Background Information to Health

Millions/billions are lost each year by industry because of illness and stress-related illness. Thousands of executives often die in situ and in spite of exercising their way through life in what they term to be a healthy existence, never live to experience the benefits of the money they have accrued. Why? In spite of their expensive BUPA or other health schemes/checks they are not internally healthy. Vast numbers die in their fifties from heart attacks, cancer, or are crippled by strokes or arthritis. Heart attack and stroke kill above one and a half million people every year. Frequently this happens at the age of 45-60, five years before retirement; or at the age of 65-75, some five to ten years after retirement.

Cancer, despite government statistics is on the increase, so is arthritis, obesity, asthma and many other so-called modern diseases.

Considering the body is designed to live until some 125 years old, this represents a high level of death in middle age! Death is preventable with simple changes to lifestyle and commitment on the part of the public seeking a more healthy life.

Medical and Pharmaceutical implications

Much pressure has been put upon the medical profession by the powerful pharmaceutical companies to use mainly chemically based drug therapy. In spite of many cases of withdrawal of many so-called ‘scientifically-proven’ drugs because of dangerous side effects, the vast majority of the general public believe that their doctor knows best. Unfortunately the majority of doctors are not trained, nor understand that much of what they are giving to their patients is toxic. People continue to fill their bodies with this toxicity, plus other toxic food substances until several years down the line, they realize, if they are lucky to survive the onslaught, that this is not the complete answer to their problem.

Although nearly half the British schools of medicine offer some courses in complementary medicine and some post-graduate medical centres offer a basic introduction to complementary disciplines, the majority of doctors still continue to work within the theories of Pasteur instead of Bechamp*, and use chemically-based drugs for most diseases. Their knowledge of how to help change the path of onset illness with diet and other simple remedies is almost nil. It is understandable that many modern conventional medical practitioners hold a negative bias against herbs and herbal medicines, nutrition, kinesiology and EFT (emotional freedom technique) as most of them have not been taught about the potential benefits. They often regard their use as ‘old-hat’, ‘antiquated’, ’non-effective’. Their scepticism, and the pressures put upon them by pharmaceutical sales representatives and the restraints of the BMA, prevent them from ever thinking outside the box.

*Modern medicine progressed to its present level through a scientific and philosophical debate that came to a head in the 19th Century. This debate was between two eminent Frenchmen, Antoine Bechamp and Louis Pasteur, both famous microbiologists. Louis Pasteur being the stronger, more flamboyant and vocal of the two, won the day by convincing the scientific community that his view alone was correct and went to great lengths to disprove the theory of Bechamp. Pasteur came from a family that had both the right connections and wealth to support him in his research.

Pasteur’s accepted theory of disease described non-changeable microbes as being the primary cause of disease. The theory of monomorphis, when it is accepted that microbes or bacteria invading the body from the outside, only cause disease. Commonly known as the germ theory.

Bechamp on the other had held the view that micro-organisms go through different stages of development and evolve into various growth forms within their life cycle. This is a theory known as pleomorphism. Bechamp found microbes in the blood, which he named microzymas. The microbes changed shape as individuals became diseased which Bechamp felt was the cause of disease and produced the theory that disease comes from inside the body itself.

A third scientist of the same period, Claude Bernard, who also entered the argument, said it was actually the “milieu” or environment that was important to the disease process. The ‘environment’ in which they were exposed affected the change of the microbes. Therefore, if the environment of the body was correct disease should not develop.

At the time of his death, Pasteur finally gave an acknowledgment of Bechamp’s work by saying “Bernard was correct, the microbe is nothing, the terrain is everything.” He finally admitted on his deathbed that his own germ theory had flaws. This admission, unfortunately, fell on deaf ears and to save the faces of those who had promoted Pasteur’s theory this change of history never took place. The mainstream of science at that time had already accepted the allopathic (drug based) route.

The result of the road paved by Pasteur is what we see today. When a body is out of balance an attempt is made to put it back into balance first of all with drug therapy, then through surgery to cut away the parts that are ‘diseased’. The general effect is to remove the symptom, but not to improve the terrain, or environment (the balance of the body).

The influence of modern medicine
It is interesting to note at this point that modern medicine really only started with the onset of the National Health Service in 1948 and at that date, and before, doctors used much of the now termed ‘complementary’ medication. If considering an iron deficiency for example, a doctor would recommend a raw liver sandwich. For bronchitis a steam-kettle with Friars Balsam, or Eucalyptus would be considered. Since the inception of the NHS pharmaceuticals have become very profitable.

Whilst recognising and appreciating that modern medicine has alleviated or eliminated completely many of the past dreaded diseases (although some of these, e.g. TB, have again entered the chain), it must be recognised that chronic illness is on the increase. One notable factor being that of cancer, where no real proven cure has been found since 1966. The same methods are still being used of cut, burn and poison. In the case of heart problems the main answer is to remove the offending tube or even the whole organ, but very little is done to examine the underlying cause as to why the person arrived at this present state in the first place. After care consists of medication which probably includes statins which leach from the body CoQ10,a critical enzyme component, and Warfarin an anti-coagulant, which is also a rat poison. Warfarin affects the blood coagulation mechanisms by inhibiting the Vitamin K functions, this is why it has to be monitored so carefully, whereas a diet rich in quantities of fish oil, such as marine lipids, garlic, vitamin E, Selenium, and other natural anti-oxidants would solve the problem.

To be successful into the future it is necessary for so-called conventional and naturopathic medicine to walk hand-in-hand. Why? because both fields have much to offer.

The present unhealthy climate of ‘slagging’ one another will probably continue when a compromise should be reached. Conventional medicine is covered by expensive medical plans and people prefer to benefit from these, because they are ‘free’!

It should be noted at this point that Health insurance, is really illness cover, in the same way that Life insurance is only useful when one is dead.

What is required to achieve greater health?

A total understanding and acceptance of how the body really functions; and how to eliminate the cause of early death and chronic illness both physically and psychologically (emotionally).

Most people understand the simple functioning of the car. If it is operated with petrol you pour clean petrol into the tank. Make sure it has the correct oil and within reason this works. However, if the car has silt or rust in the tank this can be sucked up into the mechanism and the car breaks down, sometimes beyond repair.

This may be a simple analogy, but basically that is how the body works. If you pour the right kind of food(fuel) into the system it works, if you don’t it rusts, becomes acidic and starts fermenting, or putrefying and ‘things’ break down or don’t function correctly. It is at this point people start to take notice, visit their doctor, who may or may not know what to do, but invariably will give them some drug-based therapy and within a short space of time their symptoms either return or become worse.

Psychological and emotional implications

Apart from looking at the physical functioning of the body it is important to take into
consideration how people perform psychologically (emotionally). Modern, allopathic medicine does not take into account, sufficiently, the psychological aspects of “repression” when it comes to illness and this is something we need to be aware of when we consider the type of personnel being employed by a company. Absenteeism, ineffective communication, lack of motivation, lowered energy levels may all be driven not only by physical symptoms, but emotional symptoms going right back to childhood.

Repression which is a term attributed to Sigmund Freud refers to the expulsion from the conscious mind of thoughts and memories that might provoke anxiety (primary repression) or the process by which hidden id impulses are blocked from ever reaching conscious (primal repression). Within Freudian theory, repressed memories are not deactivated, but continue to affect a person’s behaviour, although mostly in disguised or symbolic forms such as dreams or neurotic behaviour. In effect these repressions also have an effect on our health.

In writing about repression Freud compared the process to “condemnation” and stated the following:

“Let us take a model, an impulse, a mental process seeking to convert itself into action. We know that it can suffer rejection, by virtue of what we call ‘repudiation’ or ‘condemnation’, whereupon the energy at its disposal is withdrawn, it becomes powerless, but it can continue to exist as a memory. The whole process of decision on the point takes place with the full cognizance of the ego. It is very different when we imagine the same impulse subject to repression: it would then retain its energy and no memory of it would be left behind; the process of repression, too, would be accomplished without the cognizance of the ego.”

In a nutshell Freud is saying that when we have memories, impulses, desires and thoughts that are too difficult or unacceptable to deal with, we unconsciously exclude them from our consciousness (we push them down from our consciousness to our unconsciousness). This is similar to suppression with one key difference – suppression is a conscious exclusion (or “pushing down”) of these painful memories, thoughts etc., and is more similar to Freud’s explanation of condemnation.

Psychological repression as defined in Winkipedia states that ‘repression is considered unconscious and can often be detrimental. It may be contrasted with suppression which is entirely conscious and thus can be managed.’ Making this statement of ‘can often be detrimental’ I would like to argue that repressed thoughts always are detrimental, particularly to health. In my work as a kinesiologist I am able to work at different levels and it is often these repressed incidents that, when uncovered, are the key to recovery, particularly when working with people who have cancer.

It is often claimed that traumatic events are “repressed”, yet ‘trauma’ for one person is not necessarily perceived by another. However, whatever is perceived may be repressed by that person and come to light at a future date in some other form such as illness. I would go so far as to say that all repressed events return later in life as an illness which needs to be dealt with both physically and psychologically if it is to be healed.

Fear and Sexuality – Sex roles are sets of attributes including attitudes, personality traits and behaviours that a culture defines as appropriate for each sex. These beliefs are generally held, at least to some extent, by the majority of the culture’s members. Sex-role beliefs become sex-role stereotypes when individuals use those attributes as rules and apply them to almost all females and males. Although in modern times the definition may be changing, to some extent, males and females are still expected to fall into the pattern recognized by the culture. On the whole women are expected to be domestic, warm, emotional, physically weak, dependent, passive and pretty. They are expected to be homemakers and mothers. The males on the other hand are seen to be the providers, intelligent, unemotional, physically strong, independent, active, aggressive and scientific. They are expected to work outside the home.

There are two aspects to modelling sex-role development – learning and performing. In the learning phase children normally learn the content of both the feminine and masculine sex roles provided they are exposed to role models of both sexes. However, children do not perform all of the behaviours they have learned. Males do not normally perform “feminine” behaviours and females do not normally perform “masculine” behaviours.

Sexual dysfunction in both females and males which often comes from anxiety or fear plays a great part in health problems during adult life. Such immediate causes might include fear of failure, performance failure, failure of communication. Remote causes are often derived from previous childhood experiences. Guilt about past sexual experiences, extremely restrictive family and religious backgrounds, traumatic sexual experiences such as incest or sexual assault or unconscious conflicts which evoke anxiety at the time of sexual encounters. Because sexual activities have been more discouraged for females in Western cultures, there may be more difficulties in sexual functioning for adult women than for men.

Relationship variables play a great part in the health of partners. Communication problems, anger, lack of attraction to or love for the partner. Power struggles, and lack of trust and respect create rejection, hostility and distance between sexual partners. If these patterns are a repetition of what has happened in that person’s childhood, then these need to be taken into consideration when an analysis of their immediate presenting health problem is taken. Fear is historically considered as one of the primary emotions along with joy, anger and grief. Fear is the emotion of avoidance of a consciously recognized, usually external imminent danger. Anxiety on the other hand is the emotion of avoidance.

Stress and how it affects the body

One of the expressions mostly used to day is the word ‘stress’. There are several courses being held with the intention of helping the workforce with the management of stress. However, these courses do not necessarily go deep enough into the question of ‘why’ the person is stressed in the first place. As an example I give ‘eczema’ which is often brought on by stress. The eczema is a physical reaction to an emotional disturbance and it is necessary to discover why it occurs, otherwise this will develop into a much more serious illness later in life.

Dr. T.H.Holmes of the University of Washington, created his Social Readjustment Rating Scale in which he gave numerical values to many different types of stressful situations and then added them together to decide the future illness prospects of the clients:

Death of a spouse 100 stress points
Divorce 73 points
Marital Separation 63 points
Jail term 63 points
Death of a close family member or friend 63 points
Personal injury or illness 50 points
Marriage 50 points
Marital Reconciliation 45 points
Retirement 45 points
Change to a different job 36 points
Outstanding Personal Achievement 28 points
Trouble with the boss 23 points
Change in residence 20 points
Vacation 13 points
Christmas 12 points
Minor violation of the law 12 points

Getting married is almost as stressful as going to jail. Retirement is more stressful than changing to a different job and marital reconciliation is only slightly less stressful than a separation. Christmas, which should be a time of peace and enjoyment also results in 12 stressful points!

Should a person experience over 250 points within a two year period this is likely to be followed by a life-threatening illness; 150 points by an illness which may be serious, but not necessarily life-threatening (not necessarily, but this would depend entirely on the previous life of the person); with 20-50 points, recurrent bronchitis, cold sores, colds or other illnesses may result.

These stresses are not to be confused with stress in helping to reach peak performance which is good stress, but anything beyond that point will manifest itself in illness.

Stress by others or the person triggers the stress response to produce such diverse disorders as migraine, anxiety attacks, depression, nervous stomach and diarrhoea, asthma, eczema and many other illnesses.

Examples of stress-related illnesses

Asthma, phobias, headaches, allergies, nervous colitis, social phobias
Nausea and vomiting, vascular headaches, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), business stress, low self-esteem, depression, flatulence, non-assertiveness, Crohn’s disease, insomnia, marital stress, compulsive eating, fatigue, nervous stomach, low back pain, stiff neck and shoulders, angina pectoris, gastritis, ulceration, cluster headaches, chest pains, exhaustion, arthritis, aggression, intimidation, repression, palpitations.

When stress becomes excessive it can be very damaging. It can harm:
Health
Happiness
Work performance
Team spirit and co-operation
Relationships
Personal development


If personnel are under stress for a prolonged period of time and the original causes are not dealt with it will eventually lead to a more serious symptom such as:

Stomach ulcers
Heart problems
Minor illness (allergies, skin disorders, migraine)
Serious illness (e.g. arthritis, cancer, diabetes)
Mental problems (e.g. depression, phobias)

Our vision: to promote the connection between health, vitality and productivity thus creating a more harmonious, vigorous team spirit within a company, leading to greater profitability