Life always gives us new experiences and that is how the second chapter of the meeting on Wellness and Health organized by LA NACION began. Belén Ortega, creator of Beauty Circuit, was in charge of relaxing the audience with a sound bath, which she created with a battery of oriental bowls.
At the opening of the activity, José Del Rio, secretary general of the Editorial Office of LA NACION, addressed the issue of the keys to enjoying the good side of life, in a dialogue with Lorice Scalise, general manager of Roche Pharma Argentina and member of the directory of the Argentine Chamber of Medicinal Specialties (Caeme).
“In the pharmaceutical industry, talking regarding innovation is talking regarding hope,” said the Brazilian director. And she stated that life expectancy grows with innovation. Clinical research has increased 17% in recent years and in 2021 generated more than $20 billion in foreign currency for the country, in addition to 3,200 jobs. “Wellness and health are directly connected to innovation. The key is to innovate in the way we live, understand life and interact”, said Scalise.
The CEO of Novo Nordisk, Carlos Otheguy, also referred to the importance of innovation and development: “Almost 13% of our sales are reinvested in these areas.” And he clarified that they have 14 centers dedicated to innovation in the world and that Argentina is the Latin American country with the highest investment in clinical studies, with ten that are currently underway.
Along these lines, Juan Garibaldi, CEO and senior vice president of the firm Danone Cono Sur, highlighted: “In our country we have one of the largest research and development centers in Latin America and, together with Conicet, we develop specific strains with probiotics that They will contribute to respiratory and gastrointestinal health.”
Otheguy and Garibaldi were part of a panel moderated by Carla Quiroga, a journalist from LA NACION, in which Gastón Domingues Caetano, vice president and general manager of GSK Argentina and Uruguay, participated, stressing that innovation has always been part of the company’s century of history in Argentina, and said that today it is booming. “We intend to continue improving; outside, the question is how to increase demand, and inside, how to work better, ”he said.
The industry leaders agreed on the importance of caring for the environment, on the social responsibility of their companies and on the importance of preventive medicine for people’s health. “An early diagnosis implies a 70% probability of survival at five years, and a late one, 58%. The impact is very strong, we are talking regarding lives in the middle”, said Leandro Zuza, associate director of the Integrated Solutions Business Unit of Becton Dickinson Cono Sur, who affirmed that the technology for early diagnosis today allows us to discern between diseased cells or healthy in a matter of hours.
Technological challenges in the era of telemedicine
The pandemic raised a before and following in technology and health issues, especially with the rise of telemedicine. Participating in a panel moderated by Ignacio Federico, a journalist from LA NACION, Mariano Allende Iriarte, deputy medical manager of the OSDE Emergency Department, said that organization has carried out 933,000 virtual consultations, with a projection of exceeding one million by the end of the year. “More than 97% have a very high satisfaction rate,” he added.
In the same panel, Pablo Santos, Philips South Region Health IT Business Leader, explained that the main objective of his company is focused on health technology and medical IT. As far as telemedicine is concerned, they are working to expand access to health, especially in Latin America, where 30% of the population cannot access quality medical care. “In that sense, we try to democratize the arrival to health in order to speed up diagnoses with technology, regardless of where the patient or the professional is”, he analyzed.
The electronic prescription was another of the great advances of recent years. “It was a radical change: paper is not used, access is 7×24 and we have the consensus of the pharmacies to make the process easier for the member. Clearly, it is a benefit from the environmental, social and economic point of view”, reveals Allende Iriarte.
Faced with this scenario, new roles appear in organizations and citizens take on an even more active role. It is that, according to Yamila Zakhem, director of Innovation and Digital Transformation of Microsoft Argentina, everything revolves around innovation and adaptation to new tools. The executive mentioned the use of power apps as allies: a data platform that provides an agile application development environment, in which those who are not developers, but have a specific need, can build their application and share it with other users.
And when it comes to this transition, sustainability and efficiency are not far behind. “Logistics occupies a leading role with respect to health; is in charge of making sure that the medicines produced through a rigorous system reach the patient as quickly as possible and in the best conditions”, said Lucas Capuano, commercial director of the Health and Cosmetics segment at the Andreani Logistics Group.
Keys to think regarding the future of wellness
“Argentina has Messi, Maradona and Fangio when it comes to medicine. This country has a record for Nobel Prize winners with topics related to medicine and life sciences”, reflected the journalist and economist Sebastián Campanario.
A faithful believer that wellness is the future, he highlighted the importance of the wellness industry in the world, valued at trillions of dollars annually, according to reports from McKinsey & Company. “Personally, I think that number falls short. I notice that the top wellness startups have a lot of ability to get investors, unlike other fields. Today there are smart mattresses that allow you to sleep better, the Oura ring that analyzes rest, and many more tools that were not relevant before and that have now become important because they pay off both personally and financially”, adds Campanario.
Without a doubt, well-being gains prominence. If you don’t focus on your health, feeling good and being happy, the effects don’t take long to appear and reversing them is a challenge.
Parenting and its relationship with well-being
It is known that the first years of life are key in people’s lives. Hence, the importance of children growing up healthy, strong, independent and secure, with high self-esteem.
What is the recipe to achieve a balance between limits and permissions, in the face of children?
For Maritchu Seitún, a psychologist specializing in parenting and guidance, the key is to reach the midpoint between the extreme personalities of the parents. “The ideal would be to listen like the permissive, but have the firmness of the authoritarian,” he reflected, and insisted on the importance of putting oneself in the place of the child, understanding him and, at the same time, having the ability to say yes or no. ; and, in the event that the answer is negative, let him know that he is accompanied “from the pain, which also strengthens,” she said.
Marcos Apud, psychologist and biohacker, dismantled the secrets to improve the quality of life through biohacking, a method that proposes seeking an integral balance by combining the use of technology with the particular biology of each person.
Facundo Pereyra, gastroenterologist and author of the book Reset your Intestines, detailed the relationship between the functioning of these organs and people’s emotional health. “One of the first causes of leaky gut that inflame our entire body is stress, emotions, having gone through depression,” said the professional. And he commented that many people who have suffered this type of situation develop extra-digestive symptoms such as headaches, hives or chronic fatigue. And it takes a long time for the dysfunction to be correctly diagnosed as being in the gut.
Pinky Zuberbuhler, nutritionist and wellness coach, spoke regarding the importance of mindful eating: the real power to improve what we eat and how we eat lies in our brain. It is regarding learning to awaken the conscious mind (not logical or rational), to understand how we act and why we do it. And observe and question the false beliefs with which we have identified ourselves all our lives.
Topics such as diet and physical activity are central to the wellness agenda. Prioritizing exercise on a daily basis is one of the essential habits and a fundamental tool to take care of mental health. “In our studies we constantly see the importance of physical activity to generate health in the body and in the mind,” said Natalí Still Santiago, CEO of We Ballet Fitness and creator of a workout that combines muscle work with elongation and ballet. .
From New York, Danisa Bevcic, image consultant and creator of Presencia Nova, highlighted the importance of the image that one transmits and with which one perceives oneself.
And speaking of image, a moment of relaxation and calm brought Berenice Delupi, an expert in Japanese facial technique, who taught some exercises to relax the muscles of the face.
From Madrid, Ángeles Wolder Helling, family constellator and biological decoder, delved into the importance of listening to the body. “There is not a single parcel in our whole being, we cannot work on knee pain and forget regarding the rest of the body, because we know that people have reached the disease through situations in which they have had to manage biological conflicts and associated emotions that lead us to stress”, detailed the biodecoder.
A separate chapter, the final touch of the meeting was put by the professional tennis player Ana Obarrio, who began competing at the age of 60 and today, at 88, is still in the ring. And she said: “If I’m tired I’m going to play, tennis makes me feel better, it activates me.”
An example of courage and attitude that shows how age is not a limiting factor when it comes to pursuing passions. With his testimony, she concluded the second chapter of Wellness and Health, a space that set the agenda, anticipated what was to come and revealed secrets to living better.