We all deal with memory loss of one kind or another. Whether we miss a monthly payment, temporarily lose our keys, or forget the name of a long-time neighbor, most of us deal with some type of harmless forgetfulness.  As we grow older, it is not uncommon for many over a certain age to begin […]

I don’t need to tell you that wisdom comes freely with age. And that wisdom can be offered in a variety of forms from those among us well into their later years. In my own “advanced” years in medicine, I’ve found that health advice from anyone over 65 is almost always fascinating and often quite […]

We’ve all been told that adding regular physical activity to our lives greatly benefits all aspects of well-being, both mental and physical. Exercise stresses the body, specifically the heart, lungs, and muscles. It produces inflammation and generates oxidative damage, causing micro-traumas in our muscles which our body then repairs during rest. While that might not […]

We are sometimes programmed to think results can only be achieved through a significant, and intense, amount of effort. But, in the case of maintaining well-being and addressing the underlying factors that can negatively impact your mental health, the simple act of breathing can often play a substantial role.  By consciously exerting control over breathing […]

The power of music is a universally accepted truth. But it’s a power we might overlook when considering music’s ability to heal. Sure, our society puts a premium on music for entertainment value, and it is certainly a constant, and ever-evolving, cultural influencer, but rarely is it acknowledged as the effective form of therapy it […]

  Establishing healthy behaviors is key to being well and staying well. And few behaviors affect us more than our relationships to food and its creation.  As social animals, the rituals of cooking and sharing meals, of wholesome food in healthful quantities, are profoundly important to recovery, wellness, and well-being. Food is loaded with meaning […]

On its face, depression seems like something we are all familiar with. You, or someone you know, are feeling down or “blue.” You’re dealing with a bout of sadness more prolonged than you’d like. But when does this feeling escalate to a diagnosable level? Depression (major depressive disorder or clinical depression) is classified as a […]

How can the gap between medicine and faith be more widely and rapidly bridged without falling into the silos of medical dogma and denominational competition? Are there tools that both faith-based and health care providers can implement now, even if there is not an environment of explicit faith-health collaboration? Here are four suggestions that any […]

One of the largest gaps in health care between two professionals trying to help the same sick person heal is the one that exists between the physician/clinician and the chaplain/member of the clergy. The gap does not usually result from animosity, but simply neglect of serious communication and integration with one another. This faith–health care […]

There are many instances of successful merges between faith-based care and health care which reveal a substantial pool of best practices for confronting the challenging work of bridging the gap. The following are some of the challenges in creating faith-health collaborations, and how best to address those challenges. Definitions and Terminology One of the major […]