First Newsletter, 10-7-17

Hey everyone! Hope you had a fulfilling week.  This is the first newsletter, hopefully many more to come. Please let me know what works best for motivation. We will focus on the goal of daily attention to wellness. Physical, mental, emotional. Let’s stay connected. 
Here are this week’s ideas for wellness practice.

Wisdom from a patient: 

Patients consistently love being asked open-ended questions about their lives (great advice, Atul Gawande). My elderly patient became animated when we started talking about her daily, possibly dangerous, purchasing of all forms of lottery tickets. Even in a busy ED you have time to learn something non-medical about your patients. You’ll be surprised how relevant it may be (she was refusing admission to go play Powerball). 

Book to check out:

I never stop reading The War of Art: Stephen Pressfield’s short nonfiction work exposing Resistance and all of its tactics. Insidious, implacable, internal, universal. Resistance is the personified force that stops you from writing an essay, starting an exercise program, learning how to cook, beginning to meditate, or whatever it is you know would make you grow as a person. The book is solid gold and you will see more here from its pages. “Never forget: this very moment we can change our lives.”

Efficient exercise to try:

Martin Gibala is a real deal physiologist at McMaster University in Ontario. He has rigorously tested a one-minute workout and found striking results. The effects are difficult to believe until you feel the overwhelming nausea and doom at the end of literally 4 minutes on the stationary bike. I performed three all out 20 seconds sprints with a minute break between each (one minute of active exercise) and wobbled over to the ER to start a shift. 

What to listen to:

Leon Bridges. Please play to this song and then try to guess how old this man is. Full of soul, Leon is from Crowley, TX, and inspired by artists from Sam Cooke to George Clinton to Michael Jackson. Take a listen and set up a Spotify playlist. 

Something to give you energy:


Check out Kimera Coffee. High quality beans infused with 6 nootropic supplements. I have enjoyed the taste and the boost in mental acuity. 

Quote:

“Suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning.”
-Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

Martin Huecker, MD, is co-editor in chief of the free, open access Journal of Wellness. He is an Associate Professor and Research Director in the Department of Emergency Medicine (EM) at the University of Louisville. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society. Dr. Huecker graduated from UofL’s EM Residency Program and (Chief Resident in 2011). He works full time seeing patients and teaching residents in the UofL Emergency Department. His diverse research interests include substance use, accidental hypothermia, and healthcare professional wellness. Dr. Huecker is also a Certified Lifestyle Medicine Physician (DipABLM). He loves books, (cold) trail runs, dogs, and coffee. His wife is an OB/GYN and they have 4 children with cool names.