THE HEALER WITHIN

For more than a decade, Americans have shown a growing interest in wellness, fostering health from within. Many have stopped smoking, started exercising, and are eating healthy foods. What may have started with campaigns to prevent heart disease and lung cancer has become a change in American attitudes toward health care. While personal intervention enhances quality of life, it also reduces the likelihood of needing high-tech, costly, and invasive treatments. Many want empowerment in their health care, choosing practitioners who listen and care about their feelings. These people prefer patient-centered, low-tech health care, with a conservative approach to drugs and surgery. The emphasis is shifting from curing disease to preventing it in the first place.