Precision Health with Dr. Brad Patton | The Journey Podcast

Description

Dr. Brad Patton, is the visionary co-founder of Acropolis Health, who brings a unique perspective to wellness and preventative medicine. Dr. Patton shares his compelling journey from a small-town upbringing to revolutionizing primary care through Acropolis Health. His insights on the importance of relationships, self-investment, and preventative care are not just thought-provoking but potentially life-changing.

Discover why traditional healthcare approaches are being reevaluated and how precision medicine tailors wellness to the individual, fostering a proactive rather than reactive health mindset. Learn about the significant impact of metabolic health on overall wellness and how simple lifestyle changes can lead to profound improvements in quality of life.

Whether you're seeking inspiration to overhaul your health or curious about the future of personalized healthcare, this episode is packed with actionable advice, heartfelt stories, and innovative ideas that challenge conventional wisdom. Join us on this journey to uncover the potential of precision health in creating happier, healthier lives.

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Transcription

Speaker #0
Welcome to The Journey Podcast, a show about health, wealth, and happiness. My name is Adam Brudely, and I am joined by my co-host, Michael Baker. Whether you're looking to revamp your lifestyle or seeking a spark of inspiration, join us on this journey, and let's explore the world your health and wealth make possible.
Speaker #1
All opinions expressed by Adam and Michael and any podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Journey Wealth. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for any health or financial decisions.
Speaker #0
Welcome back to the Journey Podcast. Today we are joined by Dr. Brad Patton, who is the founder of Acropolis Health. On top of that, he is a father, a husband. physician, and really a believer in wellness broadly. Brad, thank you so much for joining us today. Really appreciate it.
Speaker #1
Thanks, Adam. Appreciate being here. Great.
Speaker #0
You know, today, one thing we talk about at Journey Wealth are the four pillars. You know, we've talked about them on previous podcasts, but I'll just reiterate them because there's really two key components I think you're going to touch on today. You know, when we talk about the four, we talk about spiritual wellness, physical wellness, mental wellness, and financial wellness. And I think for what you're doing with your wife, Megan at Acropolis Health really anchors to two key pieces of that, right? It's the mental wellness side and the physical wellness. So before we really dive into a lot of the content, and by the way, I'll preface one, I'm not a physician. You know, my wife is and she always yells at me like I pretend like I know these things. And two, I do love this space, especially the physical wellness one. So you know, you're going to hit home for me on a lot of topics today. But really, before we dive into that, I'd love to just hear, you know, how you got to turning your past in the medical space into Acropolis Health. How did you get here? What was your origin story? Absolutely.
Speaker #1
So I grew up in a small town in Arkansas. Being a physician was something that was very foreign, never even really thought about it, medicine as a career. And so growing up in a small town, relationships are important. The people around you, the community around you, these are the people you come to rely on. There's a lot of identity there. I didn't understand it at the time, but as I went through my studies and found myself in medicine. I started to realize how much those relationships were so important. Also, some amount of self-preservation, investing in yourself, almost that being your hedge for the future. Going through my studies, training in medical school got me into primary care and thinking, these are people I can have long-term relationships with, really start to try and understand. They can understand me, so we can build this deep relationship where we know a lot about each other and try to affect change through that. And when I got into practice in a large health system, I found it was very difficult to do a lot of the things that I was looking to do. And I also found that myself, getting into my 30s and 40s, realizing that I didn't really see any of my primary care colleagues as an option that boded well for me and what I wanted as a consumer for a physician. You know, wanting somebody that could connect with me more in a conversation about prevention. You know, hey, you've got a lot of healthy habits. How do we cultivate those? How do we trim some of the proverbial fat with bad habits? habits and how do we investigate along the way to help drive a lot of that decision making. You know, the healthcare in America these days, for better or worse, a lot of the resources are pooled into treating complex diseases, you know, which I'm very grateful for, for sure. A lot of the technology and innovation is around surgical procedures, the invasive procedures we can do that aren't done anywhere else in the world, which is all great, but it's all after the fact. So you're right. My interest really started to grow into how do I connect with people at the earliest possible opportunity to help shape, cultivate good habits and help illuminate along the way, you know, behaviors or patterns that might be well suited to just start to let go of. And that's what pushed me from being in a traditional setting to, yeah, my practice now in Acropolis Health, you know, working with people. Through long-form dialogue, close relationships, cadence of structured visits to really see that there's a lot more to this landscape than we've previously considered.
Speaker #0
Yeah, it's amazing. There's a couple of things I want to pull out that you just shared, but there's a couple of stats I want to put out first. And, you know, I'll preface this to that. We've had the opportunity to work together now for a number of months or, you know, even a little bit longer than that. Right. You know, probably six to nine months. But there's a couple of things that I think resonate that we've touched on that I'd love to pull in and then like set up kind of really what you're doing now, because I think it truly is differentiated. Right. you came from a system, right? A larger healthcare system. I think now the statistic is about 75% of all doctors operate within a large healthcare system, right? So, you know, 25% are kind of independent in that world, which really, I think to your point changes the dynamic, right? And I think the other piece of that, you know, the one that And that blows my mind at times. I think the stat is on average, a typical health with your primary care doctor, a typical appointment lasts anywhere from about 17 to 21 minutes and one in every four lasts about 12, right? Why I mentioned that is. the system to operate in and specifically what you said about communication relationships and really engaging with clients. And I think the term I've heard you use is precision medicine or precision help. Could you elaborate on that and, you know, how those points we just mentioned statistically integrate into what you're doing now?
Speaker #1
Absolutely. And I think the estimate of 17 to 21 minutes feels really generous in my experience. But so, yeah, the precision piece to it. And to sort of contrast that against where we've been previously. So, you know, when you're taking care of most primary care, doctors have two to four thousand patients that they're sort of responsible for, like allocated to them. And you may see 20 to 30 of those people a day, sometimes more. And so these short office visits, they just don't offer the opportunity to. really tailor care to a specific degree to patients. There's a lot of standardization of care approaches, certainly guidelines that are evidence-based, which are fantastic and very helpful for clinicians as far as guiding decision-making. But at the end of the day, you're just hoping to do the greatest good for the most people without digging too deep. We counter that with, or contrast that against, a precision-based approach, which is really scaling things down, working with... a smaller number of people so that you can know more about these people and truly start to tailor investigation approaches, treatment approaches, also have the patient be more educated, spend more time educating them on topics so they can be more involved in the decision making. That agency with patients is a piece that really seems to resonate these days. People, there's a growing demand of consumers wanting to understand these variables better, so that they can be more involved in the decision-making process. And so that precision piece, I think, is really, it hallmarks there. I mean, you see a lot these days in the... Precision genetics, you know, there's things of like tailoring cancer treatments and all those things. Again, I would delineate that from what we do in primary care. We use the word precision. It's more about each individual person being as unique as a fingerprint, whether that's the variables involved and what affects their decision-making on a daily basis or how they prefer to navigate their approach to their health.
Speaker #0
that's you know i think that's amazing i think i would pull also what you mentioned you know i've read a lot you know and i would kick this back to you right like Some of the best medicine is preventative, right? How early you catch something, you know, how early you can get out in front of it. I think, for example, just a small aside, I think, you know, 80% of you as adults, according to a survey, suffer from some type of back pain, right? Like, you know, that feels like that's a preventative opportunity in that space. And, you know, that's a very broad topic. But what have you noticed in, you know, in working with clients? Like, what would you, one, have found the most rewarding and being able to bring that type of preventative medicine or that precision health to clients? And what have they shared with you that is truly impacted and helped steward you, knowing you guys are moving in the right direction in really an untapped space?
Speaker #1
Yeah. So to unpack the first part, I mean, on my end, it's just the opportunity. That early detection is a great piece. I mean, there's a patient that I worked with in our current practice, one of the first patients that was an early adopter of enrolling in our practice. And- This guy had had... an issue that had popped up in a radiology scan incidentally years ago. And the standard approach was, hey, this thing is relatively small. We should just watch it and kind of see how it goes. Well, this was a guy who didn't really have a relationship with a primary care doctor or someone to kind of advocate for him along the way and make sure our cadence of surveillance is in place. So when he showed up to me in reviewing his records, we got done with our conversation, say, hey, this elaborate on this piece. Let's talk about this because there's some loose ends here that I think we would be well advised to tie up. You know, he seemed to be like, yeah, I agree with that. But in the past, it's kind of been told that it's really not a big deal. Just keep an eye on it. It's not, I'm not having any symptoms from it. Well, all it took was a series of a few things, you know, simple scans, a consultation with a specialist to realize, hey, this is a cancer. You know, let's get this out of here. It's really early, but we wouldn't advise waiting now that we know what it is. And this was just something that just took a little bit of... dialogue and explanation. in my office to, you know, for him to grasp the importance of it. And he was in complete agreeance and allowed us to just get that piece out of the way and move forward. And it could have been a much bigger problem, better job over the years of connecting with people in. relatively stable or good states of health and encouraging, you know, connection in that state. But as physicians, we've largely marketed ourselves or entered the market at the point where disease is already present. We're down this path. Let's try to manage or treat an active disease. And so, you know, there's always a little bit of surprise on patient's end when we're talking to them about, yeah, you're healthy. Great. This is a perfect time for us to connect because let's help investigate. Let's assess with a deeper set of. variables to really look at more data and determine, you know, are we, are you as healthy as you think you are? And not for the purposes of trying to find a problem, but mostly just to say, let's look at this problem more comprehensively and ensure that the steps you're taking align with what your desired outcome is. Yeah,
Speaker #0
that's great. I mean, one, thank you for sharing the example, right? Like hearing that story of a client that like, those are the things that I think that resonate. more than most across any type of client, or excuse me, doctor patient type relationship, right? Being able to share that story and help them understand by spending the time, the questions, the relationship that you were able to bring to them first and foremost. And I think with that being said, one of the things you just mentioned, I'd love to pull on a little bit is you said, Hey, maybe you're not as healthy as you think you are, right? Like maybe you're not in as best of shape as you think you are. Could you unpack that a little bit, right? And to talk a little bit more. That's a great question.
Speaker #1
I'll use a personal example too. I mean, just yesterday, I was down at the Akron University Human Performance Lab getting as much data as I could gather on myself with that. And I've been someone who, exercise, nutrition, these are things that have lived at the forefront of my own personal health priorities for years. And... You know, I think when we think about assessing our health, sure, physically, how do we feel? How's our body function? We challenge it. How does our lab work look? You know, functional metrics, these kind of things. And I think most of us want to see, we want to focus on the things we're already doing really good. I think that's inherent to us as humans. But you know, anything that's perceived as a shortcoming, we're a little bit critical of ourselves. And so yesterday... you know, a big illuminating thing for me was my VO2 max. I mean, it wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but what it did was force me to confront that, hey, I know I don't invest enough in this metric and the value of it is so high that now this has to become something that I'm not trying to justify. You know, I'm doing all these other things. Great. My labs look great. All these markers look good, but that's a piece that, and it doesn't give me... um, and my day to day, no noticeable difference. You know, I get through my workouts fine. I do all these things, but it's certainly a piece that I feel compelled to say now, look, I need to just kind of check a little bit of my own ego and resistance and really push into that, uh, push into that a little further.
Speaker #0
Um, yeah, thanks for sharing that. I think that's a really thoughtful example, right? Because in this maybe leads to my next question, you know, For example, right, I go to the doctor, I'm fairly healthy, I love to work out, try to eat well, do all these things. I go in and do try to consistently show up and say, hey, you know, for your six month or 12 month checkup, and it's the standard routine, how you feeling, how you doing, take your blood pressure, you know, take, draw your blood, you know, all those things, and you walk out and you're like, yeah, I'm doing all the right things. But then I have a conversation and talk to you like we have had, and you open up Pandora's box. of all these other, in a good way, right? Of all these other metrics. Could you elaborate then a little bit in terms of those two parallel paths, right? Like when you think about that traditional relationship with your primary care doctor and then the way you're moving with precision type medicine and health, you know, how did those differ and differentiate a little bit?
Speaker #1
Yeah, so in the traditional model, you know, you're just trying to get some degree of care to as many people as possible. So the constraints in that model are just time and resources. You've got a limited number of clinical staff and an endless seeming number of patients you're trying to navigate. So again, time is the variable, the rate limiting step. You're just not going to have the time to dig in as deep as you would like and excavate as deep as you would like in SARS. and so in our precision approach again we're scaling that down so that we can really start to elaborate on some of these conversations okay great you've got a lot of healthy habits let's talk about um you know Where do you perceive yourself to be really grooming healthy habits well? And what information have we looked at to assess how your body is responding to those healthy habits? But also, I think the illumination of those unhealthy habits that become casual habits. You know, I mean, you know, one of the most common examples being alcohol intake. You know, alcohol is something that's woven so casually into our social fabric that most of us. don't really think about how frequently it comes into our life, especially if you're a moderate consumer. However, the implications, the downstream implications of that can be disastrous and work against us in terrible ways. And like most other things. Those little things compound so greatly over time when done regularly, just the way that small investments in positive habits over time compound in a positive way. But it's only through deeper conversations that you gain enough trust with people that they'll honestly disclose to you and feel in a nonjudgmental space a way to have a conversation about just assessing how useful is this practice in my life and what's the utility of it? You know, where does it fit?
Speaker #0
Yeah, I mean, I think that's a great one to speak to. And I think, again, I relate it back to how you started the conversation and we opened, right? It's your relationship with the client. It's that level of trust. It's that time piece that we actually talk about a lot at Journey Wealth too, right? Time is a key component for many of our clients and how they think about what wealth means to them and what they really want out of life. And I don't think it's much different, right? Like coming to you and asking what they want out of life. And then, you know, when we think about that financial wellness pillar, right, because all the things you need to start doing now to do whatever you want to do 15, 20, 30, 50 years from now, right? Like when you think about... about lifespan versus healthspan, right? And what that really means, meaning, you know, the, you can. medical system is pretty good at keeping you alive for a long time. But what is that lifespan like, right? Like, what is that last decade feel like? And with that being said, you kind of mentioned, for example, alcohol and its relationship to people. I would ask, you know, what is one of the key questions you get asked most often about the impact to someone's health, right? You know, they think is the most important. What's one of the least that gets asked that has a huge impact on someone, right?
Speaker #1
Yeah, I think that's a great question because a lot of people come into our office asking. what can I take? What's a hack for this? You know, I mean, these are the, it's the world we live in these days where we're, you know, everything's about efficiency, you know, and, and we're all, you know, the bandwidth we have is seemingly perceived as minimal. So how do we be most efficient with our efforts? And I think that's probably the piece where we try to stop and reframe the idea about how we get there is not as much, what do we take? What are we looking for to help? shortcut this problem or create this. It's more, what are the habits we have in place currently? And how do we adjust some of those habits or what's preventing us from really doing the things that we've, we've got kind of a foregone conclusion that these are pieces we need to invest in, but there's resistance to that. And I think, you know, everybody's, uh, The answer for that is a much more complicated, complex problem. But it's a lot of things. It's also stress and emotion and the mental health piece that you alluded to earlier. I mean, these are a lot of where the barriers sit. So, you know, again, back to the time piece, if we're not taking the time to invest in these conversations, we won't even know how or if these things are affecting or becoming the barrier. You know, they are the barriers. Yeah. prevent us from progress. So usually that question of what do I take? What do I, you know, we try to just peel that back. That's probably the most common question that we get through. We try to say, look, that's probably not our starting point. Let's understand the framework of your day right now and figure out how we can do. how we can adjust the things we're already doing to align with what your stated health, you know, your stated goals are.
Speaker #0
Yeah, that's really well said. I like, and I had a friend of mine there in the. interior design space and they were asking me a question knowing right like you know wellness for for journey and they were asking we were talking just kind of having a conversation about that and i likened i used i get asked that same question just as the person that like in my old career as the runner and the health person i would like hey what supplement should i take and you know what what vitamins or what new shoe should i get that it would help me run faster and i would often position it back of well let's step back and like, Hey, are you, are you just eating a balanced diet? Are you, are you working out? Are you getting good sleep? And they may say, Oh no, to this and no to that. And I'm like, well, the vitamins and the supplements really don't matter. Right. We're talking about around the fringe. And my analogy was like to her was when you're designing a house, right. If you walk into the house and it's half torn down and a disaster, it needs like her putting little things around there to style. It isn't going to make it look that much better. Yeah. So You know, I think then about back to the foundation, right? The foundation of the four pillars, the foundation of how you approach precision health. You know, when someone comes in to talk to you, like, what are some of those key components you speak to? You've talked to me a lot about metabolic health, right? Right. That's really that that is the foundation. And we can talk and I'd love for you to extrapolate on that, because there's a stat I read the other day that just blew my mind that only about 7 percent of all American adults will attain metabolic health, which just is shocking. When you think you do the math, 7 percent of 350 million people total. I know those aren't all adults, but. it just, I couldn't believe it. So could you elaborate and dive deeper on that?
Speaker #1
Absolutely. So yeah, metabolic health is something we hear that term used a lot these days, but what it refers to and the way we use it with our members and patients is, you know, blood sugar, you know, cholesterol, blood pressure, body composition. These are all factors that play a role in that metabolic health piece. You know, our metabolism is something that is, it fluctuates based on need. For most of us, you know, as we age and like why, you know, that staggering statistic of only 7% of Americans will reach it. You know, yeah, I mean, one in three Americans has metabolic syndrome, which is inclusive of things like obesity and high blood pressure and, you know, high cholesterol levels, these things that predispose us to risk for various conditions like diabetes and heart disease. But that metabolic health piece is something that we really just scratched the surface of in traditional medicine. You know, there are pretty superficial markers that we kind of hang our hat on as like, OK, these things aren't abnormal. So there must not be. glaring problem there. And, you know, in our practice, we like to look much farther upstream to try and determine where are the earliest signs of a potential problem so that we can help illuminate and enact change at that point to try and adjust the trajectory in the course. Because, you know, these things like A1C and fasting blood sugars, these things are great to know. Patients, everybody should know where they sit on that metric. But, you know, by looking at additional markers, like taking into more of a comprehensive approach, looking at things like triglycerides, fasting insulin levels, diabetes risk index, and then overlay that on, yeah, other metrics as well. How is your sleep quality? Assessing your sleep quality. Most Americans, you know, most people, if you ask them how they sleep, I don't know. I go into bed, my eyes are shut, I wake up, they're open. But if you were to ask their bed partner or their kids or anybody that sleeps around them, they could have a totally different story. story of what's going on during that eight-hour incapacitated window. And daily habits, nutrition habits, stress management habits, emotional habits, these things all have such a vital impact on our metabolism. The foundation, like you said, is a piece that just, it merits assessing. as comprehensively as you can, because that piece is one of the keystones that leads to so many disease states that are avoidable or at least delayable. And that upstream knowledge is where you're confronted with the opportunity to make a decision. And I think for most people, they just don't even get the opportunity to see that. before it hits. So I think that that's what we're hoping to do, is illuminate that at a much earlier point, if it does exist, or assess it and reassure that everything looks great, validate the behaviors, validate the approach, and say, continue doing that, and let's continue assessing it at intervals to ensure that that still seems like a favorable path.
Speaker #0
Yeah, that's great. I mean, to that point, I think. the one word I've, you've mentioned a few different times, which I love is, is the reframing for people, right? Like what is really important, um, you know, in connecting the dots, because what I mean by that, right? Like the stress you're, you're having at work or at home, um, or in a relationship with a spouse or your children, um, you know, are you physically working out, right? So that stress component or that piece. like, you know, do you have hobbies? Do you have relationships? You know, all of these things are not mutually exclusive. And I think oftentimes, you know, back to that, that 12 minutes you get when you go get that checkup. You know, are you able to even share some of those things, right, and recognize that there's an underlying issue? So with that being said, you know, when you're talking to a client or, you know, talking to our audience here, what is where are three specific things they can do to kind of start down that precision health approach? Right. One is work with you and Megan specifically. but to put it out broadly, like where can they start, you know, one or two, three questions they can start to ask or steps they can take to go down that route. Yeah.
Speaker #1
And I think the number one step is find your why, find out what you want, you know, start to ask these questions of yourself about what it is you want and why you're going to be seeking those things or what you're willing to adjust in those things. The other thing is to understand the Educate yourself as a consumer about what your options are for healthcare. You know, these days there's a lot of innovation going on in the healthcare space and, you know, an awareness about... practices like ours, which are emerging, you know, with regularity, this is becoming, there's more, more consumers are finding their way to this because they want to take a different path. And I think being your best advocate, you know, being your own advocates, the best, the best approach, you know, as far as action items for what you can do to try and promote your health and keep it very simple. You know, I, I find it's, uh, It's wild how many people don't drink enough water. You know, that sounds so simple on the surface, and we hear it all the time for different reasons, but, you know, it's such a vital, it's such a vital... molecule that we just don't consume. I mean, like seeing you here with the water now, there's no greater promotion of drinking water than when people walk into my office and have some kind of water bottle. I'm like, all right, great. At least this is living at the forefront of your mind because hydration is key. The other thing is move, move your body, you know, with intention, not just passive casual. Hey, I have to walk. across the hall to do this, or I've got to go down, you know, to another office. It's like the intention of investing in yourself with movement is key. And the third thing I would say is, you know, it's hard to whittle this down to three, I would definitely say that. But the third thing is, you know, relationships. I think relationships would be very illuminating. If you, you know, ask, you know, why are these people important to me? Why do I want people to be important to me? asking, am I validating those relationships enough? Am I giving those relationships enough? Because I think that ties into the first piece, which is like finding your why for doing things. What do you want to achieve? But yeah, those are three simple things that I would say, you know, everybody could do right now with, with no, you know, you don't need an extensive amount of resources or other things. Those are pretty self-isolating.
Speaker #0
Yeah. I mean, I think that's great. I, you know, one being as a, as a people, I've repeatedly heard about, you know, I'd love to run, you know, do triathlon, all those other good things. And, you know, I learned about dehydration very quickly, right, and the impact it can have on your performance. So that's a big one to me. I want to anchor to the physical wellness piece, specifically the movement. I think the stat right now is only 25% of all Americans get the recommended amount of physical activity a week. And I think that's around 150 minutes. All So 75% are not moving in some form or fashion. Could you talk a little bit about, you know, I like to think sometimes that, you know, movement, exercise, whatever we want to call it, could be that act or that silver bullet at times, right? Because the benefits it has across all of those spectrums of mental wellness and spiritual wellness. and physical wellness. Could you dive a little bit deeper on the physical wellness side or the exercise side and the impact there, right? Like, hey, one from a longevity perspective, one from all the other benefits of the metabolic health and everything it kind of anchors off from there.
Speaker #1
Yeah, I would agree with you that if you're looking for something that you could conceivably call a hack or a super drug. exercise is it you're you're right i mean what the reason that things like vo2 max are is the highest correlating variable with what your anticipated lifespan will be is because The way that you modify that number is through exercise, through intention, intentional stress, challenging your body physically. So certainly on that aspect of metabolic health, you know, exercise is key. But through all those domains as well, I mean, what exercise does for our mental clarity, you know, being outdoors. I know you had just recently referenced some information about. how much time Americans or how little time Americans spend outdoors and, you know, things like creativity and connection and introspection and all these pieces that you glean from just being outside, you know, it's the, the, you know, vitamin D you know, a lot of things that help again, these are all little things that fall into these buckets that have an additive effect. But yeah, the exercise piece, I think, you know, when I talk with, with our clients, it's, exercise is that thing that physically serves our body. We get physically stronger. We get an increased aerobic capacity. We're conditioning our cardiovascular system. All those things certainly are true from those challenges, but we're also challenging ourself mentally and emotionally to find our barriers and challenge. Can we push through these? And I think that's a great metaphor for the other aspects in life that are challenging. I think that... Most people that I know, and I know for myself this is true, but going through my life, I lean on the lessons I've learned through my own trials and tribulations with exercise and physical endeavors I've undertaken, some with success, some not with success. And lean on those to, you know, when I'm presented with a challenging personality that I'm working with or a complex medical case or, you know, trying to navigate the emotion of a five-year-old whose shoes, shoe choice is just creating a meltdown. Like it's, it's not that different at the core. It's just, it's a problem that you've got to solve in real time and try to frame it in. what can I affect and what can't I affect? And focusing on the things that are not changeable variables is not the place to burn yourself. But I think illuminating these areas that, hey, that's an affectable variable, that's the place to devote your energy. But I think without that exercise and resilience and self-challenge that's often gained through exercise, I think you're not really equipped with all the tools.
Speaker #0
yeah that's amazing i mean you're you're hitting you know everything you just shared i love right you've you've heard me talk about this over and over again and i would 100% that say that i as an ultra runner um i always tell people like a 50 or 100 mile run is like one of the best examples of how like going then an experience of life the ups and downs the highs and lows you know the the great points and euphoric moments and the the ones where you're like i just want to bail and get out of here right this is just miserable but pushing through that and you come out the other side every time, much better for that. And one of the other items you mentioned is, you know, when you talk to clients specifically, and what you just phrased there is really about connecting the dots, right? And I think what I've heard from working with you and working with Megan is when you guys talk to clients, that's really one of the key pieces when you have the time to help people connect the dots and reframe their perspective. and then reframe their beliefs. I think that's the biggest thing. So you do that for clients. What have you come through after getting in and launching the business and working with clients in this new form or fashion? What has reframed your beliefs in the precision medicine space and where it's headed?
Speaker #1
Yeah. I mean, there's a lot personally that I've taken from this journey. I mean, I think one thing that allows us to be... What we feel like is so effective for our clients is that we're implementing these actions in our own life. A big part of starting this business and breaking away was to try and stick to that plan. that discussion line of, hey, if your family is really important, how are you aligning your life to fit with that statement? If, you know, prevention is really important, how are you aligning your approach to fit with that statement? And so I think that in the precision medicine space, you know, where we're going to see this grow, you know, because certainly I think this is a growing space. I think consumer demand is going to drive this. Patients are very interested in becoming. participants in their own health. But I think it's going to require a big mindset shift on the side of clinicians and, you know, healthcare in general, because it's going to force clinicians to confront their own approach. You know, you think about the common, like the cliche description of, you know, 20 years ago, you go to the doctor's office, and the doctor might be smoking in the exam room, maybe 30 years ago, whatever. But you know, it's not, it's still not an unusual scenario that you go into a healthcare provider's office. And They may not seem to have the most healthy habits, and I think that the optics of that are challenging, because I think people want to feel compelled and convicted by the person they're working with. That connection is so important, and that looks different for everyone. but certainly I think through conversations and through, again, just a healthy dose of humility and being able to allow patients into your life as well and clients to understand yourself and your identity, that only serves to strengthen those, but it also allows people to really determine who's the best fit for me because I think that this movement into precision medicine is going to do a lot... you can't do it without transparency, transparency of intention, transparency of certain aspects of our own. you know, lives. I think that's just a necessity. Like for Megan and I, we're very upfront with people along the way. I mean, I'll answer almost any question someone has, some unsolicited. But I feel like that's important because, you know, if somebody doesn't know where you came from or what your approach is, I think it's hard for them to put a lot of power and emphasis in what you're trying to talk to them about. So I think the two go hand in hand.
Speaker #0
yeah that's fantastic and i i will absolutely sit here and say that in the times i've sat across from you or the times we've been together um both yourself and megan i mean you're living that life right i i know you the the gym you have outside your small gym your your little box you have outside your house the times i've seen you at uh our kids are in the same kindergarten class and they have this amazing experience every Friday called Forest Friday, where they go out and they get muddy and they tear things up and they break branches. And, you know, I've seen you out there volunteering, participating in that. I know you guys were at the pancake breakfast because they tapped their own sap this week. But I think that's incredible, right? Like, I think to your point, when someone sits across from you and you're validating them or having that conversation with that, that you're living that life and kind of smirked when you said the smoking doctor, right? Growing up as a kid, our neighbor was a surgeon, and he was like a two and a half pack a day type smoker, right? Sure, dealing with the stress and a few other things, but we saw it every single day. And I think it's really hard, right, if you're a patient of someone and you're sitting on their side and that's not what you're seeing as they... kind of give that back to you. It's really hard, right? That level of trust and transparency doesn't resonate.
Speaker #1
Yeah, it's a lot of mixed messaging. And I think that these days where trust is the fabric of foundation, it's just a piece that we can no longer afford to ignore. And again, I just think that's something we just need to confront as healthcare, as clinicians. And, um... but I think that consumers have a heightened awareness, you know, about what they want out of that experience now, which is great because that's telling me the pendulum is swinging where, you know, cause nobody wants to walk into a situation and have just the scenario of terms dictated to them. I mean, I'm sure, you know, nobody would want to walk into journey and say like, okay, I have zero agency in this conversation. You're just going to tell me exactly what to do. And these are my marching orders and I don't need to understand why yet for some reason in healthcare, right? that's kind of the, that's the flag we've flown for a long time. And, um, it's just not that appealing anymore. And I also think the outcomes just aren't proving that that's the best approach. It's most like mother thing. We, we send our kids to school for such a long time. Um, and the point of that is to educate them. And I think as adults, we're not that different. We want to be educated on topics to drive our decision-making. Uh, and, uh, yeah.
Speaker #0
That's so well said. And I think it's why we, you know, not only from a friendship and a strategic partnership component with you guys, but, you know, you're walking that same path of helping your clients and or patients live their best life. Right. And I'm going to pull it back to you specifically because one of the things, you know, we talk about on this show a little bit, you know, the term Masogi challenge, whatever you want to call it, but I'm going to. ask you with that being said right like living that kind of type of life is there something you have on tap for this year that does those things what you just talked a little bit about right your purpose your why getting you out of your comfort zone something really hard you know we shared in the last episode it's a 50 50 chance of it actually happening um you
Speaker #1
know be have fun and don't die yeah so yeah it's uh for me it's this is running piece i kind of had you know i've you I used to run when I was younger, not ultra distance, not long things like you've done. I've never run a marathon. I've done one half marathon in my early 20s. Since then, I had a lot of reasons why I kind of got away from running, to be very honest. I didn't enjoy it. I've always understood the utility of it. But for me this year, my intention is to. like the burning river is happening in the summer. They have a, uh, like relay portion where you can string together eight, sorry, souls to try and complete that 100 mile. Uh, and then you got 27 hours to complete that thing. So I'm in the process of trying to recruit, uh, seven other individuals in my neighborhood, uh, to try and, uh, do this thing, uh, with me. And for, for me, that's, that's something that I feel like that. both the buildup, the training to, and the completion of, um, would be, uh, that that's my challenge for myself this year, because I think there's so much for me to be gleaned to learn from that process. And especially, like you said, investing in these aspects of health that I'm trying to, um, demonstrate by my own actions that, Hey, you know, this is, this is not something I want to do. you know, a large part of me doesn't anyway, but, um, but I, I can absolutely see the value in it and I will know I will come out the better, the other side, um, better for it for sure.
Speaker #0
That's great. I'm very familiar with that course, both the front and the back. Well, as we close out, anything else you would want to leave for the listeners, right? Anything they can take away? And then more importantly, how can they find you guys?
Speaker #1
Yeah. So, you know, I think my big soapbox is advocacy. I think as, you know, as anyone listening to this, be your own best advocate, you know, understand what it is you want. be compelled by that and find someone who can share that, uh, passion with you to, to work with you to achieve it. Um, yeah. And that is finding us. Uh, we hope we're easy to find at this point, but, uh, yeah, our, uh, practice is called Acropolis health. We're, uh, Acropolis health.com. My Acropolis health.com. We'll get you there online. We have a small practice in downtown Hudson that we're actively trying to grow because the, um, the demand, uh, has, has delighted us and how much this has resonated with people looking to transform their health or just sustain a good path for their health. You can find us on most social channels as well.
Speaker #0
That's great. Well, thank you so much for joining us. I mean, I love what you're doing, as you know, you know, our clients work with you and we love working with you guys. And it's amazing to see like the rocket type trajectory you guys are having.
Speaker #1
So we appreciate the opportunity. I mean, there's no there's no pleasure like sharing a common vision of ethos and tension. integrity. I mean, you guys embody that a journey and it's, you know, everybody seems to buy into it and that's what makes it special.
Speaker #0
Well, we appreciate it. No, thank you. And thank you for joining us and please join us next time when we'll have Andrew brush coming on. Really appreciate it. Take care. Thanks.

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Transcription

Speaker #0
Welcome to The Journey Podcast, a show about health, wealth, and happiness. My name is Adam Brudely, and I am joined by my co-host, Michael Baker. Whether you're looking to revamp your lifestyle or seeking a spark of inspiration, join us on this journey, and let's explore the world your health and wealth make possible.
Speaker #1
All opinions expressed by Adam and Michael and any podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Journey Wealth. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for any health or financial decisions.
Speaker #0
Welcome back to the Journey Podcast. Today we are joined by Dr. Brad Patton, who is the founder of Acropolis Health. On top of that, he is a father, a husband. physician, and really a believer in wellness broadly. Brad, thank you so much for joining us today. Really appreciate it.
Speaker #1
Thanks, Adam. Appreciate being here. Great.
Speaker #0
You know, today, one thing we talk about at Journey Wealth are the four pillars. You know, we've talked about them on previous podcasts, but I'll just reiterate them because there's really two key components I think you're going to touch on today. You know, when we talk about the four, we talk about spiritual wellness, physical wellness, mental wellness, and financial wellness. And I think for what you're doing with your wife, Megan at Acropolis Health really anchors to two key pieces of that, right? It's the mental wellness side and the physical wellness. So before we really dive into a lot of the content, and by the way, I'll preface one, I'm not a physician. You know, my wife is and she always yells at me like I pretend like I know these things. And two, I do love this space, especially the physical wellness one. So you know, you're going to hit home for me on a lot of topics today. But really, before we dive into that, I'd love to just hear, you know, how you got to turning your past in the medical space into Acropolis Health. How did you get here? What was your origin story? Absolutely.
Speaker #1
So I grew up in a small town in Arkansas. Being a physician was something that was very foreign, never even really thought about it, medicine as a career. And so growing up in a small town, relationships are important. The people around you, the community around you, these are the people you come to rely on. There's a lot of identity there. I didn't understand it at the time, but as I went through my studies and found myself in medicine. I started to realize how much those relationships were so important. Also, some amount of self-preservation, investing in yourself, almost that being your hedge for the future. Going through my studies, training in medical school got me into primary care and thinking, these are people I can have long-term relationships with, really start to try and understand. They can understand me, so we can build this deep relationship where we know a lot about each other and try to affect change through that. And when I got into practice in a large health system, I found it was very difficult to do a lot of the things that I was looking to do. And I also found that myself, getting into my 30s and 40s, realizing that I didn't really see any of my primary care colleagues as an option that boded well for me and what I wanted as a consumer for a physician. You know, wanting somebody that could connect with me more in a conversation about prevention. You know, hey, you've got a lot of healthy habits. How do we cultivate those? How do we trim some of the proverbial fat with bad habits? habits and how do we investigate along the way to help drive a lot of that decision making. You know, the healthcare in America these days, for better or worse, a lot of the resources are pooled into treating complex diseases, you know, which I'm very grateful for, for sure. A lot of the technology and innovation is around surgical procedures, the invasive procedures we can do that aren't done anywhere else in the world, which is all great, but it's all after the fact. So you're right. My interest really started to grow into how do I connect with people at the earliest possible opportunity to help shape, cultivate good habits and help illuminate along the way, you know, behaviors or patterns that might be well suited to just start to let go of. And that's what pushed me from being in a traditional setting to, yeah, my practice now in Acropolis Health, you know, working with people. Through long-form dialogue, close relationships, cadence of structured visits to really see that there's a lot more to this landscape than we've previously considered.
Speaker #0
Yeah, it's amazing. There's a couple of things I want to pull out that you just shared, but there's a couple of stats I want to put out first. And, you know, I'll preface this to that. We've had the opportunity to work together now for a number of months or, you know, even a little bit longer than that. Right. You know, probably six to nine months. But there's a couple of things that I think resonate that we've touched on that I'd love to pull in and then like set up kind of really what you're doing now, because I think it truly is differentiated. Right. you came from a system, right? A larger healthcare system. I think now the statistic is about 75% of all doctors operate within a large healthcare system, right? So, you know, 25% are kind of independent in that world, which really, I think to your point changes the dynamic, right? And I think the other piece of that, you know, the one that And that blows my mind at times. I think the stat is on average, a typical health with your primary care doctor, a typical appointment lasts anywhere from about 17 to 21 minutes and one in every four lasts about 12, right? Why I mentioned that is. the system to operate in and specifically what you said about communication relationships and really engaging with clients. And I think the term I've heard you use is precision medicine or precision help. Could you elaborate on that and, you know, how those points we just mentioned statistically integrate into what you're doing now?
Speaker #1
Absolutely. And I think the estimate of 17 to 21 minutes feels really generous in my experience. But so, yeah, the precision piece to it. And to sort of contrast that against where we've been previously. So, you know, when you're taking care of most primary care, doctors have two to four thousand patients that they're sort of responsible for, like allocated to them. And you may see 20 to 30 of those people a day, sometimes more. And so these short office visits, they just don't offer the opportunity to. really tailor care to a specific degree to patients. There's a lot of standardization of care approaches, certainly guidelines that are evidence-based, which are fantastic and very helpful for clinicians as far as guiding decision-making. But at the end of the day, you're just hoping to do the greatest good for the most people without digging too deep. We counter that with, or contrast that against, a precision-based approach, which is really scaling things down, working with... a smaller number of people so that you can know more about these people and truly start to tailor investigation approaches, treatment approaches, also have the patient be more educated, spend more time educating them on topics so they can be more involved in the decision making. That agency with patients is a piece that really seems to resonate these days. People, there's a growing demand of consumers wanting to understand these variables better, so that they can be more involved in the decision-making process. And so that precision piece, I think, is really, it hallmarks there. I mean, you see a lot these days in the... Precision genetics, you know, there's things of like tailoring cancer treatments and all those things. Again, I would delineate that from what we do in primary care. We use the word precision. It's more about each individual person being as unique as a fingerprint, whether that's the variables involved and what affects their decision-making on a daily basis or how they prefer to navigate their approach to their health.
Speaker #0
that's you know i think that's amazing i think i would pull also what you mentioned you know i've read a lot you know and i would kick this back to you right like Some of the best medicine is preventative, right? How early you catch something, you know, how early you can get out in front of it. I think, for example, just a small aside, I think, you know, 80% of you as adults, according to a survey, suffer from some type of back pain, right? Like, you know, that feels like that's a preventative opportunity in that space. And, you know, that's a very broad topic. But what have you noticed in, you know, in working with clients? Like, what would you, one, have found the most rewarding and being able to bring that type of preventative medicine or that precision health to clients? And what have they shared with you that is truly impacted and helped steward you, knowing you guys are moving in the right direction in really an untapped space?
Speaker #1
Yeah. So to unpack the first part, I mean, on my end, it's just the opportunity. That early detection is a great piece. I mean, there's a patient that I worked with in our current practice, one of the first patients that was an early adopter of enrolling in our practice. And- This guy had had... an issue that had popped up in a radiology scan incidentally years ago. And the standard approach was, hey, this thing is relatively small. We should just watch it and kind of see how it goes. Well, this was a guy who didn't really have a relationship with a primary care doctor or someone to kind of advocate for him along the way and make sure our cadence of surveillance is in place. So when he showed up to me in reviewing his records, we got done with our conversation, say, hey, this elaborate on this piece. Let's talk about this because there's some loose ends here that I think we would be well advised to tie up. You know, he seemed to be like, yeah, I agree with that. But in the past, it's kind of been told that it's really not a big deal. Just keep an eye on it. It's not, I'm not having any symptoms from it. Well, all it took was a series of a few things, you know, simple scans, a consultation with a specialist to realize, hey, this is a cancer. You know, let's get this out of here. It's really early, but we wouldn't advise waiting now that we know what it is. And this was just something that just took a little bit of... dialogue and explanation. in my office to, you know, for him to grasp the importance of it. And he was in complete agreeance and allowed us to just get that piece out of the way and move forward. And it could have been a much bigger problem, better job over the years of connecting with people in. relatively stable or good states of health and encouraging, you know, connection in that state. But as physicians, we've largely marketed ourselves or entered the market at the point where disease is already present. We're down this path. Let's try to manage or treat an active disease. And so, you know, there's always a little bit of surprise on patient's end when we're talking to them about, yeah, you're healthy. Great. This is a perfect time for us to connect because let's help investigate. Let's assess with a deeper set of. variables to really look at more data and determine, you know, are we, are you as healthy as you think you are? And not for the purposes of trying to find a problem, but mostly just to say, let's look at this problem more comprehensively and ensure that the steps you're taking align with what your desired outcome is. Yeah,
Speaker #0
that's great. I mean, one, thank you for sharing the example, right? Like hearing that story of a client that like, those are the things that I think that resonate. more than most across any type of client, or excuse me, doctor patient type relationship, right? Being able to share that story and help them understand by spending the time, the questions, the relationship that you were able to bring to them first and foremost. And I think with that being said, one of the things you just mentioned, I'd love to pull on a little bit is you said, Hey, maybe you're not as healthy as you think you are, right? Like maybe you're not in as best of shape as you think you are. Could you unpack that a little bit, right? And to talk a little bit more. That's a great question.
Speaker #1
I'll use a personal example too. I mean, just yesterday, I was down at the Akron University Human Performance Lab getting as much data as I could gather on myself with that. And I've been someone who, exercise, nutrition, these are things that have lived at the forefront of my own personal health priorities for years. And... You know, I think when we think about assessing our health, sure, physically, how do we feel? How's our body function? We challenge it. How does our lab work look? You know, functional metrics, these kind of things. And I think most of us want to see, we want to focus on the things we're already doing really good. I think that's inherent to us as humans. But you know, anything that's perceived as a shortcoming, we're a little bit critical of ourselves. And so yesterday... you know, a big illuminating thing for me was my VO2 max. I mean, it wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but what it did was force me to confront that, hey, I know I don't invest enough in this metric and the value of it is so high that now this has to become something that I'm not trying to justify. You know, I'm doing all these other things. Great. My labs look great. All these markers look good, but that's a piece that, and it doesn't give me... um, and my day to day, no noticeable difference. You know, I get through my workouts fine. I do all these things, but it's certainly a piece that I feel compelled to say now, look, I need to just kind of check a little bit of my own ego and resistance and really push into that, uh, push into that a little further.
Speaker #0
Um, yeah, thanks for sharing that. I think that's a really thoughtful example, right? Because in this maybe leads to my next question, you know, For example, right, I go to the doctor, I'm fairly healthy, I love to work out, try to eat well, do all these things. I go in and do try to consistently show up and say, hey, you know, for your six month or 12 month checkup, and it's the standard routine, how you feeling, how you doing, take your blood pressure, you know, take, draw your blood, you know, all those things, and you walk out and you're like, yeah, I'm doing all the right things. But then I have a conversation and talk to you like we have had, and you open up Pandora's box. of all these other, in a good way, right? Of all these other metrics. Could you elaborate then a little bit in terms of those two parallel paths, right? Like when you think about that traditional relationship with your primary care doctor and then the way you're moving with precision type medicine and health, you know, how did those differ and differentiate a little bit?
Speaker #1
Yeah, so in the traditional model, you know, you're just trying to get some degree of care to as many people as possible. So the constraints in that model are just time and resources. You've got a limited number of clinical staff and an endless seeming number of patients you're trying to navigate. So again, time is the variable, the rate limiting step. You're just not going to have the time to dig in as deep as you would like and excavate as deep as you would like in SARS. and so in our precision approach again we're scaling that down so that we can really start to elaborate on some of these conversations okay great you've got a lot of healthy habits let's talk about um you know Where do you perceive yourself to be really grooming healthy habits well? And what information have we looked at to assess how your body is responding to those healthy habits? But also, I think the illumination of those unhealthy habits that become casual habits. You know, I mean, you know, one of the most common examples being alcohol intake. You know, alcohol is something that's woven so casually into our social fabric that most of us. don't really think about how frequently it comes into our life, especially if you're a moderate consumer. However, the implications, the downstream implications of that can be disastrous and work against us in terrible ways. And like most other things. Those little things compound so greatly over time when done regularly, just the way that small investments in positive habits over time compound in a positive way. But it's only through deeper conversations that you gain enough trust with people that they'll honestly disclose to you and feel in a nonjudgmental space a way to have a conversation about just assessing how useful is this practice in my life and what's the utility of it? You know, where does it fit?
Speaker #0
Yeah, I mean, I think that's a great one to speak to. And I think, again, I relate it back to how you started the conversation and we opened, right? It's your relationship with the client. It's that level of trust. It's that time piece that we actually talk about a lot at Journey Wealth too, right? Time is a key component for many of our clients and how they think about what wealth means to them and what they really want out of life. And I don't think it's much different, right? Like coming to you and asking what they want out of life. And then, you know, when we think about that financial wellness pillar, right, because all the things you need to start doing now to do whatever you want to do 15, 20, 30, 50 years from now, right? Like when you think about... about lifespan versus healthspan, right? And what that really means, meaning, you know, the, you can. medical system is pretty good at keeping you alive for a long time. But what is that lifespan like, right? Like, what is that last decade feel like? And with that being said, you kind of mentioned, for example, alcohol and its relationship to people. I would ask, you know, what is one of the key questions you get asked most often about the impact to someone's health, right? You know, they think is the most important. What's one of the least that gets asked that has a huge impact on someone, right?
Speaker #1
Yeah, I think that's a great question because a lot of people come into our office asking. what can I take? What's a hack for this? You know, I mean, these are the, it's the world we live in these days where we're, you know, everything's about efficiency, you know, and, and we're all, you know, the bandwidth we have is seemingly perceived as minimal. So how do we be most efficient with our efforts? And I think that's probably the piece where we try to stop and reframe the idea about how we get there is not as much, what do we take? What are we looking for to help? shortcut this problem or create this. It's more, what are the habits we have in place currently? And how do we adjust some of those habits or what's preventing us from really doing the things that we've, we've got kind of a foregone conclusion that these are pieces we need to invest in, but there's resistance to that. And I think, you know, everybody's, uh, The answer for that is a much more complicated, complex problem. But it's a lot of things. It's also stress and emotion and the mental health piece that you alluded to earlier. I mean, these are a lot of where the barriers sit. So, you know, again, back to the time piece, if we're not taking the time to invest in these conversations, we won't even know how or if these things are affecting or becoming the barrier. You know, they are the barriers. Yeah. prevent us from progress. So usually that question of what do I take? What do I, you know, we try to just peel that back. That's probably the most common question that we get through. We try to say, look, that's probably not our starting point. Let's understand the framework of your day right now and figure out how we can do. how we can adjust the things we're already doing to align with what your stated health, you know, your stated goals are.
Speaker #0
Yeah, that's really well said. I like, and I had a friend of mine there in the. interior design space and they were asking me a question knowing right like you know wellness for for journey and they were asking we were talking just kind of having a conversation about that and i likened i used i get asked that same question just as the person that like in my old career as the runner and the health person i would like hey what supplement should i take and you know what what vitamins or what new shoe should i get that it would help me run faster and i would often position it back of well let's step back and like, Hey, are you, are you just eating a balanced diet? Are you, are you working out? Are you getting good sleep? And they may say, Oh no, to this and no to that. And I'm like, well, the vitamins and the supplements really don't matter. Right. We're talking about around the fringe. And my analogy was like to her was when you're designing a house, right. If you walk into the house and it's half torn down and a disaster, it needs like her putting little things around there to style. It isn't going to make it look that much better. Yeah. So You know, I think then about back to the foundation, right? The foundation of the four pillars, the foundation of how you approach precision health. You know, when someone comes in to talk to you, like, what are some of those key components you speak to? You've talked to me a lot about metabolic health, right? Right. That's really that that is the foundation. And we can talk and I'd love for you to extrapolate on that, because there's a stat I read the other day that just blew my mind that only about 7 percent of all American adults will attain metabolic health, which just is shocking. When you think you do the math, 7 percent of 350 million people total. I know those aren't all adults, but. it just, I couldn't believe it. So could you elaborate and dive deeper on that?
Speaker #1
Absolutely. So yeah, metabolic health is something we hear that term used a lot these days, but what it refers to and the way we use it with our members and patients is, you know, blood sugar, you know, cholesterol, blood pressure, body composition. These are all factors that play a role in that metabolic health piece. You know, our metabolism is something that is, it fluctuates based on need. For most of us, you know, as we age and like why, you know, that staggering statistic of only 7% of Americans will reach it. You know, yeah, I mean, one in three Americans has metabolic syndrome, which is inclusive of things like obesity and high blood pressure and, you know, high cholesterol levels, these things that predispose us to risk for various conditions like diabetes and heart disease. But that metabolic health piece is something that we really just scratched the surface of in traditional medicine. You know, there are pretty superficial markers that we kind of hang our hat on as like, OK, these things aren't abnormal. So there must not be. glaring problem there. And, you know, in our practice, we like to look much farther upstream to try and determine where are the earliest signs of a potential problem so that we can help illuminate and enact change at that point to try and adjust the trajectory in the course. Because, you know, these things like A1C and fasting blood sugars, these things are great to know. Patients, everybody should know where they sit on that metric. But, you know, by looking at additional markers, like taking into more of a comprehensive approach, looking at things like triglycerides, fasting insulin levels, diabetes risk index, and then overlay that on, yeah, other metrics as well. How is your sleep quality? Assessing your sleep quality. Most Americans, you know, most people, if you ask them how they sleep, I don't know. I go into bed, my eyes are shut, I wake up, they're open. But if you were to ask their bed partner or their kids or anybody that sleeps around them, they could have a totally different story. story of what's going on during that eight-hour incapacitated window. And daily habits, nutrition habits, stress management habits, emotional habits, these things all have such a vital impact on our metabolism. The foundation, like you said, is a piece that just, it merits assessing. as comprehensively as you can, because that piece is one of the keystones that leads to so many disease states that are avoidable or at least delayable. And that upstream knowledge is where you're confronted with the opportunity to make a decision. And I think for most people, they just don't even get the opportunity to see that. before it hits. So I think that that's what we're hoping to do, is illuminate that at a much earlier point, if it does exist, or assess it and reassure that everything looks great, validate the behaviors, validate the approach, and say, continue doing that, and let's continue assessing it at intervals to ensure that that still seems like a favorable path.
Speaker #0
Yeah, that's great. I mean, to that point, I think. the one word I've, you've mentioned a few different times, which I love is, is the reframing for people, right? Like what is really important, um, you know, in connecting the dots, because what I mean by that, right? Like the stress you're, you're having at work or at home, um, or in a relationship with a spouse or your children, um, you know, are you physically working out, right? So that stress component or that piece. like, you know, do you have hobbies? Do you have relationships? You know, all of these things are not mutually exclusive. And I think oftentimes, you know, back to that, that 12 minutes you get when you go get that checkup. You know, are you able to even share some of those things, right, and recognize that there's an underlying issue? So with that being said, you know, when you're talking to a client or, you know, talking to our audience here, what is where are three specific things they can do to kind of start down that precision health approach? Right. One is work with you and Megan specifically. but to put it out broadly, like where can they start, you know, one or two, three questions they can start to ask or steps they can take to go down that route. Yeah.
Speaker #1
And I think the number one step is find your why, find out what you want, you know, start to ask these questions of yourself about what it is you want and why you're going to be seeking those things or what you're willing to adjust in those things. The other thing is to understand the Educate yourself as a consumer about what your options are for healthcare. You know, these days there's a lot of innovation going on in the healthcare space and, you know, an awareness about... practices like ours, which are emerging, you know, with regularity, this is becoming, there's more, more consumers are finding their way to this because they want to take a different path. And I think being your best advocate, you know, being your own advocates, the best, the best approach, you know, as far as action items for what you can do to try and promote your health and keep it very simple. You know, I, I find it's, uh, It's wild how many people don't drink enough water. You know, that sounds so simple on the surface, and we hear it all the time for different reasons, but, you know, it's such a vital, it's such a vital... molecule that we just don't consume. I mean, like seeing you here with the water now, there's no greater promotion of drinking water than when people walk into my office and have some kind of water bottle. I'm like, all right, great. At least this is living at the forefront of your mind because hydration is key. The other thing is move, move your body, you know, with intention, not just passive casual. Hey, I have to walk. across the hall to do this, or I've got to go down, you know, to another office. It's like the intention of investing in yourself with movement is key. And the third thing I would say is, you know, it's hard to whittle this down to three, I would definitely say that. But the third thing is, you know, relationships. I think relationships would be very illuminating. If you, you know, ask, you know, why are these people important to me? Why do I want people to be important to me? asking, am I validating those relationships enough? Am I giving those relationships enough? Because I think that ties into the first piece, which is like finding your why for doing things. What do you want to achieve? But yeah, those are three simple things that I would say, you know, everybody could do right now with, with no, you know, you don't need an extensive amount of resources or other things. Those are pretty self-isolating.
Speaker #0
Yeah. I mean, I think that's great. I, you know, one being as a, as a people, I've repeatedly heard about, you know, I'd love to run, you know, do triathlon, all those other good things. And, you know, I learned about dehydration very quickly, right, and the impact it can have on your performance. So that's a big one to me. I want to anchor to the physical wellness piece, specifically the movement. I think the stat right now is only 25% of all Americans get the recommended amount of physical activity a week. And I think that's around 150 minutes. All So 75% are not moving in some form or fashion. Could you talk a little bit about, you know, I like to think sometimes that, you know, movement, exercise, whatever we want to call it, could be that act or that silver bullet at times, right? Because the benefits it has across all of those spectrums of mental wellness and spiritual wellness. and physical wellness. Could you dive a little bit deeper on the physical wellness side or the exercise side and the impact there, right? Like, hey, one from a longevity perspective, one from all the other benefits of the metabolic health and everything it kind of anchors off from there.
Speaker #1
Yeah, I would agree with you that if you're looking for something that you could conceivably call a hack or a super drug. exercise is it you're you're right i mean what the reason that things like vo2 max are is the highest correlating variable with what your anticipated lifespan will be is because The way that you modify that number is through exercise, through intention, intentional stress, challenging your body physically. So certainly on that aspect of metabolic health, you know, exercise is key. But through all those domains as well, I mean, what exercise does for our mental clarity, you know, being outdoors. I know you had just recently referenced some information about. how much time Americans or how little time Americans spend outdoors and, you know, things like creativity and connection and introspection and all these pieces that you glean from just being outside, you know, it's the, the, you know, vitamin D you know, a lot of things that help again, these are all little things that fall into these buckets that have an additive effect. But yeah, the exercise piece, I think, you know, when I talk with, with our clients, it's, exercise is that thing that physically serves our body. We get physically stronger. We get an increased aerobic capacity. We're conditioning our cardiovascular system. All those things certainly are true from those challenges, but we're also challenging ourself mentally and emotionally to find our barriers and challenge. Can we push through these? And I think that's a great metaphor for the other aspects in life that are challenging. I think that... Most people that I know, and I know for myself this is true, but going through my life, I lean on the lessons I've learned through my own trials and tribulations with exercise and physical endeavors I've undertaken, some with success, some not with success. And lean on those to, you know, when I'm presented with a challenging personality that I'm working with or a complex medical case or, you know, trying to navigate the emotion of a five-year-old whose shoes, shoe choice is just creating a meltdown. Like it's, it's not that different at the core. It's just, it's a problem that you've got to solve in real time and try to frame it in. what can I affect and what can't I affect? And focusing on the things that are not changeable variables is not the place to burn yourself. But I think illuminating these areas that, hey, that's an affectable variable, that's the place to devote your energy. But I think without that exercise and resilience and self-challenge that's often gained through exercise, I think you're not really equipped with all the tools.
Speaker #0
yeah that's amazing i mean you're you're hitting you know everything you just shared i love right you've you've heard me talk about this over and over again and i would 100% that say that i as an ultra runner um i always tell people like a 50 or 100 mile run is like one of the best examples of how like going then an experience of life the ups and downs the highs and lows you know the the great points and euphoric moments and the the ones where you're like i just want to bail and get out of here right this is just miserable but pushing through that and you come out the other side every time, much better for that. And one of the other items you mentioned is, you know, when you talk to clients specifically, and what you just phrased there is really about connecting the dots, right? And I think what I've heard from working with you and working with Megan is when you guys talk to clients, that's really one of the key pieces when you have the time to help people connect the dots and reframe their perspective. and then reframe their beliefs. I think that's the biggest thing. So you do that for clients. What have you come through after getting in and launching the business and working with clients in this new form or fashion? What has reframed your beliefs in the precision medicine space and where it's headed?
Speaker #1
Yeah. I mean, there's a lot personally that I've taken from this journey. I mean, I think one thing that allows us to be... What we feel like is so effective for our clients is that we're implementing these actions in our own life. A big part of starting this business and breaking away was to try and stick to that plan. that discussion line of, hey, if your family is really important, how are you aligning your life to fit with that statement? If, you know, prevention is really important, how are you aligning your approach to fit with that statement? And so I think that in the precision medicine space, you know, where we're going to see this grow, you know, because certainly I think this is a growing space. I think consumer demand is going to drive this. Patients are very interested in becoming. participants in their own health. But I think it's going to require a big mindset shift on the side of clinicians and, you know, healthcare in general, because it's going to force clinicians to confront their own approach. You know, you think about the common, like the cliche description of, you know, 20 years ago, you go to the doctor's office, and the doctor might be smoking in the exam room, maybe 30 years ago, whatever. But you know, it's not, it's still not an unusual scenario that you go into a healthcare provider's office. And They may not seem to have the most healthy habits, and I think that the optics of that are challenging, because I think people want to feel compelled and convicted by the person they're working with. That connection is so important, and that looks different for everyone. but certainly I think through conversations and through, again, just a healthy dose of humility and being able to allow patients into your life as well and clients to understand yourself and your identity, that only serves to strengthen those, but it also allows people to really determine who's the best fit for me because I think that this movement into precision medicine is going to do a lot... you can't do it without transparency, transparency of intention, transparency of certain aspects of our own. you know, lives. I think that's just a necessity. Like for Megan and I, we're very upfront with people along the way. I mean, I'll answer almost any question someone has, some unsolicited. But I feel like that's important because, you know, if somebody doesn't know where you came from or what your approach is, I think it's hard for them to put a lot of power and emphasis in what you're trying to talk to them about. So I think the two go hand in hand.
Speaker #0
yeah that's fantastic and i i will absolutely sit here and say that in the times i've sat across from you or the times we've been together um both yourself and megan i mean you're living that life right i i know you the the gym you have outside your small gym your your little box you have outside your house the times i've seen you at uh our kids are in the same kindergarten class and they have this amazing experience every Friday called Forest Friday, where they go out and they get muddy and they tear things up and they break branches. And, you know, I've seen you out there volunteering, participating in that. I know you guys were at the pancake breakfast because they tapped their own sap this week. But I think that's incredible, right? Like, I think to your point, when someone sits across from you and you're validating them or having that conversation with that, that you're living that life and kind of smirked when you said the smoking doctor, right? Growing up as a kid, our neighbor was a surgeon, and he was like a two and a half pack a day type smoker, right? Sure, dealing with the stress and a few other things, but we saw it every single day. And I think it's really hard, right, if you're a patient of someone and you're sitting on their side and that's not what you're seeing as they... kind of give that back to you. It's really hard, right? That level of trust and transparency doesn't resonate.
Speaker #1
Yeah, it's a lot of mixed messaging. And I think that these days where trust is the fabric of foundation, it's just a piece that we can no longer afford to ignore. And again, I just think that's something we just need to confront as healthcare, as clinicians. And, um... but I think that consumers have a heightened awareness, you know, about what they want out of that experience now, which is great because that's telling me the pendulum is swinging where, you know, cause nobody wants to walk into a situation and have just the scenario of terms dictated to them. I mean, I'm sure, you know, nobody would want to walk into journey and say like, okay, I have zero agency in this conversation. You're just going to tell me exactly what to do. And these are my marching orders and I don't need to understand why yet for some reason in healthcare, right? that's kind of the, that's the flag we've flown for a long time. And, um, it's just not that appealing anymore. And I also think the outcomes just aren't proving that that's the best approach. It's most like mother thing. We, we send our kids to school for such a long time. Um, and the point of that is to educate them. And I think as adults, we're not that different. We want to be educated on topics to drive our decision-making. Uh, and, uh, yeah.
Speaker #0
That's so well said. And I think it's why we, you know, not only from a friendship and a strategic partnership component with you guys, but, you know, you're walking that same path of helping your clients and or patients live their best life. Right. And I'm going to pull it back to you specifically because one of the things, you know, we talk about on this show a little bit, you know, the term Masogi challenge, whatever you want to call it, but I'm going to. ask you with that being said right like living that kind of type of life is there something you have on tap for this year that does those things what you just talked a little bit about right your purpose your why getting you out of your comfort zone something really hard you know we shared in the last episode it's a 50 50 chance of it actually happening um you
Speaker #1
know be have fun and don't die yeah so yeah it's uh for me it's this is running piece i kind of had you know i've you I used to run when I was younger, not ultra distance, not long things like you've done. I've never run a marathon. I've done one half marathon in my early 20s. Since then, I had a lot of reasons why I kind of got away from running, to be very honest. I didn't enjoy it. I've always understood the utility of it. But for me this year, my intention is to. like the burning river is happening in the summer. They have a, uh, like relay portion where you can string together eight, sorry, souls to try and complete that 100 mile. Uh, and then you got 27 hours to complete that thing. So I'm in the process of trying to recruit, uh, seven other individuals in my neighborhood, uh, to try and, uh, do this thing, uh, with me. And for, for me, that's, that's something that I feel like that. both the buildup, the training to, and the completion of, um, would be, uh, that that's my challenge for myself this year, because I think there's so much for me to be gleaned to learn from that process. And especially, like you said, investing in these aspects of health that I'm trying to, um, demonstrate by my own actions that, Hey, you know, this is, this is not something I want to do. you know, a large part of me doesn't anyway, but, um, but I, I can absolutely see the value in it and I will know I will come out the better, the other side, um, better for it for sure.
Speaker #0
That's great. I'm very familiar with that course, both the front and the back. Well, as we close out, anything else you would want to leave for the listeners, right? Anything they can take away? And then more importantly, how can they find you guys?
Speaker #1
Yeah. So, you know, I think my big soapbox is advocacy. I think as, you know, as anyone listening to this, be your own best advocate, you know, understand what it is you want. be compelled by that and find someone who can share that, uh, passion with you to, to work with you to achieve it. Um, yeah. And that is finding us. Uh, we hope we're easy to find at this point, but, uh, yeah, our, uh, practice is called Acropolis health. We're, uh, Acropolis health.com. My Acropolis health.com. We'll get you there online. We have a small practice in downtown Hudson that we're actively trying to grow because the, um, the demand, uh, has, has delighted us and how much this has resonated with people looking to transform their health or just sustain a good path for their health. You can find us on most social channels as well.
Speaker #0
That's great. Well, thank you so much for joining us. I mean, I love what you're doing, as you know, you know, our clients work with you and we love working with you guys. And it's amazing to see like the rocket type trajectory you guys are having.
Speaker #1
So we appreciate the opportunity. I mean, there's no there's no pleasure like sharing a common vision of ethos and tension. integrity. I mean, you guys embody that a journey and it's, you know, everybody seems to buy into it and that's what makes it special.
Speaker #0
Well, we appreciate it. No, thank you. And thank you for joining us and please join us next time when we'll have Andrew brush coming on. Really appreciate it. Take care. Thanks.

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