Staying Healthy Means Echoing the Advice We Give Patients

Ryan Geary, PT, DPT, SCS, ATI Clinic Director in SC and Abby Geary, PT, DPT OCS, ATI PT in SC

Coffee. Breakfast. Commute. First patient. Second patient. Suddenly, it’s 6 pm. Aside from a subtle change to your finish time, and maybe the decision to have eggs versus oatmeal for breakfast, your cycle can be a daily grind.

Patient care has become second nature to us — modifying a manual technique, inputting a variation to an exercise, listening to feedback — all while preparing for the next patient. But who’s taking care of us to ensure we’re recharged each day? How do we balance the advice we give our patients with our own self-care?

We have found a solution that allows us to stay on track with our own health while caring for others. Enter functional fitness — a cross-training program that involves cardiovascular training, resistance training and high-intensity interval training. Although our platform varies, functional fitness ensures we stay active, develop our strength and learn new skills. Its wide range of modalities from gymnastics to Olympic weightlifting, to many other high-output cardiovascular activities, makes the challenge ever-evolving. 

Finding Our Healthy Routine

The results from functional fitness have been incredible — a significant boost in our energy level during a busy day, simply by having the mobility to get in and out of positions needed to treat patients, as well as having a foundation of strength to not put ourselves at risk while helping others. Within the functional-fitness community, we have developed accountability and found better, more physically fit versions of ourselves. Participation in functional-fitness events allow us to measure progress and set new goals with seasonal training targets. 

Although exercise is a key component to our weekly regimen, being appropriately fueled with good food and getting enough rest are really what makes this schedule work. We plan our meals weekly and stick to a schedule to ensure we are getting the adequate nutrition for our lifestyle. We also sport wearable fitness trackers to help us track exercise intensity as well as our sleep. We have found that staying consistent with sleep and wake times enhances the quality of sleep that we get, a fundamental element to recovery.

We are dedicated to the process. We set our bedtimes, plan our meals, and train with purpose — all to take care of the people around us with our health and physical readiness at the center.

You too have the option to improve your physical health, which in turn, will help you complete your daily ritual.

Self-Care for Prevention and Restoration

Sarah Primeau, ATI Senior Sales Manager

“One cannot serve from an empty cup.” As health care professionals, we focus our time and energy on listening, problem solving, educating, observing and providing care for others. Our role demands continual service and outward focus, which can increase the risk for exhaustion and burnout. Burnout can affect your mental and physical health while also interrupting your optimal ability to treat patients.  Following are some solutions for integrating restorative habits into your daily living to offset the rigors of the profession.

When implementing restorative habits into daily living, consider options that will offer practicality and sustainability. Three daily living habits that influence overall well-being include: thinking, eating and moving. 

Think. The most important space you experience life from is the space between your ears (your mind). Perception is reality; therefore, creating habits to become more aware of your thoughts could offset stressors from the daily grind. Mindful practices such as meditation, breathwork and journaling can improve focus and self-awareness. Mindfulness can increase positive psychological effects, including increased subjective well-being, reduced psychological symptoms and emotional reactivity, and improved behavioral regulation. (Keng SL)

Eat. It is a known fact that overall health and balanced nutrition go hand in hand; however, there is emerging evidence suggesting that proper nutrition sustains, builds, and restores both the body and the mind (Adan RAH). The variety of information and recommendations related to proper nutrition can be overwhelming and confusing. Focus on time-tested and evidence-based recommendations, such as limiting processed foods, alcohol and sugars, ensuring 50% of your daily intake stems from fruits and vegetables, and consuming the proper amount of water. If you are unsure where to begin with your nutrition, seek the advice of a registered dietician.   

Move. It’s not about the exercise, it’s about the positive effects it creates during the other 23 hours of your day. Exercise has been shown to demonstrate reductions in anxiety, depression and overall feelings of stress (Kandola A)(Carek PJ). Movement has also demonstrated improvements in sleep quality and cognitive function (Jurado-Fasoli L) (Tao J). The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity weekly, and overall body strengthening activities two or more days a week. 

Forming New Habits

Here are suggestions to help you build habits in a sustainable manner:

• Have a goal, know your “why” and write it down. Understanding why you created the goal will encourage commitment during those times sustainability is tested.
• Carve out the time. Block your calendar and set an appointment with yourself. You wouldn’t stand up an appointment with a patient, would you? You owe your own health the same regard!
• Start small. The priority is consistency and that requires small steps. An example of this would be setting aside two minutes each day dedicated to meditation the first week, then bumping it up to five minutes the next.  Another example would be to aim to run/walk for five to 10 minutes, then moving up to 10-15 minutes the second week.
• Lay out the plan. Write out the plan to create a sense of intention and accomplishment.
• Have an accountability partner or group. In the book Atomic Habits, author James Clear states how “an accountability partner can create an immediate cost to inaction. We care deeply about what others think of us, and we do not want others to have a lesser opinion of us.” 
• Have fun! If creating new habits feels like drudgery, then that is exactly what the experience will be. Give yourself the freedom to experiment with different mindfulness techniques, exercise modalities and foods. 

Take Charge
Integrating daily habits aimed at self-care will serve both you (and your profession) for the better. In the words of C. S. Lewis, “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” It is never too late to prioritize your overall health and well-being.

 Sarah Primeau, BS in health promotion, is a certified USA Triathlon Coach, yoga teacher and STOTT Pilates teacher.