You may be hearing a lot about holistic health and wondering what exactly a holistic lifestyle is. Holistic health focuses on the entire body and the connection between the mind, body, and spirit. It is how you interact with the environment around you. It is more of a spiritual way of viewing health and wellness, but it still consists of treatments and lifestyle changes to promote optimal well-being.
Holistic medicine has been around for thousands of years, and it started with ancient healing traditions in China and India. For some time, it fell out of favor with in the western world when prescription drugs and modern medicine became very popular for dealing with symptoms and diseases. Today, however, people are taking a more holistic approach to health. Traditionally holistic treatments were considered alternative medicine, but now many doctors are incorporating this into their practice to provide integrative care for their patients.
A holistic lifestyle can work in conjunction with modern medicine. A combination of medication and lifestyle changes can alleviate symptoms and get to the root cause of the problem. Those suffering from chronic ailments may find that lifestyle changes can greatly improve their quality of life. Using drugs and alternative medicine like acupuncture or massages can help with the immediate problem but also help with the overall cause.
A simple example that most people can relate to is diet and exercise. When you are eating well and exercising regularly, you probably are overall feeling good. When you are eating poorly and never exercising, you might not feel as good. You can take medication and supplements to try to feel better, but an overall holistic approach would look for lifestyle changes to fix the underlying cause, which could be eating only fast food and not working out.
What does a holistic lifestyle mean to you?
