What is Integrative Self Care ?

“Integrative self-care is a healing oriented philosophical whole person approach to life that individuals, families and communities practice to optimize their mind, body, spiritual and social aspects of health and well-being.” source University of Arizona’s I.-H.E.L.P.

As consumers, we make many choices every day that play a vital role in our own health status, the health of our nation and the world. The major chronic health challenges ( Heart Disease, Hypertension, Type 2 Diabetes, Obesity, and Respiratory & Autoimmune Illnesses) that compromise quality of life, expend health care dollars and strain health care resources word-wide are largely mediated by stress, diet, lifestyle and environment.

Is the problem too big to solve? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Each of us has an essential nature that is healthy, whole, and capable of healing. You can uncover the buried treasures of your essential nature to make a difference in the your health and that of  your family, community and nation when you simply start with yourself!  THAT shrinks the problem into an exciting opportunity! May you enjoy uncovering your treasures as you empower yourself with an educated approach to your self-care.

About this page…

In 2014, I furthered my love of learning through the I-HELP (Integrative Health and Lifestyle Program) offered by the University of Arizona.  This self care resource guide is dedicated to enhancing the well being of our wonderful community at Body Language Studio.  Good medicine is practiced with a foundation in good science, therefore this resource guide directs the user to credible sources to assist your journey to an integrative approach for your health and well-being.
        

Namaste, Cheryl

The 5 Treasures of a Human Being: Physical, Energetic, Emotions, Consciousness & Spirit

The yoga tradition provides a perfect model for integrative health; the five koshas. Koshas translate as sheaths, layers or treasures that describe a unified human being.

  Physical Body

A word about Yoga.  Described as the covering made of food, this layer describes all that has tangible form.

Key Message

The body is the vehicle in which we take our life journey. Regarding the body as a sacred temple for our soul presents an opportunity to shift our perspective in how we care for ourselves. Movement is life, yet is often the under sung hero of self-care for our well- being. Physical activity stimulates our body’s internal pharmacy to create a natural elixir that nourishes all the systems of the body and generates positive mood states. Our body is dynamic, with new cells continually forming as others recycle! At any life stage, we hold the capacity to improve health and access our innate gifts for healing.

“It is through your body that you realize you are a spark of divinity.” B.K.S. Iyengar

Web Resources by Topic:

 Brain
Our brain tissue can literally be remodeled by habits of thought, brain games and regular practice of meditation. The scientific term is Neuroplasticity. The brain learns to conserve energy by forming neural networks that wire and fire together for more efficient patterns of activation. Less active neural connections atrophy. Richard Hanson PhD refers to this a type of “neural Darwinism: the survival of the busiest.” So we get better at whatever patterns of thought we practice most often. This can work for your well- being, or against it!

 Games Designed by Neuroscientists to Challenge your Brain http://www.lumosity.com/landing_pages/521?gclid=CKXYhf28mL8CFdclvQodT7MAHQ

 A 3-D learning tool for anatomy and function of the brain http://www.g2conline.org/2022

 Brain Waves : Alpha Beta Delta Theta http://www.doctorhugo.org/brainwaves/brainwaves.html

Bone Health
Throughout our lifespan, our diet, physical activity and our stress response greatly influence the health of our bones. Bone loss does not just affect the elderly.

Osteoporosis &Musculoskeletal Disorders http://www.iofbonehealth.org/osteoporosis-musculoskeletal-disorders

 Calcium Calculator from the International Osteoporosis Foundation http://www.iofbonehealth.org/calcium-calculator

 Helpful handouts and teaching modules by condition from the Department of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Public Health http://www.fammed.wisc.edu/integrative/modules

Cardiac /Heart
Heart disease remains the number one cause of death in this country and is largely preventable with diet and lifestyle modifications. High blood pressure or hypertension is a primary risk factor. Download a handout on natural approaches to lowering hypertension. Hypertension

The American Heart Association http://www.heart.org/

Spectrum program by cardiologist Dr. Dean Ornish http://ornishspectrum.com/

Heart Health by Dr. Andrew Weil http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/PAG00099/Heart-Health-Dr-Weil.html

Exercise
Move it or lose it. It really IS that simple. The future you is not any more likely than the present you to start being physically active. Find something, anything, that you enjoy doing and MOVE . Start now.

 20 Exercise Tips from the Harvard School of Public Health http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/tips-for-getting-exercise-into-your-life/

 Healthy People. Gov Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans http://www.health.gov/PAGuidelines/guidelines/

 National Institute on Aging: http://go4life.nia.nih.gov/
Visit this site for sample workout, exercise videos, motivational e-cards, printable tip sheets, success stories, online tracking tools, and more.

 Online Fitness Tracking
http://www.onlinefitnesslog.com/Features.aspx

http://www.myfitnessjournal.com/

 Exercise Resources for Youth

Advice on Strength Training from the Mayo Clinic http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/tween-and-teen-health/in-depth/strength-training/art-20047758

 Download great articles on how to promote physical activity from the American Academy of Pediatrics http://www.healthychildren.org/english/healthy-living/fitness/Pages/default.aspx

Nutrition
Input determines output. You literally are what you eat. To feel well, you must eat well. Cut through the “info mania” surrounding food by keeping it simple. Eat and drink only what comes from the earth in its most unadulterated form whenever possible. Treat your senses with a broad spectrum of colorful fruits and vegetables and tantalize your six tastes( Sweet sour salty, pungent, bittern & astringent) every meal. Gauge your portions simply by eating no more than what can fit in your two hands. Bless all that enters your body as that which will become your body….. because it does. Honor the chain of human and nature’s actions that bring food to your table. Consider including in your blessing the intention that all beings have access to pure food, air, water and shelter. Download a handout on top 10 tips for a healthy diet Top Ten Tips

Anti-Inflammatory Diets
Download handout on tips EatingTips Chronic low grade systemic inflammation is a culprit in most stress and lifestyle mediated illness in industrialized nations. The rationale for an anti-inflammatory diet is to reduce intake of dietary components that trigger inflammation while increasing intake of more beneficial nutrients. The body becomes more acidic in the presence of chronic Inflammation and can be assisted back into balance with more alkaline foods.

Dr. Andrew Weil’s Anti-Inflammatory Food Pyramid http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART02012/anti-inflammatory-diet

The Mediterranean Diet Pyramid
http://www.uhs.wisc.edu/health-topics/healthy-lifestyle/documents/Mediterranean.pdf

How Acidic is Your Body ? A Self Test
http://alkalinefoods.net/aciditytest2014

Fiber
Dietary fiber has positive anti-inflammatory effects. Sources of Fiber
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/ART00357

 GMO(Genetically Modified Organisms in Foods
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/?s=Genetically+Modified+Organisms+and+Foods&submit=Search

Glycemic Index
The GI ranks carbohydrates according to how much they raise blood sugar levels after eating. Hi GI diets contribute to coronary artery disease, Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity. Low GI diets hold blood sugar more stable and control appetite by reducing hunger.

 Weight Management Glycemic Index Calculator from the University of Sydney http://www.glycemicindex.com/

 The Healthy Eating Plate Graphic from Harvard School of Public Health
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/

Obesity
The world prevalence of obesity has nearly doubled between 1980 and 2010 (W.H.O. 2010) More than 1/3 of US children and adolescents are obese. The downstream health and societal burden for this issue is beyond our worst nightmares as a nation. It is the loudest call for diet and lifestyle change on the part of parents.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Division of Nutrition Physical Activity and Obesity http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/index.html

 Obesity in Children: Let’s Move. Americans Move to Raise a Healthier Generation of Kids http://www.letsmove.gov/learn-facts/epidemic-childhood-obesity

Personal Health Trackers

Super Tracker for personal tracking of foods, nutritional value and physical activity: https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/default.aspx

Yoga
Yoga offers a multitude of physical practices to optimize health of each of the body systems.

Yoga Health Benefits
http://www.yogajournal.com/search/?q=ResearchandBenefitsofYoga

  Second Treasure: Energy Body

A word about Yoga. This treasure refers to the “subtle” energy fields of the body, some of which currently defy scientific measurement, yet are described in ancient medicine worldwide by many different names. Although much of ancient medicine is founded in this work, its use is controversial in modern medicine until research can elucidate its mechanisms of action. Our brain’s need to assign meaning, combined with our modern quest for proof tasks us to name and measure that which we sense, but language cannot describe.

Key Message:

Vitality is determined by the power and orchestration of the many energy systems influencing the human body. These energies collectively create a bio field or life force that is intelligent on a level independent of the brain, but very dependent on cellular environment. Vitality is sustained in the body by breath, hydration, food, water, movement, socialization, meaningful action and sleep. Living in a state of chronic stress not only makes us less vital on cellular and whole body levels, but stress also erodes our felt sense of connection to our innate intelligence/life force/bio field.   This subtle field is felt and seen by those who can sense it to flow in currents around and through the body, down to the level of each cell. Cultivating health requires that we attend to the subtle energies that animate the body as well as to the body itself.   As a metaphor for our life force, breath is our guide inward where we remember our very nature is this life force. This reunion puts us in touch with our innate power for healing. Energy medicine then becomes a necessary component of an integrative health philosophy.

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action,and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.  Martha Graham (1894 – 1991)

Web Resources by Topic:

Breath Practices
We can learn to use the breath to increase, decrease or balance our energy. The flow of our breath is a gauge for the tone of our autonomic nervous system and can be consciously manipulated to bring heart rate, breath and brain waves into a synchronous state.

Mindful Breathing Practices with Tich Nat Hahn http://www.easy-meditation-for-beginners.com/mindfulness-of-breath.html

Three Breathing Exercises from Dr. Andrew Weil http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART00521/three-breathing-exercises.html

Yoga for Expansion of the Breath and Prana: Pranayama http://www.yogajournal.com/search/?q=pranayamapractices

Energy Medicine
Everything is energy and energy is everything. Energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can just change form. An underlying principle in energy medicine is that we can interact with the subtle energies in our bio field to promote health. There are many forms of energy medicine, with slowly evolving scientific study of their mechanisms of action.

Reiki http://www.reiki.org/FAQ/FAQHomepage.html

Healing Touch http://www.healingtouchinternational.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2&Itemid=240

Medical Qi Gong http://www.medicalqigong.org/

Sound Healing http://www.soundhealersassociation.org/

 Heart Energy
The heart has the largest measured energy field in the body. Heart rate variability has been identified as one of the key factors in resilience.

Watch a video about the energy field of the heart from the Institute of Heart Math http://www.heartmath.org/about-us/about-us-home/hearts-intuitive-intelligence.html

Heart Rate Variability http://www.heartmath.org/research/science-of-the-heart/heart-rate-variability.html

Relaxation Response
Dr.Hillary McClafferty describes the relaxation response as a state of relaxed passive attention to a repetitive or absorbing stimulus that turns off the “inner dialogue” decreasing the arousal of the SNS. It is focused and sustained awareness within an attitude of interest. The benefits of the relaxation response include muscle relaxation and quieter mind, decrease in negative emotions, increase in positive emotions, a promotion of state dependent learning, and enhancement of creativity. Many mindfulness practices skillfully engage the relaxation response. ( see Mindfulness under the treasure of Mind & Emotions)

Dr. Herbert Benson and The Relaxation Response http://www.relaxationresponse.org/FightOrFlight.htm

Sleep
Healthy sleep patterns support healthy immune function while disrupted sleep patterns have been strongly linked to chronic inflammation and its related host of illnesses. ( Ranjbaran, 2007) Insomnia is the most common disorder, present in 15% of Americans. One year of insomnia is the strongest predictive factor for major depression. (Johnson, 2006) Download a handout from sleep specialist Rubin Naiman PhD on sleep strategies and myths:  7 Strategies for Sleep , Ten Myths of Sleep

 The Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine http://www.behavioralsleep.org/WhatIsBSM.aspx

American Sleep Apnea Association http://www.sleepapnea.org/learn/sleep-apnea.html

Traditional Chinese Medicine Wheel of Night Time Waking Times in Relation to Emotion by Organ http://www.astrodreamadvisor.com/Qi-Cycle.html

Restless Leg Syndrome Advice from Mayo Clinic http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/restless-legs-syndrome/basics/definition/con-20031101

Supplements, Vitamins & Minerals
Sometimes even when we cover the physical body basics of diet, hydration, exercise and sleep, stress to enhance well- being, the body needs supplementation. Always inform all members of your health team about everything you are taking.

Supplements for Living Well from Dr. Andrew Weil http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART02041/supplements-for-living-well.html

 The Vitamin Library from Dr. Andrew Weil http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/PAG00321/Vitamin-Library-Supplement-Facts.html

 Identify the best health and nutrition supplements identified through independent testing http://www.consumerlab.com/

  Third Treasure: Mind & Emotions

A word about Yoga.  It is no accident that the Yoga tradition groups mind and emotions together in the same kosha/sheath/treasure. Long before brain imaging technology the yogis recognized the constant interplay in the brain between our centers for executive control, our centers for emotion and those that relay our primal instincts as vrittis. The first sutra of yoga states the practices still these vrittis, these fluctuations of the mind. This stilling allows a union of body mind and recollection of essential nature that alleviates human suffering. It is this disunion, or dismembering of our five treasures , beginning in the mind, which the yoga tradition states is the root cause of all disease. While it appears largely physical in its many practices, yoga is a spiritual practice founded in the science of the mind.

Key Message:

The science of mindfulness has emerged as bedrock for integrative health as it provides solid evidence that states of mind influence health and disease. With depression as one of the leading causes of disability in this country, with disorders of mood effecting 20 % of Americans in their lifetime, and with stress accounting for more than 90% of primary care visits, we must continue to highlight the importance of psychological health as a mainstream part of medical practice. Richard Hanson PhD uses this simple advice about healthy ways to examine our mind as emotions arise : Let in , Let Be, Let Go. Jon Kabot –Zinn also offers simple sound bites: happiness is an inside job; if you make a problem, you have a problem and this is it! Learning to be fully present in each moment of our lives is an invitation we should all accept. Becoming aware of our thoughts, emotions and behaviors and food choices using mindfulness is one of the most important steps we can take on our path to well-being.
Download a handout: on nutritional tips for mood Mental Health Nutrition Handout
Download a handout:  on Forgiveness Forgiveness

What happens in the mind of man is always reflected in the disease of his body …René Dubos-

Web Resources by Topic:

Depression
In the past 45 years, suicide rates have increased by 60% worldwide. Suicide is the second leading cause of death ( after accidents) among American high school and college students.

A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy program from the UK http://www.beatingtheblues.co.uk/

Learn Cognitive Behavioral Therapy skills for coping with depression https://moodgym.anu.edu.au/welcome

Emotions

Emotional Intelligence http://eqi.org/#Aboutthissite

Traditional Chinese Medicine Wheel of Night Time Waking Times in Relation to Emotion by Organ http://www.astrodreamadvisor.com/Qi-Cycle.html

 University of Pennsylvania Applied Positive Psychology : Authentic Happiness
https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/

Grief

A Meditation on Grief with Jack Kornfield.
http://www.jackkornfield.com/meditation-grief/

Meditation

Meditation encompasses a variety of practices that build skills to focus and control attention. Multiple studies have demonstrated that meditation practices build areas of the brain involved in learning, memory, emotional regulation, self-referential processing and perspective taking ( Holzel, 2011)

Meditation, An Introduction from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine http://nccam.nih.gov/health/meditation/overview.htm

 Free Guided Meditations from UCLA http://marc.ucla.edu/body.cfm?id=22

Mind

Center for Investigating Health Minds. Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin http://www.investigatinghealthyminds.org/cihmWebLinks.html

Mindfulness

Mindfulness involves paying attention on purpose, in the present moment and without judgment.

Mindfulness Research Guide from UCLA http://www.mindfulexperience.org/evidence-base.php

A Brief Definition of Mindfulness http://www.mindfulexperience.org/resources/brief_definition.pdf

The Mindfulness Movie http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi1149545241/

 Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program at University of Massachusetts

Watch a U-tube video of Mindfulness Practice with Jon Kabot –Zinn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nwwKbM_vJc

 Download a mindfulness clock which can be set to ring on desired intervals

For PC Users:http://www.mindfulnessdc.org/mindfulclock.html

For Mac Users:              http://www.mindfulnessdc.org/mindfulclock.html

Motivation ( See Willpower)

Try this formula from David Waters PhD from the University of Virginia ”What is really important in my life is ___; therefore my health goals are _____.

Music as Therapy http://www.musictherapy.org/

Relationships
We are social creatures. Our relationships are sources for both joy and pain and therefore greatly influence our health and wellbeing.

Healing the Cycles that Tear Couples Apart- Psychology Today http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-mindful-self-express/201211/healing-the-cycles-tear-couples-apart

Center for Nonviolent Communication NVC offers practical, concrete skills for manifesting the purpose of creating connections of compassionate giving and receiving based in a consciousness of interdependence and power with others. cnvc.org/Training/NVC-Concepts

Resilience
Resilience refers to our ability to positively adapt to life’s challenges and to bounce back from setbacks. Evidence supports resiliency can be learned. Download tips for Resilience

The Road to Resilience from the American Psychological Association http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/road-resilience.aspx

Stress
Stress is part of life. Humans are designed to survive stressful events when they arise and then return to a relaxed state when the threat has passed. When real or perceived threat is constant, the stress response becomes our default state of existence, at a high cost to the health of our body, mind and spirit. We learn our way into stressful patterns and we can learn our way out.

Dealing with Stress http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART00694/Stress.html

Yoga for Anxiety and Depression from Harvard Health Publications http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/

Willpower

A message from Stanford University’s Kelly McGongial about your Willpower Instinct. Read the TED Blog and link to her TED talk http://blog.ted.com/2014/01/08/the-science-of-willpower-kelly-mcgonigal-on-why-its-so-dang-hard-to-stick-to-a-resolution/

  Fourth Treasure: Consciousness

A word about Yoga. In the yoga tradition, this treasure of being is often referred to as our witnessing faculty. It is that sense of being self- aware enough to pause and choose response over reaction. The witnessing faculty however is a level of Awareness sensed to be higher than simple self-awareness . This Awareness bears witnesses to aspect of our psyche below our usual level of self-awareness. This level of Awareness/Consciousness witnesses compassionately and without judgment the core beliefs that arose from our formative childhood experiences combined with our ancestral lineage and culture. This witnessing function dramatically deepens our self-study.

Key Message:

The nature of consciousness is a question that remains in great debate. The Institute of Noetic Science describes consciousness on a few levels. “personal consciousness is awareness—how an individual perceives and interprets his or her environment, including beliefs, intentions, attitude, emotions, and all aspects of his or her subjective experience. Collective consciousness is how a group (an institution, a society, a species)perceives and translates the world around them. In its largest sense, consciousness has been referred to as a “milieu of potential,” a shared ground of being from which all experiences and phenomena arise and eventually return.”

The blind spot of science may be that the seer cannot see itself.

“The subtle mind is the basis of mind. The co-operative cause of mind is the human body, but the substantial cause is consciousness.” The Dalai Lama

Consciousness consists of gross and subtle consciousness, with the gross level based in the body and its sensations/perceptions and the subtle level shaped by the brain, but not subordinate to it.
In fact, many authors who work in the interplay between Tibetan Buddhism and Western science believe consciousness exists independent with or possibly from – and ontologically prior to – matter and life.
William Harryman from Mind and Life: Discussions with the Dalai Lama on the Nature of Reality

Web Resources :

Life-enhancing Purposeful Living http://www.mindandlife.org/

“For the past 30 years, the Mind & Life Institute has pioneered the field of contemplative science. Mind and Life’s work operates in an array of rigorous fields—neuroscience, psychology, education, medicine, ethics, religion, the humanities—and is always guided by the Institute’s larger mandate to alleviate suffering, cultivate kindness and compassion, and advance human flourishing.”

The Laboratory for Advancement of Consciousness and Health ( LACH) at the University of Arizona http://lach.web.arizona.edu/

Institute for Noetic Sciences:( Noetic As defined by philosopher William James noetic refers to “states of insight into depths of truth unplumbed by the discursive intellect. http://noetic.org/research/overview/

 Inner World Outer World Movie http://www.innerworldsmovie.com/

  Fifth Treasure: Spirit

It is a beautiful mystery and Source of deepest wisdom. Re-member the body-mind to be guided in healing by the spirit that dwells within. Yoga is one of the best ways to remember.

 Key Message

Author and Psychologist Dr.Frederic Craigie defines spirituality as a comforting awareness of the sacred nature of the vital energy that animates all things.   Sacred implies a sense of holiness.   Heal, health whole and holy all share the same etymology in the Old English word hal. It is from this awareness of the sacred nature and inherent wholeness of our animating vital energy that we can transcend suffering and tap our innate capacity for healing. This comforting awareness guides us into right relationship with ourselves, each other and our world so we may move through life experiencing meaning, purpose, dignity and joy. Engaging our spirituality to express the very best within us for a life well lived.

 “Perhaps the most “spiritual” thing any of us can do is simply to look through our own eyes, see with eyes of wholeness and act with integrity and kindness.” Jon Kabot-Zinn

Web Resources:

 SOERCE Spirituality and Health Online Education and Resource Center http://smhs.gwu.edu/gwish/resources/websites

 Spirit-Health Connection http://www.spirit-health.org/

 University of Minnesota Center for Spirituality and Healing http://www.csh.umn.edu/free-online-learning-modules/index.htm

 Virtues in Action: Do you know your character strengths? http://www.viacharacter.org/www/Character-Strengths/VIA-Classification

Integrative Health: Healthy Earth Means Healthy You

In 2014, I furthered my love of learning through the I-HELP (Integrative Health and Lifestyle Program) offered by the University of Arizona.  This self care resource guide is dedicated to enhancing the well being of our wonderful community at Body Language Studio.  Good medicine is practiced with a foundation in good science, therefore this resource guide directs the user to credible sources to assist your journey to an integrative approach for your health and well-being.
        

Namaste, Cheryl

The World Health organization defines environmental health as a field of study that “addresses all the physical, chemical, and biological factors external to a person, and all the related factors impacting behaviors. It encompasses the assessment and control of those environmental factors that can potentially affect health. It is targeted towards preventing disease and creating health-supportive environments. This definition excludes behavior not related to environment, as well as behavior related to the social and cultural environment, and genetics.”

Key Message

Consider how the modern motto of “better living through chemistry” has made home environments in industrialized nations more convenient, but at some unforeseen costs. Body burden testing is revealing a host of endocrine disrupting chemicals in our tissues from flame retardants in our products, pesticides, plastics, etc that appear to be adversely effecting human growth and development. The Environmental Working Group published a study showing more than 200 chemical present in the umbilical cords in a sample of minority newborn babies. Passions run high over genetically modifying food, while the scientist’s politicians and industries deliberate on health effects now that the train has left the station.The bottom line is that each of us must recognize our personal role as consumers in sustaining and supporting our planet.   Our environmental health is not somebody else’s problem. We are innovative and resourceful creatures. Once we all embrace the necessity for stewardship of our planet and its peoples, we can actually enjoy the process of cleaning up our bodies, our homes and our consumer practices.

Conscious business.. business that is conscious of inner and outer worlds…would therefore be business that takes into account body, mind, and spirit in self, culture, and nature.Put differently, conscious business would be mindful of the way that the spectrum of consciousness operates in the Big Three worlds of self and culture and nature.
Ken Wilber

Web Resources:

The Encyclopedia of Earth: Expert -reviewed information about the Earth for everyone. http://www.eoearth.org/

Key Issues from the Environmental Working Group: http://www.ewg.org/key-issues

Exposome & Exposomics. From the CDC: the measure of all the exposures of an individual in a lifetime and how those exposures relate to health. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/exposome/

Children & Nature Network http://www.childrenandnature.org/

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/index.cfm

 Find safe healthy products based on scientific ratings http://www.goodguide.com/

 Environmental Working Group Guide to Pesticides in Produce http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/list.php

Chemical Hazard and Alternatives Toolbox http://chemhat.org/

Resources from UCSF to help families reduce their chemical exposures http://prhe.ucsf.edu/prhe/families.html

EPA ‘s study of hydraulic Fracturing and its potential impact on drinking water http://www2.epa.gov/hfstudy/hydraulic-fracturing-water-cycle

I doubt anyone would argue that we are in drastic need of effective leaders today. Effective leaders practice these five things: they challenge the process, inspire a shared vision, enable others to act, model the way, and encourage the heart. Maybe you can be our next effective leader in your organization, community or government. As described by Theory U out of MIT, we are in great need of a shift from EGOsystems to ECOsystems as we create our world.

“There is no power for change greater than a community
discovering what it cares about.” Margaret Wheatley

Web Resources:

Health Policy

Dialogue on Leadership https://www.presencing.com/presencing/dol

Global Well Being & Global National Happiness Laboratory, MIT
https://www.presencing.com/ego-to-eco/overview

Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care & Society. University of Massachusetts Medical School http://www.umassmed.edu/cfm/

 The Human Kind Voice of Hope and Humanity ( written and produced for public radio http://humanmedia.org/wellbeing/

The Relationship Between Poverty and Overweight and Obesity http://frac.org/initiatives/hunger-and-obesity/are-low-income-people-at-greater-risk-for-overweight-or-obesity/

Make the Move : The National Physical Activity Plan http://www.physicalactivityplan.org/index.php

What Can Communities do to promote physical Activity? http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/downloads/PA_2011_WEB.pdf

Health Research

Epigenetics: “At the heart of this new field is a simple but contentious idea—that genes have a ‘memory’. That the lives of your grandparents—the air they breathed, the food they ate, even the things they saw—can directly affect you, decades later, despite your never experiencing these things yourself.”From the BBC television program The Ghost In Our Genes http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/genes/

Searchable Data Bases:

 The Cochrane Collaboration: Trusted Evidence Informed Decisions Better Health
http://www.cochrane.org/information-practitioners

A subset of PubMed for searching CAM ( Complementary and Alternative Medicine) citations. http://nccam.nih.gov/research/camonpubmed

Agency for HealthCare Policy and Research sponsor reports to assist public and private organizations to improve the quality of health care in the United States
http://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/evidence-based-reports/index.html#complementary

A tool to find high quality clinical research evidence http://www.tripdatabase.com/

Symposiums of Yoga Research from International Association of Yoga Therapists http://www.iayt.org/?page=PastIAYTConferences

Tai Chi and Qigong Effectiveness http://ajhpcontents.org/doi/abs/10.4278/ajhp.081013-LIT-248

Key message:

Consumers have been driving a shift in health care towards an integrative approach to medicine for over thirty years and the power of their collective voice has created significant change. Integrative medicine creates a therapeutic partnership ship between the practitioners and patients in which all aspects of lifestyle are addressed with an emphasis on health promotion and prevention of illness. Informed by evidence, a plan for health is co-created using all appropriate therapies in a team approach.

Web Resources:

Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine www.imconsortium.org.

University of Arizona Integrative Health Center http://ihc.arizona.edu/

Osher Center for Integrative medicine, San Francisco http://www.osher.ucsf.edu/

Benson-Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine http://www.massgeneral.org/bhi/

University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center http://www.mdanderson.org

Department of Integrative Medicine Mount Saini Beth Israel Hospital http://www.healthandhealingny.org/highlights.asp