REVIVE: Stop Feeling Spent and Start Living Again

By Frank Lipman, MD

“An unbelievable 75% of the people I treat are overwhelmed, exhausted, and afflicted with this disorder that makes them feel decades older than their years. I call it Spent, because that is how you feel. You don’t have enough wherewithal to live your life. You are running on empty. Your energy account is tapped out. Revive is what I’ve seen happen again and again when anyone tries this program – they wake up and feel vibrant and alive again, sometimes for the first time in decades.”

The energy we need to live through each day comes from eating, sleeping, breathing, working, playing, and our relationships. Like anything, when you take out more than you put in, you run a deficit. When we expend more energy than we receive, we experience physical symptoms including depression, fatigue, digestive issues, stiffness, and insomnia. That’s when we need to make changes to replenish our reserves so we can live fully again.

REVIVE by Frank Lipman, MD offers a guide on how to “slow down, rest, detoxify, repair, replenish, and restore.” Dr. Lipman explains that while “you may have a genetic predisposition to a disease, the environment you bathe your cells and genes in determines how those genes are expressed. This means that there are lots of potential versions of you.”

 “A patient described how the process felt to her this way: it was as if her body were a glass of muddy water and every day we stirred it up, took out a teaspoon, and added a teaspoon of fresh pure water. Each day the glass became a little clearer, and eventually she had a glass of fresh, sparkling water.”

The book offers a look at how to purify your life through changes:

• 70-80% of our immune system is located in your digestive system so feed it quality foods. Get rid of hydrogenated fats and oils, artificial sweeteners, and refined sugars. Focus on foods that come from nature – those are the healthiest.
• Practice restorative exercise. Start by walking. Add restorative yoga. Eventually, you can incorporate short bursts of jogging.
• Get out of your chair. Take a break every hour or two and walk around, stretch, loosen up.
• Change your thinking. Stop negative thinking and look for the positives. Embrace optimism.
• Breathe. Breathing reduces stress, helps you focus, and boosts your willpower.

“Spent is not a death sentence. You will get well, and you will be a lot more informed about your health and well-being after this. Negative thoughts of powerlessness, dejection, failure, and despair reinforce and worsen Spent symptoms, whereas positive thoughts, seeing the glass half full and finding a silver lining in whatever has happened – getting fired, a breakup, a tense situation with a child – heal us. You don’t need time to have perspective, just a willingness to have it.”