Six Pillars of Health

For most of human history, medicine has been very much an art, with gradually increasing amounts of science thrown in at different times.  It started with Hippocrates in ancient Greece.  His approach to medicine would be what we call conservative today: treatment that is not aggressive, risky, or prone to complications, focused on understanding what is going for the patient on a more holistic level.  He started the practice of taking clear, detailed case notes so that a physician can learn and understand more, and pass that information on to the next generation.  Hippocrates also preferred to allow the body to heal itself, using the medicine they had at the time only when necessary.  He understood that the health of a community is, at least in part, tied to the air they breathe, the water they drink, and the places they live.  He also recognized that food and exercise were both tools that could be used to help treat disease.  In fact, it is from Hippocrates that we have the first example of a written exercise prescription.  He believed that good sleep is important for maintaining health, and that too little or too much are signs of some underlying disease.  These three things, diet, exercise, and sleep, are three of six important pillars of what is called Lifestyle Medicine.  The other three pillars are about stress, risky substances, and social connectedness.  In the last blog entry we covered exercise. Over the coming days, I want to talk more about Lifestyle Medicine and how important it can be to a foundation of good health.