Live A.W.E.S.O.M.E.L.Y. – Dare it. | The Retreat at Sheppard Pratt

Live A.W.E.S.O.M.E.L.Y. – Dare it.

January 27, 2012 —

Heidi Waltos, RN, MSN, CNS, 2011

AWE- an overwhelming feeling of reverence produced by that which is grand and extremely powerful

Years ago I was playing with my 4 year old son when a thunderstorm approached. The sky darkened, the temperature dropped and the wind picked up. Although I expected him to run inside, he climbed part way up a tree and, in tandem with a clap of thunder, yelled, “I am the wind….the rain….the storm!” This touched me so. He was fully absorbed in nature. There was no fear…no separation, in fact, he was empowered by it. It occurred to me that most of us have lost this connection. “All people long to be more whole, whether physically, psychologically or spiritually. To heal is to become whole. We suffer from being less than complete. Our incompleteness is felt as pain, disease, dissatisfaction, anger, illness and fear. We long for completion” (Grossman, W, To Be Healed by the Earth, Seven Stories Press, NY, 1998, pg.31). The idea of wholeness and reconnection with our ‘nature’ is the primary focus of what it means to Live AWESOMELY…to be reconnected, to remember that we are derived from the Earth, to honor this interdependence and restore our attention to the natural forces of healing.

We have the best medical model in the world for crisis care. This is good news. However, the bad news is, according to the World Health Organization, we lead the world in chronic degenerative disease. We continue to witness a downward spiral in our nation’s health, even though we spend more per capita than any industrialized country (an estimated 4 ½ trillion to be spent in 2012, according to the Journal of Health Affairs, 2008). Statistically, we have more medications, surgeries, diet plans, exercise programs, and ‘prevention’ screening than offered anywhere else in the world, yet indicators show we are experiencing near epidemic proportions of chronic illness, obesity, depression, autism, ADHD, immune system disorders, heart disease, diabetes, etc. According to the largest national survey of its kind, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry (2005), all mental health conditions are on the rise. Incredibly, one in every two Americans can expect to have a diagnosable mental health condition at some point in their life. More and more young adults are utilizing sleep medications and more than 1.5 million adults are now on medications for attention deficit and hyperactivity. Cancers such as breast, colon, and prostate cancer, are seven to sixty times more prevalent in the US and other Western nations than they are in Asia (World Cancer Report, World Health Organization, 2003). With this poor rate of return on our investment we clearly need to rethink things. What we are doing is not working. We are missing part of the picture. Perhaps a more comprehensive perspective would be to enter lifestyle back into the mix.

According to the American Medical Association, 83 per cent of all healthcare issues are a direct result of how we choose to live our lives. In the Archives of Internal Medicine, August issue:10:24, medical experts agreed that healthy lifestyle factors, such as taking care of your lungs, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly and following a healthy diet—together appear to be associated with as much as an 80-85 percent reduction in the risk of developing the most common and deadly chronic diseases. Additionally, a person’s involvement in their care is the number one correlate with sustained improvement in health. A recent survey found that consumers want to assume more responsibility for their wellness but an obstacle has been that they “have not yet received clear, targeted messages from their practitioners encouraging them to act.” If we combine attention to natural lifestyle, self-care and practitioner partnership, we have an effective combination for reclaiming our health (and wealth). A recent study by the Milken Institute said a reorientation of health care toward more prevention counseling could save more than $1 trillion by 2023.

Live A.W.E.S.O.M.E.L.Y. is a comprehensive, yet simple program, which provides clear targeted information about living a health enhancing life. It is about rekindling a sense of awe, reverence and power about; ourselves, our innate capacities and of the precious environment, of which we are part. If we had a car that suddenly stopped running, we would probably check whether we were low on gas, oil or battery fluid before bringing it in for costly, complex repairs. If a plant sitting in our living room was dying, we would know to give it sunshine, water, minerals, and some tender loving care. With most things that need ‘fixing’, we tend to address the basics first. Yet when we, as humans, wilt and fail to run smoothly, it rarely occurs to us anymore to really focus on the fundamentals first. We instead look to external sources for explanation and intervention, skipping over the places where 83% of our solutions lie. We mistakenly believe we have impermeable ‘boundaries’, that we are somehow separate from our environment, where in reality we are porous beings, exchanging matter with our surroundings and one another all the time.

Provided with the right environment to carry out its wisdom, the body has an amazing capacity to heal itself. Without our conscious input, our body is tirelessly and diligently monitoring, adjusting, repairing, and rebuilding itself. Consider the kind of phenomenal work that is being carried out: we create over 25 million new cells each second, our heart beats about 100,000 times a day, two hundred muscles work in tandem to take one step, our lungs inhale over two million liters of air every day, we produce a new stomach lining every three to four days, new outer skin cells every 27 days, we replace the equivalent of an entirely new skeleton every 7 years, our liver performs more than 500 different functions, each kidney contains 1 million individual filters, etc.

So…what does the right environment look like? It is one which provides an adequate quantity and quality of the raw materials we are composed of (air, water, energy, ‘food’), it honors and supports the body’s natural restorative functions and rhythms (sleep and movement) and it fosters attitudes which correlate with health (openness and compassion for self). These eight areas are essentially ‘lifestyle’ defined. Branding these as Live AWESOMELY (Air, Water, Eating, Sleeping, Openness, Movement, Energy and Loving Your Self) urges us to take a personal, powerful and conscious stand about how we choose to live. It also embodies a holistic focus… for as much as we may desire the “magic bullet”; it is not any one thing that creates health but a cumulative, interactive benefit of the entirety of things.

Although these essentials may sound over-simplified, simplicity and ease often delineate the most correct path. These essentials actually turn out to be our most powerful tools of wellness (at both the personal and planetary level). If we consider the top causes of mortality (for example): heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, accidents (motor vehicle and falls) and pneumonia and flu, we can easily appreciate how a body/mind which is well; oxygenated, hydrated, nourished, rested, open/optimistic, fit and energized would be able to stave off inflammation, compromised immune function, stress, etc. (the primary culprits underlying the vast majority of these diseases). In fact, through living AWESOMELY we are capable of not just avoiding disease but creating a powerfully vibrant state of health…something which many of us may not have felt in a long time.
Choosing to Live AWESOMELY also serves as a mantra for us to live in a way that cares for the Earth. Cleaning up the air, the water, conserving plant life, honoring natural cycles and rhythms, becoming open to one another, utilizing natural sources of energy and practicing compassion is a prescription for healing up our planet. In a perfect relationship, we can become the life-support system of the Earth, as it is of us.

As stated earlier, health occurs by attending to the entirety of the system. “Just as we live in a constantly changing world, so do the cells and tissues survive in a constantly changing microenvironment. The ‘normal’ or ‘physiologic’ state then is achieved by adaptive responses to the ebb and flow of various stimuli permitting the cells and tissues to adapt and to live in harmony within their microenvironment. Thus, homeostasis is preserved. It is only when the stimuli become more severe, or the response of the organism breaks down, that disease results – a generalization as true for the whole organism as it is for the individual cell.” (Pathologic Basis of Disease, third edition, S.L. Robbins MD, R.S. Cotran MD, V.K. Kumar MD. 1984, W.P. Saunders Company). Consider how imbalance in any of the following essentials may significantly impact the entirety of the system:

• Air- Oxygen is the primary nutrient of the body. Lung function is the highest correlate of longevity – the healthier a person’s lungs are the longer they live. The Environmental Protection Agency states that indoor air pollution is one of the top environmental risks to public health, with about 50% of all illnesses aggravated by indoor pollution. Lung disease deaths have doubled between 1970 and 2003 (JAMA, Sept 2005), claiming close to 335,000 lives in America every year. It is the third leading cause of death in the United States. The brain only makes up about 2% of our body mass, yet consumes more oxygen than any other organ in the body, making it extremely susceptible to damage related to oxygen deprivation. We are a nation of shallow breathers (contributing to poor stress response and lowering cellular and tissue oxygenation). Proper deep breathing is one of the most powerful stress reducing tools in medicine.
• Water – Dehydration is the number one over-all stressor of the body, which makes sense since water comprises about 75% of our body mass and about 80% of our brain. A mere 2% drop in body water can reduce short term memory, interfere with basic math and create difficulty focusing printed material. 75 per cent of Americans are dehydrated. A full 60 per cent of all health issues are related to dehydration (i.e. heart disease, obesity, high cholesterol, pain, gastro-intestinal dysfunction, etc.). Intake of soda and fructose laden juices are some of the primary causes of inflammation.
• Eating Healthy–80 per cent of Americans are nutritionally deficient, with only 12 per cent getting the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables. The Standard American diet is heavily laden with highly processed foods, trans-fats, sugars, sodas and white flour (all items associated with inflammation). Inflammation is increasingly thought to be at the core of the majority of disease states. Studies indicate that over 900 diseases are preventable by proper nutrition. During our lifetime, we eat about 60,000 pounds of food, which can either fortify or challenge our bodies.
• Sleep –Half of our population suffers with sleep disorders. Lack of sleep is highly correlated with depression, heart disease, lowered immune function, obesity, ADHD, diabetes, etc. It is during sleep, that our primary regenerative and restorative functions occur, both on a physical and psychological level. Functional MRI’s show us the brain is much more active at night than during the day, so one can just imagine how vital this time is for us.
• Open and Optimistic Outlook– In a survey of the healthiest people, 85% considered state of mind to be one of the most important factors determining health. Stress and a negative outlook are underlying factors in the vast majority of diseases; creating an internal environment which decreases immune system functioning, lowers reparative abilities, inhibits digestion, and gives rise to more impulsive, riskier behaviors, etc. Being open to new ideas and options, accepting one-self and others, etc. keeps us from feeling trapped and consequently, stressed. An open outlook also paves the way for transformation. The placebo response (switching on our body’s natural pharmacy) is as efficacious as most medications (33.66 percent). If an individual believes they will get sick, their chance of becoming ill rises substantially. More impressive, is the fact that the way a practitioner views a patient’s prognosis has an even higher correlation with the eventual health or illness of that patient. The mind is a prime player in all matters of health.
• Movement –Stagnation eventually results in death of that system. 60 per cent of Americans are obese. Diabetes is at epidemic proportions. Falls are the 6th leading cause of death for people over 65 years. Pain afflicts 57 per cent of the population. We have become an increasingly sedentary and isolated society spending a majority of our time indoors, in cars, and in front of machines instead of with people and out in nature. (18-24 year olds spend an average of 7.5 hours with the TV/computer/cell phone per day). From a psychological perspective, stagnation can occur as well when we do not move emotions but instead attempt to bury them or when we repress our true nature.
• Energy–Though we ‘feel’ better when we are outdoors, near the earth, the water, out in the sunshine, breathing fresh air, and eating fresh foods this has become less commonplace in our daily lives. New studies demonstrate how vitally important direct contact with the outdoors is to healthy development. The California-based State Education and Environmental Roundtable, a national effort to study environment-based education found that schools that use outdoor class-time produce gains in social studies, science, language arts and math; improved testing, grade point averages and enhanced skills in problem solving, creativity, critical thinking and decision making. The Human-Environment Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois research showed that children had a significant reduction in the symptoms of ADHD when they engaged with nature. And environmental psychologists reported as far back as 2003 that nature in and around the home, or simply a room with a view of the natural landscape, results in more rapid healing times. (Leave No Child Inside Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati, 2010). The whole area of “Energy Medicine’ (understanding and utilizing natural energy sources within health practices) gives testament to the validity of energy approaches and it is the fastest growing segment of healthcare. Lasers, light wave applications (especially in dermatology), fMRI’s, Infrared-imaging and treatments, Trans-cranial Magnetic Stimulation, homeopathy, herbal medicine, acupuncture, are just a few examples of how energy approaches are finding their way into mainstream medicine. It is primarily the public’s embrace of these “energy therapies”, which is driving this interest. Perhaps on an intuitive level people are gravitating to what makes them feel better. And finally, in terms of energy, there is a very real biochemical change which occurs when we are around those we enjoy versus spending time with those that deplete us. In the 70’s we referred to this as a person’s vibes….it may be in the not to distant future that we actually quantify these ‘vibrations’.
• Loving Your Self- Self care is the number one correlate with improved health so the more we are willing to attend to ourselves the better we become. Not surprisingly, the therapeutic relationship happens to be the number one correlate with successful care rendered, as reported by patients and their families. Results of Gallup polls indicate that over 90% of patients long for care and love. Love is a deep affection for a person or persons, resulting in a sensation of “oneness”, and interconnectivity. Love produces electrochemical action in the brain, which in turn, produces chemicals that strengthen the immune system, the cardiac system, etc.

The potential benefit of daring to Live AWESOMELY is perhaps best illustrated by the research which has unequivocally shown that cultures with the “highest quality of life and quantity of years” have the following in common: they eat a fairly sparse diet (nuts, seeds, beans, fruits, whole grains, healthy oils, vegetables, and fish -the Mediterranean diet), they breathe healthy air with plenty of negative ions (either mountain air forest air or near the ocean), they are physically active on a daily basis, they drink plenty of fresh, naturally energized and mineralized water, they have their biological clock attuned to nature in terms of sleep-wake patterns, they have strong community/family/spiritual roles and expectations, they view their stressors as manageable, and they share optimism and openness with regard to aging, viewing it as a time of increased vitality, wisdom and status. (One culture in particular, believes that when you turn 60 years old you are in your best physical shape, and in fact, the 60 years-olds consistently out perform the youngsters in distance running). (Beare, Sally, 50 Secrets of the World’s Longest Living People, Marlowe and Company, New York, 2006)

As you can see there is nothing inherently fancy about all this, yet the evidence is clear that we all have the power to change our health starting from within. We may never again have the unabashed exuberance of a 4 year old in claiming our ‘nature’ but maybe we can pay a little more attention to roots of our wellness. A small degree of effort could result in big dividends and who knows we might even view the next thunderstorm in a whole new light.