Happiness, Wellness and Healing

Dreaming and Seeing the Good

As I read commentary on how to reduce the cost of medical care in the United States, the thing that really seems to shout to me, is the need to focus on wellness.  A focus on wellness would really cause us to examine our response to the lives that we lead.  Any decision to make wellness a top priority would cause any reasonable person to take the following steps, although not necessarily all at once.

#1)  Learn to avoid stress.  Impossible you may say.  Books are written on the topic, but a few suggestions could get one started.  Learn the word "No."  We as a nation are over committed from a time and energy aspect.  We all need more sleep and time to be quite and reflect or pray.  Worry can not be a daily habit if we want to avoid stress.  We will need to find some way to use time when we are forced to wait in line or in traffic.  Personally, I like to listen to audio books on various topics.  Some of us would have to be more organized and plan our morning choices and duties the night before.  The last suggestion is to decide ahead of time that nothing that can happen will be enough to cause us to become upset.  Decide ahead to not react.  All very simplistic I know.

#2) Make a commitment to exercise at least 3 times weekly for 30 minutes.  This exercise can be walking, dancing, weight training, gardening, or many other activities.  Ideally, we will want to have several ways to exercise so that we do not strain any areas of our bodies.

#3) We cannot mention wellness without discussing what goes into our bodies, that would be via the mouth.  We are what we eat.  Too many times we are chemically changed fats, carbohydrates and who knows what else.  I have come to believe that we would all do better to minimize meats, and eat only organically grown fruits and vegetables.  However, belief has not yet become practice.  Surely the toxic chemicals used to maximize crop yield are not good for us.  Think of the changes these have caused in the frogs and fish.  Many hormones and probably these toxins are stored in the fatty tissues, something that on average the American population has way too much of.  The animals we eat are treated with hormones to make them larger and fatter, no wonder that hormonally mediated cancers are more prevalent, such as breast cancer and prostate cancer.

#4) Anyone who is still smoking will need to stop if they want to embrace wellness.  Problem is that most who want to stop, find it a very, very difficult thing to do.  Others tell me that they enjoy smoking so much that they really do not want to stop. Surely they will not be the one to get emphysema or lung cancer, or so they think!

#5) The topic of drinking alcohol must also be addressed.  On the positive side, substances found in wine have been found to act a anti-oxidants.  These seem to help prevent heart disease.  However, to my knowledge, that is the only positive.  Can you tell here that I am not a fan of the spirits.  Ethanol (Yes, that is what you drink, not just add to gasoline.), is metabolized as a sugar and has toxic effects on the liver, brain, and in elevated levels, also the heart.  Also in elevated levels, this substance alters one's level of consciousness.  Some studies do suggest that drinking in moderation does have healthful effects.  So the word here is moderation.

#6)  Other bad habits are out there:  street drugs, cocaine, methamphetamines, and even prescribed drugs.  We know that food, tobacco, alcohol, and even exercise can become an addiction.  The healthy person is not controlled by any bad habits, but rather controls them.  Some of us need help in those areas.  I have personally had to seek help in losing weight and am very thankful that it was not needed for other areas.  Many in our culture are not that fortunate, but help is available.

All this moralistic writing is great, but the larger question is how do we convince, inspire, or help our population embrace these ideas.  Most of us know what we need to do, but we are not actually practicing what we know.  How can we then either criticize or help anyone else?  Somehow, we need to make healthy living the normal way to live, rather than a lifestyle for the few.  Once there have been several generations of healthy living, the need to treat the diseases that are our present killers should be vastly decreased.  This may sound like an unattainable dream.  But if we do not begin to dream and envision healthier lives and a healthier planet, the negative, ill effects will continue.  I do not want to let that occur.

Growth

So far, I am unsure if anyone has read any of my postings.  Given the enormity of the World Wide Web, and the number of blogs that are on it, not to mention the other types of web pages, to be unread is little surprise.  Actually, I am aware of one person who has read my past postings, and for her I am grateful.  I changed the title today.  The decision in life that set the path toward this blog was the decision to take control of my future and look for other ways to develop income besides my medical practice.  The general public in the United States is unaware that physician and hospital payments are being set by the federal government.  This occurs with the Medicare reimbursement schedule.  Next the private carriers declare their payments as a percent of Medicare.  If a physician practice is in a specialy or sub-specialty that requires cooperation with hospitals and other physicians, then it is almost impossible to not cooperate with the system.  Like any other citizen, physicians can look elsewhere for income.  That lead me to look for a reputable nutritional supplement to offer to my patients, friends and anyone else who is interested.

As I was looking, I was also reading various books about business in our current age.  One book that is a real eye opener is Revolutionary Wealth by the Tofflers.  They have looked in greath depth to the future and point out the effect that globalization is having.  Maufacturing will move out of the country (USA), and leave us with what they call third wave industry.  The core of third wave, if I understand correctly, is the creative application of knowledge and developing new ideas to further improve life on the planet.  Of course, the general worker in the cities and towns will need to do something, and what is left are service industries or global influences using the internet.  The other person that I love to read is Seth Godin.  He makes an excellent case for blogging as one of the newest and most effective ways to promote a business or idea.  Hence this blog. 

Next you ask, "How does Agel fit in?"  Agel is the nutritional company that I chose.  The products are organic and all natural.  They are delivered in form of a gel, rather than as pills or liquids that can spill.  The company is relatively new and is already world wide.  Now I even have a web site to explain everything at www.drjshotwell.com.  The really good news is that I have been using the products myself.  My favorite is OHM.  It is the one for severe energy.  My office staff tell me that it is working.  Indeed, I feel better and get a lot more done.

Sleep and Energy

My topic for today is Obstructive Sleep Apnea.  About six weeks ago, I decided to have a sleep study myself to see what one felt like.  Also, I had been so tired and could not seem to get enough rest, no matter what I did.  To my surprise and, as it turns out, to my delight, I had severe sleep apnea.  For several years, I have observed as my patients tell me how much better they feel when their CPAP works.  Now, I can add myself to the list of those successfully treated. 

When I reflect on my life, I have always been sleepy and tired.  Never was a morning person, I thought that was just a variation in how we all respond to life.  Now, I know that the problem was sleep apnea.  I wake up awake and ready to do whatever needs to be done.  Even when I was very thin, the problems waking up were still with me.  That personal experience has left me with a theory.  Perhaps some obese people had sleep apnea problems first and that caused the weight, not the other way around.

When our bodies cannot obtain enough of the restorative sleep, it affects our energy, our immune systems, our appetites and the way we think, among other things.  Anatomic variations lead to narrowing of the airway.  Our brains can tell that we are not breathing enough and have to wake us up so that we will breath adequately.  Some of us are aware of waking up, that is called insomnia.  Others are not aware of waking up and say that they sleep just fine.  The key symptoms appear to be problems waking up in the morning and excessive tiredness or sleepiness.  Some people have snoring, but that is not a universal symptom.  The other problem that does not seem to be well known is chronic shortness of breath.  If you have any of these problems, I encourage you to see someone about having a sleep study done.  You, too, might find new energy and a new outlook like I have.