Systemic Function vs. Local Function

The Systemic Health approach to health preservation is a wonderful, simple way understand how the body works, and what it needs to be healthy.

The central feature of this approach is gaining an understanding of the Systemic Functions of the body, which are the real foundations of health. There are three of them; Blood Function, Neurological Function, and Vitality Function. They are the system-wide functions that monitor, control, feed, clean and repair all the local cells, tissues and organs, and protect the body from infection.

In conventional health care, there has been far too much emphasis on treating Local Functions instead of correcting Systemic Functions. Our doctors, nutritionists and other health care providers have been trained to focus on localized pain, or failure of individual organs, instead of correcting the system-wide functions that cause local dysfunction in the first place.

Example: Chronic headache is a localized pain. It's in one specific part of the body. We've been taught to take medication to kill the pain. But we usually have that localized pain because there is something wrong throughout the body (systemically). Either our Blood quality or blood circulation is poor, or our Nervous system is impaired, or our Vitality is depleted or stagnent.

Taking something to control the headache pain (local symptom) is important. However, when we improve the health of the Systemic Functions the local symptoms are usually reduced or eliminated, because poor Systemic Function was the cause of the symptoms in the first place.

Conventional health care has proven
that symptomatic treatment alone
does not overcome chronic symptoms.

When we focus on treating local symptoms, other symptoms are usually produced as side affects. We then have to treat the new symptoms. The further this approach is followed, the more complicated it becomes for the physician to understand and the patient to apply.

However, when we improve our Systemic Health, many different kinds of symptoms can be reduced or eliminated. The further this approach is followed, the easier it is for the physician to know what to suggest next, and the easier it is for the patient to apply. There is an old saying in natural therapeutics:

Focusing only on symptoms leads to complexity,
which leads to confusion for the physician and the patient.

But focusing on Systemic Function leads to simplicity,
which leads to clarity for the physician and the patient.

The more we learn about Systemic Functions, the easier it is to regain and preserve our natural health and vitality. On the next page, we'll take a closer look at each of the The Three Systemic Functions.