Rob Verkerk PhD
Multi-disciplinary scientist | Using science as a tool for good, not as a weapon for misinformation | Supporting health regeneration š± | Working with nature, not against it! Freedom advocate | Educator & speaker š¤
Chilworth, England, United Kingdom
2K followers
500+ connections
About
The vast majority of people on this remarkable planet of ours understand these 4 things about their health:
1. Feeling and being empowered over, and taking responsibility for, our own health will generally yield better health and resilience than handing over that responsibility to someone else
2. Eating wholesome food is better for us than eating junk food
3. Being physically active is more likely to build health and prevent disease than succumbing to the call of the couch
4. Having solid and enriching relationships with other people as well as with nature enhances our quality of our life and our overall health status and resilience
5. Being able to maintain a positive frame of mind, even when exposed to stressful situations, leads to better long-term health outcomes than if we canāt cope and find ourselves getting down and blue
Yet if most people understand these 5 things, how come health systems are crumbling under the weight of preventable chronic diseases?
Is it because these factors arenāt enough in themselves? Is it because different people respond differently to different lifestyle or behaviour changes? Is it because these things are often a lot easier said than done?
The answers to each of these questions are far from simple.
But getting under the covers of these kinds of issues ā from findings ways of creating or regenerating health in individuals and in communities is the thing that makes me tick.
Finding ways of helping more people to co-create and regenerate health, while living more harmoniously with our natural environment on which we ultimately depend, is the mission of the non-profit, the Alliance for Natural Health, that I founded over 20 years ago. Itās about applying the wisdom of nature to how we manage health. Itās not about going backward, itās about going forward and being nature-aligned and future fit.
As authoritarian creep takes hold, we also need to protect our rights to natural health, many of which are increasingly under threat from special interests and government overreach. This defensive work is another key strand of ANH's work.
Among our many projects is how we translate these approaches to the real world and develop community systems of health and care based on these principles.
I also provide support to businesses and practitioners in the natural health, integrative, functional or traditional medicine space through our consultancy, ANH Consultancy.
Articles by Rob
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Donāt trust their plan to rebuild our trust in science
Donāt trust their plan to rebuild our trust in science
By Rob Verkerk PhD
Contributions
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How can you use positive psychology to recover from a sports injury?
Being top of your game in your chosen sport requires a high degree of self focus. This means less time is available to focus on the things that are bigger than you - what the Japanese call your āikigaiā. So allow the injury and your recovery be the opportunity to expand into this bigger perspective where you contribute to the betterment of something bigger than the physical you. It could be your spiritual development, it could be sharing your skills and experience with young people, those who have had less opportunity, those who are in some way incapacitated. But it can be anything at all that takes your focus and your energies in a direction that helps your own expansion or contributes something to other people or the planet.
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How do you evaluate stress and resilience?
Resilience reflects your adaptive capacity so you always want to make sure your resilience 'battery' is as full as you can get it. Stress on the other hand draws current from this battery, negative stress much more so than positive stress. To fulfil our higher needs we sometimes need to really dig deep and put ourselves into stressful situations. What we shouldn't do is sustain high levels of stress as this depletes our resilience. One way of managing stress is to cycle it. If you push yourself hard for a while, or endure any other kind of intense stress, you need to make time to recover and regenerate. For each person, the process may be different. For me, time in nature and time to nurture and look after my family is what I need most.
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How do you evaluate stress and resilience?
While the concept of resilience originated from a fairly narrow perspective of psychological resilience, the concept has rightly now expanded to address the function and response of multiple, interconnected systems. Jenny Liu and colleagues' Multi-System Model of Resilience Inventory (MSMR-I) is a very useful 27-item tool that allows assessment of resilience including factors such as coping, skills, education, physical and mental health, socioeconomic status, and access to formal and informal support and institutions. Other validated systems are the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC 25) and the older, but still valid, Resilience Scale (RS-25) proposed originally by Wagnild and Young (1993).
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How do you evaluate stress and resilience?
While there are a number of validated questionnaires around - such as SF-36/12, PROMIS and WHOQOL - these don't get to the underlying issue of the relative roles of the parasympathetic and sympathetic sides of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The relative balance between the two sides of the ANS and vagal tone are both strongly associated with the stress response. It is of course our response to the stress, not the nature of the stressors themselves, that is ultimately important. Accordingly, measuring ANS function each morning on waking i.e. 4 minutes 'morning readiness' using an app like Elite HRV with 'sports' EEG belt, is invaluable and can help inform daily activity and choices.
Activity
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Our free will is under threat as Western democracies shift towards a technocratic corporatocracy. This is evident in the recent shutdown of aā¦
Our free will is under threat as Western democracies shift towards a technocratic corporatocracy. This is evident in the recent shutdown of aā¦
Shared by Rob Verkerk PhD
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Delighted to join Sylvie Beljanski of The Beljanski Foundation on the Beljanski Cancer Talk Show. š
Delighted to join Sylvie Beljanski of The Beljanski Foundation on the Beljanski Cancer Talk Show. š
Shared by Rob Verkerk PhD
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"Every health freedom we enjoyāwhether choosing medications or expressing our beliefsāhas been hard-earned through struggle and perseverance." - Drā¦
"Every health freedom we enjoyāwhether choosing medications or expressing our beliefsāhas been hard-earned through struggle and perseverance." - Drā¦
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Experience
Education
Organizations
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Alliance for Natural Health International
Founder, executive and scientific director
- Present
Recommendations received
2 people have recommended Rob
Join now to viewMore activity by Rob
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I was honoured to join Sylvie Beljanski recently for a fascinating discussion about natural health options to support cancer patients.
I was honoured to join Sylvie Beljanski recently for a fascinating discussion about natural health options to support cancer patients.
Shared by Rob Verkerk PhD
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PLANET SOIL, inspired by Dutch farmers' protests, and directed by award-winning filmmaker, Mark Verkerk, delves underground to uncover theā¦
PLANET SOIL, inspired by Dutch farmers' protests, and directed by award-winning filmmaker, Mark Verkerk, delves underground to uncover theā¦
Shared by Rob Verkerk PhD
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š Seeing Beyond the Silo š We often find ourselves viewing life through a narrow lens, without even realising it. While this focus has led toā¦
š Seeing Beyond the Silo š We often find ourselves viewing life through a narrow lens, without even realising it. While this focus has led toā¦
Shared by Rob Verkerk PhD
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š±š PLANET SOIL šš± Inspired by Dutch farmers' protests and directed by the talented Mark Verkerk, PLANET SOIL takes you underground to exploreā¦
š±š PLANET SOIL šš± Inspired by Dutch farmers' protests and directed by the talented Mark Verkerk, PLANET SOIL takes you underground to exploreā¦
Shared by Rob Verkerk PhD
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šš„ The Alliance for Natural Health, in partnership with the creators of the award-winning documentary PLANET SOIL, is thrilled to announce the USā¦
šš„ The Alliance for Natural Health, in partnership with the creators of the award-winning documentary PLANET SOIL, is thrilled to announce the USā¦
Shared by Rob Verkerk PhD
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šØ š¢ The Hope Accord is calling for the suspension and investigation of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines due to serious concerns about their safety andā¦
šØ š¢ The Hope Accord is calling for the suspension and investigation of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines due to serious concerns about their safety andā¦
Shared by Rob Verkerk PhD
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š The ideal is to live long and live well. But how? š By shifting the focus of conventional medicine from disease management to health creationā¦
š The ideal is to live long and live well. But how? š By shifting the focus of conventional medicine from disease management to health creationā¦
Shared by Rob Verkerk PhD
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šØ Major Supreme Court Decision Alert! šØ On June 28th, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to overturn Chevron deference, a principle that allowed federalā¦
šØ Major Supreme Court Decision Alert! šØ On June 28th, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to overturn Chevron deference, a principle that allowed federalā¦
Shared by Rob Verkerk PhD
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Iād highly recommend this masterclass to any healthcare professionals wanting to work with those struggling with emotional eating and binge eatingā¦
Iād highly recommend this masterclass to any healthcare professionals wanting to work with those struggling with emotional eating and binge eatingā¦
Liked by Rob Verkerk PhD
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Meditation is like any other skill. Youāve got to put in the time and effort, but it gets easier once you make it a daily habit and begin seeing theā¦
Meditation is like any other skill. Youāve got to put in the time and effort, but it gets easier once you make it a daily habit and begin seeing theā¦
Liked by Rob Verkerk PhD
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Cardiac muscle preferentially uses free fatty acids (fats) for energy because of the large energy demands and the efficiency of ATP productionā¦
Cardiac muscle preferentially uses free fatty acids (fats) for energy because of the large energy demands and the efficiency of ATP productionā¦
Liked by Rob Verkerk PhD
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Do you find yourself dealing with sudden coughing, sneezing, hives, headaches, or digestive issues? If these symptoms seem to come out of nowhereā¦
Do you find yourself dealing with sudden coughing, sneezing, hives, headaches, or digestive issues? If these symptoms seem to come out of nowhereā¦
Liked by Rob Verkerk PhD
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Just a few of the photos from today ā¤ļø, Echincea, Mullein, Inula and Marshmallow growing in the incredibly beautiful organic and biodynamic farm thatā¦
Just a few of the photos from today ā¤ļø, Echincea, Mullein, Inula and Marshmallow growing in the incredibly beautiful organic and biodynamic farm thatā¦
Liked by Rob Verkerk PhD
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