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Functional Wellness is the understanding that our body/mind function as a whole and when any of the systems develop illness it has a direct effect on other systems. This correlation expands to show that stress and mental health impacts physical health and longevity of life more than cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure and any other risk factor.
Most of us are in our daily lives are working, caring for families, along with continuous decision making and conflict resolutions. These everyday pressures lead to unhealthy coping mechanisms including substance use, poor nutrition, and limited body movement that are slowly killing us.
Here are some facts related to the impacts of stress on our bodies:
Approximately 95% of all illness are created or worsened by stress
Stress and the hormone released from high stress is related to belly fat
Stress damages the memory center in the brain contributing to memory loss and dementia
Stress contributes to having more susceptibility to colds and flus
Stress leads to body inflammation and chronic illness
Why is functional wellness important and how does it help? Functional wellness is developing an integrated person-centered care approach to wellness to reduce the effects of everyday stress on the body through wellness practices. This is supported by providing many opportunities for connection with others as connection reduces risk of death from all illness and creates longevity.
To support you in developing long lasting skills to unwind and develop mind and body wellness, we have put together support with implementing and maintaining daily habits:
Learning how to actively relax. To engage in developing mindful practices that support the whole body, you must do something. Crafts, hobbies, relaxing exercise and meditation all work. (Sitting in a frozen over stressed state can lead to sitting for long periods of time while binge watching television and partaking in processed snacks, sugary drinks, and/or alcohol or other illicit substance use.)
Practice being calm. Try meditation, deep breathing, yoga, biofeedback, progressive muscle relaxation, taking a hot bath, making love, getting a massage, watching a sunset, and walking in the woods.
Physical Movement. Developing a physical movement plan that is sustainable burns off stress chemicals, clears the mind, along with having many physical benefits to combat illnesses. In addition, it has been proven to be better than or equal to psychotropic mediations (anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medications) for treating depression and anxiety.
Functional Nutrition. Eat small regular nutrient dense whole food meals to avoid the short-term stress of starvation on your body while reducing or limiting the intake of empty calories that negatively impact our bodies and mind like caffeine, alcohol and refined sugars.
Take a hot bath, sauna, and/or stretching. It will help your body unwind and deeply relax promoting better sleep practices.
Examine your thoughts, attitudes and responses to situations. Reframing your point of view can lead to a reduction in stress.
Develop Healthy Sleep practices that include 7-8 hours of sleep with relaxation exercises including breath work, relaxation activities, reducing/eliminating screen time and caffeine consumption. Developing regular sleep hygiene reduces chronic illness, memory loss, and dementia.
Consciously build your network of friends, family and community. They are your most powerful allies in achieving long-term health.
As there is not one practice that works best, implementing change utilizing one of these strategies or a combination is the best practice to reduce disorders and disease that are causing continued illnesses and reducing life spans.
We are here to support your journey in developing sensible practices that work within your lifestyle to reduce your stress and the implications that stress is having on your functional wellness (Mind, body, and spirit). We offer both individual supports, group supports, and/or a combination of both in our Functional Wellness Groups.
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