Contributed by C. Von Hollander
The Chief Health Officer of NSW has compiled the latest "The Health of the People of New South Wales" report. Kevin McCraken, Associate Professor of human geography at Macquarie University and an Opinion columnist wrote an article in the Sydney Morning Herald (5th January 2007) outlining how he perceives this report.
His article discusses how many deaths are by our own hands and are the consequences of tobacco smoking, alcohol abuse, lack of physical activity poor diet and obesity. Medically this is nothing new and McCraken goes on to detail statistics. McCraken comments "What is undeniable, though, is the large number of people who are suffering ill health and premature mortality from conditions that need never occur.
Add to this the lives that could be saved through earlier detection and improved treatment of diseases, and the scale of the challenge and the potential gains to be made are even larger".
The article speaks to not being a victim to 'death by our own hands,' as much of the illness is of our own making. The last paragraph points to the need for us to begin to take responsibility for our own health.
In support of this approach, "Your Life Patterns" allows you to understand how to step out of these nasty spirals of ill health. You can start to readdress habits and strengthen the emotional, mental, physical and spiritual parts of yourself, and come from inner strengths - which many of us may have simply forgotten.
In "Your Life Patterns," you can begin to clearly see how negative, repetitive behavioural patterning undermines general wellbeing, which in turn causes disease and ill health....and for those with whom we live, work and play, discovering positive, constructive changes in our lives benefits them too.
