129. Mental Health Awareness
Mental Health Awareness
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In this week's Wellness Wednesday episode, Evan takes a moment to speak about Mental Health Awareness Month. Here on the Elemental Evan podcast, we realize that health is not just about the food you eat and the exercise you do. Health is about everything you do and how you do it, and one of those aspects is our mental health.
In an episode of PBS Newshour, Laurie Santos a cognitive scientist and Psychology professor at Yale University stated that around 60% of the US population report feeling lonely on a regular basis. This is an unacceptable number and is something that we can work on correcting right away by simply checking in with our friends, family, loved ones, and neighbors.
In this episode Evan covers actionable steps that we can all take to help improve our mental health and also how to prevent poor mental health from manifesting. This is an episode that everyone needs to listen to, so that we can help improve the mental health of ourselves and of those around us.
Disclaimer:
This podcast is for educational purposes only, it is not a substitute for professional care by a doctor or other qualified medical professional. Evan Roberts is not a medical professional and this podcast is provided on the understanding that it does not constitute medical or other professional advice or services. Statements and views expressed on this show are not medical advice, this podcast, including Evan Roberts and any guests on the show, disclaims responsibility for any possible adverse effects from the use of information contained in this episode. If you think you have a medical problem please consult a medical professional.
Transcript
Hey, what's going on, everybody.
Speaker:Welcome back to the elemental oven show.
Speaker:Thank you all so much for tuning in on this beautiful wellness Wednesday.
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Speaker:Now let's go ahead and jump in to today's topic.
Speaker:Today's topic is going to be on mental health awareness.
Speaker:So for those of you who didn't already know this.
Speaker:This month is mental health awareness month.
Speaker:And I wanted to get at least one episode in this month on mental
Speaker:health and mental health awareness.
Speaker:So that is what today's episode is going to be.
Speaker:Mental health is incredibly important.
Speaker:I think for those of us who have.
Speaker:Uh, never experienced any mental health issues.
Speaker:Um, it's a very lucky thing to not experience because
Speaker:without mental health, Man.
Speaker:There's not a whole lot else.
Speaker:That you can focus on.
Speaker:It's pretty much going to consume up all of your energy, all of your
Speaker:attention, all of your awareness.
Speaker:And it is really, really a difficult thing to deal with.
Speaker:And it's something that I'm happy.
Speaker:We're trying to bring more awareness around as a society.
Speaker:So I wanted to start this episode off with just a couple of statistics.
Speaker:These are pretty sobering statistics and, uh, sorry to
Speaker:start off on such a heavy note.
Speaker:Uh, but I promise you, we do finish this episode with some actionable steps
Speaker:that you can take to improve your mental health and, uh, Yeah, like I said, it's
Speaker:going to be steps that you can start doing today and really help get on the
Speaker:path to better mental, mental health now.
Speaker:The first.
Speaker:A statistic that I wanted to speak about was actually coming from Laurie
Speaker:Santos, who is a cognitive scientist and psychology professor at Yale university.
Speaker:She was on a PBS news hour episode and she stated that.
Speaker:There are some studies revealing that around 60% of people in the United
Speaker:States report feeling lonely on a regular basis that is over half of
Speaker:the us population feeling lonely.
Speaker:On a regular basis.
Speaker:I think we can do so, so much better than this.
Speaker:And you know, I, I really, I see this personally myself in terms of,
Speaker:you know, people not even knowing who their next door neighbor is.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:That's not okay.
Speaker:You're in a community.
Speaker:I think it's important for us to know our neighbors and, you know, to, uh,
Speaker:to be there for each other and to even just lend an ear, let someone talk.
Speaker:Um, sometimes that's all it takes, right.
Speaker:It's just a quick check-in.
Speaker:Now the other statistic that I wanted to talk about.
Speaker:Is a study done at Columbia university, which showed that
Speaker:depression has increased in the U S from 6.6% to 7.3% from 2005 to 2015.
Speaker:Now I know that's not a large percentage, obviously.
Speaker:Um, but when we're talking about the entire population of the United
Speaker:States, it's a significant amount of people and any increase in poor mental
Speaker:health, in my opinion, is something we definitely need to be concerned
Speaker:about now, even more concerning.
Speaker:Then that statistic was, they found that, uh, the rise was most notably
Speaker:rapid among those, between the ages of 12 and 17 with the percentages going
Speaker:from 8.7 in 2005 to 12.7 in 2015.
Speaker:That's definitely something we need to be concerned with.
Speaker:Our youth is definitely struggling here with the mental health and it's
Speaker:really showing up and we need to be very aware about this and we need to
Speaker:be concerned, you know, and see what we can do to really help combat this.
Speaker:So,
Speaker:Let's go ahead and get in to what.
Speaker:His mental health and how can we address it?
Speaker:So first off mental health can show up in many different ways in you
Speaker:know, yourself, in your friends, your family, your loved ones.
Speaker:And it's very important for us to recognize some telltale signs.
Speaker:Now, a couple of telltale signs that are really easy to recognize are simply
Speaker:withdrawal and low energy or low mood.
Speaker:So for yourself, personally, if you see yourself withdrawing
Speaker:from your friend group, from your family, or if you see that you are
Speaker:just having a consistently low.
Speaker:Low energy levels or low mood.
Speaker:Um, these are things that you should be concerned with and you should really take
Speaker:note of and try to catch them as early as possible, because you can really keep
Speaker:yourself from going down a bad path.
Speaker:If you're able to stop them early.
Speaker:Now, it's also something we need to recognize in our friends and family.
Speaker:If you notice that a friend or a family member that you speak with on a
Speaker:regular basis is starting to withdraw.
Speaker:Of course they can be busy.
Speaker:They can have things going on in their life and that's okay.
Speaker:But it is important for us to still touch bases with them and still reach out.
Speaker:Just touching bases with someone can be the world of a difference and can
Speaker:let that person know that you are there to talk if ever they need it.
Speaker:And that is really all it takes some times is just being an
Speaker:ear for someone to speak with.
Speaker:Now.
Speaker:In terms of the different ways in which poor mental health can manifest itself.
Speaker:Of course there are many, um, there are things like anxiety, depression,
Speaker:those are definitely, probably the two most common ones we hear about.
Speaker:And we also see, uh, but then we also have things like
Speaker:uh, which is a little bit lesser known and is actually something
Speaker:that I have experienced in the past.
Speaker:Um, maybe I'll get into it a little bit on this episode.
Speaker:Maybe not, we'll see how this episode goes.
Speaker:Um, but there's also, you know, lower levels of, uh, you know, poor mental
Speaker:health such as just poor self-talk or even having a low level of stress
Speaker:at all times throughout the day.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:These can really show up in our mental health and, uh, there are things
Speaker:that should be addressed, right?
Speaker:Because I think when we look at mental health, sometimes we.
Speaker:We just jumped to the extreme, like severe depression.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But there's varying levels of this.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And it's important for us to recognize them at all times at
Speaker:all different levels as well.
Speaker:Um, just because, you know, having severe depression can be really, really bad
Speaker:and definitely needs to be addressed.
Speaker:Um, it doesn't mean that if you are starting to have, you know, poor
Speaker:self-talk and, um, waking up and just not having that pep to your step that
Speaker:you usually do, um, you know, these are things we need to be aware of.
Speaker:Now in terms of how we can improve this.
Speaker:And this is what I'm really excited to get into, uh, because I love
Speaker:giving you actionable steps, right?
Speaker:That's the whole goal of this podcast is to really provide you with information
Speaker:as well as tools that you can use in your daily life to try to combat.
Speaker:Any of the topics that I'm talking about, right.
Speaker:And try to improve our health.
Speaker:So first off, and I think this almost doesn't get enough
Speaker:recognition, but we need to.
Speaker:You know, When you're starting to find that you are maybe feeling a little
Speaker:depressed, maybe feeling a little anxious, um, you know, at any varying level.
Speaker:One thing that I found for myself personally.
Speaker:And let me just really state this first.
Speaker:Um, I've never really dealt with severe depression or severe anxiety.
Speaker:Um, like I said, I have dealt with, uh, at one point in my
Speaker:life and that was quite rough.
Speaker:Um, and so in no way, am I trying to diagnose you or tell you what to do?
Speaker:Um, I'm just trying to provide you with my experiences and the tools
Speaker:that I found to be beneficial.
Speaker:So on that note.
Speaker:Having a routine and even like a routine of healthy practices is so, so beneficial.
Speaker:I think we really fail to recognize this when you develop a routine and
Speaker:you're able to consistently do it day after day, even though you might not
Speaker:feel like it, you might feel depressed.
Speaker:You might not want to get out of bed.
Speaker:You might feel just terrible anxiety.
Speaker:But it is so important for us to stick to a routine and make it a
Speaker:healthy routine if we can at that.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So I'm talking about having like set times to go to bed.
Speaker:A set time to wake up in the morning and you know, if you
Speaker:have a job, then go to that job.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And just go at least through the motions.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:You might not feel amazing doing so, but it is important
Speaker:for us to have that routine.
Speaker:It can start to set us and, uh, set our internal clocks and just
Speaker:really give us, um, a little bit of a structure to our lives.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Um, now I know that sounds pretty basic, but trust me, it really can be
Speaker:beneficial because at the end of the day, everything is temporary, right.
Speaker:That situation you're going through that feeling, that you're
Speaker:feeling that depression, that anxiety, it is going to go away.
Speaker:At some point, it will.
Speaker:But we, you know, it can be a long period of time.
Speaker:And so when we can find a routine and stick to it, it can help us
Speaker:to tack a way or, uh, sorry to.
Speaker:You know, go at each day, one by one and just kind of take things as they
Speaker:come and not get too, uh, nervous about what the future is going to
Speaker:bring and, and, uh, getting caught up in stuff that hasn't happened yet.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Which a lot of the times can be anxiety, right?
Speaker:Anxiety is like a fear of that, which is, is, you know, kind of not happening.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:It's not present.
Speaker:Um, so definitely setting a routine can be super beneficial now in terms
Speaker:of having healthy practices, uh, like I said, when you set a routine, I highly
Speaker:recommend having a morning routine.
Speaker:Uh, it can include reading meditation, exercise, uh, you know, whatever you find
Speaker:is most beneficial for you in the morning.
Speaker:Go ahead and do that.
Speaker:Make sure, make it a healthy practice.
Speaker:Um, for me, I love to do meditation reading and exercise.
Speaker:Those are my three.
Speaker:Those are my that's my three things for my morning routine.
Speaker:Now, in terms of exercise, uh, exercise is extremely beneficial for mental health.
Speaker:It is able to release all kinds of feel, good chemicals and hormones
Speaker:in the body and really change.
Speaker:your entire state.
Speaker:So according to a study at, um, on the Harvard health publishing
Speaker:website, Exercise was found to work.
Speaker:As well.
Speaker:As antidepressants for some participants.
Speaker:That's wild, right?
Speaker:Because.
Speaker:As we know there are some serious down sides and downfalls to some of
Speaker:these antidepressant medications.
Speaker:Now, of course, I'm not saying to not take those.
Speaker:Um, you know, a lot of people have found benefit in them and if that's
Speaker:what you need, then that's fine.
Speaker:But if there is an alternative, such as exercise, which is just a
Speaker:lifestyle change and zero downside to it, I highly recommend at
Speaker:least trying to do some exercise.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Um, in people who are depressed, neuroscientists have noticed that the
Speaker:hippocampus in the brain, the region that helps regulate mood is smaller.
Speaker:Exercise supports nerve cell growth in the hippocampus, improving
Speaker:nerve cell connections, which help to relieve depression.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:That's coming from Dr.
Speaker:Miller, uh, from that study.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Highly highly recommend.
Speaker:If you are dealing with any kind of poor mental health.
Speaker:Go do some exercise.
Speaker:Um, and like I said, I can't tell you what to do here.
Speaker:I'm just trying to provide you with tools, but exercise is so incredibly
Speaker:beneficial on so many different levels and can really, really make
Speaker:a difference for our mental health.
Speaker:Um, and now in terms of how much exercise you should be doing, there was not a
Speaker:specific, um, Allotted amount or time that we're supposed to be doing, uh, exercise.
Speaker:However, the general recommendation is about 30 minutes a day for
Speaker:a three to five times a week.
Speaker:Now, of course, if you can do more, that's great.
Speaker:Without obviously having a reverse effect where then it
Speaker:becomes detrimental to the body.
Speaker:But nonetheless, if you can do.
Speaker:Uh, you know, five days a week and have 30 minutes of exercise
Speaker:and we're talking about.
Speaker:You know, maybe a brisk walk, trying to really actually kind
Speaker:of elevate the heart rate.
Speaker:Um, certain things like, uh, hit workouts, that's high intensity
Speaker:training then do so please do so those are very effective exercises that
Speaker:you can do in a short amount of time.
Speaker:And they can really have some massive benefits now with everything in terms of,
Speaker:you know, lifestyle change, it takes time.
Speaker:You have to be consistent.
Speaker:You can't just work out for one week and think that that's going
Speaker:to solve all of your problems.
Speaker:You've been living your life in a manner for a certain
Speaker:period of time, probably years.
Speaker:And it's gotten you to where you are.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:And so we need to understand that and understand that if we want
Speaker:to change ourselves, change our being, it's going to take time.
Speaker:It's going to take consistency.
Speaker:It's going to take us doing certain actions that are different
Speaker:than what we have been doing for an extended period of time.
Speaker:So we're talking a month, two months, three months, you know, until we
Speaker:really can start to see those benefits.
Speaker:So remember consistency with anything in health is key.
Speaker:We have to be consistent and really kind of just with anything in life.
Speaker:Um, sorry to get a little intense there, but it is so true.
Speaker:It's something that I've seen so much in health coaching is the lack
Speaker:of consistency being the, um, main reason why people don't see results.
Speaker:You have to be consistent.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Now another thing, and this is something that has greatly benefited
Speaker:me in so many ways is meditation.
Speaker:And I speak about meditation all the time on this show.
Speaker:If you are not big into meditation, that is fine.
Speaker:You don't have to be, um, if you think meditation is like against
Speaker:your religion or whatever it may be, that's fine as well.
Speaker:You can pray prayer.
Speaker:In my opinion is a form of meditation.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:What we're trying to do is we're trying to connect with a little bit of a higher
Speaker:source maybe, or even just with ourselves and just trying to find some quiet.
Speaker:Some piece and moment for our brain to just relax and just to connect to our
Speaker:surroundings or with ourself, right.
Speaker:Trying to find some quiet.
Speaker:So this can even be, you know, it doesn't have to be sitting
Speaker:cross-legged in a position for hours.
Speaker:And with our eyes closed, trying to clear our mind, right.
Speaker:This can actually also be in different forms, like, uh,
Speaker:trying to just be more present.
Speaker:So it could literally be going and taking a seat on a bench
Speaker:at a park and just being quiet.
Speaker:Don't speak.
Speaker:Keep your eyes open and just look at.
Speaker:You know, like five different things that you can see, you
Speaker:know, different colors, whatever.
Speaker:Um, listen to the sounds that you're hearing.
Speaker:Maybe if you're chewing on something, food or gum.
Speaker:Really pay attention to how that tastes, you know, what smells are you smelling?
Speaker:What can you feel?
Speaker:These are literally our senses and they connect us to the present
Speaker:moment and they can, there can be a lot of benefit in that.
Speaker:Now, if you are into meditation, there are a ton of meditations you can do,
Speaker:uh, that are also beneficial for.
Speaker:Um, you know, improving our mental health.
Speaker:And yes, even just sitting there with our eyes closed and trying to focus on
Speaker:our breath can be extremely beneficial.
Speaker:I just can't, I really cannot highlight how amazing meditation is.
Speaker:And, um, this is all coming from just firsthand experiences and how much it's
Speaker:improved my personal mental health.
Speaker:Um, and really giving me a good outlook on life.
Speaker:Okay, another one.
Speaker:And this is probably going to be a very unpopular opinion here, but it's to
Speaker:disconnect from social media as well as technology and get more time outside.
Speaker:Um, one thing I always like to refer back to is.
Speaker:How did our ancestors live?
Speaker:And I know for some people maybe it's like, okay, well that was, you know,
Speaker:a long time ago, but it is really important for us to understand that
Speaker:technology has advanced so fast, like unbelievably fast in the last.
Speaker:Hundred years, right.
Speaker:Or even, let's just say like two or 300 years.
Speaker:I mean, it is dramatically fast.
Speaker:How.
Speaker:Technology has advanced, I mean, even myself as a child.
Speaker:I remember getting one of our first computers, like when
Speaker:the computer was really just starting to be a household item.
Speaker:I mean, we had dial up internet.
Speaker:Do you even know how painful it was to watch a YouTube video?
Speaker:Try to load on, dial up.
Speaker:We're talking about spending more time, downloading the
Speaker:video or waiting for it to load.
Speaker:Then the video was actually, you know, the length of the video was like a two minute
Speaker:video would take 10 minutes to download and it would make a terrible noise
Speaker:every time you try to get on to dial up.
Speaker:Like, no, I'm not even going to try to imitate it.
Speaker:Sorry.
Speaker:I digress.
Speaker:But nonetheless.
Speaker:We have had an extremely fast pace of development in technology and our biology.
Speaker:Has not had the ability to catch up with it.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:I mean, even the light bulb was invented.
Speaker:I think in like the 18 hundreds.
Speaker:That's not that long ago that we have had.
Speaker:Access to light at any time that we could possibly want it.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Um, so it's very important for us to remember that our biology is still,
Speaker:you know, developed over these law this long period of time and being
Speaker:that technology has advanced in.
Speaker:You know, really like the last four years, I'm going to say, um, that's
Speaker:a really short amount of time and our biology has not caught up with it.
Speaker:So it is important for us to understand that we do need to go outside.
Speaker:We need to go outside in the morning, get that sunlight on our skin.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Do the basics like drink, good water.
Speaker:Get out.
Speaker:Get your feet connected to the earth.
Speaker:Get grounded, go out, get the sunlight on your face.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Get it on your skin.
Speaker:Um, let that ambient light.
Speaker:Get into your eyes and set your circadian rhythm.
Speaker:Get away from social media.
Speaker:Social media should.
Speaker:Not be the first thing that you're doing for in the morning.
Speaker:If you roll out a bed and hop onto Instagram or Tik TOK or any
Speaker:of the socials, that is terrible, that is really, really bad.
Speaker:It is leading you to be into a reactive state.
Speaker:We want to wake up and give ourselves time to naturally wake up.
Speaker:Go drink some water, go get outside and get that early morning light on your skin.
Speaker:That is so important for us.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And also not just through a window, um, you want to actually
Speaker:get ambient light from outside.
Speaker:So if you can open a window or better yet go outside, that is going
Speaker:to be so, so much better for you.
Speaker:Okay, sorry, I've been going on these a lot, but seriously, it
Speaker:is just, it's super important.
Speaker:And, um, in terms of social media, you know, there is a whole connection
Speaker:between these little dopamine hits that we get from, uh, social
Speaker:media and it can really just lead.
Speaker:Down a really bad path and we don't want to go that way.
Speaker:So if you are having a lot of issues, uh, with poor mental health and
Speaker:you're addicted to social media, or maybe your job requires you to be
Speaker:stuck to a computer the entire time.
Speaker:I highly recommend that you spend a good amount of time trying to get outside
Speaker:and get away from the technology for at least a little bit of your day.
Speaker:Okay, next thing is to practice forms of self-love.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:A lot of the times, like I said, a poor mental health can also show up
Speaker:in other forms, like poor self-talk.
Speaker:We need to really be aware of these things because, um, I'm trying to
Speaker:think of this quote, but it was basically like, if we are the hardware.
Speaker:Uh, then the way our self-talk is our software, uh, I think I'm totally
Speaker:butchering that, but basically what you're saying to yourself all the
Speaker:time, your body is listening to that.
Speaker:So we need to make sure that we are speaking kindly to ourselves, right?
Speaker:We shouldn't be criticizing ourselves.
Speaker:Um, you know, there's enough people out there that might criticize you.
Speaker:You shouldn't be one of them.
Speaker:Uh, you should be the one that is just pure self love.
Speaker:Um, you know, self-affirming talk.
Speaker:Talking yourself up.
Speaker:You need to be your number one supporter, right?
Speaker:Because if you're not, no one else is going to be so really
Speaker:working on our self-talk is huge.
Speaker:Now I've got two more points here.
Speaker:Uh, the next one is really important and that is community.
Speaker:So when we look at areas like the blue zones, once again, blue zones are the
Speaker:areas where there is basically just a population of people that are living
Speaker:to, you know, a hundred years and over consistently, um, they have like some
Speaker:of the lowest rates of, you know, all cause mortality, all these different
Speaker:kinds of, uh, diseases that we're having.
Speaker:Um, heart disease, cancers, all of that.
Speaker:Um, they are just healthy communities and.
Speaker:That is really the key term here, community.
Speaker:There are all kinds of health foods out there.
Speaker:There's all these different things we can do for our bodies,
Speaker:but really at the core of it.
Speaker:Community is so important to our health.
Speaker:We need community.
Speaker:Like I said, reaching out to a friend or a family member and just letting them know
Speaker:that you're there for them can be massive.
Speaker:We need that connection.
Speaker:We are social.
Speaker:Uh, animals, if you want to call us that.
Speaker:Um, but we need connection with other people.
Speaker:It is, it's just, it's just how it is.
Speaker:We need that connection.
Speaker:And like I said, the number one thing in these blue zones is their community.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:We're talking about people who literally eat all their meals together.
Speaker:They even leave a chair open in some of these communities for
Speaker:people passing by that might want to come and share a meal with them.
Speaker:Uh, these are people who, you know, Even when they're older and you know, a
Speaker:lot of times we think of elderly people as just kind of going and living in a,
Speaker:uh, you know, uh, uh, elderly home, uh, you know, they're still connected with
Speaker:the other generations of their family.
Speaker:They, a lot of the times live at the same house.
Speaker:So they still speak with their children and their grandchildren,
Speaker:and they're well taken care of.
Speaker:And they're integrated into the family.
Speaker:These are very important things that we need to look at.
Speaker:If you work a job and come home and eat your meal alone, or even
Speaker:worse behind the wheel of a car and.
Speaker:Then you just go and watch TV and that's your day and you just repeat that cycle.
Speaker:You need to start reaching out and talk to some people and just get a little bit of
Speaker:connection that community can go so far.
Speaker:And I think when, you know, we were all, you know, in lockdown basically.
Speaker:I think we really realized how important community is, right.
Speaker:I mean, how good is it to now be able to go out and do normal things again?
Speaker:It's, it's incredible.
Speaker:So community, I can't stress that one enough.
Speaker:And now the last one is going to be sleep.
Speaker:And I talk about sleep.
Speaker:All the time.
Speaker:I know you're probably tired of hearing about it.
Speaker:But sleep is so incredibly important.
Speaker:I don't even know how to highlight how important sleep is.
Speaker:If you go.
Speaker:24 hours without sleep, right?
Speaker:Like you go and you just skip a night asleep and then you go into the next day.
Speaker:You're exhausted.
Speaker:Your mental health is not there.
Speaker:Your, your.
Speaker:Ability to focus and think clearly is not there.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:I mean, you can even get to a point of hallucination if you go without sleep
Speaker:for long enough sleep is so important, not just for our bodies, right?
Speaker:Like not just for the physical portion of our bodies.
Speaker:Like I always talk about, um, when we sleep, that's actually the time
Speaker:when we received the benefit of an exercise, because your body, your
Speaker:muscles are torn during an exercise.
Speaker:And then when you go to sleep, that's the time in which they repair.
Speaker:So yes, it's beneficial for that, but it's also beneficial for
Speaker:every other aspect of our bodies.
Speaker:Um, our.
Speaker:Our brains are literally cleaned at night.
Speaker:They get a washing at nighttime, um, you know, which is obviously
Speaker:good for our mental health and, and all, all a whole bunch of
Speaker:other aspects of our brain health.
Speaker:But it's actually been even shown that having just one restless night of sleep.
Speaker:Can have a 30% increase in anxiety levels.
Speaker:The following day, according to a study in medical news today.
Speaker:It's super important.
Speaker:We need to have it.
Speaker:Um, and what's even worse is that if you have high levels of
Speaker:anxiety, a lot of times it can make it difficult to go to bed.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So it can become this vicious cycle.
Speaker:We need to learn to take a beat and just relax.
Speaker:And so this is going to be my last kind of, um, exercise for all of you to do.
Speaker:And that is a little bit of breath work.
Speaker:Breath work is.
Speaker:So important.
Speaker:I said, I feel like I've said everything on this show is important, but they are,
Speaker:they're very important and breathwork is absolutely important as well.
Speaker:Um, so once again, coming back to that Vegas nerve, right.
Speaker:The vagus nerve, which is the connection.
Speaker:A major connection between the brain and the digestive system.
Speaker:Uh, it can be stimulated through breath work.
Speaker:By controlling the way in which we breathe.
Speaker:We can actually trigger our different nervous systems, right?
Speaker:From our autonomic nervous system, or sorry, our sympathetic nervous system
Speaker:to our parasympathetic nervous system.
Speaker:So our sympathetic nervous system is our get up and go.
Speaker:It's like the gas pedal, right?
Speaker:That's our energetic, nervous system.
Speaker:It's going to respond to a threat.
Speaker:It's going to be the state we want to be in when we're taking, uh, you know,
Speaker:needing to think very quickly, right.
Speaker:Um, and then our parasympathetic nervous system is like the brake pedal.
Speaker:It is going to be the slow down the rest, the digest, the calm state, right.
Speaker:Um, it's very important for us to get into that parasympathetic state because
Speaker:a lot of times we don't, we stay in our sympathetic state because we're so
Speaker:stressed out about rent that we have to pay about what our bosses are saying to
Speaker:us, or, you know, um, unfortunately I have some beautiful people that I work with,
Speaker:but you know, a lot of people do, they have a very stressful job and these are
Speaker:things that are kind of, you know, not.
Speaker:Uh, immediate threat to you.
Speaker:They're just kind of something you're always thinking about.
Speaker:And on top of that here in California, we have terrible traffic.
Speaker:And so there's people who are driving like 2, 3, 4 hours a
Speaker:day in traffic every single day.
Speaker:These, this is not good.
Speaker:This is.
Speaker:You know, going to keep us in that sympathetic nervous system for
Speaker:longer than we need to be in it.
Speaker:We want to be able to get ourselves into that parasympathetic state and
Speaker:a very easy way of doing so is just by taking a deep breath through
Speaker:the nose for the count of four.
Speaker:Hold that maybe for a second.
Speaker:And then just release that breath either through the mouth or through
Speaker:the nose and do it to a count of eight.
Speaker:So doubling the time of our XL and that is going to help really stimulate
Speaker:that parasympathetic nervous system and bring us in to a calm state.
Speaker:And just do a few of those breaths.
Speaker:Just do a few of those.
Speaker:It can be every single day that you do it, maybe before bedtime.
Speaker:And that's going to also help a little bit with that anxiety.
Speaker:It's going to help us get into a restful state to get into sleep.
Speaker:Um, And also a very interesting.
Speaker:Uh, study or fact about our breath is that.
Speaker:Our breath is so directly connected to the hard wires of our body, right?
Speaker:In our nervous system that, um, there was actually a, uh, a study that I
Speaker:read about in a book called breath, the new science of the lost art by James.
Speaker:Esther.
Speaker:I'm pretty sure that's the title of it.
Speaker:And he talks about this.
Speaker:Uh, this woman who I believe she like didn't have her amygdala or something
Speaker:like that, which deals with a fear.
Speaker:And so what ended up happening is she actually.
Speaker:Literally didn't fear anything ever.
Speaker:So she would actually make really poor decisions because she couldn't
Speaker:critically think about or analyze a situation in terms of how
Speaker:bad or good that situation is.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So it's like a person offers her, us a ride on the side of the road, this man.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And it's like, she just gets into a car.
Speaker:Cause she doesn't analyze the fact that, Hey, this could
Speaker:actually be a bad situation.
Speaker:However, they were able to do a test on her, where they controlled the amount of
Speaker:carbon dioxide that she was breathing in.
Speaker:So I believe they put like a mask on her and they cranked up the amount of carbon
Speaker:dioxide and lower the amount of oxygen.
Speaker:And what that does obviously is it, you know, raises the carbon dioxide levels
Speaker:in our body and makes it, uh, feel like you really need to breathe super badly.
Speaker:And for her, this person that has never experienced fear in her entire life.
Speaker:She felt fear.
Speaker:She freaked out and needed to take the mask off and take a breath of fresh air.
Speaker:That is how hard wired.
Speaker:Breath is into our nervous system, into our bodies.
Speaker:It is.
Speaker:So understood by our bodies that we have to breathe to live that even a
Speaker:person who doesn't have the fear center of her brain could still feel fear.
Speaker:Just through breath.
Speaker:So breath is an incredibly powerful that's.
Speaker:What I'm trying to relate here is, is just how powerful our breath is.
Speaker:Our breath can literally control our nervous system and it can
Speaker:get you in to a calm state.
Speaker:Can also get you into an activated state.
Speaker:So the opposite of that, um, but for this purpose, we're
Speaker:trying to get into a calm state.
Speaker:So that is my huge rant on breadth, as well as.
Speaker:Mental health and mental health awareness.
Speaker:So I hope that you received a lot of benefit from this.
Speaker:Um, I hope I did this episode justice.
Speaker:Like I said, once again, these are just my experiences, my studies and my hope
Speaker:is that you can take some kind of benefit from this information and either apply
Speaker:it to your life, apply it to someone else's life and, um, hopefully better
Speaker:your mental health in one way or another.
Speaker:And not just your mental health, but your overall health, right?
Speaker:Your whole being.
Speaker:Um, like I just said our, our, our bodies are completely interconnected.
Speaker:Um, there's, you know, what happens in one part of our body can create a
Speaker:ripple effect in the rest of our body.
Speaker:So it is important for us to focus on all aspects of health and
Speaker:mental health is a major, major.
Speaker:Portion of our health.
Speaker:Um, so definitely let's take time to recognize it.
Speaker:Let's, uh, do the practices that are going to improve our mental
Speaker:health and help us to really just live our best life possible.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Because if your mental health is not there, Nothing else is
Speaker:really going to matter, right?
Speaker:So we want to make sure that our minds are sharp or we have a good outlook on
Speaker:life and we're ready to go tackle the day.
Speaker:And then we can, you know, take care of everything else in our lives.
Speaker:Um, that's going to do it for today's show everyone.
Speaker:I really appreciate all of you tuning in.
Speaker:It truly just means so much to me.
Speaker:And if you haven't already subscribed to on whatever platform you're on,
Speaker:please go ahead and do so, uh, leave a review, leave a rating on apple podcasts.
Speaker:You can actually leave a written review.
Speaker:Love to read those.
Speaker:Um, yeah, it's just super beautiful to see that I know that it also helps,
Speaker:uh, other people find this show.
Speaker:And, uh, like I said, leave a five star rating, if you can.
Speaker:And also share this episode with a friend, a family, a loved one, someone
Speaker:who could benefit from this episode, um,
Speaker:And if you share this on Instagram, please be sure to tag me on Instagram.
Speaker:I'm pretty active on there.
Speaker:I would say, um, even if I'm not posting all the time, I still
Speaker:check in from time to time.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Please go ahead and tag me in any postings that you, uh, put up of this show.
Speaker:I love to see that.
Speaker:And, um, I appreciate all the support, um, to all of you out there.
Speaker:Take care of your mental health.
Speaker:Super important.
Speaker:Um, I'm just thinking now, something I didn't include is
Speaker:also an ice bath ice baths are incredible for your mental health.
Speaker:So last minute point is to get cold, um, and that can also make a huge benefit.
Speaker:But yeah, if you are dealing with any mental health issues, um,
Speaker:you know, reach out to someone, please, this is me telling you.
Speaker:Reach out to someone.
Speaker:Make it known, even if your mental health isn't that bad, but you're
Speaker:just noticing some reoccurring.
Speaker:Uh, negative things with mental health, reach out to someone that's
Speaker:the easiest and best way to do it.
Speaker:Um, there's always people that are willing to listen.
Speaker:And, um, yeah, let's take care of ourselves, everyone.
Speaker:Um, let's bring more awareness to this mental health issue that we are having,
Speaker:and let's lower those statistics.
Speaker:I hate to see those statistics.
Speaker:So let's please lower those and really, truly it starts with you, right?
Speaker:It starts with us.
Speaker:Checking in with our neighbors, with our friends, our family, our loved ones.
Speaker:Um, just saying hello, just saying, Hey, I'm here for you.
Speaker:Let's talk.
Speaker:What's going on.
Speaker:That can make the.
Speaker:Absolute world of a difference for someone.
Speaker:So anyways, be the change you wish to see in the world, everyone.
Speaker:And, um, as you know,
Speaker:Do everything with good intentions and connect to your elements.
Speaker:Much.
Speaker:Love everybody.
