What is the cause of health?
You are the cause of your health.
Medical science continues to pursue the causes of diseases. It is very difficult process. Turns out for most disease there isn’t a single cause. There are multiple causes.
The Covid pandemic was a great example. The coronavirus was thought to be the cause. Yet, among people exposed to coronavirus, the sickness ranged from no symptoms to mild symptoms, to death. Why? If the coronavirus is the cause of disease, why so many variations?
In chiropractic we start a little differently. What is the cause of health? To answer that question, we must define health. I memorized the definition from Dorland’s medical dictionary while in school. If memory serves correctly, health is optimal physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
Notice that health is not just the absence of disease. It is optimal function. I really like the word optimal. What is optimal? Who decides?
I read about a little boy who craved salt. His mother could bribe him with salt. He had a disease and wound up in the hospital. The doctors knew that he shouldn’t have that much salt. His salt intake was restricted. He died within a few days. Autopsy revealed enlarged adrenal glands. Doctors thought that the boy needed the salt because of his adrenal glands. How did the little boy know? Why did the doctor’s “knowledge” kill him?
Seems to me that we are more than just a body. We are more than just our neural programming. Somehow, we can make decisions and control our bodies. Ideally, we make the right decisions, and our bodies respond to us.
I’m learning to play the piano. When I began, it was very difficult to hit the right keys in the right manner with just one hand. Now I can play some notes with both hands. What is happening?
I’m programming my brain to see notes and hit certain keys. There are four phases of learning. When I was a child, I was unconscious incompetent. I didn’t know what a piano was and didn’t know that I didn’t know how to play. Then I learned what a piano was and tried to play. I couldn’t. I was conscious and incompetent. As I have improved, I have become conscious competent. I can play but it requires a lot of thought. The highest level is to be unconscious competent. I’ll be able to play without thinking.
I don’t know how I make that progression. I just know that it happens. Similarly, when I was a child, I didn’t know what certain foods were. I tried them and learned to digest them. I don’t know how I did that any more than I know how to hook my fingers up my brain to play the piano. Yet somehow it happens.
Intelligence can be defined as the ability to adapt to new and trying situations. Artificial intelligence seems to be able to do that to some extent. A robot hitting a wall can back up and turn to go around. Those of us who adapt best seem to use something that is beyond mere brain programming.
Does the body always respond appropriately? No. We find that some problems, often in the spine, cause interference to the nervous system and the body doesn’t respond properly. It isn’t the fault of the intelligence. The body just doesn’t respond. When we correct the problem, the body responds, and health is restored.
So, what is the cause of health? Intelligence. You are the intelligence controlling your body. You are the cause of health.
Which is better, to control your body yourself or to have your doctor control your body for you? Sometimes we need the help of a Doctor of Medicine or a Doctor of Chiropractic. I prefer the chiropractor first. I always think of the little boy and salt.
Action: Pay attention to your body. Give it the care it deserves. Also realize that what you want (sugar for example), might not be what you need. We’ll talk more about this in future posts.