By Walter Sorochan Emeritus Professor San Diego State University
Posted January 8, 2019; Updated August 15, 2019 Disclaimer
This is a short version of the theory - Health and Survival.
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Abstract:
Previous theories of health adopted as guidelines for medical practice and health have not been able to stop chronic disease crisis from escalading in United States and the world since 1995. The author proposes a new theory, disease prevention model, that focuses on survival wellness, on finding the cause of a disease as a new way of thinking about health and medical practice. The theory proposes three levels of wellness: optimal or perfect wellness, survival wellness and crisis wellness. This theory gives a higher priority on making medical therapy focus on people and less priority on making medical practice convenient for practitioners. The proposed theory is based on the evolution of humans surviving for thousands of years with an awareness of how they felt. Although the cause of chronic diseases was perceived to be lifestyle, new research links colon bacteria and diet as causative disease factors. Recent advancements in nano-technology and medical science have given us a new understanding of how the body works and a new way of perceiving health. This perception is based on the observation that the body is not static; instead it is ever changing, is programmed to heal itself, and sends messages that communicate to all cells thousands of times per second. The human body is in a constant survival mode. Many persons, making bad food choices, now survive a "lingering" or "survival" life for many months and years with inadequate amounts of nutrients, sunshine and physical activity. Although such persons do have signs or symptoms of poor health, they do not pay much attention to these signs. Such signs and symptoms can persist for months and years, go unnoticed and slowly incubate as a dysfunction or illness that, if not healed, eventuate into a chronic disease. New thinking about the body and medical practice has taken place. Medical practice has been unable to provide adequate information to the general public about how the human body works in different disease states. Such understanding is deemed vital to the general public as a bridge to preventing chronic diseases. It is a vital part of survival wellness. |
The author proposes a new theory, survival-wellness disease-prevention model that simplifies the previous theories of health and wellness, and instead focuses on survival wellness. The theory proposes three levels of wellness: optimal or perfect wellness, survival wellness and crisis wellness. Survival wellness gives top priority to people, as well as making medical practice convenient for practitioners.
Chronic diseases are a reflection of mankind's changing lifestyle and a failing health care system. United States has a health care system that has been unable to prevent chronic disease crisis from getting worse each year. Several studies illustrate the seriousness of chronic diseases:
In 2012, Ward noted that, among civilian, none institutionalized US adults, approximately half (49.8%, 117 million) had at least 1 of 10 selected chronic conditions. More specifically, 24.3% had 1 chronic condition, 13.8% had 2 conditions, and 11.7% had 3 or more conditions. [1]
A new 2017 RAND study confirms Ward's findings. It shows why, and adds a note of urgency to better help people with chronic health conditions. It found that 60 percent of American adults now live with at least one chronic condition; 42 percent have more than one. They account for hundreds of billions of dollars in health care spending every year. [2]
In 2018, the National Center for Chronic Diseases concluded that "One in four Americans has multiple chronic conditions, those that last a year or more and require ongoing medical attention or that limit activities of daily living. That number rises to three in four Americans aged 65 and older." [3]
The three studies confirm that many persons harbor multiple incubating diseases. Many persons, making bad food choices, now survive a "lingering" or "survival" life for many months and years with inadequate amounts of nutrients, sunshine, and physical activity. For example, obese persons may have signs and symptoms of poor health, may not pay much attention to these signs and are able to enjoy work, physical activities and social events. Such signs and symptoms can persist for months and years, go unnoticed and slowly incubate a dysfunction or illness that, if not healed, eventuate into a chronic disease.
The case for survival as health: The condition 'survival' is really the condition of the body or state of health. Health was a term used more generally before 1980 to express freedom from infectious diseases. But with the advancement of more food choices, we now have a different kind of body problem, that of chronic diseases.
The use of the term 'health' evolved with the evolution of man. Health got meaning as mankind found ways to survive over thousands of years that gradually improved the state of the body. Such survival is briefly summarized in the article: "Basic essential survival body needs" [4]. The most important and overlooked survival need is sunlight. It was the sun millions of years ago that initially provided the energy and spark to create plant-bacteria, known as spirulina. This form of hybrid organism used sunshine to make its own food and be able to survive. Eventually, spirulina gave rise to plants using sunlight as energy to stimulate carbon dioxide and water into the process of photosynthesis to form plant food. Plants, in turn, provided the food for animals and humans. Without essential sunshine, there would be no plants, no food and species survival.
Ancient civilizations were aware that their survival was somehow linked to the sun's energy, but lacked the science to understand the sun and earth relationship. They gave the sun mystic powers and understood that the sun was essential to their survival.
The sun is the primary human survival need although most persons do not perceive the sun as an essential need. Ancient people long ago recognized secondary essential survival needs as oxygen, water, food and sleep. Third level survival needs evolved as mankind banded together socially for protection; eventually realizing the need to control its members with values and morality in order to continue surviving. During these periods of survival episodes, the human brain evolved as an advanced form of survival, that of thinking and solving problems.
Forward to today: Although evolution has advanced survival through the ages, public health proponents point out that it has been improvement in sanitation, water purification, personal hygiene, communicable diseases and better diet, that since 1900, have provided humans with better health, opportunities for better living and longer life. Although not everyone is in good health today, all persons are able to survive in some fashion.
While it has been widely hypothesized that lifestyle factors, including a poor diet and a lack of exercise, are driving what the World Health Organization has termed “an obesity epidemic,” even the most ambitious obesity intervention programs, which have gone to great lengths to increase rates of exercise and improve eating habits of a population, have been failures. According to the Marshall Pathogenesis, the primary cause of chronic inflammatory disease is microbes and factors which directly influence pathogens [diet]. Indeed, there is growing evidence that chronic diseases are not due solely to predominantly lifestyle factors [5] [6] as medical science has overlooked causative factors linking diets that feed disease causing colon bacteria.
How the body works: Researchers have uncovered many new hidden mysteries of the human body that most persons are not aware of. This is information that is relevant for people in general more so that for medical doctors. For example, medical doctors have information about how the heart works and this helps them perform cardiac surgery, but most of this technical information is of little help to people preventing heart disease.
Here is an example of 'how the body works' information that people need in order to prevent illnesses and diseases:
1. Advancements in biological science and medicine in the past 25 years: Outdating the traditional medical and biological advancements include methylation; epigenetics [7]; recognizing the impact colon bacteria have on immunity, diseases and health [8] [9]; liposomal encapsulation delivering medication and nutrients to target sites thereby speeding up healing [10]; sunlight waves, referred to as photons, working at the speed of light, switching body functions off/on, creating chemical reactions within the cells, allowing body cells to talk to each other throughout the body, preventing diseases, healing and enhancing wellbeing and survival [11]. plasticity describes how the mind-brain needs new experiences that excite and challenge it to higher levels of functional living [12].; and the recent 2015 Israeli study, Algorithms Personal Diet, linking food to bacteria in the colon, blood glucose and being able to identify foods causing diseases or wellness [13]. Collectively, these new advancements bring forth new thinking about how the body works, wellbeing and preventing chronic diseases.
2. The human body is a biological-chemical-electrical precise, delicate and complex machine.
3. The body is a chemical factory: Your body is a chemical factory: It recognizes bad foods, synthetic nutrients and environmental poisons as toxins and rejects these as poisons. It also makes its own enzyme and hormones from whole plant foods.
4. The body is an electronic transmitter; it's cells communicate with each other, your brain, your heart, digestive system and even with plant cells.
5. The mind-brain appears to have a built-in protective morality guidance system. It senses to do the right thing for the body it is in, protecting it and extending biological life as well as its own brain life. The body has been programmed to maximize the inner potential for excellence, perfection and optimal wellbeing. It has been genetically programmed to sustain life and this is referred to as survival. [14 ]
6. The mind brain needs to learn something new all the time. It never
stops wanting to learn but when it fails to get stimulating new
adventures and experiences, it falls into hibernation .... and is always
ready to be awakened by you. You must do the awakening.
7. The body can survive a "lingering" or "survival" life for many months and years when it is deficient in nutrients, sunshine, and physical activity. [15] [16]
8. The body has a great ability to compensate when nutrients are in short supply. It does so by it's natural body maintenance - healing and compensating process. Most persons probably will have signs and symptoms of poor health but not know how to interpret these signs. Such signs and symptoms can persist for months and years, slowly incubating a dysfunction or illness that, if not healed, eventuates into a chronic disease. The body functions at a lower survival level of wellness while all these bodily happenings are taking place.
9. The body has the ability to heal itself if given the adequate nutrients. [17] [18] Healing means "whole". The body's priority is to heal the whole body and not just a broken bone or organ. The human condition can change in the healing process from feeling sick [many years] to feeling well again.
10. The human body has a toxic-poison recognition monitoring and detoxification system. It instantly recognizes poisonous substances like synthetic chemical nutrient supplements, drugs, and metals like lead, mercury and radiation.
11. Seventy or more percent of the immune system comes from the bacteria in the colon. [bacteria are linked to the food one eats].
12. The human body has its own monitoring 'wellness' system that tells you how it is doing. It sends signals that include pain, inflammation, skin redness, skin itchiness, itchy nose, reflux, allergies, indigestion, vomiting, sneezing, watery eyes and tears, fever, diarrhea, headache, earache, depression, constipation, hunger, thirst and fatigue; as well as feeling good, full of energy and feeling happy. Prevention requires being able to recognize these signals as a body in crisis or feeling good. Interpreting the signals is essential motivation for behavior and lifestyle change.
13. The skin, the largest organ of the body, mirrors what is going on inside the body. Bad happenings inside the body are often reflected in the condition of the skin.
14. The human body has a unique thermostat that juggles balancing a constant inner environment like temperature control, oxygen, water and alkali pH of about 7.2 balance with instant adaptation to internal and environmental changes.
15. Bacteria in the colon play a key role in determining disease or wellness. This role is linked to the bad and good food that provides nourishment to the human body and also all bacteria in the colon.
16. The body changes with time and age. For example, the digestive system creates less digestive enzymes as we get older, the skin gets thinner with age and is less efficient, your faces changes, your vision and hearing slowly wear out as you get older.
Although an incomplete list, these are just a few examples of how the body works. Such information is vital for general public to understand if they are to prevent chronic diseases. Informing people about how the body works justifies new thinking about the concept of wellbeing, medicine, health care and preventing diseases. The general public, more so than medical doctors, need this information now.
So what is optimal wellness?
The preceding scant information about how the human body works is a brief example of the changes that take place many times in the body throughout the day. These changes are referred to as states or levels of wellness.
Wellness and health are used interchangeably to describe and define the condition of the human body. Such definitions have not really changed that much from the World Health Organization [WHO] definition of health in 1948. [19] Most definitions of health and wellness focus on this traditional definition that is abstract, difficult to measure, and simply ignores the real changes taking place many times in the body each day. [20] New research information since 2000 has provided many important medical and biological advancements that bring a change to our thinking about what health really is, how we can achieve optimal wellbeing and how we can foster a positive lifestyle.
Delbert Dunn's Levels of Wellness [illustrated
left] is preferred to WHO definition of health because levels of wellness places health status on a continuum from optimal wellness to disease
crisis. [21] The continuum is portrayed in the illustration on the left
side by the changing background color. A person in superb health functions
differently from someone who is in a normal fitness, sick or diseased
state. The continuum is based on different levels of functionality that
are difficult to identify and for the average person to relate to.
Levels of wellness are linked to current body problems. Body problems, like overweight and obesity,
diabetes, arthritis, and cancer, have not improved very much with Western medicine.
Likewise, there are many related health practices that have not changed,
such as inadequate recommended daily allowances, nutrient-mineral ratio
balancing, lack of research about nutritional co-factors, lack of medical
recognition that food is the best medicine and that medicine still being
practiced the old fashioned way. [22] As a result, the health status of
the general population [observe graph on right side] has gotten worse
since 1995, not better! [23] We have a world chronic disease crisis.
It is not just that the health care system in United States is failing; Anup Shah [24] summarizes the reasons it is not working in most other countries. But overlooked is the observation that poor countries that copy outdated health care systems of rich western countries also copy the shortcomings of a rich country's health care system, ending up with a health care system that does not work very well, in spite of having universal health care.
The medical model of symptom, diagnosis and treatment [through surgery or medication] has been, as Lola Renton [25] points out, effective in dealing with "crisis emergency battlefield" injuries but not very effective in dealing with chronic diseases that plague our society. We have a medical symptoms treatment of sickness model and not a survival-wellness, heal the cause and disease prevention model.
The accepted model of health, as practiced by medicine, is outdated and needs to change in order for the medical health care system to deal with the chronic disease crisis. Giving credibility to simplifying the concept of health is Dr. Frank Lipman [26] who points out that:
"The problem is that although most of us are not permanently in a health “crisis”, this crisis [medical] care model is being used to treat every health problem or symptom - as if it is the only health care model we have. Most of us are not sick enough to be in hospital, and by far the majority of people who visit their doctor, do so for ongoing chronic problems like diabetes, heart disease and obesity - or less-defined disorders like joint pains, back pains, fatigue and headaches."
One way to improve the approach to better body [health] care is to simplify the concept of health for the general population.
This author has simplified the levels of wellness into three major levels: optimal wellness, survival wellness and crisis wellness. This approach replaces the medical perception of health as physiological benchmark definitions. Wellness is simplified so that common folk can relate to and understand how the body works in their everyday life.
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Survival Wellness Theory Dunn's continuum wellness levels are simplified into three levels of wellness. These levels depend on degree of freedom from disease, how the body works, the severity of infection, disability and stages of a disease:
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This new perception of uncertain and often hidden survival-wellness is very different from the establishment stating that health is a balance of physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and social wellbeing and the absence of illness or disease. There is no balance! These were general theories that overlooked the precision and delicate balance of nutrient fine tuning or nutrient balancing, [28] that, in turn, could result in optimal wellbeing or, if deficient, incubate disease states. It is safe to say that if there are no visible signs of disease, that most persons and medical doctors would assume such a person to be healthy. However, in real life, the body of a person appearing to be in good health and functioning, may not necessarily be well; the degree of wellbeing is compensated, hidden and medically undiagnosed.
This is a realistic common sense way of understanding health and wellbeing that is based on everyday living. Live, exist or die!
Below is a table comparing the current medical-health system to the proposed survival wellness system:
| Theories | WHO & Levels of Wellness | Survival Wellness disease prevention model |
| Levels or states | Many unrecognized | Three wellness levels: optimal, survival, crisis |
| Historical Basis | Flexnir Report 1910; since WWII treating battlefield injuries | Humans surviving thousands of evolution years; body programmed for survival |
| Medical model | Emergency, crisis, surgery | Disease and illness prevention, optimal wellbeing |
| Effective Therapy | Emergencies; symptoms, diagnosis and treatment; one size fits all | Find/fix cause of symptom, disease prevention, biodiversity |
| Therapy | Treat symptoms with drugs; antibiotics; surgery | Find/fix cause; food is best medicine; surgery secondary; avoid antibiotics |
| Healing | Medical intervention to heal | Body has ability to heal itself |
| How to treat | Treat body systems individually | Treat whole body |
| Body guidance system | None recognized | Genetic body guidance system; brain & body programmed for survival |
| Focus | Medical system designed for medical doctors | Medical system designed more for general population, less for doctors |
| Priority of system | Make system easy for doctors; not transparent for general public | Priority for people; transparent for people; vital for people to understand |
| Therapy procedure | Relieve pain symptoms; emergencies; diagnosis and treatment | Find cause of symptom, then relief symptoms; disease prevention |
| Disease cause | Lifestyle behavior | Colon bacteria, diet, lifestyle |
| Body state | Body is static and stable | Body is in constant change; adapting but always precision and in delicate balance |
| Success | Failure to prevent lingering/incubating disease | Success in preventing lingering/incubating disease |
| Recognition | No recognition of inner potential for body excellence, perfection and optimal wellbeing | Recognition of inner potential for body excellence, perfection and optimal wellbeing |
| Body signs | Doctors interpret signs of pain as symptoms to prescribe treatment | People need to recognize symptoms as body messages like pain, as body dysfunction or illness, body wants to heal |
The discoveries in human biology since 2000 have made 'how the body works' more transparent, thereby providing the basis for new thinking about the meaning of health, survival, disease prevention, and fixing the health care and medical systems.
The author proposes a new theory, survival-wellness disease prevention model that simplifies the previous theories of health and wellness, and instead focuses on survival wellness. The theory proposes three levels of wellness: optimal or perfect wellness, survival wellness and crisis wellness. This theory focuses on making medical therapy focus on making it easy for the general public to understand how their body works, as well as making medical practice convenient for practitioners.
Your feedback is most appreciated: Insert the email address wsorochan@gmail.com into your list of contacts, then contact author: Author Walter Sorochan
References:
1 Ward BW, Schiller JS, Goodman RA., "Multiple Chronic Conditions Among US Adults," A 2012 Update. Prev Chronic Dis 2014;11:130389. Ward: Chronic diseases 2014
2 Irving Doug, "Chronic Ills, Bigger Bills," Rand Review, July-August 2017. Irving: Burden of chronic diseases 2017
3 National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, "Multiple chronic conditions," August 14, 2018. National Center Chronic disease: Prevention and promotion 2018
4 Sorochan Walter, "Basic essential survival body needs," Freegrab.net, December 18, 2018. Sorochan: Basic essential survival body needs 2018
5 Bork Peer, "Bacterial balance that keeps us healthy," Biology Nature, March 4, 2010. Bork: Bacteria & human health 2010
6 MPKB, "Incidence and prevalence of chronic disease," The Marshall Protocol Knowledge Base. MPKB: Prevalence of chronic disease
7 Sorochan Walter, "Changing your body, habits, genes and life -epigenetics," freegrab,ne, August 26, 2014. Sorochan: Epigenetics 2014
8 Sorochan Walter, "The Immune - Digestive System Connection," Freegrab.net, January 29, 2013. Sorochan: Immune-digestive system 2013
9 Zeevi David, and others, "Personalized nutrition by prediction of glycemic responses," Cell, 2015. Zeevi: Personalized nutrition with glucose 2015
10 LivOn Labs, "Vitamin C." LivON Labs: Vitamin C
11 Sorochan Walter, "Biophotons, light, human body, disease and health," Freegrab,net, May 27, 2019. Sorochan: Biophotons & health 2019
12 Sorochan Walter, "Mental-Mind-Brain - How you become who and what you are," Freegrab.net, October 20, 2018. Sorochan: Plasticity 2018
13 Zeevi David, and others, "Personalized nutrition by prediction of glycemic responses," Cell, 2015. Zeevi: Personalized nutrition with glucose 2015
14 Sartorius Norman, The Meanings of Health and its Promotion, Croat Med J. 2006 Aug; 47(4): 662–664. Sartorius: Meaning of health 2006
15 Smithsonian National Museum, "Survival of the adaptable," July 12, 2019. Smithsonian Museum: Survival 2019
16 TV: Novosti, "Survival genes: Scientists find DNA mutations that helped Russians during Leningrad siege al genes: Scientists find DNA mutations that helped Russians during Leningrad siege," TV-Novosti, June 24, 2015. TV: Novosti: Russian Leningrad siege Survival 2015
17 Sorochan Walter, "Healing," Freegrab.net, August 24, 2016/ Sorochan: Body Heal itself 2016
18 Wilson Lawrence, "The balance concept in healing," January 2016. Wilson: Balanced healing 2016
19 Sartorius Norman, The Meanings of Health and its Promotion, Croat Med J. 2006 Aug; 47(4): 662–664. Sartorius: Meaning of health 2006
20 Lipman Frank, "Changing Our Disease Care System To A Health Care System," The Huffington Post, November 17, 2011. Lipman: Changing health care system 2011
21 Dunn Delbert, High Level Wellness, BEATfY, Arlington, Virginia, 1971. [Book on line]
21 Lipman Frank, "Changing Our Disease Care System To A Health Care System," The Huffington Post, November 17, 2011. Lipman: Changing health care system 2011
22 MPKB, "Incidence and prevalence of chronic disease," The Marshall Protocol Knowledge Base. MPKB: Prevalence of chronic disease
23 Lipman Frank, "Changing Our Disease Care System To A Health Care System," The Huffington Post, November 17, 2011. Lipman: Changing health care system 2011
24 Shah, Anup. “Health Care Around the World.” Global Issues, July 12, 2019. Shah World health care 2011
25 Renton Lola, "The pitfalls of modern medicine: what you need to know," Igennus Healthy Care Nutrition, January 6, 2015 Renton: Pitfalls of modern medicine 2015
26 Lipman Frank, "Changing Our Disease Care System To A Health Care System," The Huffington Post, November 17, 2011. Lipman: Changing health care system 2011
27 Sorochan Walter, "Nutrient balancing -new theory of well-being," Freegrab.net, November 01, 2016. Sorochan: Nutrient-health theory
28 Sorochan Walter, "Nutrient balancing -new theory of well-being," Freegrab.net, November 01, 2016. Sorochan: Nutrient-health theory