Let’s Have a Health Care System Instead of a Disease Care System!

The National Institute of Health, the federal government’s top medical research agency, recently completed a study comparing the health of Americans with the health of individuals living in other affluent democracies. At the completion of the study, Dr. Stephen Woolf, the panel chairman, and a professor of family medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University, commented that he, and other panel members were struck by the gravity of the findings.

 

And what were those findings? According to The New York Times they were as follows:  American men ranked last in life expectancy among the 17 countries studied and American women ranked at or near the bottom in nine areas, including heart disease, chronic lung disease, obesity and diabetes.

 

The panel suggested a campaign to raise public awareness of the American health disadvantage and a study of what could alter this dismal picture.

 

I have a suggestion. How about a focus on prevention?

 

It has long been noted that the American medical system is focused on disease care.  Doctors attempt to fix sick people.

 

What Americans need is a health care system; a system that focuses on health and attempts to help people to create and maintain health.  This is called prevention and it is true health care—-not disease care.

 

Symptoms are the last stage of a disease process and by the time symptoms appear medical intervention is all too often too little too late.

 

On the other hand, Ayurveda, is a medical system that focuses on the elemental imbalances in the physiology.  Imbalances are readily assessed and identified by a well-trained Ayurvedic practitioner.  In the Ayurveda handbook are a plethora of interventions that can be utilized to restore balance.  It is unattended imbalances that eventually become symptoms.  Ayurveda nips these in the bud!

 

A few medical schools have incorporated Ayurveda into their curriculum.  Some western trained physicians have turned their attention toward Ayurveda.  In many cities there are Vaidyas (Ayurvedic practitioners) working to help people create and maintain health.  If you are interested in learning if there is a Vaidya in your zip code you can check out the NAMA (National Ayurvedic Medical Association) website.

 

It is time for Americans to become health conscious.  It is time for our medical system to stop being a disease care system and to become a health care system.  It is our hope that the current study by the National Institute of Health will push us in the right direction!

 

As always, Sandra and I wish you perfect health and happiness!

 

 

 

www.depressionproofyourlife.com

A Lifetime of Liveliness and Energy

Is life short or long?  I suppose it all depends on how you look at it.  Days can pass quickly.  Unhappy times seem to go on and on; while times of great joy pass in a flash.  Young people cannot imagine becoming old and believe that “old age” will never happen to them.  Older people look back and are amazed that the years passed by so quickly and that they have reached an age defined as “old” or “elderly.”

Recently a friend of mine visited his hometown and saw a group of his high school friends for the first time in a long while.  His friends had been athletes in high school, in shape and vigorous.  He told me that he was saddened to see how time had taken its toll on so many of his friends.  Several of them were extremely overweight.  A few suffered from diabetes type 2.  There were those who had battled cancer and heart disease and those who looked weak, ill and just plain “old.”

My friend said he left the group feeling grateful for his health and vitality.  Should he be grateful or should he be patting himself on the back?

I think he should be doing both of the above.

There is no doubt that a tendency to good health is genetic.  At the same time, we know that more illnesses can be prevented and Ayurveda teaches us that it is possible for the vast majority of us to enjoy a healthy and happy old age.  Old age will come knocking at your doorstep and, of course,  you want to enter this stage of life with a vital physiology.

The human physiology is an aspect of the natural world and if we do not live according to the Laws of Nature we will experience disease and a less than delightful old age.  Living life according to the Laws of Nature is more than common sense but once one learns the basic concepts following the directives is easy.  In our book Healing Depression the Mind-Body Way Sandra and I explain these concepts in detail.  Whether you wish to avoid depression or strive to have a healthy old age the answers are the same:  keep doshic balance and clear the physiology of toxins (ama).

The three doshas (Vata, Pitta, and Kapha) operate in the macrocosm of the universe as well as in the microcosm of the human being.  Every aspect of the natural world, including the human being, is a pattern of intelligence, and it is the doshas that govern the workings of this pattern of intelligence.  Knowing how the doshas influence your individual mind and body is the key to functioning in harmony with nature.  The necessary tools are awareness and intentionality.  Awareness of how the doshas function allows us to become intentional about our daily choices and habits in order to keep our physiology in a state of balance.  Had my friend’s buddies had this awareness I believe they, for the most part, would be enjoying vitality, not illness, in their old age.  Read about the doshas in Chapter 3 of Healing Depression the Mind-Body Way.

  Ama is the Ayurvedic word for toxic accumulation.  Whereas Western medicine focuses primarily on putting substances into the body (such as medicines) Ayurveda has always considered purification of the physiology – getting things out –  to be equally important for health maintenance.

According to Ayurveda,  “gunk “is what causes disease because it blocks the free flow of our innate intelligence at different levels of our being.  This gunk, or ama, is the product of inefficient metabolism.  There are three types of ama:  physical, mental, and emotional.  Physical ama obstructs our biological processes and is formed when the food we eat is not digested properly. Emotional ama is a residue carried from one experience to another, obstructing the full enjoyment of the here and now.  Mental ama blocks access to our inner knowledge, our intuition.  Ama cements depression and illness.  A physiology filled to the brim with ama will not be a physiology capable of an active and healthy old age.  Read about how to prevent the accumulation of toxins in the mind-body in Healing Depression the Mind-Body Way.

Once disease invades the mind-body it becomes very difficult to return to vitality and good health.  Old age will sneak up on each of us one day at a time but this stage of life doesn’t have to be a time of misery.  Ayurveda gives us all the information we need to enter old age with vitality and happiness.  We just need to apply the information in our own lives.  We encourage you to begin to learn about the doshas and ama today and to prepare for a vital future and a totally enjoyable old age!

 

Thanks for reading and have a great week,