Holistic Health by Dr Damien T. O’Dwyer BSc, MChiro, PhD
Wholly Realistic Holistic li ti is i Wh lly R li tic I have been writing this column for a while now. I hope you are getting helpful tips and ideas about how to boost your body’s ability to achieve and maintain optimal health and wellbeing (sometimes known as bio-hacking). I have named this column “Holistic Health” and thought it might be useful to define Holism and outline the principles involved.
HOLISM IS A PROACTIVE APPROACH TO HEALTH AND WELLBEING. Naturalism:
No... you do not have to get your kit off! This is the principle that your body is part of the natural world. It follows that, just as you would not pollute the environment and expect the ecosystem to be unaffected, so it is with our bodies, minds and relationships. This principle also holds that health is our natural state and our bodies are designed to be self-healing and selfregulating. We should therefore listen to our bodies and not use artificial means to mask symptoms when they arise – as they are our body’s way of letting us know when something is wrong.
Holism & Whole-ism go hand in hand:
This is viewing the body as a whole and not in a mechanistic or reductionist way (i.e. we are greater than the sum of our parts!). Abundance, homeostatic balance and vitality are central to being healthy.
Interconnectivity:
Recognising that health is an interconnection between our physical, chemical and emotional states, and each affects the others. The simple, universal principle that “everything is connected to everything else” is the foundation of both Naturalism and Holism.
Pro-Active:
One of the major principles of holism is to develop habits that build better health through your lifestyle choices.
It follows that your responsibility to your body is to naturally provide it with what it requires to gain and maintain health. An ounce of prevention is always better than a pound of the cure.
Patience:
Our Facebook header contains this quote “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience”. In a world where we are conditioned to expect instant responses, we need to remember that our bodies need time to heal. Shakespeare knew it, “What wound did ever heal but by degrees?” Inherit in this is to recognise healing goes beyond what you are feeling, to recovery of function and activities of daily life.
Conservativism:
Health maintenance strategies include seeking help early when symptoms arise. Interventions, when required, should be timely, as natural, and conservative (i.e. as small), as possible. Vigilance is key to maintaining health. Waiting for symptoms to occur is reactive and waiting for them to worsen is counterproductive and destructive. Now, the above description may sound mystical or esoteric. Far from it. It is absolutely realistic; to the extent that in 1948, the World Health Organisation (WHO) made the following declaration: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” I totally agree!
Dr Damien T. O’Dwyer BSc, PGDipSc, MChiro, PhD
Medical Researcher
Published Scientist
Doctor of Chiropractic
Bio-Hacker
Wellness Expert
