Optimizing Health Together: A New Kind Of Doctor-Patient Bond
Interest in the field of individual performance has grown exponentially in recent years.
The explosion of easily accessible online content has fueled this phenomenon and nowadays it’s common to hear spontaneous conversations about it among groups of friends with no professional connection to healthcare.
As doctors with a longstanding interest in this area, this phenomenon is incredibly exciting for our clinical practice.
That excitement, however, comes with a significant challenge, one we gladly accept. Still, this enthusiasm is not shared across the entire medical community, which can occasionally create uncomfortable barriers between us and those who seek our guidance. The reason for this divide lies in factors present on both sides of the barrier.
Online content about individual performance (physical, emotional, mental, etc.) is abundant and its main consumers are the so-called “high achievers”. These individuals attentively listen to podcasts on various topics; read articles or books; and follow influencers in the field. At the same time, they try to apply this advice to their routines, hoping to improve their performance. Often, they also use wearables that, more or less accurately, help monitor various aspects of their performance and sometimes even enhance it.
At its core, none of this is inherently negative, but there are several points worth noting:
The long interviews we all enjoy in podcasts are rarely challenged or debated. Most of them aren’t conducted by journalists, so there’s no professional obligation for that kind of balance. As a result, we usually only hear one side of any given issue;
The number of so-called “experts” in each field is alarming. Often, when we dig deeper into their actual qualifications, we find they’re minimal. Yet with the right reach on social media, they manage to influence thousands or millions;
Our time to deeply study any subject is increasingly scarce. Most people end up accepting advice from these talking heads without doing thorough individual research;
These platforms often simplify complex topics with overly general or even “miracle” solutions - something far from reality;
In many cases, the sheer volume of information convinces people that they need supplements, constant monitoring of performance metrics in many aspects of their lives, far beyond what is truly necessary;
High achievers often compare themselves to top-tier examples in each area, which can distort their perspective and, in some cases, significantly lower self-esteem and trigger other negative consequences.
This cocktail leads to two parallel paths: it creates more people interested in sustainable performance improvement; but it also promotes misinformation, false gurus, shallow critical thinking and adverse effects from supplementation, diets or training plans (as well as anxiety and depression, for example).
But as I mentioned earlier, this is just one side of the barricade.
Many of these individuals try to bring up these topics with medical professionals and complain that the reaction they get is often less than ideal:
Medical training doesn’t cover these performance-related areas in depth. Topics like sleep, nutrition and physical activity are usually addressed only briefly in med school;
Regular appointment times don’t allow for the depth needed to cover all the variables affecting individual performance;
Information coming from outside traditional medical sources is often met with suspicion;
Due to lack of familiarity, doctors usually avoid discussing data collected by wearables;
The focus on individual performance is still seen as secondary in a medical model centered around disease treatment rather than health optimization.
These are just a few examples that highlight the friction in how this topic is approached between those interested in it and their doctors.
As a physician dedicated to this field on a daily basis, I view this with concern and believe that, on our side, there's still much work to be done. But ignoring what’s happening in the world (and the channels through which information reaches those who seek us) is, in my opinion, a major mistake.
We need to make some adjustments:
Developing competencies in this area is essential to meet our patients’ needs;
Those dedicated to this field must have consultation times suited to the complexity of the subject;
Physicians should stay informed about popular content in this space. There is solid material out there that can be a valuable ally in our clinical practice. It’s important to highlight it. On the flip side, there’s a lot of misleading content that we need to understand and be able to explain why it’s not advisable;
Wearables are here to stay and are becoming increasingly accurate. They will inevitably be part of daily medical life. It’s crucial that we learn to work with them and guide patients on the pros and cons of what’s on the market.
The era of medicine that only treats diseases is over. We’re now in a time where the focus must increasingly be on prevention. A healthy individual should not be overlooked.
If people want to optimize specific aspects of their health or individual performance in particular areas of life, their doctor can be their best ally, supporting them on that journey.
