What is Life Science?

"Life as we know it is possible and became possible because certain favorable conditions are and were present. Some of these conditions include favorable temperature, presence of oxygen and other gases and minerals, presence of water, absence of lethal substances, etc. Life Science is the study of all the conditions which make life possible. Because present-day life seems to be losing touch with those conditions which made life possible, Life Science brings us ´back to our roots,´ so to speak. We should endeavor to meet life’s requisites so that we can lead a joyous existence.
Humans have infinitely more potential for happiness and goodness than nature’s simpler forms of life. We are endowed with immeasurably more sophisticated faculties.
Life Science must be for humans what inborn direction is for animals. We, too, have instincts, but we are far more than these basic impulses of life. Unfortunately, we not only fail to follow our instincts but we often reject them in our living practices. Our instincts have been vitiated and perverted by unwholesome conditioning in a world that is quite berserk by sane standards. When humans act contrary to instincts they are being unscientific. When their practices are in accord with their instincts—with their inherent biological adaptations—they are living scientifically. Life Science is as simple as that.
To capture the essence of the science of healthful living, I feel it appropriate to quote from a most notable hygienist, Dr. Keki Sidwha. He’s been a Hygienic practitioner in Great Britain for almost twenty years.
´In spite of all the great advances in many branches of science, we are still in a period of prehistory, a dark age, in our thinking about health, disease and healing. What the world sorely needs is a new concept of health.
Natural Hygiene, a life science, is that branch of biology which investigates the conditions upon which health depends and the means by which it may be sustained in all its virtue and purity, while we have it, and restored when it has been lost or impaired.
Natural Hygiene refutes the present-day ideas that disease and ill health are inevitable in people’s lives, depending on chance and circumstances outside their own control and domain. Natural Hygiene is a way of life, a philosophy of living, comprising a system of mind-body care in health and in sickness. Health can only be obtained through healthful living; it cannot be bought across the counter of a drugstore, not can it be found in a physician’s office or in a hospital. We contend that healing is a biological process which is continuously going on inside every organism.´
 

Life Science Philosophy, Principles And Practices

1. LIFE SCIENCE holds that life should be meaningful and filled with beauty, goodness and happiness.
2. LIFE SCIENCE holds that humans are inherently good, righteous, and virtuous, and that their exalted character will be realized under ideal life conditions.
3. LIFE SCIENCE holds that superlative well-being is normal to human existence and necessary to the realization of the highest human ideals
4. LIFE SCIENCE holds that supreme human excellence can be realized only in those who embrace those precepts and practices which are productive of well-being.
5. LIFE SCIENCE, which encompasses all that bears upon human well-being, constitutes the only way to realize the highest possible order of human existence.
6. LIFE SCIENCE, alone, is in harmony with nature, in accord with the principles of vital organic existence, correct in science, sound in philosophy and ethics, in agreement with common sense, and successful in practice and a blessing to humankind.
7. LIFE SCIENCE recognizes that the human body is a fully self-sufficient organism, that it is self-directing, self-constructing, self-preserving and self-healing, and that it is capable of maintaining itself in superb functioning order, completely free of disease, if its needs are met.
8. Foremost among these needs are fresh air, pure water, rest and sleep, wholesome foods, cleanliness, comfortable temperature, sunshine, exercise, constructive work, emotional poise, self-mastery, recreation and pleasant environment.
9. LIFE SCIENCE recognizes that humans are constitutionally adapted to a diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds eaten in compatible combinations while in the fresh raw natural state.
10. LIFE SCIENCE recognizes that diseases are caused by improper life practices, especially dietary indiscretions. Illness proceeds from reduced nerve energy and consequent toxemia. Insufficient nerve energy arises from dissipation, stress, overindulgence, excess or deficiency of the normal essentials of life, or pollution of the body with substances not normal to it. Accordingly, recovery from sickness can be achieved only by discontinuing its causes and supplying conditions favorable to healing.
11. LIFE SCIENCE recognizes that a thoroughgoing rest, which Includes fasting, is the most favorable condition under which an ailing body can purify and repair itself.
12. LIFE SCIENCE, which teaches that exalted well-being can be attained and maintained only through biologically correct living practices, is not in any sense a healing art or a curing cult. It regards as mistaken and productive of much grief the idea that diseases can be prevented or overcome by agencies abnormal to our natural being. Consequently, LIFE SCIENCE emphatically rejects all drugs, medications, vaccinations and treatments because they undermine health by interfering with or destroying vital body processes and tissues.

Therefore, LIFE SCIENCE regards the body and mind as the Inviolable sanctuary of an individual’s being. LIFE SCIENCE holds that everyone has an inalienable right to have a pure and uncontaminated body, to be free of abnormal compulsions and restraints, and to be free to meet his/her needs as a responsible member of society."
 

The Hygienic Way of Life by Dr. Shelton

"A truly valid system of mind-body care must be coeval with life. It must have a timeless validity that belongs not to the works of men, but nature itself. It must be os such a character that it meets adequately all needs of the living organism under any condition of life.
It must be the very constitution of things. It cannot grow out of the haphazard researches and discoveries of man, but must be part of his life from the very beginning. It will thus be a system that will not pass away. The fact that the systems that have been of man's devising pass after a brief day of popularity, reveals that they are not valid.
A valid system of Hygiene must meet the elemental demands of living and be based upon the unvarying principles of nature. It must harmonize in all particulars with all we know about life, and not fly in the face of a valid interpretation of mankind's vast experience. 
Our principles must not be myths, legends, assumptions, theories or dogmas, nor a combination of them. They must constitute more than a staunch conviction or a popular belief. 
Because the principles of Hygiene grow out of a wealth of related facts, they have their roots in the daily life and real experiences of man. Because they are true, they will apply with full force to other forms of life, and not to man alone. "
 

Gemma's comments

As it will be explained in further articles, Natural Hygiene’s statement about that we must follow our instincts should not be taken word for word. The human emotional and spiritual aspects are very important in Natural Hygiene as well, which are essential parts to be considered for a complete health.
What ”following our instincts” means in this case is listening to our bodies, finding out what is needed for good health: the type of food, the amount of rest, ideal temperature, physical activity, exposure to the sun, intellectual activity, healthy emotions, spiritual growth, etc.
Unfortunately, when someone is sick, they can not be guided by their instincts, because they are "corrupted and perverted". Consequently, Natural Hygiene proposes some standards in order for them to regain health.
Natural Hygiene suggests a type of diet, physical activity, exposure to the sun, temperature, etc., based on the study of what we naturally need. These are not based on scientific laboratory research, but on studying the simple human anatomy and needs, which can be easily observed and so anyone can deduce and understand.
Natural Hygiene approach is followed by many doctors and therapist around the world. Maybe the pioneers were Pythagoras and Leonardo Da Vinci. But Hygiene, as a formalized philosophy of life, had its beginnings with Dr. Isaac Jennings in 1822. Then, Drs. Graham, Trail, Dewey, Tilden, and Shelton were the main developers of the science of health.
Nowadays we can find Natural Hygiene Organisations such as INHS,, where Dr. Robert Sniadach, Dr. Alan Goldhamer, Dr. Ralph Cinque, Dr. Maya Nicole Baylac and Dr. Paul Goldberg belong; the British Natural Hygiene Society and the National Health Association, with members such as Dr. Alec Burton, Dr. Michael Klaper and Dr. Frank Sabatin among many others.
More detail about the principles will be given in further articles.


Thank you to Rodrigo for letting me know about Natural Hygiene.