Back to School, Back to health: Tip the scales of health toward balance

By Dr Elise Schroeder

As we say good bye to the summer, and hello to school days and autumn, we find that health care becomes a priority again. “I’m so tired in the morning as I get my kids off to school. My energy doesn’t last through the day as the hours of daylight begin to wane. I’m not sleeping through the night. I keep catching colds and flu’s. “ These are the types of complaints I see in my office in the fall. They are the types of questions that lead us back to this one very important question: are you in balance?

The scales are an image I use with patients all the time. I’ll use this idea when talking about allergies, the immune system, digestion, hormone balance and more. One side of the scale represents things that help reduce susceptibility and the other side represents things in life that increase susceptibility. It’s a concept that we all can relate to. We balance our checkbook, we balance our work and home life, we balance our time etc and when something tips the scales, we notice!

It’s the same with health. When there are enough positives to outweigh the negatives, we will find our patients are in balance and healthy. But when something extra gets added to the negative we’ll see them in our office with a cold, or an allergy attack, or digestive upset or hot flashes and night sweats. As the summer turns to fall, we have an opportunity to remind our patients to recheck their scales of health. Lifestyle changes can add something to the positive side of the scale. Like an extra hour of sleep each night, replacing sugary drinks like soda with soda water, walking or biking to work one day a week, or reducing exposure to toxins in the environment like pesticides, heavy metals like mercury in fish, or PCB’s and chlorine in drinking water.

Sometimes our patients will need help in finding their balance. As their health care provider, you can help them figure out which things might be weighing down their scales of health. Listen to your patient’s complaints. Are they experiencing symptoms of hormone imbalance like insomnia, fatigue, blood sugar imbalance, or anxiety? It could be adrenal imbalance. If it’s a sex hormone imbalance they might complain of bloating, breast tenderness, irregular cycles, hot flashes, decreased libido or excess hair growth. With your help, hormone status can be assessed and rebalanced.

The scales of health are a great teaching tool for your provider tool box. It can be applied to almost any health issue, because health is about balance. Your patients will appreciate the time you spend explaining how their actions and behaviors can affect their health. They will appreciate the benefits of understanding how stress might be affecting their hormones. Most of all they will enjoy how good they feel after you’ve helped them tip the scales of health to balance.