The Many Facets of Health

How often have you done something to improve your health, only to stop because you felt it was not working? If you have, you are not alone. I have seen this time and again. Someone will be doing something positive for their health, but when the results are not there, they stop doing it. But optimal health is not attained by focusing on one aspect. It is achieved by fully addressing all of your body’s needs. Many seem insignificant, but the impact will be quite the opposite.

Visualizing Holistic Health: Every Aspect Is Intertwined

I find that comparing our bodies to a car can help us better visualize the different parts needed to feel optimal. In many ways, cars and humans function very similarly. Both have many different moving parts, all of which are integral to keeping them healthy and in working order. For a car to function properly, it needs to have gas in the tank, oil in the engine, a working ignition switch, transmission, spark plugs, etc.

Imagine putting gas into your car and trying to start it, but for some reason, it does not. Do you stop putting gas into the car because that did not work? No! You would keep a full gas tank and investigate for other issues. I have often seen someone exercising and not losing weight completely stop exercising because they still feel awful internally. This does not make sense. Healthy exercise is an important part of being healthy, or even having a healthy weight, but it’s not the whole puzzle. Only addressing one issue at a time will cause others to get worse. Being healthy requires a balance.

Addressing Every Piece of the Optimal Health Pie

When I help people on their journey to optimal health, I ensure that they’re meeting all of their body’s needs to live the best life possible. I like to focus on eight main areas: exercise, mind, diet, drink, hormones, supplements, sleep, and toxin exposure. Missing out on even one of these areas can cause you to feel unhealthy or depressed. Just because you’re physically healthy doesn’t mean you’ll have good mental health.

Knowing how these different areas affect your health and well-being is incredibly important. Without knowing the why, it can be easy to lose sight of your goal.

• Exercise: Any form of exercise is vital to reaching optimal health. Even if you address every other part of your health, completely neglecting your physical health will cause joint and muscle pain as you age. Even in cars, if you don’t run the engine consistently, there’s a chance they will shut down. Exercise doesn’t just affect your physical health. Working out your muscles releases endorphins and melatonin into your body, helping your mental health and sleep.
• Mind: Keeping your mind active and healthy is as important as working out your muscles. Improving your intelligence isn’t enough, though; you also need to ensure that your mindset is healthy. If you’re brilliant yet have immense anxiety over your level of intelligence, you won’t be able to live your best life.
• Diet: Diets are the basis for the rest of your health journey. Without a diet that addresses your body’s nutritional needs, everything else you do to address your health won’t be as effective.
• Drink: The liquid you put into your body is just as important as the food you eat. If you drink nothing but soda and fake juice, you’ll feel awful. You should be drinking water and natural, freshly squeezed juice.
• Toxin Exposure: Toxins are substances and particles that actively harm your body while they’re in them. They exist throughout society, including cleaning products, water, and processed foods. It’s impossible to cut off your exposure to toxins completely, but limiting it as much as possible is key to living your optimal life.
• Supplements: The human body isn’t perfect—in fact, it’s far from perfect. Because of this, it can sometimes be difficult for your body to absorb the nutrients it needs from the food you eat. Supplements combat this and help you boost your health where needed.
• Sleep: This integral part of your daily routine may be more important than you know. It affects every tissue in your body, from your brain to your heart. Without consistent, good-quality sleep, your body will shut down. Chronic lack of sleep increases blood pressure and the risk for cardiovascular disease, and causes feelings of depression.
• Hormone Balancing: Hormones are chemicals in your bloodstream that affect every primary bodily function your body performs. Hunger, sleep, mood, stress levels, heart rate, and sex drive are all dictated by them. When hormones are thrown out of whack, your whole body will suffer. By meeting with a hormone specialist and ensuring your hormone levels are where they need to be, you can help address almost every facet of health.

Feeling and looking optimal involves hormone balancing, good sleep habits, a healthy whole-food diet, the right supplements, regular exercise, a healthy mindset, and minimizing toxin exposure. Each of these pieces is important. If your stress levels are too high because you are on the go all the time, then meditation or yoga can help your body function optimally. Address your body’s needs and keep doing the other things you are doing right.

Getting Expert Help For Optimal Health

Please be patient with your body. If you are not feeling optimal, think about the area you need to address. If you don’t know, that’s okay! Getting help from trained professionals like those at An Optimal You is sometimes necessary if you want to feel the best you possibly can. A comprehensive approach to your body will make you feel and look the best you can! Call our office today if you need help addressing any of the facets of health.