Ecological Medicine
Ecological medicine explores human health from a holistic perspective, to find and address the underlying root causes behind a person’s symptoms/illness. In this respect, it is very similar to functional medicine.
Ecological medicine, however, broadens the focus to consider the interplay between the person and their environment, considering this complex, interconnected ecological system when working with a person to improve their health.
The phrase “we are what we eat” may be familiar, but we are affected by everything in our environment, not just our food. We are the air we breathe, the water we drink, the soil our food is grown in, the electromagnetic forces that travel through us, the light that hits our eyes, and so on.
We each carry echoes from events that have stressed our psyches and we carry the echoes of stressors in our ancestors’ lives, through epigenetic changes. These can affect our physiology, such as by causing deregulation in our immune system.
The Role of Ecological Balance in Wellness
We live alongside other living beings, whose ecology overlaps and interacts with ours. As well as people and pets, there are microbes that live in and on us, viruses that lie dormant in our cells, microbes that make up the healthy biome of our homes, and fungi and bacteria that move into our homes when we have water leaks/damp. If these other living beings are not in a harmonious state, their physiology can suffer, which can affect our well-being as well as theirs.
We are increasingly exposed to ecological factors that undermine our health such as nano plastics, chemicals and other toxins, and our ability to process and clear these from our bodies can be overwhelmed. All of these factors affect how our bodies function, and ensuring we maximize the impact of health-promoting factors while reducing that of harmful ones is vital.
As a doctor practising ecological medicine, I will explore how these interacting layers are relevant to your unique situation and address them as we work together to improve your health.
