Integrative medicine is becoming more and more frequently asked question by many patients. Patients are seeing to find a new solution to managing stressful lives in a new way. And often are looking for their primary care doctor to recommend integrative medicine as a solution.
Between work, family, and other priorities, most of us feel that we never have enough hours in a day to get everything done. We rush from one thing to the next, grabbing our meals at our desks or in the car. By the end of the day, we feel exhausted and depleted. Still, we stay up late to get a few more things finished before bed. Does this sound like your life?
Unfortunately, all of that stress takes a toll on our health. Without finding ways to support a healthy lifestyle and manage the stress, many people crash, and find themselves suffering from health problems.
The impact of stress on health
You already know about the short-term effects of stress on your body. You may have had a stomachache or headache before giving an important presentation or going to an interview. When stress is short-lived, its effects on the body are unpleasant, but not dangerous.
You already know about the short-term effects of stress on your body. You may have had a stomachache or headache before giving an important presentation or going to an interview. When stress is short-lived, its effects on the body are unpleasant, but not dangerous.
However, when stress keeps coming every day, the body begins to break down. In fact, research has estimated that 75 to 90% of visits to doctors’ offices are for stress-related problems. ( Source) Stress is linked to several severe health problems, including diabetes and heart disease ( Source), as well as to mood disorders like depression. There’s even a link between stress and obesity, meaning that your stress could be keeping you from losing those stubborn extra pounds.
So you live in the modern world, and you live a stressful life. Are you doomed to suffer from multiple health problems? Fortunately, the answer is no. You are ultimately in charge of your health. There are steps that you can take to reduce this stress and reduce the effects on your body. Through integrative medicine, your physician can help you to adapt your lifestyle to help you manage and recover from stress.
How integrative medicine can help
A physician who practices integrative medicine recognizes the importance of a healthy lifestyle in preventing medical problems. Many doctors in the mainstream system simply treat the symptoms or the acute problem, without addressing the root causes.
Most people wish that they had a secret pill that could take away the effects of stress. It’s not quite as easy as popping a pill, but you can make changes in your life that will have a huge impact on your ability to handle stress.
Nutrition
To achieve optimal health, your body needs the right building blocks. Stress causes damage to the body, and without the appropriate raw materials, the body is unable to repair itself and restore health.
With so many self-proclaimed “diet gurus” out there, touting their diet as the one and only way to be healthy, it’s very hard to know who to trust. With integrative medicine, your physician will help you to cut through the hype, teaching you the surprisingly simple truths about nutrition that have been revealed through research.
Fitness
The right amount and type of exercise is crucial for the health of the body, as well as the health of the brain. In fact, studies have shown that exercise protects the brain from cognitive decline. Exercise has also been shown to improve creative thinking. The evidence is so good that it has led to proposals to consider doing high level company meetings while exercising (treadmills in board rooms?)
Many busy people skip exercise. They may not realize how simple it can be to incorporate exercise into your daily life, or how incredibly important it is to maintain your health. Other ambitious people have the opposite problem; they exercise too much or too intensely. This is called overtraining, and it can break down the body and cause other problems. You need the right amount of training, in the right way, if you want optimal body and brain health.
Sleep
During sleep, the brain and body repair the damage of the day. You also integrate new knowledge while you sleep. Sleep is a crucial step in the recovery and learning process.
The average amount of sleep needed for optimal health is eight hours, although it varies from person to person. The quality of your sleep also matters. Many factors related to your sleep environment can interrupt your sleep, making it less effective. Optimizing your sleep is one of the most impactful changes that you can make, both for your health and for your productivity.
Mind control – meditation
Stressful things happen in everyone’s life. However, many of the negative effects of stress happen not because of the events themselves, but because of our mind’s responses to them.
You can learn to take control of how your mind responds. Through the practice of meditation, you can practice entering a calm and peaceful state. This strengthens the neurological pathways related to calm, while weakening those that create a stressed-out, anxious, or angry state of mind. Over time, you can actually rewire your brain to more easily remain calm, even in the midst of chaos.
Your motivation and desire to feel better, along with the guidance of integrative medicine, can give you your life back.
By addressing the root causes of medical issues, instead of just treating the symptoms, integrative medicine gives you the best chance for living a long and healthy life, with plenty of energy to accomplish your goals. For more answers about primary care and integrative medicine please call Peninsula Doctor.
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