What is Health?
Health is your greatest asset, so how do you measure it? What is it, and how do you know if you’re healthy or not?
When people are asked a simple question like, “How do you know if you’re healthy or not?”, most will answer, “You’re healthy if you feel good, and you’re sick if you feel bad.” Some people also base their health on how they look. They see models on the front of magazines and think, “That must be what a healthy person looks like.”
The problem with basing your health on how you look and feel is that you will never think about, or do anything about your health until you feel bad, or you look bad. With a philosophy like that, there’s no wonder the top 3 killers in the United States are caused by things you don’t feel or see until it is too late.
The third leading cause of death in the U.S. is heart disease. This unfortunate disease kills over 550,000 people a year. 80% of the time the first symptom of heart disease is a heart attack, and 50% of those heart attacks end in death. If you wait until you feel heart disease it could be too late!
The second leading cause of death in the U.S. is cancer. This devastating disease kills over 800,000 people a year. Most people with cancer don’t have a noticeable symptom until their cancer is in the last stage, and if you wait until that point to start improving your health, it could be too late!
According to a study by Gary Null Ph.D. (and many other doctors) published in Time Magazine, the leading cause of death is medical malpractice and prescription drug reactions, killing almost 1,000,000 people a year. This is no surprise in a society that bases their health on how they look and feel. Many people think, “If a drug covers up my symptom (such as pain, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol), and I don’t feel it anymore, I must be healthy.” Is that person really healthy? The answer is. “No!” Waiting until you have a symptom, and then covering it up with a drug, is the number one cause of death in this country.
So, what is health? Here is the World Health Organization’s definition of health:
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
As you can see from the definition above, health is not just how you look or feel, it is how you function! What controls the function of your body? The answer is, “Your nervous system!” This is why function is the first consideration in chiropractic care. Yes, food is important, and fitness is important, and if the one thing that controls the function of your body is off, you will never achieve health!
The chiropractic adjustment removes interference to your nervous system and allows your body to function at its best. So every time you get adjusted, you are not just “spending time” or “spending money”. You are investing in your life. You are improving your health, creating a legacy, and changing your family tree!
