It's all about small, keeping it smaller than you think it is. So it's not about going to the gym for an hour every day when you're stressed, forget it... Your amygdala and prefrontal cortex will be duking it out for that one. No way you're not going to go. It's like you're waiting through molasses to put your sneakers on. But if you start small and say I'm going to go for a five minute walk today you'll do it.
Ini semua tentang hal yang simple, menjaganya tetap lebih simple dari yang kau kira. Jadi ini bukan soal pergi ke gym selama satu jam setiap hari saat kau stres, lupakan saja... Amigdala dan Korteks prefrontalmu akan bekerja keras untuk hal itu. Tidak mungkin... kamu tak akan pergi. Ini seperti kau sedang menunggu gula pengganti untuk memakai sepatumu (misalkan). Tetapi jika kau memulai dari hal kecil dan mengatakan aku akan berjalan kaki lima menit hari ini, kau akan melakukannya.
But sometimes it's so small that it's almost humiliating. It's so small that it seems trivial that's, how it feels right. For two minutes what's that going to do two minute walk, that's that's going to do nothing.
Trust the process
I'm not going to lose any belly fat with two minutes
Namun terkadang (kita menganggapnya) ukurannya sangat kecil sehingga hampir memalukan, untuk melakukan itu. Kecil sekali hingga terkesan sepele begitulah, rasanya. Selama dua menit? apa gunanya jalan kaki dua menit? itu saja tidak akan menghasilkan apa-apa.
Percayai prosesnya, donk....
Aku tidak akan menghilangkan lemak perut dalam dua menit (jalan kaki).
It's not about losing belly fat. So The Cosmetic promise of Fitness has never propelled any of my patients from going from lifelong, non-exercisers to exercisers. Taught bellies muscular physiques never the reason people exercise. People start exercising because those are all aspirations things, it's like they're Out Of Reach.
Most people who exercise at least in my experience, who I have been able to convince to exercise. They exercise because of the mental health promise not the physical health promise. In turn they might have some weight loss. You know we know that even if you exercise on a regular basis and have no weight reduction whatsoever. You are still improving
- your cardiovascular health
- your metabolic Health
- all of the other profiles
You can still improve even without any weight change. What my thing is about stress right, like so mental health. To that's just the physical health aspect of it. Even just a 155 two minute walk can make a difference in your biology of stress.
Ini bukan tentang menghilangkan lemak perut. Jadi janji Perias kecantikan tentang, Kebugaran tak pernah membuat pasienku bisa hidup lebih lama, ataupun yang tidak berolahraga menjadi yang berolahraga. Mengurangi lemak di tubuh tidak pernah menjadi alasan orang berolahraga. Orang-orang mulai berolahraga karena semua itu adalah cita-cita, seolah-olah di luar jangkauan.
Kebanyakan orang yang berolahraga, setidaknya menurut pengalamanku, orang yang bisa kubujuk untuk mau berolahraga. Mereka berolahraga karena ada harapan tentang kesehatan mental, bukan harapan tentang kesehatan fisik. Pada gilirannya, mereka mungkin mengalami penurunan berat badan, kau tentu tahu itu. Kami mengetahuinya, meskipun kau berolahraga secara teratur dan tidak mengalami penurunan berat badan apa pun. Kau masih mengalami kemajuan (misal)
- Kesehatan jantungmu
- Kesehatan metabolismemu
- Semua profil lainnya.
Kau masih bisa meningkat (faktor lainya) meski tanpa perubahan berat badan apa pun. Maksudku ini tentang stres, begitu juga dengan kesehatan mental. Itu hanya aspek kesehatan fisiknya. Bahkan hanya berjalan kaki selama 155 dua menit saja dapat membuat perbedaan dalam stresmu secara biologis.
What is the evidence that shows exercise helps with Stress Management. What is the research?
Reams of research on exercise helping with stress. And the real misconception is that you have to do a lot of exercise to manage stress. And that is unequivocally false even a little bit of exercise can help because it gets you out of your head. And into your body a few minutes here and there can make all the difference. Park far away when you're driving someplace, and you're going to a restaurant or you're going into a mall a shopping Center. Park far and walk if you can build it into your day throughout the day take the stairs if you can it is just small incremental changes over the course of a day. Aim for 20-minute walk it has lots of health benefits it gets you out of your head into your body it gets you into that daily habit of movement initially when you are a sedentary person and a lifelong non- exerciser. Going into the gym to exercise is like a complete deterrent I remember as a medical resident when I was going through my stress struggle I had a state-of-the-art gym in my building I remember being incredibly stressed and you know I'm a doctor I was like oh yeah exercise is good for me.
I walked into the gym I saw the mirrors I saw all of the fancy equipment, The Techno music blasting. I walked right out walked right out. I then started a walking regimen simply because it was nice out one day. And I walked around the block. And then I was like oh that felt really nice next day I walked around the block and then some did a 5 10 minute extra walk.
And then the next day it was manageable it was a low lift it was easy for me to do. It wasn't like all this complicated equipment. So I walked a little bit more and I just grabed ually moved up over the course of a week or two to 20 minutes. And then I committed to a 20 minute walk over time my self-efficacy which is that ability of of you to know like oh I can do this it increased and that's what happens when you exercise and you do something like this something small a little bit every day. Your sense of self-efficacy increases so you feel like oh I can do this and your inner critic starts silencing.
and then I started walk just the Walkers. You know not the extreme exercises, just the Walkers. You're telling me, there's research that shows those people have are less stressed in their lives and more resilient per se. It's not so much that Walkers are less stressed. It's that movement when you go from being sedentary to moving that pH daily physical activity even at low levels can help decrease your stress so it's not like at why and how so many reasons so the first reason is because something like walking is something that's a very natural phenomenon that all of us do we don't really feel like walking when we are feeling a sense of stress you just want to be still but science shows that you know you've heard of the expression sitting is a new smoking you've heard of that expression but a research study found that sitting can also increase your sense of anxiety so it's not so much that sitting is the new smoking per se yes but it also has a tremendous impact on your actual mental health and that movement is a antidote to that so it's not necessary that you have to do excessive exercise but even just a simple walk getting out lowgrade exercise has been shown to help with longevity it's been it's been shown to help with so many markers of Health just a simple walk and yes your team you know people like to run I'm not saying that like you don't have you could you can continue running but that's someone who is like a Avid exerciser and so they run some people walk it doesn't really matter what you do it's that you do something you enjoy a little bit every day so many people have that subtle you talked about it at the starts well that subtle humming of stress and anxiety in their life it's just kind of like a background noise of their life I have that sometimes often I have that subtle angst one of the things that's really helped me which you talk about in the book is breathing and learning some practical breathing techniques because you don't need to go to I know a therapist or go to some yoga class to do breathing on your own especially sort of short breathing techniques what is the most effective breathing technique that anybody listening to this right now that has a little sense of angst could adopt instantly and repetitively as a habit in their lives that you've seen and that has been proven to be most effective in reducing that subtle angst two first diaphragmatic breathing it's how we all breathe as babies and somewhere in our adulthood or young adulthood we lose our ability to innately do diaphragmatic breathing but if you watch babies diaphragmatic breathing is belly breathing or deep belly breathing when people say belly breathing I need you to explain this to me how do I know if I'm doing it right put your hand on your belly yeah one hand on your heart or one hand on your belly or both hands on your belly since we're doing diaphragmatic breathing and then you're going to take a deep breath in let your belly expand here you're expanding your chest but what I want you to do is expand your belly and then let it out with your lips purse your lips and get it out so you're always inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth or your nose but you're doing it very slowly so what you did initially is that you went with my chest with your chest and that's not diaphragmatic breathing per se what you're trying to do is just expand your belly and then let it fall and you want to get into somewhat of a natural breathing pattern you're forcing it right now because we're doing this like you know immersive instructional moment but you can then as you get better at it you can put your hand on your belly both hands and as you're hanging out talking to me just let your belly rise and fall is there a speed in which I need to Exhale not necessarily you want to be as slow as possible some people you know in some yogic traditions say like the exhale should be doubled and the inhale the reason the reason that breathing is truly a GameChanger when it comes to your stress response is because the breath is the only physiological mechanism in our body that is under voluntary and involuntary control so as you're writing down right now you are breathing your body is breathing you're not even thinking about it and then suddenly if I say Hey Stephen want to try diaphragmatic breathing again you can voluntarily start breathing again it is the only bodily mechanism that is under voluntary and involuntary control your heart can't do that your brain waves can't do that your digestion can't do that it's all involuntary right it's just happening but the breath is the one thing that you can control and then let go and it does it on its own and the reason the breath is so powerful at mitigating the stress response and decreasing it is because when you are feeling a sense of stress and the fight ORF flight response your breath involuntarily is short in your chest and Rapid it's like this right you're stressed your heart's beating and that's also a physiological mechanism because your body's trying to get oxygen and you're anxious and your catac colam meines and your cortisol and your heartbeat is racing so you're breathing quick and that is called Fight or Flight that is the sympathetic nervous system your sympathetic and Par sympathetic system can't be on at the same time so when you start forcing yourself to take deep belly breaths you switch your mode into the parasympathetic system and that is called the rest and digest system and then that is what starts calming down your stress response in the moment and the second important breathing technique that I would really suggest people try is stop breathing be it's a way to tap into your mindbody connection and it can be really helpful and the way you do that is and I it was the first technique I learned and you essentially just stop whatever you're doing breathe and be it's 3 seconds typically it's done I did it when I was first starting in my in a busy as a busy
medical resident I did it when I right before I would knock on the patient door of the exam room and I would turn the knob so I would stop breathe and be I would knock and walk in you can do it right before your Zoom meeting mundane repetitive tasks is when stop breathe and be works best you can do it throughout the day you tap into your Mind Body Connection you get a sense of presence you take that mental break and then you go on so for you Stephen with your crazy schedule of not having even a moment you could try stop breathe be after before or after every single meeting as a book as a book end we talked about speaking to people when you have you know you're experiencing stress but one of the things I read about in your book is the importance of writing therapeutic writing and how that plays a a really wonderful role in limiting our stress um is there any research that supports the fact that if I just go home and write that I'll I'll experience less stress and if so what is the research and how what's going on there yes there's plenty of research a wonderful researcher psychologist named Jamesm pennebaker from the University of Vanderbilt um developed a technique called expressive writing also known as therapeutic writing and the instruction is essentially for 4 days write for 20 to 25 minutes set a timer and just write no one's going to see it just write about a traumatic event that happened to you so whatever that trauma may be I talk about it in the book it's like one of my patients who had a traumatic Adventure if something's gone on this week for you that you want to work out it doesn't have to be some deep seated of trauma it can be like you had an argument with your girlfriend you had something come up at work you were stressed about a project or you're getting into an argument with your parent or your child or whatever it may be you just set a timer on your phone if you wish or a you know oldfashioned alarm clock or your you know your oven if you don't have if you don't want to use your phone set a timer for 20 minutes or 25 minutes sit down with a piece of paper and a pen and just start writing about the event and then when
the timer ends you stop and then the
next day you do it again four
consecutive days you might notice an
uptick in your distress on day two or
day three and then it will just decrease
that therapeutic writing has been shown
to be effective for so many things it
can be helpful for your mood and sleep
and anxiety and irritability it's been
shown to be helpful in studies to
increase your GPA to decrease Hospital
admissions it's been it's wild what
therapeutic writing has been shown to do
it's called expressive writing and
what's going on there in the brain
what's going on in the body what's
making the it so therapeutic I think one
of the things that is happening is that
there is we you mentioned this earlier I
think one of the things that's happening
is likely cognitive reframing so first
you are on day one and I've done this
many many times I practice therapeutic
writing on a regular basis on day one as
you're writing it's your amydala
speaking right it's like your
self-preservation and survival and your
inner critic and you're like blasting
whatever issue is happening and then as
you go through day two three and four I
think there is you're creating a safe
space you're processing a lot of your
emotions it's very important to process
a lot of your emotions and you're not
keeping them stuck you're you know
expressing yourself and then I think
you're coming to your own conclusion so
there's probably many many things active
things that are happening in your brain
you are moving away from amydala to
prefrontal Cortex because you're
thinking strategizing organizing your
ideas you're expressing yourself we know
that writing and just you know
journaling is also very helpful why
because it is a way to express yourself
and let these nebulous ideas become
concrete words and thoughts and feelings
um and then I think there's an element
of self-efficacy and a sense of agency
happening too because you are solving
your own issue or figuring out a new
angle A New Perspective and you're
looking at yourself hopefully by the end
through a lens of self-compassion which
is also something that happens there was
a study in your book about how just
taking even a 10-second break from your
work can have an impact on your stress
levels you know how we say you've you'll
often hear like oh just take a break and
you know take because we often when
we're feeling a sense of burnout an
atypical burn out an inability to
disconnect from work right and then it's
like how are you going to get yourself
back on track I call it the goldiluxe
principle I talk about it in the five
resets human productivity functions on a
curve it's not linear it's not like okay
like I'm going to just keep being
productive there's actually a
bell-shaped curve for stress as there is
a bell-shaped curve for human
productivity and so if you think about
one side you know the the Y AIS as human
productivity and the x- axis a stress
it's a bell-shaped curve so when we are
to the left of the curve we're not
feeling very motivated we're bored we're
apathetic chances are you're not going
to be very
productive when you are to the far right
of the curve you're highly stressed
you're anxious many of us are feeling
this way you're not going to be very
productive there is a sweet spot of
human productivity right in the middle
of that bell-shaped curve and that is
the Goldilocks principle the just right
part of stress and human productivity
now many of us are to the right of the
curve we are anxious and keyed up and
stressed out and we're not very
productive so how do we bring the
science into everyday life and apply it
to our life we can't just like chill out
and like go for a month to Bali for a
surfing holiday wish I could can't do it
can't you know spend six months eating my way through Italy or hanging out in the Himalayas in a retreat all of these things are my dreams you have Financial constraints you have constraints with your family obligations all of these things and so we can't do all of those things to suddenly scale back into that sweet spot of human productivity so what can we do we can honor our breaks and there was a study by Microsoft done not too long ago which showed that even taking 10 minute breaks like three to four 10 minute breaks throughout the day can have a cumulative impact on your stress and can help with your mood productivity sense of Engagement so it's not like oh breaks are nice to have they should be an essential part of your workday because it helps manage your stress in the workday it is a way to honor your breaks to get back into that sweet spot of human productivity so that you can have just right stress and with that idea of Just Right stress I want to make a point that not all stress is bad stress isn't the enemy our cultural perception of it is there is good stress stress and bad stress good stress is adaptive stress that's the scientific term for healthy good stress bad stress is maladaptive stress that is the scientific term everything good in your life was created because of a little bit of stress like you started this podcast something really positive you met your girlfriend also something positive you may have made a new friend as an adult wonderful and positive cheering for your favorite sports team also a positive thing now when we think of the word stress in modern culture we think about bad stress bad stress are all of the things that we already know right like the feelings that we've talked about but the goal of life is not to live a life without stress because that is biologically impossible our brains and our bodies need stress to survive it is to live a life with healthy manageable stress it's to move away from unhealthy stress back to healthy stress I my calendar and people see my calendar a lot because we have this um Vlog Channel my calendar is follow of just like back to back to back to back meetings I actually had a conversation with my assistant the other day I was like when you look at my calendar there's actually not a a 60-second gap between meetings which means I'm continually like late because meetings always run over and also you have to travel between one meeting to the next or at least you might have to load up Zoom or something which takes like 30 seconds so I'm going to be 30 seconds late because there's not a gap and
when I was reading in your book about this Microsoft study that compared brain scans of people who were in back-to-back meetings with those who took short breaks found that the group taking short breaks experienced significantly less stress it made a lot of sense to me because when I'm back to back to back to back to back to back to back it's kind of like your Kettle example you have the I'll put it on the screen the the kettle analogy of stress I just feel like it's filling up with steam you know and then in the kettle analogy when the steam comes out of the nose of the kettle that's kind of when you like let some of the stress out so taking those gaps opening the lever oh you can open the Le that also lets the stress out out um that's what I don't have in my day I don't have breaks like when this podcast ends right people will come through this door over there one by one and they have and Jack's laughing because he knows he's one of them he's he's wait he's he's closest so he gets in first I have like 17 things that I need to do for these people I won't even be able to make it to the toilet because someone's going to want me to review something and that's my day every day you have to build in breaks and even if that means that you're putting it in your calendar again this study was 10 minutes you can do as little as 10 seconds that research has shown why because neural consolidation again a very fancy scientific term but it simply means that when we are on the go and moving moving moving we are not always learning and so when do you want to learn neural consolidation means that there's information floating in our brains and it consolidation your brain Lays down cements the information into knowledge right so there's information and knowledge and neural consolidation is the process of the cementing of new information and taking a break helps to do that wait so if I'm listening to a podcast and something profound just gets said I should pause the podcast and just wait 10 seconds to help with the neural consolidation that would be wonderful if you love the dver CEO brand and you watch this Channel please do me a huge favor become part of the 15 % of the viewers on this channel that have hit the Subscribe button it helps us tremendously and the bigger the channel gets the bigger the guests
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