Welcome to my Health Design blog.
I’m blogging about my experiment to design my life for optimal health – more vitality, more engagement, and less stress. I’ll be using the tools I learned at Duke Integrative Medicine this year, while I finished my certificate in Health Coaching. Tools like designing my personal vision of health using the ideas and values that are important to me. Making a plan, setting the goals and taking the actions to get there. Figuring out what is healthy for me and for my family. And, of course, sharing it all here.
I was relieved, excited and intrigued when I found the Integrative Health Coaching program at Duke. Relieved to find an approach to health that really did put the patient at the center of their story. Excited because Integrative Medicine accepts that I use acupuncture sometimes, that what I eat really does affect how I feel, and that I might have a valuable insight for my doctor into my symptoms. And intrigued because it is an approach that is backed up by scientific evidence and research.
The Wheel of Health is a balanced, flexible approach to designing a personal health plan. It takes into account all the “determinants of health” that are under your control: the obvious ones like nutrition and exercise, but also the more subtle ones like your environment, how you handle stress, and where you find meaning in your life. A big part of anyone’s health plan should be developing really effective relationships with your health care providers and knowing which ones are the best for you.
I remember the first day at Duke, wondering what the heck that wheel meant and how I would apply it to my life. My goal with this blog is to take a spin around the Wheel of Health, take it from the abstract to the practical, and share my findings about the difference between the fluff and the practical in all the health information floating around today.