What really makes us well? Navigating the confusing world of wellness

By Dr David Roberts, GP at Courtyard Health Clinic, Musselburgh

In this article, Dr Roberts looks at the rapidly growing world of wellness, from supplements and wearables to health screening and blood tests, and explains what genuinely helps us become healthier.

The world of wellness has never been bigger, or more confusing.

Walk into a pharmacy, scroll through social media or search online and you will quickly encounter an extraordinary range of products and services promising to improve your health. Supplements to boost energy or immunity. Wearable devices measuring an ever-growing number of health metrics. Continuous glucose monitors. Home blood tests. Genetic testing. Apps promising to improve everything from metabolism to longevity.

But how do we know which of these things actually work? And, more importantly, which of them might be useful for you?

This is the subject of doctor and broadcaster Dr Xand van Tulleken’s new book Make Me Well: A Quest to Understand the Confusing World of Wellness, which became an instant number one Sunday Times bestseller. Van Tulleken explores the rapidly growing wellness industry, from supplements and blood testing to wearable technology and consumer genetics, and asks an important question: amongst all the tests, technology and health advice now available to us, what genuinely helps us become healthier?

It is an increasingly important question.

More Health Information Does Not Always Mean Better Health
Modern technology gives us access to an unprecedented amount of information about our bodies. Much of this can be useful. The challenge is knowing how to interpret it and what to do with it.

Wearable devices can encourage people to become more physically active and provide an increasing range of measurements about our bodies. Supplements can have clear benefits in the right circumstances. Advances in medical testing can identify risk factors and health conditions before they cause symptoms.

But simply being able to measure something does not necessarily mean that the information is clinically useful. Consumer devices increasingly provide sophisticated-looking health metrics, but the evidence supporting their accuracy or their ability to improve health outcomes can vary considerably.

Similarly, not every abnormal-looking number represents disease and not every supplement, test or new technology will improve our health.

The challenge is separating what is supported by good evidence and genuinely useful from what is simply interesting, or well marketed.

Health Screening and Blood Tests: The Numbers Need Context
Modern health screening gives us the opportunity to identify important risk factors and health conditions before they cause symptoms. Blood tests can detect problems such as diabetes, raised cholesterol, anaemia, vitamin deficiencies and abnormalities in liver, kidney or thyroid function. Used appropriately, they can provide valuable insights into our current health and future risk.

But the real value of testing comes from interpreting the results in context.

A blood test result is rarely meaningful in isolation. Results need to be considered alongside your age, medical and family history, lifestyle, medications, examination findings and other investigations. A result outside the laboratory reference range does not necessarily mean that something is wrong, just as a result within the reference range does not always mean there is nothing worth addressing.

This is particularly important as increasingly comprehensive health testing becomes available directly to consumers. Access to more information about our bodies can be empowering, but receiving a long list of results without understanding their significance can also create confusion and unnecessary concern.

Personalised Interpretation of Your Blood Test Results
At Courtyard Health Clinic, blood testing is an important part of our health assessments, but the test itself is only part of the process.

We provide personalised interpretation of your results by experienced clinicians, with plenty of time to discuss what they mean for you. We look at the results alongside the wider picture of your health, helping to identify what is important, what may require further investigation, where changes could improve your future health and, equally importantly, where reassurance is all that is needed.

The Six Pillars of Lifestyle Medicine
With so many new products, tests and technologies competing for our attention, it is surprisingly easy to overlook the things that we already know can have a profound effect on our health.

At Courtyard Health Clinic, our health assessments consider the six pillars of lifestyle medicine:

Nutrition: looking at the quality and balance of our diet and how it can support long-term health.

Physical activity: staying active and maintaining cardiovascular fitness and strength throughout life.

Sleep: getting sufficient, good-quality sleep and identifying factors that may be interfering with it.

Stress management and mental wellbeing: recognising the effects of chronic stress and psychological wellbeing on our overall health.

Healthy relationships and social connection: an often underestimated but important contributor to both physical and mental wellbeing.

Avoidance of harmful substances: particularly smoking and excessive alcohol consumption.

These foundations may sound less exciting than the latest supplement, wearable device or health test, but collectively they can have an enormous influence on our chances of remaining healthy as we get older.

The newer world of wellness does not need to be rejected. Wearables, supplements, new tests and emerging technologies may sometimes provide useful information or help us make meaningful changes.

The key is knowing when they add value.

From General Advice to Your Individual Health
This is where personalised medical care becomes particularly important.

Research can tell us a great deal about the things that tend to improve health across a population. But we are not all the same. Our age, genetics, family history, medical history, lifestyle, fitness and existing risk factors influence which interventions are likely to matter most.

For one person, the priority might be reducing future cardiovascular risk by addressing blood pressure or cholesterol. For another, it might be increasing strength and aerobic fitness. Someone else may gain more from improving their sleep or nutrition, reducing alcohol intake, managing stress or strengthening social connections.

There may also be circumstances where a particular supplement, wearable device or additional test could be useful.

The important thing is understanding why it is being recommended, what evidence supports it and whether it is likely to make a meaningful difference to you.

Making Sense of Wellness
There are genuinely exciting developments taking place in preventative medicine, diagnostics and health technology. Our ability to understand and monitor our health will undoubtedly continue to develop.

But alongside this innovation sits an enormous wellness industry, with no shortage of marketing, conflicting advice and increasingly sophisticated claims about what will make us healthier.

At Courtyard Health Clinic, our approach is to help patients navigate this increasingly complicated landscape. We combine comprehensive health assessment and personalised interpretation with the established principles of lifestyle medicine, while considering new tests, technologies and interventions where the evidence suggests they may be useful.

Because ultimately, improving our health is unlikely to come from doing every available test, taking every supplement or measuring every aspect of our lives.
It comes from understanding what matters to our own health and concentrating our efforts where they are most likely to make a difference.

Book a Personalised Health Assessment in Musselburgh
If you would like to better understand your current health, identify your individual risk factors and consider how the six pillars of lifestyle medicine could improve your long-term health and wellbeing, contact Courtyard Health Clinic to arrange a personalised health assessment. We are based at Eskmills in Musselburgh, East Lothian, and are easily reached from Edinburgh. Call 0131 297 6655 or email office@courtyardhealthclinic.com.