It is best to think about health while we are healthy and do what we can to preserve our health, before getting sick. In this column, we will be sharing with you principles that will help keep you feeling well, and pain free.

We want to approach the subject from the perspective of keeping the body in health, assisting the body to heal itself when sick or injured, and eliminating the cause of the pain, and thus the pain, rather than disguising it.

Health depends:

• Not on chance
• Only partly on heredity
• Not because we are being punished or it is otherwise the will of God (God may allow sickness, but He does not bring it upon us.)

Actually, health largely depends on fixed laws which we can do something about.

The Cellular Level
We live, move, breath, and eat, at the cellular level. Every cell in the body needs oxygen, food, water, toxins carried away, and electrical stimuli from the nervous system. The systems that communicate to and from each cell are the:

• Circulatory System
• Lymph System and
• Nervous System

To be in health, means the health of the individual cells of the body.

The Circulatory System
The circulatory system is composed of the heart, arteries, veins, and capillaries. The blood is pumped through this system of flexible tubing taking life-giving nutrients, oxygen and water to the individual cells, and carrying away waste products such as carbonic acid, lactic acid, uric acid, and worn out and dead cells. These wastes are carried to the liver, colon, lungs, bladder, and skin where they can be eliminated. When this transport system slows down, health is affected. 

If a vessel is completely blocked, preventing oxygen from reaching the cells, the affected cells die within minutes. If a lot of tissue is affected, the result is death or serious injury. In the heart, this causes heart attacks; in the brain, strokes.

The need for unrestricted blood circulation, especially to remove waste products, is illustrated well by sprint runners. As a sprinter runs, his body produces up to ½ lb. of lactic acid per minute, which must be instantly neutralized or the muscles will stop functioning. This is accomplished by a large supply of slightly alkaline blood.

Perfect health depends on perfect circulation
In the words of one author,

“The more active the circulation, the more free from obstructions and impurities will be the blood. The blood nourishes the body. The health of the body depends upon the healthful circulation of the blood.” Healthful Living p. 178