Poonam Desai D.O.: The Doctor & Dancer on the Power of a Healthy Mindset

When feeling stressed and overwhelmed in medical school, Poonam Desai would dance. She’d take a 15-minute break to dance to hip hop or practice her classical Indian dances. “Dance is my happy place; it’s my meditation,” says the emergency department physician, classically trained ballet and Indian dancer and private practice longevity doctor. In this episode of Healthy Longevity with Florence Comite MD, Dr. Desai shares her prescription for avoiding a visit to her E.R. and living a healthier, happier long life.  

 

 

You’ll learn… 

 

• That Dr. Desai’s experience treating stroke and heart attack patients in the E.R. taught her that convention medicine must become more proactive to help patients age with vitality.  

Episode Transcript

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christopher quindes (00:10)

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Today's episode is my guest, Dr. Poonam Desai.
who's trained in multiple fields of medicine and is going to share her perspective on how you can keep your health through the rest of your life. Love to welcome today Dr. Poonam Desai as an osteopathic physician who's double boarded actually in emergency medicine and lifestyle medicine. Dr. Desai is an emergency room physician at a level one trauma center in New York City. And in the past she was an assistant professor and taught at Weill Cornell Medical School and New York Presbyterian Hospital in Queens.
and is currently working at her own office as the founder of a concierge medical practice called Longevity Place in Westchester, New York. So I'm thrilled that she could stop by today so we can chat and learn more about Dr. Desai.
Poonam has a keen interest in fitness, nutrition, genomic-based medicine, and she's a popular speaker on the topic of wellness and healthspan. She's also a mother and a professional dancer who's highly accomplished in the two main classical dance styles of India. Poonam, I'm delighted to welcome you to Comite Center, and can't wait to learn more. Thank you.
There's a ton to talk about given our mutual interests and work in longevity medicine. But first, I'm really fascinated by your background in dance. So I'd love to learn more about it. now my understanding is very difficult dance styles to master and you started very young and
Then you turn to medicine. The honest answer to that question is that my mom was like, you can have dancing as a hobby, but I'm not sure you're going to want that as a career. And shockingly, she was right. I didn't believe her then, because I'm like, no, I want to be a dancer. But medicine was probably my true calling. Dancing has helped me with, I think, my interest in health and longevity, because it's always been an outlet for me.
whether it's a way to work out between studying for exams and med school, or if it's a way to do movement meditation when I'm stressed at work, it actually ended up being such a good tool, skill to have for my own longevity. Yeah, no, outstanding. Plus it puts you in touch with your body and gives your mind a break
and get all the stress that we do face in medicine out in a natural way. Something you love. Yeah, it was something I love to do and something that made me feel good and was great for my mental and physical health. Absolutely. We encourage our patients to have fun with whatever they do, to think of what they're not as a workout and it's kind of an absolute, but rather think of any kind of sports or engagement where they can get both and dance
sounds perfect for that. What are the two differences? What are the differences in the style? So I did a bunch of training in different types of dance. I did ballet. I think I was in hip hop for a while. And then there's two types of Indian classical dancing, Kathak and Bharatanatyam. And so I kind of trained in both of them at different times. And it was great because I was able to learn different forms of dancing. And as I got older, incorporate them
to whatever, wherever I was in life. So whether it was performing on stage, and that really helped with confidence, which I didn't realize until now, looking back, that just performing at an early age helped me build my confidence. And that same performance helped me even with my speaking skills, because I had to figure out, when I get onto stage, how am I going to portray my passion? How am going to portray the story I want to tell? And so there were so many
benefits to dance and now that I have a daughter I think about that often as a parent what skills am I going to help her build that are not only going to help her build her passion but help with health and longevity in the future. sure I mean anything we do moving alone is amazing and so and did you get this in the States or were you did you where did you train? Yeah here in the States yeah very early on I think I started around age five. I'm sure you'll be looking for studios in Westchester for your daughter. Already yeah already on it.
And it sounds like these practices actually influenced your understanding of the human body and yourself and something that you can share with your patients, your family and loved ones and that's fantastic I think. Anything we can use that we intimately know makes a difference I think in compassion and also you know really helping people own their own health destiny. think that's really important. Exactly. And did you continue dancing through medical school and residency?
never took a break from it. Yeah, and that was your go-to. You know, the great thing about dance is you don't have to have a team. You don't have to go somewhere and play. I can dance in my own living room. So even when I was studying in med school, if I felt stressed between topics, I would just take a 20 minute dance break. I'm like, you know what? I'm just going to play music and I'm just going to dance. And at that point I was doing it because I think it just made me feel good. Now looking back, I'm like, wow, that was my way of meditating in between stressful periods of time. That was my way of
of getting endorphins. Excellent. also, you know, meditation itself, when they actually study people who meditate and did placebo-controlled trials and sort of there was a group who fake meditated, it turns off the gene variant that leads to increased cortisol. So you were naturally doing that for yourself. Yeah, yeah. And I continued it up until recently, actually. I performed at the Lincoln Center with a few dance groups a few years ago.
So I've continued it because it's not only helped me mentally, but training for a competition or training for a performance also helped me with cardiovascular fitness. absolutely. In fact, it brings to mind a colleague, endocrinologist, somebody who I prescribed the CGM for, And she was talking about performing on stage when she had a present. She was shocked about how high her sugar went.
prior to presenting because she was so stressed and she learned to control it through different aspects but the insights we get by now understanding the human body through precision medicine is phenomenal I think it makes a difference for all for each of us. 100 % I think just having access to data.
And being able to analyze that data has been a game changer in precision medicine. So what made you opt for medicine? Where did that calling come in?
I don't even know if I made this memory up or if it's actual memory because I was so young. But I think around four years old I remember playing with just a doctor set. And anytime somebody would ask me, what do you want to be when you grow up? I would just immediately say doctor. Now could have been something my parents put in my head. But from that point I... Yeah, yeah. And especially South Asian parents. I think they may have put that in my head. But I never changed my answer. And you know, when I was in elementary school, it was something that I would keep saying.
By the time I got into middle school and high school, I started volunteering at the hospital, in the ER actually, shockingly, and that's what I ended up pursuing initially. My residency was in emergency medicine.
I think people don't realize how burned out you get after number of years. My colleagues who went into emergency medicine, had enough after 10, 15 years In your case, you started as an emergency medicine. What drove you to begin a concierge practice and focus on longevity and precision where you are today? So as an emergency medicine physician, I was seeing patients, especially at a level one
trauma center, I was seeing patients who were coming in with heart attacks, with the strokes, diagnosis of colon cancer. So they were coming in with the complications of their colon cancers or cancers in general. And I started thinking, what if? What if they could have done something differently 10 years ago? What if they knew that their diet, their lifestyle?

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could have been changed so they wouldn't be here today. And I would look at almost every single person and I'm sure if they knew this is where they would have ended up 10, 15 years later.
I think they may have done things differently. And as an emergency medicine doctor, I luckily and fortunately can help make a difference right on the spot. They have pain, I can give them a medication. But unfortunately, I wasn't able to do a lot of preventative changes in them. would meet them and I may, for most, I would probably never see them again. And I think that started bothering me. And I wanted to go back, educate myself on genetics,
precision medicine, functional medicine, and see how can we make a difference at an early stage where people can prevent chronic illnesses and they can age with vitality. No, absolutely. That's exactly the goal. How do we extend the health span for the rest of your life? you're 100, 120, 150, and you're enjoying life to the max. Exactly. Totally agree. One of the most important aspects to me is understanding a person's
personal story, health story. In fact, I moved away from chief complaint many decades ago because to me, yes, that's what we do well in conventional medicine where we're thinking about a person who's coming in because they're hurting, there's something wrong, not unlike an ER visit,
How do you do that and why is it important to how you think of how you're implementing precision medicine and longevity medicine? Yes, you know when patients come to me they're coming to me for a specific concern that they have. Whether it's like, I have a lot of fatigue or I can't lose weight or I keep getting infections. They're coming with a specific concern but
We start with that because that's what they want to tell me initially. And from there, we take it on to learning almost everything about them that got them there. And it's really important for the patient to understand that, this issue that you have, we're going to tackle it, but we're going to tackle it by understanding what you were doing. Even when you are five years old, I want to know where you grew up. I want to know, you know, what...
infections you had when you were younger, how many times you've taken antibiotics, you know, really spending a lot of time getting to know the person, their habits, their mindset. In fact, one of the most important things I...
get from my first one or two encounters is the patient's mindset because that will tell me how I'm going to help the patient. At the end of the day, I can say do this, this, and this, but the patient has to be ready to do and make those changes. And so really getting to know the patient holistically is probably one of the most important parts of what we do in personalized medicine. True. In order to implement and partner somebody as opposed to handing
them just a script, even in conventional medicine, three quarters of the women who are given scripts for hormones never fill them, and is understanding where they're coming from and how you actually look at each person as a unique individual. I call it N of 1. I've done that for many years because I think each of us travels a unique path. And as an identical twin, I knew that instinctively, epigenetically, I knew that despite identical genes, we had our own paths and we like different foods.
And we have different conditions that affect us. And all of that made a huge impression as well to understand who that person was and how you actually weave in factors like family history, like the way they live life, the choices they make, whether they sleep or not. Those are all paramount. And a lot of times, probably like me, you face somebody who thinks they have diabetes or who's afraid about weight or other kinds of issues. And it's something entirely different when you actually go looking.
at what possibly underlies the issues.
No, yeah, you know, a lot of times when I am speaking to patients, it's really important for me to then ask them questions and want them to ask me questions. You know, what are you afraid of of this prescription I'm going to give you? Because if they don't understand the risks benefits, if they're not able to communicate with me why they will or may not take it, then they're not going to be as successful in whatever plan that I'm going to create for them. So we really do a deep dive.
not only in me asking them questions, them asking me questions. And I think that two-way conversation where we're partners together is probably one of the most important aspects of personalized medicine. Totally. I mean, I've learned from some psychiatrists that I really admire and bid my mentors that compassion heals alone. And I used to think about that all the time, like how caring about somebody as if they're your sister, brother, father, mother, daughter, son makes it different about how
you approach them, as opposed to more maybe traditional ways doctors would wall off their emotions not to get too overwhelmed. So I completely agree. So if you could wave a magic wand in medicine, what would you change? In conventional medicine, how would you make it different if there was one thing you could pick? I think allowing
patients to have more time with their physicians. That is probably one of the most important things I experience. I go to my doctor and I'm like, no, no, I'm not done yet. I want five more minutes. I forgot I still have to ask you this question because in those five minutes, I somehow, they need to check me and I need to get all my questions answered. So I think if there's one thing, one place we can start is somehow giving physicians more time to do what they love to do
what they were trained to do. And in our conventional medicine, we have somehow become so limited with time that I don't think some patients and physicians are getting the best care. And it's only because they don't have enough time with their practitioner.
Most physicians have to practice under a system of RBUs where the more volume they see, that's how they actually increase earnings and can support themselves. And with all the paperwork and the middlemen, I think it's been very hard to maintain like a true family doctor approach to. I 100 % agree. You know, I spent a long time studying genomics. Now, I don't think genomics or genetics is going to be a person's destiny, but it does play a
role and we look at your genetics and we look at your biomarkers in your past lifestyle, current lifestyle and where you want to be. And I think just having those biomarkers, knowing what to look for and how to make interventions, evidence-based interventions using the most innovative technology and medicines that we have. I think that's really important as well. Absolutely. In fact, my favorite change that has happened over the last decade is wearables because I feel like
like you get insider information. Like in the old days, when you wanted to know if someone's blood pressure was really high or they had white coat syndrome or they see the doctor and their blood pressure goes sky high, I would send them home with a halter monitor for like two days. They'd be able to take it off a few minutes to run into the shower. And nowadays, there's all sorts of ways to monitor and see if blood pressure is really.
high or not and it's so simple or sugar, lots of stuff, rhythm. So I think we're looking at a major shift in the way we can work with people exactly for that reason. 100%. I'm very excited that more and more people are using wearables. You know, when I started probably, I want to say over five or six years ago, more than that with my wearable, people were like, you don't need that. That's going to give you anxiety. And while it may give some people anxiety, it has- it should. It's a way that helps. it should.
It drastically changed my life, you know It's funny. I just posted this on my social media and I got so many comments about it when I was in the ER I never thought I was really stressed. I was like, I'm a multitasker I can handle it and I would always say I'm not stressed when I'm the ER But when I put my wearable on my heart rate for the entire shift was very elevated You know, my wearable kept saying you're stressed you're stressed during my shift and when I turned around and

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and I'm in my own practice.
It's amazingly calm. They're like, you're calm, you're restored, your heart rate's low. And just knowing that, knowing that what I chose to do for a living was doing that to my body was also impressive data to have. insightful. Clearly. And then implementing it. So one final question before we wrap is if somebody stopped you on the street like a reporter and said, what do you think is the most important way to maintain healthy longevity? Do something immediately.
pop in your mind? I've thought about this a lot, especially as a new mom and raising a child. And, you know, I look at her and I think, how am I going to help you with health, longevity, happiness? You know, at end of the
Yes, I want her to be healthy and yes, I want her to, you know, live with vitality, but I also want her to be happy, not stressed with having to be healthy or, you know, always be keeping up with making the right choices. And so as a parent, I think my answer has drastically changed. I think if you asked me that years ago, I would have said something different. But for me, I think one of the most important parts to maintaining health and longevity is going to be mindset.
You know, and that's what I work on with my daughter. I have a three year old and my daughter and that's what I work on with her almost on a daily basis. I'd say, hey, you know, her name is Maya. Hey, Maya, we're gonna go outside because we're gonna get sunlight in today and we're gonna get sunlight because, you know, and I tell her the benefits of it because I don't want her to think she has to do something. Let's say just to lose weight, which you know, in my generation being healthy. A lot of the times meant, I just want to look a certain way. I want her to know that health and longevity
a certain way and it's about making sure that you prevent those chronic diseases and
You know, you may be dealt with certain genetics, a certain environment that she may not be able to control, but making the best out of what she has. So mindset is what comes to me when I think about it. So how do we teach people to have a healthy mindset where they're constantly thinking about their health to make better choices during the day? Because it's not about just one choice you make when it comes to health and longevity. is about a string of choices you've made and you can make.
and what you want to do about it, you know?
And I get a lot of hits from all different angles on my social media, whether it's emails from my friends. And most people, when they become parents, they're very concerned about, obviously, their child and they want to make all the best choices. And one of the most frequent questions I've been getting now is, how do I teach my child to be, quote unquote, healthy?
They always want the chips and the ice creams and I never want to deprive my child because then they'll have an unhealthy relationship with with food and So I think again just mindset what before we go get an ice cream I spend time talking to my daughter about why we're have broccoli first and you know why we're gonna have fiber before we have that big sugar surge and I think just Educating and I don't know how much is absorbing but I just keep talking And she still gets her ice
She's still going to get her ice cream, but now she knew why mommy wanted her to eat broccoli before we got there. No, absolutely. And I think it's really important. I've really enjoyed here is we have clans and families. And what happens is when we point out why they're struggling with what they're struggling with, I say, you know, this is something your child has inherited, or we look at their children with them. And so they can bring these practices into their home and change the course of their child's life because the younger you can implement.
some of these ways of thinking, whether it's movement and dance or choosing a healthy palette but being able to moderately instead of, moderation instead of deprivation is I think a really solid way and balanced way to look at how you want to live life, make those choices. I agree. All right. Well, thank you for joining me today. It was wonderful. And I'll look forward to continuing our interactions as we go forward. Yes, thank you for having me.
So I had an amazing time here with Dr. Comite at her Center and if you would like to learn more about what I do you can follow me at Dr. and Dancer on Instagram. You can also visit my website www.DrPoonamdesai.com or my practice website which is Longevity Place.