print version

The Keys to Wellness

Key concept # 1: The Illness/Wellness Continuum

Wellness is never static. No matter what your current state of health, you can begin to appreciate yourself as a growing, changing person and allow yourself to move to a more joyful and positive state of well-being.

Illness is often the body-mind's attempt to wake us up and become more conscious. Wellness is an approach to health that encompasses a process of awareness, education, and growth. What matters most right now is what direction you are facing-towards High Level Wellness, or towards Premature Death.

Moving from the center to the left (Fig. X) shows a progressively worsening state of health. Moving to the right of center indicates increasing levels of health and well-being. The treatment model can bring you to the neutral point, where the symptoms of disease are alleviated . The wellness model, which may be utilized at any point, directs you beyond neutral and encourages you to move as far to the right as possible. It is not meant to replace the treatment model on the left side of the continuum, but to work in harmony with it. If you are ill, then treatment is important, but don't stop there.

Key concept # (2): The Iceberg Model

Illness and health are only the tip of an iceberg. To understand their cause, as John Travis, M.D. says, you must look below the surface:

[Iceberg image]

Icebergs are interesting! They reveal only about one-tenth of their mass above the water. The remaining nine-tenths remain submerged. This is why they are such a nightmare in navigation and why they make such an appropriate metaphor in considering your state of wellness.

Your current state of health-be it one of disease or vitality-is just like the tip of the iceberg. This is the apparent part-what shows. If you don't like it, you can attempt to change it, "do things" to it, chisel away at an unwanted condition. But, whenever you knock some off, more of the same comes up to take its place.

To understand all that creates and supports your current state of health, you have to look "underwater". As you can see in Fig. X, the first level encountered is the Lifestyle/Behavioral level-what you eat, how you use and exercise your body, how you relax and let go of stress, and how you safeguard yourself from hazards around you.

Many of us follow lifestyles that we know are destructive, both to our own well-being, the people around us, and to our planet. Yet we may feel powerless to change them. To understand why, we must look still deeper, to the Cultural/Psychological/Motivational level. Here we find what moves us to lead the lifestyle we've chosen. We learn how our cultural norms and family influence us in subtle yet powerful ways from a very early age. Exploring this level, we also can become conscious of any ongoing psychological "payoffs" based on early life experiences and ultimately, their cost-to our physical and mental well-being.

Exploring below the Cultural/Psychological/Motivational level, we encounter the Spiritual/Being/Meaning level. Actually, we prefer to call it a realm rather than a level because it has no distinct boundaries. It includes the mystical, mysterious and metaphysical and everything else in the unconscious mind, and concerns such issues as your reason for being, the real meaning of your life, and your place in the universe. How you address these questions, and the answers you choose, underlie and permeate all of the layers above. Ultimately, this realm determines whether the tip of the iceberg, representing your state of health, is one of disease or wellness.

Key concept # (3): Predictive Medicine

By comparing the 10 leading causes of death in the United States from 1900 with those of today, we find that deaths in 1900 were mostly due to infectious disease while today most deaths are attributable to lifestyle factors-diet, exercise, etc. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Healthy People 2000) lifestyle accounts for 19 of the 21 major causes of illness and death today.

What is even more important is that most "diseases of civilization" take a long time to develop (Fig. 1), and medical science has uncovered many of the key factors that contribute to particular diseases. Genetics, although much hyped by the media, accounts for less than 25 percent of our modern ills - our environment and lifestyles are much more important to our well-being than previously thought.

Today, after doing a complete wellness assessment (meta-analysis), we can often predict what types of problems are likely to occur in an individual and take appropriate action. Please consult The Ageless Zone, Nevada Medical Spa and Salon.

Key concept # (4): Psycho Neuro Immunology (PNI)

As recently as the 1980s, conventional medicine still tended to treat the body and mind as separate entities. We now know that the mind and body are inextricably linked and that the health of one influences the other. This area of practice is known as mind/body medicine.

The Increments of Chronic Disease

Figure 1

Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) is the study of the interrelations between the mind (psycho), nervous and hormonal system (neuro-endocrine) and the immune system (immunology).

Pioneering researcher Candace Pert, PhD, at Rutgers University, believes that as emotions fluctuate-for example, from anger to pleasure-neuropeptides (neurotransmitters) sweep through the body systems in response, signaling physical changes such as a rise in blood pressure or relaxation of muscles.

Emotions, such as anxiety, stress, depression and loneliness, have been shown to depress the immune system. Writing in Anatomy of an Illness (Bantam (Toronto), 1981), Norman Cousins, M.D.,showed how positive emotions like joy and laughter seemed to produce positive PNI effects and believes this was responsible for curing his debilitating arthritis.

Relationships and social networks also provide powerful protection against stress and disease. Epidemiological studies show this connection. For example, a 1992 study of heart patients at Duke University showed that those without a spouse or confidante were three times as likely to die within five years of diagnosis as those who were married or had a close friend or animal companion.

Biofeedback is a practical way of showing how the mind mirrors and influences the body.

In summary, our thoughts (worldview) prompt moods (emotions and feelings) that are reflected in physiological reactions that have an impact, for better or worse, on our well-being. This realm is the more subjective and hidden part of the iceberg but is by far the most important for our health.

The Future of Wellness

Resort-Spa Medicine
Resort-Spa Medicine and conventional medicine adopt very different approaches.

Conventional medicine is disease-oriented and diagnosis-driven: doctors use symptoms and medical tests to assess the problem and ascribe treatment. Resort-Spa Medicine is wellness-oriented and deals with the client as a whole. In a relaxed environment, our health professionals see illness as a disruption of physical and mental well-being. No treatment is given; rather clients become more aware, educated, and encouraged to adopt healthy lifestyle choices to stimulate the body's natural self-healing and self-regulating abilities.

I left my specialties in Internal and Emergency Medicine when I recognized that the current medical model is outdated. A new model, which incorporates integrative medicine and other alternative medical therapies, needs to be recoginized. Today, vital medical information must be made available to clients in a practical manner that can be readily adopted and integrated into their daily lives. An HMO-styled practice offers little for both practitioner and patient beyond a drugstore. Most drugs, however, don't cure; they just result in the modification of symptoms.

Resort spas are poised to become the natural delivery sites for this new wellness health model. This individualized approach gives each person an opportunity to focus on him- or herself and reassess one's own lifestyle in a relaxed, supportive setting.

High-end spa wellness programs support and update their clients via computer throughout the year, sharing useful information, practical resources and experiential techniques. In addition, "health guides" will update clients on current medical breakthroughs or other valid information to help clients stay on a productive path to wellness.

Until recently, resort spas, at least those in the U.S., have been more beauty and pampering centered. In the decades ahead, I believe that resort spas will extend their services to emphasize wellness and longevity, incorporating many alternative medical therapies and focusing on the whole person.

print version