation.  The fable continues to lead the reader to assume that what object their identifying is completely different and in stark contrast to one another.  All this, later to find that it's all the  same and the view point of each man is correct and justified.

If compared, we too at times look as if we're grasping for answers blindly, as the four men were.  Not confident in any one approach and hoping to find something to slow the mountainous ebb of increasing obese and diseased populations in America.  If lucky or fortunate, we'll find something, anything to stand behind and sell to the nation and the world that will "fix" this serious problem.  However, there is a Judas amongst the crowd, a modern day adversary.

The adversary is just as diversiformed as the solution that insist to tame it.  This adversary is all of us, and in that same breathe none of us at all.  The way we eat, and exercise, gives light that we are our own enemy.  On the other hand our ability to exercise in safe or adequate areas and what we have access to eat confers that the inculpation lies with another entity.  Is the enemy soda, juice, sugar, bread, fat or even salt?  Or is it exercise, behavior, location, ethnicity, demographic, race, money, or infrastructure?

Instead of looking to best define and isolate the elephant that lies in our grip, we would do well to unite the differences and understand why they exist in such close proximity.  In other words, the causes of obesity and its abhorrent cousin disease exist in close proximity with many other problems in our society.  For instance, fast foods versus whole foods, exercise versus cultural influence, and to these points they can be argued pro for both ends to some extent.

The parable doesn't answer the questions of health and in many cases answer very little at all.  However, it opens our minds to stop being answer gathers and shifts us to question "askers".  Our linear perception can be the very intangible thought that separates us from asking the right questions.  So, whose elephant is this anyway?!  ...It's mine, ...and yours and the person a far off from you.  The elephant isn't so much the problem as much as our insistence on what we feel as being absolute and without variance.

The article suggests that fixing the ongoing  problem could find great success by using best practices from other like conditions (alcoholism, drug addiction and autism) to slow or even reverse the effects. Isn't it true that there are so many different ailments we face and contend with today?  Hundreds of different disease, and chronic conditions that afflict so many people everyday.  If we could describe all of them they would look, sound and feel so different from one another; but to our surprise they belong to the same elephant... health. 

"By logic and fact alone can perception be laid waste..."

San Francisco bound!

Due to my trip to San Francisco coming up very shortly, I wanted to post my write-up that I'll be presenting on at the American Public Health Association Conference on Monday, October 29th.  I appreciate all those who've supported me and continue to do so.  I hope all of you enjoy reading this as much as I have doing it.  Thank you!

Measuring Health through Awareness

By Jason D. Gillette

We can come to understand how   health is defined across cultures, populations and gender by altering how we measure awareness. This study is based on research which suggests that effective wellness programs can reduce absenteeism, sick time and improve productivity.  Wellness programs also make respective companies more attractive to future employees while reducing attrition for current staff.  Some of the most pressing issues in our society are disease and obesity.  We find the affects of these negative health outcomes far reaching and threatening across cultures, subgroups and socioeconomic stratifications.  

This research is designed to design wellness programs based on simple measurements  and to improve health awareness and implications in any community setting.  This program is low cost and yields modest improvements in overall health and health perceptions.

The objective of this study is to focus on accountability and education as the primary factors in stimulating positive health implication change.  We are held accountable in almost every aspect of our lives, whether it’s occupational, family, colleagues and/or friends.  Being held to some level of accountability is a natural occurrence and is healthy for those types of relationships.  This may help an individual excel, have higher standards or even help define what type of relationships they choose to manage.  

  

“The factor that interestingly moved their perception the most was the presence of high and consistent exercise minutes monthly.”

Two important characteristics which are not heavily used or considered with regards to improvement of a persons health, are accountability and perception.  These two aspects are vital in moving our society into a more health conscious state.  Accountability is key to finding success. By holding a participant answerable to the health information provided, we can see if they understand and/or applied the information.  

Perception is very important. It  gives the facilitator a window into the participant’s own interpretation of their health and well-being.  Their own interpretation can be compared to their anthropometrics and analyzed to see what factors drive their perception.  We’ve created a Nutritional Block Score (NBS Score) to assess a participants perception. This (3) block diagram measured their view of 1) nutrition, 2) body composition and 3) their level of fitness.  Participants were asked to choose a number between one and ten (one being poor and ten being excellent) for each category.  Once we’ve totaled these numbers, we divided them by the total number of blocks used, which gives us their NBS score.  

What we found was by gathering their anthropometrics and their own perception, we noticed correlations between high BMI and low (or poor) perceptions.  When a participants perception of their health is lower than (5) this is considered a low overall perception.  A low perception is defined as a negative perspective of a participants overall health.  The presence of high nutritional scores did not yield to high perceptions as we imagined it would initially.  The factor that interestingly moved their perception the most was the presence of high and consistent exercise minutes monthly.  We saw this consistently over all participants, even if their BMI was higher than normal weight.

Physical activity (PA) has been known to releases endorphins that alter our moods and energy levels.  This may be a key factor as to why we see positive perception change in participants with high exercise minutes.  We can see this being important, as it can help create better environments at work, school, communities and in our personal lives.  Another interesting occurrence was most female participants had significantly lower perceptions of themselves in comparison to their male counterparts, though their anthropometrics were respectably higher.  Reasons or possible causations for this occurrence were not researched further during this analysis.   

 In our time with Chicanos Por La Causa Senior Management and Executive Board Members, we discovered health was defined by facets that had little to do with biometrics and anthropometric results.  

Health included more dimensions than waist circumference and BMI.  How one perceived their energy levels, body composition and their family life seemed to affect their perception of their own health more.  One of the most important stats which seemed to be concomitant with their NBS score was the presence of exercise in each participant.  Exercise minutes most acutely had an impact on participants NBS score.  If one had low exercise minutes, their overall perception of their health was low. If the individual had respectably high exercise minutes, their NBS score reflected more positively.  

During this research program, exercise was not measured by level of intensity. This would suggest that any level of exercise would suffice in changing ones perception of their health.  This becomes all-important as varying ages and abilities can benefit from such a program.  This will aid individuals to create a more positive sense of wellness and self-worth.  Creating change in a participants lifestyle is important for weight-loss, and can reduce the likelihood of chronic disease.  Information was very influential in aiding the management team to start making changes to their overall health.  Once they were informed of how to make changes, and why, we could see improvement in dietary scores and NBS scores overall.  

My recommendation would be that the healthcare provider partnering with Chicanos Por La Causa implement a wellness program focused on creating sustainable exercise activities which promote employee or group interaction.  Holding all participants accountable by quarterly weigh-ins and monthly presentations will guarantee success, improve employee satisfaction and productivity.

In our findings, though the data is still being compiled; there is a close correlation between employees exercise minutes and increased health perceptions according to their NBS Score.  The data suggests that as little as 200 minutes per month improves our health perception 0.8 points on our NBS Score.  This is significant for the fact that our perception plays such a large role in how we manage our health and how we implement healthy living into our lives.  

Increasing our physical activity (PA) 200 minutes per month is as easy at walking for 20 minutes ten days a month, or exercising for 30 minutes more than six times a month. 

Our current objective will be to partner with Chicano Por La Causa’s healthcare provider to implement physical activity programs that will help us reach this goal and monitor the increase through further research.  The level of accountability played a large role in seeing increase in how participants reacted to the information provided.  This helped all active participants to maintain or experience moderate weight loss.  Through accountability, participants also increased exercise minutes, thus showing increases in their NBS Score over the year.