What Does It Mean to be "Well?"

Happy Daylight Savings Time!

Although this weekend was overcast, rainy, and cool, it sure felt good to have some added daylight in the evening hours! I'm just happy it wasn't snowing. I was pleased to run over 7.5 miles as I train for next weekend's St. Patrick's 10K.

I have been talking for several months now about the importance of adopting a wellness lifestyle. As you remember, I define wellness as: the degree to which an individual expresses health and vitality in any dimension of life."

Health and wellness are not synonymous. As you can tell from the definition, wellness isn't something you have or don't have. We all possess a degree of wellness. Also, you might notice that wellness is multi-dimensional. To move towards wellness, we must work on all three areas of wellness (physical, biochemical, and psychological) at the same time.

Wellness doesn't mean you are "invincible." Many people think if you live a balanced wellness lifestyle that you can never get sick or suffer from more significant illnesses. It is true that staying physically active, eating balanced nutritious meals, managing emotional stress and getting adjusted regularly will stack the odds in your favor. Unfortunately, life still happens. The only real cause of disease is the body's inability to adapt to/comprehend its environment. There is a limitation to what the body is capable of adapting to.

As the famous heart surgeon, Russ Reiss, once said (I'm paraphrasing), the odds are greater of you surviving open heart surgery if you bring a strong body to the table. Meaning, if you live a life of wellness it is possible you can still suffer a heart attack, stroke, cancer, etc. Your chances of survival and coming out of the health crisis on top are that much greater than your overweight, de-conditioned, depressed, diabetic, unemployed cousin. Another way of putting it, what would you rather live in if a tornado had to come through your neighborhood, a dilapidated mobile home or a solid brick home built to code?

As the stress of our culture mounts (i.e. unemployment, rising cost of living, sky-rocketing health care expenses, tanking stock market, terrorism, etc), we need to be stronger than ever. The stress of our culture is not going away anytime soon. Rather than retreating and playing defense, we must go on offense and grow through these times. Cellular biology dictates that growth and defensive physiology cannot occur at the same time.

Why this topic this week? I have developed a case of bronchitis. Rest is crucial to healing and getting better. Retreating, however, is not. Although I did take it easy today, I did not get down about it. I did not start eating potato chips, chocolate cake, etc. Actually, when you have illness symptoms it is best to increase your consumption of fruits, water, etc.

Next week, I will discuss why the symptoms of common illnesses are actually a blessing rather than our enemy (i.e. cough, running nose, vomiting, etc.)

Erie, join me in this wellness revolution! Let's reclaim our lives together!!

Until next week,

BE FIT EAT RIGHT THINK WELL

- Dr. Steve