Schedule It Different
Before Portage Family Medicine's Dr. Isabelle Lane became a busy mother of three, she was a college basketball player. So to keep in shape and stress the importance of fitness to her kids, they all exercise together. "Before they go to bed we'll do situps, pushups, jumping jacks and we'll stretch," Lane says. "They've never seen me play basketball, so I have to show them that exercise is important."
Zonk List
When Akron Children's Hospital neurologist Thomas Enlow has a restless night, tossing, turning and worrying about everything on his mind, he reaches for a pen. "I make a list of all the things that are bothering me, in no particular order," he says. Often just the act of writing is enough to release his stress. "I [am] asleep within 30 seconds of hitting the pillow."
Splash Zone
For older people, jogging can cause joint pain. That's why Mark Panigutti, an orthopedic surgeon at Southwest General Health Center, suggested his father run 30 to 40 minutes in a pool — a low-impact environment — instead of a track. "He used to be a 3- to 5-mile runner, but as he got older he couldn't do it," he says. "[Now] he can go run 30-50 minutes in the pool and gets a hell of a workout."
Power Down
As the medical director of the Cleveland Clinic's interactive health record database MyChart, Dr. Lori Posk knows too much information can overwhelm us. So she turns off her cellphone when seeing patients, and her family does the same at dinner. She focuses on good eye contact to stay in the moment with patients and family. "When you're asking them how they're doing, really mean it," she says. "Take pauses in the conversation to listen."
Walk and Chomp
Thomas Eiswerth, an internist at Lake Health in Mentor, packs on-the-go staples such as apples, citrus fruits or energy bars for lunch, so he can eat them while taking his daily 3,000-step walk to the Target near his office. "I don't like to just sit down and have a traditional lunch," he says. "I get more from going out, because it's a clear-my-mind and reboot kind of thing."
