The new sight, smell and touch of an infant tell a complete story of man. This realization took place among employees of the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) as they performed with Dr. Jaime Z. Galvez Tan, the ten basic steps of physical exercise which he advocated in his lecture, “Healthy Workforce, Healthy Workplace: Secrets to a Healthy Long Life.” The Employees learned that spontaneous natural movements of the infants such as yawning, laughing, wiggling and stretching of toes, and the closing and opening of their hands (to the tune of “Close, Open, Close, Open”) are a rich source of basic physical exercises that tired or stressed out employees can do on their own, amidst the monotony of office life, or a chaotic and stressful office workload.
Dr. Jaime Z. Galvez Tan was the resource speaker during the first day of the SET CY2013 Annual Planning Workshop held on November 20, 2013. Drawing from his solid grassroots community work in far flung doctor-less rural areas, national and international health planning and programming experience as faculty of colleges of medicine and health sciences clinical practice combining North American medicine and Asian and Filipino traditional medicine, national health policy development, field operations manager and private sector health business development, Dr. Galvez Tan unselfishly shared his 12 Steps toward Health, Wellness and Well-Being:
Step 1. Think Positive, Feel Positive, Act Positive
Step 2. Six Dimensions of Health, Wellness and Well-Being
Step 3. Evidence-based Diet for Health and Wellness
Step 4. Evidence-based Physical Activity and Exercise
Step 5. Sleep Medicine
Step 6. Evidence-based Healthy Friendships and Relationships
Step 7. Evidence-based Environmental Health
Step 8. Evidence-based Leisure, Laughter and Sex
Step 9. Evidence-based Stillness
Step 10. Evidence-based Social Medicine
Step 11. Evidence-based Body Well-being
Step 12. Evidence-based Fasting
Dr. Galvez Tan put emphasis on the dynamics and uses of fruits, vegetables, herbs, alkali water and medicinal plants that are naturally Filipino and readily available. He gave dos and don’ts in a given healthy diet that is fit for, affordable and accessible to every Filipino. He also demonstrated the beneficial effects of a good night sleep in total darkness and occasional fasting.
“Our health, Our Life,” (1982), a guide for community health workers, and “Fruits and Vegetables with Medicinal Properties” (1981) are two books that Dr Galvez Tan has co-authored.