Constitutional Medicine: The Medicine of the 21st Century

There's an often overlooked concept in modern medicine that was once really highly valued in terms of treatment of chronic disease. Now, this concept in Chinese medicine is still considered something very valuable. It helps you understand why certain people are susceptible towards certain conditions. So, let's jump into this video and I'll tell you what that is. Hey guys, I'm Dr. Alex Hein, author of the health book, Master of the Day and doctor of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine. Now, before we jump into this video, there are two very important links right below. The first is for a free guide, which is four daily rituals that can potentially help you add years to your life with traditional Chinese medicine. And the second is if you'd like to learn more about becoming a patient of mine in Los Angeles or virtually via telemedicine, there are links to reach out to my clinic and practice below. Now, the concept that I'm talking about here is called constitution. Now, you may have heard this term before and it sounds a bit archaic, right? I remember I was watching a show about Vikings and the king, King Alfred was like, I hope my son doesn't inherit my weekly constitution. So, when you think constitution, it probably sounds like some archaic middle ages term. But constitution just really means your genetic tendency. You have a tendency towards certain health problems in your life. You have a general tendency based on your parents' genetics to be a certain height. You have a tendency to look a certain way and you have a tendency to have a certain eye color, right? You also have a tendency to get certain symptoms or get certain illnesses or to be more susceptible to certain illnesses, depending on your genetic makeup and your genetic line. So, asthma, for example, often runs in families. Allergies, eczema often does as well. And on some families, everyone complains about their digestion. Everyone's gassy, everyone gets heartburn. So, you hear this a lot clinically from patients. Now, it's very important to understand constitution, number one, because not everyone needs the same medicine to heal, not just pharmaceutical medicine, but even lifestyle medicine, even the way people think medicine, mindset as medicine, the way a person lives as medicine is really the highest level of medicine, right? The highest level of medicine is no medicine. So, how do you attain that? It's by the way you live your life. Now, it's not always feasible for many different kinds of conditions, but constitution is important because it shows you what is your susceptibility. You know, if you know your gut is your weak point, then you need to pay extra close attention to your diet more than the average person. And that's unfair and that may suck, but that is what it is. So, that is what constitution is and why it's so important. But in my field, traditional Chinese medicine, we are often treating the person's constitution because by treating the constitution, you can strengthen the actual vital force, if I can use that term. You can strengthen the body's ability to heal itself more permanently. Now, I wanna give you an example of something that I would call constitutional medicine, right? From the A to the Z. So, let's take Sue, who's a super high-powered New York City attorney. She works 80 hours a week and has done that for over 10 years. Her meals are never seeded. She drinks multiple cups of coffee and she is always go, go, go. Now, Sue is one of the tension type constitutions, right? So, she is always, since she's been young, been more high-strung, maybe a little bit more neurotic, prone to negative emotions, competitive and driven. She has that forward momentum. Now, Sue can take antidepressants or Xanax all day long, but I promise you, she sure as hell is never gonna get off them if she keeps living the way she lives. Now, for her, when we talk about constitutional medicine, sure, there is a maybe genetic tendency that she has had since childhood to be high-strung, driven, a little more anxious, maybe a little more angry. And so, maybe there is a genetic susceptibility towards anxiety, for sure. But that genetic susceptibility has been pushed into overdrive based on her life choices. Where she lives is a constitutional choice, right? She chose to live in New York City, one of the most stressful places to live on Earth. So, for someone who's already pretty anxious and high-strung and angry, New York City is not a healthy decision for a place to live if she wants to approach it from a constitutional, a whole life medicine point of view. Now, she also gets acid reflux and indigestion every day. So, she's on a PPI medication for that. Well, no surprise, when you look at her lifestyle, when I talk to her, she literally doesn't take a single proper lunch break. I'm struck by, I studied abroad in Switzerland, and they will actually send kids home for two hours for a lunch break at school to go home with their families and eat a home-cooked meal with no stress to digest. And then, they'll come back to school. Compare that to a lot of people I know that are professionals, who don't even take a proper lunch break and they eat right in front of their computer or with their phone. So, the choice of lifestyle could also be the way she eats, right? She's eating standing up. She's not taking proper meals. And on top of that is her choice of stimulants. So, when you have an upper personality or an upper constitution who's taking uppers, you can see how that one plus one becomes 10 and not in a good way. So, for her, someone who has a tendency towards being anxious or a tendency towards having anxiety should really avoid any caffeine altogether, unless she's on a nice vacation in Italy where she's already relaxed. So, constitutional medicine is not just the medical treatment, right? That someone who's maybe a little bit more anxious needs some treatment for that anxiety, even if they are living the same lifestyle that doesn't make anyone else feel anxious. It's also the entire way you live, your thoughts, geographically where you live. If you're more sensitive, maybe living in a city is not good for your long-term health. If you have a tendency towards gut problems, maybe eating the way you see everyone else eating is not gonna do well for you, even if they don't have health problems from it. So, constitution is understanding where you're weak and understanding how your life and your lifestyle needs to be your medicine, because that's ultimately the true path to freedom from a health point of view. So, I hope that helps you guys. Constitutional medicine is the big picture of wellness and health and healing. Before you go, check out that free guide I've put together there, and if you'd like to reach out to learn more about my practice, it's all down there, and I'll see you guys soon.