Holistic Approaches

Caution! Reading this article may be detrimental to your health.

Indeed, if you are sitting still while reading this article, you may be increasing your risk of heart attack, stroke, obesity, diabetes and many other diseases.

So – what course of action does the doctor prescribe?

First, you can put down the article, or turn off the computer, and stop reading. Or, in these days of modern technology, you could begin reading while walking, gaining intellectual enlightenment by using a handheld text-retrieval device, or even by listening to an audio version or podcast download of the book or article of your choice.

Try reading while on an exercise bike or tread mill. This can be an efficient use of time (combing exercise with reading). Simple changes in our lifestyle can take us from the sedentary, obesity- and heart attack-prone environment to a world of health through movement.

“The Saving America Series” presents creative uses of technology that can be adopted as a bridge to physical, emotional and economic health. This dynamic series also challenges everyone to participate in a needed renaissance of American health culture. We must do more to engage our youth explore new and innovative ways to promote physical, emotional and financial health, harnessing the energy of our youth without forgetting the wisdom of our parents and ancestors.

The time has come for us to embrace the willingness of young Americans to think differently and to view the world in innovative ways.

We propose leveraging all of our attributes as an advanced nation to encourage individuals throughout this country to submit ingenious ideas and concepts, to engage with technical schools, colleges, universities to begin exploring the problems of our national health culture, and to begin finding targeted, common-sense solutions to the health crises we face.

The goal is to prevent illness by using technology applications in ways as dramatic as those used in curing illness after the fact. This must be the medical community’s new mantra. No longer can the community of physicians be separate from the public health sector. We should be looking at preventive alternatives to performing costly procedures like open-heart surgery, placing stents or doing bypass operations, when an early change in the elements of an individual’s everyday lifestyle could achieve the same or better results.