Most of us strive for optimal health and wellbeing. This often entails seeking a variety of health products and services available to us, which means traditional healthcare will always remain integral.
But, more and more people are today seeking what can be termed as a well-adjusted proactive approach to their healthcare. This is where the notion and the entire profession of naturopathy come in. Naturopathy can best be described as a holistic approach to wellness. It has long been branded as nature’s gift to whole health and harmony.
Seeing a naturopathic doctor is very distinct from visiting a general physician. While both are key healthcare professionals, visiting a naturopathic doctor comes with increased rewards. This post shares the five key reasons why a naturopathic doctor can help you achieve optimal wellness.
1-A Naturopathic Doctor Focuses on Prevention
One of the fundamental advantages of working with naturopathic doctors is the ability and focus on preventive healthcare. Preventing current healthcare issues from becoming worse or stopping future healthcare issues from happening at all is a key component in naturopathic medicine.
When you visit a naturopathic doctor, he/she will evaluate heredity, health history, and other risk factors before developing a care strategy that best addresses your overall health, treatment, and prevention as well as general wellness.
This means that a naturopathic doctor will delve deeper into your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects to ensure that he/she identifies health concerns before they become medical emergencies.
Naturopathic medicine has the intention of directing and controlling your wellness into the future. It’s not just about treating symptoms as they arise.
2-A Naturopathic Doctor Uses Non-invasive and Natural Treatments
Naturopathic medicine often advocates for holistic and comprehensive healthcare and places emphasis on those qualities when comparing modalities to traditional medical practices. However, these modalities are usually non-invasive and non-surgical.
Although, in some cases, some illnesses and injuries may require surgical procedures, a naturopathic doctor will first resort to non-invasive techniques. The key advantage of this approach is that the patient can still get cured without having wounds and scars, reduce pain and discomfort that comes with surgeries, and can get back on track faster.
Other than non-invasive approaches, naturopathic doctors also focus on natural treatments and the influence of lifestyle factors and emotions on a patient’s whole health. This means that nutrition from superfoods and whole foods are often used to nourish and strengthen the body.
Approaches such as exercise, reduction of stress, quality of sleep, and other natural treatments normally play a vital role in naturopathic medicine. In clinical terms, such modalities include, but are not limited to, homeopathy, acupuncture, constitutional hydrotherapy, botanical medicines, and clinical nutrition.
3-A Naturopathic Doctor Focuses Your Body’s Self-healing Ability
Most of the healthcare modalities used in naturopathic medicine, as mention previously, focus on pushing your body to self-heal. In other words, this type of healthcare focuses on your body’s innate ability to heal itself.
Since your body always strives to self-repair and regenerate whenever there is an issue, your naturopathic doctor manipulates this ability to ensure that your body heals itself. This entails identifying and removing all the factors that may be preventing your healing and recovery process to increase your chance of optimal health.
For instance, removing obstacles to wellness such as smoking, heavy alcohol drinking, consumption of unhealthy diets, and even emotional obstacles such as stress and social isolation, you give the body the perfect widow for self-healing.
4-A Naturopathic Doctor Works Together with Other Healthcare Professionals
Combining natural medicine, supplements, and prescription medicine can be a daunting task for any patient. But, with the right recommendation from a variety of healthcare experts, such as naturopaths, GPs, and pharmacists, this complex option becomes a possibility.
Your naturopathic doctor will often act as a link between you and other healthcare experts. Meaning he/she will often work collaboratively with other professionals to ensure that your entire healthcare needs are consistently met.
This whole health approach can put your mind at risk, knowing that specialists have fashioned a treatment plan that is specifically tailored to your personal health needs.
5-A Naturopathic Doctor Gives In-depth Review
Another added advantage of using a naturopathic doctor is because they often provide an in-depth analysis of your whole health.
While a typical appointment with GP often lasts about 5 or 10 minutes, appointments with a naturopathic practitioner characteristically last about 30 minutes to 1 hour depending on your health needs.
In the end, your naturopathic doctor will have a holistic understanding of your health condition and give you an in-depth health review. With a better understanding of your healthcare needs, a naturopathic doctor can also help you better manage a healthy lifestyle and give you support during difficult life stages.
Remember, naturopathic doctors are also trained counselors, which means they offer not only medical support but also emotional backing.