Increasing Your Health Intelligence

Increasing your health intelligence is a new year’s resolution that promises to make all the difference in your personal pursuit of reclaiming your health and preventing disease. Make 2010 the year you studied the subject of health and wellness for yourself.

The New Year is a magnet for health resolutions. Unfortunately they are often short lived, eroding passion and confidence in your pursuit of health. Pursuing health is more than increasing nutrition and exercise. It is established in the heart and mind first through knowledge. Critical thinking skills are developed by knowledge. Knowledge leads to understanding and understanding leads to action; action that is real and lasting not temporal and disappointing.

The good news is that you can increase your health intelligence by the very simple act of becoming self educated. Never underestimate the power of being self taught. Don’t confuse reading a self help book on weight loss for building a solid case for health. Researching the subject of health and wellness for yourself will be the greatest contribution you make to your personal pursuit of reclaiming your health and preventing disease.

Can you answer the following questions?  If not, ask yourself why not.

• What is health?
• What should it look like?
• What should it feel like?
• Where does it come from and is it achievable?
• Who should be primarily responsible for your health?
• What is the definition of health?
• What are the laws of health?

It would be to your great advantage to acquire the answers to these questions. Your health success depends on it.  Answering these questions will certainly increase a person’s health intelligence. But first, you must be willing to seek.  You must seek it as though your very life depends on it. Using your ability to seek, think and learn your way back to health and to prevent disease begins with the discipline to study. If you are ready to make the resolution to increase your health intelligence, I have a good place for you to start.

Study the differences between the medical world and the health and wellness world. That should be your starting point.  They are two distinct health resources with the same goal in mind but they are not one and the same. Each one contributes to our health with a different perspective and approach. The following are some of the more noticeable differences.

• Medical world: contributes to health through drug intervention, life saving surgeries, invasive treatments and medical testing. Health and wellness world: contributes to health through life style medicine and nutritional discipline.
• Medical world: contributes diagnosis. Health and wellness world: contributes education for prevention of disease.
• Medical world: treats disease. Health and wellness world: teaches individuals how disease is created and how to preserve the body’s natural immune system to fight sickness and disease.

Here is a good example:

Problem: normal headache

Medical answer: pain medication

Health and wellness answer: teach patient how to care for their body to prevent headaches.

At the first sign of headache: rest, distress the body with stretching exercises, endure the headache if possible to give the body time to heal itself. Drink water, abstain from stimulating beverages, staying up late, sugar and overstimulation.  Watch and wait. Most normal headaches result from neglecting the laws of health.  (Caution; individual’s can usually tell a dangerous headache from a normal headache.) Approach headache based on wisdom, logic and common sense.  This information is meant to study the difference in the medical and health and wellness approach to something as simple as a headache.

I have added the following questions to my approach to headaches: Are you worried? Are you angry? (Emotional headaches). Did you stay up late?

• Medical world: partners with the pharmaceutical industry promoting drug therapy. Health and wellness world: works with nutritional excellence and disciplines promoting the bodies natural healing.  
• Medical world: is brilliant in pain reduction and excels in emergency care. Health and wellness: is brilliant at promoting long term results.  (Learning how to prevent headaches and relieve them in a health friendly approach is by far more beneficial than Motrin.) 

Happy New Year!

Experience How Simple Health Really Is!

Becky