Translator: Sanja Marjanovic Reviewer: Denise RQ
Mention the word medicine
and most people would think of something that looks like this.
Just happened to be here.
Apparently, there are one billion prescriptions
dispensed each year in the UK.
and the cost of them around 8,5 billion pounds.
and considering there is only 64 million of us in the country,
it seems like it's a lot of medication and a hell of a lot of money.
But, this isn't the only way that we are medicating ourselves.
Our bodies are constantly producing chemical reactions
to everything we think, feel, and do.
And just like other forms of medication, our thoughts and our actions
have the ability to not only heal and enhance our life
they also have the ability to make us extremely ill.
If you spend time around a growing child,
you'll see how powerful these chemicals we call hormones actually are.
But these are the same chemical hormones
that are cascading from our bodies throughout our entire lives.
The word hormone literally means "to set into motion."
That's exactly what the chemicals do,
they set into motion the various systems within the body.
It's easy to see how our choices in life matter,
but quite often it's harder to see
how our choices equate to be the good or bad health.
If I may, I'd like to tell you a brief story about how I became aware
of how bad choices lead inevitably to bad conclusions.
Soon after I left school, I was fortunate enough to get a job
as an apprentice to one of the world's most respected fashion designers.
And before long, my life was like living a dream.
My days were amazing and my nights opened up into a world of fashion shows,
exclusive night clubs, celebrity parties.
And as an 18-year-old boy, I was just totally seduced.
But to cut a very long story short,
in order to sustain my now very glamorous life,
I found myself living on a constant diet of coffee, alcohol,
and whatever drugs I can get my hands on.
You know, it really hurts when you feel
that you messed your life up at such a young age,
and I'm not ashamed to say that on a number of occasions
I really considered ending it.
But what I discovered is that rock bottom is a very interesting place to be
because it forces you to make some very big decisions about your life.
Little that I know, how much that time was going to change my life.
That was 25 years ago and in fact it shaped my future.
So much so that I now made it my purpose in life to explore and research
how our choices affect not only our health and well being
but also things like the way we perform in sports and the way that we age.
Much of what I do is just simply act
as a go-between between all the confusing information that's out there
and people that simply want to improve the quality of their life.
I'm not a doctor and I don't diagnose.
However, I tend to work with people who were already prediagnosed,
or who are even self-diagnosed.
After all, we don't need somebody else to tell us that we are stressed out at work,
stressed out at work or overweight.
We're even, like I was back then, simply sick and tired of being sick and tired.
My main intention is to help people take responsibility for their own health.
But that isn't always as easy as it seems, because, quite often we are more intent
in taking more care of things like our iPhones and our cars
than we are in our physical and mental well-being.
Sadly, we have reached the point globally
where we are now sicker than in any other time in our history.
Type 2 diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart disease, neurological disease,
All to unprecedented heights.
Yet, this is at the same time
that we are spending more money on healthcare than ever before.
You don't need me to tell you that something clearly isn't working.
But what we often forget is that the human body is
one of the most extraordinary healing and regenerating systems
that nature has ever produced.
All you have to do is think about what happens
when you cut yourself to see how amazing it is.
First, the immune system steps in and cleans and sterilizes the wound.
Then, millions upon millions of new cells are formed in order to create new skin.
But perhaps the most amazing thing
out of the whole regenerating and rehealing system
is that when the body heals, it learns to adapt
and then it can come back even stronger.
It is said that 80% of chronic disease is lifestyle related,
which simply means that it could be prevented
with simple and cheap lifestyle strategies.
And these strategies really aren't complicated,
in fact, it's the small, actionable steps that often produce the best results.
That's why I like to work with something that I consider to be
the three pillars of health and well-being.
And I'd like to go through them with you.
Of course, I'm not going to be able to go through everything,
but I want to give you an idea of how easy it is
to implement some of these strategies.
The first thing I work with is exercise and activity.
Exercise is a big part of my life.
It is also a big part of what I do with other people.
But what most people don't realize is that there's actually a huge difference
between exercising and keeping active.
We live in an environment now where what we tend to do
is just move from chair to chair to chair.
And as a result, on average, most people are sitting down for 9.3 hours a day.
When you think about it, it's more time than we're spending asleep.
Clearly, human beings are not designed to be that inactive and sedentary.
And as a result, there are now
over 24 chronic diseases associated with long-term sitting.
Movement is a form of nutrition,
and like most forms of nutrition, you need to get it from multiple sources.
So for example, you may have woken up this morning, gone down to you local gym,
and you've been doing vitamin lifting weights.
Or you might have done vitamin running.
But we also throughout the day need to be doing things
like vitamin stretching, vitamin walking upstairs.
Right now, you are doing vitamin sitting,
which in itself, actually isn't that bad.
But you've probably been doing it for too long.
So what I'd like to do is I'd like to invite you
to do something that I call vitamin standing up.
(Laughter)
It's easy. If you want a challenge, try and stand up without using your hands.
OK, those of you who don't stand up, it doesn't matter,
because I won't kick you out, obviously, it's only an invitation.
The simple act of standing up can be so powerful,
particularly when you've been sitting for so long.
Thank you. You did a great job. Come and sit back down.
I won't ask you to do anything more, OK?
But I knew you've been sitting for a long time.
But interestingly, what you also demonstrated
- is that some of you begrudgingly stood up -
is that none of us really like being told what to do.
even when we know that it's good for us,
which brings me on to pillar number 2
which is diet and nutrition.
We all have a very personal relationship with food
because we are constantly putting it in our bodies.
That's one of the reasons why we don't like being told
what to, or what we can or cannot eat.
I'm not going to do that today.
What I'd rather do is I'd rather get you to think about food
and just how much it's changed in the last 50 or 60 years.
Much of the food we are eating and drinking today is processed.
which means it's been manufactured to taste good,
which also means that it has other ingredients added into it,
mainly, ingredients like salt, sugar, and fat.
But there is a real movement away from these highly processed foods
to foods that now, ironically, are being called 'real foods'.
These are foods that exist in their original state.
And these are also foods that don't have ingredients text slapped on the side
with ingredients you can hardly pronounce.
Of course, there is a basic logic that said:
"If you can't pronounce it, then you really shouldn't be eating it."
It is clear that our health is directly related
to the quality of the food that we eat.
Eating real food isn't that hard, but it just might take some planning ahead.
But it's certainly worth it.
There is more to the science of nutrition than just eating real food,
but as I said before, you don't have to do a lot to make a difference,
you just need to know what to do and then you do it on regular basis.
Which brings me to pillar number 3
which is rest and restauration.
A lot of the work that I do is stress-related,
and there are many coping mechanisms for managing stress,
but there is one that I just love above all,
and it's one that's basically been totally forgotten.
And that's sleep.
Sleep is nature's way of naturally metabolizing stress,
plus it's vital, which means it's essential for life.
But it seems that the more stressed we become, the more we neglected
the natural healing powers of sleep.
Contrary to popular belief, less sleep doesn't make us more productive.
In fact, most of the research says exactly the opposite.
And there is lot of research now
that suggests that it's the quality of our sleep
as well as the quantity of our sleep which is important.
Quality of sleep is interesting.
Quality of our sleep really relies on our internal body clock
being in sync with the day and night.
And that means the light and the dark.
The problem we face here is that for many of us, throughout the day,
we're shielded from the natural light and then, in the evenings,
we are subjected to extended periods of artificial light.
One of the easiest ways to promote good quality of sleep
is simply by getting access
to as much natural light as you can throughout the day.
Particularly in the morning,
because that's when the circadian rhythm of the body is set.
And then in the evening, we are starting to mirror the external environment
by starting to dim the internal lights.
Of course, this now brings up the issue of computers at nighttime.
Computers and screens.
And there is something called 'iPad insomnia'.
And I'm seeing more and more of it, all the time, actually.
But, many of the computers that we have nowadays,
they also have dimmers on them as well.
And there are apps you can download onto your devices
that actually eliminate the blue light within the screen
which is supposed to be the most detrimental.
Quality of sleep relates to quality of life.
Whether we realize it or not, everything we do in life is a choice.
And the choices that we make today
not only have the ability to improve our quality of life tomorrow
but the choices we make in the long run
can affect our health and, in fact, extend our life.
It was Thomas Edison who once predicted
that doctors of the future will prescribe no medication.
"Instead," he said,
"they will interest their patients in the care of the human frame,"
in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)