Maggie McKay (Host): Whether it's back to school, vacation planning, or the holidays, oftentimes we put our own health and well being on the back burner, especially women. But we need to make health a priority no matter how busy we get. So today we'll discuss ways to put our health at the top of the list with Dr. Victoria Acosta, Family Medicine Physician with Arbor Health, Mossy Rock Clinic. Welcome to Arbor Health and Life Podcast. I'm your host, Maggie McKay. Thank you so much for being here, Dr. Acosta. Would you please introduce yourself and share with us what inspired you to specialize in family medicine?

Victoria Acosta, DO: Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here. I'm Victoria Acosta. I am a Dr. of Osteopathy, a Washington native, and I chose family medicine because I liked everything too much. I didn't want to decide to just do one thing for the rest of my life, so I decided to do family medicine so I could do it all!

Host: Let's talk about the importance of annual checkups, mammograms, and beyond. How crucial is it for us as women to stay on schedule with these and why?

Victoria Acosta, DO: It's so important. It's currently fall. The holidays are coming up. School is in session, sports are happening, and there are lots of things competing for our attention. I actually just had a patient come in and tell me she's already behind on her Christmas prep, and it's not even Halloween. So I understand that to do lists are already piling up.

 Even outside of holiday season, it's easy to let things that don't feel necessary fall to the wayside and get forgotten; doctor's appointments, and in particular what we call health maintenance, tasks might not seem important until an issue comes up or you have a scare. So screening exams and preventive care are always optional, but I highly encourage them for everybody who's eligible for that reason.

I think it gives you some peace of mind. It allows you to check a box for that self care list. Which speaking of self care, I've suggested to women in the past to pair those things that might not seem very fun with something that you like, like a mani pedi day or a fancy coffee, or just giving yourself an hour to read a good book. It kind of makes it more enjoyable so that you're looking forward to something other than getting poked and prodded.

Host: That is such a good idea. I have never heard that suggestion, but I'm going to tell all my friends. That's a great one. Do you have any tips for how to keep appointments top of mind and follow through? Like, do you have any method you tell your patients, maybe phone reminders or calendar reminders?

Victoria Acosta, DO: Yes, I personally love my phone calendar. I would not get anywhere on time or do anything on my to-do list without it. I also have a notebook app in my phone, which I have a to-do list that I renew every week so I can check things off and that feels good. Everyone has or should have some sort of organizational system that works for them.

My mom actually makes her appointments with her best friend, so she goes, they go together and they make a day out of it. And then you also have some accountability to somebody other than yourself. You're not going to stand up your friend for your mammogram. And then you also have you know, your friend's health in mind, not just your own. And so it kind of makes it more of a priority.

Host: That is another brilliant idea because you know what, sometimes, like I had an older friend, a neighbor, and I was checking on her and I said, when's the last time you got your physical? And she said, I got it a couple months ago. And it turns out she hadn't had it for two years. So if you're accountable to someone, I think that's a great tip. What can we do to maintain our mental health when things seem just overwhelming?

Victoria Acosta, DO: So I think it's super important that in stressful situations or periods of time it's you just have to take time for yourself. It doesn't need to mean that you have to take a whole day out of your life or even an hour. You just have to be able to step away, take a breath, gather your thoughts and calm your mind.

And that can kind of help you keep it cool when things are getting hectic. I personally like the meditation apps that you can get on your phone. They have little five minute or even one minute breathing exercises that you can do, make it a part of your daily routine even when you're not stressed. That way you can kind of find that headspace easier when you feel like things are kind of spinning out of control.

I downloaded the Calm app when I was in medical school because they had a promotion for students. They must have thought we were going to get stressed out, and I've used it with some regularity since then. It's nice because I don't have to come up with something on my own to bring myself back down to earth when I feel like I'm spinning out, I can step outside to take a phone call or just spend an extra minute in my car when I get off of work to do one of those guided breathing exercises.

It can kind of help you pull you out of an anxious or irritable mindset, or just help you recenter after a long day. All that said, you don't need an app on your phone to do that, but you can give yourself permission to say, I need to step away and give yourself some space.

Host: Great idea. I guess this is pretty obvious, but in a nutshell, what are the consequences of putting off or forgetting altogether important doctor visits and exams, like a mammogram, for example?

Victoria Acosta, DO: For somebody who maybe doesn't have any health conditions or no health history, there might not be any immediately devastating results from not going to your doctor's appointment, but over time or for somebody who has a chronic condition or might be developing a chronic condition, it's really in the best interest of each person to keep up with doctor's visits and stay on top of your overall well being.

It's easy for health conditions to kind of snowball, and by keeping even a once yearly appointment, you can kind of keep those serious conditions under control and help stop things from sneaking up on you.

Host: Let's talk about stress and the importance of nutrition and sleep. They all kind of work together, right? When you're trying to avoid stress. What are your suggestions on those three?

Victoria Acosta, DO: Not allowing your routines to fall away when things are getting stressful and in times of holidays, make sure that you're keeping your sleeping schedule as much as you can. Obviously you're going to have times when you stay up later, get up earlier or later, and keeping your health food routine to a certain degree.

You don't want to let the fact that external things are happening that might be beyond your control. The things that you can control, you should try and keep as stable as possible to your normal routines because that will help everything else feel less chaotic and stressful.

Host: So, if you are stressed out and you're trying to do everything, how do you feel about maybe going to a counselor?

Victoria Acosta, DO: I think counseling is a great idea. And one of the things that I tell people anytime I make a counseling referral is that not every counselor is, is going to fit your vibe for lack of a better term. There are studies that have shown that counseling is something that you have to kind of work at and not every counselor is a best fit.

And so if you need to find somebody new, don't take it personally. Don't be worried that your counselor is going to get mad at you if you decide to go look elsewhere. But counseling is such a good way to have an outside observer talk to you through and find coping skills and just help unload some of that stress.

Host: And now, you can take the travel out of it because so many of them do it via Zoom or whatever, you know, on, on, uh, your computer, so you don't even have to go anywhere.

Victoria Acosta, DO: Yeah, there are a lot of programs that will allow you to do virtual counseling and even take insurance.

Host: How can the family work together to make the holidays more streamlined and less chaotic?

Victoria Acosta, DO: Oh gosh, families are so important. And of course, sometimes family can add to the chaos of the holiday season or just life in general. But a super valuable skill that everybody can learn is asking for help from your family members, or the people that you're surrounded by. And then also setting and respecting healthy boundaries with your family. Make sure to ask your family members for help when life is busy, whether it's household chores, meal prep, child care. Teamwork makes the dream work. So allowing others to help and learning how to ask for help, gets them invested in the results as well, so it just doesn't fall on your shoulders.

And then if you do feel like things are too chaotic and your family is contributing to that, allowing yourself to step away and then recognizing and respecting that too if your family says, you know, I need to step away for a moment, allowing them to, to take that space as well.

Host: That is such a big one, isn't it, Dr. Acosta? We don't know how to ask for help if we need help. And a lot of people don't even know how to accept it. Like if you're in the kitchen and everything's crazy and people say, what can I do to help? You're like, nothing, nothing, go back. But really you could use help. It's just that we have to learn how to say, okay, you can do this and that. So maybe learn how to delegate.

Victoria Acosta, DO: Exactly. Exactly, that's right. Let somebody else peel the potatoes.

Host: Exactly. Is there anything else in closing that you'd like to add that we didn't discuss?

Victoria Acosta, DO: Well, one thing I always like to practice myself, I'm not perfect at it, but is an attitude of gratitude. Sometimes it's easy to get into the habit of negative self talk, negative thinking and just by making sure that you're spending time at least once a day to count three things you're grateful for, this shifts your mindset to the positive and that is infectious in itself. And so, um, making that you're finding things to be grateful for every day.

Host: I love that. That's really a good one. I'm telling you what, I'm taking notes and I think I'm already going to have better holidays after just talking to you. Really.

Victoria Acosta, DO: I hope so.

Host: Thank you much for sharing your expertise and giving us useful tools to try to manage stress and prioritize our own health, both physically and mentally.

Victoria Acosta, DO: Thank you so much for having me. I can't wait to do another one of these.

Host: Great. We can't wait too. Again, that's Dr. Victoria Acosta. To find out more, please visit www.myarborhealth.org/familymedicine. That's myarborhealth.org/familymedicine. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out our entire podcast library for topics of interest to you. I'm Maggie McKay. Thanks for listening to Arbor Health and Life podcast.