Elements That Can Contribute to Life Being Unhealthy - Assignment Example

Introduction: Health has been defined and perceived in different manners by different generations and cultures differently at various points of time. The Bible for example, expresses health in terms of Wholeness identifiable with the word "Shalom”. This in essence in inclusive of the all rounds aspects of personal well being-including the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual, both of the individual and of the community (Soorajakool and Lamberton, 2004). Whether or not one should include all aspects of life in the manner of living healthy is an issue that ahs often been under the scanner. In modern terminology, a single definition that satisfies the definition of health in a universal manner is one provide by the World Heath organization. This particular definition states- “Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO, 1948). Being complete or the state of being complete or wholesome covers the physical, the mental, and the social well-being of every individual within the scope of his or her uniqueness. The idea of health, if one was to follow this definition would therefore encompass not just the physical but the mental and the spiritual well being of an individual making the concept of health identifiable with the essential underlying philosophies of existence. Abstract: The following work is an attempt to understand the intricacies of being healthy in a world that is characterized by forces adept at making people miserable and hence unhealthy. For the purpose of analysis and experimentation, I undertook the task of identifying and solving all of the elements in my life that have contributed to my life being unhealthy. For this purpose therefore, I kept a weekly journal over a six week period wherein I identified on a weekly basis the healthy and unhealthy aspects of life and lifestyle choices. In order to achieve the purposes of my set goals, I have first tried to identify and evaluate the state of my personal well-being. In doing so I have had to identify the various facets of my all round health and give weightage to the areas that required special care due to stress and unhealthy character identification. I then applied the principles of naturopathy to my daily lifestyle and living, with special focus on the problem areas which had been the cause of my overall unhealthiness. The report is in essence a chronicle of my application of the naturopathy principles to the problem areas and an account of the gradual betterment I achieved in a comprehensive manner due to the implementation of these principles in my lifestyle and daily living choices. Fig 1: The Health Wheel Health and Wholesomeness: The health wellness wheel that has been represented by Figure 1 shows 7 essential elements of health and wholesomeness, that one has to achieve in order to be called truly healthy. These can in turn be classified in four essential categories namely the physical health, the emotional health, the spiritual health and the intellectual health affecting the four essential parts of our being-the body, the emotions, our spirit and our minds respectively (Emotional Wellness). An exploration of the various aspects of health can help in the promotion of a more holistic sense of wellness. In the most conservative and traditional sense, the focus of health discussion and studies has primarily been on “cure” by treating symptoms of illness, removing diseased areas of our bodies, and re-linking our body’s mechanics (Snyder, 2003). These all have great value and help many individuals. However, there are also many treatments not fully integrated into our health care system offered by other cultures and health philosophies. This is the basic identification of the health explanation that would form the background of much of the discussion to follow. Before going into the identification of my personal well-being and the levels of wholesomeness, I thought it would also be interesting to understand some of the standard debates that outline the achievement of emotional and spiritual wellness. Emotional wellness is a part of the overall health dynamic that is difficult to understand and harder to quantify. If one is not happy or satisfied, does this mean that the person is mentally, emotionally or spiritually unhealthy? Since it is the very nature of human being to crave for more and to never be satisfied, can a person ever really achieve this sense of mental happiness and consequentially a healthy state of being? The emotional wellness dimension demands that one gives equal priority to all of the identified part sof the health wholesomeness system if it is to continue serving well. The mind and the body are interrelated. Therefore like one feeds, exercise and rest the body, one would need also to nurture the mind physically, mentally, emotionally and intellectually. This refers in essence having a degree of emotional intelligence and an ability to discriminate between your available choices. Much of the advanced culture now demands that we be individualized and self dependent beings, a trend that focuses on the advancement of the self above all else. One must however be aware of the necessities of recognizing instances when one would need seek help, advice or professional guidance. The mental wellness aspect of the emotional dimension of wellness is also to do with whether one approaches life circumstance with an approach inclusive of practicality. One cannot for instance, have high expectations and goals with no sense of the manner in which to go about achieving them. This essentially means that goals of life or even the targets that one sets for himself at the beginning of each day need to be realistic and achievable or else one is juts getting him or herself up for failure and therefore for mental and intellectual unhealthiness. Added to this one needs to accept that it is impossible to bear the weight of all the expectations that everyone has of a certain person. There is a line between the acceptance of responsibility and of trying to please everyone by attempting to do everything at the same time. It is very easy to attach blame to other people for the things or events in life that don't go according to plan. ‘Blaming' can happen on many levels and in some instances can be very subtle. Health Log: If I had to analyze my health and present state of being before I started the exercise, there are some issues that I can say in hindsight that were difficult to identify and even more tough to accept and deal with. I realized that immense workload along with family pressures had started taking its toll on my health in as much as that daily headaches that started somewhere mid day and stayed with me almost all day had become so a part of my system that I had stopped paying attention these as a manifestation of the intense stress that I was under. I Interestingly enough I realized that the mental and the physical are the two parts of our wholesomeness that are completely attached to each other. These relate to not just out capacity to manage sufficiently uncomfortable scenarios, but also the curveballs thrown at us, challenging our ability to maintain a healthy sense of perspective in our daily lives. .beside the headaches and the general feeling of discomfort about always being back on something my life seemed to consist merely of catching up with the things that I was always left behind on-the cooking, my laundry, and work. In fact, in retrospect I can now say with some degree of assurance that I was truly unhealthy in a number of ways. Beside this, there were some lifestyle choices that I had made, which seemed to having repercussions now. I used to be a smoker a few years back, smoking gave me a sense of relaxation is stressful situations. I quit recently, but the rising levels of stress in my life were making me crave again, a decision I knew I would not be able to postpone for a long time. I had the burdens of my family expectations on me and was not doing too well at school. Of the four identified areas of wellness, therefore I could not identify two essential areas that needed my attention- the physical and the emotional. Given the fact that I had innumerable responsibilities on me at all times, eating meals and following a regular sleep pattern became last in my list of priorities. This also manifested itself in my eating irregular meals, straight out of the tin, absence of many essential parts of the dietary essentials in my daily dose. Keeping this in mind then I identified the principles of naturopathy that would find application to the process that I was about to embark on- the process of emotional wellness and healing through a method of natural and preventive therapy. Principles of Naturopathy: Having identified the problems, the attempt was to take the naturopathy path in dealing with the identified issues. Naturopathy unlike the traditional medication and scientific belief and corrective system, believes in alternative medication and a healthier lifestyle in dealing with the all-round wholesomeness issues that plague modern man. The nature of naturopathy is in essence preventive. Naturopathic beliefs -- including those of "naturopathic physicians" -- are rooted in vitalizism, the pre-20th-century assertion that biological processes do not conform to universal physical and chemical principles. Naturopaths describe a “healing power of nature”, which is compromised by modern medicine. Naturopathy states that the best way to heal a problem is to get rid of its cause rather than to simply remove or repress the indications (Perry, 2007). The very nature of naturopathy is to follow a holistic way of healing. This means in essence that the discipline works at the treatment of the whole person, in all his faculties rather than just the physical part of his being (Methods of Healing). The idea in essence is boost the immune system with not just herbs and homeopathic preparations but with the very natural methods of eating healthy, resting, following an exercise routine and meditating. They profess knowledge about preventive medicine that is, implicitly, unknown to medical doctors, public health experts, nurses, nutritionists, and others (Atwood, 1999). Naturopathy also professes special expertise in nutrition and in the use of "natural remedies" made from animal, vegetable, and mineral sources. The main principles of naturopathy are: 1. First do no harm: Primum No Nocere 2. The healing power of nature: Vis Mediatrix Naturae 3. Identification of the cause and its healing: Tolle causam 4. Healing the whole person: Tolle totum 5. The Physician as the teacher: Docere 6. Prevention is the best Cure: prevention Weekly Reports: Week 1: I felt stressed and unable to function in a healthy manner. My mind was always preoccupied with something that I needed to get done; the feeling was one of always trying to catch up. Beside this, I was having problems of digestion and related fever and cramps. The headaches were getting worse by the day. The first principle I applied was making meditation and yoga a part of my routine. The effect of the technique was almost immediate in as much as I felt relaxed and a lot more competent. I found my attitude to crisis management changed as well. I felt less panicky and my total work output capacity increased slightly. Week 2: The second week was a highly stressful one, I however tackled the issue of the headaches in this week. I applied the technique of acupuncture learnt in the duration of the course to help in the reduction of the chronic headaches. Added to this, I applied the principles of healthy living and the idea of letting nature take its due course by paying due attention to my sleeping habits. The principle of Vis Mediatrix Naturae states that the body in itself has the ability to cure reinstate, and maintain health. The task of the doctor here is to help or the egg the body on so that it can do its work. Early on in life I had discovered that reading a book at night made me sleepy. I went back to the habit and found within 3 days that it now took me half as much time to fall asleep as it used to take. Week 3: I applied the principle of Tolle causam or identification of the problem cause rather and treating it rather than the treatment of the manifestation problem. This therefore meant that the problem of physical stress due to the constantly headaches was just the manifestation of the problem that went much deeper. I kept up with my meditation and sleep routine and added the process of acupuncture with my physician, along with an effort to slow down in my daily activities. I found that the problem was not the headaches but the worry and the stress that were a part of my daily routines. Getting rid of a lifestyle that meant making compromises on the amount of work I took on in a day. The sacrifice was worth it, however given the fact that due the reduction of the physical pain I found I could get things done faster, the levels of stress in my life were therefore helping me heal emotionally as well as physically. Week 4: I went on the detoxification scheme this week. Fasting was not something that I thought I could do, so I started the week out with a fruit and mil based diet program. The idea was to have no junk food and stay away from non-vegetarianism. The result was apparent within a short span itself. I felt in better control, was not reliant on junk food like candies to make myself happier, my digestion improved considerably. I slept better. Week 5: The week was a challenge, given the fact that work pressure started mounting, there were no more hangouts with friends late at night, the early night routine was tough to keep up, as was the meditation and the diet. In fact I gave up on my diet completely for about three days and went back to eating the usual sandwiches, pizza etc. this was until I read that naturopathy does not require a crash diet routine or a complete food based diet. All I had to do was remove the toxins that accumulated in my system by drinking lots of water and staying away from the toxin inducing stuff for a while following my eating out session or party (Pizzoro and Murrey, 1999). The one thing I did notice was that the routine and regular acupuncture sessions had prevented the headaches from returning; my work output was still better than it had been before I went on the naturopathy regimen. Week 6: Officially this was the last week that I had to apply the principles to my daily style of living. I missed two meditation sessions in a row. The result was that the urge and the need for smoke returned and I had my first sleep depraved night in weeks. Moreover, I had a sense of extreme guilt that I carried around with myself all day. At the end of the cycle however, I feel more refreshed, the constant pain had vanished, I was generally more cheerful and relaxed, the exercise and meditation routine had made look healthier, thereby enhancing my spiritual and emotional health. In all, the application of the principles has made me a healthier being. Reference: Principles of natural medicine, accessed August 20, 2009, < http://www.naturodoc.com/cardinal/naturopathy/nat_principles.htm> Perry N, 2007, naturopathic physicians from Bastyr appointed to Medicare advisory group pub, Seattle Times, accessed August 20, 2009, Soorajakool S and Lamberton H, 2004, Spirituality, health, and wholeness: an introductory guide for health care, pub, Rutledge, pp1370140 Methods of Healing, accessed August 20, 2009, < http://www.methodsofhealing.com/what-is-holistic-healing/> Pizzorno J E, Murray M T, 1999, eds. Textbook of Natural Medicine. 2nd ed. London, pub, England, Churchill Livingstone Atwood KC. 1999, The ongoing problem with the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, pub, Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. 27 pp23-29 Emotional Dimension of Wellness! Do You Know Where You're Heading, accessed August 20, 2009, < http://www.health-womens-healthy-living-goals.com/emotional-dimension-of-wellness.html> Read More