By Schuyler Corrigan

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August 6, 2022

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You may think it is only practical to go and see your doctor when you’re actively sick, or have mysterious symptoms pop up. But when it comes to sustaining your overall health and wellness, taking a holistic and preventative approach can be a tremendous asset to maintaining longevity. At Richmond Natural Medicine, we love working with men (and women!) who want to check in once or twice a year and make sure they are on the right track with their health, or optimize any wellness habits that are in line with maintaining their health goals. If you’re curious about some of the things our naturopathic doctors will be checking in with you about and offering personalized recommendations, here is a glimpse into a few pillars of wellness we make sure are strong and established for men’s health:

A Holistic View of Men’s Health

Whole-body health is best achieved through preventative daily habits. Small, daily habits really do add up over time, and even practicing one of these below can make a significant positive impact on your long-term health. Here are a few to keep in mind:

• Exercise regularly for 30 minutes per day or more. When you get your body moving, you enhance your blood and lymphatic circulation throughout the entire body – including the brain. Walk one day. Bike another. Rock climb or weight lift throughout the month. Consider swimming and hiking seasonally. As often as you can, challenge your body to work different muscle groups and your mind to try new activities.
• Eat a diet that’s colorful, hydrating & whole foods-based. Aim for five different colors of foods that you recognize as whole and unprocessed. Learning how to cook and prepare your own foods is a wonderful way to develop a closer connection to your foods, and bring a lot of joy and creative energy to your mornings or evenings! Also, remember to drink plenty of water throughout the day. As a rule of thumb, aim for half of your body weight in ounces each day, not to exceed 120oz. For example, if you weigh 160 pounds, that’s at least 80 ounces of water. 

Read More: Nutrition Tips: 5 Colors Each Day 

• If you’re over 35, go in for your annual check-up and bloodwork. Having a simple check-in with your PCP or naturopathic doctor – even when there is nothing actively wrong – is a great practice to follow your health journey over time. If you do wait to get all of your blood work done when something is going wrong, it can be very helpful to have several years of “normal” labs that you can compare to and know what your baseline is when you’re healthy. Things to get checked annually include your blood pressure, total cholesterol, glucose and A1C, vitamin D, and thyroid. More comprehensively, asking for a CBC or CMP (Complete Blood Count and Comprehensive Metabolic Profile, respectively) is a good place to start. 
• Do something different with your routine. When we settle into a routine, the brain can actually stop creating new neural pathways. Challenge yourself to drive a different way to work or to the grocery store. Brush your teeth with your non-di=ominant hand. Fix a new recipe once a week. Do brain puzzles on your phone or newspaper each morning. Explore a new hiking trail once a month. Learn a new language. Make art or play music. All of these activities challenge your brain to think and learn differently, and in turn, support healthy brain function as you age.
• Practice gratitude. The practice of gratitude has exploded with new research supporting mental health and overall well-being. Each day, write three individual things you are grateful for on slips of paper or a journal. At the end of the week read over them. Consider inviting close ones to join you in reading these messages of gratitude. You will be surprised by how your gratitude is elevated in their presence. We forget how much there is to be grateful for every single day. Living in a state of gratitude completely shifts our perspective from living in “lack” to living in abundance. 

If you are seeking preventative support for your overall health or for a specific area of your health, reach out to our office here to learn more about our Naturopathic doctors and the support they can provide. Here at RNM, both Dr. Viktoriya Beliy and Dr. Vanessa Ferreira work specifically with Men’s Health. Learn more about each of them here.