What is lifestyle medicine? Managing your
health care Exam Questions And Answers
U.S. medical system - ANS Access to health care is important to your well-being and it is
important that you know how to use the health care system in a pro-active way. The U.S.
medical system offers some of the best-trained health professionals and cutting-edge
treatments in the world. Traditionally, doctors and nurses are perceived as healers of the sick
and injured. Why would you see them when you are healthy?As discussed in other chapters of
this textbook, your attitudes and behaviors are important to your health care. Being positive,
knowledgeable, and pro-active about your health will not only reduce your chance of getting sick
or injured, but it will enhance other areas of your life.
Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, an education counselor, writes, - ANS "Every human being's essential
nature is perfect and faultless, but after years of immersion in the world we easily forget our
roots and take on a counterfeit nature." Is it possible to shed this unwanted facade and truly be
the person you really are and really want to be? Yes—certainly you can release yourself from
the chains of the past and the excuses that have kept you stuck.Dyer also absorbed the ideas
from the work of Dr. Bruce Lipton, a cell biologist whose research is challenging the whole
concept of genetic determinism. Lipton and others have discovered that genes are not
self-emergent; they cannot act for themselves. Genes are basically the blueprint for our
foundation. It takes some stimulus or energy in the form of chemicals, frequencies, thoughts, or
other sources to make the genes function. This means that our DNA does not completely
control our destiny but rather, for the most part, we do
Positive thoughts - ANS In this chapter, we will look to living a healthy lifestyle as a
privilege and an opportunity, not a chore. It could be a challenge to think of being physically
active and eating well as drudgery or no fun. Those who just love living these healthy lifestyle
behaviors are fortunate folks. The hard work most of us need to do is on our attitudes. If we can
be positive about doing what it takes to be healthy, we are well on our way to wellness.
Free Yourself from Fatalistic Thinking - ANS Ridding ourselves of fatalistic- or
deterministic-type thinking will free us to put our excuses behind us, such as "I'm not good
enough/athletic enough/capable enough, I'm getting too old, I just don't have time, I was born
(or raised) this way, I can't change." As Dyer has written, "any thought patterns that do not
enhance and expand your joyous development are excuses." We can become what we believe,
even genetically, according to Dyer and Lipton. Try this affirmation: "I am much more powerful
today than the old programs and mind viruses that I absorbed in my childhood."It is time to
eliminate blame from your life. You have the power to choose. When you blame, you are
denying that power; you are giving your power to someone or something else (Figure 2). Be
,willing to give yourself permission to express the power of your positive choices. As you rid
yourself of blame, you will rid yourself of much negativity. When you believe in your power to
choose, you will find that you are more compassionate, more interested in being kind to others
and respecting their power to choose. Several of the health-related principles put forth by Dr.
Dyer to help us be rid of excuses include "be willing to allow health, happiness and success to
flow into your life, and live here and now in your mind as well as in your body."
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"I am much more powerful today than the old programs and mind viruses that I absorbed in my
childhood."
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Make wise choices, not lame excuses.
The Power of Being Aware - ANS It is amazing what awareness will do. Dyer discusses a
study done at Harvard University and reported in Psychological Science in 2007. The study
involved 84 women room attendants at seven hotels. Half of the women were told that their
work met their daily requirement for fitness and the other half were not given that awareness.
This was the only intervention of the study; there was no change in the normal routines of any of
the women. In just 4 weeks, the researchers found that in the group whose awareness was
raised regarding their physical activity there was a significant decrease in key parameters
including body fat, BMI, blood pressure, and weight. The researchers called their study
"Mind-set Matters: Exercise and the Placebo Effect."Dyer poses these questions that form the
essence of the Excuses Begone! paradigm. Think of an excuse you use and take it through
these questions.
Is it true? (Probably not.)
Where did the excuse come from? (I allowed it.)
What's the payoff? (I get to avoid risks and stay the same.)
What would my life look like if I couldn't use this excuse? (I'd be free to be myself.)
Can I create a rational reason to change? (Easily.)
Can I access universal cooperation in shedding old habits? (Yes, by simply aligning with my
source of being.)
How can I continuously reinforce this new way of being? (By being vigilant.)
Take the excuse through these questions and this thinking process as many times as necessary
to set the foundation for your willingness to eliminate that excuse.
Intervention - ANS procedure or treatment designed to expand knowledge & relieve
suffering.
Placebo effect - ANS An improvement in one's health or life that is due to an unidentifiable
medication or treatment.
Dyer poses these questions that form the essence of the Excuses Begone! paradigm. Think of
an excuse you use and take it through these questions. - ANS Is it true? (Probably not.)
Where did the excuse come from? (I allowed it.)
What's the payoff? (I get to avoid risks and stay the same.)
, What would my life look like if I couldn't use this excuse? (I'd be free to be myself.)
Can I create a rational reason to change? (Easily.)
Can I access universal cooperation in shedding old habits? (Yes, by simply aligning with my
source of being.)
How can I continuously reinforce this new way of being? (By being vigilant.)
Take the excuse through these questions and this thinking process as many times as necessary
to set the foundation for your willingness to eliminate that excuse.
Placebo effect - ANS Placebo is Latin for "I shall please." The placebo effect is evidenced
when a person does get better when there was no apparent intervention. A placebo is defined
as a dummy medicine or substitute for the real thing. As in the study of the 84 hotel room
attendants, there was no intervention other than telling the women that their physical activity
met daily requirements. In other studies, a patient is told that a medication will make them better
and, although it is nothing more than a sugar pill, they get better.The Nocebo effect is just the
opposite. A patient is told that this treatment may not work or may work against them, and they
tend to get worse. People who have studied the placebo effect have discovered mechanisms of
the power of beliefs. There are measurable changes in the release of endorphins and cortisol,
among other neurochemical changes, which in turn reduce the negative effects of stress.Dr.
Walter Brown, clinical professor of psychiatry at the Brown University Program of Medicine, has
researched and written extensively on the placebo effect. Dr. Brown believes that along with a
reduction in distress, the patient benefits from experiencing the comfort of being in a healing
environment. He also believes that some of the positive effect may be due to conditioning, and
much of the effect may be due to expectation (Figure 3). People who expect to improve have a
greater likelihood of improving.
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People who take a holistic approach attribute the placebo effect, in part, to the impact that hope
has on healing. They do not see the placebo effect as a false positive, but rather as evidence
that the body, mind, and spirit are integrated and clearly working together. Others dismiss the
placebo effect saying that it is just bad science or measuring errors. Placebos continue to be
controversial ethical dilemmas bec
Nocebo - ANS A negative influence that worsens a person's condition or health
Holistic placebo - ANS they do not see the placebo effect as a false positive, but rather as
evidence that the body, mind, and spirit are integrated and clearly working together.
integrative medicine - ANS practice of healing the whole individual, not just treating the
ailment.
