Reaching and Maintaining Optimal Health through Generations

by Gaynell Anderson
PT, CSCS, CMPT

During this time of healthcare chaos where the prominence of cardiac disease, cancer, diabetes, among many; and declining health in general prevail, we must step back and rethink how we care for ourselves.

How active are we, or should we be, in our own healthcare? How can we improve our overall health by taking preventive measures and learn how best to care for ourselves physically, so we do not become the norm – living longer lives but with such poor quality we are unable to enjoy our “golden” retirement years?

At the inaugural women’s wellness conference, “Food, Fitness, and Finance”, the mission was to empower women with knowledge, providing motivation towards becoming proactive in reaching and maintaining optimal health. My discussion, as a physical therapist and specialist in the musculoskeletal system, praised the complex design of how
our body works and its inherent strength and built-in healing and wellness mechanisms. Albeit the complexity of our body’s design, the ways we can encourage these self-healing mechanisms is undeniably simple! If we eat foods that are natural and biologically familiar to our body and if we utilize our muscles fully to pump these nutrients
throughout our systems, we give our body the tools it needs to produce new cells, dispose of old cells and waste, and thrive optimally. Our body gives us constant signals of communication regarding threats to thriving optimally.

Physically, our posture is one of the clearest signs of how our musculoskeletal system is working and where there may be areas of imbalance or threats to a healthy physical being.

This year’s conference, under a new name, “Aging Gracefully”, hopes to integrate the knowledge between generations of women. Sharing the traditions of holistic and natural
treatments of the elders with the technical knowledge and capabilities of the younger is the underlying theme. My discussion will touch on stress and how it can actually help us to grow and thrive by how we respond to it. All lectures will focus on the physical and financial dimensions of wellness and specialty information booths from independent local businesses will focus on the social, emotional, leisure, intellectual, and spiritual dimensions of wellness.

By holding this event on Mother’s Day weekend (May 9, 2015), we hope to provide a plethora of knowledge and introspection of the power of generational expertise among women of all ages. This will be an event no woman will want to miss!