Srivarsha Rayasam
When we think of medicine, we often think of extensive surgeries, medication, and working with a physician when we’re sick; essentially, we perceive medicine as something that is used to treat us when we are ill, rather than looking to better ourselves through preventative measures.
An advocate for lifestyle and mind-body approaches to health and healing is Dr. Anoop Kumar, the CEO of Health Revolution. He started this company while working as an ER doctor, and his main philosophy is based on “four engines”: Nutrition, Movement, Connection, and Rest. Through these four engines, Dr. Kumar believes that people’s lives would be a whole lot better as they place emphasis on personal health being in one’s own hands, as opposed to in a doctor’s hands. The idea is that healthcare should be revolutionized so that people are empowered to take care of themselves consistently.
How did he come up with these four engines? Dr. Kumar derived these principles from his own research and experience from people who have healed from chronic diseases and applied them as he went through significant changes in his life, including medical school and other personal changes. After applying them to his life and observing the healthcare system for decades, he was able to found the Health Revolution with a strong foundation and vision to help better the lives of people through simple yet profound measures.
The company Health Revolution not only focuses on helping people with chronic illnesses, but also guides people who are simply looking to better their lives in small ways and “change the way they experience life.” This is done through eating healthy, being active, connecting with others in a meaningful way, and giving our bodies adequate rest. With this lifestyle, Dr. Kumar believes that humans will be more capable of protecting themselves against disease and living in a more mindful way.
According to Dr. Kumar, the medical system is currently centered around a biomedical aspect: fixing patients when something is wrong, as opposed to leading a healthy lifestyle and taking preventative measures. The fundamental convention of healthcare, however, is the four engines. From the beginning of time, the four engines were how people lived and prospered, and complementary medicine (pills, surgeries, etc) were added on as needed. Currently, modern medicine is focused on this idea that complementary medicine is conventional medicine, which is misleading to society.
Medicine should be in our own hands and away from strong pills or long surgeries for the most part; if people are eating properly, exercising frequently, connecting with themselves and those around them in a healthy way, and sleeping/resting enough, then there would not be as much dependency on complementary (biomedical) medicine. In that sense, Dr. Kumar believes that the recent increase in health coaches, nutritionists, and yoga professionals is a positive sign: people are taking their health into their own hands and emphasizing the four engines in their life. But what about the pandemic? Wasn’t it eventually treated with vaccines, which is biomedical? When I asked Dr. Kumar about the pandemic, he explained that if it were up to him, he would have put more effort on educating people about the four engines for this simple reason: COVID significantly affected people who already had pre-existing conditions, and if people could develop practices to treat those pre existing conditions, they would have been better off during the pandemic. Although this claim may be disputable and debated without end, it was published by the CDC that people with pre-existing health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, physical inactivity, and many other diseases were more likely to be affected by COVID than healthy individuals. If those people could improve their conditions along with following basic protocols, the pandemic could have been significantly less detrimental. If society was more focused on medicine through the four engines, this would not only prevent infection by COVID-19, but also many other diseases and conditions.
As we progress as a society, it is important that everyone is aware of how to take care of themselves, especially in light of the pandemic; if everyone emphasized taking care of their health everyday as opposed to treating when one is afflicted by disease, people would be healthier overall and better prepared to take on any disease.
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