“The doctor of the future will give no medication, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.” This famous quote of inventor and businessman Thomas Edison may strike us as prescient given the explosion of information about the lifestyle factors of disease. In truth, preventive medicine was practiced in antiquity. The ancient Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans all had what we would call preventive medicine.
Virtually every ancient civilization possessed early herbal medical knowledge and applied techniques to enhance and sustain health. Much of this knowledge has been lost, although there are some researchers who seek recover what has been forgotten.
In the meantime, we can learn from our nearer ancestors, from cultures that still practice traditional medicine, or by rediscovering the power of nature.
Germany is one of those nations that has managed to keep some traditional health knowledge and connected practices alive, including the work of polymath Hildegard von Bingen, a Catholic saint and doctor of the church who is also considered the founder of natural history in Germany.
She wrote her work “Physica” under Greco-Roman influence in 1150–1158. Her writings include more than an encyclopedia of the natural world; the separately scripted “Causes and Cures” provides an extended meditation on the human body’s connections to the natural world, causes and cures for disease, and insights humans can draw from God’s creation.
The face and name of this doctor are now well-marketed on countless health products available for self-care. Germans still profit from the legacies of their forebears and attend to their own physical and mental health on a frequent basis. A look overseas could prove valuable to Americans’ health and wallets.
Homeopathy, phytotherapy, and anthroposophy are acknowledged and approved ways of healing in Germany. The German Parliament revised its alternative health care laws with the Pharmaceutical Rights Bill in 1976. A pharmacist may dispense and sell alternative medicine, which is widely used. The Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices, Germany’s equivalent to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), regulates these drugs. As of 2023, this agency has approved 1127 homeopathic drugs, 916 phytopharmaceuticals (plant-derived medicines), and 989 anthroposophics as special therapies and traditional remedies.
A study published in BMC Health Services Research found that “herbal medicine usage plays an essential role in the German health-care system.” Based on the premise of pluralism in pharmacotherapy, the German Medicines Act explicitly postulates that the characteristics of the “particular therapeutic systems” are to be respected.
As a comparison, the FDA hasn’t approved any homeopathic drugs. On the contrary, the U.S. agency warns patients about this alternative approach to medicine and of the potential for significant patient harm. This is despite international studies supporting the cost savings of homeopathy treatments compared with pharmacological therapy.
For instance, a comparative study published in the journal Homeopathy in 2009 found that “costs for patients affected by chronic asthma showed a reduction in expenses of 71.1 percent for specific medicines” and that “for other respiratory illnesses the cost cutback was up to 49.8 percent” during research conducted in Italy. In France, a larger-scale study published in Health Economics Review in 2015 found savings of 20 percent when using homeopathic general medicine, which included the cost of consultations and prescriptions.
The U.S. Army’s Research Institute for Environmental Medicine funds a Thermal and Mountain Medicine Division. In part, its purpose is to research the enhancement and sustainability of warfighter performance. This approach isn’t new. Romans sent their wounded soldiers and fatigued legionaries to their Roman Thermae to treat their wounds and tired muscles through natural spring water. In A.D. 400, Romans operated 11 public bathhouses and 850 additional private baths just within city limits.
Germans keep this healthy tradition of balneotherapy alive. The country has more than 240 of these therapeutic mineral pools.
The Federal Office for Radiation Protection lists several therapeutic values of radon therapy. There are multiple applications of this therapy, such as big therapeutic radon caves and salt mines. The most popular and widely accessible form, though, is public bathhouses; there are thermal baths with natural brine and radon. Radon is by far the largest natural source of background radiation that people are exposed to, notes a research review published in the International Journal of Molecular Science. The study notes the risk associated with too much radon exposure and studies revealing its therapeutic potential.
A study published in The Polish Otolaryngology found that the therapy had notable benefits. “Radon-enriched inhalation therapy improves objective indicators of nasal function in allergic rhinitis and chronic rhinosinusitis, and causes relief of pulmonary obstruction in asthma,” it stated. Radon baths treat rheumatic conditions and respiratory diseases. Thermal water includes high levels of mineral nutrients, such as magnesium, calcium, sulfate, iodine, and carbon dioxide. Visitors are often allowed to drink the spring waters and enjoy their many health benefits, including stress relief, strengthening of the immune system, and support of the musculoskeletal system.
These benefits are noted in a study at the National Library of Medicine’s National Center for Biotechnology Information. Nevertheless, the NIH features a warning about this ancient therapeutic tradition: “Despite the demonstrated clinical and symptomatic benefits of these therapies, their role in modern medicine is still controversial, mainly because the biological mechanisms underlying these benefits have not yet been completely elucidated.”
Iodine brine can have an anti-inflammatory effect on the skin and may clear the airways and reduces cortisol levels. Health care professionals consider it a useful intervention for stress management, according to a study published in International Society of Biometeorology.
Germans can claim another luminary of the nature cure movement as their own: a priest named Sebastian Kneipp (1821–1897). Many see him as a vital link to American naturopathy. He promoted a holistic approach to health and preached about balanced nutrition, physical exercise, and regulative therapy. The treatment he is most famous for is hydrotherapy, which uses various temperatures and pressures of water to stimulate blood circulation and treat disease.
A systematic review published in 2020 in Complementary Medicine Research analyzed 14 separately controlled studies and concluded that the healing through water as prescribed by Kneipp was successful in 64 percent of cases in chronic venous insufficiency, hypertonia, insomnia, menopausal discomfort, and minor cases of heart failure.
Furthermore, an additional 11 uncontrolled studies linked hydrotherapy to improvements in allergic symptoms, dyspepsia, quality of life, heart rate variability, infections, hypertension, pain, rheumatoid arthritis, and polyneuropathic symptoms. Today, nature lovers can find hydrotherapeutic arm baths and wading pools all over Germany. Towns build these spa-like islands within their parks and along hiking trails. They are free for anyone who is willing to roll up their sleeves or pant legs to experience the refreshing ice-cold water.
Germans are encouraged to walk, especially in the forests, which are mostly privately owned but accessible to the public by law. Frequently, there will be exercise stations and signs posted to encourage people to keep moving and breathing while enjoying the outdoors. Nature bathing, or what the Japanese call forest bathing, lowers cortisol levels, benefits the musculoskeletal system, improves immunity, and alleviates asthma and other respiratory illnesses. Many studies describe the positive effects of forest therapy on the human psyche, nervous system, immune system, and respiratory tract. The entire human organism strengthens, which helps prevent disease. Any problem solved by a conscious walk in the forest doesn’t have to be solved by paying into the health care system. This line of research is increasingly attracting attention, and there are studies of several different aspects of nature exposure and its links to preventing disease and accelerating healing.
I grew up in Germany. When I had a sore throat, aching ears, a cough, or tight muscles, my mother would cook potatoes, smash them, envelop them in a kitchen towel, and wrap them around the affected area. I sat for hours on end to let the warmth soothe the pain. When I ate too much, my mom gave me Swedish bitters to combat indigestion, and when I felt bloated, I received fennel tea, even as a baby for colic.
The weirdest practice, according to my husband, is my mother’s cautioning me and our daughters never to sit on a cold surface, to prevent infection of the bladder or kidneys. After more than 22 years of marriage, he not only accepts my strange, traditionally German approaches to health, but appreciates the advantages of this foreign outlook on health.
The antidotes to many ailments are very inexpensive and readily available. Most are preventive and keep our bodies and immune systems strong to avert malaise and disease. So why should Americans open up to unfamiliar preventive approaches to their health? For both physical and financial reasons.
U.S. health care is good. In fact, U.S. health care is the best when it comes to response and research, which puts the country at the top of a ranking of the healthiest countries in the world. However, the United States is also the top health care spender. With a whopping $10,921 of annual health care expenditure per person, it again is in first place in a global comparison.
Based on these lead rankings, having the finest doctors and creating preeminent scientific research, one must think that we have the healthiest populace on the planet. Far from it. The Bloomberg Global Health Index ranks the United States at 34th place behind countries such as Cuba, Slovenia, and Cameroon. The average life expectancy for men and women looks even more dire. We trail far behind other nations and place 46th in a worldwide comparison. Traditional approaches to health often start with a preventive aspect and focus on the kinds of lifestyles that encourage health, including practices such as walking, eating healthful foods, and simply relaxing. Science and technology may have insights to offer, but so do millennia of lived human experience.
Any opinions, views and beliefs represented in this article are personal and belong solely to the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the opinion, views and beliefs of the organisation and employees of New Image™ International
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