A Naturopathic Doctor's Exploration of Self-Care

Authored by Dr. Q

A few days ago, I had well-intentioned plans to spend my Saturday creating an informative and extremely impressive blog post.

Then I woke up with a migraine. The very same migraine I’d gone to bed with.

Great.

So I now had the choice to 1) Fight through the pain and piece together something most-likely mediocre and insincere, or 2) Treat myself as a patient.

I decided to go with the latter, and one of the first things I do with every patient is mentally tick through the Naturopathic Tenets:

1. Identify and Treat the Cause **Helloooo Stress!**
2. Healing Power of Nature
3. Do No Harm
4. Doctor as Teacher
5. Treat the Whole Person
6. Prevention

I used the above tenets as a blueprint to guide my day, with an overall theme of Self-Care:

1. I set the phone to Do Not Disturb, got back in bed, meditated for 15 minutes, and allowed my body to naturally awaken when it was ready. *Treat the Cause*
2. I ate what I wanted, when I wanted - without any judgement about the choice or timing, but listening to what my body needed throughout the day. *Treat the Whole Person*
3. I ran a hot bath and added extra epsom salt, using the magnesium to help relax tight muscles. *Healing Power of Nature*
4. One of my favorite modalities is Botanical Medicine, and I tend to have a few dried herbs lying around. After the long bath I made a custom tea blend with raspberry leaf (a supportive female tonic), peppermint leaf and ginger root to help with migraine-associated nausea. *Healing Power of Nature*
5. I spent the rest of the afternoon away from screens, and listened to jazz while reading a kick-ass novel. The combination of these activities can strengthen the parasympathetic nervous system, the area of the body responsible for healing and restoration. *Treat the Whole Person*
6. By late afternoon I slowly began to feel more like myself. The familiar knot near my right shoulder blade started to dissipate, and the associated pounding in the right side of my head slid away. Instead of jumping up and doing things ‘productive’ I chose to stick with the relaxing pace of the day, cancelled my evening plans, and took a nap. I mean - outside of being sick with the flu - I can’t remember the last time I’ve fallen asleep with a book on my chest. It felt downright extravagant, and I’ve resolved to make it a regular part of my monthly regimen *Prevention* 

Moral of the story: Take care of yourself; your body will thank you for it.

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