47 min
E5: What IS Health? - with Peter Sterling Uncomfortably Human with Laurie Alpert
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- Alternative Health
What is health? Such a simple question but perhaps one we don't spend enough time clarifying and certainly not one that has an agreed upon answer. Peter Sterling takes a stab at it by combining his life's work as a neuroscientist with his lifelong commitment to social activism, and makes a convincing argument for a completely different model that questions some of the most basic assumptions currently taught in medical schools. Understanding the evolution of our nervous system over the last 3 billion years, while considering the changes in our lifestyle in the last 200 years, and the undeniable effects of social inequities and injustices on health, Peter argues that the current model of human physiology in medicine not only falls short of promoting health, but also serves to maintain systemic racism in modern medicine. Peter's proposal for a paradigm shift has been falling on deaf ears for most of his career, but now in his 80s, while promoting his new book What is Health: Allostasis and the Evolution of Human Design, he is hopeful that the medical community is finally starting to listen.
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains descriptions of racial violence and discrimination
More about Peter Sterling.
Where to order What is Health?
What is health? Such a simple question but perhaps one we don't spend enough time clarifying and certainly not one that has an agreed upon answer. Peter Sterling takes a stab at it by combining his life's work as a neuroscientist with his lifelong commitment to social activism, and makes a convincing argument for a completely different model that questions some of the most basic assumptions currently taught in medical schools. Understanding the evolution of our nervous system over the last 3 billion years, while considering the changes in our lifestyle in the last 200 years, and the undeniable effects of social inequities and injustices on health, Peter argues that the current model of human physiology in medicine not only falls short of promoting health, but also serves to maintain systemic racism in modern medicine. Peter's proposal for a paradigm shift has been falling on deaf ears for most of his career, but now in his 80s, while promoting his new book What is Health: Allostasis and the Evolution of Human Design, he is hopeful that the medical community is finally starting to listen.
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains descriptions of racial violence and discrimination
More about Peter Sterling.
Where to order What is Health?
47 min