Wellness programs continue to grow in popularity in corporate America. Most employees enjoy the benefits, especially subsidized and attractive facilities like company fitness centers and classes in topics of interest to them. Organizations offer such benefits because employee participation boosts productivity and exerts a braking effect on the ever-rising expenses of medical insurance.

"I think secular Israelis and secular Palestinians might be able to resolve the Middle East crisis. Unfortunately, land for many religious Jews, Muslims and Christians is more important than peace because of God's 'promise.' God shouldn't be in the real estate business, especially since he promised the same territory to different people." Herb Silverman during a visit to the Middle East as part of a College of Charleston-sponsored Hebrew Bible study trip in 1999.

Introduction: High Expectations

"Skepticism is the highest duty and blind faith the one unpardonable sin."
Thomas Henry Huxley, Essays on Controversial Questions (1889)  
 

Recently, the Global Spa Summit (GSS) underwent a name change—to Global Spa & Wellness Summit (GSWS).  At about the same time, the newly named organization distributed a newsletter ("The Weekender") with questions designed as talking points at the upcoming (June 3-6) annual GSWS conference. The theme of this year's event is "innovation through imagination." Eight questions were posed to gather data about "the spa and wellness industry."

On April 16, 2012, Wall Street Journal columnist Laura Landro wrote about "The Simple Idea That Is Transforming Health Care" (Health and Wellness, page R1). What's the "simple idea?" Ms. Landro claims it's a new found focus on quality of life that characterizes some medical practices. Sounds like a good idea. When did this come about, whose idea was it and how extensive is the trend?
 

I'm often asked by students and varied health and other professionals
and just plain folks where to find good quality information about
wellness at the worksite. You might think I'd say something like "read
all my books" or "read my 615 weekly AWR newsletters" or "read my 2000
odd essays in the archives of SeekWellness.com." You might think that,
but you would be mistaken. I am not quite that delusional—and besides,
some might suspect I was less than objective or thinking clearly about

You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses.  Ziggy

A REAL wellness perspective on complaining is a mindset that boosts quality of life while enhancing your well-being. A REAL wellness view of anything fits this standard. REAL wellness is simply a way of thinking and functioning that protects and enhances your sense of exuberant living, personal freedoms, positive relationships and common decency.

In Part One of this series, I reviewed a report of a medical foundation that identified 45 common medical tests or procedures judged by a dozen medical groups to be unnecessary or overutilized. I also summarized the campaign of the Foundation of the American Board of Internal Medicine to persuade doctors and patients to be much more circumspect about recommending/undergoing test procedures. I recommend such precautions, as well. Unlike the Foundation, however, I propose a positive remedy that not only solves a problem but might do good. A lot of good, under the right conditions.

There are more than 7,500 parts in the human body; it sometimes seems there are drugs and tests for every one of them.

The Republican primary is about half over and many candidates who
once seemed competitive with Mitt Romney have been cast aside. Four
(counting Romney) are still in the game, but two of them (Gingrich and
Paul) seem on the ropes, to put it mildly. Only Santorum remains
somewhat viable, thanks to the sizable segment of that party that
clearly favors a theocracy to a secular democracy. Fortunately, he is
still a decided long-shot, even among Republicans. It looks like the