The Mind-Body Connection - Powerful Medicine
For women’s health speaker Dr. Mary Ann Bauman, talking and knowing are not enough. Behavior change is key. Dr. Bauman is a popular speaker with both men and women. She provides medical information without medical jargon to allow the audience to understand complex topics with ease. She frequently uses humor to emphasize her points and is a strong advocate for healthy living. She is a motivator and her passion is contagious.
Dr. Bauman received her medical degree from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan in 1978. For nine years, she served in a variety of teaching, practice, and administrative positions on medical school faculties including Wayne State University, the University of South Dakota, and the University of Oklahoma. In 1991, she joined Baptist Medical Center, which later became INTEGRIS Health Inc. as Medical Director of the Women’s Center. She was Medical Director for Women’s Health and Community Relations until retiring in 2017 and moving to Seattle. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and maintains an active primary care practice.
In the early 1990’s, Dr Bauman became convinced of the importance of a healthy lifestyle and the power of the mind-body connection and began melding these two concepts into her presentations. She also started speaking for the American Heart Association and served as the president of the Oklahoma City Affiliate in 2001. She was appointed to the six-state Heartland Affiliate Board in 2005 and is deeply involved in the AHA’s “Go Red For Women” initiative. In 2012, she was recognized as the American Heart Association’s Physician of the Year.
Her mantra, “insight is not enough,” helps the audience realize that they need to actually change behavior not just understand the concepts. She always provides practical tips on how to get started and welcomes Q&A. Her experience answering viewer medical questions on television since 1993 provides her with a broad range of information on a wide variety of topics.
In 1993, Dr. Bauman pioneered a program called “On Your Own”™ which focuses on health issues facing teens. She uses a question-and-answer format to speak frankly with them about the risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. By the end of the session, the teens understand why everyone always tells them that abstinence is the only way to absolutely avoid these diseases. This program has reached tens of thousands of students and remains in demand.
Dr. Bauman’s book: Fight Fatigue—Six Simple Steps to Maximize Your Energy, helps women tackle this all-too-common problem. After all, fatigue is the #1 reason women go to the doctor, but what do you do when the tests come back normal? Dr. Bauman offers a novel, easy approach to finding energy and it is designed to fit into the busiest of schedules. She has several different presentations based on Fight Fatigue — all including stories about women who have won the energy challenge as well as those who still endeavor to win it. She emphasizes taking action to identify and eliminate one’s personal energy thieves. Before leaving Oklahoma, Dr. Bauman was featured daily on Oklahoma’s KWTV, the CBS affiliate, and has been syndicated nationally. Previously, she was a regular on KFOR, the NBC affiliate in Oklahoma City, and KELO, the CBS affiliate in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She also serves on the Editorial Board of Medical Economics magazine.
Most Popular Topics:
Fight Fatigue — Maximize Your Energy
Fatigue is the #1 reason women go to the doctor. But what happens when the tests are all normal and you are still tired? Then what do you do? Dr. Bauman focuses on the common “energy thieves” that we battle every day and the reasons we overextend ourselves time after time.
The link between emotional and physical health is illustrated and the discussion culminates with an easy, six-step energy approach designed to fit the busiest of schedules. This presentation is based on Dr. Bauman’s book: Fight Fatigue — Six Simple Steps to Maximize Your Energy.
Weight a Minute
A humorous look at why Americans are gaining weight coupled with a serious discussion of the health risks of obesity. This is followed by a motivational approach to help audience members break down the barriers to weight loss and exercise. This talk is full of practical, simple tips both to get started and to sustain the effort. Q&A is always lively as them pros and cons of the “diet of the month” are examined.
Heart Disease and Women — The Not-So-Silent Killer
“My mother needed a wife.” — comment by a daughter in the Cardiac Care Unit at her dying mother’s bedside on Christmas Eve.
Heart disease is the #1 killer of women. We know this, but we are so busy taking care of others that we ignore our own symptoms. That must change. The risk factors for heart disease are presented as well as an easy-to-understand discussion of the gender differences in heart disease pathology. True patient stories underscore the points and simple, achievable methods to reduce risk are outlined. The question-and-answer session personalizes the topic.
Demystifying Your Heart Risk
What exactly is high blood pressure? What causes the systolic blood pressure? Diastolic? How does diabetes damage your heart? Why are the statin drugs recommended for high cholesterol? Are they safe? Each of the major risk factors for heart disease — hypertension, smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol, sedentary lifestyle, obesity and family history — is dissected in an easy-to-understand format. Audience members are challenged to embrace the American Heart Association’s ”know your numbers” campaign and motivated to improve their profiles. Practical, easily achievable lifestyle changes are highlighted. Humor is used to underscore our rationalizations about “why we can’t change,” and Q&A makes it personal.
Achieving a Healthy Lifestyle — One Step at a Time
For many, living healthy seems impossible. We are too busy, too stressed, financially strapped, etc, etc, etc. In this session, the barriers to a healthy lifestyle are identified and dismantled one-by-one. Humorous examples of the lengths we Americans will go to justify our behaviors serve to gently pry us from our rationalizations. The physiology of exercise and its importance in weight loss, risk reduction and stress management is emphasized. Laughter is a key component to this presentation and Q&A always adds value to the discussion.
The Mind-Body Connection: Powerful Medicine
Research into emotional health and its effects on physical well-being has exploded over the last twenty-five years. But, is this just an interesting scientific phenomenon or does it affect your life and your health?
A number of compelling research studies are presented to convince the audience of the validity of psychoneuroimmunology — the official medical term for the mind-body connection. These are followed with real-life patient examples to prove its relevance. Finally, each person is challenged to recognize the influence of the mind-body connection in his/her own life and to use that understanding to adopt a healthier emotional and physical lifestyle.
OTHER TOPICS
Yes, You Can Have It All — As Long as You Very Carefully Choose Your All
Men and women develop self-esteem differently. Women are great nurturers. We care deeply about the people we interact with on a daily basis. But, unfortunately, that same nurturing spirit can turn us into “people-pleasers”. When that happens, we tend to overextend ourselves, which leads to a host of physical and emotional complaints.
This presentation focuses on understanding our self-esteem impulses and recognizing how they influence decisions — large and small. Examples abound and the audience is challenged to reassess their own priorities and goals in light of this new understanding.
Oh! The Choices We Make
If we never stop to analyze the choices we make, we put our energy at risk. If we never stop to evaluate the circumstances and assumptions that lead to those choices, we are likely to elicit the same unsatisfactory responses time after time. Dr. Bauman discusses how our attempts to satisfy our self-esteem impulses can lead us to unhealthy choices in an often-frustrating effort to feel better about ourselves. This presentation is based on her book, Fight Fatigue and offers a unique and often humorous look at why we do what we do.
Limits Can Be Liberating
We tend to think of limits as restrictive — something or someone that keeps us from reaching our goals. However, the limits we ourselves set can be powerful tools to enable us to realistically choose those goals, so that we can be successful. To set healthy boundaries, we must first understand our own motivations and needs. We must know what we require for happiness. Dr. Bauman shows us how to develop healthy boundaries and to identify the common pitfalls that put our well-being at risk.
You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling
Loss of sex drive is a popular topic in the media these days. But, are the reports and concerns really accurate? The complex subject of female libido—from physiology to pharmacology is discussed and dissected.
Estrogen: Is The Story Complete?
Is it a beneficial or detrimental? Over the last two decades, estrogen has been discouraged, strongly recommended, and now discouraged again. But, do we have all of the answers yet? Dr. Bauman helps to sort out the controversies and answers audience questions in this update on HRT.
Preventive Health: What Should You Have Done and How Often?
Katie Couric says you need a colonoscopy. Oprah gets a body scan. What exactly are the best tests for prevention? Which have stood the test of time and which are controversial? Dr. Bauman discusses current preventive health recommendations and tells you why more is not always better.
Why Everyone Insists That Abstinence is The Only Way to Absolutely Avoid STD’s (teen audience)
Teenagers feel invincible. They really believe that it can’t happen to them. In this graphic and open discussion designed for older teens, Dr. Bauman reviews the anatomy and physiology of reproduction, discusses the various available methods for birth control, and shows pictures to illustrate common sexually transmitted diseases. Based on her pioneering program “On Your Own”, this presentation is driven by the teenagers’ anonymous questions. Her straightforward, passionate, and sometimes humorous style forces audience members to really think carefully about the decisions they make when it comes to sexuality. By providing them with accurate information in a nonjudgmental manner, she challenges them to choose abstinence as the safest, most mature path. (Separate presentations for males and females, parental permission recommended).
Understanding Your Body (middle school girls)
Several years ago, school administrators approached Dr. Bauman requesting a presentation to middle school girls. They were alarmed at the increased incidence of oral sex in this population and noted that pregnancy seemed to occur most frequently between 9th and 10th grade. Dr. Bauman discusses menstruation, reproduction and the risks of STD’s in an age appropriate manner. She introduces medically accurate information and answers questions in terms that are easily understood. (Parental permission recommended).
What Your Teens Are Asking About Sex
Dr. Bauman has answered thousands of teenagers’ questions about sexuality, reproduction and STD’s since beginning her pioneering program, “On Your Own” in the early 1990’s. She shares this information with parents in a freewheeling and open discussion. She answers their questions and provides an accurate framework with which they can approach their own children about this most important topic.
