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Anthropometry started in the mid-1800s when doctors were still very much in contact with ancient medicines whilst new medical paradigms were emerging. Aquilla di Giovanni, a doctor teaching at University of Bologna, created the first classification of humans according to morphology. In 1890 di Giovanni published the text “The Morphology of Human Body” where he explained all the correlations that exist between the structures of the body, body shapes and predisposition for certain diseases. In modern anthropometry, it is known that every bodily measurement has a specific ratio when harmony is maintained. Anthropometric measurements are thus used as markers of health and disease, not only on their own but commonly as they relate to one another.

Ayurveda, or Ayurvedic Medicine, is a Sanskrit word for life-knowledge. Literally defined, it is the compilation of the word “ayur” meaning “life” and “veda”, meaning “to know through experience”. In Ayurveda, the most important factor in determining pathology is how healthy and able a person is of defending themselves from any internal or external pathogens. Over thousands of years and countless experiments, Ayurveda grew to decide that most of the weaknesses in the body are caused by toxicity. Thus, the parameter used to determine the health of the body is how pure or clean the system is. The study of toxicity and how to make the body pure was one of the key components of Ayurveda – referring not only to the body, but to both body and mind. The belief in Ayurveda was that achieving a pure mind was very important to achieving a state of internal and external coherence.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) refers to a broad range of medical practices developed in China over a span of more than 2000 years and include herbal medicine, acupuncture, tui-na, qi-gong and dietary therapy. TCM is an ancient way of conceptualizing and applying medical concepts in a way which maintains their association to life and its manifestation. More than any other system, TCM is devoted to quantifying not only the environment and its features but also how the body responds to the environment. TCM focuses on harmony between being and environment, including the seed of a plant and its soil, the rain, water quality, drainage quality, nourishment contained in the mineral content of the soil, passages of air in the soil, amount of available air, etc. In Chinese medicine, elements of the body and environment are considered to be united and hence always influencing one another.

“Chrono” refers to time and “biology” refers to the study of life. Chronobiology thus denotes a lifestyle according to specific changes which are innate to the body. Human beings have an internal clock that dictates almost all biological rhythms, including eating and sleeping patterns, body temperature, hormone production, and more, according to the earth’s 24 hour cycle of rotation. The adaptation mechanism in our hypothalamus tries to predict and instinctually adapt all of the body’s clocks to the temporal rhythms daily, weekly, seasonally, annually and so on.

Endocrinology is the study of the physiology and pathology of endocrine glands. Endocrine glands produce hormones that sustain metabolism, control sexual secondary characteristics, regulate temperature, influence behavior, personality, and mood, and have many other physiological functions. Of all organs in the body, the endocrine glands are among the most important in influencing body shape, tissue quality, mood and behavior. For example, low function of the thyroid during development, due to lack of oligo elements or essential nutrients, could influence the phenotype by changing its expression independently from the genetic makeup. Likewise, production and levels of hormones can significantly influence our thoughts, actions and feelings.

Embryology refers to the developmental biology that takes place throughout the full life spectrum – from “pre-womb to tomb”. It offers us specific insight into the physiological development of the human body, and the links between various organs, systems and functions. Though there are many epigenetic factors that influence human development, by understanding an individual’s specific physiology, we can better understand the extent to which their phenotype can be influenced and which epigenetic factors may be most impactful.

Genetic lineage is a significant determinant of the ideal environment and lifestyle, and subsequent defense systems, for an individual’s health. For example, an individual with a genetic history from England who is currently living in Australia will be more prone to sunburn and diseases of a hot environment. As we learn more about dominant and recessive genes, morphisms and evolution of genetic material over time, and predispositions that exist according to genotype and environment, we further grasp the notion that our genetic code is simply a blueprint but does not in and of itself determine our future.

Neuropsychology is the study of how the brain influences our cognitive functions and behaviors. The connection between the brain and behavior was well documented by Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, who viewed the brain as the compass or the main direction system for the body. Today we have the ability to measure the activity of specific areas of the brain and relate this activity to various cognitive functions and behaviors. Some of this is determined by the dominant hormones and neurotransmitters in the brain’s chemistry. If, for example, the pre-frontal temporal right cortex has abundant activity, there is a greater likelihood that the individual is resilient and reacts strongly to specific ideas. Other regions have been mapped to correspond with other tasks and processes.

Our body on the outside is a direct reflection of our health on the inside, at any given point in time and our lifestyle, environment, food and activity all influence the way our genes and cells express. An individual’s physical traits and characteristics offer deep insight into the health or dysfunction of the body. For one, body shape, height, and weight can be a reliable indicator of certain metabolic tendencies and propensity for developing various illnesses. Signs such as striations on the fingernails may indicate mineral deficiencies, cracked skin a vitamin deficiency, finger length sex hormone dominance, texture of the tongue organ dysfunction, and so on. Understanding the associated deficiencies or dysfunctions for these physical signs provides valuable information to assist in understanding the state of health of the human body.

Semeiotics studies signs and symptoms of the human body to correctly identify, collate and interpret, through diagnostics, the origin of simple or complex diseases. It can also identify the patterns of individual normality, of heart rate, cholesterol, and perspiration for example, and therefore recognize patterns that could be pathologic for that individual constitution or body type. For example, low heart rate could indicate bradycardia in one patient and normal heart function in another. Semeiotics can offer great insight into deficiencies or dysfunctions in many systems of the body and corresponding levels of vitamins, minerals and biochemical balance or imbalance.

Any organism requires a specific environment to survive and thrive. Geomedicine focuses on the influence of geographic location and environment on individual health and wellness. Temperature, for instance, can be a trigger for functions that when decoded by genes will activate thermogenesis or heat dispersal. Another example is evident in how the environment affected the color of people’s skin over many generations. The sun, or lack thereof, acted as a master control for genes that needed to adapt and produce more dark skin pigment when living at locations that induced more sun exposure and less skin pigment when living at locations that had less sun exposure. A person’s location in the world, the seasons and even local temperature outside and within a home all play a very important role in health.

Molecular biology is the study of the molecular underpinnings of replication, transcription, translation and cell function. It is a branch of science that investigates biological activity at the molecular level, particularly the interactions between various systems of a cell and the structure, function and regulation of proteins and nucleic acids essential to life. It overlaps with biochemistry and genetics with particular focus on DNA, RNA and protein biosynthesis.

In more recent years, there has been a strong shift in interest from DNA to RNA, whose functions range from serving as a temporary working copy of DNA to actual structural and enzymatic functions, as well as it being a functional and structural part of the translation apparatus – the coding, decoding, regulating and expression of genes. Epigenetic changes represent an active field of study within molecular biology.

Epigenetics is the science of how genes are expressed and changed over time, whether throughout a lifetime or passed on through generations. Each human cell contains DNA and is therefore like an encyclopedia full of information. However, not all information is activated at once. Some codes lie dormant until it’s time for them to activate, like the changes we may see during the natural aging process. Others may lie dormant until something specific activates them, as is the case with certain genetic conditions. Others may lie dormant forever because they were never triggered at all. Thanks to this emerging science, we are coming to an increasing understanding of how genes work, and that they can be activated or deactivated based on epigenetic changes due to lifestyle and environmental triggers like diet, exercise, pollution, sleep, stress and more.

Lifestyle Medicine studies the best methods to create the optimal environment for the body to live and thrive. Its aim is to return the body to homeostasis by altering the lifestyle and environmental factors that influence gene expression. Nutrigenomics and exposomics are two of a number of sciences that form Lifestyle Medicine. Nutrigenomics concerns how nutrients affect the expression of our genes. We know that certain diets can trigger genes of inflammation, while others can reduce inflammation, optimize methylation and glycation, and improve overall bodily function. The emerging science of exposomics is delving deeply into the subject of how the environment and the partial introduction of it into our body in the form of food, air, and water can influence cells and biological pathways to health or disease. An individual’s exposure is considered to begin before birth and includes variable exposures from the physical environment and workplace over their lifetime. The fact that only about 10% of disease is accounted for by genetics and the rest by lifestyle and environment, coupled with evidence that in utero and early childhood lifestyle and environmental exposures influence risk for disease later in life substantiate Lifestyle Medicine as a significant field in present and future medicine.