Bermuda Mid Ocean News 1/15/99

Like everyone else, Bermudians need to be reminded of the importance of wellness and how their daily decisions will affect their health, two world renowned Canadian experts said yesterday.

Dr. Martin Collis and Dr. Nancy Wardle visited the Island this week to spread the good word about wellness and stress resiliency. "I did a presentation for the National Diabetes Association in Canada," said Dr. Collis of Victoria, Canada. "There was a Bermuda delegation there and they asked me if I was available to come to Bermuda, and I suggested that Dr. Wardle would add a powerful dimension to the presentations."

Dr. Collis is a well-known speaker, author and entertainer. The themes of his talks and workshops include workplace wellness, diet and lifestyle, the gift of laughter and stress management. Dr. Wardle is one of Canada’s leading mind/body physicians with expertise in stress resiliency and living a wellness lifestyle.

Government nutritionist Betsy Baillie said: "They are here for the Diabetes Association in conjunction with the Health for Success school nutrition programme." The Health for Success programme allows schools who have implemented healthy eating plans to apply for awards.

While on the island Dr. Collis and Dr. Wardle met with local educators, hospital staff and the Bermuda Diabetes Association and yesterday they spoke to the general public at the Number One Theatre on Front Street in Hamilton. The lecture was called "Total Wellness for Personal Growth".

"I don't know if I would necessarily call myself a motivational speaker," said Dr. Collis. "I like to talk about personal wellness and also wellness at work. I am a speaker who tries to inspire people to live at the height of their powers."

Dr. Wardle is a physician who practises mind and body medicine. "I help people prevent illness or live well after an accident," she explained. "It starts with attitude. There is a relationship between mind, body and stress. In order to be well you have to look at what's going on in your life and start to balance the stress."

The two doctors referred to the continuum from "low-level worseness" to "high level wellness". "Low-level worseness would be sickness or death," said Dr. Collis. "It's when you feel out of control of what happens to you. With low-level worseness you think your moods depend on someone else or external things. You feel like a victim who is unable to influence their own moods and feelings."

Dr. Collis' speeches are about how to motivate yourself to take back control of your own health. His insights into personal and professional performance come from his understanding of the human body and mind. He uses his original songs, sense of humour, and unique insights to point the way to wellness.

His weight control book, The Phacts of Life, has been translated into five languages. He has also recorded two albums of original songs. One of his songs includes: "I didn't sleep much last night, Trying to line the words up right, Trying to send you out the door, A little different than you were before. Some words fall like a stone, Some cut like a knife. Some speakers want an hour of our time, I want a piece of the rest of your life."

He went on: "I was trained as a physiologist which means I look at how the human body functions. In the beginning of my career I was doing a lot of fitness work. Then I found that fitness was only a little part of the overall wellness picture. Wellness is a seamless cloth in which exercise, diet , attitude and the ability to laugh and love all inter-relate”. Dr. Wardle says people who don't handle stress well often have more colds and a higher rate of cardiac disease.

"If they have cancer, the rate of cancer growth is also influenced by the way they handle stress." But she said it was not realistic to try to eliminate all the stress in a person's life, people must learn to deal with them. According to Dr. Wardle, women react differently to stress than men. She says men tend to internalise it and develop cardiac disease while women often react by taking care of everyone around them, but not themselves. You need to feel in control of your own life," she said. "It is important to see everything as a challenge and an opportunity rather than as an obstacle."

Dr.’s Collis and Wardle spoke to standing room only crowds at the hospital and the public forum and joined the teachers in a walk/jog on the Railway Trail as a part of a teacher wellness day that included exercise, presentations, readings for blood pressure, blood lipids, blood sugar, not to mention plenty of fun and good food.

Dr. Collis lives in Victoria, British Columbia and Dr. Wardle resides in Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada.