(Image Credit: Kyle Books)

Rooting for a holistic manner of leading life, NHS GP, and lifestyle medicine expert Dr. Ayan Panja, in The Health Fix, proposes a framework which he terms IDEAL, an acronym which when expanded reads, Identify, Define, Engage, Activate and Look Back. Taking a “systems” approach to good health (systems representing and referring to immune, gastrointestinal, endocrine, nervous, cardiovascular and musculoskeletal), Dr. Panja proposes that if our systems are “out of whack, then we may start to experience symptoms. But if we change our behaviours, this can change how our systems work, thereby resolving our symptoms.”

With real life case studies and illustrations, Dr. Panja proceeds to highlight implementable and practical ways of changing our behaviours that would ensure a proper and smooth working of our systems. In order to attain this change, we should according to Dr. Panja pay attention to what he terms to be out “Health Loop.” This Loop is an agglomeration of eight key factors – Exercise, Environment, Sleep, Infections, Diet, Genetics, Stress, and Sunlight. How one fares in each of these factors plays a key determinant in the expeditious working of the systems.

A complete and thorough understanding of the Health Loop would then enable a patient to develop a “Lifestyle Prescription.” As Dr. Panja writes, “A Lifestyle Prescription is simply a set of agreed actions that a patient and practitioner come up with together, but in the case of The Health Fix, you will learn how to generate your own.” The book is divided into three segments.

The Foundations section of the book introduces the reader to various behaviours and the human biology in addition to elucidating on the important aspects of the mental and physical processes. The Aspirations section acquaints the reader with a slew of real-life case studies which is a sample from the eclectic experiences of Dr. Panja as a doctor over a period of three decades. The final section of the book titled The Fixes, lays out strategies, tools and, hacks that the reader employ from an enhanced health perspective.

The Health Fix is a handy guide for healthy living, especially in an era where junk foods, smart phones and sedentary lifestyles have become more the norm than an exception.