Because there are so many various wellness routines out there, it can be tough to figure out which one is really the best for you. This is why sometimes a little bit more knowledge as to why certain wellness routines can benefit us can go a long way, but what's the best way to do this? Arguably delving a bit more into the science can be an excellent tool, not just in terms of improving our wellness routines, but our lives too. Let's show you how anatomical and physiological knowledge can help improve our wellness routines.
Table of Contents
A Holistic Approach to Wellness
It's very easy for us to follow a wellness routine blindly, but having an understanding of the reasons why your body does certain things can be invaluable because of the mind-body connection and the overall interdependence of physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Having physiological knowledge about the interactions between bodily systems can help you appreciate what truly works for you.
We know that if somebody experiences a cardiac emergency, basic life support techniques such as CPR can help, but don’t know why. It restores circulation by manually pumping the heart and circulating oxygenated blood around the body, while also preparing the heart for the electrical shock delivered by the defibrillator.
It also means that we're able to appreciate the connections between mind, body, and spirit far more effectively, which also means that when it comes to performing certain wellness regimes or taking certain supplements, you know what they're doing and why they're doing it, giving you a greater appreciation of the routine itself.
Providing a Targeted Approach to Rehabilitation
When we understand the anatomy of our body better, this means we're able to track the healing and recovery far better. Of course, we can't all expect to go to medical school and gain a deep understanding of every specific muscle and joint, but when you know the anatomy, you can identify the root cause of an injury rather than just the symptoms.
A very good example is when we move improperly. Movement patterns affected by an injury mean that you can design targeted rehabilitation exercises to restore functions. While the best advice is always from a medical professional, sometimes we can walk away from a doctor feeling like we haven't got a proper answer, even though they're supposed to be the experts.
When you have some form of anatomical knowledge, especially if you keep getting recurring injuries in the same place, you are going to address the underlying cause, and this means you will then be able to give yourself a better understanding of what your body can and cannot do at that moment. A very good example is lower back pain. Many people experience lower back pain because they sit down all day. But why does the body get lower back pain? The main cause stems from improper posture, which can be due to a weak core, but it can also be tight hip flexors. Therefore, if you worked on strengthening your core and did hip flexor stretches, you could very well eradicate this problem.
You Can Prevent Problems From Getting Worse
As we get older, we can find that things just don't work as well as they used to. You can either decide that this is just how your body is or you can take control of the situation and recognize that common injuries such as sprains and strains, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, as well as the aforementioned lower back pain can all be stopped in their tracks or prevented.
When you understand specific muscle groups and movement patterns involved in your typical activities, you can address imbalances or overuse patterns before they result in injuries. When you understand the anatomy of things like your joints and the surrounding muscle-tendon units, you can then design exercises that will improve your stability and flexibility.
You Can Design Comprehensive Programs
The only way to truly drill deep into a problem is by understanding it. In counseling, you work through a specific issue and you give it time to percolate so you become far more understanding of the functions underneath it that caused someone to think the way they do. When we have a problem like sleep, understanding the physiological processes, for example, the regulation of melatonin and the body's circadian rhythms, we can start to optimize our sleep habits. Sometimes we follow things like having blackout blinds and listening to certain binaural beats because a little bit of information on the internet has said so. We should always look to studies or at the very least reputable resources. Lots of people follow the Huberman Lab podcast for this reason, not just because it gives you the tools but provides you with an understanding of the functions beneath them. When we understand how to optimize our sleep habits for our specific needs, we can create a program tailored to our inherent weaknesses. We should never accept something as it is, and when we design comprehensive wellness programs that suit us, we will benefit far greater.
You Can Sustain Your Wellness
The goal is for us to be functioning at our optimum, and in order to do this properly, we need to know where we are falling down. This could be a vitamin deficiency or it could be certain thought patterns, and this means that when we look at our particular weaknesses, for example, a negative mindset, we can start to use tools like CBT and become more self-aware of when we're having unhealthy mental habits.
The goal is not to view yourself as a separate entity because wellness programs are meant to be for you; however, when we have a bit more knowledge as to the functions underneath the things we want to achieve, we can take proactive steps to prevent or manage these conditions through simple modifications.
We can easily go down a rabbit hole of wellness and think that we need to do X, Y, and Z in order to benefit, but we should always be questioning in our nature. Why is something effective? And just because it's effective for someone else doesn't mean it is for you. This is why a little bit of anatomical and physiological knowledge could go a long way!
