Foundations of Health

At Valle Health, I want you to thrive. This includes now and for decades to come. I deliver personalized care, that takes into account your individual needs, but there are commonalities, that extend to nearly everyone. There are four areas that form the foundation (or pillars) of health: Nutrition, Exercise, Sleep and Emotional Health. These categories provide the biggest opportunities for expanding the quality (healthspan) and quantity (length) of your life.

Healthspan vs. Lifespan

This graphical representations shows the relative improvements of modern medicine (Med 2.0) on top of our normal lifespan - which tends to lengthen our life, mostly by prolonging the time we are able to live WITH chronic disease. Unfortunately this produces only minimal gains in the length of time we spend healthy (green)

I realized that my role as a hospitalist was focused on that period of life when health has already declined to a marginal level. At Valle Health, I want to focus on opportunities to expand healthspan (blue)

This leads to not only an extension of life, but an extension of productive, healthy life!

Extending Healthspan is the overarching Objective. Now let’s look at how to get there: Strategy and Tactics. I’ll expand on each of these topics in the coming weeks, but this can serve as a way to catch the big picture.

Nutrition

The frequency and volume with which we eat means that even marginal changes in this component of our lives will have significant impacts. Despite how difficult nutrition is to study, I believe it is the most important contributor to overall health and is the gateway to refining your approach to the remaining pillars. At the same time, I do not believe that there is one perfect diet for everyone. There are people who achieve their best health on a whole-foods vegan diet and others who are healthiest on an all-meat diet. There are even individuals who have done well on both extremes. At Valle Health I will help you navigate the confusing world of nutrition and make food sew into your health and vitality. Despite all the hype around nuance, the most important elements of nutrition are total calories and sufficient protein intake. If you don’t correct problems in these two areas first, your efforts in other areas will be much less effective.

Exercise

Our bodies are made to move. Our modern lifestyle allows us to avoid so many forms of discomfort and hard work. Unfortunately, this takes a toll on our bodies: we become weak and ultimately frail. Our bodies deform from sitting. Our ability to perform basic movements safely and competently gradually diminish. Injuries arise from these maladaptations and contribute to the cycle of decline. Conversely, almost every person has the ability to reclaim some of those lost abilities.

It may surprise you to hear that the foundation of your exercise routine is breathing correctly. This is another casualty of our sedentary lifestyle. This subject also bridges the gap to the next pillar:

Sleep

We spend roughly 1/3 of our lives asleep. We can go longer without food and water than we can without sleep. Until I began to take a more serious approach to my own health I readily agreed with the mantra “I’ll sleep when I’m dead!” Unfortunately, this is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Poor sleep quality or insufficient sleep duration is linked to hypertension, insulin resistance and even cancer. Dysfunctional breathing during sleep (sleep apnea) is a major contributor to many health problems. Many of the common medications used for sleep are themselves associated with an increased risk of mortality. A thoughtful approach to sleep pathologies includes a comprehensive look at the multiple variables that can impair sleep.

Emotional and Spiritual Health

We are more than physical bodies. If our organs function well, but we lack purpose and are depressed or anxious, our healthy bodies aren’t worth as much. I am constantly reminded of the question Jesus asked: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits his soul?” This pillar obviously veers out of the mainstream of “medicine” and is very personalized. Yet, there are many commonalities that we all confront: childhood wounds or trauma that create disordered adult behaviors, navigating relationships and the stress of keeping up in a modern technological society.

Our family served as missionaries in Togo, West Africa from 2015-2017. We’ve been back several times since our return to the US to fill in.

Moving Forward

We’ll explore these pillars in more detail over the coming weeks. In the meantime I invite you to consider how you’re spending your efforts to expanding your own healthspan. If you’re neglecting these pillars, you are likely missing the best opportunities to correct problems and maintain your health for decades to come!