Medical Self-Care: The Seven Rules of Self-Care

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The Fifth Law: What's best for your health depends —at least in part—on your belief system.

Health is a part of culture, and different people are products of different cultures. It has been well established that the remedies people believe in are much more effective for them. A self-care-oriented health care system, therefore, must be a diverse system—a health care smorgasbord offering "different strokes for different folks."

The Sixth Law: The principal goal of a health care system should be to help people take care of themselves.

Those of us who reached adulthood during the last few decades were brought up to overestimate the effectiveness and safety of professional medical care, and to serious ly underestimate our own potential for keeping ourselves healthy, for managing our illnesses, and for taking an active role when working with doctors and other health practitioners. We need to seek out and support those health workers and consumer groups whose number one priority is to encourage our self-care efforts and increase our level of health responsibility and competence.

The Seventh Law: Health is a regenerative function.

We have been taught to think of health problems as inevitable breakdowns that can be repaired by professionals—like a car that needs new tires or a rebuilt carburetor. As a result, we ignore our health until a problem becomes an emergency. Then we attempt heroic solutions: the coronary care unit, bypass surgery, a heart transplant.

The human body has almost unbelievable healing powers. But to operate at their optimal levels, these powers require constant nourishment and care: a healthful diet and environment, regular exercise, the support of others, a meaningful life, and a good measure of self understanding. The body has its own wisdom, but it must be listened to, understood, and trusted.

Your body is like the soil: If properly cared for over a long period of time, it can replenish itself and provide a bounty beyond imagining. But if ignored, depleted, and exploited, it will soon lose its ability to sustain life.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Medical Self-Care, Dr. Tom Ferguson's quarterly journal, is available for $15 per year from Medical Self-Care, P.O. Box 717, Inverness, CA 94937. A sample issue costs $4.00. Dr. Ferguson's book, also titled Medical Self-Care, can be ordered for—$10 postpaid—from the same address.

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