Why is the airway so pivotal for our health?

Life is about survival. So if our survival is under threat, we turn to first aid. If you look at basic first aid, the acronym we all know is DRSABCD

Danger, Response, Send for help.

But then before Defibrillation, before the Circulation, before Breathing…is Airway!

The first thing checked on the subject whose survival is at risk is the airway. It follows, that on a daily basis, if our airway structure is compromised and if how we use our airway is dysfunctional then our health is setup for failure.

As one of my mentors, Dr Roger Price, has beautifully articulated life and health,

In life we are only supposed to catch three categories of diseases:

  1. Microbial
  2. Parasitic
  3. Fungal

Everything else that happens to us is a consequence of what we are doing.

 

*I also think we can add in trauma as an unpredictable variable.

When the body is out of balance, compensations develop to help us survive. Over time, though, these compensations become too much and our systems begin to fail.

The body compensates in whatever way possible to ensure our survival. But this chronic compensation results in:

  • Raised inflammation
  • An imbalance of the autonomic nervous system
  • Disruptions to gut health, heart health
  • Hormone imbalance
  • Fertility issues
  • Increased risk of cancer and autoimmune diseases
  • Premature aging

Health begins with the foundations, which actually start from the top. Your head houses:

  • the brain
  • the airway
  • the mouth: the entry into your gut

If anything compromises these structures and functions, this needs to be fixed before we even look below the neck.

Building from these concepts, the  three tenets of my functional health approach is centred on:

  1. What we take in, the food we ingest and the air we breathe, has a big impact on our systems. 
  2. The structure of our body impacts function
  3. Correct function supports structural integrity

If one gets this right then we are setup for a healthy life.

Now comes the really exciting part. What can we do to help?