Dr. Dale Bond

How to Minimize Stress: The Importance of Nutrition and Exercise

It is a well-known fact that a healthy diet and physical activity play an important part in our well-being. Within a care team, the physician's role is a critical one. Consequently, their well-being can have a big impact not only on care practices but on patient experience as well. For example, many studies point out that physicians and trainees often do not get proper nourishment and hydration while on the job. Looking into this area could provide useful insights to those physicians looking to improve their overall well-being. It has also been shown that physically active physicians get sick less frequently, suffer less burnout, handle stress better, and are more likely to discuss physical activity with their patients. Given the commonplace occurrence of burnout in physicians, we believe that in addition to related issues like heavy workloads and length of shifts, the state of physicians' nutrition and how it affects their work performance and health should also be addressed. In this session, we will discuss the current evidence related to the potential effects of nutrition and physical activity on physicians' occupational well-being and performance, identify gaps, and discuss opportunities to address nutrition as one of the important means of improving physicians' welfare.

With Johnson & Johnson MedTech

2nd I.H. IFSO Online Symposium: The role of physical exercise in pre and post-bariatric surgery

Bariatric surgery has proved to be an effective treatment in patients suffering from morbid obesity, with more than 50% excess weight loss at ten years. However, the variability in patients’ outcomes is significant, with several factors being related to the maintenance of weight loss and the resolution of comorbidities. It has been suggested that physical activity has a substantial impact on the prognosis of morbidly obese operated patients, by improving physiological and psychological health. More specifically, active patients enjoy an improved quality of life and lean towards maintaining the long-term surgical benefits. By contrast, inactivity induces loss of muscle mass and development of abdominal adiposity, which may stimulate insulin resistance, atherosclerosis, and tumorigenesis. The reason why many patients who undergo bariatric surgery limit physical exercise is multiple: some attribute it to a lack of time, others to physical limitations, but in the majority this is due to a lack of motivation. The role of the physician is to help the patient overcome barriers and promote activity, with a particular focus on making them part of the decision-making process and increasing their motivation. The design of individualized programs, recording daily tasks and realistic objectives, being mindful of diet and physical limitations, learning about the benefits of exercise, and dealing with the lack of energy are some of the necessary steps. In addition to the importance that physical activity has for treated obese patients, exercise training has been shown to be of utmost relevance in the preoperatory population. Prehabilitation encompasses the concept of optimizing the pre-surgical patient, by promoting exercise, nutritional supplementation, and anxiety management. Several trials have reported a decreased rate of postoperative complications after prehabilitation, suggesting that it should be performed in the majority of patients who undergo major abdominal surgery. In this video, Dr. Cristina Aquino discusses the role of physical activity before and after bariatric surgery. Dr. Tracy Martinez moderates the session in which Drs. Dale S. Bond, Scott Jamieson, and Marcos Morales also participate.