This one hour seminar is designed to introduce people to some of the key concepts underlying good health.

WHY IS THE HEALTH OF AUSTRALIANS GETTING WORSE?

The first model is used to spark an enquiry into why the heath of Australians is getting worse. Until the mid 1970's it was getting better.

You know it's getting worse because the expenditure on services provided by the medical and allied medical industries continues to rise at an exponential rate. Since 2008 when we drew this model the situation has got even worse.

In 1960 John F Kennedy said, 'The softening process of our civilization continues its persistent erosion.' He hadn't seen nothing!

HEALTH, FITNESS AND WELLBEING CONTINUUM

If you ask someone ‘How are you going?’ you’ll often get the response, ‘Not bad.’ Can you think of two more negative words to string together to describe how you feel than ‘not’ and ‘bad’? ‘Not bad’ falls midway between feeling absolutely fantastic and feeling dreadful. It’s not a state of high level wellness.

You can make a choice about where you want to position yourself on the Health, Fitness and Wellbeing continuum.

THE SOMATIC ECOSYSTEM

The somatic ecosystem model illustrates the interconnectedness of all the major body systems. Upset one system and it in turn may upset another and another ...

In our musculo-skeletal health program we say that 'the cause of the pain is rarely at the site of the pain.' This principle pretty much applies to most of the major body systems. For instance depression doesn't just happen in your mind, nor high blood pressure in your blood vessels. Which means that taking a pill to mask a symptom doesn't sound like cutting edge medicine.

THE CELLULAR ENGINE

The model of the cellular engine explains how the human 'motor' functions best when it has a good oxygen supply, the right fuel and a good exhaust system.

THE METABOLIC THERMOSTAT

The sympathetic and parasympathetic 'arms' of the autonomic nervous system nervous system act as a 'metabolic thermostat'; to regulate key body functions.

Our culture is characterized by an over-stimulated sympathetic nervous system (the flight, fight and freeze arm) and an under-stimulated parasympathetic nervous system (the relaxation arm).

This imbalance has a dramatic affect on our health and wellbeing.

There is no medical cure for any of the body system dysfunctions arising from this imbalance, though a considerable amount of medical and pharmaceutical activity is dedicated to masking the symptoms.

It's something we all have to fix ourselves by becoming fitter and healthier.

THE STRESS CYCLE

When we get stressed the body reacts in a flight, fight or freeze response. This is a normal, healthy reaction. However, the body was not designed to be aroused (or frozen) for extended periods of time. We need a balance of arousal and relaxation.

The stress cycle was originally developed as part of a primitive response. Man would be confronted by beast. Man would get frightened and run away. Once the crisis was over he returned to his normal calm self. The running contributed to the calming process by burning off the stress chemicals in the blood stream.

In the illustration of the stress cycle, imagine a dog, sitting, nicely relaxed on the verandah. He sees a cat and becomes stimulated. The sympathetic nervous system is activated. The adrenal glands produce increased amounts of adrenalin and other chemicals, causing muscles to tense, pulse to quicken, blood pressure to rise, blood sugar level to increase, breathing to become more rapid and blood to flow from the gut and the head out to skeletal muscles.

The dog runs after the cat, and in doing so burns off the stress chemicals. He then comes back to the verandah and 'meditates'. The physical activity and the meditation combine to 'cool down' the over active sympathetic nervous system and 'warm up' the under-stimulated parasympathetic nervous system.

Based on this illustration you could be forgiven for thinking that dogs are smarter than humans!

LOOK AFTER YOURSELF

We work on the stress management principle that if you do the things that unstressed people do you'll be well on the way to managing the stress of your life. You've got to look after your Self.

THE PEAK PERFORMANCE ZONE

It takes time, effort, thought - and maybe some money - to keep in the peak performance zone. Once you stray outside it things start to get worse. Life sucks energy out of you.

OPEN THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION

Open the doors of perception about what you can do to improve your health, fitness and wellbeing.