New York Tennis Magazine’s Literary Corner: Navigating the Superhighway to Well-Being

Dr. Robert Silverman set to release new book on gut-brain relationship

September 6, 2019 | By Brian Coleman
NYTM Corner
Photo courtesy of Getty Images/Patrick Daxenbichler

 

One of the most overlooked aspects of the synergy between health and sports performance is the connection between a person’s gut and brain, a relationship that is integral in maximizing one’s athletic prowess and overall health.

“I think that most people don’t realize that gut health isn’t just important for overall immune health, it’s also the epicenter, if you will, for athletic performance,” said Dr. Robert Silverman, a White Plains, N.Y.-based sports chiropractor and certified clinical nutritionist, specializing in functional medicine and the treatment of joint pain. “Athletes who perform more than two hours of strenuous exercise, and that’s about the length of a tennis match, compromise their gut. And when you do that, you compromise your performance, and it makes you more susceptible to a host of deleterious issues like diabetes, muscular skeletal injuries, lack of brain function and the like. So keeping your gut in pristine condition and functioning at its highest level will increase your tennis performance and tennis recovery.”

Dr. Silverman has spent two decades treating patients and has helped countless athletes not only return to competition sooner and more improved, but also with the knowledge of how to listen to their own body to achieve optimal levels of performance.

He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Bridgeport, College of Chiropractic, and has achieved many more educational accomplishments, including becoming a certified nutrition specialist, a certified clinical nutritionist, and a certified strength and conditioning specialist. He founded Westchester Integrative Health Center, where he applies all of his knowledge and expertise in helping his patients. 

Three years ago, he published Inside-Out Health: A Revolutionary Approach to Your Body, where he outlines how you can take charge and improve your well-being with steps you can take on your own to head down the path to wellness. 

“Dr. Silverman’s book is a magnificent tour de force full of practical tips on how to use functional medicine to stay fit and healthy and lose weight, starting with the gut,” said Dr. Vincent Pedre, who authored the book, Happy Gut. “If you are frustrated with your health, wanting to rid yourself of body pains, and looking for ways to achieve total wellness, Inside-Out Health is a great start to a happy gut and overall well-being.” 

To expand on that, Dr. Silverman is set to release his follow-up book, The Superhighway to Health. The new book is scheduled for release in February 2020, and will be a must-read for athletes, especially tennis players.

“This book still incorporates inside-out health, because it talks about the gut to brain axis. It’s the next iteration. In my forthcoming book, I get into the pathways and the knowledge of this bi-directional interaction between your brain, the organ in your body that communicates with all the other organs, and your gut, the organ in your body that has the most immune cells,”  said Silverman. “It’s the next iteration for overall health, health performance, and sports performance.”

Dr. Silverman will be making many public appearances over the next few months to discuss his book and continuing to stress the importance of understanding gut health and how it impacts us, especially those who want to maximize their athletic performance. “It’s, without question, one of the most talked-about points among doctors, but the information hasn’t reached the patients and not enough athletes are paying attention to it,” Dr. Silverman said about the knowledge of the gut-brain axis.

With the book slated to come out in the beginning of 2020, it will be an important read for many who want to start their year off right, or make sure they are sticking to those always-hard-to-maintain New Year’s resolutions.

“When they hit that level of frustration, 30 to 45 days after they started their resolutions, this book is going to be standing there showing them how to get right back on the wagon in an efficient manner,” said Dr. Silverman.

Dr. Silverman continues to be one of the leading minds in his field and has used this knowledge to help tennis players reach their full potential, both on and off the court. He helps inform the public on these issues through his Web site (DrRobertSilverman.com) and social media channels, where he posts educational videos on his Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages, as well as taking part in podcasts and speaking appearances. He will dive into these subjects in detail when The Superhighway to Health hits the shelves early next year.

 


Brian Coleman

 Brian Coleman is the Senior Editor for New York Tennis Magazine. He may be reached at brianc@usptennis.com

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