How to talk to your stress
Last week, I wrote about stress and anxiety - how they show up in our lives, how they affect us, and how we can manage them. This is a vitally important topic in a world that constantly exerts pressure on us in a number of ways. We have fast-paced work environments that expect us to produce, produce, produce, and a 24-hour news cycle that is constantly reminding us of war and disease to keep us afraid and ratings high. There is more to be said about stress this week. Sometimes, stress is...
Smile – it’s good for you!
It is a sad reality of adult life that many of us are more often stressed than we are not. Think about it: when was the last time you felt you had nothing at all to worry about? It was probably months, if not years ago. That may depend on the kind of life you live and your personality - some people live their lives completely unburdened - but probably, the last time you were totally unconcerned was a very, very long time ago. On the other hand, when was the last time you were totally stressed...
More THIS = better cognition
Do you ever find yourself so busy that you miss out on meeting our basic needs? We all have days where we neglect ourselves. Maybe you skipped your walk today, or missed an hour of sleep to work on an important project. Maybe last week you spent too much time working and not enough time in leisure, unwinding. Life gets in the way of balance - it happens to the best of us. But eventually, everyone feels the effects of neglect. It is okay; we cannot keep complete track of absolutely everything...
How to build your best life
I have a question for you, and it’s a hard one… Why do you do what you do? On the surface it seems like a simple question, but when you dig a little deeper you find it is way more complicated than you thought. We have lots of reasons for doing what we do - maybe we go to the store because “we need to,” but behind that big need is a lot of smaller ones - “We are out of laundry detergent, which we need to keep our clothes clean.” “They just came out with a new issue of the magazine I like, and I...
How you can stay motivated
I hope you’ve had a pleasant and healthy week! In my last article, I told you about the Fork in the Road. It was an exercise to help you look into the future to see what your life could be like if you made healthy decisions every day. Today, I want to walk you through doing an exercise that helps bridge the gap between tomorrow’s results and today’s acts. Sometimes our moment-by-moment moods and thoughts, or impulses, overtake our long-term goals. This is one of the greatest struggles of...
What does your future look like?
Often my goal in writing to you is to explain the importance of certain health habits. A comedian once said that human bodies require so much maintenance that if we were a car, we wouldn’t buy ourselves. But the reality is that we only get one body, so no matter what the cost is to maintain it, we must make it our top priority. Today, I want to offer you some perspective on brain health. Most successful people live their lives “with the end in mind.” They wake up knowing what they want in the...
Make time for this every day!
When the pandemic first started, I thought that people working from home was the one bright spot in all the darkness. It was a scary time. Everything was changing so quickly, people couldn’t leave their homes, and we knew so little about the future. But in the middle of all that, businesses started sending people home to work, if they could. And I thought so many people would discover the freedom of organizing their own schedule and living on their own terms. I saw it as a chance for people...
Your Most Important 3 Pounds
I want to see if you know the answer to this question. Which of your organs carries the most responsibility? Your heart delivers blood to the rest of your body. Your lungs extract oxygen from the air you breathe. Your kidneys clean, your liver detoxifies, and your spleen fights germs to keep you healthy. We call all of these the vital organs… so one of them must have the most important job, right? Actually, the job of your brain has got them each beat. Your brain controls all of these organs...
The cure-all you are looking for
Of all the worst professions to go to work deprived of sleep, who would be at the top of the list? Police? Firefighter? Pilot? Bus driver? There are so many vital roles whose performers must be well-rested. But among the worst of the worst of those to go without sleep, is the doctor. As a doctor myself, I used to work at night. At first, it was not so bad. In fact, I thought it was amazing. I felt like I was seeing a whole new side of my profession. I thought because there was not so much...
Thoughts are things – very important things.
Did you know that thoughts are things? And not just any old kind of things – thoughts are important things. They are very important things. The thoughts we think determine the emotions we feel; how we feel determines how we act; and how we act determines the results we get. These things are the starting point of everything in your life. Everything you see around you came into your life because of a thought. They are like the seeds you plant in the ground that determine what you grow. Yes, I’d...
My mind and body have never felt better.
You probably know the phrase, “You are what you eat.” We say this all the time. It reminds us that the food we eat becomes one with our body and powers us like fuel. Everyone knows that eating empty calories will cause weight gain and fatigue, and everyone knows that meats and veggies are good, and sugar, saturated fats, and processed foods are not. Everyone knows, but do we actually live like this is true? Far from it. Most often we don’t eat by what our bodies need for strength or function....
Make Mental Health Your Priority in 2022
Did you know that at least half of all Americans and a considerable percentage of Europeans are experiencing some form of mental instability at some point in life? You are not alone. Statistics show a surge in mental health issues over the last 24 months and more and more people need support. My response to this situation is launching this weekly Mental Health & Wellbeing newsletter here on LinkedIn to share my experience and expertise. I am a different kind of doctor. I love sharing my...
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