0:00

You are now listening to

0:02

The Model Health Show with

0:04

Sean Stevenson. For more, visit

0:06

the Model Health show.com. When

0:08

most people hear the word

0:11

stress, we generally associated with

0:13

something negative and we want

0:15

to do whatever we can

0:17

do to get away from

0:20

that stress. But on today's

0:22

episode, we have the country's

0:24

foremost expert in the science

0:26

of stress. And her research is

0:29

indicating that we actually need

0:31

stress in order to truly

0:33

thrive, to extend our lifespan,

0:35

to express healthy metabolic

0:37

features, including our body

0:40

composition. We need stress in

0:42

order to be our best selves. And

0:44

so I'm telling you right now, this is

0:46

one of those things where I had

0:48

to suspend my disbelief because we

0:51

have so much negative connotation

0:53

around stress. But of course, there

0:55

is a formula here. And she's going

0:57

to talk about the different types of

1:00

stress and how all of this stuff works

1:02

together. One of my favorite aspects is

1:04

how stressing ourselves or exposing

1:06

ourselves to certain types of

1:08

stress actually makes us more resilient to

1:10

what we deem to be the negative

1:12

stress that we're trying to get away

1:15

from. And so we're going to paint

1:17

an incredible picture today and learn so

1:19

much because there is no running from

1:21

stress. All right, it is a big part

1:23

of our daily lives today in our

1:25

modern society. So what we want to do

1:27

is proactively build up that

1:30

resilience and we're going to learn how to

1:32

do this through certain foods that even

1:34

that when she talked about these key

1:36

aspects about certain foods it's one

1:39

of those things that we got

1:41

to open our minds up because we've

1:43

been told one thing about certain

1:45

compounds in foods but it's really

1:47

turned out to be something completely

1:49

different something that we need again

1:52

in order to extend our lifespan

1:54

to protect our health overall so truly

1:56

this is super exciting stuff I had

1:58

the best time hanging out with our

2:00

special gas and to be able

2:02

to sit and to learn from

2:04

the foremost expert on the science

2:07

of stress is invaluable. So I'm

2:09

very grateful to be able to

2:12

share this with you today. In

2:14

speaking about stress, one of the

2:16

things that so many people have

2:19

been put on to recently that

2:21

I've been talking about for almost

2:23

20 years, this category of nutrients

2:26

and foods that we refer to

2:28

as adaptogens. and the Adaptogen that

2:30

is getting the most shine right

2:33

now, it's the lead singer in

2:35

the Adaptogen group, just right now,

2:37

of course it could change, Bobby

2:40

Brown could get cycled out, Johnny,

2:42

Gil, Ralph, Chesapeake, all right, it

2:45

gets cycled out, but the one

2:47

that's really leading the charge right

2:49

now is Ashua Ganda. A double

2:52

blind, randomized placebo-controlled study published in

2:54

the journal of psychological medicine had

2:56

test subjects with a history of

2:59

chronic stress to consume Ashua Ganda.

3:01

or a placebo. Over the course

3:03

of the month and a half

3:06

long study period, the group that

3:08

received Ashoganda exhibited a significant reduction

3:11

in scores on all the stress

3:13

assessment scales compared to the placebo

3:15

group and the serum cortisol levels

3:18

were substantially reduced in the Ashoganda

3:20

group relative to the placebo group.

3:22

So we're seeing objective measurements and

3:25

subjective measurements that Ashoganda truly does

3:27

help our bodies to adapt to

3:29

stress. And Ashwaganda is just one

3:32

of the ingredients in my favorite

3:34

daily green juice blend from the

3:36

incredible team at organify. The organified

3:39

green juice formula has chorilla, maringa,

3:41

ashwaganda, coconut water, organic mint for

3:44

this refreshing feel and taste. So

3:46

it actually tastes pleasant. I've experimented

3:48

with, I can't even tell, dozens

3:51

of green juice blends over the

3:53

years. and organify really has nailed

3:55

having the nutrients that we're looking

3:58

for but also a really good

4:00

refreshing taste. And right now you're

4:02

gonna get 20% off when you

4:05

go to organify.com4 slash model. That's

4:07

O-R-G-A-N-I-F-I, dot com-4 slash model, 20%

4:10

off store-wide, plus they have a

4:12

60-day moneyback guarantee. So you have

4:14

no risk, try it out, see

4:17

how it makes you feel. And

4:19

again, one of my favorite things

4:21

about it is that it helps

4:24

our body to adapt to stress.

4:26

Head over to organified.com4 slash model

4:28

and let's get to the Apple

4:31

podcast review of the week. Another

4:33

five-star review titled So Much Value

4:35

added to my life by Model

4:38

Fan 1970. This podcast has added

4:40

so much value to my life.

4:43

Since I began listening to this

4:45

podcast a year ago, I've seen

4:47

a transformation in how I look,

4:50

feel, and think. I'm meaning healthier.

4:52

getting stronger and adding years to

4:54

my health span. Sean has become

4:57

a trusted voice to me and

4:59

his guest provides me with the

5:01

knowledge I need to live my

5:04

best life in so many different

5:06

ways. Every time I listen I

5:08

cannot wait for the next episode

5:11

because I know it will provide

5:13

me with the information I need

5:16

to keep improving. Sean presents the

5:18

information in such a fun and

5:20

entertaining way that it's a joy

5:23

to listen to. Plus our family

5:25

has enjoyed making the recipes in

5:27

the Eat Smarter Family Cookbook. I

5:30

am so grateful I found this

5:32

podcast. This does my heart so

5:34

much good. Thank you so much

5:37

for sharing that over on Apple

5:39

podcast. That's why I do this.

5:42

Thank you so much. Again, I

5:44

truly do appreciate that. And if

5:46

you have to do so, please

5:49

pop up to Apple Podcast and

5:51

leave a review for the Model

5:53

Health Show. And without further ado,

5:56

let's get to our special guest

5:58

and topic of the day. Dr.

6:00

Sharon Berkwist is an award-winning physician

6:03

who's helped to usher in a

6:05

science-based approach to applying lifestyle as

6:07

medicine. Dr. Berkwist received her bachelor's

6:10

degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry

6:12

from Yale College and her medical

6:15

degree from Harvard Medical School. She's

6:17

widely published in peer-reviewed journals and

6:19

has contributed to over 200 new

6:22

segments, including Good Morning America, CNN,

6:24

and... ABC News, The Wall Street

6:26

Journal, and many other media outlets,

6:29

and her popular Ted Ed video

6:31

on how stress affects the body,

6:33

has been viewed nearly 10 million

6:36

times. Now she's here to share

6:38

her powerful insights about the critical

6:41

benefits of stress. Let's down this

6:43

conversation with the one and only

6:45

Dr. Sharon Berkwist. All right, I

6:48

can't tell you how excited I

6:50

am to talk with you. You

6:52

know, a lot of people in

6:55

our culture, we hear the words

6:57

stress. and it brings up a

6:59

lot of negative emotions, negative connotations,

7:02

but your research has really affirmed

7:04

that stress is something that not

7:06

only do we need stress, but

7:09

we need it to thrive to

7:11

get better. So let's talk about

7:14

the benefits of stress and why

7:16

getting educated about the stress paradox

7:18

is so important. Sean, it's an

7:21

absolute pleasure being here and I've

7:23

mad respect for the work that

7:25

you do and the message you

7:28

put out. And I love this

7:30

opportunity to talk about stress because

7:32

what we associate with stress is

7:35

what we associate with the chronic

7:37

forms, the continuous stress, that's the

7:39

predominant type in our life and

7:42

there's no question our bodies aren't

7:44

made for chronic stress, the financial

7:47

hardship. bad relationships, difficult work situations.

7:49

We just weren't made for that.

7:51

And for sure it harms. And

7:54

truthfully, I spent the first half

7:56

of my career talking about the

7:58

harms of stress. And it really

8:01

was about a decade ago that

8:03

A lot of the literature that

8:05

had started to come out about

8:08

how stress can benefit us is

8:10

what I started reading. And there

8:13

is a type of stress called

8:15

hornesus. It's the science of good

8:17

stress. And it's a different type

8:20

in that it is brief and

8:22

it's controlled. This type of stress

8:24

can enrich us. help us grow.

8:27

And the counterintuitive part is that

8:29

we actually need these brief controlled

8:31

stressors to build resilience against the

8:34

chronic stressors that we can't control.

8:36

So we're really entering this era

8:38

of stress 2.0. It's a new

8:41

stress management where the goal isn't

8:43

to get rid of stress in

8:46

our lives. We need to optimize

8:48

stress. That's so powerful because I

8:50

think our instinct today in our

8:53

modern culture, maybe not an instinct

8:55

programming, is to run from stress.

8:57

Yes. And we've created a culture

9:00

that has taken a lot of

9:02

our natural stressors that we evolved

9:04

with out of the equation. 100%

9:07

and that has a cost. So

9:09

as you said, too much stress

9:12

is harmful, but not enough stress,

9:14

which is termed such stress, is

9:16

just as harmful as too much.

9:19

And even though I believe a

9:21

lot of the work around curbing

9:23

stress is very well intentioned, what

9:26

we're not really realizing is that

9:28

when we swing that pendulum too

9:30

far towards such stress or inadequate

9:33

stress, we are handicapping our innate

9:35

ability to be our strongest self

9:37

and to really serve with our

9:40

highest potential. Okay. Let's help to

9:42

define these different types of stress.

9:45

All right. Let's stop putting stress

9:47

all into one bucket. Yes. All

9:49

right, so you mentioned such stress.

9:52

Yes. So what would we call

9:54

good stress and what we call

9:56

what we refer to as bad

9:59

stress? Yeah, so you can think

10:01

of stress as being defined as

10:03

by three variables. Okay, the design

10:06

of the stress, the dose and

10:08

the duration. By design I mean

10:10

the kind of stress. Is it

10:13

unpredictable, uncontrollable, or is it generative?

10:15

motivating is that aligned with your

10:18

personal beliefs. Dose meaning intensity, the

10:20

types that help us thrive are

10:22

mild to moderate versus the types

10:25

that harm us, which are severe,

10:27

and the duration. The stressors that

10:29

we are made for are short,

10:32

brief. The stressors that we are

10:34

not made for are chronic and

10:36

continuous. Got it. And so we

10:39

might not get an adequate dose

10:41

of something or we might have

10:44

too little or too much. and

10:46

also the amount of time that

10:48

we spend in the stress can

10:51

affect us. So we've got some

10:53

stress, then is it you stress?

10:55

You stress? And distress? Yes. Okay,

10:58

so you stress is what we

11:00

refer to as quote good stress.

11:02

Yes, yes. And the nuance, Sean,

11:05

is that the relationship between stress

11:07

and response is not linear. We

11:09

are made to think that if

11:12

we get too much stress at

11:14

harm, so our goal then must

11:17

be to bring stress down to

11:19

a level where it just doesn't

11:21

harm us, right? But what we

11:24

don't always see and what we

11:26

don't know is that the relationship

11:28

is curvilinear. So if you think

11:31

of the St. Louis Arch, right,

11:33

it's like an upside down you.

11:35

And that's the relationship with stress.

11:38

When we are in this middle

11:40

range, which is like a Goldilocks

11:43

sweet spot range, we not only

11:45

not get harm from stress, but

11:47

we take off, we grow. That

11:50

mid range is called a Hormetic

11:52

zone, okay, from Hormesus. Hormesus is

11:54

from. the Greek word to excite.

11:57

When we are in this Goldilocks

11:59

zone, we take off, we benefit,

12:01

which is very different than not

12:04

getting harm from stress, right? And

12:06

this is the relationship that has

12:08

gotten lost in really decades of

12:11

the history of stress being understood

12:13

as a medical concept. All right,

12:16

now we get to get into

12:18

what I'm so excited to have

12:20

you here, because I know we

12:23

have these terms and culture of

12:25

bouncing back from stress, right? And

12:27

your data indicates that we don't

12:30

just bounce back. When this is

12:32

done, right, we don't just bounce

12:34

back, we come back better, right?

12:37

We build resilience, we build resilience.

12:39

And so now I get to

12:41

ask you about how it happens,

12:44

like what's happening beneath the surface?

12:46

Is this impacting our genes? Are

12:49

there cellular changes? How does stress

12:51

make us more resilient? Yeah, so

12:53

there are two parts to this.

12:56

And as you just said, Sean,

12:58

this is such a key insight

13:00

in stress biology. When we endorse

13:03

stress, we don't ever go quote

13:05

back to normal. We are somehow

13:07

changed from every exposure. When the

13:10

stress is harmful, we net at

13:12

a set point that makes us

13:15

weaker. That's the depleting, exhausting, burnout

13:17

type of stress. When we have

13:19

a stressor that's a good stress,

13:22

we net resilience. We emerge at

13:24

a higher set point. And what's

13:26

really happening is that any stressor

13:29

is a challenge to us, whether

13:31

it's physical or mental, and it

13:33

disrupts a certain balance in our

13:36

body that we call homeostasis. Our

13:38

body has a wisdom that it

13:40

tries to maintain health, and it's

13:43

trying so hard to re-establish that

13:45

homeostasis, but when it does, it

13:48

resets at a different set point.

13:50

And when we are exposed to

13:52

a good stress, you know, we

13:55

think of the stress response as

13:57

being the simple fighter flight, right?

13:59

Everyone is running from a saber-toothed

14:02

tiger, right? That's like all we

14:04

think about when we think of

14:06

stress. And that's a very immediate

14:09

alarm system type of response, but

14:11

our stress response is so much

14:14

more complicated than that. What's happening

14:16

down at the level of ourselves

14:18

is really the story that hasn't

14:21

been told. Okay, we have cellular

14:23

stress responses. The goal of our

14:25

stress response is not to harm

14:28

us. It's to benefit us. It's

14:30

to help us adapt so we

14:32

emerge more resilient and able to

14:35

handle future stressors. At the level

14:37

of our cells we have seven

14:39

cellular stress responses. And what they

14:42

do is what I call the

14:44

four R's. Okay, they resist damage,

14:47

they repair existing damage, they recycle

14:49

our cells, and they recharge the

14:51

energy within our cells. And that

14:54

is happening on a time scale

14:56

that's very different than the alarm

14:58

system fight or flight. Hours, to

15:01

days, even a lifetime after the

15:03

stress exposure, we are becoming stronger.

15:05

We are reconfiguring our body to

15:08

this more resilient state when we

15:10

expose ourselves to these automatic or

15:13

the stressors that we're designed for.

15:15

Let's dig in on these cellular

15:17

stress responses. And can we start

15:20

with the DNA damage response? Yes.

15:22

Yeah. So what we do when

15:24

we get exposed to these stressors

15:27

is that we activate, for example,

15:29

like you just said, DNA damage

15:31

response. That's part of the repair

15:34

of the four ours. Every single

15:36

day, our DNA gets 10,000 points

15:38

of injury. Wow. That is seven

15:41

times a minute. Our body has

15:43

a remarkable capacity and it's doing

15:46

this without us ever seeing or

15:48

feeling it, right? It is repairing

15:50

DNA. What we aren't seeing is

15:53

that our bodies are made to

15:55

be in a certain balance, right?

15:57

We get some damage from the

16:00

environment, from the foods we eat,

16:02

you name it, but throughout human

16:04

history there's always been a reason

16:07

for us to get damage. And

16:09

we have this innate ability to

16:11

repair that damage. What is happening

16:14

in our modern world is we

16:16

are out of balance. We are

16:19

incurring the damage, but we are

16:21

not... activating our bodies innate natural

16:23

ability to repair that damage and

16:26

the reason that matters is because

16:28

so many of the symptoms the

16:30

diseases the premature aging one of

16:33

the root causes is damage to

16:35

the DNA it's one of many

16:37

causes of cellular dysfunction. My son

16:40

my my youngest son He's in

16:42

seventh grade and it's a little

16:45

bit of an events science class

16:47

and he's there's learning about DNA

16:49

right now and You know I

16:52

was just talking with him little

16:54

conversation about it and just like

16:56

It's printing out these copies of

16:59

you essentially and with certain changes

17:01

in how your DNA is being

17:03

read your genes are being read

17:06

or express can print out alternate

17:08

copies of you. Some things you

17:10

might not like, some things you

17:13

might like, and it's gonna depend

17:15

on these epigenetic influences. And so

17:18

we're gonna circle back and talk

17:20

more about that for sure. But

17:22

just opening up this conversation of

17:25

our DNA is getting damaged, and

17:27

this is determining how basically we're

17:29

getting printed out, you know? No

17:32

question. And with that being said,

17:34

if we move on, and I

17:36

want to skip around a little

17:39

bit, I want to ask you

17:41

about the certoon response. Yes, so

17:44

sirtuin response is one of the

17:46

seven cellular stress responses and it

17:48

is a really critical one. So

17:51

sirtuins are essentially energy sensors or

17:53

energy and nutrient sensors in our

17:55

body and they're trying to match

17:58

the energy, the incoming energy with

18:00

our body's ability to produce energy.

18:02

And when we are exposed to

18:05

stress and we activate our sirtuins,

18:07

that triggers a... process called mitochondrial

18:09

biogenesis, okay, where we're making new

18:12

mitochondria. We're increasing our body's ability

18:14

to generate energy and it's even

18:17

more fascinating because we're also stimulating

18:19

mitophagy, which is a selective form

18:21

of orthophagy, where any mitochondria that's

18:24

damage. That's essentially producing energy but

18:26

in a polluted way where it's

18:28

releasing more free radicals that are

18:31

creating all this pollution inside our

18:33

body of harm. It's taking out...

18:35

those mitochondria and replacing them with

18:38

healthier ones through a process called

18:40

fusion and fission. So there's a

18:42

lot of complexity behind how this

18:45

all happens. But sertuans are a

18:47

real key part in that pathway

18:50

that helps us generate cleaner and

18:52

better energy throughout our body. Powerful.

18:54

So the sertuans, this is going

18:57

to be something new for a

18:59

lot of people. And you mentioned

19:01

at tophagy. Yes. When describing that.

19:04

That's another one of these responses.

19:06

So let's talk a little bit

19:08

more about that one. Yeah, autophagy

19:11

is really remarkable because our bodies

19:13

have the ability to do housekeeping,

19:16

right? We have a part in

19:18

our cells, a license in, where

19:20

we can take damaged components, we

19:23

can take old cells, and we

19:25

can recycle them, right? So it's

19:27

like going to a junk yard,

19:30

taking, you know, the car, the

19:32

body knows how to take the

19:34

scraps that we can, you know,

19:37

use for a different car, what

19:39

it can't, it breaks down to

19:41

energies, so our body can use

19:44

the energy in other ways. And

19:46

it's really remarkable that our bodies

19:49

have this incredible ability to do

19:51

this type of recycling. And again,

19:53

all we have to do to

19:56

activate these gifts that we have

19:58

inside us is to endure brief

20:00

controlled stressors followed by recovery. Awesome.

20:03

And by the way, we're going

20:05

to get into the stress inputs

20:07

that she's talking about here, but

20:10

I want to keep going in

20:12

these stress responses in atophagy. when

20:15

you gave that analogy in the

20:17

book as well and just thinking

20:19

about that junk yard analogy like

20:22

you can put together a really

20:24

nice car you know with the

20:26

parts but also wouldn't it be

20:29

nice for ourselves to if something

20:31

does break down say that a

20:33

cellular tire explodes, like that we

20:36

have a spare that the body

20:38

is able to do itself. Like

20:40

we don't have to, you know,

20:43

just hope that we could find

20:45

a tire somewhere like your body

20:48

can literally use atophage and use

20:50

recycled parts and put stuff together

20:52

and also get rid of stuff

20:55

that shouldn't be there that's gumming

20:57

up the system. So let's talk

20:59

a little bit about the antioxidant

21:02

response, because this one is, it's

21:04

a bigger antioxidant, this conversation. If

21:06

you could get in a little

21:09

bit more about... what we used

21:11

to believe about antioxidants and how

21:13

we're getting them from our food

21:16

versus what we know today. Yeah,

21:18

and Sean, this is really a

21:21

radical rethinking of our relationship with

21:23

food. So one of the seven

21:25

cellular stress responses is this antioxidant

21:28

response. And when we elicit this

21:30

response, and I'll get back to

21:32

the foods that do it in

21:35

just a second. We are ramping

21:37

up our body's natural antioxidant ability.

21:39

So we are increasing our antioxidant

21:42

capacity within our body, and we

21:44

are ramping up our detoxification enzymes.

21:47

Historically, for about 50 years of

21:49

nutrition research, the predominant thinking has

21:51

been that. when we eat the

21:54

colors of the rainbow, that we

21:56

are eating the antioxidants because antioxidants

21:58

give the fruits and vegetables their

22:01

colors, right? So the more variety

22:03

we eat and the more of

22:05

them we eat, the more antioxidants

22:08

we're getting. But the kind of

22:10

question mark or the unquestionable part

22:12

of that theory for a while

22:15

has been that if you measured

22:17

the amount of antioxidants that are

22:20

in our blood from these kind

22:22

of plants, they are measuring on

22:24

the order of nanomolar amounts. The

22:27

amount that we need to neutralize

22:29

the free radicals that are causing

22:31

damage are in the order of

22:34

micromolar amounts, right? So it's just

22:36

not adding up. And the missing

22:38

piece there has really been hormesis,

22:41

right? This whole science of good

22:43

stress. When we eat plant food,

22:46

they have phytochemicals, which our body

22:48

recognizes as a toxin, and we

22:50

can get back to why. What

22:53

that does is it activates a

22:55

stress response. A big part of

22:57

that is our antioxidant defenses. So

23:00

essentially the food. is giving us

23:02

really what our body needs to

23:04

activate our own ability to have

23:07

the antioxidant capacity to deal with

23:09

an onslaught of an onslaught of

23:11

everyday things that are in our

23:14

environment. So this is a complete

23:16

rethinking, right, of our relationship because

23:19

it goes so far deeper than,

23:21

okay, I need some antioxidants, I

23:23

need some anti-inflammatory, I need, you

23:26

know, whatever, protein, etc. But it's

23:28

really saying, how does food give

23:30

me what I need to activate

23:33

my own innate intrinsic ability to

23:35

be my strongest self to turn

23:37

on my natural disease defenses? So

23:40

this is so huge because again,

23:42

you know, when I was in

23:44

college and being told about, you

23:47

know, a nutritional science class eating

23:49

antioxidants, like that conversion of what

23:52

we're getting from the plant and

23:54

what we actually need, it just,

23:56

like you said, it's so, it's

23:59

so much less than what we

24:01

would think we need. But how

24:03

is the body doing? And it's

24:06

our body's response to those things.

24:08

And our body's antioxidant systems. that

24:10

are built into us are turning

24:13

up and ramping up with those

24:15

exposures. And so with that being

24:18

said, there are certain things. Now

24:20

we also have this. dichotomy in

24:22

nutrition today and in health where

24:25

it's just like you should avoid

24:27

these plant toxins the plants are

24:29

trying to kill you yes at

24:32

all costs don't eat these things

24:34

these are short in your life

24:36

for example like somebody might go

24:39

on a rant about how green

24:41

tea has all of these you

24:43

know saplanens and tenons and all

24:46

these things that you should avoid

24:48

it but then all these studies

24:51

show people who drink green tea

24:53

live longer and healthier than everybody

24:55

you know dramatically cuts the risk

24:58

of all these types of cancer

25:00

supports metabolism the list goes on

25:02

on cognitive function so what's going

25:05

on here and I think it's

25:07

the delivery is this all-or-nothing mentality

25:09

because these plant defense chemicals yes

25:12

actually turn on certain responses in

25:14

our body that make us better

25:17

right so so they're toxins but

25:19

they're not toxic and that's what's

25:21

getting lost in the conversation so

25:24

what I think is happening is

25:26

that when you take different ways

25:28

that we interact with plants, but

25:31

you only look at one pathway,

25:33

one mechanistic process without looking at

25:35

the totality of the complexity of

25:38

the response that we have to

25:40

plants, you can take it in

25:42

any direction you want, but you

25:45

are not honoring the totality of

25:47

our relationship with food, but also

25:50

all the science that's out there,

25:52

right? Because... There are also a

25:54

lot of benefits that are happening

25:57

from our exposure to these toxins.

25:59

So, you know, there's a lot

26:01

out there about anti-nutrians and, you

26:04

know, a long list of why

26:06

we should not be eating fruits

26:08

and vegetables, but at the end

26:11

of the day, you've got to

26:13

look at food in the way

26:15

it interacts with our biology and

26:18

not just saying, hey, In a

26:20

lab or in an animal, this

26:23

is. one property of the food,

26:25

because that is just not the

26:27

net effect it has on our

26:30

bodies, right? So this is key.

26:32

And part of this is our

26:34

relationship with these plants have evolved

26:37

over two million years, okay, and

26:39

plants make the phyto chemicals. because

26:41

that is how they protect themselves

26:44

against all the stress in their

26:46

environment, right? So plants are exposed

26:49

to drought, to sunlight. They are

26:51

exposed to people like us chomping

26:53

on them, right? Plants can't run

26:56

away. Their only defense is to

26:58

make natural pesticides. So the phytochemicals

27:00

make the plant stress resistant. When

27:03

we as humans eat that plant.

27:05

we become more stress resilient. It

27:07

activates our cellular stress responses so

27:10

we are better able to defend

27:12

ourselves against the environment, right? And

27:14

you can take this one more

27:17

layer. It's the microbiome in the

27:19

plant that is synthesizing the phytochemical,

27:22

right? So there's this delicate ecosystem

27:24

that has evolved where there's such

27:26

connectivity between. us, the soil, the

27:29

microbiome of the plant, and us

27:31

with that plant. When you disrupt

27:33

that ecosystem, this natural symbiotic relationship,

27:36

we cannot think that we are

27:38

going to be in our best

27:40

and healthier selves. Yeah, the hallmark

27:43

of, and I'm so grateful obviously

27:45

that the microbiome is having this

27:48

huge moment in the spotlight, but

27:50

you know, if we really look

27:52

at this, we know that diversity

27:55

is the hallmark of a great

27:57

microbiome that's associated with longevity, you

27:59

know, great metabolic health, the list

28:02

goes on and on. But what

28:04

I've been trying to impress upon

28:06

culture for years now, which is,

28:09

oh, I'm so excited to talk

28:11

to you, is that when we

28:13

eat a food, we're not just

28:16

eating. that food, we're eating that

28:18

food's microbiome as well. And so

28:21

when we're talking about diversity, that's

28:23

really what it's about at its

28:25

core. Like if we really keep

28:28

zooming in and zooming in, you

28:30

know, so we're eating that blueberries

28:32

microbiome, we're taking on data from

28:35

that, we're eating the avocados microbiome,

28:37

the list goes on and on,

28:39

and getting all these different data

28:42

inputs. One of the things that

28:44

stood out to me in your

28:46

book was, and I haven't... thought

28:49

about this or talked about it

28:51

in years. And I was just

28:54

like, oh my goodness, this is

28:56

so powerful, we need to know

28:58

this, is the fact that we

29:01

have about 30,000 plants that have

29:03

been cultivated by humans over time

29:05

that we know are edible and

29:08

have benefits, but we only in

29:10

our modern society, we only utilize

29:12

about 150 of them, right? Yes.

29:15

And the average person in our

29:17

modern society point this out only

29:20

interacts with about 30 of them

29:22

in a given year. All right.

29:24

What happens when we only are

29:27

eating a lot of a small

29:29

amount of these foods, right? Yes.

29:31

Could this create, again, it's going

29:34

from being a toxin to being

29:36

toxic? Maybe this is why these

29:38

plant defense chemicals can mess some

29:41

people up. And also, what are

29:43

we missing when we're not getting

29:45

that vast diversity of inputs that

29:48

our ancestors evolved with? Yeah, that

29:50

is such a key, huge point,

29:53

Sean. When our bodies are made

29:55

to get this diversity of plant

29:57

toxin exposure, because that is how

30:00

we set off our stressed responses

30:02

like fireworks when we get that

30:04

synergy, where we're getting a different

30:07

phytochemical from the blueberry, a different

30:09

one from the apple, a different

30:11

one from the lettuce, the more

30:14

variety, the more we activate our...

30:16

intrinsic stress resistance, right? When we

30:19

are down to, like you said,

30:21

the 30 foods that make our

30:23

plate of the 30,000, I'm sorry,

30:26

edible foods, we are reducing our

30:28

body's natural ability to be strong.

30:30

We are reducing our human capability

30:33

to resist disease and slow aging.

30:35

And right now, 50% of our

30:37

calories are just coming from three

30:40

foods, right? Wheat and corn and

30:42

rice, those are the three. Like

30:44

50% are coming just from those,

30:47

right? And this is a different

30:49

thing than diversity from fiber for

30:52

the microbiome, right? We're talking about

30:54

diversity of phythe chemicals for our

30:56

human stress response. It is yet

30:59

a different reason. We need that

31:01

diversity. And if you think about

31:03

it, Sean, so our human history

31:06

is a story of. encountering stress,

31:08

right? That is the story of

31:10

our ancestors. They lived in a

31:13

harsh and unpredictable world. They had

31:15

to learn how to survive eating

31:17

whatever edible foods they could eat.

31:20

The more variety of edible foods

31:22

they could eat, they're greater their

31:25

likelihood of survival. Some plants could

31:27

be poisonous, right? Their bodies evolved

31:29

a way to rapidly detoxify and

31:32

eliminate a lot of these plant

31:34

toxins so that they could eat

31:36

more calories and subsist. And lucky

31:39

for us, their bodies adapted to

31:41

ramping up their stress resistance so

31:43

that they could eat a broader

31:46

variety of foods. So the Homo

31:48

sapiens diet of our ancestors had

31:51

3,000 different plant species species. Right?

31:53

Our genome has adapted to meaning

31:55

that type of variety for us

31:58

to activate these intrinsic parts of

32:00

our biology that make us so

32:02

stress resilient. That's easily a hundred

32:05

times less diversity. That is insane.

32:07

So the ingredients that we're making

32:09

ourselves... those out of and the

32:12

inputs that diversity that again we

32:14

need to not just survive but

32:16

to thrive to be better we're

32:19

missing out on and so you're

32:21

helping us to intentionally add these

32:24

things back in and you've given

32:26

us a plethora of the different

32:28

ones for us to target and

32:31

some reasons why and so let's

32:33

talk about some of those compounds

32:35

for us to seek out let's

32:38

talk about sulphuraphane yeah so Several

32:40

of these phytochemicals have been very

32:42

well studied for their hometic potential

32:45

of how they work at a

32:47

cellular level. Of them there are

32:50

at least 10. Sulfuraphane is one

32:52

of those 10. Sulfuraphane is a

32:54

phytic chemical that is in cruciferous

32:57

vegetables. So we're talking broccoli, cabbage,

32:59

arugula. And what it does is

33:01

it ramps up our antioxidant defenses.

33:04

And the reason this is so

33:06

important is in our environment, there's

33:08

no question that there are infinite

33:11

exposures and toxins. Probably many, we

33:13

don't even know about, right? We've

33:15

identified a handful, and the latest

33:18

concern, of course, is microplastics. And

33:20

one approach to this is to

33:23

try and get rid of these

33:25

environmental exposures, and there's effort being

33:27

made towards that. But at the

33:30

end of the day, there are

33:32

infinite, and like I said, there's

33:34

some we don't even know exist.

33:37

So the other part of the

33:39

equation is what can we do

33:41

to build our natural ability to

33:44

detoxify and have the antioxidant capacity

33:46

to counter these in a way

33:48

where we can mitigate some of

33:51

this harm, right? So we're really...

33:53

needing to look at both sides

33:56

of the equation, so much of

33:58

health focus is on this part

34:00

of what can I remove, what

34:03

should I restrict, what should I

34:05

not do, right? It's creating a

34:07

fear restriction mindset. are now on

34:10

this other side of it. That's

34:12

what we're talking about. It's what

34:14

can we add? What can we

34:17

control? This is the empowering part.

34:19

This is what is so easy

34:22

and accessible to every single person,

34:24

right? The limiting factor is knowing

34:26

that you can do it and

34:29

doing it, right? Those are the

34:31

two limits. Yeah. Because of course

34:33

a lot of people are, they're

34:36

just like, I'm sick of it,

34:38

I can't do anything, I can't

34:40

have anything today. And what we're

34:43

doing here is we can package

34:45

along a solution. It's not complete

34:47

avoidance and to become, you know,

34:50

the boy in the plastic bubble.

34:52

Shout out to John Travolta was

34:55

John Travolta, man movies. But we

34:57

can add in things like cruciferous

34:59

family that can help us, help

35:02

our bodies to metabolize and get

35:04

rid of some of this micro

35:06

plastic. load that we're taking on

35:09

today. So is that what I'm

35:11

hearing? That's 100% it. And we

35:13

have some early studies showing it

35:16

can do that. And again, the

35:18

point is not giving free rain

35:21

to pumping all this stuff in

35:23

our environment that's hurting us. Of

35:25

course, we should be controlling what

35:28

we can, right? But instead of

35:30

living in fear, what can you

35:32

do today? that can make you

35:35

stronger. That's what really matters, right?

35:37

And to put this in context,

35:39

Sean, we're talking at a micro

35:42

level of what's happening in our

35:44

body, but if you take it

35:46

back to the macro level. There's

35:49

a large study called the Global

35:51

Burden of Disease Study that was

35:54

done in 195 countries over 27

35:56

years, looking at essentially food and

35:58

mortality. And the leading cause of

36:01

death worldwide is food. It's what

36:03

we eat, right? But the true

36:05

headline from that study really should

36:08

be. I mean, that's what I

36:10

found one out of five causes

36:12

of death or attributed to food.

36:15

But the true headline is that

36:17

there were more deaths attributed to

36:19

what we were not getting enough

36:22

of than what we were getting

36:24

too much of, okay? If we

36:27

break that down, if you compare

36:29

the mortality from eating too much

36:31

sugar or processed meat, they even

36:34

included red meat, which I know

36:36

can be a controversial issue. But

36:38

if you removed those from the

36:41

diet and looked at lives saved,

36:43

it is on the order of

36:45

30 fold less than the lives

36:48

you saved by adding fruits, vegetables,

36:50

whole grains, legumes, right? It is

36:53

profound that the bigger kind of

36:55

win for us is adding. This

36:57

is not saying you have to

37:00

just eat plants or be vegan,

37:02

etc. We are just saying that

37:04

all you have to do, no

37:07

matter what your baseline diet is,

37:09

what your preferences, what your culture

37:11

dictates, just add the plant food,

37:14

whichever type you like, because you

37:16

are going to make far greater

37:18

gains. in your survival, in your

37:21

quality of life, then focusing on

37:23

what you should be restricting and

37:26

removing. Yeah, yeah, and you could

37:28

do both together. That's the cool

37:30

thing. Because, you know, even with

37:33

that, like we know that we're

37:35

over consuming certain things, right? Yes.

37:37

But the ironic part is we

37:40

are over consuming this caloric energy

37:42

and very specific forms you just

37:44

mentioned, you know, soy, corn, wheat

37:47

being the predominant things, making up

37:49

our diet today, but we're starving

37:52

for nutrition for nutrition. We're over

37:54

consuming this overall blanket like macro

37:56

nutrient, you know, and we're getting

37:59

stuff in, right? We're getting, we're

38:01

feeding people, but we're starting. for

38:03

nutrition and that brings to mind

38:06

you know and you made the

38:08

trip out here to come and

38:10

hang out with me and I'm

38:13

so grateful for that and here

38:15

in LA we are well noted

38:17

for an issue a huge issue

38:20

with with folks who don't have

38:22

a place to live you know

38:25

the homeless population is wow I

38:27

mean it's such a huge issue

38:29

but what people don't realize and

38:32

I thought it was shocking and

38:34

I've been you know whenever I

38:36

can find an opportunity to talk

38:39

about this I do that the

38:41

homeless population the rate of obesity

38:43

in the homeless population is almost

38:46

the same as a general population,

38:48

right? It's right there around like

38:51

30-ish percent as well. And so

38:53

it's this phenomenon where you don't

38:55

even have to have a lot

38:58

of money or resources in order

39:00

to be obese, you know, here

39:02

in our country today. But again,

39:05

it's not just what we're taking

39:07

in these foods that are devoid

39:09

of diversity of these... Hormitic stressors

39:12

that come along with eating real

39:14

foods. The list goes on and

39:16

on. So... Can you share a

39:19

couple more of these? So, Sulfuraphane

39:21

is one. What are a couple

39:24

of others? Yeah, so risveratrol, which

39:26

you can get from grapes, pistachos,

39:28

dark chocolate, my favorite, Allison, which

39:31

is in garlic and leeks, Corsitan,

39:33

you can get that from apples,

39:35

genistine, from soy, luteolin, which is

39:38

in most fruits and vegetables, ferolic

39:40

acid, which is in coffee and

39:42

apples, you can get... Kirkiman in

39:45

turmeric. That's another one. As you

39:47

can see, there is so much

39:49

you can choose from, right? We

39:52

are not just cherry picking, you

39:54

know, what's now kind of, I

39:57

guess, super foods. That's kind of

39:59

the mentality that people get into.

40:01

We, I don't want to encourage

40:04

that because it's the diversity, right?

40:06

It is getting the abundance. so

40:08

that we can get these fight

40:11

of chemicals. And they are in

40:13

so many foods that there's certain

40:15

to be some that every person

40:18

would enjoy. Yeah, thank you for

40:20

sharing that. And again, I hope

40:23

everybody's taking notes and targeting more

40:25

diversity now. And again, I just

40:27

want to give that example of

40:30

when we see someone, for example,

40:32

in our society today who, you

40:34

know, is experiencing a state of

40:37

being overweight or obese. it'll be

40:39

very difficult for us to rationalize

40:41

that this person is starving for

40:44

nutrition. And it's a paradigm shift.

40:46

So we want to make sure

40:48

that we're adding in, getting these

40:51

inputs in. It's not just enough

40:53

for us to seek out calories.

40:56

It's for us to seek out

40:58

these important stressors really, right? These

41:00

micro stressors for ourselves in the

41:03

form of all these diverse plant

41:05

nutrients. And so... We cover DNA

41:07

damage response, antioxidant response, atophagee response,

41:10

sartoon response, and again all these

41:12

are outlined in the book beautifully.

41:14

Let's talk about another one of

41:17

these cellular responses, systems, the heat

41:19

shock protein response. Yeah, so our

41:22

body, again, it's all about repair.

41:24

right, and we can repair our

41:26

proteins. And this becomes critical because

41:29

when you look at what is

41:31

happening inside our cells that is

41:33

leading to chronic disease and symptoms,

41:36

our proteins not being formed and

41:38

functioning properly is huge. Proteins are

41:40

the workhorse in our cells. We

41:43

have 20,000 to 100,000 types of

41:45

proteins. And if they are not

41:47

functioning or they're clumping together, that

41:50

is one of the early processes

41:52

leading to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's.

41:55

Heat shock proteins are like molecular

41:57

chaperones, right? Proteins are that important,

41:59

that when they are damaged, we

42:02

literally have a mechanism where they

42:04

can be chaperoned outside our body

42:06

or outside our cells and

42:08

essentially either destroyed or recycled,

42:10

right? So heat shock proteins

42:13

help us repair the proteins

42:15

we have, and they work

42:17

together with another protein response,

42:19

which is one of the

42:21

seven cellular stress responses called

42:23

the unfolded protein response. So

42:25

proteins also have to be

42:28

formed. in a certain shape

42:30

to work properly. So if

42:32

you remember when you're in

42:34

grade school and you make

42:36

those fortune tellers and if

42:38

they aren't folded just right,

42:40

you can't open them to

42:42

read the fortune. Well, that's

42:44

how proteins work. If they're

42:47

not formed just right, they

42:49

can't function. So we have

42:51

this unfolded protein response that

42:53

helps you get the right

42:55

balance of the folded proteins

42:57

and helps you get them

42:59

in the right. And again,

43:01

it speaks to how important

43:03

these proteins are. All of

43:05

these parts of our cells are

43:08

so critical because

43:10

it is cellular

43:12

dysfunction that is at the

43:14

very root. of everything that you

43:17

are seeing in modern day

43:19

in medicine. You know, I

43:21

believe so strongly that we

43:23

need to be going to

43:25

the root cause, and I've

43:27

spent now three decades really

43:29

understanding the pathways of what

43:31

that truly means. But the

43:33

furthest upstream you can go is

43:36

the level of ourselves. That is

43:38

the most basic building block in

43:41

our body. We have 30 trillion

43:43

cells. Our cells make up our

43:45

tissues in our body systems when

43:48

we make our cells healthy, when

43:50

the cellular components are healthy, the

43:53

symptoms that we are

43:55

experiencing, the brain fog, the

43:57

digestive issues, the exhaustion, the

43:59

diseases. all these chronic diseases,

44:01

they accelerated aging, they all

44:03

come back to the cell.

44:05

And when we are making

44:08

ourselves healthy by activating the

44:10

cellular stress responses, this is

44:12

a systems biology whole level

44:14

holistic way of helping not

44:16

just one disease, but all

44:18

of the diseases. So why?

44:21

Is this specifically when I

44:23

hear heat shock proteins? Does

44:25

that mean that I need

44:27

to get hot in order

44:29

to get them? Well, you

44:31

can get hot, you know,

44:34

when you're exposed to heat,

44:36

like sauna or even a

44:38

hot bath. And I say

44:40

that because people sometimes associate

44:42

some of the mechanisms for

44:44

being something that only wealthy

44:47

people have access to, but

44:49

there are so many DIY

44:51

ways where everything that I'm

44:53

encouraging is affordable and accessible.

44:55

But heat can raise heat

44:57

shock proteins by about 50

45:00

percent, right? And you know,

45:02

again, brief exposure, so within

45:04

a half hour, 50% elevation,

45:06

two hours later, it goes

45:08

back down. But cold can

45:10

do it, exercise can do

45:12

it, eating these plant phythe

45:15

chemicals can do it. This

45:17

is the beauty of how

45:19

these cellular stress responses work,

45:21

right? There's such synergy in

45:23

the pathways that are activated.

45:25

You can start with any...

45:28

of the stressors and I

45:30

know we're starting to talk

45:32

about some and we can

45:34

round out and mention all

45:36

the others as well but

45:38

the synergy is what makes

45:41

them incredible because our body

45:43

works through this process called

45:45

cross-adaptation which is fascinating where

45:47

you can take any one

45:49

of these stressors that for

45:51

example target like psychological stress

45:54

for brain health but what

45:56

it's really doing is it

45:58

helps you physically and you

46:00

can take any physical stressor

46:02

and it helps you mentally,

46:04

right? At the end of

46:07

the day, our spiritual self,

46:09

our emotional self, and the

46:11

actions, our physical health, converge

46:13

at the level of our

46:15

cells. And it's through any

46:17

one of these stressors that

46:20

you can activate all these

46:22

stress responses. So of course,

46:24

with a heat shock protein,

46:26

it is heat, but all

46:28

of these others are doing

46:30

the same. Yeah, thank you,

46:33

because we tend to look

46:35

at it in a very

46:37

vanilla way, you know, heat,

46:39

we need to get heat,

46:41

but there are all these

46:43

other ways that our body

46:46

expresses this, and I love

46:48

that pretty much anybody can

46:50

do hot bath, you know,

46:52

like we think about that

46:54

when it comes our kids,

46:56

right, part of the evening

46:59

routine, help the kid to

47:01

sleep better, all the things.

47:03

What about us? We're big

47:05

babies, you know, in many

47:07

ways, a magnesium salt. Oh

47:09

my goodness, can dramatically improve

47:11

your sleep, but just it's

47:14

activating and helping so many

47:16

other factors that we are

47:18

not consciously aware of until

47:20

we get connected to somebody

47:22

like yourself. Like there are

47:24

layers to this and why

47:27

this is so helpful. Yeah,

47:29

Sean, and you know, some

47:31

of this is out there

47:33

as health trends, and I

47:35

think the message for everybody

47:37

is this is a returning

47:40

home to... our bodies being

47:42

back in the natural rhythm

47:44

they were meant to be.

47:46

This is how we align

47:48

our body with what it

47:50

needs to function properly. This

47:53

is how we restore that

47:55

natural rhythm. So this is

47:57

not biohacking. This is normal

47:59

living. I almost stood up

48:01

and started clapping. Yes, exactly.

48:03

I love that I love

48:06

that so much. All right.

48:08

All right. So. engaging proactively

48:10

again doing certain things certain

48:12

lifestyle factors for these heat

48:14

shock protein inputs and We've

48:16

got one more, you mentioned

48:19

the unfolded protein response, which

48:21

I love that analogy of

48:23

the fortune teller little thing.

48:25

I just saw one within

48:27

the last week. Yeah, my

48:29

son had one, you know,

48:32

I guess somebody made it,

48:34

but it was sitting on

48:36

my kitchen table, what are

48:38

the odds of that? But

48:40

I tend to think of

48:42

these protein structures in the

48:45

Lego block terms and confirmation

48:47

and just being able to

48:49

have the right instructions to

48:51

build things, the receptor sites,

48:53

making sure everything fits together.

48:55

but we've got to provide

48:58

our body with the input

49:00

so it can do all

49:02

the cool stuff. The final

49:04

one of these cellular stress

49:06

responses is the inflammatory response.

49:08

Again, this is another one

49:11

of those trigger words. When

49:13

we hear inflammation, we tend

49:15

to think bad. We want

49:17

to be anti-inflammatory, we don't

49:19

want it to inflammation. Why

49:21

is this one of our

49:23

cellular responses? Yeah, so. inflammation

49:26

is probably gotten the most

49:28

attention as one of the

49:30

pathways that can lead to

49:32

disease. And, you know, inflammation,

49:34

you know, people talk about,

49:36

you know, boosting immunity or

49:39

tamping down inflammation and it's

49:41

really a complicated blend, right?

49:43

You want to improve your

49:45

immune system, but you want

49:47

to decrease inflammation. So you're

49:49

not just boosting the immune

49:52

system because or your immune

49:54

responses because you want too

49:56

much of or a lot

49:58

of one thing, which is

50:00

the immunity, but not too

50:02

much inflammation. So we have

50:05

to be very careful with

50:07

that terminology when we just

50:09

throw these terms out there.

50:11

But again, we focus so

50:13

much on what causes inflammation,

50:15

certain foods or being sedentary.

50:18

We are not talking enough

50:20

about How can we ramp

50:22

up our body's natural ability

50:24

to regulate inflammation? And with

50:26

all of these cellular stress

50:28

responses, when our body gets

50:31

the signal of stress, that

50:33

signal gets communicated through the

50:35

cell signal pathways and to

50:37

receptors. on our cells. It

50:39

communicates inside ourselves to change

50:41

the gene program within the

50:44

cell. The cell literally expresses

50:46

different genes that become stress-resistant

50:48

genes, right? So when we

50:50

get exposed to the stressor

50:52

and our body rams up

50:54

this anti-inflammatory response, our cells

50:57

are getting the signal that

50:59

there's a stressor hunker down.

51:01

in that hunkered down mode,

51:03

we change the genome expression

51:05

towards building stress resistance, right?

51:07

So tamping down or regulating

51:10

inflammation, improving the efficiency of

51:12

our cells as we've talked

51:14

about with the sertuans, doing

51:16

all these repair mechanisms so

51:18

that we emerge from the

51:20

stress in that recovery period

51:22

where we can literally reconfigure

51:25

and require our bodies. in

51:27

a way that we are

51:29

rejuvenated, where we are stronger,

51:31

so we are able to

51:33

handle that stressor better in

51:35

the future. Awesome. So I'm

51:38

hearing also that the inflammatory

51:40

response is a part of

51:42

the process of getting better.

51:44

Right, but it needs to

51:46

be regulated properly and our

51:48

bodies have the ability to

51:51

do it if we're again

51:53

building the cellular resilience. So

51:55

now... And again, there's so

51:57

much more in the book,

51:59

but let's dig in on

52:01

some of the things that

52:04

your research has shown that

52:06

we can do to start

52:08

building this cellular resilience. All

52:10

right, so we already talked

52:12

about these nutrition inputs. We

52:14

talked a little bit about

52:17

some of the exposures with

52:19

heat, for example, what is

52:21

it about that in particular

52:23

when it comes to like

52:25

different environmental exposures with temperature?

52:27

Is it something that we...

52:30

are supposed to have but

52:32

we're just not getting anymore?

52:34

Yeah, so there are five

52:36

key So plant toxins, exercise

52:38

particularly reaching high intensity or

52:40

vigorous exercise, heat and cold.

52:43

Eating in a time-restricted fashion

52:45

that aligns with our circadian

52:47

biology and stimulating mental and

52:49

emotional stressors. The commonality, the

52:51

common thread here, is that

52:53

they all activate a gene

52:56

program called phyto genes. This

52:58

is a highly conserved gene

53:00

sequence that has been handed

53:02

down generation after generation because

53:04

it is so critical to

53:06

our survival that nature essentially

53:09

keeps things that are that

53:11

critical. And that is the

53:13

commonality. These are not randomly

53:15

selected as stressors. These were,

53:17

the stressors, our ancestors were

53:19

exposed to until about 200

53:22

years ago, really, with the

53:24

industrial revolution, I think what

53:26

we lose sight of is

53:28

that our lives today are

53:30

what is radical, right? And

53:32

we've come so far that

53:34

now this notion of adding

53:37

stress seems radical and nonsensical,

53:39

right? But the reality is

53:41

that what we are doing

53:43

every day is at such

53:45

a level of mismatch from

53:47

our biology. And the mismatch

53:50

theory has long been around,

53:52

right? It's essentially saying that...

53:54

with the rapid advance, with

53:56

industrialization, the introduction of food

53:58

processing technology, with indoor heating,

54:00

with indoor air refrigeration, that

54:03

we are creating a mismatch

54:05

between what our genes want

54:07

and what we've introduced. What

54:09

I want to press upon

54:11

is that we've created an

54:13

entirely different mismatch that has

54:16

gotten lost in the conversation.

54:18

It's the mismatch of what

54:20

have we taken out of

54:22

our lives in our culture

54:24

in this rapid evolution since

54:26

the mid-1800s, really. And this

54:29

is what the stress paradox

54:31

is, right? We have taken

54:33

out all these essential stressors

54:35

in the process of introducing

54:37

comfort, in the process of

54:39

making our lives better and

54:42

easier. introduce lack of good

54:44

stress, and that is now

54:46

one of the leading risk

54:48

factors for the epidemic of

54:50

chronic disease and accelerated aging.

54:52

And it's so easy to

54:55

pin down what we've introduced

54:57

because you can link, say,

54:59

process food with an outcome.

55:01

It is much easier to

55:03

discount the loss from what

55:05

we have taken out, right?

55:08

If we don't see it.

55:10

We discount it, right? But

55:12

this is such a huge

55:14

missing piece of the health

55:16

story right now. Yeah, this

55:18

is a revelation for all

55:21

of us. Like I really

55:23

hope that everybody was open

55:25

and that hit your heart

55:27

because they hit mine for

55:29

sure. And I'd love to

55:31

dig a little bit deeper

55:33

into that specific point, which

55:36

is we evolved, our bodies

55:38

have this capacity to adjust

55:40

according to the environment and

55:42

the temperature in particular. and

55:44

now we live in these

55:46

perfectly climatized habitats that we've

55:49

designed so we never get

55:51

too hot or too cold.

55:53

And if we do, we're

55:55

mad upset, you know, we're

55:57

uncomfortable, we don't like it,

55:59

but most of our time

56:02

is spent without adaptation and

56:04

we're missing certain things, the

56:06

cellular stress response, because we're

56:08

not getting these exposures. It's

56:10

100% it Sean. You know,

56:12

the body works for this

56:15

process of bioplasticity, which is

56:17

essentially saying use it or

56:19

lose it. Okay, if we...

56:21

want our brain to be

56:23

stronger, we have to challenge

56:25

our brain. If we want

56:28

our heart to be stronger,

56:30

we have to challenge our

56:32

heart and blood vessels and

56:34

they grow stronger. It happens

56:36

at every level and when

56:38

we're not challenging ourselves with

56:41

the heat and cold, we

56:43

are essentially doing the opposite.

56:45

The lack of exposure to

56:47

the challenge does the opposite,

56:49

right? So we have to

56:51

continually push ourselves past this

56:54

comfort zone. But not to

56:56

the point of overwhelm. I

56:58

want to be clear about

57:00

that. And then recover. And

57:02

it's this process of stress

57:04

recover repeat. Stress recover repeat.

57:07

This is the blueprint that

57:09

unlocks our incredible innate capacity

57:11

to fight all these diseases,

57:13

feel better, live longer. Do

57:15

you have some recommendations on

57:17

the dose for heat exposure?

57:20

Yeah, the key thing I

57:22

want everyone to take away

57:24

is that first of all,

57:26

there's no perfect ideal temperature

57:28

for everybody. Okay, the goal

57:30

of every Hormatic exposure for

57:33

every person to get to

57:35

this Goldilocks Hormetic Zone is

57:37

simply feeling discomfort and staying

57:39

there for just a little

57:41

bit. but for a short

57:43

duration. You can take any

57:45

good stressor, and if you

57:48

do it too much or

57:50

too often, you're turning it

57:52

into a chronic stress. Okay.

57:54

So with heat, most of

57:56

the clinical studies, if you're

57:58

using hot water or a

58:01

hot bath, or between a

58:03

hundred and two to a

58:05

hundred and four degrees, if

58:07

you have access to a

58:09

sauna, An easy way to

58:11

remember the temperature plus humidity

58:14

balance that you want is

58:16

the rule of 200. Essentially,

58:18

you want the temperature in

58:20

Fahrenheit plus the humidity to

58:22

add up to 200. Okay,

58:24

got it. Got it. And

58:27

of course you've got details

58:29

on all this stuff in

58:31

the book. Now what about...

58:33

exercise, how does that come

58:35

into the fold? Obviously we

58:37

are existing in the most

58:40

sedentary society and human history,

58:42

but we know these inputs

58:44

are important, but we tend

58:46

to think about it in

58:48

terms of looking a certain

58:50

way, right? But the exercise

58:53

input is far more valuable

58:55

in different ways. So what

58:57

are the recommendations around that?

58:59

Yeah, and exercise is probably,

59:01

I think the most. potent

59:03

of all these hormones because

59:06

so much of our physiology

59:08

is tied to exercise and

59:10

energy expenditure. When we exercise

59:12

that is the most potent

59:14

way to upregulate our cellular

59:16

engines or mitochondria and our

59:19

mitochondria and our energy play

59:21

this outsized role in this

59:23

bigger process of creating cellular

59:25

process of creating cellular health.

59:27

When we exercise, we rapidly

59:29

deplete energy. And that sends

59:32

an alarm signal. We have

59:34

sensors. We mention the sartuans.

59:36

We have another energy sensor

59:38

called AMPK, the AMP kindness.

59:40

And these energy sensors send

59:42

the signal to our brain

59:44

that there's a stressor. our

59:47

bodies respond by increasing the

59:49

number of mitochondria that we

59:51

have. So back in biology

59:53

class, the way I was

59:55

taught probably, maybe the way

59:57

you were even taught, but

1:00:00

I'm older, is that every

1:00:02

cell has one mitochondria. But

1:00:04

the reality is that we

1:00:06

can have thousands of mitochondria

1:00:08

and we can ramp up

1:00:10

that capacity. and our cellular

1:00:13

energy base ultimately controls how

1:00:15

much energy our body is

1:00:17

capable of making, right? So

1:00:19

our mitochondria have this vital

1:00:21

role where they take chemical

1:00:23

energy from food and they

1:00:26

convert it to cellular energy

1:00:28

in the form of ATP.

1:00:30

And if our mitochondria are

1:00:32

impaired, our cells cannot make

1:00:34

the energy we need for

1:00:36

basic functions within the cell.

1:00:39

All the repair that we're

1:00:41

talking about requires energy. We

1:00:43

don't have the energy to

1:00:45

think clearly to digest properly.

1:00:47

Right? And over time that

1:00:49

leads to disease. So mitochondrial

1:00:52

impairment is probably one of

1:00:54

the most under talked about

1:00:56

components of health in modern

1:00:58

medicine right now. And exercise

1:01:00

is the most potent way

1:01:02

to increase the volume because

1:01:05

every time we stress our

1:01:07

energy system, our body responds

1:01:09

by making more mitochondria and

1:01:11

by... starting that process of

1:01:13

mytophagy that we talked about

1:01:15

of making healthier mitochondria and

1:01:18

the fascinating part is that

1:01:20

when we do high intensity

1:01:22

we send the body this

1:01:24

stronger signal of rapid energy

1:01:26

depletion and that signals a

1:01:28

stronger adaptation right so when

1:01:31

you look at clinical studies

1:01:33

about 40% of people do

1:01:35

not significantly improve their cardiorespatory

1:01:37

fitness measured by VOT Max

1:01:39

which is really a very

1:01:41

indirect way of measuring mitochondrial

1:01:44

health but 40% don't achieve

1:01:46

improvement with moderate intensity right

1:01:48

and we have this need

1:01:50

for the vigorous to really

1:01:52

push the needle on our

1:01:54

cardiorespatory fitness and mitochondrial health

1:01:56

and the reason that matters

1:01:59

so much so much so

1:02:01

much is the single biggest

1:02:03

predictor of mortality and disease.

1:02:05

fitness, whether you're a man,

1:02:07

a woman, a child, an

1:02:09

older adult, cardiorespatory fitness is

1:02:12

the strongest predictor, right? And

1:02:14

we need healthy mitochondria, we

1:02:16

also need a strong heart,

1:02:18

we need strong lungs to

1:02:20

have good cardiorespatory fitness, but

1:02:22

exercising with those bursts of

1:02:25

intensity is really the pathway

1:02:27

to improving our longevity. at

1:02:29

the greatest potential we can.

1:02:31

So what that looks like

1:02:33

in a week is roughly

1:02:35

an 80-20 blend of some

1:02:38

moderate intensity with about 20%

1:02:40

of high intensity. A little

1:02:42

bit more would probably be

1:02:44

better, like maybe a 70-30

1:02:46

mix with high intensity. for

1:02:48

people who are more casual

1:02:51

athletes, for really elite athletes,

1:02:53

I think 80-20 gives you

1:02:55

enough of the high intensity.

1:02:57

So trying to get one

1:02:59

workout a week, maybe a

1:03:01

high interval intensity workout. And

1:03:04

again, I don't want the

1:03:06

term to be daunting to

1:03:08

people. It's what's intense to

1:03:10

you. Okay, if you are

1:03:12

a sedentary person, what may

1:03:14

be intense to you, what

1:03:17

gets you out of that

1:03:19

comfort zone, maybe just walking

1:03:21

fast to the mailbox, right?

1:03:23

But for an elite athlete,

1:03:25

obviously it's gonna be hitting

1:03:27

very high. ability to generate

1:03:30

power, right? So focus on

1:03:32

these nudges of what's intense

1:03:34

to you, recover. You expand

1:03:36

capacity. It's a process of

1:03:38

continual stress recovery until you

1:03:40

build that resilience. So don't

1:03:43

let this sound daunting. We

1:03:45

have this as a gift

1:03:47

in our DNA. Every one

1:03:49

of us has the human

1:03:51

capability to be doing this.

1:03:53

This is the gift that

1:03:55

has been handed down over

1:03:58

two million years. Our body

1:04:00

is made to do hard

1:04:02

things. Yeah. Oh, it's so

1:04:04

powerful. Something you said earlier,

1:04:06

and I hope this sticks

1:04:08

with everybody, is that physical

1:04:11

stressors can make us more

1:04:13

mentally resilient, and mental stressors

1:04:15

can make us more physically

1:04:17

resilient because it's all happening

1:04:19

in the same person. You

1:04:21

know, it's all one entity.

1:04:24

And myself included, we go

1:04:26

through phases of being very...

1:04:28

mentally, psychologically stressed. And there's

1:04:30

a difference, right? You talked

1:04:32

about the 3D's and the

1:04:34

duration and the dose and

1:04:37

all these things. But if

1:04:39

I could ask you, how

1:04:41

on earth can psychological or

1:04:43

mental stressors make us more

1:04:45

resilient? Yeah, and this is

1:04:47

probably the most counterintuitive part

1:04:50

for a lot of people.

1:04:52

When our body experiences good

1:04:54

stress, which in terms of

1:04:56

kind, of stress. We're talking

1:04:58

about things that align with

1:05:00

your belief system. Stressors that

1:05:03

are generative are part of

1:05:05

something bigger than you. These

1:05:07

types of stressors in a

1:05:09

mild to moderate amount build

1:05:11

the neural networks in our

1:05:13

body. They build the synaptic

1:05:16

connections and our neurons ability

1:05:18

to communicate. And the amazing

1:05:20

part is the biochemistry of

1:05:22

the stress response. When it

1:05:24

aligns with our beliefs, when

1:05:26

it is rewarding to us,

1:05:29

sends off far more than

1:05:31

just cortisol and epinephrine and

1:05:33

nor epinephrine, you're releasing dopamine,

1:05:35

right, the reward hormone, serotonin,

1:05:37

the happy hormone, you're releasing

1:05:39

oxytocin, the cuddle hormone hormone.

1:05:42

These hormones counteract cortisol. You

1:05:44

do not just have to

1:05:46

focus on how do I

1:05:48

curb the chronic stress to

1:05:50

control my cortisol But again,

1:05:52

it's not just what do

1:05:54

I need to remove which

1:05:57

is incredibly hard to do

1:05:59

sometimes it is what can

1:06:01

you add? And by adding

1:06:03

these good stressors, you start

1:06:05

a cascade of different biochemicals.

1:06:07

What is happening in your

1:06:10

body's internal environment is so

1:06:12

radically different when you expose

1:06:14

yourself to good stress that

1:06:16

you slowly shape shift yourself.

1:06:18

to a less stressed level.

1:06:20

The stress ironically is the

1:06:23

gateway to a lower baseline

1:06:25

level of stress. And that's

1:06:27

what you want. You know,

1:06:29

so many people get hung

1:06:31

up on the brief spikes

1:06:33

of cortisol. We're in this

1:06:36

for the long game, right?

1:06:38

If you really want to

1:06:40

play your health on the

1:06:42

offense instead of on the

1:06:44

defense, what you want to

1:06:46

do is invest in the

1:06:49

long term. really bringing that

1:06:51

basal or baseline level of

1:06:53

cortisol down. And the path

1:06:55

to get there will have

1:06:57

these spikes, but again, trust

1:06:59

that this is what your

1:07:02

body is made for and

1:07:04

ask yourself what aligns with

1:07:06

my beliefs, what is truly

1:07:08

meaningful, what is generative and

1:07:10

how you can contribute to

1:07:12

something bigger than you. When

1:07:15

you pursue these types of

1:07:17

stress, you become your healthiest

1:07:19

self. In the flip side,

1:07:21

do not ever avoid stressors

1:07:23

like that because you are

1:07:25

made for them. Do not

1:07:28

sell yourself short or any

1:07:30

part of what your potential

1:07:32

is capable of doing out

1:07:34

of fear that this type

1:07:36

of stress is something that

1:07:38

you cannot do because you

1:07:41

are currently overwhelmed. That is

1:07:43

such an important message. I

1:07:45

hope everyone takes away because

1:07:47

it's so fundamental to nourishing

1:07:49

our soul and our emotional

1:07:51

energy. Amazing, amazing. You know,

1:07:54

this is such a big

1:07:56

conversation and this is just...

1:07:58

a fraction of what people

1:08:00

are going to find in

1:08:02

the stress paradox. And I

1:08:04

love this so much because before we even

1:08:07

got started, you emphasize something that

1:08:09

I felt, there were times when I

1:08:11

felt a little alone, you know, and just

1:08:13

feeling like we should be designing things

1:08:15

based on the person. I can't come

1:08:17

to the table with a thing that

1:08:19

I think works best and just have

1:08:22

everybody do it, which I did for a

1:08:24

time, which most practitioners do, but it's

1:08:26

personalized. And so you sharing that

1:08:28

even now, like. This is based on

1:08:30

you, right? So I'm giving you this

1:08:32

data, and I'm giving you some guidelines,

1:08:34

but just a brisk walk might be

1:08:36

the level that you're at. Do that, though.

1:08:38

Do that. Give yourself that gift that

1:08:41

your cells are screaming out for to

1:08:43

make you better. And for the majority

1:08:45

of people listening to this, they're

1:08:47

already involved in some kind

1:08:50

of physical activity. And so

1:08:52

having guidelines for that as

1:08:54

well. And they're literally, as I'm

1:08:56

talking with you. hundreds of different ways

1:08:58

to get this input of high intensity

1:09:00

high intensity interval training been talked

1:09:02

about a long time but it doesn't

1:09:05

just mean like sprint and then relax

1:09:07

or doing it on a elliptical or

1:09:09

a stationary bike stairmaster you could do

1:09:11

this in swimming pool you know I can

1:09:13

go on and on there's so many different ways

1:09:15

to get that high intensity input find

1:09:17

a way that feels good that you like

1:09:20

yes right that you're attracted to right now I've

1:09:22

got this like desire to dance with

1:09:24

the battle ropes, right? So I've just

1:09:26

been kind of drawn to that recently.

1:09:28

So I've been, you know, maybe it's,

1:09:31

I don't know if I want to

1:09:33

be a drummer someday, I don't know

1:09:35

what it is, but I'm just drawn

1:09:37

to it to use as my high

1:09:40

intensity interval training for the past couple

1:09:42

of weeks. That's right. Yeah. Exactly

1:09:44

it, Sean, you can take anything

1:09:46

and do it in intervals. If

1:09:48

you like walking, well walk three

1:09:51

minutes really fast, then back off.

1:09:53

another three minutes of fast.

1:09:55

They've been clinical studies in

1:09:57

older adults doing that, right?

1:09:59

to anybody can do this and how

1:10:02

much you nudge credit respiratory fitness by

1:10:04

walking in intervals versus a group that

1:10:06

does it continuously is already over 20%

1:10:08

greater. And so yes, you can customize

1:10:10

this any way that speaks to you.

1:10:12

And I really thought hard when I

1:10:14

came up with how to help people

1:10:17

with this information when I wrote the

1:10:19

book because I've been in clinical practice

1:10:21

for 25 years and so much of

1:10:23

the work that I do one on

1:10:25

one with my patients is finding how

1:10:27

to give some tips or ideas that

1:10:30

are appropriate for that individual. And when

1:10:32

you put that in the format of

1:10:34

the book, you think, how can I

1:10:36

capture that? And what I landed on

1:10:38

are five protocols. on how to take

1:10:40

any of these good stressors, customize them

1:10:42

in the dose, the design, and the

1:10:45

duration where it works for you, right?

1:10:47

And it will not only be different

1:10:49

person to person, it will be different

1:10:51

for any person on a given day,

1:10:53

depending on the recovery. Yeah. I could

1:10:55

talk to you all day, of course.

1:10:58

And what I want to do is

1:11:00

to extend this conversation to everybody, keep

1:11:02

the conversation going, pick up a copy

1:11:04

of the stress paradox today. As of

1:11:06

the release of this episode, you can

1:11:08

pick it up anywhere that books are

1:11:10

sold. Is there somewhere in particular you

1:11:13

want people to pick up a copy

1:11:15

or to, of course, follow you as

1:11:17

well and get more information? Yeah, so

1:11:19

you can follow me and get more

1:11:21

information about the book from my website

1:11:23

Dr. Sharon berkwist.com and if you want

1:11:25

to support local bookstores bookshop.org is one

1:11:28

of the locations that is linked on

1:11:30

my website where you can support it

1:11:32

and you can find me on Instagram

1:11:34

the Good Stress Doctor or on LinkedIn

1:11:36

Dr. Sharon Huresh Berkwist. That's the best

1:11:38

handle ever. Good Stress Doctor. That's amazing.

1:11:41

So I don't know if you saw

1:11:43

this, but bookstores are making a comeback,

1:11:45

like they're rebounding. I just saw, you

1:11:47

know, of course the chain bookstore like

1:11:49

Barnes & Noble, but they're opening more

1:11:51

locations, you know, right now. And again,

1:11:53

we don't know how this is gonna

1:11:56

evolve, but you know, I was thinking

1:11:58

it's gonna be like blockbuster video there

1:12:00

for a while that they were gonna

1:12:02

become extinct. And there's something about it.

1:12:04

you know my wife go on dates

1:12:06

and like borders and you know bookstores

1:12:09

and things like that hang out so

1:12:11

I'm glad the bookstores are making it

1:12:13

come back. I am too and you

1:12:15

know Sean there's something about holding a

1:12:17

book in your hand and just thumbing

1:12:19

through the pages and when I read

1:12:21

on paper for me it sinks in

1:12:24

in a different way than when I

1:12:26

read electronically and I think a lot

1:12:28

of people are that way so I'm

1:12:30

very happy to hear that I did

1:12:32

not know that. Yeah, and also I

1:12:34

was fortunate enough to get an early

1:12:36

copy of the Stress Paradox, which I

1:12:39

have all marked up right here. And,

1:12:41

you know, I love again that feel,

1:12:43

just like you, the feel of having

1:12:45

this book in my hand. And, you

1:12:47

know, also people get to see it.

1:12:49

You know, my kids see it. They're

1:12:52

taking mental snapshots of like, what is

1:12:54

dad studying right now? And, you know,

1:12:56

it's so funny how... We end up

1:12:58

sharing books over time as well, like

1:13:00

my sons are all, you know, my

1:13:02

family is like reading the same book

1:13:04

right now, and it's a book that

1:13:07

I had read previously, but they saw

1:13:09

me reading it. So it's pretty cool.

1:13:11

We're very influential to the people around

1:13:13

us, and I want to encourage you

1:13:15

to pick up a copy of the

1:13:17

stress paradox. Get a copy for a

1:13:20

friend as well, right? This is one

1:13:22

to read together and to share insights

1:13:24

with, and to share insights. Berkus everybody.

1:13:26

Thank you so much for tuning into

1:13:28

this episode today. I hope that you

1:13:30

got a lot of value out of

1:13:32

this. This is one to share. All

1:13:35

right, nobody is escaping stress today. It's

1:13:37

a big part of all of our

1:13:39

lives, but Again, getting that reframe to

1:13:41

where stress inputs can make us more

1:13:43

resilient and it translates over, transfers itself

1:13:45

over into other areas of our lives.

1:13:48

And so we need to proactively, regardless

1:13:50

of the stress that we're going through

1:13:52

right now, proactively build up our stress

1:13:54

resilience and also start to create some

1:13:56

more intentional boundaries when it comes to

1:13:58

stress and how things are affecting us.

1:14:00

But one of the biggest takeaways truly

1:14:03

is reframing and understanding that we are

1:14:05

built for this. We are strong enough

1:14:07

to endure. That's why we are the

1:14:09

people that we are. That's why we're

1:14:11

here right now. We have what it

1:14:13

takes to not to survive, but to

1:14:15

thrive. And so this message is incredibly

1:14:18

important one that I encourage you to

1:14:20

share out, share this with the people

1:14:22

that you care about. Send this from

1:14:24

the podcast app that you're listening on,

1:14:26

write to somebody via text message, or

1:14:28

take a screenshot. Or do both. Take

1:14:31

a screenshot of the episode and share

1:14:33

it over on Instagram. Tag me, I'm

1:14:35

at Sean Model, and also tag Dr.

1:14:37

Berkwist. She shared her Instagram handle. Listen,

1:14:39

she would love, it would absolutely make

1:14:41

her whole month to be able to

1:14:43

see the love because she's put so

1:14:46

much into this work and she shared

1:14:48

that with me as well. So I'm

1:14:50

so grateful to be able to share

1:14:52

her mission and her message with you

1:14:54

today. We've got some amazing masterclasses and

1:14:56

world-class guests coming your way very very

1:14:59

soon, so make sure to stay tuned.

1:15:01

Take care, have an amazing day, and

1:15:03

I'll talk with you soon. And for

1:15:05

more after the show, make sure to

1:15:07

head over to the Model Health show.com.

1:15:09

That's where you can find all of

1:15:11

the show notes, you can find transcriptions,

1:15:14

videos for each episode, and if you've

1:15:16

got a comment, you can leave me

1:15:18

a comment there as well. And please

1:15:20

make sure to head over to head

1:15:22

over to iTunes and leave us and

1:15:24

leave us a iTunes and leave us

1:15:27

a rating and leave us a rating

1:15:29

and leave us a rating and leave

1:15:31

us a rating and leave us a

1:15:33

rating and leave us a rating to

1:15:35

let us a rating to let us

1:15:37

a rating to let us a rating

1:15:39

to let us a rating to let

1:15:42

us a rating to let us a

1:15:44

rating to let me. And take care,

1:15:46

I promise to keep giving you more

1:15:48

powerful, empowering, great content to help you

1:15:50

transform your life. Thanks for tuning in.