Achieve optimal health in mind, body, and spirit. Wellness isn’t just the absence of disease; it’s all about living your life to the fullest enjoyment possible and enhancing your overall quality of life both now and in the many years to come. In addition, Wellness is not about your age; children, teens, adults and seniors all have wellness needs. General wellness can lessen the impact of illness if not prevent some illnesses altogether. As you read the articles in the Wellness section, please remember that we are not recommending that you substitute our judgment for your own. You and your physician are the decision-makers about your health care.
What Americans call "alternative healing" has in reality existed in other parts of the world for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Ancient healers - the forerunners of today’s physicians-were held in very high regard, and their healing wisdom was passed from generation to generation by observation and hands-on learning. Alternative healing is both an art and a science; it is a skill that requires a keen eye, gentle hands, and soothing words. These practices should never be attempted by amateurs, but only those who have been trained to perform them and have a demonstrated history of success. For example, the plant Belladonna contains atropine, a substance that saves soldiers’ lives when they’re exposed to deadly nerve agents in biochemical warfare. However, the common Castor bean contains the most potent poison known, ricin that can kill a child or pet in minutes. Thus, this is a plant you do not want in your garden!
Choosing the medical professional that you want for your health care is like looking at an ethnic restaurant menu; everything sounds good, but you don't really know what you’re getting. What if you order something that sounds great, but you end up with a dish of pig’s eyeballs and beef lips? Next time, you’ll ask more questions before you order!
Pharmaceutical companies are among the most profitable businesses in American, if not the industrialized world. Each year, billions of customers purchase prescription or over-the-counter (OTC) medications. Since drug companies compete for your dollars, each company will have their own "version" of most medications. They employ representatives to visit clinics and hospitals to tell the medical staff why their product is better/cheaper/faster than the "other guy's product." This can be mystifying to patients, and we tend to rely on the doctor’s recommendation about what medication is right for us. We couldn’t care less what company the medication came from, as long as it works!
Your healthcare provider tells you that you’re in excellent physical health. Lab work, physical exam - all normal. As you leave the clinic, you feel confused and discouraged. There are lots of things you didn’t tell your provider because you were embarrassed. You didn’t say that you cry for no reason, you can’t sleep, you have daily migraines, your muscle tension makes you hurt all over, you hate your job and you have no social life. You see no hope for the future, and that you think about suicide a lot. You keep these things to yourself; you don’t want anyone to think you’re "crazy" although you feel like you’re going to &qout;lose it" any day, that you’re going to start screaming and simply never stop.
Physical fitness isn't just for athletes and bodybuilders. It isn’t limited to young adults. It isn’t about who has the best "Abs." And it isn't limited to people without any type of disability. Fitness is about health and wellness regardless of your age and ability level. Maintaining the degree of fitness that you are capable of increases your cardiovascular system, relieves stress, improve bone and muscle strength, increase respiratory functioning, and adds healthy years to your life.
Mankind has been seeking the "Fountain of Youth" ever since we figured out that one thing is certain: we're going to get older. Ponce de Leon didn’t find this legendary fountain that he sought, but he did find Florida, so that worked out well in the end. Just as young people don’t yet understand that they’re not immortal, people over fifty are coming to grips with the aging process and end-of-life issues. Seniors are also discovering that in today’s world, a tremendous quality of life awaits us in our older years. Kids are on their own, retirement or slowing down on our workload, and careful financial management lets us do lots of things we didn’t get to do when we were younger and raising a family; travel, volunteer work, gardening, crafts - an endless list of all those things we dreamed of someday finding the time to do them. Now we have it! And if we’ve been watching our health all this time, we have the physical ability to do these wonderful things as well. We no longer have to sigh and think, "... Someday" because someday just became now!
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