What is Health?

Health is our most important asset. It impacts our jobs, our relationships, and even our ability to enjoy life itself. Unlike a retirement account or a home, health is an asset that often falls to the wayside, supplanted by the obligations of daily life. However, our health—our inherent ability to contribute to the world and to our families—is directly tied to our ability to maintain a healthy body and mind. A life with poor health may be marked by disability, chronic pain, and a reduced ability to provide for our families.

 

Poor health, at its core level, is an inability for an individual to positively engage the world around them. This could be a situation that lasts for a few months in the event of a broken leg or other recoverable injury. However, it can also impact people on a more fundamental level, with life-altering diseases like cancer or heart failure. While broken bones and sprained ankles can heal over time, diseases that impact the core of who we are can leave lasting scars that impact us for the rest of our lives.

 

In many cases, health issues caused by accidents, trauma or infectious disease only impact individuals for a short time. Despite some exceptions, these health issues are usually transient. While they can have a significant impact on an individual’s quality of life for a short time, most individuals recover from these health issues.

 

The diseases that cause substantial, long-lasting quality of life issues often don’t originate from the outside world. They usually aren’t caused by trauma from a car accident, an infectious disease or other injury. Instead, they’re caused by avoidable failures in the physiological machinery that comprise our body. These failures that occur over the course of months or years are known as chronic disease.

 

The SCOTT Protocol is a personalized adaptation of High Reliability Science, a set of tools developed the the aviation industry to reduce risk of critical failures.