That Health Rules

Just came back from a fruitful and educational meeting in Seattle where I attended the Annual Convention of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.  I was therefore off my usual schedule in updating my blog.  Attending the AACE meeting also afforded me the chance to say hello to my mentors at Mayo especially this year where more than 8 of the plenary speakers and workshop facilitators were my former mentors at the Mayo Clinic. 

I also make it a point to also explore the place in between serious learning to learn more about the people and the culture  especially Seattle where we heard most from the movie Sleepless in Seattle.

It is indeed true that it rains 70% of the time in this part of the world.  It was almost always cloudy and that there was only 1 day out of 7 that I saw the sun!  In fact the newscaster was saying …” this is your chance to get out and enjoy because were not sure when the sun will come out again”.

The place reminds me of an important and yet unrecognized aspect in treating hospitalized patients. When I see patients in the hospital and if I know that  they will be there for quite sometime, I usually request them a room with a window.  For me light therapy is as important as my medications. It is not easy to be hospitalized and be worried about the illness.  Therefore being able to enjoy and see the light from the sun can be a bonus to early recovery.  This is already known in the world of depression especially during winter wherelight therapy in fact has been shown to be as effective as antipsychotic medications in the treatment of depression.  And experience wise… it almost always works.

The Seattle Experience therefore brought back memories of my days in Rochester Minnesota where winter is at its worst and therefore light is at its minimum.  Beautiful places but nothing beats the SUN in Cebu!

So if you have the chance… enjoy our year round sunlight.  Its one beautiful bonus that we have which we seem to take for granted.  The sun gives us the perk we need to stay alert,and  the Vitamin D we need to help our bones and muscles strong.  Unfortunately…as is true to everything we own… be it a person or a thing…we only start missing the value of a thing or a person when they’re gone!

The Seattle experience made me take a second look at Cebu and value each day that we have the sun! Enjoy the benefits of it … be it for fun or for health!

Beat Depression…Enjoy the SUN!