Transforming Relationships with Easy to Learn, Proven Communication Skills

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By Georgianna Donadio, MSc, DC, PhD- 

Changing BehaviorAll of us, from time to time, identify things about how we behave that we would like to change. Changing our behavior is very difficult because it is the result of the many learned responses we develop as soon as we come into the world. There is research today suggesting that conditioning that can begin even in the womb.

How we learn to adapt to our environment, what outside events or stimulation feel safe or threatening, how we view the world we live in, what our beliefs and values are, and so forth all play a role in how we learn to behave towards ourselves and others. These factors also influence how we learn to communicate.

The variations of how each of us learns to adapt in the world around us are most noticeable when we are in relationships with others. What behaviors each of us bring to a relationship determines how well, or not, we are able to work together, live together or love together.

An example of how our conditioning impacts our relationships is seen in how couples relate to each other and get along before and after having children together. It is often, after the children come along, that the couple begins to have conflicts that stem from how each of the individuals was raised, what values they have, or what they believe is best for raising a healthy or successful child.

While it is inevitable that we do have conflicts with others because we are uniquely different and uniquely conditioned individuals, there are easy-to-learn, proven communication skills that we can all apply to any of our relationships to make them more fulfilling and positive for both ourselves and others.

A basic and simple skill that we can all apply to our very next encounter to improve our communications with others is putting aside the ongoing conversation in our mind, our concerns of the moment, or what we want to say next, and focusing completely on the individual in front of us and what they are sharing with us. Being fully present to another person shows them that you value and respect them and that you are sincerely interested in what they are feeling, thinking, and communicating with you. This is the basis of the National Institute of Whole Health’s Behavioral Engagement with Pure Presence model.

We all want to be valued and in our fast-paced, electronic-communication world having another person look at us directly while we speak, respond to us with smiles, head nodding or other gestures that let us know they are listening, without their speaking or interrupting us is a wonderfully validating experience that uplifts both ourselves and the person who is generous enough to give such affirming attention.

If you would like more information on how to make your relationships more rewarding and successful through easy-to-learn, proven communication skills, you can download a free chapter from Changing Behavior: Immediately Transform Your Relationships with East to Learn, Proven Communication Skills by going to www.changingbehavior.org.

communication and behavioral engagementThis self-help book focuses on how to transform all types of relationships with hospital-tested, proven communication skills that enhance and improve all relationships, even those that are suffering and struggling. Donadio presents the research with an easy-to-read and understand style that allows the reader to walk away armed with new skills and tools to create a happier, healthier life through more fulfilling relationships.

The title is a #1 Top Rated Amazon Kindle bestseller, the recipient of the coveted 5 STARS from ForeWord Clarion. Changing Behavior has also received high recommendations and outstanding reviews from Kirkus Reviews, “the world’s toughest book critics”, and the popular Mid-West Book Reviews.

Kirkus says of Changing Behavior – “Recommended as a top-tier psychological self-help book… [a] strikingly original case for the transformative power of receptiveness.” Mid-West Book Review states – “Changing Behavior is a choice pick for community library and self-help collections.”

For more more information on whole health and changing your behavior, explore these resources:

Join the conversation. If you enjoyed this article, be sure to follow NIWH on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates filled with accredited health program information for holistic nurses and whole health coaches or advocates.

Can A Hormone Imbalance Really Cause Depression?

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Georgianna Donadio, MSc, DC, PhD

A research review by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) explored hormonal dysfunction in women as a potential cause for depression. The focus of the investigators and their subsequent report was on how the female reproductive system interacts with the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis, which regulates the body’s stress response.

HPA Disruption Consequences

This mechanism can set up a biochemical environment for psychological disorders in females. It was noted that females are twice as likely as men to experience depression. Through the HP-axis, stress in women impacts the reproductive hormones, which can upset patterns of ovulation. This upset can contribute to the loss of menses and to infertility. If the inter-relationship of stress and female reproductive hormones becomes chronic, behavior and mood disorders and depression can increase significantly.

When oxytocin is suppressed due to excessive stress hormones, fertilized eggs cannot implant into the uterus. This is believed to be a primary cause of infertility in American women, owing to our highly stressful lifestyle. Depression, eating disorders, alcoholism or other addictions may also occur with the estrogen-induced disruption of normal HPA function.

The Stress-Less Cure

The key to preventing or correcting the problem as we find in many physiological conditions is to create a more balanced, less stressful lifestyle. If the body’s stress adaptation system becomes overwhelmed, and cannot appropriately adapt to the environment and demands of everyday life, many disorders and conditions can develop, depression being just one of them.

Post-Partum Problems

Regarding post-partum depression, the investigators identified that chronic hyper secretion of the stress hormone cortisol during a pregnancy creates a temporary suppression of adrenal function following delivery. This coupled with the sudden drop of hormonal levels of estrogen after birth may be a significant factor in post-partum depression or subsequent immune dysfunctions such as post-partum thyroid conditions.

Why Balance Is The Key

It is very important for women, because of our very integrated hormonal and nervous systems, to work towards a balanced, low stress life-style. Unlike our male counterparts, our hormonal system immediately lets us know when we are “off center” by delivering loud messages through hormonal dysfunction.

Surprising Ways Digestion Affects Your Overall Health!

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Georgianna Donadio, MSc, DC, PhD

The single most reported complaints in all hospital emergency rooms are related to digestive system disorders. The digestive system is the most “stress affected” system in the human body and a big topic in our accredited health program. According to the Drug Topics News Magazine for Pharmacists (October, 2008) in 2008, Americans spent 5 billion dollars on over-the-counter digestive or “stomach” remedies.

It Starts With Education

Wouldn’t it be helpful to understand and educate others on how and why they are suffering from digestive ailments? In the accredited health program, we all know people who eat organic, natural food and are meticulous about the quality and quantity of what they put in their body and yet are sick, tired and plagued with health issues. Then there are others who eat anything and everything, the good, the bad and the ugly, and have energy to burn, not a pimple on their entire body and feel great.

Often, this is the result of the function and efficiency of their individual nervous systems. Those who have an active “sympathetic” nervous system, with the tenth cranial nerve wreaking havoc with their alimentary canal then to struggle. These are the folks that no matter what they eat and how much pure or clean organic food they consume – they just don’t do well and feel unwell much of the time.

For the individual with a well-tuned central nervous system, the digestive system can be a culinary playground that accepts all types of nutrients and food stuffs and produces ample nutrition without upset or illness.

What makes one nervous system different from another, one person’s experience different from another? It has more to do with the unconscious personality of an individual than any other single factor, with the exception of the rare congenital or pathological occurrence.

Demystifying The Nervous System

Just as our machines need electricity to operate, so do our internal organs and cells require electrical impulse to function and operate as well. The degree to which our nervous system is balanced and well-functioning – or not – is the degree to which we are healthy and able to function at maximum capacity in the world. As discussed in our accredited health programs, many healing arts such as acupuncture, yoga postures, meditation, chiropractic, breathing techniques, biofeedback, hypnosis, EMDR and other healing modalities attempt to restore balance to the nervous system as the pathway to improving internal and external bodily function. These methods address the cause of the presenting condition and not just treat the pain or symptom of the bodily malfunction.

Looking more closely at the digestive system and its intimate relationship with the immune system and the nervous system, we can easily follow the pathway of how brain function and the nervous system can create a “whole body” systemic cascade of bodily reactions which overtime lead to chronic illness and disease.

Bringing Stress Into The Mix

Our nervous systems are impacted by stressors; however, stress is not limited to just emotional stress as many believe. Stress includes poor nutrition, inadequate sleep, infection, excess exertion, surgery, trauma and reproduction. When our stresses or anxiety cause our brain to send biochemical messages to our cranial nerves, our digestive systems can be functionally affected. The anxiety and stress decrease our digestive and immune system functions.

The effect of a stressor on the body in the short term can be readily overcome by a healthy, adaptive nervous system. It is the longer-term stress, the chronic ongoing conditions and issues that place wear and tear on our nervous systems and organs and it is this friction or wear and tear that leads to chronic illness.

By understanding the intimate dance of our body’s organs and systems and how to maintain a balanced, healthy nervous system, we can avoid illness and chronic disease and live long, productive and disease-free lives!

For more information on Whole Health Living, consider visiting the National Institute of Whole Health. This nationally accredited program provides comprehensive, evidence-based Whole Health training for Patient Advocates, Whole Health Educators, and more.

 

Losing Weight and Staying Trim

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Georgianna Donadio, MSc, DC, PhD

With warmer weather returning and bathing suit shopping on our minds, many of us are making plans to improve our nutrition and shed a few pounds. What would a holistic approach to weight loss look like? It must consider each aspect of the whole person to create healthy habits for individual weight loss. This article will highlight strategies to both jumpstart and maintain that weight reduction.

What has become clear over the years is that a simple, common sense and consistent plan of action is the most successful and easiest to follow. Crash diets and other extreme approaches to changing the way you eat almost always fail. Here are some simple yet effective rules to making a big difference in your weight status but also, and more importantly, in your overall whole health and wellbeing.

  • Remove sugary drinks from your menu. Sodas that contain sugar are empty food calories that rob nutrients from your body and help to create fat-forming calories. If you have coffee or tea with sugar, this can also be a source of ongoing weight gain that you may not realize is accumulating day by day.
  • Beware of portion control. When it comes to portion control, it’s best to use common sense. The general rule around not changing your diet but changing your portion control is to start by not eating a third of the food on your plate. Then when you are ready, you work up to half the amount on your dish. If you would prefer not to limit what you eat but eat less, this is a brilliant and successful strategy.
  • Slow down when you eat. By eating more slowly you will not only enjoy your food more, and aid the digestion of what you have eaten, you will also know when you have eaten enough as you will experience a comfortable feeling of fullness without having to experience that bloated, extended belly feeling.
  • Drink water. There is no better way to eat less and feel satisfied than by drinking a glass of water before a meal. This is an old tried and true method and it works like a charm.
  • Write down what you eat. One recent article on a study that was done at a weight loss clinic stated that people who write down what they eat not only eat less but eat better. The reason is simple. When we actually see what we are eating it is usually different from what we THINK we are eating. Seeing it in writing creates a motivation to make more mindful choices to improve our health and weigh loss outcomes.
  • Move more often. The more you exercise, the more calories you will burn, resulting in weight loss. In order to be more physically active, you don’t need to join a gym. Though joining a yoga or cycling class can be quite enjoyable, something as simple as taking a walk after dinner, riding a bike to work, or taking the stairs instead if the elevator—all add up to more calories burned throughout the day.

These simple rules form the foundation of a whole person approach to weight loss. By following these guidelines, you will make a big difference in your overall health and bodyweight status, leading to improved confidence and self-esteem both on and away from the beach.

For more information on Whole Health Living, consider visiting: www.wholehealtheducation.com

Stop To Smell The Roses…

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Georgianna Donadio, MSc, DC, PhD

smell the rosesIt seems today we have a large menu of things to choose to worry about, from the economy to the latest flu epidemic heading our way. It is no wonder this is called the “age of anxiety” or that we are losing our grip on happiness and it is being replaced with anxiety. If you are female, the news is even more disconcerting. Science demonstrates that women are more prone to worry – that is at least more than men are.

A poll taken by Health magazine, 54% percent of women said they worried more than their partners. Only a small, 12% of those surveyed said their partner worried more than they did.

The reason women worry more than men is because of the effects of female hormone on parts of the brain associated with worry, as well as the continuing fluctuation of hormones in a woman’s body which has a direct affect on her thoughts, feelings and emotions.

Jerilyn Ross, a licensed independent clinical social worker, president and CEO of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, and author of One Less Thing to Worry About, says that the fluctuations of a woman’s hormone cycle can make women prone to a wide range of feeling including depression and anxiety.

Dr. Judith Orloff, a psychiatrist and author of Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself from Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life says, “Women are more in touch with their emotions, and worry is an emotion,”.

In spite of these gender differences, health experts say that with some practice, we can all less worried and more happier. The old adage “take time to stop and smell the roses” may be wiser than we think.

Join the conversation. If you enjoyed this article, be sure to follow NIWH on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates filled with accredited health program information for holistic nurses and whole health coaches or advocates.

For more information on Whole Health Living, consider visiting www.wholehealtheducation.com

A Whole Health Approach To Spring And Summer Allergy Relief

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Georgianna Donadio, MSc, DC, PhD

spring and summer allergiesA standout amongst the most important aspects of tending to any medical problem is to comprehend the circumstances and end results of how and why you are encountering your side effects, and what they represent. Seasonal Allergies are, for some, the drawback to the magnificence of spring and summer. Itchy, runny eyes and nose, sniffling, coughing, and wheezing can direct a person’s actions, where they can go, and even what they can eat. A whole health approach may provide greater relief.

Seasonal Allergy Prevention

None of this is desirable, and much of it has been shown to be preventable. To understand how you can take control of your seasonal allergies, let’s explore where they come from. Foreign proteins are found in many airborne substances, such as pollen, dust mites, and ragweed. When mucous membranes that come in contact with these foreign proteins are not immunologically competent enough to break down the proteins, the membranes secrete mucous, fluids, and histamine. This causes the itching, swelling, irritation, and watery excretions that make seasonal allergies so challenging.

Inflammation and the Immune Response To Allergens

To improve allergy symptoms, steroid or steroid-like medications are often prescribed. These are anti-inflammatory chemicals that reduce the allergic immune reaction to the foreign proteins.

By building up our immune and adrenal system, we can enable our bodies to be better able to handle these allergens, which cause the allergy reactions. Our adrenals are located either on top of or within the kidneys and produce cortico-steroids and other natural anti-inflammatory as part of our “national guard” system. Hans Selye, MD, PhD, who spent over 50 years researching the adrenals and immune system, discovered the important nutrition and lifestyle components to keeping this important body system working well.

Whole Health Changes For Allergy Relief

  • A diet rich in B, C, E, and A vitamins (or supplementation)
  • Unsaturated fatty acids, such as fish oils
  • Adequate protein intake
  • Minerals to aid the production of natural allergy fighting anti-inflammatories
  • Adequate sleep and rest
  • Elimination of infections
  • Reduction of emotional stress
  • Moderate exercise
  • Avoidance of over exertion
  • Avoidance of traumas as well as dental and medical surgery
  • Elimination of extreme temperatures indoors and out

Seyle’s research demonstrated that by taking good care of our adrenal and immune system, allergies may be greatly reduced and, in some cases, eliminated. Applying some of these principles may allow you to enjoy this spring more while experiencing fewer symptoms.

Additional Resource:

Visit the National Institute of Whole Health website for more information.

 

When You Hear Hoof Beats

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Georgianna Donadio, MSc, DC, PhD

when you hear hoof beats, think of horses and not zebras

In all aspects of life, a wise adage of “when you hear hoof beats, think of horses and not zebras” truly applies. If you are not familiar with this approach to observing and responding to problem-solving it’s worth exploring.

Health care, and to a large extent the rest of the working world, is focused on listening for the zebras – that is, looking for the pathology, the disease, the exotic condition, something to diagnose. Rather than taking a simple, practical, and common sense approach to assessing cause and effect and practicing health care, we continue to associate the hoof-beats with zebras, or the exotic pathology we have all been trained to look for.

This meaningful approach to care has been lost within this modern “expert medicine” era. We can even see today that this common-sense approach is even beginning to disappear from “alternative” health care practices, as well. Using many forms of supplementation or non-toxic treatment modalities are often used in place of
drilling down to the causative factors in a patient’s symptom complex.

Here is an example from one of my recent office visits with one of the patients. A very gifted, physical therapist, someone I have had treatment with myself, called upon me after having intractable muscle pain for a week. He could not lie down, could not sleep was in great discomfort, and was also concerned about what this could mean. He had spoken to a wide variety of practitioners who normally deal with musculoskeletal conditions and at the end of his exploration was still in pain and becoming rapidly more concerned. His doctors and practitioners were looking for the dysfunction or pathology
that was causing his symptoms and treatments were not working.

When this happens to us we start to think, “do I have something really wrong with me?”, if you’re older you think “this must be what getting old is about”, or if you are an active, healthy person who takes care of yourself you might ask, “how could this be happening to me, I take care of myself.” This individual said he called me because he “didn’t know where else to turn” to understand his pain and condition and isn’t this what I did in my practice – look at the big picture and figure things out about the cause and effect?”

Being a Whole Health educated practitioner and patient educator, I started with the basics:

> What specifically had he been doing prior to this onset?
> What had he been feeling or avoiding feeling before this happened?
> Where is the specific discomfort?
> Has he experienced this before and under what circumstances
> What makes it feel better?
> What makes it feel worse?
> Did he experience any other symptom along with this pain?

He explained that he just joined a gym and was working out for the past week, but that he wasn’t doing that much exercise to cause this discomfort and it wasn’t just in one muscle, it was all over his body. He is in very good physical condition so the idea of the mild exercising causing this full-body pain didn’t resonate.

He reported that he hadn’t changed his diet, work habits, taken any unusual supplements, changed beds, changed shoes or had any upset or stress over the past week. He tried a series of natural remedies and treatments to no avail. He was both personally and professionally stumped and so were the practitioners he had spoken with about his pain.

Having been called by several of my patients, the “Sherlock Holmes of Whole Health”, I knew the task at hand was to find out the missing piece of information that would unlock the cause of the problem. Looking at the 5 Aspects of Whole Health ™ – the physical, environmental, chemical, and emotional possibilities of what could cause this is where we started. We discussed his new membership at the gym. Logic told me that there was something connected to his activities at the gym that was the causative factor in his pain experience because it was after joining the gym that his pain began. It was just a matter of putting our finger on it.

Having suffered chronic back pain myself, I have been a fan of John Sarno, MD, who practiced from a causative perspective targeting the emotional roots of back and body pain. He had cited much research and evidence-based information on the subject
but did not take a whole person perspective, which is how we approached this patient.

After a few minutes of detailed review, one factor that surfaced seemed the right solution to the problem. After his workout, he went for a swim in the gym’s pool.
After questioning him about the swimming experience, he shared that the pool was heavily chlorinated and he could tell because the water made his eyes burn.
Interesting and a major clue.

Now some of you who are practitioners reading this might think, “Ah-ha, he has a virus from the pool water”, or “he swallowed pool water and had a bad reaction, or “his immune system must have had a toxic reaction to the chemicals in the pool”. Sorry, but no cigar – these are all zebras.

Having comprehensive, evidence-based, health information and understanding of the How and Why of body function is critical in truly serving our patients/clients and being able to empower them with the knowledge they need to take control of their health.
Demystified health information is absolutely critical to empower your patient to
take control and retain control over their health.

What does chlorine do to our body? It draws out minerals, most importantly calcium and magnesium. Because chlorine molecules have double negative bonds it is wildly attracted to double-positive bonds, as found in calcium. What minerals are significantly involved in muscle function?  And, what minerals are likely to be
diminished with repeated exposure to chlorine – Ca and Mg!

I recommended that he go to Whole Foods or CVS and purchase a calcium and magnesium powder, take a dose am and pm over 2 days, and see if that helped. I received an e-mail about 24 hours later with the subject title “WOW” – it dramatically took away most of his discomfort, he got a great night’s sleep and felt much better. He is swimming away, but mindful to take his calcium/magnesium before and after each swim.

This is the perfect example of thinking horses and not zebras in our practices. I do hope you found and encourage you to become a health detective using a whole health approach.

https://sites.google.com/a/student.isb.ac.th/eve-wongworakul-chemistry-unit/ionic-bonding

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/what-does-magnesium-do#role-in-heart-health

https://wholehealtheducation.com//a-whole-person-health-approach-to-health-and-healing/

Join the conversation. If you enjoyed this article, be sure to follow NIWH on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates filled with accredited health program information for holistic nurses and whole health coaches or advocates. Learn more on our website: WholeHealthEducation.com.

The Passion Diet

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Dr Georgianna Donadio, PhD

passion diet- whole nutrition

How much do YOU know about your own weight loss and weight gain patterns?

One of the frustrating aspects of health information that we hear the most from consumers is that just when you think you’ve got a handle on what you are supposed to do to be healthy – the information changes.

For example, not long ago those of us who were over 50 were assured that if we moderately cut back our portions, decreasing our calories and exercised for a half hour 4-5 times a week, we could keep at bay the extra body fat that creeps in after menopause.

How many of us dutifully reduced their calories and did their half hour routine daily only to feel that there was “something wrong with them” because this formula didn’t work for their body; but the “experts” said it was the right way to control weight after 50.

Wisdom, from research, has now shifted for women past the age when our estrogen is dramatically lower than pre-menopause. Estrogen, as every woman knows, is that amazing hormone that is a metabolic calorie burner as well as a reproductive hormone. It keeps us heart healthy; keeps our skin healthy and produces “pheromones” for attraction, among other body functions.

No longer is a half hour of exercise deemed adequate to increase the metabolic furnace that is slowed down by the loss of estrogen. We now have to exercise a minimum of one hour per day and really watch everything we put in our mouths, ESPECIALLY carbohydrates, which we want more than ever for the serotonin surge they give us. This new information comes from the fact that women over 50 generally do not lose the weight they want with just a half hour of exercise.

What IS important regarding losing weight and keeping it off after 50 is what our individual body tells us is right for our metabolism and body type. We need to ask ourselves what DO we know about ourselves and our own weight loss and weight gain pattern that should be more important than the “weight loss expert’s” advice.

The big question is, now that we are past the age of reproduction and our body no longer is protecting us against many of the maladies that come with getting older, what are we willing to make our priority and what do WE KNOW about our own metabolic profile and how food and exercise affects our body weight.

In addition, understanding the function of various hormones in regulating appetite and satiety, hormones such as ghrelin, leptin, cholecystokinin, and other peptides all relay peripheral signals to the hypothalamus, which control appetite and satiety. Passion and creativity increase this hormonal function to decrease appetite and increase satiety. Many of us experience this when we fall in love!

Important Questions to Ask Ourselves

1-  What do I know about how I gain weight?

2-  What do I know about how I lose weight?

3-  Do I eat when I’m stressed?

4-  Do I lose weight when I’m stressed?

5-  Do I use food for emotional soothing?

6-  Does eating play a dominant role in my daily routine?

7-  Is losing weight more important than eating what I like when I like it?

8-  What am I willing to give up to get the body weight I want?

9-  Do I feel my food choices need to improve?

10- What is my personal experience with exercise?

11- What works best for me; what kind of exercise do I enjoy?

12- What do I know about how my body responds to exercise?

13- Am I willing to make the time to take care of myself?

14- What are my health priorities?

15- What are my ego priorities?

16- What keeps me from being the weight I want to be – REALLY?

The issue of weight loss is intimately connected with our relationship with our life force. Rarely do we see an energetic, productive, organized individual (men or women) who struggle with weight issues, even after 50 because they are often focused on their external interests and passions. Often these folks suffer from not taking the time to eat when or as much as they should.

One of the weight loss “secrets” I have learned over the years as a nutritionist from my patients is that when they are excited, creative, interested, and passionate about their work, their relationships, learning, doing or being, the issue of a naturally right body weight solves itself. We are often over-focused on the sensory experience and pleasure of food as a main stay for satisfaction and pleasure. Then, often when something else catches our attention, the issue of fulfillment comes from another source in our lives.

Something to consider – Find Your Passion!

References

Empty-Stomach Intelligence

Physiology, Obesity Neurohormonal Appetite And Satiety Control

Join the conversation. If you enjoyed this article, be sure to follow NIWH on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates filled with accredited health program information for holistic nurses and whole health coaches or advocates.

NIWH Whole Health Educators™ Empowering Better Health

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It’s no secret that we Americans have reached an all-time level of being “unhealthy,” thanks to an ever-increasing stress-filled lifestyle. Despite widespread campaigns aimed at helping people stop smoking, eat better and exercise, the vast majority of Americans does not get regular exercise and are not eating enough fruits and vegetables. There is a clear need to empower others to take control of their health and wellness.

There has been an explosion in obesity that is cited as high as 63%, along with climbing rates of diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other diseases associated with lifestyle and behavior choices. As far back as 1996, Harvard Medical School published a 7-year study which confirms up to 70% of all cancer, heart disease, stroke and mature onset diabetes are preventable with lifestyle and behavior changes. And yet, the health of the wealthiest nation in the world continues to decline. These factors underline the importance of a Whole Person based accredited health coaching program.

A Need For Real Health Education

Core factors for this epidemic amongst Americans can be found in a recent government study. The Institute of Medicine published a major study identifying that ninety million Americans are “health illiterate.” This does not mean, in this internet dominant society, that people do not have access to or are not receiving enough health and wellness information. It means that the majority of us do not know how to interpret or use the health information we receive to control or improve our health and wellness or prevent chronic disease. This reveals the need for more Whole Health Educators (TM), Advocates, and Coaches to bridge the gap.

Think of the last time you read the results of a new study in a magazine and realized you did not know how to use that information to support or improve your health. In fact, data presented to the American College of Health Care Executives identifies “lack of information as the number one root cause of death.” Yet, experts like Susan Edgman-Levatin, Executive Director, John D. Stoeckle Center for Primary Care Innovation at Massachusetts General Hospital, acknowledges “It’s no secret that traditional methods of patient education are hopelessly ineffective.”

NIWH Has An Answer

Addressing this problem, as far back as 1977, the National Institute of Whole Health in Boston, Massachusetts, in cooperation with physicians, nurses and online health educators, began research and development on an extraordinary, whole-person focused model of health education. The product of these 30 years of development in Boston area hospitals, the Whole Health Education® accredited health program, has today found its way into the medical mainstream.

These specialized health educators, Whole Health Educators ™, are uniquely trained to maintain a respectful presence and mindful listening skills as well as evidence-based, integrated health sciences to demystify for their clients the five major factors of health that influence how well we are or how sick we become. By providing “the big picture of health”®, an integrated understanding of how these five aspects can cause health or disease, the patient or client can possess the knowledge and tools to make necessary lifestyle changes and behavioral choices that are personally right for them. Identifying the root cause and effect of a chronic condition can free an individual to make changes they may not have previously considered.

You Are The Solution

There’s something that students and alumni of NIWH’s accredited health program have already discovered. If you are looking for work with purpose and integrity and are a health care professional, or entry-level candidate, who desires to serve others by providing evidence-based health information, and a natural, spiritual outlook on healing, this program may be of interest to you. NIWH offers Holistic Nurse Certification and Health Coach Certification. Program are offered through distance learning as well as optional in-person weekend classes, conducted at a Harvard affiliate hospital in the Boston area, which includes nationally recognized health experts and outstanding core facility members. For more information visit www.niwh.org or call 888-354-HEAL (4325)

Join the conversation. If you enjoyed this article, be sure to follow NIWH on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates filled with accredited health program information for holistic nurses and whole health coaches or advocates.

Stress Reduction To Reduce Chronic Disease

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Beach - Leaf- Relaxing - Stress Relief

Understanding the connection between brain function, cranial nerves, digestion and immune functions illuminates how and why dysfunction and “dis-ease” occur in the body. Just as our machines need electricity to operate, so do our internal organs and cells require electrical impulses to function.

The degree to which a patient’s nervous system is balanced and well-functioning – or not – is the degree to which they are healthy and able to function at maximum capacity in the world. This illuminates how a whole health coach  can guide their patients in using stress reduction to avoid, or reduce the symptoms of, chronic disease.

Many healing arts, such as acupuncture, yoga postures, meditation, chiropractic, breathing techniques, biofeedback, hypnosis, EMDR and others attempt to restore balance to the nervous system as the pathway to improving internal and external bodily function. These methods address the cause of the presenting condition, rather than just treating the pain or symptom of the bodily malfunction.

By looking more closely at the digestive system and its intimate relationship with the immune system and the nervous system, we can easily follow the pathway of how brain function and the nervous system can create a “whole body” systemic cascade of bodily reactions, which over time lead to chronic illness and disease. Our nervous systems are impacted by stressors; however, stress is not limited to just the emotional realm as many believe. The broader topic of stressors and adrenal function are explored throughout NIWH’s health coach and holistic nurse certification programs.

For now, keep in mind that when our stress or anxiety causes our limbic system to send biochemical messages to our cranial nerves, our digestive systems can be functionally affected. The anxiety and stress increases our adrenal function output, and this increase of adrenal hormones and steroids in turn decreases our digestive and immune system functions.

A written schematic would look like this:

Stressor = A limbic system response and/or increased adrenal cortisol secretion. = Decreased digestive function thru sympathetic cranial nerves (vagus nerve) and decreased immune (bone marrow) function.

The effect of a stressor on the body in the short term can be readily overcome by a healthy, adaptive nervous system. It is the longer stress–the chronic ongoing conditions and issues–that place wear and tear on our nervous systems and organs. It is this friction or wear and tear that leads to chronic illness.

By understanding the intimate dance of our body’s organs and systems and how to maintain a balanced, healthy nervous system we can help patients use stress reduction to avoid illness and chronic disease, and to live long, productive and disease free lives!

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