"We need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in".
Desmond Tutu
Hi again! Thanks for hanging with me!
If you came back, then you are obviously intrigued by the concepts that I am discussing. These concepts are the basis of “Functional Medicine.” This is how AI defines what I do... “Functional medicine is a holistic approach to healthcare that focuses on identifying and addressing the root causes of diseases rather than just treating symptoms. It involves a patient-centered approach, where practitioners spend time listening to patients and gathering detailed medical histories to understand the interactions between genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that can influence long-term health and chronic disease.
Functional medicine practitioners aim to create personalized treatment plans that may include nutrition, exercise, stress management, and other lifestyle changes to improve overall health and well-being.”
This is a pretty good definition. I have a slightly different description of what I do. If you recall, the name of this blog is “Cavemen in Fast Cars” in which, our caveman bodies have been flung, headlong, into the world of fast cars, ultra processed foods, a toxic soup of chemicals to which we are constantly exposed that our caveman bodies are not equipped to deal with. My job is to find out WHY people are falling in the river. Actually, it helps to think of your body like a car. Afterall, we spend a LOT more time on auto maintenance than we do taking care of our bodies. Every 3000-5000 miles, we take our car to have the oil changed. While you are there, they check the air in your tires, your radiator fluid, brake fluid and your wiper fluid. They look at the headlights, taillights, blinkers and hazard lights. They check your brakes, your belts, your hoses. The last time I went in, they replaced my cabin air filter. I didn’t even know I HAD a cabin air filter! They may say that this is a 15 minute oil change but I have never spent less than 45 minutes in the bay.
Now, when was the last time your doctor spent 45 minutes with you, examining your belts, hoses or your in-cabin air filter.... much less 4 times a year?! The point is that we spend a LOT more time tending to the needs of our car than we do maintaining our own bodies. Afterall, if we don’t take care of our car, it might break down and that would be terribly inconvenient! What if we treat our bodies more like we treat our cars? If we put a little effort into regular, preventive maintenance, maybe we wouldn’t break down on the interstate causing a back-up of traffic, blaring horns, foul language and a massive loss of time and money?
THIS is my definition of functional medicine. Routinely checking under the hood and seeing what we can do to keep from breaking down.
Here is the other key. This maintenance is not provided by your doctor. It is done by you. It is done every day. It is accomplished by a series of habits that if completed daily, will absolutely change your life. In this post, I will lay out what those habits are and in upcoming posts, I will explain the science behind these habits. (For the record, I do every one of these habits every morning so I KNOW it can be done)
So… here…we…GO!
Every morning upon waking, the number one thing that you can do to significantly change your life is (This may be the hardest habit of all): as soon as the alarm rings… PUT YOUR FEET ON THE FLOOR! Do not lay in bed and slap the snooze alarm until you are nearly late for work. Making this a habit will set the foundation for everything else you do. Some say, make your bed as soon as you get out of it. I can’t do that because there is still a blonde sleeping in there when I roll out. That would not go over well! BUT! If you are the last one up…Make the bed. Then you move on to number two…
Touch the Earth. Grounding is the process of putting bare skin against soil. Inflammation is the number one cause of chronic disease in the world. Multiple studies have shown that regular grounding decreases chronic inflammation significantly. In my next post I will discuss the science of grounding in great detail. For now, let’s just talk about how to do it. Ready? Touch the dirt with bare skin. That’s it. That is the scientific breakthrough. Without sounding to… Cosmic maaaan… we are made from the same material that the Earth is made from. We share an electromagnetic current. When we touch dirt, we share electrons with the Earth which has been shown to reduce inflammation. It is as simple as that. As I am writing this, it is early March in Ohio and is currently 16 degrees outside. I obviously am not touching the outside soil today. If you have access to ground floor concrete (a basement or garage floor) it will do. It is not as beneficial as actual dirt but is better than nothing. There are also various sheets and mats that you can plug into the wall that will accomplish the same thing, but they obviously require a financial investment. They say that the optimal amount of time to spend grounded is 20 minutes. I don’t have 20 minutes every morning to sit with my feet on the dirt. We will also discuss the 80/20 principle in the next post. It will make sense. I promise. In the meantime. Stay on the dirt/concrete for five to ten minutes.
While you are sitting there with your feet in the dirt anyway, the second thing that you can do is called “Breathwork”. Controlled, deep breathing will increase the oxygen saturation of your blood by 50 percent. Inflammation loves sugar and hates oxygen. Increasing the oxygen in your blood will dramatically decrease inflammation and, consequently, your cancer risk. Again, in subsequent posts, I will discuss the physiology behind this in great detail. For now, let me tell you what you need to do. Take 30 to 40 deep breaths. Exhale fully between breaths by forcing your diaphragm up (Think, sucking your belly button to your spine as hard as you can) then fully fill your lungs with air by pulling your diaphragm down and inflating your lungs from the bottom to the top. FULL of air! After 30 to 40 reps, hold your breath as long as you can (I started only making it 30 seconds. Now I am up to 2 minutes). This depletes your oxygen reserves and then when you repeat the process you increase your oxygen saturation that much more. Do that sequence 3 times. Breathe, hold, breathe, hold, breathe. Make sure you are sitting down when you do this because you may get lightheaded.
Catch some rays. Every morning, go into the daylight and face the sun with your eyes open. No, do NOT look directly at the sun. Fried corneas don’t help with inflammation at all! Look in the direction of the sun with your eyes open. This will help to reset your circadian rhythm and helps you to sleep better at night. It also aids in the release of Dopamine and Serotonin which are essential neurotransmitters that are part of your mental health. Do this for 5 to 10 minutes as well.
(Pro-tip: If you sit outside in the Sun while you do your grounding and breathwork, you kill three birds with one stone and are ready to take on the fourth daily habit with gusto!).
Okay, other than the “put your feet on the floor” thing, this last daily habit could get me the most blowback. You will probably question my mental health after I tell you this but trust me, it’s a thing! After your grounding episode, come back in the house and take your shower. Nice warm shower, feels great, cleanse your body and your soul. Rinse off all of the soap and shampoo. Just before you are ready to get out. Slap the water to full-assed cold and freakin DEAL WITH IT! Stand in the stream for thirty seconds to three minutes, as long as you can stand it. You will gasp. Your body will fight you and plead with you and beg you to make it stop! Take it as long as you can then get out and dry off. Again, this is science, and I will explain it in detail in upcoming weeks. This deals with inflammation, mental and physical resilience, endurance and the body’s ability to sustain unpleasantness. In short, this sucks while you are doing it, but the sense of well-being and surge of feel-good chemicals will last for hours.
There it is. The five things that you can do every morning before you start your day that will change your life.
Not might… WILL! These are free and all it takes is making them a habit. Habits are another topic that we will discuss in upcoming posts.
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Next week we talk about grounding in detail. See you then!
