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What is Preventative Medicine and Why is it Important?

What is ‘preventative’ medicine, truly? Arguably more important, why do we need it? You see, although I can be particularly opinionated and passionate at times, I like to think I have the ability to zoom out and see the bigger picture. As a result, I will not ever promote Chinese/Eastern medicine as the only way, because I truly believe there is a time and a place for Western medicine as well. The evolution, science, and development of this system plays an extremely important role in all of our lives and it is crucial to be able to see this. 

Where we have gone somewhat “wrong” as a culture, I believe, is that instead of using it for emergencies, diseases, and illnesses that have already manifested we turn to it for everything. We take the prescribed pill, we do the surgery, we swear by the vaccine and thus, pharmaceuticals have become our means of prevention, but really in many cases they are just a band aid covering up the root problem. For the most part, we have adopted a mentality that goes something like, “if I’m not sick, I’m healthy”--meaning that unless something is really wrong, key symptoms and indicators of future disease are oftentimes overlooked, or covered up with medication. 

This can stem from a few different thoughts/theories. As a whole, we value work ethic, not taking sick days... heck, not even having maternity/paternity leave as signs of strength and perseverance! Conversely, mental/emotional imbalances are commonly viewed as weakness, and as an acupuncturist, I see many clients have a great deal of difficulty admitting to having anxiety or depression (this is even more challenging for men.) In general, the US advocates for strength, stamina, and resilience. This is shown when simply looking at data comparing our country to others in regards to work hours, time off, paid sick leave, and so on. If you’d like to skim one of many studies you can do so here. 

What does this have to do with preventative medicine? Well, with our hard wired DNA to work, work, work, and never rest, rest, rest it can be viewed as a weakness to complain or even say something is bothering you. I myself was labeled far too many times as being “too sensitive” as a kid when I shared my emotions over something upsetting, or told to stop “whining” when I was hurt. You start to feel like a burden when you admit something may be wrong, and as a result, we miss those ever important indicators that lead to serious illness and disease later on in life. 

In addition, we greatly overlook the impact of mental and emotional trauma on the physical body. In fact, in many instances it is not even regarded. If I had a penny for every time I heard someone say, “wow, I’ve never been asked about this before” when referring to a significant emotional pain like the loss of a loved one and how it connects to their illness in the present! 

This is where Chinese medicine must step in. This system of medicine was originally created to prevent future imbalance and it intricately looks at signs and symptoms in the body in order to prevent disease. It factors in key components such as nature and astrology in determining diagnosis. This is all done with a holistic approach that incorporates things like diet, herbs, lifestyle factors, and of course, acupuncture. All is done with the thought of balancing the energy in the body in order to keep the person healthy. 

I believe this is where, in western culture, we fall short. Somehow, taking care of yourself is viewed as being selfish, or time consuming, or too expensive, or worst of all, as a sign of weakness. We are supposed to be strong, not complain, work long hours, make a lot of money, and eat whatever we want but still remain a size 2. You get what I’m saying, right? We are living in a culture that has taken the human out of being human, and many of us are functioning as machines without ever slowing down. The missing link is preventive health care. 
We need to factor in how we live on a day-to-day basis, what we eat, how we feel, what we expose ourselves to, and we need to pay attention to when our body tells us something is wrong. This isn’t easy when many of us have been raised to ignore this crucial information, but we can work to shift our mindset. The first step is understanding. 

In a series called, “Holistic Health Seminars--Becoming Your Own Healer” we will explore just this. We will get into what you can do to take care of yourself so that you can live a life that you’ve always dreamed of. Late summer is the best possible time to start working on building and understanding the complexity of your immune system, join our virtual seminar to learn more about just how to do this. 

Here’s to your health, 
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