Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Transform your life with 10 powerful tips for health and happiness

Alicia J. Little, MD, PhD and Christine J. Ko, MD
Physician
August 2, 2023
Share
Tweet
Share

Separately, we discovered many of the same helpful tips that neither of us learned in a combined fifty-six years of education and training; we have each found comfort, sustenance, and direction from them. When we recently discussed wellness in our department, Alicia shared resources she had found useful in navigating the stressors of physician life. Christine was reluctant to talk about the subject at all, and together we found commonalities. Here are our ten tips for healthy living, organized into thinking, feeling, and doing categories.

Thinking

1. Self-knowledge: be your own soulmate. In terms of answering the question, what do I really want? Pay attention to what makes you envious. And try to be lucky enough to be paid to do something you love. Once you are passionate about home and/or work, you may end up thinking, “I have everything I want,” while feeling unhappy and stressed. Tools like the enneagram may create room to know yourself, enabling you to withstand the distracting demands, criticism, and praise of the world.

2. Space for reflection: be present. Alicia has attended a meditation retreat (it really helps to have someone teach you how to meditate) and now meditates twice daily. Christine has only dabbled here and there with meditation, and the meditative aspect of yoga is more appealing to her. Playing an instrument, experiencing nature, listening to music — these are examples of additional ways to be more present in the moment. Specific meditation resources that Alicia recommends include Ten Percent Happier (Christine also listens to the podcast), the website of Jill Wener, MD, and the UMass Memorial Medical Center’s Center for Mindfulness. Tapping may also work for you.

3. Seeing: be able to take a different perspective. As dermatologists, we are experts in seeing skin disease, and we have learned that we can miss important things (inattentional blindness), make mistakes, and misinterpret. Taking different perspectives via talking to colleagues, thinking critically (metacognition), and practicing having a growth mindset will make your world bigger. Christine started a podcast (SEE HEAR FEEL) to dive into these concepts through conversations with others.

Feeling

4. Self-compassion: be kind to yourself. A knee-jerk reaction may be to think that self-compassion is weakness and that self-criticism is the path to improvement. Research shows that self-compassion and other-compassion are interrelated – increasing self-compassion increases other-compassion, and vice versa. Taking care of yourself is interwoven with taking care of others, and in fact, people who are self-compassionate are healthier and more productive than those who are self-critical.

5. Shame: be able to turn into shame. Brené Brown’s research is seminal in the transition from “I am bad” to “I did a bad thing.” Shame is treated differently in Asian vs. Western culture, which might be why Christine is more comfortable (although it still is not fun or easy) to confront the things that make her feel ashamed. Shame is just a signal — figuring out why you feel it can give you important information.

6. Soothing: be aware of breath. Breathwork is the conscious control of breathing to influence mental, emotional, or physical states. Alicia recommends apps like Pause Breathwork and Insight Timer. If you want a quick fix, the physiologic sigh (Andrew Huberman’s research) enhances mood and reduces physiological arousal. The physiologic sigh is breathing in twice through your nose and exhaling slowly through your mouth. So simple. But effective. Try it now!

Doing

7. Sports: Be active. Christine has taught group fitness for over 30 years, and this goes back to being paid to do something you love (#1). Teaching also forced her to show up at the gym during periods when life felt very busy. Know yourself (again, back to #1), and figure out what will make exercise a habit for you, whether it is money, companionship, or a team sport. If you are pressed for time, try modified Tabata — just 4 minutes every other day, only 2 minutes and 20 seconds of total work (8 total intervals of 20 seconds of work that make you sweat, alternating with 10 seconds of rest).

8. Sustenance: be energetic. Christine loves dessert way too much to have a super healthy relationship with food, but she can feel the difference in her energy level when she eats better. One way to improve eating habits is intermittent fasting, which has been shown to improve metabolic health.

9. Socializing: be good to those you love. Knowing yourself (#1), setting your boundaries, and having self-compassion (#4) will lead to stronger relationships.

10. Structure: be careful with your time. Oliver Burkeman suggests we each have about four thousand weeks to live (we know, it sounds short, right?). We end with this, because time management is never easy, yet we all have a finite amount of time. Learn to say no and when to say yes.

We hope these tips for healthy living will help you as much as they have helped us!

Alicia J. Little is a dermatologist. Christine J. Ko is a dermatopathologist.

ADVERTISEMENT

Prev

The impactful relationships of female physicians

August 2, 2023 Kevin 0
…
Next

A physician versus his state medical board [PODCAST]

August 2, 2023 Kevin 0
…

Tagged as: Dermatology, Primary Care

Post navigation

< Previous Post
The impactful relationships of female physicians
Next Post >
A physician versus his state medical board [PODCAST]

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

  • Essential health messaging tips for physicians [PODCAST]

    The Podcast by KevinMD
  • A real-life example of irrational health care spending

    Taylor J. Christensen, MD
  • Are negative news cycles and social media injurious to our health?

    Rabia Jalal, MD
  • How social media can help or hurt your health care career

    Health eCareers
  • Sharing mental health issues on social media

    Tarena Lofton
  • Writing tips for physicians from a health care editor

    Debra A. Shute

More in Physician

  • The shocking risk every smart student faces when applying to medical school

    Curtis G. Graham, MD
  • The physician who turned burnout into a mission for change

    Jessie Mahoney, MD
  • Time theft: the unseen harm of abusive oversight

    Kayvan Haddadan, MD
  • Why more doctors are leaving clinical practice and how it helps health care

    Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA
  • Harassment and overreach are driving physicians to quit

    Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD
  • Why starting with why can transform your medical practice

    Neil Baum, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Why specialist pain clinics and addiction treatment services require strong primary care

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • Harassment and overreach are driving physicians to quit

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Physician
    • Why peer support can save lives in high-pressure medical careers

      Maire Daugharty, MD | Conditions
    • When a medical office sublease turns into a legal nightmare

      Ralph Messo, DO | Physician
    • Addressing menstrual health inequities in adolescents

      Callia Georgoulis | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • The shocking risk every smart student faces when applying to medical school

      Curtis G. Graham, MD | Physician
    • Clinical ghosts and why they haunt our exam rooms

      Kara Wada, MD | Conditions
    • High blood pressure’s hidden impact on kidney health in older adults

      Edmond Kubi Appiah, MPH | Conditions
    • Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation for depression [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How declining MMR vaccination rates put future generations at risk

      Ambika Sharma, Onyi Oligbo, and Katrina Green, MD | Conditions
    • The physician who turned burnout into a mission for change

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

Leave a Comment

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Why specialist pain clinics and addiction treatment services require strong primary care

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • Harassment and overreach are driving physicians to quit

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Physician
    • Why peer support can save lives in high-pressure medical careers

      Maire Daugharty, MD | Conditions
    • When a medical office sublease turns into a legal nightmare

      Ralph Messo, DO | Physician
    • Addressing menstrual health inequities in adolescents

      Callia Georgoulis | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • The shocking risk every smart student faces when applying to medical school

      Curtis G. Graham, MD | Physician
    • Clinical ghosts and why they haunt our exam rooms

      Kara Wada, MD | Conditions
    • High blood pressure’s hidden impact on kidney health in older adults

      Edmond Kubi Appiah, MPH | Conditions
    • Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation for depression [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How declining MMR vaccination rates put future generations at risk

      Ambika Sharma, Onyi Oligbo, and Katrina Green, MD | Conditions
    • The physician who turned burnout into a mission for change

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Leave a Comment

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...