I must confess that I knew very little about wellness until I was engaged in a dinner conversation with my daughters about my health. After intensely scrutinising my medical tests, they convinced me to speak with Tulah, a clinical wellness concept in Kerala.
When I initially met the Tulah team, there was a real focus on the need to integrate both lifestyle and functional medicine. While it made sense to me, it was an eye-opener. As I learned more, I realised that functional medicine alone is not enough, and neither is just your diet; it takes a holistic approach to be truly healthy. It meant looking at everything from my medication, blood tests, DNA tests, diet, fitness levels, sleep patterns and more. Tulah’s medical team was quick to respond. Within a few days of completing preliminary tests and diagnostic analysis, they put me under a wellness plan that included the necessary medication, diet, fitness, and sleep regime.
Several months later, I can confidently say that my wellness and health have been transformed with all my key positive markers. I am sleeping better, working better and feeling better. My diabetes is under control, and I am now doing 9-minute planks. I have also reduced my medication dosage, have lower heart rates and reduced HbA1c levels.
To embrace this, the foremost requirement is to understand functional medicine and what it entails. Tulah’s team explained about functional medicine. It is a personalised, systems-based approach to healthcare that addresses the root causes of the disease rather than merely treating symptoms. It emphasises the interplay between genetics, environment, and lifestyle factors in determining an individual’s health. Functional medicine creates tailored solutions for achieving long-term wellness by preventing and addressing imbalances.
The Role of Lifestyle Analytics
We all know about the power of data, but we seldom consider harnessing our wellness data and its analytics, especially on our sleep, food, and fitness. Not long ago, I realised how our lifestyle data encompasses key elements in our wellness paradigm. Lifestyle data primarily emanates from dietary habits, physical activity, sleep patterns, stress levels, and medication regimes. With advancements in wearable technology like the Apple Watch and other health-tracking apps, we have seen how one can now collect detailed metrics.
The issue is that we mainly use them for momentary observations that do not apply to our wellness regime. For instance, sleep data can help revisit our stress levels or diet regimes as they correlate. Sleep quality measures duration, REM cycles, and disturbances. Stress-related information can be tracked by observing heart rate variability (HRV) and cortisol patterns.
Such holistic information is a real treasure chest. It combines medical and dietary data in a digital format, along with lifestyle information that can be tracked. This provides a comprehensive overview of an individual’s daily habits and overall well-being. It serves as a foundation for personalised health and aids in formulating relevant wellness strategies.
Synergy Between Functional Medicine and Lifestyle Data
After three months of intense engagement with the Tulah team, everything started to come together for me. There are some highlights of how I observed this synergy working in my context.
1. Personalised Nutrition Plans
Functional medicine practitioners utilise dietary information to design meal plans that align with an individual’s unique metabolic needs, food sensitivities, and health goals. For example, a person with chronic inflammation might benefit from an anti-inflammatory diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and plant-based foods. By integrating tracked dietary habits, these recommendations can be both practical and effective. This approach includes balancing various diet components, such as carbohydrates, proteins, fibre, and water intake.
2. Optimised Fitness Regimen
Exercise is the cornerstone of good health, but not every fitness routine works for everyone. Functional medicine evaluates factors such as hormone levels, mitochondrial function, and recovery patterns to recommend exercises that boost energy and prevent overtraining. These plans can be adjusted by incorporating real-time fitness data to align with current activity levels and recovery needs. Often, people rush into a fitness frenzy without considering medical advice or a proper wellness plan.
3. Addressing Sleep and Stress
Sleep and stress are often overlooked aspects of health. Functional medicine experts evaluate sleep quality and stress markers to identify disruptions in circadian rhythms or excessive cortisol production. Wearable devices that track sleep stages or HRV can pinpoint specific issues, allowing for targeted interventions like mindfulness practices, melatonin supplementation, or light therapy. Sleep disorder or ignoring its basics plays havoc with health, and an orderly regimen is critical.
4. Disease Prevention and Management
Integrating functional medicine with lifestyle data empowers individuals to detect early warning signs of chronic diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular issues, or autoimmune conditions. For example, blood glucose monitoring paired with dietary tracking can reveal patterns contributing to insulin resistance, enabling early corrective actions.
5. The Role of Technology and the Data Factor
With the advent of technology in the health domain, a crucial role of this aspect of data integration is evolving. Using smart devices, I realised how easy it is to gather lifestyle data and recalibrate our indulgences. I could quickly respond to my needed calibrations using an Apple watch, sugar monitor, and other wearable devices.
6. Genomics and DNA
These essential tools transform wellness by aiding in health and well-being calibrations. Their testing kits allow for swab tests and gutt analysis, helping identify key factors for aligning with my DNA study. I utilised these tools with Tulah Wellness, which proved to be a great boon for my doctors and provided extra layers of insight to formulate my wellness regime.
Over the past six months, I have noticed how functional medicine practitioners have interpreted the data, and in my case, this approach has transformed my well-being. It helps uncover correlations that might otherwise go unnoticed, allowing for tailored interventions that align with individual needs.
The Benefits of an Integrated Health Framework
In my case, I could see how integrating functional medicine and lifestyle data can deliver results and offer numerous advantages.
Proactive Health Management: Identifying and addressing potential health issues before they become chronic.
Personalisation: Moving away from one-size-fits-all solutions to strategies tailored to individual needs.
Empowerment: Giving individuals greater control over their health through data awareness and actionable insights.
Sustainability: Promoting long-term changes that align with a person’s goals and biological predispositions.
In conclusion, wellness is no longer about isolated changes but a comprehensive and integrated approach. By combining the principles of functional medicine with detailed lifestyle data, individuals can unlock new levels of health and vitality. This method addresses current health concerns and lays the groundwork for a life of balance, resilience, and optimal well-being.
My experience at Tulah significantly impacted me, and achieving it was not a Herculean task. While it was straightforward, it did require discipline to maintain the lifestyle changes. I now firmly believe that investing in this holistic approach is not just beneficial for me; it represents a requisite transformation in how people should understand and pursue wellness.