What is Functional Health?

Functional health refers to the capacity of the individual’s ability to perform holistically the tasks and activities including, physical, mental, emotional, nutritional, social spiritual and their sleep habits.

First, functional health benefits your physical health. Functional health plays a crucial role in promoting and maintaining your physical health by assisting with your mobility and strength, musculoskeletal health, balance and coordination, cardiovascular health, weight management, pain management and your energy and vitality. Functional health aids in the promotion of mobility and strength by encompassing physical abilities such as walking, standing, lifting and moving around. In musculoskeletal health, people engage in activities that promote physical activity, help to strengthen muscles, bones and joints. These activities can decrease the risk of conditions such as osteoporosis, arthritis, and muscle weakness.

Overall, staying active enhances the promotion of a healthy musculoskeletal system. Engaging in physical activity that supports balance and coordination, improves the ability to walk on uneven surfaces, or performing specific exercises, which may decrease the risk of falls and injuries. Engaging in cardiovascular activities, such as brisk walking, cycling or swimming can benefit your cardiovascular system by increasing heart rate, improving circulation, lowering the risk of heart disease, stroke, or other cardiovascular conditions.

Maintaining an active lifestyle may assist in weight and pain management, and overall boosts your energy levels, enhances your mood and promotes a sense of vitality and well-being, overall improving physical health and quality of life. Of course, you want to identify activities that you can perform without causing your body harm, however, if you are able, you want to challenge yourself to push yourself to the limits that you can reach your optimal self. You want to identify a balance between cardiovascular and strengthening exercises.

Besides physical activities to aid in the physical health of your body, you can have a series of functional health labs completed to identify the areas of opportunities within each system that you are either deficient in enzymes or overall levels and determine which supplements will assist you in obtaining your optimal health.

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Functional health can have significant benefits to your mental health by mood regulation, stress reduction, cognitive function, self-efficacy and confidence, as well as social connections and emotional regulations. It also benefits your quality of life. As we discussed the benefits of exercise in promoting functional health for our physical aspect of health, as we exercise, we release endorphins and other neurotransmitters that improve our mood and reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. We also experience the release of specific hormones that reduce our stress levels and help us to relax. As we continue to improve our functional health through physical activity and skill building, we can build our self-esteem, self-efficacy and confidence. As we overcome or achieve specific goals and master new movements, we have a sense of accomplishment and empowerment.

Many physical activities provide opportunities for social interactions and connections. These connections help build or enhance supportive relationships and social networks, which can enhance feelings of belonging, reduce loneliness and improve our overall mental well-being.

The act of functional health activities often requires focus, discipline and perseverance, all of which help develop emotional resilience and better coping skills to handle life challenges.

The emotional benefits of functional health allow us to have a positive outlook, the ability to handle life stressors, and provide distractions from worries and anxieties. Engaging in functional health and understanding all aspects of what makes you helps promote and foster deeper connections to your body, and sense of self. Improving functional health requires perseverance, discipline, and resilience in the face of challenges and setbacks, overcoming obstacles and setbacks in pursuit of a better self, can strengthen emotional resilience and coping skills, enabling you to better navigate life’s ups and downs. Various physical activities promote and foster deeper connection to one’s body.

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Functional health on a nutritional level helps influence nutritional habits and outcomes by increasing energy expenditure, enhanced appetite regulation, improved food choices, better nutritional absorption, weight management, reduced risk of chronic diseases, and enhanced nutritional awareness. As we continue to engage in activities that promote functional health, such as physical activity, it increases our energy expenditure. This may allow you to consume a more nutritionally dense diet, to support your active lifestyle. Along the lines of physical activity and functional health, your appetite hormones such as ghrelin and leptin may regulate, improving your appetite control. Regulation can prevent over or under-eating and promote a more balanced diet. As we continue to become aware of the foods we are consuming, we tend to make better choices to support our lifestyle. We may opt in for more nutrient rich food that provides necessary vitamins, minerals and macronutrients to fuel our body and support for optimal performance. The intake of appropriate nutrients can enhance our blood flow, promote gut health, and increase metabolic efficiency.

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The practice of functional health can benefit your spiritual wellbeing by promoting connection to the body, mind-body integration, personal growth and transformation. It also allows connection to nature, mindfulness and presence in the community, and provides a sense of meaning and purpose.

Overall, functional health can benefit you in your physical, mental, emotional, nutritional and spiritual wellbeing. However, it plays a significant role in your sleep habits by regulating the circadian rhythm, reducing stress, and improving sleep quality and duration overall. Functional Health can aid in managing sleep disorders, providing cognitive benefits and establishing a consistent routine.

Functional Health