7 Tips to Help Your Body Heal Itself – From a Functional Medicine Doctor in Conroe, TX
In a culture obsessed with pharmaceuticals, we often forget the body can repair, replace and regrow damaged or dead cells. You don’t always need a pill to achieve optimal health. Many pharmaceuticals come with unpleasant side effects that are sometimes worse than the condition you’re trying to treat.
Dr. Cheryl Winter believes that your body has the necessary tools for healing itself. Her functional medicine approach helps patients activate their body systems to promote overall wellbeing. This article discusses some things you can do to live a healthy life and help the body heal better.
How does the body heal itself?
The body is designed to produce acids, mucus, platelets, and phagocytes that help cells to recognize, repair, replace or regenerate damaged cells. These immune responses address a whole range of illnesses. They allow the body to kill cancerous cells, remove dead skin, repair damage, fight to age, prevent infections, and heal wounds.
Factors affecting healing
Different parts of the body heal differently. The amount of time it takes to heal is determined by several factors like the type of injury, lifestyle, health history, and genetics. Did you know that the cornea is the fastest healing part of the body, taking 24-348 hours, while nerves take the longest to heal, between 3-4 months? Some factors that affect the healing process include:
Age
As we age, our bodies begin to slow down. Patients over 60 years take longer to heal due to the body’s delayed inflammatory response.
Lifestyle
Lifestyle factors such as nutrition, hydration, exercise, smoking, alcohol, sleep, and daily activities can affect how your body heals. Smoking, lack of adequate sleep, and alcohol abuse impair the functioning of body cells, delaying the natural healing process.
Blood circulation
Blood carries nutrients that help different organs to function properly. Poor circulation, therefore, hinders this process and reduces the body’s ability to heal itself. Part of functional medicine treatment may be to treat the root cause of poor blood circulation before addressing surface-level diseases.
Type of illness
Different illnesses require different timeframes before a patient will see positive results. Still, some conditions are chronic and cannot heal without intervention. These include autoimmune disorders, arthritis, ulcers, diabetes, thyroid disease, among others. Your functional medicine doctor will take the time to understand your unique condition and plan treatment accordingly.
How you can help your body heal faster
Sometimes patients receive the best treatment from the most renowned medical doctors but seem to recover at a snail’s pace. Often, these patients fail to incorporate holistic lifestyle changes that speed up the healing process. Beyond one-time surgeries, prescription medicine, and basic outpatient therapy, you need to fulfill certain conditions to help your body achieve equilibrium and heal faster. Your lifestyle, environment, and genetics play a major role in your healing process. You can boost your health through the following lifestyle changes:
- Sleep
Your immunity is strongest while you are sleeping at night. It is the time your brain releases hormones that promote tissue growth to repair damaged cells and muscles. Sleep also helps the body manufacture white blood cells to fight pathogens that delay healing. In addition, rest and sleep give you the extra energy you need for the next day.
- Diet
Eating a nutrient-rich diet will keep the body healthy. Fruits and vegetables are known as protective foods because they contain vital vitamins and minerals that promote wellness. In addition, alkaline-rich foods such as pomegranates, broccoli, mushrooms, bananas, oregano, apples, and plums balance pH levels in the body, boosting its ability to repair and renew damaged cells. Proteins, nuts, and seeds also contain nutrients that help the body remain healthy, while carbohydrates supply you with energy to do your daily chores. However, it is important to go for organic foods with low toxic compounds that stress your immunity system.
- Exercise
Exercise is key in repairing cartilage damage, as it helps strengthen muscles near the affected area – usually the wrists, knees, shoulders, hip joints, elbows, and ankles. There are specific exercises that help to reduce swelling and pain. For example, research says that combining strength exercises, cardio, relaxation techniques, and stretching can help a patient treat chronic pain and inflammation.
Exercise isn’t just beneficial for joint or muscle healing. It also promotes healthy blood circulation, metabolism, and oxygenation. Ask your functional medicine doctor about appropriate workout routines so that you improve overall health without overexerting yourself.
- Relaxation
The brain registers stress the same way it does the danger. Stressful beliefs, thinking, and behavior trigger a negative response from the brain, slowing down healing. Proper stress management techniques such as yoga and meditation can help you recover faster from a surgery or injury. Dr. Cheryl Winter, DCN, FNP-BC, APRN, RDN, can help you achieve complete relaxation through her time-tested stress-management techniques. Book an appointment via 832-327-9332 and enjoy the benefits of a stress-free life.
- Community
Belonging to a community can make a great difference in your physical and emotional health. It promotes a sense of wellbeing and, eventually, healing. Loneliness triggers negative responses in the brain, causing medical conditions such as heart disease. If you do not have a family to socialize with, find a support group in your community where you can share your story and get inspiration to deal with your condition.
- Physical Therapy
Suppose you are dealing with a chronic condition such as chronic pain, addiction, heart disease, fibromyalgia, or other autoimmune issues. In that case, you need a holistic approach to healing. Physical therapy techniques can help you heal torn ligaments, pain, swelling, low mobility, muscle pain, poor coordination, among other conditions. These include heat and cold press, massage, electrical stimulation, among others.
- Supplements
Sometimes, the body is not in a position to retrieve nutrients from the food you eat. This is due to specific illnesses and aging. In such times, dietary supplements can supply you with the necessary nutrients you need to live a healthy, happy, long life. In addition, some nutrients cannot be stored in the body naturally, so you need to get a constant supply of the relevant supplements through a qualified provider.
Need to activate your body’s natural healing mechanisms? Call Dr. Cheryl Winter, DCN, FNP-BC, APRN, RDN
Are you dealing with chronic conditions that have failed to heal with prescription medicine? Functional medicine helps you take control of your health and life by shifting the focus from symptoms to the root cause. Dr. Cheryl Winter is renowned for helping patients in Conroe, TX, with lifestyle changes that bring holistic wellness.
Focus on the root cause of your weight gain, digestive disorders, sexual health issues, hormone imbalance, muscle pain, diabetes, among other hard-to-treat conditions, and see your body regain its natural healing abilities.
Call the office at 832-327-9332 and enjoy a free, 15-minute teleconsultation.