Physical Health

Physical health comes down to being free from the effects of illness, staying active, and having proper pain management. Maintaining appropriate blood pressure, blood sugar, a healthy body composition, limiting substance use, and avoiding detrimental practices are all key. To this end, it is important to establish a good relationship with one’s primary care physician and ensure that one adheres to recommendations regarding routine labs and screening for various illnesses such as cancer. Prioritize adherence to appropriate principles and practices that need to be implemented to address your specific needs and meet your goals.

Check the source and confirm with your primary care.

There is a glut of information, including misinformation, generally told by those trying to profit by selling individuals on the belief that they have a guaranteed system that will allow them to rapidly reverse the effects of an extended period of poor medical decisions and lack of self-care. There is no shortage of pills, powders, systems, mechanisms, and surefire ways on the market. Protect yourself by doing due diligence, vetting sources, researching evidence, and discussing with your healthcare professional. In this way, you can empower yourself with knowledge and eliminate the influence of misinformation from your medical decision-making process.

Sleep

It’s important to monitor for changes in sleep, appetite, or energy, which we refer to as neurovegetative symptoms. These components can be signs or contributing factors to dysfunction in all aspects of health. Sleep could be a volume within itself. The complexity of which would be too exhaustive. Think about how poor sleep resulting in low energy triggers the desire for stimulants such as caffeine, nicotine, and sugar, or overeating in general.  These practices can lead to crashes with resulting irritability or mood disturbance. In this state, sleep can be negatively impacted. Poor sleep can be a vicious cycle that opens people up to more physical and mental distress.

Energy

When you consider the considerable interplay, you recognize the importance of monitoring,  maintaining balance, and making early interventions. For example, low energy can be seen in cardiac, respiratory, and endocrine issues such as heart failure, anemia, COPD, thyroid dysfunction, and diabetes. Neurological conditions and cancers of various types can also begin with a sense of fatigue. Yet fatigue is also common in depression, anxiety, in stressful times, can be good and/or bad. Being tired can drain motivation and ability to attend the gym, social events, church, and leads to isolation, which over time can worsen mental conditions. Fatigue can also affect our food choices or use of stimulants like caffeine and nicotine, which can affect mood as well. Things can compound and cascade quickly. So be vigilant and track closely.

Appetite

Look at appetite, which ideally is a drive sufficient to meet the body’s metabolic needs. However, appetite may be emotionally driven, a way to cope with stress, loneliness, or other unwanted feelings. A lack of appetite can be seen with Depression, Anxiety, stress, dementia, cancers, stress, grief, gastrointestinal issues, eating disorders, and loss of self-interest, just to name a few. The ramifications of how we respond to these factors can also significantly impact our physical and mental health. Occasional fluctuations are normal; however, be aware of sustained shifts in either direction.

Pain

Pain to include headaches, can also increase anxiety, worry, anger, and frustration, all things which prevent sleep and can drain one’s energy. This in turn, affects one’s appetite as well. The medications to treat pain can also result in fatigue and pose a risk for misuse. Pain issues need to be addressed as soon as possible. This is another good reason to have a relationship with your Primary Care Provider.  Certain causes of pain are sudden, such as trauma, or inevitable, such as Neurological conditions.  However, for many people, pain escalates over time, especially orthopedic issues like back and knee pain. Appropriate monitoring and early preventive factors, such as staying active, good posture, early corrections, and making healthy dietary choices, can prevent or delay the onset of pain, resulting in a better quality of life.

Interplay between physical and mental health

Physical and mental health issues are not mutually exclusive and have a significant overlap in appearance. Mental illness can mimic all systems: Endocrine, Neurological, Respiratory, Cardiac, GI, musculoskeletal, integumentary; no system is safe. This is why it is so important that a person have a primary care physician to obtain routine care and monitoring. It is important to remember, psychiatry is the default. Medical conditions should always be ruled out as psychiatric conditions cannot be due to the effects of a medical condition, effects of medications, or the use or withdrawal from substances. Addressing the problem on the right front is important to prevent further exacerbation of the illness, loss of money and time investing in ineffective treatments, or engagement in activities that may exacerbate the issue.

Physical Health Checklist:

1. Establish care with an invested Primary Care Physician
2. Obtain Adequate sleep (8 hours)
3. Maintain routine exercise (30 minutes three times a week)
4. Follow a balanced nutrition plan
5. Remain sufficiently hydrated
6. Address pain management
7. Monitor blood pressure and blood sugar
8. Adhere to health screening guidelines
9. Be aware of Family History
10. Seek consultation with your providers to ensure the proposed changes are in your best interest and initiated responsibly.