Functional Medicine: Your Key to a Healthy Lifestyle

How Functional Medicine Restores Health

There is a  significant increase in the number of people who are diagnosed with complex, chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, cancer, mental illness and autoimmune disorders.  Functional medicine uses tools to diagnose the cause of one’s disease to help  people restore health. There are those who think that they can be cured immediately, but that’s not how this  works. It takes a lot education concerning the multi causal factors that influence our health,  family health history, genetic predispositions, environmental and lifestyle factors that can influence the disease process.

A lot of people misconstrued Functional Medicine as  Alternative Medicine. Functional Medicine’s main focus is addressing the root cause of a disease and is less concerned with identifying a set of symptoms to designate an illness. It can be a combination of Laboratory assessments, Herbal Therapy (Chinese Medicine), Vitamin Therapies, Lifestyle Modifications, Dietary Regimens, and Physiotherapy (Western Medicine). Functional Medicine practices a holistic approach. It is patient-centered care which promotes that the body has an innate ability to heal and each body is as unique as our fingerprints so each treatment protocol is unique to each individual.

Dr. Debbie Novick, a doctor in Chiropractic Medicine, with so much dedication to helping people, is committed to her service in Chiropractic Care, Homeopathy, Bach Flower Remedies and Functional Medicines. Her advocacy in keeping people healthy has inspired her to gain the highest honors during her studies.    

Important Facts to Remember:

• Dietary imbalance and too much exposure to pollution may cause some symptoms common in chronic diseases.
• The goal is to achieve vitality not only the absence of disease.
• Self discipline is necessary. What you eat and absorb is what you are.  An unhealthy diet may contribute to hormonal imbalances , immune disorders, heart problems, etc.
• Environmental  factors can cause cancer and contribute to Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimers and Dementia.
• Patience is a virtue when deciding on the best medicine.  The holistic approach to healing gets to the root cause instead of just treating the symptoms of a disease.

Functional Medicine focuses on addressing the following disorders:

• Hormonal and neurotransmitter imbalances
• Oxidation-reduction imbalances
• Detoxification
• Immune imbalances
• Inflammatory imbalances
• Digestive, absorptive, and microbiological imbalances
• Structural imbalances from cellular membrane function to the musculoskeletal system

Applying Functional Medicine principles to address chronic disease ultimately leads you to a healthy mind and body.

Aging Gracefully Through Exercise: How Seniors are Benefitted

As people grow older, having an active lifestyle becomes more important. This is because exercising regularly can help maintain independence and boost energy. Aside from that, it helps manage symptoms of pain or illnesses. It is even possible for exercise to put on hold some of the symptoms of aging. Exercise is good for the body, mind, memory and mood. For people who are either healthy or are having illnesses in their lives, there are a lot of ways on how to be more active, confident and fit in life.

Benefits of Senior Exercise (Physical)

    It reduces the negative impact of chronic diseases and other illnesses. Seniors can benefit from exercise as it improves their immune system, gives them better bone density, lowered blood pressure and improve heart health and also better digestion. Other chronic conditions such as diabetes, osteoporosis and obesity can be ameliorated through physical exercise.

    It helps lose or maintain weight. Metabolism slows down as people age, which has made healthy weight maintenance a challenge for many. Yet physical exercise can help increase metabolism as well as help build muscle mass by burning calories. Overall wellness is improved if the body of a person reaches a healthy weight.

    It improves the flexibility, balance and mobility for elders. Getting enough exercise will improve the posture, flexibility and strength of seniors. This in turn will then affect their balance and coordination. Chronic conditions such as arthritis can be alleviated by doing strength training.


Benefits of Senior Exercise (Mental)

    It improves the sleep of seniors. It is not a clear consequence of aging for people that are having poor qualities of sleep but it is nonetheless important for being healthy. Most of the time, exercise will improve a person’s sleep and allow them to fall asleep quickly and more deeply.

    It is beneficial to the brain. Exercising regularly is beneficial to the brain’s functions and helps keep it active. This will result in letting the person prevent cognitive decline, dementia and memory loss. Brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease can even be slowed by exercise as well.

    It improves self-esteem and mood. The endorphins that are created through exercise can help people feel better for themselves and will also reduce the feelings of depression. People will be more confident in themselves as they feel strong and active.


Image Source: Angora37
                                ElenaRay


About the Author:

Dr. Novick is the leading expert on Gluten Free Living and a Trusted Chiropractor in San Diego. Dr. Novick takes the time to create an individual treatment plan tailored to your specific health needs using holistic, natural therapies such as homeopathy, bach flowers, functional medicine or chiropractic care which nurture the body’s innate health system, and address the root cause of each person’s individual health issues.