What are four specific things you think every person should be doing to be their healthiest, happiest selves?ġ.

Other areas that should be attended to include appropriate stress management, getting adequate sleep, maintaining a strong social network of family and friends, and limiting exposure to environmental toxins, including cigarette smoke. For example, in 2010 I had the opportunity to lecture in China where I witnessed firsthand how Eastern and Western medical practices can be offered together under one system of care.Īre diet and exercise the only things we should be worried about in terms of our health and wellness?Ī healthy diet and daily exercise are core components of an optimal health program. This is already happening in some parts of the world. Both are necessary-the best available therapies, conventional and complementary, should be offered alongside one another and used to support health and wellbeing.

On the other hand, Western medicine excels at the treatment of urgent and emergent medical and surgical conditions, as well as public-health initiatives such as clean water and vaccines. What can Eastern medicine learn from Western medicine, and vice-versa?Įastern medicine is recognized in part for its honoring of the innate healing capacity within each of us, and the impacts that diet, lifestyle and environmental factors have on health and healing. Integrative medicine, with its focus on diet and lifestyle measures to prevent disease and promote health, is the most practical way to transform our healthcare system and bring lower-cost, health-enhancing treatments into the mainstream for all to benefit from. Our present healthcare system is far too expensive, emphasizes disease treatment over disease prevention, does not keep us well, and offers little motivation for people to take good care of themselves. The focus is on health promotion and disease prevention, and it promises to reduce costs by utilizing less expensive treatments with good outcomes. It emphasizes the therapeutic relationship between patient and healthcare provider, and makes use of all appropriate therapies, both conventional and complementary. I define integrative medicine as healing- oriented medicine that takes account of the whole person (body, mind and spirit), including all aspects of diet and lifestyle.

Airmount family integrative medicine