Today, diet and exercise are taken more seriously by the
medical community as an alternative to medications alone. It is a way to keep
people from stepping onto the path of chronic disease. Diabetes and Hypertension are two diseases
that start out quietly, but can and do often evolve into major problems later
in life that are difficult and expensive to manage. The easiest way to overcome
these problems is to not have them occur in the first place.
Stress is hard to keep in check in our social media world
today, as well as, unforeseen events which always seem to happen. You and your inherited gene pool might not
have drawn the lucky straw which protects you and gets you into your 90's, but
do not despair, there is a way back to a healthy lifestyle if you choose to
make a few changes. Meditation might be the way to help find a diet and
exercise program work for you. There are
Meditation classes, YouTube channels and Meditation apps for your phone, to
help you find your way. Guided imagery
or silent time with or without a coach will be the method in finding meditative
peace to a calm center and focus.
Meditation and Healthcare
Costs
In the workplace, businesses and insurance companies may
give financial discounts to those who can maintain healthy blood screens and
other markers that show you are a good risk.
The reward is better health care benefit plans at better cost. When this health benefit movement started
about ten years ago, whole work groups or living communities would go on a diet
and then be rewarded by these companies.
The health and exercise industry evolved with the financial backing of
Big Business sponsoring companies like Curves and Weight Watchers. This worked great for some, but others
resisted and dropped out because they couldn't follow diets easily or were not
ready for the pressure of being herded and coerced into a program. The result
is that the employees who were unsuccessful did not care or mind overpaying and
therefore the first attempt to keep employees healthy and working through
forced dieting failed. Now with the Affordable Care Act under repeal and
replace, by the recently elected Congress, there may be even more people at
risk for healthcare.
A healthy employee is a fiscally valuable employee. They take off less sick time, use hospitals
less often and generally are more productive and stay with the company
longer. At least that was what early
research on this subject identified. But
you cannot make someone lose weight or make other healthy behavior changes when
the person them-self is not invested in doing so. This is where the Behavior
Modification/Mindfulness comes into the picture.
History of
Mindfulness
In the early 1970's Behavior Modification was a new idea
whose purpose was to get people to change their behaviors. Research identified that to change a habit,
you needed to look at the behavior and then use whatever means necessary to
change it. Often negative strategies
were used to change behavior such as isolation, deprivation, or emotional or
physical abuse. It worked, but no
lasting results, and other more destructive behaviors resulted. In recent years, a reinvention of behavior
change is introduced and called Mindfulness. This is where no positive or
negative judgement is imposed on a behavior, just an awareness of what is
happening in the moment. In this way a
person can identify what factors are involved in how a decision is made and
situations are identified for future reference.
Meditation is a method of turning your thoughts away from distractions
and focusing in on the present. Mindfulness
uses a nonjudgmental view of behavior and when combined with meditation, it can
be very effective. Whatever method you
choose adding some peace to your thoughts can go a long way toward achieving
happiness and a healthier life.
