Being Healthy - Blue Dot Health

There's an analogy that's been used for ages in teaching institutions all over the world, called the 'boiled frog'. Simply put, if you drop a frog into a pan of boiling water it will jump right out again, but if you drop the frog into lukewarm water and gradually bring it to the boil... frog soup. As a culinary experience I'm sure this leaves a lot to be desired, but as a teaching tool the message is pretty useful. Big changes don't happen right away - they tend to happen over time, in such tiny increments that you barely even notice.

What on earth has this go to do with health and wellbeing? Well, the fact of the matter is that few health issues occur spontaneously and even fewer disappear that way. Similarly, any health objectives you may have - be it to lose weight, run a marathon, or even just to improve your golf game - are rarely an overnight success. You didn't suddenly wake up one morning to find you'd piled on 20kg in your sleep, and you're not going to wake up tomorrow to find your diabetes is suddenly in check. Like our amphibious friend above, monitoring important incremental changes can mean the difference between taking a nice warm bath and becoming somebody's lunch.

Reading the papers, it's clear that obesity is becoming a big problem (no pun intended). All over the world, billions of dollars are spent each year on fitness equipment, gym memberships, drugs, supplements, diets and dieticians, and surgeries. It's big business and rightfully so. Obesity has a huge impact on the longevity and quality of life of millions of people, but for many it's a lifelong struggle. I'd like to take a minute to introduce you to a revolutionary piece of fitness equipment. It's not exactly new, but when used properly and in conjunction with a healthy diet and exercise will drastically improve results for anyone trying to get in shape. An ab machine? A home gym? A miracle pill?

A notebook. A plain, stable-bound notebook found for a couple of dollars at any stationery store. Go get one, and place it on top of your dresser with a pen on top. Now do this...

Before you go to bed tonight, write down everything you had to eat today. When you wake up in the morning, pop yourself on he scales and write down how much you weigh. When you get home in the evening, write down one thing you did during the day that you would consider to be exercise. Do this every day for a month, and be honest - nobody's ever going to read this except you.

At the end of the month, assuming you've done exactly as I asked, I guarantee you will have noticed some remarkable changes in your fitness and probably lost a couple of kilos. Why? Because the simple act of monitoring changes in your body and they way you treat it helps to improve the quality of your decision making - whether you realise it or not. There's only so long you can go writing 'none' in the exercise column and 'KFC' in the dinner column when your weight is increasing every day. Conversely, watching your weight fall as your diet and exercise improve brings about a virtuous cycle where progress drives progress drives still more progress.

It's not rocket science, and it doesn't just apply to weight loss. Asthma getting you down? Cholesterol too high? In training for a marathon? All you need to do is set a goal, and record the steps you take each day to achieve it. If you are actually committed to achieving it, then this simple act of measurement will help you to get there.

This idea of accepting day-to-day responsibility for one's health issues and objectives is at the very heart of this thing we call Health 2.0. On its own it can lead to dramatic improvements without the risk, expense and heartache of treatment options that alleviate a variety of symptoms but fail to address the root cause: at the end of the day, you are the only one who can make you healthy.

Once you get the hang of this essential concept, there is a lot more you can do to really run with it. For example, the Blue Dot Health website allows you to manage all of your health measurements online, and automatically shows you how you're performing towards your goals via a personal health dashboard. You can share your experiences, trials and achievements with other members, gaining support and helpful advice from people in the same boat as you. And you can also search an immense library of professional health resources for the latest developments in your area of interest.

By themselves, self management, community support, and access to information are powerful allies in the quest for good health. Brought together, they constitute an entirely new approach to healthcare in which well-informed, empowered people can and do call the shots when it comes to their own and their loved ones' health. This is a huge departure from the 'leave it to the professionals' health system we all grew up in, but it's hard to defy the logic and impossible to ignore the results. So go on, hop into the driver's seat and get your health back on track. Or would you rather hop back into the pot for some frog soup?

Please visit our Blue Dot Health website.

Also read "Taking the bull by the horns" from Blue Dot Health.

Article by Stu Parker. Stu Parker is Blue Dot Health's digital marketing dude and chief contributor to the Health 2.0 blog. He has a Master's degree in Systems Dynamics and 8 years' consulting experience to leading names in the automotive, airline, technology, FMCG and health sectors. He is a prolific blogger and shameless technology evangelist, whose limited offline hours are shared by two beautiful Labradors, an annoying cat and a very understanding fiancée.

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