Your good health, the foundation of your peak performance and wonderful success

Your good health truly constitutes your first resource for you to accomplish peak performance and then incredibly succeed in any sectors, and we undoubtedly believe that you can’t challenge this.

But, what really constitutes good health? How does this kind of health form the first resource for you to work to your full capacity and then attain unbelievable accomplishments? These are some of key questions that we intend to address with this edition.

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What really constitutes good health and why is it paramount to comprehend it?

We are first going to start with a few details on the meaning of “health” since our next edition will come back to it a little, with complementary details. In the meanwhile, ‘health’ like all other fields needs to be explained perfectly for people to perfectly understand it, for them to thus perfectly implement the right practices and behavior to maintain it.

Different personalities with whom we completely concur point out that it can be hard for people to apply a concept/field which they don’t comprehend. Oshadhi Herath from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Kelaniya in Srilanka is one of them. He has also underlined that it can be difficult for people to operationalize a concept, if they’re not enlightened on it. While contributing to defining ‘peace’, he has said “If[a] person defines something vague, it will be difficult to put [it] into practice.”

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Understanding health perfectly means understanding it both correctly/flawlessly and completely. For example, most people don’t actually fathom a profound mind-body connection and health. Even most health practitioners don’t, as this article will clarify it.

So, health means the state of enjoying life free of not only diseases but also all factors leading to diseases and other conditions causing a person to suffer, while promoting all conditions fully supporting health. In other words, health means “wellness”. As already implied, a person can suffer both mentally and or bodily. Different credible sources corroborate this definition.

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The dictionary, Merriam Webster, defines it as the condition of being sound in body, mind or spirit, especially being free from physical disease or pain. This dictionary also defines ‘health’ as the general condition of the body. Under this definition, health can be poor or good. The Cambridge Dictionary states that health is the condition of the body and the degree to which it is free from illness , or the state of being well. As the below photo represents it, healthy food isn't dissociated with good health. So, regularly take it.

The longstanding definition of health from the World Health Organization (WHO) developed in 1948 is 'a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.’ It underlines that he enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health constitutes one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.

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Britannica [ https://www.britannica.com ] defines ‘health’ in humans as the extent of an individual’s continuing physical, emotional, mental, and social ability to cope with his or her environment . “Bad health can be defined as the presence of disease , good health as its absence—particularly the absence of continuing disease, because the person afflicted with a sudden attack of seasickness, for example, may not be thought of as having lost good health as a result of such a mishap. Actually, there is a wide variable area between health and disease.”

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The Local Government Association [https://www.local.gov.uk ], the national membership body for local authorities in England and Wales, states that ‘health’ is about “what makes us feel good physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually. It is about how we react to the strains and stresses of life and are not only resilient to them but have the potential to bounce back even stronger”.

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It adds that a complete state of health may not be possible for someone living with diabetes, but that they can still be healthy. “A person may be diagnosed as HIV positive but with appropriate support and treatment [it] may have very little or no effect on life expectancy. We can be healthy if we do not have a recognised disease but can also be healthy if we can manage a condition and look to live life to the full.” As highlighted in the picture below, feeling unwell, immediately go to a healthcare institution. Such institutions are there to deliver this service.

In the health sector, ‘Healthy’ means ‘strong and well, in a good physical or mental condition’. In its August 2021 article, Genesis Medical Associates, Inc. [ https://www.genesismedical.org ] also contributes to defining this word. It states “If your body can effectively manage threats to your system (physically, mentally or emotionally), you are considered to be healthy.”

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The following are some of great signs showing that you are healthy, according to Genesis Medical Advocates. “You can effectively manage a full range of emotions. Too often, people think you have to be happy all the time. That is far from the truth. Happiness?feels significantly more wholesome when you feel a range of emotions in-between those happy moments. The key is effectively implementing strategies to manage those not-so-great feelings and moments. If you find that, more often than not, you are struggling to manage your stress, anger or anxiety about things, there may be a need to seek help with that. A true sign of good emotional well-being is the ability to embrace and manage a range of emotions, recognizing they are not permanent.”

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“You have enough energy to get through your day and complete your daily to-do list. Whether we are talking about physical energy or mental energy, having the ability to focus and complete the things you want to do each day is a sign of good health. If you are struggling to get through things you typically do in a day, this could be a sign of concern related to your health. It could be as simple as logging more quality hours of sleep at night or eating enough of the right foods.?

You feel rested when you get up. If you’re hitting the pillow at night and you wake up feeling like you barely slept, there’s a concern there. The right amount of sleep is not only essential for your body but for your mind as well. Getting eight hours is best, but not always attainable for everyone which is why quality sleep is just as important. The CDC reports that more than a third of adults in the country [USA] report they are not getting enough sleep.”

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To conclude the point, we hope that you have seen key elements that constitute good health. In a few words, your good health involves your complete wellness [ mind consisting of emotions and thoughts as well as feelings in addition to intellectual and spiritual capabilities, body, and social and occupational interactions.” For example the latter field is closely related to the health field, as different sources such as Nursing Answers [https://nursinganswers.net ] and Springer [https://link.springer.com ] affirm it.

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Nursing Answers says that occupation stands as important in maintaining health but that certain occupations may actually cause ill health. “Ill health may lower occupational performance. The relationship is further complicated by poor performance contributing to ill health which further lowers performance. An example would be someone performing poorly in paid employment and becoming depressed as an indirect result (perhaps because of redeployment) and performing even more poorly as a result of the depression.” Springer states “Being employed with appropriate working conditions plays a protective role on physical health and psychiatric disorders. By contrast, nonemployment and retirement are generally worse particularly for mental health in reference to employment. In addition, overemployment has a negative effect on health.”

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How does good health form the first resource for you to work to your full capacity and then attain unbelievable accomplishments?

The third man from either side is an American, Tony Robbins, one of the most successful people with a staggering net worth of $600 million currently. He has coached and helped not less than 50 million people in 100 countries to also register immense success. One of them is another American, Oprah Winfrey, who possess the colossal net worth of around $3.5 billion. The picture highlights delight among all the people in the picture, but Robbin's delight is intense by far. This kind of joy represents a great component of good health. Furthermore, all the successful personalities including Robbins and Oprah have accumulated their success, owing to being healthy.

Particularly, Robbins and Oprah have experienced intensely harsh hardships, but they have overcome them through their healthy minds and bodies besides their time that they have focused on only important and beneficial areas. Robbins is a workaholic or peak performer. For instance working with his mentor- Jim Rohn, Robbins worked 12-14 hours a day, this being due to his good health.

“A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings,” Hippocrates . “The first wealth is health,” Ralph Waldo Emerson. “It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver,” Mahatma Gandhi. “I believe that the greatest gift you can give your family and the world is a healthy you,” Joyce Meyer.

These are just very few quotes, of high-ranking personalities, which contend that your good health constitutes the first and foremost asset that you have. We most often reiterate it in our different articles in our other newsletter Healthy Organization [ https://www.dhirubhai.net/newsletters/healthy-organization-6895755029291380736 ] to which we also wish you subscribe, if you haven’t already. We have always maintained that you [your healthy mind and body] is your first most important resource while time is the second one.

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Peak performance means working to your full potential. It is this type of working which enables you to attain inconceivable success. We define peak performance as performing right things in the right manner and at the right time with the right knowledge and skills as well as the right motivation and the right capacity. The latter one involves accomplishing activities with your full capacity.

If you possess the capacity to work for 12 hours a day, while remaining healthy; then, you aren’t performing to your full capacity, if you don’t reach these hours. Better Up [ https://www.betterup.com ] says that peak performance is when an individual performs at optimal levels physically, mentally, or both and that in many ways, peak performance is parallel to reaching self-actualization.

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Peak performance actually involves performing work to the highest extent but effortlessly and this is feasible when you enjoy both a healthy mind and a healthy body. The Peak Performance Center [ https://thepeakperformancecenter.com ] and Smith School of Business [ https://smith.queensu.ca/index.php ] echo my point. “Peak performance is a level of exceptional functioning in which a person effortlessly performs an activity to the maximum of their ability, while fully focused and immersed in feelings of confidence, engagement and enjoyment,” says the Peak Performance Center. The school states “Achieving peak performance relies not only on being physically healthy but also on an individual's mental wellness.”

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You can’t ensure peak performance which leads to incredible achievements is impossible, if you are not healthy. Dr. Murali Doraiswamy is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine. In his 22nd July2022 article headlined “Your brain is your biggest asset: live by design, not by default” published on IMD [ https://www.imd.org ], he says “Healthy lifestyle habits are essential for peak performance and wellbeing, with regular exercise, sleep and meditation vital to promoting brain health. In our fast-paced world, it’s often easy to take our brain for granted, but doing so can be to the detriment of the brain’s long-term performance.

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The most important investment you can make is in yourself, your brain and your wellbeing,” he told?Orchestrating Winning Performance ?participants during his keynote address. “If you treat your brain like a computer and let it gather dust (…) its warranty is going to be very short.”

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All people having turned successful in every field beyond imagination- like the wealthiest ones such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffet and Oprah Winfrey in the business world, just to name a handful- have become so particularly because they are healthy.

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As already said, Mind and Body are so profoundly interlinked that perfectly healing you demands healing both your mind and body. Otherwise, you won’t enjoy complete health. A worse situation is that people might not generally know this Mind-Body connection and its deep link with Health. I use the word “might” which suggests doubt because I have attempted to seek any studies which could directly confirm or invalidate our hypothesis, but I have not found any.

Yet with my observation especially based on how I see people generally behaving, I can’t fear to affirm that most people don’t know that their minds and bodies influence each other intensely. Furthermore, I will soon give unquestionable evidence from a study by a highly prominent and credible physician which can help us to confirm the hypothesis.

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There are different reasons which have galvanized me to initiate this newsletter, Mind and Body Health- a channel created to holistically promote Health, addressing subjects connected with it. ?Some of key ones include an inspiration from Science Journalism courses at university, my thorough investigation around Mind-Body connection and its link with Health since 2012, and the unimaginable importance of (1) this connection and (2) health in all fields chiefly peak performance and success.

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As already said, at university I have studied science journalism courses which feature among factors which have inspired me to make this newsletter. The title of my thesis in 2011 for me to obtain a bachelor’s degree in journalism and communication was ‘The Role of Science Journalism in Development: A Focus on Health Issues.’ This work constitutes the huge starting point for me to perfectly comprehend the vital importance of health in all fields of life. For instance, one respondent told me “People cannot develop their countries, if they aren’t healthy.” Another one said “A healthy nation, a wealthy nation.”

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I have missed any pieces of research contending whether mind-body connection is widely fathomed or not. But I have maintained that mind-body connection remains largely unknown to most people. The work of Dr. Jeffrey Rediger helps us to comprehend it. The Indian Express [ https://indianexpress.com ] in its article “Explained: Why patients sometimes make ‘miraculous’ recoveries” has featured this physician. It first states “Now and then, a doctor comes across a patient who improves unexpectedly from a disease that usually progresses, such as cancer, and at times is even cured. This is called spontaneous healing.”

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“In their 1966 book?‘Spontaneous Regression of Cancer ’, W H Cole and T C Everson defined it (in cases of cancer) as “the partial or complete disappearance of a malignant tumour in the absence of all treatment, or in the presence of therapy which is considered inadequate to exert significant influence on neoplastic disease. Such cases notwithstanding, the medical fraternity is often sceptical and takes ‘miraculous’ recoveries as flukes [accidents/coincidences/chances]. Very few study such cases such or take them into account when treating patients.”

Among these very few personalities who examine those cases, The Indian Express places Dr. Jeffrey Rediger, MD. He is a psychiatrist who also possesses a master’s degree in divinity. He says that mind-body connection contributes to this miraculous recovery. Ridiger has passed more than 15 years studying spontaneous healing, the results of which he has written in his new book.

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His book ‘Cured: The Life-Changing Science of Spontaneous Healing’, according to The Indian Express, explores patterns behind healing illnesses such as the deadliest kinds of cancers, and lays out physical and mental principles associated with recovery. “These include physically healing diets and immune systems, and mentally healing stress responses and identities. Rediger argues that much of our physical reality is created in our minds and perception changes our experiences, sometimes to the point of changing our bodies. Therefore, Rediger argues, healing our identities may be a key tool to recovery.”

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Different prominent medical professionals have extolled the book. Dr. Mark Hyman, MD, Director of the Cleveland Clinic for Functional Medicine, Author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller?‘The Blood Sugar Solution' has declared “Cured is a rare glimpse into the mysteries of human health and disease. Why do some people with incurable disease suddenly heal? This phenomenon has been ignored by medicine rather than investigated. Dr. Rediger finally asks what we can learn from these cases of spontaneous remission and how can we activate the power of the human body using the mind to harness our body’s own healing systems.”

Martha Stark, MD, Faculty, Harvard Medical School—"Packed with pearls of wisdom gleaned from Dr. Rediger’s intensive immersion in the field of remarkable recoveries and from his thoughtful reflections about his own personal journey,?Cured?will touch the hearts and souls of everyone who reads this book and will inspire them to take charge of their health – and their mindset.”

Rediger’s work and the quotes-of the professionals who are just very few ones we have selected-show that mind-body connection and its link with health is little known. The work and the quotes indicate that mind-body connection and profound link with health are generally overlooked and unknown. This signifies that most people don’t know the mind-body connection and its immeasurable link with health. The University of Hertfordshire [https://www.herts.ac.uk ] says “Our body and mind are one.” By the words “generally and most”, we intend to mean that conducting a study about it, you might find that not even 10% fully understand it.

By Jean Baptiste Ndabananiye-Media, Empowerment& MBA.

ADEPE Deputy-Programs Manager, with a demonstrated history/experience of involvement in women’s empowerment, project/program management, peace-building/conflict transformation, training, public awareness campaigns, governance and budget transparency, advocacy, documentation, the broadcast media industry, and community justice, among others.

He is skilled, among others, in English and French, Project& Program Management, Media Production, Peace-building, Leadership, Advocacy, and Kinyarwanda- English-French Translation, and Mind-Body Connection and its Link with Health through extensive reading and investigation about these two fields as well as Health Reporting and Communication. Strong management, media and communication professional with a Bachelor's and Master's focused in Journalism& Communication and MBA-Project Management respectively from University of Rwanda and Mount Kenya University.