Many of us may have more control over our health than we think we do.
On the new episode of Prescribed Listening that drops Friday, March 31, experts at The University of Toledo Medical Center explore how you can reach your health goals and enhance overall well-being by improving certain areas of your lifestyle.
Podcast Host Chrissy Billau talks to UTMC Psychologist Dr. Julie Brennan and Independent Clinical and Sports Counselor Dr. Angele McGrady about the six pillars of lifestyle medicine — restorative sleep, a whole-food, plant-based diet, physical activity, stress management, positive social connections and avoiding risky substances.
One tip: Stop looking at digital devices like your phone or TV while lying in bed at night.
“Train your brain that the bed is for sleep and sex. That’s it,” Brennan said. “This is not the time to go on Facebook. This is not the time to put your murder mystery movie on.”
The experts discuss how stress impacts everybody differently and give tips to start eating healthy.
“You start with small steps,” McGrady said. “Most people cannot do an entire life change quickly with everything else that they have going on and all their responsibilities. But what they will find is that even a small change will affect their mood and how they feel. That’s the reward. And I think that once somebody experiences feeling better — a little bit of improvement in mood, maybe less sad, maybe less anxious — and then I think that motivates them to go further.”
“Lifestyle medicine is an evidence-based medical specialty that uses therapeutic lifestyle changes,” Brennan said. “It’s a primary modality to prevent, treat and reverse chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity. We are here to address
the underlying causes or root causes of chronic diseases, not just the symptoms.”
Brennan said UTMC has become part of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine Health Systems Council, a collaborative learning community of health systems within the U.S.
“We’ve been learning from other health systems how to integrate lifestyle medicine and also have been able to share what we are doing at UTMC with other health systems,” Brennan said. “And so, we are hoping to continue to change our community and our culture here at UToledo that lifestyle medicine is the primary modality of our care.”
To review the podcast’s entire library of episodes, go to the UTMC Prescribed Listening website.
New episodes of Prescribed Listening will be released through spring semester.
Subscribe to UTMC’s Prescribed Listening podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
