One 'side' believes good health is as a result of outside intervention... drugs, surgery etc. The other 'side' believes that good health results from living in harmony with natural law... correct nutrition... cleanliness etc.

The ancient Greeks had terms for these two groups of people. As was often case in those days each group came under umbrella of a 'god'. One was 'Asklepios'... god of medicine, whose proponents advocated 'intervention' approach. These people were known as 'Asklepians'. Those who believed that secret of good health resulted from living in harmony with nature looked up to 'Hygeia'... Goddess of health. These people were known as 'Hygeian'.

Asklepians versus Hygeian

Both sides tended to be critical of other... nothing much has changed over ages. Modern mainstream western medicine takes 'Asklepian' approach. However, in recent years Hygeian approach which has always been underlying principle behind Chinese traditional medicine has gained much ground. The increase in popularity of 'Hygeian' approach is no doubt due to a combination of several factors:

* Dissatisfaction of traditional mainstream medicine. * Increasing cases of medical 'misadventure'. (Hospitals are places to stay away from) * Awareness that good health is primarily a personal responsibility... not of overworked physicians. * An increasing awareness that medical industry is highly influenced by drug companies and that there are often better, safer and more economic natural alternatives to drugs.

In spite of this justified 'swing' away from mainstream medicine, mainstream medicine does have a place in everyone's health program ... apart from obvious ones in treating accident cases or chronic urgent illness. So, if you are already a 'Hygeian' don't over look benefits that mainstream medicine can offer to you in your overall quest for good health and longevity.

These benefits are primarily in early detection of a pending disease that you may not as yet be aware of!

An example

Let's assume that you are over 40 years of age... you are healthy, fit and not overweight. You eat well, you don't smoke, don't drink excessively and rarely get sick. You probably think that you will live forever... well at least into ripe old age! Right? Maybe... or maybe not.

Reflect on this for a moment. Have you ever known anyone around this age that has died suddenly to your amazement because you thought they were so healthy? That person may even have been a competitive athlete!

Let me tell you a true story.

About 15 years ago a friend of mine who was around 40, a former competitive body builder who was still in great shape and extremely fit was at a lake water-skiing. He was watching some young water-skiers doing some 'tricks'.

Being competitive person that he was he waited until they came in and went down to waters edge and said "Now, I'll show you how to really do it". Those were last words he ever uttered... a couple of minutes later he was lying on ground dead of a massive heart attack.

My friend died instantly. He could just as easily had a stroke which he may or may not have recovered from... which would also have been a major tragedy.

Tragedies can often be avoided

Tragedies like this happen every day and results are devastating not only to victims but also their families, friends and loved ones. Sadly, many of these tragedies could have been averted ... if more people were aware of their risk factors and could correct any abnormalities before it was too late!

Now back to point of this story. My friend died of a blockage in his artery. Only takes one! If 15 years ago technology for measuring ALL 'predictors' which indicate your risk of such an event were available AND my friend had understood what they meant he would probably still be showing those young fellows how to do water-skiing tricks!

Mainstream medicine has for some decades now placed more emphasis on medical intervention as opposed to primary care, prevention, and helping body heal itself by natural methods. The negative results of these policies which can never work are becoming more apparent each year. To determine how serious problem is you need to consider some statistics. Ironically most reliable statistics have been published in none other than JOURNAL of AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (JAMA) Vol 284, No 4, July 26th 2000. The researcher who wrote article is Dr Barbara Starfield, MD, MPH, of Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. Now let's review what Dr Starfield has unearthed! 'THE FACTS' Are...

2,000 deaths/year from unnecessary surgery 7,000 deaths/year from medication errors in hospitals 20,000 deaths/year from other errors in hospitals 80,000 deaths/year from nosocomial infections in hospitals 106,000 deaths/year from non-error, adverse effects of medications These total up to 225,000 deaths per year in US from iatrogenic causes which ranks these deaths as # 3 killer.