Productive Living: Lifestyle Medicine, with Sarah Keyes – TPW352

Taking care of our health is one of the most important things we can do. Join Physician Assistant Sarah Keyes and me in this latest episode of the Productive Living series as we talk about how to do that by making simple but meaningful lifestyle choices--and giving ourselves grace along the way. Making lifestyle changes can have a positive effect on our health and our productivity Sarah Keyes has a keen interest in something known as Lifestyle Medicine. She notes that while she’s a Physician Assistant by training, she is an educator by passion and currently is pursuing her doctorate in education while continuing to coach patients and teach as an assistant professor in the Baylor College of Medicine’s Physician Assistant program, helping to train the next generation of physician assistants. Outside of work, Sarah enjoys cooking, figuring out productivity hacks, napping and resting, and hanging out with her husband, baby Weston (5 months), and Calvin (3 years). Sarah was first introduced to Lifestyle Medicine by a mentor who thought it might be a good fit for her due to her interest in helping others live healthy lifestyles. When she looked into it, it was a lightbulb moment for her. She knew this was a topic she wanted to learn more about and teach to others. Sarah feels very fortunate that she gets to do this for a living and she tries to model it in her own life as well. What is Lifestyle Medicine? The American College of Lifestyle Medicine defines Lifestyle Medicine as the evidence-based use of lifestyle modifications in order to prevent, treat, and reverse chronic disease. It's kind of an old notion that we can use our habits, the choices we make, and our lifestyle to promote our health and prevent chronic disease. While it's extremely elegant in idea, it's not easy to practice. Lifestyle Medicine is framed through six pillars: * Nutrition * Physical Active * Stress Management * Sleep * Social Support * Substance Use Secession If we optimize and work to have supportive habits in all of these areas, then we're on the path to having a healthier life. The American College of Lifestyle Medicine website says that “80% or more of all healthcare spending in the U.S. is tied to the treatment of conditions rooted in poor lifestyle choices." Chronic diseases and conditions such as hypertension, heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, multiple types of cancer—are among the most common, costly and preventable of all health conditions.” Some people could see this as blaming us for our own disease, but it's actually encouraging news, because if poor lifestyle choices are causing or contributing to these types of conditions, then that means we have the power to be healthier by changing our choices. How we can change our poor lifestyle choices This is the million-dollar question because so much of the healthcare spending in the United States is on the conditions listed above (and women in particular are really impacted by heart disease). It's actually empowering to know that Lifestyle Medicine can give us some control and autonomy over our lives. Sarah believes our society views poor health as having no willpower or discipline, and although that may apply in some cases, Lifestyle Medicine can allow us to take control and ask ourselves, what can I do to promote my health? There are both upstream and downstream factors that play a role in how healthy we are though, such as inequality and access to care, but knowing that we can change our health by changing our lifestyle choices is one thing that can give us some control. Some behaviors that can put you at a higher risk for dise...