Health library

GRH OB/GYN Jeanna Romer, MD, writes an open note to the community in honor of the 2021 National Lifestyle Medicine Week.

Part of the impetus for moving back to my husband’s home town and my alma mater after residency was not only to give back to a community which we felt had given us so much, but also for the chance to make a greater difference. In bigger cities and health systems, it is often easy to get lost and feel like a “cog in the wheel”. In La Grande, however, it seemed that there could be bigger potential for meaningful change. My goals have long been to help make women and their families, and thereby the communities in which they live, healthier. But it quickly became apparent that the Grande Ronde Valley is not immune to the chronic conditions that afflict so many in this nation.

Many of my patients have hypertension, high cholesterol, depression, diabetes, addictions, obesity, and anxiety. These are all chronic conditions which make up some of the leading causes of death and disability in the US. These conditions consume 86% of all healthcare dollars and more than half of US adults have at least one condition.  As physicians, we are trained to help patients make objective improvements in their health, but this often comes in the quick fix of addressing symptoms with ever increasing quantities of pills and procedures. Because of the idea that “change is hard and patients don’t want to change” we resort to putting band aids on problems, rather than moving beyond temporary and unsustainable fixes that fail to address the root cause of these chronic conditions. But it is not enough to tell patients to get healthier, we must give them a prescription and the tools for doing so. The evidence is clear, incorporating lifestyle medicine is the best, most sustainable and impactful thing we can do to support our communities in this goal. Perhaps then we will see that change can in fact happen through a series of small, but meaningful steps.

Lifestyle medicine is a prescription of six behavior changes that help promote health and prevent disease:

• Nutrition
  • Focus on a WHOLE FOOD, PLANT-BASED DIET. This is one of the most effective ways to address long-term conditions. Eat a diversity of whole fruits and vegetables. Drink water for hydration. Eat a variety of plant protein like peas, beans, lentils, tofu, nuts and seeds. Choose whole grains. “Let food be thy medicine”.
• Sleep
  • Adults need 7-9 hours of sleep a day. Negative sleep habits can cause low attention span, depressed mood, decreased caloric burn, insulin resistance, and decreased performance.
• Exercise
  • Recommend 150-300 minutes of moderate intensity exercise a week. The more physical activity, the more benefit, but any amount of exercise is better than none. Get moving and make yourself accountable to it.
• Substance Abuse
  • Tobacco use and drinking too much alcohol increase the risk of many chronic diseases and death. There are now many effective treatment models and even online/app-based tools (like those at drjud.com) to help facilitate behavior change.
• Stress Management
  • Stress is unavoidable. How we think about it and how we react to it makes the difference in how it impacts our self-care and our health. Turn off the news and remove social media apps from your phone. So much of our lives is dictated by what is capturing our attention in that moment. It takes getting still and looking within to find healthy ways to cope. Start a yoga practice, meditation, a gratitude journal, take care of spiritual needs, and start going about life in a mindful manner.
• Healthy relationships
  • The single most important predictor of human happiness and long life is having strong social connections. Volunteer, attend community celebrations and events. Make and spend time with others. Be flexible, supportive, and excited about what others are doing in their lives. Be mindful of how you use technology to support social connections in your life.

Over the next few weeks, I challenge you to find ways to incorporate lifestyle medicine, and to ultimately take steps towards becoming a better you. We all struggle with something. Anxiety, emotional eating, smoking, shopping, self-judgement, anger, bad habits. But whatever your struggle, change is possible. Through these steps, we can collectively help make this community healthier. The change starts from being inquisitive about the ways we live; meaningfully or not, consciously or not. The change starts in setting goals and taking meaningful and intentional steps. The change starts with you. How will you choose to become the best version of yourself?

Jeanna Romer, MD, is an OB/GYN at the GRH Women's and Children's Clinic, and an advocate for improving the health of her patients, their families, and our communities as a whole.