What is functional Health?
Functional Health is a holistic approach to well-being that focuses on optimising the body's ability to perform its essential functions and achieve an overall state of health and vitality. It emphasises the interconnectedness of physical, mental and emotional aspects of health, recognising that they all play a significant role in a persons quality of life.
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Functional Health aims to use a fully immersive lifestyle approach, firstly to set the foundations of your health so that you can live happily and perform effectively knowing that your chances of having to deal with many of the modern chronic diseases are greatly reduced. Its a way to get out in front of your health to build a strong resilient mind and body, before the health issues arise and consume your life and vitality. Why wait for a health issue to strike before taking action right?
This approach differs from the traditional "Conventional" medical model, which usually waits for someone to fall down with a health issue then focuses on treating the specific diseases and health issues as individual problems by managing symptoms instead of treating the body as an entire connected system and addressing the root cause of the issue.
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Instead of this, Functional Health seeks to deeply understand the individual and address the health issues or symptoms using a root cause model which dives deep into the causing factors which promotes sustainable health and wellness.
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Functional Health considers various factors that can affect an individual's overall health, including genetics, lifestyle, nutrition, environmental influences, learned behaviours, childhood or adult trauma, and emotional well-being and relationships. By understanding the unique interplay between all these elements of a persons life experience, functional health coaches create an extremely individualised strategy for each client to help individuals get results, achieve their goals and obtain the health and quality of life that we all have a birth right too.
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Some of the key components to Functional Health include.
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Comprehensive Assessment: Functional Health begins with a detailed assessment on each clients individual health history, it takes into consideration all lifestyle factors, genetics and upbringing. This allows us to identify potential underlying issues which may be contributing to your symptoms or health problems.
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Functional Blood Work: Diving deep into the inner workings of a clients individual body is key to ensuring the right approach is taken to craft an effective program based on their individual needs, personal blood testing is key in this process. This gives us full access to your results, highlighting any areas of improvement or concern and allows us to track them over time to gauge your progress. We use your blood results and combine them as part of an "assessment triangle" along with your comprehensive assessment and how you look and feel to get you the best results possible.
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Root Cause Analysis: Instead of simply treating symptoms like the conventional system, Functional Health strives to identify and address the root cause of any health issues and understand why someone may be getting a certain set of symptoms in the first place. This root cause approach considers factors such as chronic inflammation, hormone status, nutrient status and gut health, to help paint a picture of what's really causing your symptoms.
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Personalised Plans: There is no blanket approach or recommendations. Functional Health plans are highly individualised. They take into account an individuals unique needs, goals, preferences and circumstances. This approach allows clients to make positive changes in their lives and sustain them into the future.
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Nutrition and Diet: FOOD FIRST before supplements and medications. Functional health emphasises the importance of nutrition and diet as fundamental components of well-being. It promotes the consumption of whole, nutrient-dense foods and often considers dietary restrictions and sensitivities. Each person is incredibly different so even “healthy” foods can pose problems for some people depending on the current state of their body and especially their Gut health. This is why we combine the Bloodwork with the assessment to work out exactly what’s right for you at this moment.
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Lifestyle Modifications: Functional health recognises the enormous impact of lifestyle choices on health. It encourages stress management, physical activity, and sleep optimization as key pillars in achieving optimal health.
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Mind-Body Connection: Mental and emotional health are considered integral parts of functional health. Strategies to manage stress, build resilience, and address emotional well-being are often overlooked by the conventional system but are always included in functional health plans to ensure that your emotional home is just as healthy as your physical home.
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Preventative Medicine: Functional health places a strong emphasis on preventative measures, it is much better to improve your health before you fall down to a serious health condition rather than waiting for it to happen and just treat the symptoms with medications or invasive surgeries. Helping individuals make informed choices based on their individuality, enabling them to live a happy healthy life and reduce their risk of encountering all the modern chronic diseases and other health issues that are plaguing our society today
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How Functional Health Can Improve Quality of Life:
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Strategic programming: Functional health aims to address the underlying causes of health problems rather than just managing symptoms for the rest of your life. This can lead to more effective and sustainable improvements in health and a better life experience on a daily basis.
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Personalised Approach: By considering an individual's unique genetic makeup and lifestyle factors, functional health provides personalised recommendations and strategic plans, increasing the likelihood of success over the standard generic programs most coaches and PTs offer.
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Improved Quality of Life: Functional health helps you make lifestyle changes that not only improve your health but also enable you to learn and lead by example to improve the health of family, friends and loved ones and enhance their overall quality of life too. These changes often lead to increased energy, better mood, and increased vitality. How does this look in real life? Think having the energy and mobility to be able to freely play with grand-kids or go on active family trips deep into old age, instead of being confined to the sofa while your younger family is out enjoying themselves.
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Long-Term Health Benefits: Functional health promotes long-term well-being, with a focus on prevention over reaction. The goal is to thrive into old age and enjoy life deep into your latter years. The big bonus here is the things you learn along the way can be passed on to your kids and grand-kids, meaning the decisions you make now to invest in your health could affect serious positive generational change for your family and allow them to build their optimal health on the foundations you have set for them today.
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Holistic Well-Being: By addressing physical, mental, and emotional health, functional health promotes a holistic approach to well-being, enabling individuals to thrive on multiple levels while enjoying a strong physical presence and a calm but razor sharp mind.
In conclusion, functional health is a comprehensive approach to wellness that recognises the interconnectedness of physical, mental, and emotional health. By identifying and addressing the root causes of health issues, preventing future health concerns, providing personalised strategic plans, and promoting lifestyle changes, functional health can help individuals achieve and maintain optimal health and an improved quality of life. This approach emphasises long-term well-being and holistic health, making it a valuable tool for those seeking to enhance their overall state of health and vitality and set the foundations for their families future generations.
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