August 2024
Your health and the health of those you love matters to us!
Monthly Preventive Focus: Memory and Learning
It’s back to school time so let’s take a look at keeping you and your brain YOUNG and active!
Our memories and learning happen along brain pathways. Sleep (quality and quantity) is the “road-crew” that helps prevent and repair the potholes life creates in those pathways.
Physical activity keeps your focus sharp and helps support good sleep - it’s a win/win!
That “night-cap”, last cigarette and/or TV show to “wind down” are sabotaging your brain. Alcohol and nicotine prevent deep sleep cycles - so you look asleep, but your brain is still firing like it is partially awake. Blue light from screens (TV, computer, tablet, phone) keep your brain working and force it to process multiple inputs at once.
Battle of the Brain
According to a world-wide study completed in 2023, a little over 20% of adults are tired - that’s 1 in 5 of us. In our Open Hands DPC community, we have many conversations about feeling tired, overwhelmed, foggy-brained and in need of a break. So, if you’re feeling it - you’re not alone. Instead of creating a list and adding to our to-do’s, let’s take a look at how to adjust in small bits across our day.
Embrace small quiet moments. Use shower time, drive time or any other small moment in your day to take 3-5 deep breaths and simply be still and quiet. This will give your brain moments of rest even when not sleeping.
Use words wisely. Take time before bed to read or do a puzzle on real pages in gentle light. This brain exercise keeps you sharp and avoids the blue light we talked about earlier.
Spend time with others - not on a screen. Put your screens down and talk or take a walk with a friend or family member. We were made for connection and community. It strengthens our mind and body.
Organize your thoughts. Make a list, keep a calendar or make that appointment to get your health back on track. Deciding what makes the list helps clarify your priorities. Then you know what your “yeses” and “nos” are and if they need adjusted.
Click to see the NIH article on how much sleep we need.
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.”
Upcoming Events and News
CoaTs 4 KiDS!
To share the spirit in which Open Hands DPC exists, we are hosting a coat drive for local children. Cold weather will be here before we know it (usually early October here in KY) and to help everyone stay warm this coming school year, we will be getting information on local families that need a coat for their child. We plan to put 20% of your membership fee in the months of August and September toward these coats. We would LOVE to have you join in the giving as well. You can send a check or Venmo for any amount by September 10th and we will do the shopping for you. If you would prefer to donate a NEW coat, email me at DrKelli@openhandsdpc.com and I will share the needed info with you. We recognize finances are tight for nearly everyone right now. Any help you can give toward this effort will mean more coats we can provide. All coats will be due by September 17th at the new Clinic space in town.
Making Happy Habits: Stories We Get to Share
A patient recently told me that she has found great joy in trying new things. Her goal is to decrease her carb intake and she has started playing around with making bread from Einkorn flour. This is a pretty neat, ancient grain that is lower in gluten and simple carbs while still creating a nice, fluffy loaf of bread. She admits the effort is greater than store bought bread and the price tag will keep her from eating it as regularly as she did other breads. However, it has challenged her to make other changes that are at least worth trying. I hope that you find encouragement as I did in her efforts to learn new things (that’s healthy, young brain activity) and to use her health concerns to encourage growth rather than deepen feelings for defeat. We all have struggles even if they don’t look exactly the same. I hope you will join me today in finding one small thing to try that is a step toward better. Sure - we may fail…I’ve made Elly Mae biscuits in many ways across my trials and errors over the years… - but failure means we are learning. Learning means we are growing. Here’s to trying new things that just might become Happy Habits!
Have an encouraging story to tell?
We’d LOVE to hear it!
As our newsletter grows, we would like to include real-life stories from you to share encouragement with all of us in the Open Hands DPC community. Email DrKelli@openhandsdpc.com to share your words of encouragement!
