Being “well” to some doctors and being “well” to patients is not always the same thing. Doctors often focus on relieving suffering from illness, while patients just want to feel like they did when they were 25. They want their vitality back.

Being well shouldn’t simply be about having less symptoms. A natural state of physical, emotional and spiritual vibrancy should be the goal of those who want to achieve a true sense of wellness.

In basketball, you don’t want to just hit the rim, you want to make the shot. To me, wellness is only hitting the rim; vibrance is making the shot more often than not, and THAT is where you want to be – at your very best most (if not all) of the time.

We are all born as natural superstars, but unfortunately many factors such as stress, poor training habits, and often factors that we are not trained to recognize result in less than maximum performance. So, we take lots of shots and settle for hitting the rim. Many times we even forget that making the basket is the goal!

Following are a few priorities I emphasize with my patients to help them achieve top performance in their daily lives. It is important to realize the immensely powerful, innate health-restoring systems nature has provided all of us.

Step 1: Maintaining a healthy weight. This is the leading barrier for many in regaining their vitality; however, it can be accomplished more easily than many believe possible through good nutritional choices and naturally re-establishing optimal hormone levels, which is essential for personal vibrancy.

Step 2: Balancing hormones. The decline in our hormones (estrogens, progesterone and testosterone) largely contributes to what we call “aging.” Thyroid deficiencies also frequently go undetected by traditional testing methods, and growth hormone supplementation (when done correctly) can be very helpful to those who are truly deficient.

Step 3: Nutrient sufficiency. Although we should strive to fulfill our vitamin and mineral needs through our food, it is often difficult to do so in our busy lives. Fortunately, we now have intravenous or intramuscular vitamin therapies that can be a great boost for a person’s energy and immune system. These therapies can safely help minimize a host of chronic health conditions; they should always be recommended and supervised by an experienced medical doctor.

I believe that the single most exciting and promising technology that has developed and matured over the last decade is stem cell therapy. New forms of stem cell therapy are now available that are as widely effective as embryonic stem cells without the risks, and without the pain of bone marrow or adipose derived stem cell collection. Stem cell therapy has been found to be very helpful for a wide variety of health challenges including lupus, heart attack or stroke recovery, Parkinson’s, ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis (many patients are able to avoid joint replacement through this therapy), degenerative disc disease, Addison’s, and many other chronic, previously untreatable conditions.

Today we have more tools and more knowledge than ever before to assist in achieving personal vibrance. The goal is not only to attempt every shot you take, but to never again settle for just hitting that rim.

Dr. Clair is the medical director of Vibrance Medical Group, and Vibrance Health Centers with offices in West Lake Village and now 41612 Indian Trail, Suite 1A, Rancho Mirage. For more information visit www.beVibrance.com or call (760) 324.4872.