A Life Less Stressed

By Dr. Ron Ehrlich

To say we live in stressful times is an understatement if ever there was one. Interestingly for us, in the Maccabi community, many of our relatives lived through much more stressful times. But stress is real in our modern world. Stress is a very personal experience affecting peoples’ health in a variety of ways, often negatively impacting on their physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.

It’s my belief that while the world we live in is becoming increasingly more complex and overwhelming, the solutions to achieving good health and thus, fulfilling our potential in life are remarkably simple, accessible, achievable and effective.

We are bombarded by an avalanche of health information and advice, which is often confusing and sometimes contradictory. The key is to educate yourself and at least have a model of health to which you can constantly refer back to and make sense all that ‘advice’, converting confusion to clarity and information to knowledge.

When it comes to health in general, and food in particular the influence of commercial interests is a story that is all too easy to miss, but once you become aware of it, difficult to ignore and importantly, personally empowering.

Throughout my professional career, which includes my own personal health journey I have used model of health which I believe asked all the right questions and provides a structure to achieve better health and live a life less stressed.

In order to deal with a problem, it’s important to understand what that problem is.

When it comes to ‘stress’ it’s important to understand what that actually means in our modern world, and how it can affect us.

I define ‘stress’ as anything that compromises our immune function and promotes chronic inflammation. These are the common denominators in the epidemic of every one of the preventable chronic degenerative diseases, which are also referred more recently being referred to as comorbidities. These include; cardiovascular disease, cancer, over 100 autoimmune conditions, diabetes, obesity and mental health

I view life as a question of balance:

• On the one side of the balancing beam we need to identify and minimise as many of the stressors as possible and so focus on five stressors: emotional, nutritional, postural, environmental and dental stress. The last one often surprises people but it’s of interest to anybody with a mouth, who is interested in their health and has never fully understood the many surprising connections between the two… And there are many…. how well you sleep and breathe, and cardiovascular health are just three of many aspects to consider.

• The other side of the balancing beam is to focus on building resilience by focusing on the five pillars of health: sleep and breathe are foundational, then nourish, move and think fall into place.

• The balancing beam pivots on our genes and how our genes express themselves, the wonderful and empowering new science of epigenetics

Of course, we are so fortunate to have a western medical system to be there for us when we are faced with a health crisis. I have been the recipient of and am grateful for that incredible expertise.

There has never been a more important time to take control of your health, understand what stress means in our modern world, build resilience to deal with the many stressors you face now and, in the future, allowing you to be the best you can be. Be well.

Dr Ron Ehrlich has been in clinical practice for over 40 years focused on holistic healthcare in general and holistic dentistry in particular. Dr. Ron is still in clinical practice continues to see patients at his group practice, the Sydney Holistic Dental Centre in the Sydney CBD.

Dr Ron has written a game changing book called A Life Less Stressed: the 5 pillars of health and wellness  (Scribe Publications). He was awarded a Fellowship in Lifestyle Medicine (FASLM) as a result of the book.

Dr Ron’s passion is to empower individuals to fulfil their potential, take control of their health, build resilience and be the best you can be.

Dr Ron’s weekly podcast Unstress with Dr Ron Ehrlich explores all areas of health and wellness

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