Are You Average or Normal?

There are some who would argue that I personally am neither but that’s beside the point. This question, I hope, will encourage you to consider there’s a distinct difference, regardless of intention, that has become quite blurred if not outright lost in our daily lives.

What is average and what is normal?  Lets take 98.6 for example; most people have come to understand this as the “normal” human body temperature however truth be told, it’s an average.  One of the first attempts to determine an average was done by Dr. Carl Wunderlich in 1861 and impressively enough included recording the core body temperature of one million people.  Since then, his recorded ‘average’ of 37 degrees Celsius has been converted to a ‘normal’ 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.  This conversion does not unfortunately take into account age, sex, metabolism, time of day, activity and many other factors that continually influence the brains regulation of our body’s core temperature.

Subtle as it may seem, converting averages to normal can have profound affects on the way we think and behave with regards to our family’s health.  Average blood pressure, cholesterol levels, hormone levels, nutritional intakes and much more soon become excuses to take medications or supplements that risk life and limb in our vain attempts to be “normal.”  What’s normal for you may not be normal for me or anyone else for that matter.  A better approach, and one I continually take in our office, is to ask why?  Sticking with the example of temperature, why is it higher or lower than average?  If your body is fighting an infection and raising the core body temperature in an attempt to heal, you certainly don’t want to interfere and make restoring health more difficult whereas if the body temperature is high because you’ve been working all day in the heat without keeping hydrated, you would be prudent to drink lots of water before suffering from heat stroke.  

Anytime you see your doctor or consider questions about your health, take the time to ask yourself why?  The answer will open the door to understanding the cause and understanding the cause opens the door to answer what, if anything, do I do to assist my body in expanding physical mental and spiritual well being.