Sandy Cloud, Jr

Chairman of the Board, UConn Health Center, Farmington, CT

“Executive Health” sounds like a fad to many people, but as an attorney, successful businessman and Chairman of the Board at UCONN Health Center, Sandy Cloud, Jr. knows how challenging it is to maintain his health given the demands his professional life places on both his time and energy. Although Sandy was in “very good health” at the time, he attended an executive health seminar presented by Dr. Desmond Ebanks of Alternity Healthcare. What impressed Sandy was Dr. Ebanks’ approach to total health: “I had become more and more interested in general health and wellness maintenance, so I decided to make an appointment.”

Sandy made this meeting with few expectations: “I really went there to find out more about what he was doing.” Sandy was impressed by the discussion. Dr. Ebanks explained how accumulated stressors of the life that most executives have to lead have health effects that are not only noticeable but can be documented right down to our very genes. Short segments of DNA at the ends of each chromosome called telomeres provide protection from deterioration or merging with other chromosomes. These segments get shorter as we go through life, but the damage from stress, specifically free radicals, shortens them prematurely. Sandy learned that he had the telomeres of someone quite older than he actually was. This does not mean that Sandy’s life expectancy was necessarily shorter, but it increased the risk that he might develop chronic diseases that could negatively impact the quality of his life. In Sandy’s case, it appeared that stress was silently eroding his health at the cellular level.

Based on these results and a battery of other sophisticated tests, Dr. Ebanks built an individualized health maintenance program tailored to Sandy’s life and health goals. “I liked that he spent the time to do in-depth research on my health”.

A personalized program including changes in nutrition, exercise regimens, and hormone balancing has resulted in a significant improvement inSandy’s energy levels, alertness, resistance to fatigue, and sleep quality. “I think the program is moving in the right direction,” he says.

Sandy also believes the program Alternity Healthcare provides avoids a common pitfall of executive health programs – it doesn’t try to make promises about making you a better executive. “It’s unfair to ask if this improves my professional life. It’s more about improving personal life and especially my quality of life.”

Sandy would recommend others investigate the program: “If you care about improving your quality of life and taking care of your overall health, then yes, go see him.”