In today’s world, many people are interested in improving their health and wellness but struggle with figuring out how. News about wellness, diet, and exercise may be confusing or contradictory. You may have tried wellness plans that didn’t work out well for you or failed to address issues you wanted to work on. Having the assistance of a professional wellness coach from Optimum Health Rehab can help you get on track with your wellness and fitness goals.
What Does Wellness Cover?
Some people think of wellness as an effort to stay healthy. The official definition focuses on making good choices to have a successful or healthy/happy life. A wellness coach can definitely help you stay healthy, but we can also assist with specific concerns, such as:
- Weight management, fitness goals, or a desire to eat a healthier diet
- Difficulty sleeping or feeling tired all the time
- Stress and anxiety
- Difficulties with concentration or memory/mental acuity
- Quitting smoking
- Interpersonal relationship struggles
- Achieving work/life balance
- Allergy testing or diagnosing food sensitivities or gastrointestinal issues
What Can a Wellness Coach Do for You?
At Optimum Health, our wellness coaches take a “whole body” or “whole person” holistic approach to wellness. Even if you come in with one specific concern, we still consider you, your medical history, and your lifestyle and how these interact when it comes to your physical and mental health. Then we will compile a plan to help with any specific issues you’ve identified, as well as any additional areas of concern we’ve found. Some services we may recommend include:
Determining the Root Cause of Health Challenges
No matter what your goals are, we will always start by identifying any challenges that might be standing in your way. Depending on the situation, this could be a variety of things, such as:
- Chronic knee pain could be the reason you struggle to stick with an exercise or fitness routine. By treating your knee pain and creating an exercise plan that strengthens your body while putting less stress on your knee, we can help you overcome this roadblock.
- Hormone imbalances could make it harder to lose weight, even when you improve your diet and exercise more. These efforts may become more effective than they have been previously if a hormone issue is identified and treated.
- Weight gain can also be caused by overeating or dietary difficulties. If we can identify these root causes, we can help you find ways to work on portion control or choose healthier food options that work well for you.
- Many people give up on smoking cessation programs because of nicotine withdrawal symptoms or mood swings. With the use of nutritional or herbal supplements, some patients may be able to feel better without going back to cigarettes.
- Sometimes people struggle with self-sabotage in relationships or with career or life goals. Our coaches will ask about your history and try to help you get to the reasons why this could be happening, so you can move forward with a new perspective.
- Fatigue and stress can have many causes, which may have causes of their own. For example, a person might be fatigued due to a lack of sleep, which could be caused by a hormone or thyroid problem. In the modern world, many people become overwhelmed by stress, but our wellness coaches can teach you relaxation techniques and help you learn to manage your stress – so it doesn’t manage you!
In these and many other situations, our coaches will identify the challenges, then outline solutions to treat the root cause and assist the patient in rebalancing their health or life.
Adrenal Stress Panels
Cortisol is sometimes called the “stress hormone,” and it has several notable effects, including helping the body deal with stress, lowering inflammation, maintaining blood sugar levels and metabolism, and affecting blood pressure. When cortisol levels are too high or low, you may not feel well, or you may feel more “stressed” than usual regardless of outside factors.
Testing for cortisol levels can give us some clues about issues you might be having. Too much cortisol, for example, can contribute to weight gain and anxiety while too little cortisol can leave you feeling fatigued.
An adrenal panel also tests for DHEA, a precursor for estrogen and testosterone that may help mitigate some of the effects of high cortisol, and epinephrine/norepinephrine, neurotransmitters that trigger the “fight or flight” response when needed. However, high levels of epinephrine/norepinephrine can also trigger this “fight or flight” feeling when there isn’t an actual crisis, leading to anxiety or panic attacks.
Thyroid Imbalance Testing
The thyroid produces several hormones that affect the whole body, including your overall metabolism. Thyroid dysfunction can cause a wide variety of symptoms, which can vary depending on whether the gland is overactive or underactive. Many people are surprised to learn that issues like fatigue (or insomnia), weight gain (or weight loss), skin problems, and irregular menstruation can all be signs of a thyroid disorder.
A thyroid panel measures levels of TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone), free T4 (thyroxine), and free T3 (triiodothyronine). If these levels are out of the normal range, you may benefit from treatment for a thyroid disorder.
Gut Health Testing (Parasitology)
Gastrointestinal issues are common, and they are the reason most people come to us looking for a gut health test. However, many patients don’t realize that gut health can affect the body far beyond the digestive tract, causing or contributing to symptoms as diverse as dermatitis or skin irritation, mood swings, mood disorders, inflammation, diabetes, and weight gain.
The gut microbiome, or gut flora, consists of “good” bacteria that live inside the digestive tract and actually aid in breaking down and absorbing nutrients from food. The microbiome also includes other microorganisms like viruses, fungi, and sometimes parasites (harmful pathogens). But many things in our modern world can affect the microbiome, and in particular, the good bacteria, including antibiotics, other medications, a low-fiber diet, and more. When there aren’t enough good bacteria, sometimes bad bacteria or other pathogens can take up residence in the digestive tract, causing indigestion or more far-reaching issues.
A gut health test will show us if there are any imbalances – for instance, not enough good bacteria, or pathogenic infections like SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth). Once we know more about the microorganisms in your digestive tract, we can help you to rebalance the microbiome with probiotics (good bacteria) or antibiotics or antifungals to treat pathogenic infections. For many patients, this improves or resolves the symptoms that brought them in.
Hormone Balance (Male/Female) Testing
Both men and women have male hormones like testosterone and female hormones like estrogen but at very different levels. Having too much or too little of either of these can cause difficulty. In men, low testosterone levels could lead to fatigue, depression, low sex drive, or erectile dysfunction. In women, higher levels of testosterone can cause excessive hair growth, weight gain, acne, and other symptoms of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).
Hormone testing will show if you have an imbalance of these hormones, in which case you may be able to take hormone replacement or other therapies to rebalance your levels.
Lifestyle Modification and Coaching
Patients often benefit from coaching when they are trying to make long-term changes or have struggled to make a change for a long time. For example, people frequently seek coaching when they want to lose weight, stick to a fitness routine, stop smoking or quit nervous habits like nail-biting. Often patients tell us that they have been yo-yo dieting for years or have made repeated attempts to quit smoking “cold turkey” that only ever lasted a few days. As a result, they want to try something different so their efforts will be more sustainable this time.
A wellness coach can help to give you accountability in these situations. Your coach will check in with you regularly and help you remember the reasons behind your goals. They can also offer you advice on diet or fitness goals, or recommend ways to gradually change your lifestyle. Your coach might also recommend nutritional supplements to help you reach your goals, such as additional protein for gaining a certain amount of muscle, or herbal supplements to help you feel more relaxed while dealing with nicotine withdrawal.
Will Your Health Insurance Cover Your Grayson Wellness Services?
This question is very common. Many health insurance policies cover some wellness services, but not all. Our office staff can check with your insurer to determine what will be covered and what your out-of-pocket costs will be. If you have questions about coverage, please give us a call today to find out more.
Start Your Grayson Wellness Services Journey Today
If you’re ready to take the next steps to make better choices for your health and happiness, please make an appointment online or call (678) 985-7286 for a consultation at Optimum Health Rehab today. Our wellness specialists will review your goals and challenges and work with you to create a roadmap to better health and wellness.