Category Archives: General

Webinar: Healthcare Enterprise, Legal and Medical Ethics in Integrative Medicine

April 14, 2015

Metabolic Medical Institute

The recording of “The Business of Integrative Medicine” featuring Andrew Heyman, MD is now available.

Webcast presented by Dr. Andrew Heyman highlighting why proper practice management tools are critical your business.

Health Care Enterprise, Legal and Medical Ethics
in Integrative Medicine Course

If you enjoyed this webinar, join us in Alexandria, VA April 23-25, to earn 24 CME credits and gain a better understanding on all facets of maintain a successful practice including but not limited to:

  • Identifying Key Revenue Streams
  • Patient Education Strategies
  • The Role of Technology in Integrative Medicine
  • How to Inform, Motivate and Inspire Patients
    Marketing, PR and Branding
  • Case Discussions: Business, Legal and Ethical Decision Making

Unlock the Door to Maintaining a Successful Practice
We Have the Key Click here.

Physical Activity Keeps White Matter in Shape

November 4, 2014

White matter tracts enable communication between areas of the brain, but like the rest of the body, they decline with age. However, research suggests that staying active may help to preserve the integrity of these tracts. Agnieszka Burzynska, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois, and colleagues used accelerometers to track physical activity in 88 healthy but “low-fit” participants aged 60 to 78. Results showed that older adults who engaged more often in light physical activity had greater structural integrity in the white-matter tracts of the temporal lobes, which play a key role in memory, language, and the processing of visual and auditory information. Conversely, those who spent more time sitting had lower structural integrity in the white-matter tracts connecting the hippocampus. “This relationship between the integrity of tracts connecting the hippocampus and sedentariness is significant even when we control for age, gender and aerobic fitness,” said Burzynska. “It suggests that the physiological effect of sitting too much, even if you still exercise at the end of the day for half an hour, will have a detrimental effect on your brain.”

Burzynska AZ, Chaddock-Heyman L, Voss MW, et al. Physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness are beneficial for white matter in low-fit older adults. PLoS One. 2014 Sep 17;9(9):e107413.  For more visit http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-09/uoia-slp091614.php

 

Make Your New Year’s Resolution Fool Proof

January 16, 2014

For many, the first of January means a new year, a clean slate, and lots of possibilities on the horizon. For many more, this also means it’s time to make a New Year’s resolution.

The most common New Year’s resolutions are to lose weight and improve one’s financial situation. According to the American Heart Association, over 154 million American adults are overweight or obese. Many people just decide they are going to lose 10, 15, 20 pounds without any sort of plan of how to do so. Slowly working towards your goals and setting a timeline will prevent you from getting discouraged early in the process and will allow you to see positive results over time. A TIME Magazine article states “Content of the resolution doesn’t matter as much as how the resolution is set…you can approach a health goal in a way that guarantees failure or approach it in a way that will guarantee success.”

  • Set realistic goals- If New Year’s resolutions were easy to maintain, everyone would look like supermodels, be filthy rich, be world travelers, experts at their hobbies, and be completely stress-free. Achieving goals means setting realistic expectations. For example, if you’re 30 pounds overweight, don’t expect to lose 30 pounds right away just because you’re ready to. It takes time, strategy and extreme commitment.
  • Keep yourself accountable- Have a friend or family member check in with you and keep you responsible for your goal.
  • Be strategic- Know what works for you. For example, if you know you’re going to have to work late one week, get your workouts done in the morning. Another example, if you’re trying to save money- dedicate a specific percentage of every paycheck to your savings account, set weekly grocery budgets, etc.
  • Reward yourself- While consistency with a New Year’s resolution is important, don’t be too hard on yourself. Depriving yourself of a piece of birthday cake while everyone else around you is enjoying one, is cruel torture. Have a small piece, and make sure you get your exercise in that day.
  • Be optimistic- Know that you can do it. Being your own worst enemy isn’t helping anyone, you’ll get discouraged way easier. A Positive attitude can go a long way.

Resolving to make a major life change without any thought or goals involved, is basically setting yourself up for failure. New Year’s resolutions are a great opportunity to change something you don’t like about yourself but they get a bad rep because their success rate is not always great. Gradual, consistent progress is a sure way to ensure triumph, no matter what you want the end result to be.