The term holistic is characterized with the belief that parts of something are intimately interconnected explicable only by reference to the whole. Breaking that down by saying everything little thing leads up to being part of the whole. Holistic care takes more into account than just physical health; it also takes in mental and social factors rather than just symptoms.In holistic health the mind, body, spirit, and emotions are integrated and inseparable.
There are 3 main categories in holistic health are:
The Mechanical Aspect of the Movement: There is a linear relationship between physical activity and health status.
The Chemical Aspect or Food: Food is information for the body. It has the ability to make us feel good or bad.
The Emotional Aspect or Thoughts: Emotional distress creates susceptibility to physical illness.
These are some things that can help start and support your holistic lifestyle:
Walking in Nature: Also called Green Exercise- has been shown to immediately enhance mental well-being.
Consuming Fruits: Evidence shows that fruit fiber has a prebiotic effect – which means that it feeds the good bacteria inside the gut – and plays a role in long term weight management, improved colonic gastrointestinal health and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease[f]. Additionally, nutrients in fruits help in maintaining a healthy body.
Mindfulness: Mindfulness is the human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.
To have a holistic lifestyle you have to create new habits. This process of making new habits can be divided into 4 steps: a cue, a craving, a response, and a reward. The cue triggers a craving, which motivates a response, which provides a reward, which satisfies the craving and, ultimately, becomes associated with the cue. ( James Clear, Atomic Habits).
All information is sourced from: Holistic Health: What Is It and Why It’s So Important?
Written By: Madison Brown
Madison’s Testimony.
Hello, my name is Madison, and I am 19 years old. I have started to pick up some holistic habits and I want to share my story on how they have impacted my life. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Disease when I was 15. If you aren’t familiar, it is a thyroid condition and your thyroid controls so much in your body mainly with your hormones. This disease has caused me to develop prediabetes, heart problems, anxiety, panic disorders, along with some other minor health conditions. The main side effect that has been the hardest on me was my anxiety and panic disorder. My day-to-day life was impacted greatly, and most days felt like I was going through the motions and some days I don’t remember due to my intense anxiety. Automatically I was recommended pharmaceutical medication. The last 4 years I have been on a variety of medications trying to find something to help me, however my personal experience with them wasn’t the best due to the side effects I was having so I was still stuck with the same intense anxiety. At the beginning of this year, I started to implement more holistic health into my life. I was looking for something that was positive and consistent to add into my lifestyle, something I could have that my anxiety could in a way be forgotten about with. I started working out consistently. At first it was a distraction but then I created goals for myself and started reaching them. I was also surrounded by people with so much motivation where it motivated me. I then started to look into what was best to put into my body and learned how what I eat can greatly impact my life. After realizing that taking care of my body, finding motivation, and being surrounded with better people was decreasing my anxiety I started to look more into how I can heal my mental health even more. I learned about grounding. Grounding is when you go outside and walk around, take a hike, meditate, or even just sit. I started doing this more and each time I did this I felt this fulfillment in my life where all aspects of myself were all one. My anxiety dramatically decreased, and I was able to feel like myself again without forcing myself to feel that way. I can say that I have never felt more healthier mentally and physically right now then I have in the last 5 years since struggling with my disease. There are still bad days but after implementing these habits into my life it is so much easier to pull myself out of moments of dissociation and get myself back to feeling like a whole. Holistic health has changed my life greatly and I hope that my experience can help people just as much.
