What is Holistic Health

13Oct

The term holistic is derived from the word ‘whole’ – it means to approach something as a greater entity, rather than as a combination of isolated parts.

The human body is a complex system of interconnected parts, but we aren’t robots. You can’t simply replace a specific part each time we have a health issue. Therefore a holistic view of health is so important.

Our bodies are interconnected, so if one part of your health is afflicted with an issue, it can cause and exacerbate damages across the rest of your body.

Every human being should be treated like an individual, not an affliction to cure or a box to tick. Health is not something to be neglected until problems arise, it is an ongoing process. You need to be attentive to the wellbeing of your body whether you are currently experiencing a health issue or not.

Holistic health is all about illness prevention. It’s better to prevent health issues from occurring rather than treating them once they’re already here.

Gut health is an area that is often overlooked, despite being vital to your overall well being. In holistic health and natural medicines, gut health is often one of the most fundamental parts to check when getting a person healthy.

Treatments such as digestive probiotics and colon cleanses can leave you feeling rejuvenated. Fixing or enhancing your gut health can provide a range of holistic health benefits throughout your entire body.

Read on to learn about the connection between mental and physical wellbeing and why gut health is so crucial to your overall health.

The Connection Between Mental and Physical Wellbeing

It’s great that in the modern era, awareness of mental health is becoming more and more prominent. Unfortunately, there is still a tendency to view it as something separated from your bodily health.

Suffering from a mental health condition can often lead to physical health issues. This can be easily observed in our behaviour. For instance, if you are suffering from depression, you can lose your motivation to do things like cooking healthy meals and exercising. This in turn further contributes to declining mental health. This creates a vicious cycle that can be difficult to escape from.

However, physical, and mental health are a lot more connected than just through your behavioural actions. Most people have at one point, or another experienced an upset tummy as a result of anxiety. In especially bad cases this can even lead to vomiting and migraines.

When your mind has this much power over your physical body it is easy to see just how much your mental health can affect your bodily health. It’s important to be mindful of this in your daily life, not just in those extreme instances.

The Good News

Mental health issues can arise if you are deficient in necessary vitamins and minerals. On a behavioural level, practising good nutrition and exercise are important for a healthy brain.

Just as mental and physical problems exacerbate each other, good mental health leads to better physical health and vice versa. In order to be the healthiest, we can, it’s important to take advantage of this.

It has even been observed that having good mental health can reduce your risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Why is Gut Health so Crucial?

The colon is sometimes called ‘the second brain’ because of its importance. The vast majority of serotonin – our self-produced happy drug – is created and stored in the colon.

Good colon health is critical for both a healthy mind and body.

Bottoms Up

At Bottoms Up we are passionate about spreading our knowledge of health. If you are interested in learning more about holistic health, we’d love to help you out. It’s never too late to take back control of your gut health.