“A Fringe Perspective on Whole Person Health” Outline
Hour 0:00 – 1:00
Welcome and Introductions
Welcome and introduction of instructor and course participants.
Overview and outline of the course.
What are we doing here? (Ch 1)
Discussion on how to know if ourselves or our patients are healthy?
Overview of typical methods of ‘health’ analysis.
Understand importance of assessing patients during everyday life.
Who is Fringe? (Ch 2)
Discuss the term ‘fringe’ as it applies to healthcare professionals.
Discuss the value of working together with our patients/clients to understand and personalize their care.
Our Health (Ch 3)
Identify the economic impact of chronic pain on America.
Discuss the opioid crisis in America and lack of care available.
Illustrate the significance of sleep disorders in America and the long term risks associated with them.
Identify the mental illness crisis in America and the importance of natural and safe solutions for treating mental health.
Hour 1:00 – 2:00
Reframing our Problems (Ch 4)
Introduce the concept of pain as a tool for learning.
Understand how chronic or ‘unchecked’ inflammation results in increased pain.
Explain the correlation between balanced circadian rhythms and healthy sleep cycles.
Define allostasis and how an impaired allostatic response affects our physiology.
Understanding Health (Ch 5)
Define “health”and explore the current ways our healthcare system looks at a patient’s ‘health’.
A Brief History of Health in America (Ch 6)
Explore the timeline of healthcare in America and its advancements from 1700 – present.
Identify the impact of the Flexner Report on modern medicine.
Define Seyle’s General Adaptation Syndrome (1936).
Introduce the Biopsychosocial Model (1977).
Discuss complex systems theory and more ‘whole person’ approach to healthcare.
Hour 2:00 – 2:45
Fringe Health Ecosystem (Ch 7)
Discuss the differences between balance and harmony as it pertains to a person’s health.
Explore how health is strictly interconnected with our biological ecosystem.
Illustrate our responsibility for the biosphere we live in and how it relates to our health.
Define the concept of our inner world: our body and mind.
Define the concept of our outer world: our relationship, environment and our beliefs.
Fringe Health Ecosystem – Body (Ch 8)
Discuss the traditional body systems we examine.
Define the Endocannabinoid system (ECS), its relationship to our traditional body systems and its major role as our body’s homeostatic regulator.
Understand ECS receptors, their locations and their functions in our body.
Understand our body’s own endocannabinoids and their functions.
Discuss the ECS and its effect on inflammation, circadian rhythms, and allostasis.
Define how the ECS affects the limbic system, HPA axis, and the hormonal system.
Explore the effects of impaired allostasis on our overall health.
Define Clinical Endocannabinoid Deficiency.
Hour 2:45 – 4:30
Fringe Health Ecosystem – Mind (Ch 9)
Discuss the impact emotions have on learning, attention, focus, and memories.
Define dopamine and its effect on happiness.
Understand hedonia vs. eudaimonia.
Define the task positive network (TPN) and default mode network (DMN) and it’s role in anxiety, stress, and depression.
Explore the impact that the mind has on pain, stress, and sleep.
Understand how being deficient in sleep can affect our emotional responses.
Fringe Health Ecosystem – Space (Ch 10)
Discuss social baseline theory.
Define oxytocin – the social molecule.
Discuss the importance of movement and exercise in group settings.
Discuss family, marriage, and communities impact on health and how essential community is to our overall well-being.
Explore war, politics, and cultural impacts on our health.
Explore nature’s positive impact on health vs. negative impacts from modern culture.
Define the subconscious stimulus response pathway.
Discuss Western vs. Eastern medicine.
Discuss loneliness and its effect on cancer, heart disease, and respiratory problems.
Summarize scientific literature review on relationships/environment and health.
Hour 4:00 – 4:30
Fringe Health Ecosystem – Belief (Ch 11)
Discuss consciousness as mankind’s greatest achievement.
Explore ‘awe’ as a concept of straddling science and uncertainty.
Discuss the impact of religion/belief on mortality.
Explore faith and its impact on healing.
Summarize scientific literature review on belief and health.
Fringe Ecosystem in Real Life (Ch 12)
Explore the Fringe Ecosystem as a model for understanding the pillars of our health –
Body, mind, space, and belief.
Fringe State (Ch 13)
Compare the difference between proprioception vs. interoception
Explore ways to boost emotional intelligence
Discuss mindfulness and its positive effect on immune health, cortisol levels, inflammation, and blood pressure.
Define fringe factors as common sense medicine for improving our overall health. Ie.
Breathing, movement, touch, plants, sleep, laughter, community.