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10 Health Habits They Don’t Teach In Medical School

By Lissa · Comments (3)

Thursday, April 11th, 2013

As a health-conscious person, you’re already in the loop about the importance of eating your veggies, skipping the booze, cigarettes, and fake foods, daily exercise, plenty of zzzzz’s, and regular check-ups. But as a physician fascinated by why some health nuts still suffer from chronic illness, I dug deep into the medical literature to study what else really makes us healthy – and what predisposes us to illness.

What I found shocked me. What I discovered was certainly never introduced to me in medical school. As I wrote about in my upcoming book Mind Over Medicine: Scientific Proof That You Can Heal Yourself and as discussed in my latest TEDx talk, the scientific data proves that there are ten key habits that lead to optimal health. (I’ll bet your doctor never wrote these on a prescription pad!)

Alleviate loneliness. The Italian immigrants of Roseto, Pennsylvania ate meatballs fried in lard, gorged on pasta, and smoked, but they had half the risk of heart disease as the rest of the country. Why? Researchers concluded that it was because they lived communally, celebrated regularly, and had a huge network of friends. Dinner party, anyone?
Couple up. A UCLA study reviewed census data and found that those who never marry are 58% more likely to die at a young age than those who exchange vows. But only healthy marriages count if you’re seeking optimal health. Studies show that, when it comes to health, you’re better off alone than stuck in a toxic relationship.
Get it on. Those with healthy, happy sex lives live longer, have a lower risk of heart disease and stroke, get less breast cancer, bolster their immune systems, sleep better, appear more youthful, enjoy improved fitness, have enhanced fertility, get relief from chronic pain, experience fewer migraines, suffer from less depression, and enjoy an improved quality of life.
Engage in work you love. Those stuck in soul-sucking jobs are at greater risk for sudden death. In Japan, they call it “karoshi” – death by overwork. But it’s not just the Japanese who are at risk. Studies suggest Americans are at even greater risk of sudden death from heart disease and stroke due to overwork. If work is stressing you out, you may be shortening your life. However, when you’ve found your calling and are doing what you love, your nervous system relaxes, and this flips on your body’s natural self-healing mechanisms. Read More→

Comments (3)

Categories : Physical Health, Uncategorized

Tags : happy, health, Lissa Rankin, loneliness, medical school, meditate, positive, prescription

10 Ways To Live Forever

By Lissa · Comments (13)

Monday, February 18th, 2013

couple

Stamatis Moraitis was in his mid-60’s, living in the United States, when he was diagnosed with lung cancer and told he had only 9 months to live. He considered taking his doctor’s advice – aggressive chemotherapy that might prolong his life, but wouldn’t cure him. But upon reflection, he decided to decline it, choosing instead to return to his native Ikaria, a Greek island where he could be buried with his ancestors in a graveyard overlooking the Aegean Sea.

He and his wife moved into a small house on a vineyard with his elderly parents, where he expected he would die soon. While he prepared to die, he started going to his old church. He reconnected with old friends over a bottle or two of wine. He even planted vegetables in a garden, not expected he’d be around to harvest them. He basked in sunshine, savored the salty air, and relished in his love for this wife.

Then six months passed, and not only did he not die, he was actually feeling better than ever. He started working in the vineyard during the day, making himself useful, and in the evenings, he’d play dominos with friends.

Three and a half decades later, Moraitis is 97 years old, still living in Ikaria. He never underwent treatment.

At one point, 25 years after his diagnosis, Moraitis went back to the United States to ask his doctors what had happened. Apparently, the doctors were all dead.

The Island Where People Forget To Die

The New York Times article The Island Where People Forget To Die describes the Ikarians, a population of Greeks like Moraitis who often live healthy lives until they’re over a hundred years old.

What can we learn from the people of Ikaria about how to live long, happy, productive lives? Here are some of the longevity-inducing factors researchers ferreted out from studying this populations of centenarians.

10 Things We Can Learn From The Ikarians Read More→

Comments (13)

Categories : Physical Health

Tags : cancer, church, community, health, Lissa Rankin, live forever, love

How Fear Makes You Sick

By Lissa · Comments (11)

Thursday, January 31st, 2013

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You’re afraid to start your own business because you might fail.

You’re afraid to go to the doctor because she might find something wrong.

You’re afraid to get married because you might wind up divorced.

You’re afraid to travel to Africa because Africa can be so dangerous.

You’re afraid to do what you love because it might not pay the bills.

You’re afraid to ask out the object of your affection because you might get rejected.

You’re afraid to go for that first kiss.

You’re afraid to take guitar lessons because you might suck.

You’re afraid to quit your soul-sucking job because you might never find another one.

You’re afraid to retire because you might not have enough money.

You’re afraid to buy your dream home because you might not be able to make the mortgage.

You’re afraid to take French lessons because it might mean you’ll actually have to go to France.

You’re afraid to let them see you cry because they might think you’re unprofessional.

You’re afraid to let them see the real you because they might not like you.

Fear Is Everywhere Read More→

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Categories : Physical Health, Uncategorized

Tags : fear, flight or fight, health, illness, Lissa Rankin, response, stress

The Whole Health Cairn: A Radical New Wellness Model

By Lissa · Comments (28)

Thursday, November 29th, 2012

As a physician, I’ve been exposed to a variety of wellness models, most of them pie charts and pyramids detailing what it takes to be optimally healthy – a nutritious diet, an exercise regimen, enough sleep – you catch my drift.

But something about these wellness models always left me feeling like something was missing. First, it was the format. A pie chart implies that you can take out a piece of the pie and still keep the rest of the uneaten pie intact. The same is true for a pyramid – if you take a strip out of a pyramid – you wind up with a shorter, but still stable pyramid.

Some wellness models are more holistic than others, accounting not only for conventionally “healthy” behaviors, but also for other facets of what makes a good life – social network, professional life, etc. Even still, I never found one that spoke to my soul. None of them ever felt expansive enough, comprehensive enough, or acknowledging of the interdependency of all the facets of what makes us whole and how these life factors affect the body.

From the day I launched OwningPink.com on April 26, 2009, my intention was to create a blog that explored all the facets of what I believed led to a healthy life – relationships, work/life purpose, creativity, spirituality, sexuality, your environment, finances, mental health, and physical health. My hypothesis was that each of these facets had to be in balance, not only with each other, but with the truth of who you are, the part of you I call your “Inner Pilot Light.” In other words, it’s not enough to be in a relationship if your relationship is out of alignment with your truth. It’s not enough to be having sex if you’re selling out your authentic sexual desires. It’s not enough to go to church if you really find communion with Source in nature instead. For years, my blog focused on helping people understand health in this kind of expanded way, but it didn’t fit neatly into an elevator speech or any wellness model I’d ever stumbled across.

The Vision Read More→

Comments (28)

Categories : Physical Health, Uncategorized

Tags : body, cairn, health, Lissa Rankin, mind, physical, relationships, sick, wellness model

The Prescription For Gratitude

By Lissa · Comments (14)

Thursday, November 22nd, 2012

For those of us in the United States, today is a day of giving thanks, of counting our blessings, of expressing gratitude, of remembering how far we’ve come. But even if you live elsewhere, I invite you to give thanks not just today, but every day.

It’s no accident that I put Gratitude in the healing bubble of the wellness model I introduced in my first TEDx talk and will be teaching further in my upcoming book Mind Over Medicine. Along with Love, Pleasure, and Service, Gratitude is essential to living a whole, balanced, optimally healthy life.

The Science of Gratitude

In her book The How Of Happiness, Sonja Lyubomirsky shares that the happiest people were not the richest, most beautiful, or most successful. Instead, as it turns out, the golden ticket to happiness lies not so much in changing our natural tendencies or even our life circumstances, but in adopting certain behaviors that have been scientifically proven to increase happiness. In her study, happy people shared similar traits.

They devoted a lot of time to nurturing their relationships with family and friends, they were first to lend a helping hand, practiced optimism when imagining their futures, savored life’s pleasures and made efforts to try to live in the moment, exercised frequently, were deeply committed to lifelong goals and ambitions, and showed poise and strength when facing life’s inevitable challenges. She also found that you can be happier by avoiding over-thinking, cutting yourself loose from ruminating thoughts, eliminating social comparisons, taking action to solve problems right when they arise, seeking meaning amidst stress, loss or trauma, practicing forgiveness, engaging in activities that get you “in the flow,” smiling more, and making efforts to take care of your body.

But perhaps the single most potent factor affecting how happy you are – and the one most easy to change – is how much you make gratitude a practice.

As described in his book Authentic Happiness, Martin Seligman conducted a study and taught a single happiness-inducing strategy to a group of severely depressed individuals. Although these people were so abysmally depressed they could barely climb out of bed, they were instructed to do one simple task every day: go to a website and write down three good things that happened to them that day. Within 15 days, their depression improved from “severely depressed” to “mildly to moderately depressed.” 94% of them reported feeling better!

Why Gratitude Is Essential Read More→

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Categories : Mental Health, Physical Health

Tags : change, gratitude, health, life, Lissa Rankin, practice, thanksgiving

How To Reduce Fear & Anxiety About Disease & Death – Part 4

By Lissa · Comments (4)

Monday, October 29th, 2012

In this blog series, I’ve been exploring the relationship between fear, anxiety, and how it leads us to overmedicalize health care.

In Part 1 of this blog series, I discussed The Shocking Dangers of Medical Overdiagnosis & Overtreatment. In Part 2, I shared How To Avoid Medical Overdiagnosis & Overtreatment. In Part 3, I tried to reassure you with the 5 Reasons Not To Be Afraid Because We’ve Never Been Safer. And today, I’ll discuss how to manage fear and anxiety around illness and death, so your fears don’t drive you to put yourself at risk of overdiagnosis and overtreatment.

How Fear & Anxiety Lead To Overmedicalization

28% of Americans suffer from an anxiety disorder, which manifests when a person feels fear without any certain or immediate external threat. In addition to fearing illness and death, we’re also afraid of public speaking, heights, going out in public, needles, and spiders. In fact, a 1986 study by the National Institute of Mental Health showed that 5%- 12% of people surveyed have experienced phobias in the past six months. There are as many as 530 documented phobias, and studies estimate that 24 million Americans will experience phobias in their lifetimes. Some even suffer from phobophobia, the fear of phobias!

But the irony is that fear and anxiety have been scientifically proven to harm your health, putting you at risk of everything from heart disease to cancer to the common cold.

On top of that, when you’re afraid of getting sick or missing a diagnosis, you’re likely to put yourself at risk of overdiagnosis and overtreatment, which as I explored earlier in this blog series, has been documented to lead to health risks. As it turns out, fear and anxiety make you sick, and courage heals. So what can you do to minimize fear and anxiety about illness and embrace courage instead? If you’re suffering from a full blown anxiety disorder or phobia, please seek professional help. But if you, like many of us, just need some tips for navigating the fears that plague all of us, read on.

10 Tips For Reducing Health Fears Read More→

Comments (4)

Categories : Physical Health, Uncategorized

Tags : fear, health, Lissa Rankin, overdiagnosis, overmedicalization, overtreatment, scared, stress response

5 Reasons Not To Be Afraid Because We’ve Never Been Safer – Part 3

By Lissa · Comments (11)

Monday, October 22nd, 2012

If you think your body – or the body of someone you love – might be at risk of being overmedicalized, keep reading! In Part 1 of this blog series, I discussed The Shocking Dangers of Medical Overdiagnosis & Overtreatment. In Part 2, I shared How To Avoid Medical Overdiagnosis & Overtreatment. And in Part 3 today, I’m going to prove to you that, in spite of how anxious many people are about health, we’ve never been safer – so take a big, deep sigh of relief.

There’s copious scientific proof that fear and anxiety harm almost every organ system, predisposing fearful people to a whole host of diseases. Our fear of illness and death leads us to fear far off, undetectable levels of radiation, pesticides, hormones in milk, chemicals in food, poisons in our water supply, genetically modified organisms, and toxins in our air. We’re worried about mercury in our fish and fillings, bacteria in our cheese, lead in our paint, leaky breast implants, and mold in our basements. We’re afraid of toxins in our cosmetics, poisons in plastics, and contamination of our meat. We’re anxious about whether microwave ovens, cell phones, and deodorant will kill us. We’re terrified of cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer’s, and herpes. Not a single case of Ebola virus has ever been reported in the United States, and yet, Americans fear it.

Yet fear itself is making us sick.

Cancer Phobia Read More→

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Categories : Physical Health, Uncategorized

Tags : doctor, health, Lissa Rankin, overdiagnosis, overtreatment, patient, risk, safe

A Lesson In Grace

By Lissa · Comments (29)

Thursday, October 18th, 2012

Someone hurt you and you’re holding a grudge. You feel a well-deserved sense of righteous indignation. You’re in the right. That someone was wrong. You have every right to feel the way you do. Anyone who heard the story would take your side.

Maybe she abandoned you.

Perhaps he betrayed you.

She broke your heart.

He molested you.

She criticized you.

He withdrew love.

She beat you up.

He failed to protect you.

There are countless ways people can hurt us. Not one of us is immune, and it’s only natural that we build walls to protect our broken hearts.

But when we let our hearts get tainted with resentment, we impede the flow of love out of our hearts and poison our inner space, resulting not only in damage to our relationships but also illness in the body.

Forgiveness As Medicine Read More→

Comments (29)

Categories : Physical Health, Uncategorized

Tags : courage, forgiveness, grace, health, illness, Lissa Rankin, resentment

The Shocking Dangers Of Medical Overdiagnosis & Overtreatment – Part 1

By Lissa · Comments (25)

Thursday, October 4th, 2012

Back when I was still in clinical practice, my newly pregnant patient Samantha, accompanied by her husband John, asked if I would order every medical test known to modern science in order to guarantee, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that both mother and baby would be healthy, chromosomally intact, genetically perfect, and immune to any risks of pregnancy or childbirth. Samantha was a young, healthy 28, neither Samantha or John had any personal or family risk factors, and from what I could gather, Samantha’s pregnancy was likely to be as low risk as they come.

I warned them that ordering unnecessary tests increases the risk of false positives, putting Samantha and the baby at risk of overtreatment. I also warned them that insurance would not cover unindicated testing, and they’d wind up with a whopping bill if I did order these tests. They didn’t care. Samantha was an heiress and they were willing to spend anything to ensure that Samantha and the baby would be healthy.

Because I’m well acquainted with the dangers of overdiagnosis and overtreatment and because, like all good doctors, I took the Hippocratic Oath that made me promise to “First, do no harm,” I didn’t feel comfortable ordering tests that were likely to cause more harm than good. Instead, I initiated a conversation with Samantha and John about how, as a mother and recovering control freak myself, I understand how much anxiety can spring forth during a pregnancy. We’d all love to think we can test our way to certainty, eliminate risk, and guarantee a positive outcome. But as any experienced OB/GYN or midwife knows, the only thing certain about pregnancy and childbirth is uncertainty.

The Struggle For Control Read More→

Comments (25)

Categories : Physical Health

Tags : cancer, control, health, Lissa Rankin, overdiagnosis, overtreatment, risks

The Health Benefits Of Finding Your Tribe

By Lissa · Comments (3)

Monday, September 10th, 2012

Most of us have been blessed to get at least glimpses into what it feels like to be part of a tribe. Maybe you felt that sense of belonging on your wedding day, when family and friends gathered from afar just to celebrate your awesomeness. Maybe your team won the championship and you all hugged and cried and bonded over team jerseys and mascots.

Maybe that sense of belonging washed over you when you threw your cap into the air on graduation day. Maybe you’ve felt it in church or in your women’s or men’s group or in yoga class or at a personal growth workshop. Maybe you’ve felt it on girl’s night out or when you rushed a fraternity or when you got crowned with your tiara in Mama Gena’s School of Womanly Arts.

Every single one of us craves the feeling of being part of something bigger than ourselves. By nature, we are tribal, and back in our caveman days, tribal culture was necessary for survival. But increasingly, we have become disconnected from our tribe. We know our people are out there – somewhere, anywhere – but we feel lost and disconnected from them. We seek them, but they keep eluding us. Without our tribe, we may wind up feeling distanced, depressed, spiritually disconnected, even sick.

The Power Of The Clan Read More→

Comments (3)

Categories : Inner Pilot Light, Relationships, Uncategorized

Tags : belonging, benefits, community, health, heart attack, heart disease, Lissa Rankin, loneliness, tribe