The best doctor lives inside you

What if we told you the best doctor lives inside you? This is one of the pieces of wisdom offered up by one of our panellists at last Sunday’s inaugural Longevity Panel.

The sold out event featured an insightful discussion between Bianca Markovic, a clinical Naturopath with lived experience of working in the bluezones of Italy and Greece, Anabelle Boehm, an acupuncturist who spoke to the fascinating philosophy underpinning Chinese Medicine, and Dr Antonio Fotopoulos, a Chiropractor with over 34 years of experience. 

With traditions as rich and diverse as Naturopathy, Acupuncture, and Chiropractic to draw upon, the conversation was broad and deeply thought-provoking. 

It was interesting to learn that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) prioritises foods that are warming and moistening, which keeps our body within its optimal conditions to thrive. In TCM, the focus is on maintaining the intricate balance between our body’s Yin and Yang energy, as this shifts throughout the days and seasons of our lives.

All three panellists also spoke to the importance of minimising the burden of chronic stress on our nervous system. There has arguably never been a time when our bodies have been so continuously flooded with cortisol.

From a Chiropractic perspective, Adoni raised some interesting points on the importance of varying movement and posture, and practicing walking on unstable surfaces & inclines. We are so accustomed to walking on flat surfaces in our homes, workplaces and out in the world that the body is not sufficiently challenged with incline or instability, when in fact it is these very encounters which can create more resilience and adaptability in our bodies. In our modern society, we lie down, we sit, and stand up, that's largely it. 

One of the main themes that emerged across each discipline was the importance of community, love and connection in providing positive neurotransmitters well into older age. Love is an antioxidant. Anyone who is a centenarian right now has not been bio-hacking. Bianca relayed a beautiful tale of a villager in a bluezone who spoke to the reasons underlying the region’s longevity. The elderly villager dismissed diet, lifestyle and daily movement in their hilly region as the main contributing factors, admitting they were important, but not the main reason. The main reason was because they always kept a spare seat at their table in the hope that a stranger would join them, and they would learn from them. In isolation we see disease. In community we see healing.

It is in this spirit of learning and sharing that we sincerely hope that we can run more events like this in future. Events which are focused on bringing community together, engaging in conversation and sharing knowledge on topics that matter to all of us. 

Keep an eye out in store for the posters on more great events like this that we hold in our event space, right here in Mile End, Adelaide.