#166 Dr Mark Rowe - MD, Expert in Positive Health & Lifestyle Medicine

Today we spoke with Dr Mark Rowe - MD, Expert in Positive Health & Lifestyle Medicine. Dr. Mark Rowe is a medical doctor empowering people to live their lives with vitality on purpose. Mark has been a practicing family physician for over 20 years. He is the founder of the Waterford Health Park, the base for Dr. Rowe’s medical practice as well as the ‘Lifestyle Medicine Be Well Clinic’. The Healthcare Facility was a shortlisted finalist for World Building of the year at the World Architecture festival awards in 2010. Dr. Rowe has written books including ‘A Prescription for Happiness: The Ten Commitments to a Happier, Healthier Life’, ‘The Men’s Health Book’ and his newest release, 'The Vitality Mark: Your Prescription for Feeling Energised, Invigorated, Enthusiastic and Optimistic Each Day', from Gill Books. As a life strategist and Keynote speaker, Mark regularly delivers events and workshops for organisations around the world, including his TEDx talk ‘The Doctor of the Future: Prescribing Lifestyle as Medicine’, in 2017. Today we defined vitality, and elaborated on its place in the leadership triangle with vision and values. We unpacked why being an active participant in your own self care is crucial - and how a lifestyle-first approach to treat and prevent chronic disease and burnout is necessary. Mark dived into happiness, his self-development club, stoic philosophy, and key behaviours for us to be more vital each day. We are huge fans of Marks' podcast 'In The Doctor's Chair'; it was fun having him in 'In The Physios Chair' today with us. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Key Timestamps (4:09) - The meaning of vitality (6:04)  - Living a person centred life and purpose (8:34) - Studying stoic philosophy (9:16) - Aligning your actions to your words (10:04) - Miracles are made in the clay, not in the stars (11:27) - Self-compassion and being kind to yourself (14:21) - Understanding happiness versus material comforts (15:21) - The importance of healthy habits (16:35) - Balancing positive and negative thoughts (17:44) -The best possible future-self exercise (19:14) - Connecting everyday activities to values (21:54) - Getting the process of sleep right (23:36) - Making movement a priority (24:18) - Dissolving feelings of anxiety by being more present (27:14) - Experiencing burnout and its consequences (30:34) - Distinguishing burnout from depression (33:00) - Stoic philosophy and applying it in life (36:30) - What does high performance mean to you?