Life style, its elements and their universal relevance to wellbeing

Maintaining wellness equates to keeping disease at bay or disease prevention. Yet, the focus of current medical interventions has been on treating disease symptoms, not only because of the urgent need to relieve suffering, but also because of its easily discernible manifestations. However, the underlying cause of ill health often remains after such an intervention, unless the body has been able to deal with it "on its own" in the meantime. The key to body's ability to heal successfully lies in the competency of its immune system to perform its given function" the upkeep of body's self-maintenance. Following the completion of the Human Genome Sequencing Project in 2003 the effect of Epigenetics on gene expression explained the plethora of proteins found in the human body" some six times greater than the number of human genes! The immediate consequence of this realization was the focus on root causes of gene expression" or the whole environs in which genes find themselves. It is this total environmental triggering effect that ultimately constitutes an individual's Lifestyle. The aim of this talk is to list (and outline) the principal elements of Lifestyle, such that body's ability to maintain itself can be addressed in an organized fashion. This then paves the way principally to disease prevention as well as optimizing one's quality of life. For this to make an impact at an individual's level, requires willingness to take charge of one's own wellbeing as well the passion to do so" rather than leaving it to a health practitioner to deal with the full blown disease symptoms that are otherwise bound to follow. Going beyond (primarily) an informed individual's responsibility for the upkeep of his/her wellness, is the communal responsibility of care to educate public at large through government initiatives and existing educational institutions, as to what approaches contribute towards maintenance of wellness (or absence of chronic disease!). The ultimate societal health benefits will then follow as well as massive reductions in the government budgetary outlays currently practiced to accommodate the inevitably increasing numbers of victims of essentially preventable chronic diseases.