PERSONAL HEALTH
Resources
Time for YOU.
Personal Health is the ability to take charge of your health by
making conscious decisions to be healthy. It not only refers to
the physical well-being of an individual but it also comprises
the wellness of emotional, intellect, social, economical,
spiritual, and other areas of life.
As a family physician, you provide resources and advice on
many personal health topics to your patients, but do you
apply those same sentiments to yourself? Now’s the time to
invest in you.
The following pages are a compilation of tools and resources
to support your personal health journey. Pages include:
• Mindfulness & Meditation
• Physical Exercise
• Lifestyle Medicine
• Nutrition
• Sleep & Habit Resources
• Gratitude
• Books, Apps, Podcasts, & Videos
Personal Health Resources
2
Mindfulness & Meditation
OAFP Yoga Series
Personal Health Resources 3
OAFP resident member,
Dana Maxwell, DO,
guides viewers through
three yoga and
meditation videos.
Mindfulness Webinars
• AAFP Physician Health First: Practice Self-Care
• Creative Meditation and Manifestation: Using Your 21 Innate
Powers to Create Your Life by Amara Honeck
• The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
• How Meditation Changes the Brian and Body
• Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-Being
• Mindfulness Meditation May Ease Anxiety, Mental Stress
• Scientific Benefits of Meditation – 76 Things You Might be
Missing Out On
• Little Book of Mindfulness: 10 Minutes a Day to Less Stress,
More Peace by Patricia Collard
• The Proactive Twelve Steps for Mindful Recovery by Serge
Prengel
• Bounce Back Project: Mindfulness & Self-Care
• The Daily Stoic Email This daily email will help you cultivate
strength, insight, and wisdom necessary for living the good
life. Every word is based on the two-thousand plus year old
philosophy that has guided some of history’s greatest men and
women.
• 30-Minute Lunch Time Yoga Session
• Meditation for a Calm Heart
• Simple Stretches to Incorporate Into Your Work Day
• Meditation for Emotional Well-Being
• Mindfulness: Cultivating a Clearer Mind
• Meditation and Mindfulness for Emotional
Well-Being (1.0 CME Credit)
• Balancing It All (1.0 CME Credit)
Additional Resources
Physical Exercise
Personal Health Resources 4
OAFP Wellness Week Physical Challenge!
Let’s do it together! We challenge you to complete 10K steps or 30
minutes of intentional activity of your choosing each day of Wellness
Week, you choose but get moving! Hit your goal for the day, check it
off on the tracker.
Submit a copy of your Wellness Week Tracker to Kaitlin McGuffie
by Friday, August 20, to be entered to win an OAFP logo item!
• Creating Emotional Energy Through Physical
Exercise Webinar
• 13 Mental Health Benefits of Exercise
• The Exercise Effect
• Exercise and Anxiety
• Exercise and the Brain
• How Exercise Rewires Your Brain
• Exercise is Medicine
• Fitness program: 5 Steps to Get Started
• 30 Office Exercises to Try Right Now
As family physicians, you know what you need to do to be
physically active. However, your own exercise or activity routine
may be one of the first things you take off the list when the 8
hour workday turns into 16 hours, or life simply gets hectic. We
get it. But, we encourage you to invest in you and get back to that
routine. Below are a few resources to help with that process.
Whether it’s a 10-minute stretch break at the desk or an hour-
long, high-intensity workout before work, let’s get those bodies
moving! And to help get you motivated, here is Time Magazine’s
50 of the Best Workout Songs to Get You Motivated.
Lifestyle Medicine
Personal Health Resources 5
Information from the AAFP’s New Tools Guide Lifestyle Medicine Integration for FPs:
“From recommending changes in diet and exercise levels to promoting stress management and other
aspects of self-care, lifestyle medicine is an integral practice component for many family physicians.
For several years, in fact, the Academy’s lifestyle medicine member interest group has provided
members with an online community where they can network, share practice tips, and work together
to improve patient health.
Now, a new series of lifestyle medicine resources is available for AAFP members courtesy of a grant
from the Ardmore Institute of Health. The first two items — a free online CME program
titled Incorporating Lifestyle Medicine Into Everyday Practice and an accompanying lifestyle medicine
implementation guide of the same name — were recently published on AAFP.org and provide members
with clinically relevant information on the topic, along with the opportunity to earn CME credits in
the process.
“Lifestyle medicine is foundational to improving the health and well-being of all patients,” said
Jonathan Bonnet, MD, MPH, CAQSM, who served as an author and advisor on the project.
“When dosed appropriately, it’s one of the most efficacious treatments we have to prevent, treat, and
reverse chronic disease. It’s suitable for all ages and can be made accessible to everyone,” continued
Dr. Bonnet.
To learn more from Dr. Bonnet, check out the Wellness Wednesday session he led,
Lifestyle Medicine: Healthy Habits to Improve Your Well-Being.
• AAFP Lifestyle Medicine Implementation
Guide
• American Board of Lifestyle Medicine
• American College of Lifestyle Medicine
• Lifestyle Medicine Handbook
• Lifestyle Medicine is My Prescription for
Better Health
• Familydoctor.org
• AAFP Healthy Lifestyle Webpage
More Resources
Nutrition
Personal Health Resources
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• You Are What You Eat Webinar
• Establish Healthy Eating Habits
• 2015–20 Dietary Guidelines for Americans
• Nutrient Recommendations: Dietary Reference Intakes
• Nutrition Guide for Physicians
• Web-Based Resources for Medical Nutrition Education
• MyPlate
Nutrition Resources
Sleep & Habit Resources
Personal Health Resources
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• Assess and Improve Your Sleep
• 12 Simple Tips to Improve Your Sleep
• American Sleep Association
• Sleep Tips: Six Steps to Better Sleep
• Master Class: Matthew Walker Teaches the Science of
Better Sleep (subscription required for full video)
• Why We Sleep
• Why Sleep is Important
Sleep
Habits
• 20 Daily Affirmations to Improve Your Life
Through the Power of Positivity (Really!)
• 31 Quotes to Inspire Good Habits
• Habits: How They Form And How To Break
Them
The OAFP has created a simple
habit tracker you can download and
utilize as you need. Determine up
to six habits you’d like to work on
and track your progress each day.
You’ve got this!
Personal Health 8
• 365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Browne’s Precepts
• Choose Kind Journal: Do One Wonderful Thing Every
Day
• Tool: Writing for Happiness
• An Experiment in Gratitude: The Science of Happiness
• Five Minute Journal (app; iTunes/Android)
• Gratitude Journal 365 (app; iTunes/Android)
• Mastering the Art of Gratitude Webinar
• Gratitude Is Good: Why It’s Important and How To
Cultivate It
• 31 Benefits of Gratitude: The Ultimate Science-Backed
Guide
Gratitude Tools
Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good
experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong
relationships. People feel and express gratitude in multiple ways. How will
you implement gratitude in your day?
Wellness Week Challenge: Every morning or evening, take 5 minutes to
note the top three things you are grateful for, it can be big things or the
smallest detail from the day – what made you smile and reflect on that.
Don’t forget to check it off on your tracker.
Gratitude Activity
Write a thank you note to a mentor, colleague, or individual who has
positively influenced your life. Writing a meaningful note can bring healing
and increase the happiness to ourselves and to others.
Consider sending a blessing to someone that will promote the recipient’s
happiness and well-being. Or perhaps, you want to share a memory that
brought you joy or reminisce on a time where you felt supported and
encouraged. Take a little time to affirm the gifts and talents of your inspired
friend and provide encouragement for where they are in their own lives. Let
them know the value and meaning they bring to your life and to your work.
Send your note to your special recipient then follow-up with this person to
share what you wrote with them. The science behind this experience shows
that happiness increases not only for you as the writer, but for the person
you are writing to. It’s a win-win.
Personal Health Resources 9
Books, Apps, Podcasts, & Videos
Podcasts & Videos
• OAFP Bite-Sized Learning Sessions
• A Very Happy Brain
• The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong
• TED Podcasts
• Dishing Up Nutrition Podcast
• The Doctor’s Kitchen Podcast
• Happier with Gretchen Rubin Podcast
• Kwik Brain Podcast
• Hidden Brain
• Being Vulnerable about Vulnerability: Q&A with
Brené Brown
• Canadian Medical Association Journal Med Life
Podcast
Books
Apps
• Waking Up
• Quick Wisdom from The Power
of Vulnerability
• Headspace
• Calm
• Sworkit
• Myfitnesspal
• Noom
• Healthy Out
• Nutrition Lookup
• Master Class
• Zombies, Run!
• C25K
Disclaimer
Resources shared in this packet do not represent the OAFP. Materials
shared were cultivated and vetted by a volunteer physician workgroup.
Resources included should serve as a starting point to build from.
