Community - The Foundation of Health
saw abnormally low levels of cardiovascular disease compared to the rest of the country. This sparked the interest of the vacationing physician and they began a broad study to fi nd out why. Was it the water? Was it the food? Was it the clean air of the
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Poconos? Was it because most didn’t smoke or drink? All of these factors were scrutinized revealing that Roseto contained mostly Italian immigrants who cooked with lard as opposed to olive oil, cooked with the same fl our and ingredients that other Americans used, drank water from local wells shared by neighboring commu- nities, and had some members who smoked and consumed alco- hol. After attempting to control for all of these factors it was obvious that more was needed to reveal the answer. As they continued to observe they realized that this commu-
nity was very tightly knit. Having the same Italian heritage, gave the community a commonality. There were often three generations living under one roof, all sharing responsibilities, all helping one another. This habit of supporting and helping continued outside of their personal households and onto the streets working with one an- other and sharing responsibilities such as some growing vegetables and others raising livestock. If a neighbor was in need there was always a helping hand whether it came to fi nding work or just an ear to listen. Families gathered together on their porches and talked and every Sunday worshiped at the local church. The physicians concluded that this type of social intercon-
nectedness - the willingness to help and support each other and a belief in a higher power - was the reason this small town had abnormally low levels of heart disease. Community engendered
round 1950 in the small town of Roseto, PA, two physi- cians struck up a conversation about the incidence of heart disease in the area. The local physician indicated that he
the security of belonging and the supportive behaviors of a good neighbor. Over the decades as they followed the community, Roseto
eventually reached the national norms for incidence of cardiovas- cular disease. Although slow, this progression was attributed to families breaking up due to death and/or children moving out, a decrease in the amount of people attending church, and a decrease in socialization with new, non-immigrant neighbors. Although this was not the perfect experiment, it was one that begins to open our eyes to how a sense of community, inter-con- nectedness, self worth and a belief in a higher power are important in order to experience optimal health.
Watch Principle Another way to look at the importance of interconnectedness
is through the Watch Principle. If you open up the back of a pocket watch you see many gears, some small, some large, some delicate and some strong. The gears are all interconnected - when one moves, they all move - each performing a role in keeping accurate time. If you were to remove or break any of the gears, it would af- fect all the gears and thus disable the watch. Our body’s systems (eg. cardiovascular, nervous, immune, gas- trointestinal, etc) communicate their interconnectedness similarly through the release and reception of chemicals such as hormones, cytokines, and neurotransmitters. If one system is negatively af- fected by lifestyle, including how we think, feel, act and move then an alteration occurs in our body’s chemicals, and has a direct infl u- ence on our ability to express health.
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