How To Make Good Decisions In Self-Care

Posted by Horton Tatarian, research biochemist, on 16th Nov 2018

How To Make Good Decisions In Self-Care

Optimize your performance in self-care.

Commit the time and resources you need to care for your health. Like a machine, your body requires ongoing maintenance and repair. A chronic disease by any name develops only after repair mechanisms fail. 

Your health - your life - is worth engaging in the following steps.

1. Set an achievable goal for yourself.

To help you choose a goal that you sense can be reached, first determine where you stand with your health.

How would you rate your health status? The article,  Know Your Health Status, describes each level on our Health Status Scale in terms of health and disease.

Once you determine your health status (poor, fair, good, excellent) choose a realistic health goal. A goal of “excellent health” is realistic for people whose health is good. Likewise, achieving “fair health” is the next step for people in poor health. 

Work toward your ultimate goal one step at a time.

2. Expect improved health to come your way.

Regardless of how you stand on the Health Status Scale ask yourself “Why do I expect my health to improve?” Ask this question with a sense of curiosity, free of doubt, every morning. 

Before long, you may notice a feeling of positive expectation when you consider the question. Positive expectations can override the doubt that thwarts success. 

Also, after asking "Why do I expect my health to improve," be open to receiving useful answers.  Scientists publish new findings daily, but the information you seek is likely known, only waiting to be found.

3. Judge the value and limits of medical care.

Be alert to the warning signs that call for medical attention. That's important. But when visiting a doctor, ask about success rates for the treatment offered to you. 

Pay close attention to your intuitive sense of what your system wants. 

  • If you do not feel comfortable with a recommendation, it's likely not the right way to go. 
  • As you come upon true solutions to health problems, a feeling of peace may replace anxiety. 

Keep in mind that medical care cannot substitute for self-care. It is better to resolve symptoms through self-care instead of suppress them with drugs. 

Adverse drug reactions are the 4th leading cause of death in the United States. People who maintain their health through good choices in self-care avoid contributing to this statistic.

4. Use logic and solid information in self-care.

You may have heard of our "post-truth era." It usually pertains to politics. But the problem of neglecting truth while stirring up negative emotions occurs in health care too.

For example, advertisers still promote sales of the flu vaccine in spite of its risks. Fear of infection drives the sales. But one study reports that the vaccine to prevent the flu causes levels of the virus to climb 6 times higher in those who are vaccinated.

We observed 6.3 (95% CI 1.9–21.5) times more [viral] shedding among cases with vaccination in the current and previous season compared with having no vaccination in those two seasons.

The findings of these scientists are consistent with those of others that show injury to the immune system by vaccine ingredients.

5. Explore your influence over your health.

As discussed in The Advice Of Experts In Natural Medicine, the most important issues that impair your health are within your reach to control.

Our body, mind, and spirit require five things for health:

  1. Nourishment
  2. Protection
  3. Work
  4. Balance
  5. Purpose

Self-care addresses each of these areas as they apply to the body, mind, and spirit. 

For example, studies show the benefits of the positive expectations of faith on health.

The prosocial, "spiritual" positive emotions like hope, faith, forgiveness, joy, compassion and gratitude are extremely important in the relief of stress and in regulation of the neuroendocrine system, protecting us against stress.

6. Create your plan and take action. 

Having less than optimal health is a warning sign that you need help in self-care. 

Chronic health disorders develop from the combined effect of several factors:

  1. Poor nutrition (food, water, air)
  2. Physical inactivity or lack of sleep
  3. Toxins (cell waste, chemicals, drugs)
  4. Physical or mental distress and trauma
  5. Infections, mostly from weak immune defenses
  6. Bioelectric disturbances from internal or external stressors
  7. Damaging thoughts, attitudes, feelings, and personal relationships
  8. Inflammation from the above causes, which disrupts cell functions
  9. Organ and tissue dysfunction from the above or other (rare) causes

Healing requires energy. See  How To Boost Your Physical And Mental Energy for specific suggestions. 

References

Vaillant GE. The neuroendocrine system and stress, emotions, thoughts and feelings. Mens Sana Monogr. 2011 Jan;9(1):113-28.

Yan J, et al.; EMIT Consortium. Infectious virus in exhaled breath of symptomatic seasonal influenza cases from a college community. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 Jan 30;115(5):1081-1086.

About Horton Tatarian

Horton Tatarian image

I’m a biochemist who examines scientific findings on health and disease. My degree in biochemistry is from U.C. Berkeley. UCLA School of Medicine granted an M.D. degree in 1974. Since then, independent research prepared me to advise clients on natural ways of self-care.

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