Tracy Harrison, MS

Microbial Friends and Vagal Intelligence: Countering the Serious Effects of Stress

"Reduce stress" is a common directive in health care in order to prevent or arrest disease progression.  But despite its wisdom, the advice is seldomly followed by patients.  It's also often misunderstood by physicians in its far-reaching, multi-factorial impact.  This presentation will define stress as the body perceives it, its effect on immune function, the critical role of the parasympathetic, anti-inflammatory reflex, and the vagus nerve at the heart of microbiome-gut-brain axis activity.  This symphony of coordination can affect everything from mood to autoimmune disease risk to infection resiliency.  In this talk, we will explore the physiology that enlivens these mechanisms and the status of research into how to modulate them. Most importantly, we will share down-to-earth education and tools that physicians can give to patients in order to turn saccharin "Reduce Stress" guidance into an inspiring opportunity to transform one's health.

ABOUT TRACY HARRISON

Tracy Harrison is deeply passionate about transforming healthcare with the powerful combination of functional medicine and savvy clinical partnership.  A scientist who left the high-tech corporate world in 2007, Tracy built a wildly successful, multi-modality practice utilizing functional medicine principles, and in 2011, she founded The School of Applied Functional Medicine™ (www.SchoolAFM.com).  

SAFM is well-respected for its scientific rigor as an accredited continuing education program rooted in both the science and practical application of functional medicine.   The school’s tribe of diverse healthcare practitioners represents 20 different clinical modalities from 70 countries around the world.  Tracy is a beloved educator and prized mentor in the field.

A scientist and systems engineer at heart, Tracy holds three degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and further graduate education from Bridgeport University and The Institute for Functional Medicine.  She has a certification in health coaching from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition.

Tracy’s vision is for a Good Medicine Movement™ that honors conventional Disease care and establishes a true Health care system with proactive, preventive, patient-centric, personalized, systems-driven, root cause medical science and partnerships that minimize that disease care burden and its theft of human vitality and potential. 

WHERE TO FIND TRACY HARRISON

Q&A

With a planetary level population and species diversity and 300X more genes that we humans use to respond to our environment, our microbiome has such far-reaching effects on human health and disease that we should logically question:  Who is the host?  Us or them?  The microbiome’s influence is far-reaching:  from priming immune function to maintaining intestinal barrier function, from synthesizing hormones to influencing neuropeptide synthesis.  Research has made increasingly clear over the past 10-15 years that there is no such thing as resilient human health without honoring and supporting the microbiome.  If we want to identify and actually prevent (or reverse!) the true root causes of disease (vs. just managing them), then we must focus on the gut and its inhabitants. Both health and disease begin there. 

Please provide 3 tips you would share with fellow healthcare professionals if asked how to support a consistent healthcare journey for the patients who struggle with staying on the road to success through a tough healing process:

1. Normal is a natural and disease-promoting destination.

Teach people that being “normal” in our culture is a 100% sure recipe for disease.  Normal food, normal stress, normal personal hygiene products…  We live in an unhealthy default reality – with long-standing epidemics to prove it!  Being sustainably healthy actually requires being a healthy deviant.  It’s critical to understand this upfront and see sustainable lifestyle change as a hero’s journey rather than an incessant frustration and vulnerability that one no longer “fits in”. 

2. Don’t use fear as a motivator; it’s a fiery fuse that fizzles.

People will generally be compliant with medical advice as long as they are afraid.  As they feel better and fear fades, so often do their choices revert to cultural norms.  If we want to help people adopt and actually sustain health-promoting lifestyle choices, we must give them Education, Inspiration, Empowerment, and Community.  Teach them what is specifically at play in their body (use stories they can understand; show how their choices matter).  Inspire them with the healing that is possible (and celebrate their step-by-step progress).  Empower them with tools (and accountability).  And most importantly, support them with like-minded Community.  A health coach can be a vital member of a multi-modality practice in enabling all of these.

3. Physician, heal thyself.

Make time to prioritize your own health and vitality.  It directly influences your creativity, intelligence, and compassion in supporting patients to do the same.  Don’t aim for being perfect; there’s nothing inspiring about that.  Be human.  Be honest about the challenges and let others be inspired by your commitment in the face of them.