Heal Yourself

To heal means to return to normal. If our body is suffering from a certain kind of disease, healing would mean returning it to homeostasis, which essentially means optimal physiologic functioning. However, there are many types of healing. It's important to know that Health doesn't just pertain to our physical state. Our state of health is divided into four factors, actually; physical health, emotional health, spiritual health, and mental health. So you see when we speak of a healthy subject or individual we need to address the 4 areas which constitute what Healthy really means.

Healing is actually accomplished if all four areas discussed above are addressed. We simply can't say that, for instance, we have recovered from a diabetic foot amputation when, true our body may have recovered and adapted to wearing a prosthetic, but the mental, emotional, as well as the social connotations associated with being handicapped has a big impact on how we will live our lives from that moment on. Healing oneself involves a totalitarian, a holistic approach, and certain issues must be resolved.

But Let's take this idea of Healing on a more direct, and applicable, approach. Before we do that, some basics. Our body is governed by millions of cellular processes, which themselves are also governed by hormonal, nervous, or enzymatic processes. Simply put, our body, when it is taken out of it's normal physiologic state, mounts a recovery plan to facilitate and essentially speed up the healing process. If we were talking of an infection in this case our immune system would mount a response by upregulating or fine-tuning cells which are responsible for dealing with the said infection.

So without going too deep into medical lingo, what does this really mean to you? You need to have a conceptual overview on how your body heals. In other words, you need to listen to your body more often. If instructed by your primary physician to have complete bed rest or to take it easy, that isn't just for you but also to give your body time to recover back to normalcy where your cells are replenished or rejuvinated. You need to learn how to nourish your body back to health. Eat foods which are known "immune boosters" or "immune energizers" in order to help your body speed up recovery. Foods like apples, celery, yogurt, green leafy vegetables, citrus fruits, and lean meat are recommended as they help you build up protein and replenish lost minerals and co-factors for your enzymes. The other food types I have already listed in detail in my previous posts.

Avoid stress. In the recovering patient or individual stress can take on a broad meaning but the "stressors" I think that are most important are lack of sleep, poor nutrition, over-exertion, fatigue, and depression. You may be surprised to know that patients who are depressed recover slower. What's more, depression facilitates the increase of free radical production in our body, greatly shortening cell life, and contributes to a lower life expectancy for us as well. That's why I always say, "Make your patients laugh. Tell a funny joke or talk of something that will make them smile and forget their present state, ever for just a short while." Laughter is still the best medicine because it has been shown to increase production of our "feel-good hormones" or endorphins, which play an active role on healing.

So when you get sick or had just been discharged from the hospital, or know of someone who is and that is, remember the following;

1. Eat right. Eat to build up what you lost.

2. sleep and rest often. Sleeping gives your body the much needed time to recuperate in terms of cells and organ function.

3. Avoid stressors.

4. Cheer up!!!

Healing takes time. Healing requires a deeper understanding of the process itself. I have always made it known to my colleagues, " Don't just treat the DISEASE, treat the PERSON, as a whole.". So understand as well what other people need. Sometimes a good moral support is all they were actually waiting for; somebody to tell them it's ok.

Until out next post. Do take care of yourselves and each other. Heal one another and in the end, if the cycle doesn't break, we can heal this world as well. Thank you for your time. JowelMD signing off..