In Functional Medicine, the most important factors, and the ones we examine first when gathering information about our patients, are the foundational lifestyle factors : sleep, exercise, nutrition, stress levels, relationships, and genetics.

These are the roots and soil, which are influenced by specific predisposing factors (antecedents), discreet events (triggers), and ongoing physiological processes (mediators), which may then result in fundamental imbalances at the trunk.

These can eventually result in the signs and symptoms that are grouped into a diagnosable constellation that we call disease, represented by the branches and leaves.