Depression, anxiety, and burnout are the "Black Plague" of our modern
times. These mental wellness problems afflict hundreds of millions of
people around the world and account for hundreds of billions of dollars
in expenditures on antidepressant drugs and related "feel better"
products. Unfortunately, most of these solutions make us feel
"different" but not really "better" - and certainly not the way that we
want to feel with good mood, clear thinking, and abundant energy.
The World Health Organization has identified mental wellness issues
(stress, depression, anxiety) as the leading cause of global health
burden - and for the last century, we've had the mistaken notion that
these problems were "all in our head" - when in reality they were
largely in our gut.
The discovery of the gut-brain-axis and especially the explosion of
research around the microbiome (the 100 trillion bacteria that live in
our gastrointestinal tract) is causing a fundamental shift in how we
think about - and how we improve - mental wellness.
Whole Vigor refers to a completeness of mental wellness and physical
health. It encompasses the entirety of physical energy, mental acuity,
and emotional well-being. Feelings of physical energy and stress
resilience emanate from a balanced Body; Mental acuity, clarity, and
creativity are the hallmarks of a balanced Brain; and Emotional
well-being is a holistic sensation that infuses our entire being when
our gut Biome is balanced. Optimizing the connection across the entire
Body-Brain-Biome is the secret to achieving Whole Vigor and maximizing
mood, motivation, and mental wellness.
