Global Wellness Summit 2017 - Day 2

The day opened with the long serving pioneer of Lifestyle Medicine, Dr Andrew Weil. He did not waste time getting down and saying it how he sees it. He shared that he believes the medical system in the USA generates rivers of money that runs into very few pockets.

His first question pondered was “How can we encourage people to make better lifestyle choices?” He offered the following.

1. Genuine Education
2. All of us in the Health Profession modelling great health
3. Remove misalignment - Get rid of fast food restaurants and vending machines from health facilities.
4. Encourage people to spend more time with people who have the good habits they want. Moods are contagious. Hanging out with happy and positive people is a great way to move forward in life.
5. Change Government Food Policy. Governments subsidize food that is not good for people’s health and then recommends foods that are too expensive i.e. Fruits and vegetables.

He also shared some remarkable initiatives. First was the State of Mississippi. They applied a fat tax on employees who lost benefits if they failed to meet agreed personal weight targets. This was accompanied with programs, encouragement and ongoing reinforcement and it was very successful.

Second was the Soft drink tax in Mexico which has been incredibly effective in battling obesity.

He also shared another piece of information that I wasn’t aware of. “Nicotine is addictive as Crack Cocaine”. He reminded us that just over 50 years ago, Doctors were recommending cigarettes saying that a cigarette soothes the throat. He asked “What are we doing today that we are going to look back on in 50 years with the same horror at which we view this astounding recommendation?” He called for the removal of smoking from all movies and TV.

He went on to explain that fashion is a very powerful driver of behaviours and that we need to be more aware of what we are really modelling.

He also talked about clever initiatives to get people becoming naturally more active, like the “Piano stairs” in the Stockholm Subway that played a tune when people walked up them. Soon people were abandoning the escalators and having fun going up and down the stairs.

Another initiative was the “World's deepest trash can”. This trash can in the middle of the park, had a sign on it stating that it was The World’s Deepest Trash Can. When people threw trash in, there was a sound effect of a long fall and then hitting the bottom. Soon people were running all over the park to find things to throw into it. So cool.

He finished really nicely. He said we can blame the food companies if we like but really, they are only giving people what they want. Most businesses operate by the simple laws of supply and demand. This brought it all the way back to education, which is a powerful endorsement of the work we do. Good education will change the demand.

We then got to hear from Mary Anne Malleret and then her husband, world famous Futurist, Thierry Malleret

Mary talked about the power of adding Walking to one’s lifestyle. She talked about her 10 Good Reasons to Go for a Walk, and I have to be honest to the reader, some of them flew by pretty quickly and I missed them.

However, she shared some great points.

• When you walk you make better decisions and better investment decisions
• Walking Meetings are becoming the craze in Silicon Valley
• Steve Jobs did, and Mark Zuckerberg does, walk when making important decisions.

Thierry shared that 1 in 10 tourists world-wide is Chinese. Last year, Chinese spent $261B in tourism and travel abroad. It is clear the Chinese are embracing their freedom to move and explore and to make the most of their newly created wealth.

He asked, “What stops us (referring to Americans, Europeans, Canadians, Australians etc)?” He noted that we live in conflicted society. Industries have the money to defend their vested interests and so many of the things that need to change, are not changing.

For example, he said there is a dissidence between Corporate Wellness and Corporate Culture. H said the companies have the wellness programs but conflicting practices like working 18 hours a day still exist.

Some Countries regulate this area and forced companies to change these destructive policies.

Then we heard from Elissa Epel PhD, Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, at University of California, San Francisco, discussing “The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer.”

She commenced by stating that Age is the biggest predictor of when we die, but underneath age is biological age, which it is very elastic.

Telomeres are the end pieces on the ends of your DNA strands. They look a little like the plastic strips on the end of your shoe laces. The longer our Telomeres, the more likely we will have longevity. But as they shorten our risk of leaving the planet increases. Elissa shared that Telomere length is causally predictive.

Our DNA strands are responsible for creating all proteins. The Telomere is on the end of the strand, interpreting signals from life. They shorten slowly as we get older. We are shaped by our parents and by our epigenetics.

This means that we have a fundamental genetic map that comes from the DNA passed to us by our parents and then we experience life in our own unique way. Our experience of life, our Epigenetics, has a significant impact on Telomere length.

At this point I wish to throw in my own observation. So many in the fitness and wellness industry are completely focused on the physical aspects of wellness, namely diet and exercise. Whilst these are both important, many of these same people have lives that are loaded with pressure, reactive stress, conflicts and negative emotions. I feel they really believe that as long as the exercise and diet are good, all will be ok. But it is not. This often explains the sudden death of disease driven death of someone who appears to be completely fit and healthy. Many of these people have pressed the pause button on caring for their own Epigenetics. And it is a fatal mistake. Not just for themselves, but for the people to whom they are role models.

Elissa talked about Telomere Maintenance over a lifespan. Once we have the embedded circuitry of the genes we received from our parents, the rest is related to how we live our life. She talked about Adversity versus Nurturance. Fear versus Love. She shared that she felt these were the big drivers in life - Love and Fear

She went on to share that pregnant women are the gateway to health. Women's health during pregnancy is going to have a huge impact on hers and her baby's health. From there it is inflammation, oxidative stress that do the damage.

Apart from the well documented effects of lack of exercise and poor diet, mental challenges lead the way. She referred to Negative Mind Wandering, which create unhappiness and suffering. This leads to telomere damage.

So she asked how can we slow cellular aligning?

The following are Restorative:

• Exercise
• Good diet
• Restorative sleep
• Antioxidant diet

She also talked about the concept of “Being Well Together”, going beyond our own universe and learning to share the good health journey, creating happiness and purpose with those around us.

Can meditation increase telomere health? Studies have shown that a group of mind body activities boost telomerase enzyme activity

A Study of a group of people over 3 weeks at a retreat centre, doing daily meditations, showed an increase in Telomere Health. A Chopra Centre Study showed a 60% increase in Wellness

Epigenetics are all about how you live life and how you experience your life. If you are buried under the demands of the world, stressed, pressured, anxious and reactive, your telomeres are under siege and may be shortening as you read this.

To slow aging, Elissa gave these recommendations.

1.     Eat your Vegetables.

2.     Mindset: Present mindset may slow biological time.

3.     Extended Mind: Wellness within allows wellness together.

4.     Meaningful Work – Purposeful Life.

Or have you moved beyond all of that and living in command of your life. Three questions Elissa left us to contemplate.

• Have you loved fully
• Have your lived fully
• Have you let go of the small and insignificant stuff

Eissa is the author of the book "The Telomere Effect."

ALI Mostashari was next up, talking about “DNA Testing: Understanding Results and Exploring Opportunities”

This session moved quickly and again I felt a bit challenged taking in all the information as I found myself getting a little fascinated.

• As more and more testing is done, new algorithms are emerging, working with all the data to give deeper insights. The number of tests being performed is extraordinary. Consider this table of US Consumers who have had DNA Tests:
• 2014 – 1 million
• 2015 – 3 million
• 2016 – 5 million
• 2017 – 9 million
• 2018 – 15 million predicted
• 2019 – 25 million predicted
• 2020 – 40 million predicted

However, DNA test predicted to be 9 million by end of 2017, but reached 10.5 million by July. This may be because of the declining clost mixed with increasing interest. The very first DNA gene mapping cost $45m. Now you can test for $41.00.

Thousands of results are allowing researchers to start modelling the body. What is becoming clear is that RDA's are general and may not apply to us all. So this may lead to a whole new set of personalised products.

Results have shown for example that there has been a 33% increase in Weight Loss Program effectiveness when diets have been created in line with the results of genetic testing. There has also been shown to be a 30% increase in adherence to advice.

Note from my Observations:

But I must share that I felt a little dismayed again. There is still an overwhelming attitude of “Me” in all of this. People are taking all of this brilliant information and becoming obsessed with their own condition. This obsession with our genes means we place all attention on ourselves and our own welfare, which is the complete opposite of optimising our epigenetics. So, the fascination with genetic testing can itself become a negative health practice I feel. Self-obsession is not one of the recommended practices for a healthy life.

Next we heard from the brilliant and flamboyant Dr Kenneth Pelletier talking about “Change Your Genes, Change Your Health: The New Science of Epigenetics”

Science of Epigenetics is incredible. We do govern gene expression.

Dr Pelletier, an esteemed Professor of Medicine, noted that:

• There are so many diet plans yet obesity out of control
• There are over 600 stress management techniques and still stress out of control
• There are so many detox programs yet environmental toxins are rampant

He described Epigenetics as - everything that impacts on the gene after the sperm fertilizes the egg. He described it as a Tripartite Assay:

• The Gene - the plan
• Blood stream - the structure
• GI tract (Microbiome) - the experience of human creation 

He and his colleagues have been studying human health by testing genetics, blood and microbiome. They looked at Genes that are bio markers of health not disease. They discovered many things.

Kenneth always adds some quirky humor to his presentations....

Here are some wakeup calls. Monogenetic disease, diseases that occur because of a genetic flaw, all happen within the first 6 months of life. If an adult believes their disease is genetic, they are avoiding all responsibility for how they created it. And they are missing out on the exciting adventure of healing themselves.

Every diet is a myth unless it has something to do with you and the uniqueness of who you are.

People and companies advertise 80% chance of this or that result but how do they know. Everything is very generalise and those who do not come close to matching the program design simply experience failure and discouragement.

From my perspective, this requires flexible prescription on the part of those developing programs. In the absence of specific testing, genuine support of another person in their pursuit of better health requires exploration, patience and creativity.

As he progressed Dr Pelletier gave some foundational information to help us gain a better understanding of his findings, however I am not going to go into it in this paper as it is potentially quite complex and will save it for a later paper where I can pay more attention to that specific topic and deliver it in a way that it can be easily understood. (That is writers speak for “I’m still getting my head around it”.)

However, what I can say is that through these studies of Genome, Blood and Microbiome, Dr Pelletier was able to confidently state that the Microbiome is the key to life.

He presented the following summary: Epigenetics – What is Known

• Tripathate Assay: Genetic, Blood and Microbiome
• Genes predict probabilities, not certainties
• Biomarkers of Health and not Disease Prediction are more useful
• Application of Single Gene = Single Disease is very limited
• Genes work within complex genetic and environmental matrices
• Human Base is @ 21,000 Genes – DNA for protein coding is only 5% of this entire Genome
• Gene are turned on and off like a rheostat
• Genes change – what we do matters
• The majority of genes are governed by beliefs and lifestyle choices
• Neanderthal genes are alive and well in all of us – Stress responses

I like that second last point because Lifestyle choices are also a product of beliefs.

We then had a clever presentation by Ramesh Caussy, PhD: introducing us to the Wellness Robot… and Learn How This Technology Can Enhance Wellness.

This clever and highly mobile robot can move quietly around a workplace monitoring all manner of environmental factors for the purpose of making a workplace more nurturing and less destructive to the individual’s wellbeing.

Jack Groppel PhD is the founder of the Human Performance Institute and presented to us on The Critical Key to Harnessing the Science of Human Performance

He talked about the dilemma we face in life, of believing we do not have control over our choices. He shared that most senior executives in the Western World are not taking vacations. If they do, they take it for their family and keep working. Their lives become a Train Wreck.

Train wreck

• At the end of the day "I need a drink?"
• This is followed by Sleep trouble
• Then come the sleeping pills – “Knock me out Doc.”
• They are Accessible 24/7.

Before mobile phones, as soon as we walked out the door we were invisible and largely untraceable.

Some interesting data he shared:

• 65% of adults identified work as the top source of significant stress.
• 34% of adults reported an increase in stress over the past year.
• 32% of adults reported that stress has a very strong impact on their physical and mental health.

This is what people are facing at work:

• Brutal accountability
• Intense pressure to perform better
• Last year’s records become this year’s baselines
• Pushed to do more with less
• Employees under-performing – creatively, resiliency, innovation
• Over-scheduled

After 30, we lose 10% of our muscle and mental capacity every decade...unless we train. Businesses must care about the entire being, 24/7 Mind, Body and Spirit.

Jack shared that “Without energy management, it does not matter how much talent and skill you have. You cannot bring it to the surface on demand.”

He shared that for human beings to fully reclaim their energy and become fully engaged, the challenge is to become Physically Energised, Emotionally Connected, Mentally Focused and Spiritually Aligned.

The results of this are Strong Leadership, Increased Resiliency, Improved Health and High Performance.

This level of self evolvement is deeply personal. We can cheer people on to get better.

Maggie Hsu for Zappos then delivered an incredible presentation on Crypto Currencies and Blockchain. And to be honest it was about as far beyond the capacity of my current level of intellect as the Internet was beyond me in the 70’s. But I am hooked and will be researching. Maggie cannot escape.

But I can really see the power in all of this, potentially removing the need for banks and other pillars that potentially block the creative flow of life.

Paul Price then presented to us “WHAT IF – Imagining the Unimaginable Impact of Technology on Your Business”

This was a huge session, so much data that was deeply fascinating and perhaps too much for 20 minutes. But he gave some great insights. Technology is allowing spontaneous behaviour, whenever, wherever. Users of technology are embracing this capacity for spontaneous behaviour so if you are creating technology products for your business and customers, you have to cater to this expectation for spontaneous behaviour.

Further it must be visual. A 30-60 second video replaces half a million words. Keyword Searches are of enormous importance if people are to find you and your product or service when they search.

Dr Michael Roizen from the Cleveland Clinic then presented on Living to 160. This was a genuine roller coaster ride.

Here are some statistics for a start:

• The Average 65 year old of the same height weighs 30 pounds more than the same time 20 years ago
• 18000 Nurses in a lifestyle enhancement program, over 28 years, achieved 90% drop in disease risk for lifestyle diseases
• Breast cancer sufferers who switched to pure olive oil reduced recurrence incidence by 72%. Exercise was also shown to significantly reduce recurrence.

Dr Roizen took us on a journey looking at what is grossly wrong with the USA Health Care System. Currently, 18% of GDP is spent on Health Care. 75cents in every dollar is spent on treating preventable lifestyle disease.

He pointed out a few simple factors that could lead to a 27 fold reduction in diseases. However, it is going the other way and it is now unsustainable. The USA and many other countries cannot afford their health care bill. These countries are headed for a disaster beyond imagination and nobody is doing anything.

It is predicted that the 18% GDP will stretch to 35% by 2040. That is just 23 years from now. Medicine will become the domain of the wealthy. Perhaps when it does reach the point where it is no longer available to the common person, people will have no choice but to live a healthy life. It would be fascinating to see what happens to the wealth level of the wealthy, when the spending habits of the masses are forced to change.

Here is an example of the explosion of disease.

Type 2 Diabetes Prevalence in the USA

1974: 2.2 million of 211 million = 11 per 1000

1983: 4.6 million of 235 million = 54 per 1000

1994: 6.8 million of 260 million = 30 per 1000

2004: 15.0 million of 292 million = 55 per 1000

2014: 29.0 million of 320 million = 91 per 1000

2050: 120-180 million (as per CDC prediction) = 500 per 1000

Total Knee and Hip Arthroplasties in the USA

 1974: 0.067 million of 211 million = 0.003/1000

1990: 0.327 million of 235 million = 0.013/1000

2006: 0.675 million of 292 million = 0.02/1000

2010: 1.05 million of 320 million = 0.03/1000

Spending on Alzheimer’s Disease is predicted to go from $184 Billion in 2010 to $1,167 Billion in 2050.

The entire reason health care is so expensive in modern economies is because we are treating chronic lifestyle diseases instead of preventing them or implementing programs that slow them down and reverse them.

Chronic Disease management is responsible for 84% of all costs and 67% of those costs are in under 65 year olds. And the major culprits are tobacco, Poor food choices and over eating, physical inactivity and un-managed stress.

Study after study reveals similar data.

It appears that education and inspiration are the keys. There is no evidence that governments will change.

More tomorrow.