[Empowered Volunteer's Pillars of Wisdom for Health]
Shots are not the only path in healthy living
The empowered volunteer sources of wisdom for health are explained below. This is not an exhaustive list, but a high level list which will be amended as necessary with time.
For most people, health care is more about reacting to a health issue than preventing the health issue in the first place.
Many things go into health care, but one of them that very few people take into account is the social economic status (SES) gradient. This term is used by social scientists to study the effects of social status, education, and health, all of which are interrelated. In other words, some of the reasons we have negative health are social and are preventable by better living or governmental policies which promote better and safer environments, particularly in employment. Safety regulations are one example.
Note, this type of health science and associated data collection is in direct opposition to the belief system of one political party in the United States.
The current thinking is that if you can take control of your life, or at least have an influence over it and achieve some autonomy over your life you can avoid many diseases. In his book The Status Syndrome, How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity, Michael Marmot convincingly demonstrates with over 30 years of data collection that the relationship between low SES and stress which increases the probability of individuals experiencing many of the diseases relating to stress, such as heart disease. This correlation can’t be explained simply by saying the poor can’t afford health care either, since it was observed in England, where national health care is available to everyone. One of the factors that was instrumental in the SES observations was control over one’s life and career. The more control, the better your health.
The bottom line is, if you don’t have a great deal of autonomy in your life, find other avenues to help balance things. This could be volunteering for example.
Another issue is how eating can influence your health. Many doctors and other health professionals are now studying the effects of a eating program which is primarily plant based. Joel Fuhrman, M. D. has several books out which really present some data for this lifestyle. He presents a case for eating better, more nutrient dense foods and avoiding many meats. One book in particular, Eat To Live has become a best seller. He advises a well rounded approach of berries, nuts in moderation, salads every day, and then filling in the gaps with vegetables so that an individual never needs to feel hungry. The key is salt avoidance and sauce minimization, including salad dressing.
This is an individual health issue, but choosing to refrain from processed foods certainly provides a better nutritional basis for health eating.
Stress minimizing and personal stress management is one of the key notes in the many studies on health, particularly with low SES members. Stress can influence emotions, something address to some length by Tony Robbins in his book, Awaken The Giant Within, How To Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny. Robbins suggests that there ate 10 action signals such as discomfort, feat, hurt, anger and so on. He advocates dealing with each one with specified emotions of power, such as love and warmth, appreciation and gratitude, curiosity, etc. This book was written in 1991 and Robbins is still very popular for his results oriented and practical approach to human empowerment today. Several of his other books are worth reading as well.
What if the issues are so heavy that your emotions are not responding to Robbins action plan? Another course of action the empowered volunteer posts have proposed is positive thinking, at a structured and frequent schedule. The data collected and presented in her book, Positivity, Dr. Barbara Fredrickson, Ph. D. produces a very well reasoned and effective procedure for dealing with daily issues. In her book she identified what she calls the positivity ratio, which is the ratio of negative to positive emotional encounters one may face daily and how to deal effectively with them. This information is invaluable, it is extremely well researched for over two decades on this aspect alone and well beyond that in behavioral science studies reaching back several more decades.
Explore the link below for details on how to do specific daily exercises for stress relief, expanding your personal influence over others by broadening your mind, and other benefits as well.
www.positivityratio.com
The key to Dr. Fredrickson’s message is that an individual can take personal responsibility for their emotional state by taking control of their perception, their bodies response to stress, and also mentally better prepare themselves through meditation for the potential conflict they encounter during the day.
This is one process that works, is within the bounds of everyone, and can be applied no matter how difficult your life may be to immediately produce measurable results. Very few things affecting emotions and human responses to stress can say that.
Another very powerful part of the pillars of emotional volunteers health care are habits and how to use them effectively. The book by Charles Duhigg, The Power Of Habit, Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business provides a basis for understanding how we form habits and how we can retrain ourselves to improve them.
Duhigg helps identify “keystone habits” which in turn help support the daily habits needed for life improvement, including health related issues.
An example is sleepwalking according to the author. ”Sleepwalking is a reminder that wake and sleep are not mutually exclusive, ” Mark Mahowald, a professor of neurology at the University of Minnesota and a pioneer in understanding sleep behaviors, told the author. He further explained, “The problem is that there’s nothing guiding the brain except for basic patterns, your most basic habits.”
The author also delved into the mental aspects and studies regarding will power and how it affects decision making. To increase will power in one example, Starbucks discovered they had to turn self-discipline into an organizational habit. Individuals can benefit from understanding the cues and cravings driving their bad health habits so that they can make a plan that can change their patterns.
Habits help us stop losing our car keys or our glasses by structuring our lives. Habits can be destructive too, as in addictions. The key is to identify the cues and change the sources which the cues are in response to so that you can substitute another action and form another habit.
The author provides on his website some additional free resources.
http://charlesduhigg.com/additional-resources
The bottom line is that health for the empowered volunteer pillars of wisdom for their individual health care is surrounded by factors which individuals can take control of in their life and drive good health into their life experience. They don’t have to let disease and bad health drive them, they can drive measures and factors to improve their own health separate and apart from medication, owning their health care for the most part.
This act of individual empowerment is a huge step in individual freedom and it provides an empowered volunteer with a vital pillar of wisdom in their lives.
