Archives for September 2021

Does your health seem like a roll of the dice? Like anything can happen? Will I get this disease or that illness? I have these genes so that must mean I’m unlucky.

What if I told you that we don’t live in a casino and that the house doesn’t always win. Your health is more in your hands than you might be led to believe. Most of the diseases that plague our country are considered lifestyle diseases – obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes (yes, the same diseases that are co-morbidities in the majority of Covid deaths).

Here are the things that we can control: What we put into our bodies. How we use our bodies. How we manage our stress. How much sleep we get every night. Did you know that healthy people express healthy genes? We all have different combinations of genes. The more unhealthy we are the more we express unhealthy genes. We all have healthy and unhealthy genes built into our DNA. So you are not predestined to any fate! The odds are in your favor.

My favorite quote from Stoicism is that we are our own worst enemy. I know at first glance this seems very negative but I think it’s actually good news. If we are our own worst enemy then we can also be our own savior. It’s our choices that determine our fate. Believing otherwise leads to despair. You can be healthy! Make the choice and take the first step!

Yours in good health,

Dr. Jane

How do you know if you are sick? It depends on how you define being healthy.

When you catch a cold and you have a fever, does that mean you are sick? You certainly don’t feel well but does feeling good always equate to being healthy?

What if the fever was a HEALTHY response to catching a cold?

So, if how we feel isn’t the best way to determine whether we are sick or healthy AND if symptoms by themselves are not a good definition either, what do we have left?

My definition for your consideration is based on HOMEOSTASIS.

In biology, homeostasis is the state of steady internal, physical, and chemical conditions maintained by living systems.[1] This is the condition of optimal functioning for the organism and includes many variables, such as body temperature and fluid balance, being kept within certain pre-set limits (homeostatic range). Other variables include the pH of extracellular fluid, the concentrations of sodium, potassium, and calcium ions, as well as that of the blood sugar level, and these need to be regulated despite changes in the environment, diet, or level of activity. Each of these variables is controlled by one or more regulators or homeostatic mechanisms, which together maintain life.

Homeostasis is brought about by a natural resistance to change when already in the optimal conditions,[2] and equilibrium is maintained by many regulatory mechanisms.

Your body’s ability OR inability to maintain homeostasis truly determines whether you are healthy or sick.

How you feel and the presence of symptoms can mislead you into thinking you are sick when you are not, and healthy when in fact you are sick. Wouldn’t a lack of fever be worrisome if you knew your body was fighting a bug?

Reframing this definition will help you make better health choices for yourself and your family!

Yours in good health,

Dr. Jane

If you want to be amazed at the human body’s ability to heal itself, think about the might paper cut. Your body, without a single conscious thought, repairs itself. You don’t have to meticulously regenerate and knit cells back together. It just happens.

We have a built-in, inherent, innate ability to heal. This is good news because, I don’t know about you, but I would be terrible at figuring out how to regenerate new cells on my own. It doesn’t matter if you have a doctorate degree from an Ivy League school or if you are a newborn baby, this healing ability is a gift that we all have.

This does not mean that we don’t occasionally need help, especially when we have a medical emergency, but it’s an important reminder that without this innate healing ability even the most advanced medical technology and advances would be moot.

Yours in good health,

Dr. Jane

The original Labor Day holiday was meant to handle the problem of long working hours and no time off in the 1880s when conditions were tough and manufacturing workers were putting in 70+ hour work weeks. It almost sounds like the life of today’s small business owner 😉 There’s no doubt I have a deep love and enjoyment of what I do AND it’s necessary to charge my batteries every so often so I can keep on going.

If you work all the time and never really take a vacation, start a new ritual that honors the original spirit of Labor Day. Give yourself the day off. Shut off your phone, computer, and other electronic devices connecting you to your daily grind. Then go to a barbecue, as the original participants did over a century ago, spend some time alone or with family or friends, and appreciate a break from the work routine. As for me, I’ll be floating on my paddleboard in the middle of Horsetooth Reservoir and then enjoying dinner with my family and a few close friends.

See everyone tomorrow after a long, refreshing weekend,

Dr. Jane