The Importance of the Fundamentals – What You Can Learn From Watching Cubs Baseball

By Dr. Julie Neal

One of my favorite hobbies in the summer is watching Cubs baseball. You may recall the Chicago Cubs won the World Series in 2016 ending the longest title drought in the game, 108 years. That season my husband and son put up with my yelps, clapping, and “Yah-baby!” as I cheered every base hit, line-drive, homerun, strike out and come-from-behind win. I chewed my thumbs raw through every inning of the playoffs and sobbed deep tears of joy when they won it all. If you’re a Cubs fan you know what I’m talking about.

I grew up in the northern suburbs of Chicago. My Dad took me to games when I was a kid. I remember learning how to keep a scorecard, drawing the diamond, keeping track of the runs, hits, errors. Those were the days of Jody Davis, Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, Greg Maddux and Mark Grace.  Now it is more exciting than ever to watch the Cubs. We finally have a winning team (well most of the time). The players are young with potential, and Joe Maddon, the Cubs manager, is well spoken and confident. I enjoy listening to his interviews as he talks about his team and their winning strategies including simplicity and staying rooted in the fundamentals.

I watched an interview he did on the Charlie Rose show in 2017.   One of his slogans is, “Do simple better.” Charlie Rose asked him what that means. He said, “We don’t have a whole bunch of plays. The ones we do I have I want us to run them better than anybody else. When you are that proficient and efficient at what you do, it’s easier to repeat when things get hot.”  I am reminded of the parallels one can draw to healthcare. What are my strategies for working with patients and helping them create optimal health and well-being? The answer is the same in healthcare as it is in baseball—go back to the fundamentals.

“Whenever we are struggling, all I want to do is harp on the fundamentals,” says Maddon. “When you do the simple things correctly more often than the other team, you win! You break the other team’s will through the relentless execution of fundamentals.”

What Are The Health Fundamentals?

My healthiest clients have one thing in common—disciplined routines and self-care.  In my eight years of practice, the clients that I’ve seen with the highest level of wellness do the following fundamentals:

  1. Maintain a consistent routine in daily life. This means waking up at the same time every morning, going to bed at the same time every night, eating meals at the same time each day, and scheduling exercise or other activities at set times. Routine is one of the most important things you can do to maintain a healthy circadian rhythm, and healthy adrenal gland function.
  1. Sleep at least 8 hours in a completely dark room. Your pineal gland governs your melatonin production which controls how your body ages, your mental stability, electrolyte balance and your “seat of the soul” or spiritual growth. Eight hours of sleep per night is healthy, nine hours of sleep per night is healing. (physically or emotionally)
  1. Eat a diet rich in vitamins and minerals, preferably organic foods. Include some protein and fat at every meal to stabilize blood sugar and plenty of colorful veggies and fruits. Eat a rainbow of colors at every meal.
  1. Drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water per day. If you feel like you are drinking water but it goes right through you (you are urinating frequently), your body likely needs more electrolytes to help you absorb the water. I am a big fan of electrolyte tablets to put into water, especially in the summer, as well as natural electrolyte drinks like coconut water.
  1. Schedule at least 2-3 hours per week of time for yourself to do activities that reduce your stress. This means no kids and no computer screens. This personal time could be spent doing yoga, meditation, biking, swimming, taking a class, going for a walk, listening to music, getting a massage or acupuncture treatment, or having quiet time to take a nap or read a book. Schedule it into your planner and do it regularly and religiously.

Watching Cubs baseball is part of my health fundamentals. It is one of the ways I take my mind off work, life and the other stressors of my day.   I associate baseball with a sense of relaxation, escape into another world, and summer. I encourage you to cultivate your own fundamentals of health this month and do those routines and self-care activities with deliberate passion.

Happy summer and go Cubs!

Dr. Julie