Measured Results

“That which gets measured gets managed” - Peter Drucker.

It is integral to any discipline that in order to excel and progress one repeatedly measures the parameters most critical for excellence and strives to improve them. We measure and monitor most indices of our financial success, we monitor the performance of our favorite athletes and sports teams, and we even monitor the performance of our cars. However, what happened to monitoring our health?

Health is our most precious resource. HEALTH IS WEALTH. Yet we leave health up to chance or fate, rather than work to optimize it. We regard our bodies as another appliance that we drive into the ground until it breaks; then, simply replace or repair it. Unfortunately, we can do neither with our own bodies. Our only hope is to prevent our body from becoming diseased or as some call it, “breaking down”. Yes, by measuring and monitoring our body’s performance (weight, blood pressure, heart rate, blood glucose, urine pH, panel 20 laboratories, etc.) we can optimize its performance through proper development and maintenance and prevent illness from occurring.

As Paul Chek says, “If you are not assessing, you are guessing.”

Today, self-monitoring of our body’s performance is inexpensive and easy. Improvement of health indices that you test to be suboptimal can be usually be accomplished if discovered early and can usually be done by yourself with the proper education or through consultation with a properly trained health professional.

Why do we “tempt fate” when we can empower ourselves to chart and direct the course of our journey?

Darrell L. Tanelian, M.D., Ph.D.