breathingexercises

Stress is a main factor contributing to ill health, and Dr. Rangan Chatterjee believes that it’s the number-one cause of the illnesses he treats.

In today's episode of ZOE Science & Nutrition, Rangan sheds light on the causes of stress, ranging from sleep deprivation and overwhelming workloads to a lack of quality time with others.

You’ll learn how “microdoses” of stress can reach a tipping point, why recognizing these doses is key, and which powerful strategies can help you cope.

Are you ready to transform your relationship to stress?

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee is regarded as one of the most influential medical doctors in the U.K. He wants to change how medicine is practiced for years to come, and his mission is to help 100 million people around the globe live better lives. He’s a professor of health communication and education at the University of Chester, and he hosts one of the most listened-to health podcasts in the U.K. and Europe — Feel Better, Live More has had over 200 million listens to date and is listened to and watched by over 8 million people every month.  

If you want to uncover the right foods for your body, head to zoe.com/podcast, and get 10% off your personalized nutrition program.

Find 10 tips for a healthier life from ZOE Science & Nutrition — download our FREE guide.

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Timecodes:

00:00 Introduction

01:24   Quickfire Questions

04:24   What is stress?

08:00 Our bodies respond to physical and emotional stress in a similar way

10:48 How much stress is bad for us?

16:17 How do micro stress doses affect us?

20:08 Modern life stress is different!

23:16 Stress is the number 1 cause of disease today

29:37 Do women and men perceive stress in the same way?

30:54 Breathing techniques for stress reduction

36:28 Movement and exercise for stress reduction

41:32   How to make new behaviors into habits

43:37   The impact of human touch

49:04   The power of journaling

52:54 Summary

Mentioned in today’s episode: 

The impact of daily gentle touch stimulation on maternal-infant physiological and behavioral regulation and resilience from Infant Mental Health Journal 

Fogg Behavior Model from behaviourmodel.org

The Stress Solution and Feel Better in 5 by Dr. Rangan Chatterjee

Episode transcripts are available here.

Is there a nutrition topic you’d like us to explore? Email us at podcast@joinzoe.com, and we’ll do our best to cover it. 

Get comfortable, let go of the cares of the day and take a sonic journey with Dr Michael Mosley. In this new sound-filled podcast series, designed to help you drift off, each episode focuses on a scientifically-proven sleep technique and takes a deep dive through some incredible sleep-related bodily mechanisms.

It’s something that the great teachers of meditation and yoga have known about and used for millennia, but science has only really just caught up with: slowing the breath. Via a tiny cluster of cells in the brain, this simple act can send you into a more relaxing, peaceful state and towards sleep.

Guest: Ian Roberston, Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Trinity College, Dublin.

Producer, sound design and mixing: Richard Ward Assistant Producer: Gulnar Mimaroglu Editor: Zoe Heron Specially composed music by Richard Atkinson (Mcasso) A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4.

What does it mean to be a thriving human in the 21st century? The way we currently live is very different from the way humans have lived for the bulk of our evolution. As humanity has evolved and developed technologies to make us more comfortable, many of us have lost our instinctive connection to nature and this has had profound consequences on our physical and mental well-being. So what can we do about this? Well, as it turns out, quite a lot. My guest today is Tony Riddle. Tony is an ultra-endurance athlete and goes by the name of the natural lifestylist. He has spent the last decade developing and refining a robust way of life based upon the principles of a natural lifestyle. He's hosted retreats and workshops, where he has taught thousands of people around the world to live more naturally.

Tony has now written his very first book, Be More Human: How to Transform your Lifestyle for Optimum Health, Happiness and Vitality. The beauty of Tony's natural lifestyle philosophy is its simplicity, rather than a long list of things to incorporate into your busy life, it's actually all about stripping back and simplifying; removing what's not serving us in order to get back to a natural state of well-being. A good way to start is to learn how to ‘down-regulate’ – to calm the fight-or-flight system that’s switched on when we’re under chronic stress. It can be as easy as a minute or two of breathing, exhaling for longer than you inhale. Or a few moments spent in nature.

But he also wants us to experiment with discomfort and inconvenience, antidotes to modern life that will keep our muscles and mind from atrophy. We talk about the benefits of cold immersion and some simple ways in which we can start to bring this into our lives.

We chat about the importance of good quality sleep and why we all may not need the mythical eight hours. Tony describes some posture-enhancing positions we can all adopt, including squats and heel sitting to liberate our joints and spine. He explains why our foot strength dramatically increases when we transition to minimalist shoes and spend more time without our shoes on.

We finished off talking about Tony's deep relationship to running and why he describes it as a spiritual experience. The truth is we are never going back to being hunter-gatherers. But it doesn't mean we can't learn from them. Tony says we don't have to live in the wild to re-wild. This is such an inspiring episode, packed with practical tools that you can try right now. Tony is passionate and knowledgeable and I hope this conversation will help you become happier and healthier.

Thanks to our sponsors:

https://www.vivobarefoot.com/livemore

https://www.athleticgreens.com/livemore

https://www.leafyard.com/livemore

Show notes available at https://drchatterjee.com/278

DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor or qualified health care provider with any questions you have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on the podcast or on my website.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rickson Gracie is a ninth-degree red belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, retired MMA fighter, and author of "Breathe: A Life in Flow."

In this episode, Michael reveals how slowing down and focusing on your breath can have a wide-reaching effect on your body and brain - from reducing pain, to improving concentration. He speaks to psychologist and neuroscientist Professor Ian Robertson, from Trinity College Dublin, who’s discovered how taking just a couple of seconds to control your breath can act as a powerful reset button for your brain.

Wim Hof believes the mind is unlimited in its power and that everyone is born to be more than normal. How a person trains their mind will affect the life they live.

Tune in to hear Wim Hof share how he taps into his inner abilities using a breathing pattern called the Wim Hof Method. When you learn to connect your mind, body, and soul in the most profound way possible, the world is yours to conquer.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When we think about improving our health, we typically think about altering our diet, trying to exercise more, and taking vitamins and supplements. But my guest today argues that none of that stuff really matters if we haven't improved something even more foundational: our breathing.

His name is James Nestor and his latest book is Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art. At the beginning of our conversation, James explains why he paid thousands of dollars to have his nose plugged up, and what happened to his body when he could only breathe out of his mouth. We unpack the dangers of the common problem of being a habitual mouth breather, including the fact that it can even change the shape of our faces, and why modern humans started breathing through the mouth rather than the nose. James then reveals what happened when he switched his experiment around and breathed only through his nose, and explains why simply switching the passageway of your breathing from oral to nasal can have such significant health benefits. He also shares his weird trick to switch from mouth to nose breathing at night, which I've tried myself and found effective. We then discuss the importance of getting better at exhaling, and why you counterintuitively probably need to be thinking more about getting carbon dioxide into your body rather than oxygen. In the latter part of our conversation, we discuss more advanced breathing techniques, including hypoventilation training, where you double your exhales to inhales to acclimate yourself to higher levels of CO2, as well as other experimental breathing techniques that may allow people to take conscious control of the supposedly involuntary autonomic nervous system in order to boost immunity and heal diseases.

Get the show notes at aom.is/breath.

"We are the alchemist of our own body." - Wim Hof
If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes, video, and more at http://lewishowes.com/398
Warning - important message, please read carefully:
The breathing exercise has a profound effect and should be practiced in the way it is explained. Always do the breathing exercise in a safe environment (e.g. sitting on a couch/floor) and unforced.
Never practice the exercises before or during diving, driving, swimming, taking a bath or in any other environment/place where, should you pass out, a serious injury could occur. Wim Hof breathing may cause tingling sensations and/or lightheadedness. If you’ve fainted, it means that you went to far. Take a step back next time.
The cold is a powerful force. We strongly advise to gradually build up exposing yourself to the cold. Always train without force and listen to your body carefully. If it is not practiced responsible, there is a risk of hypothermia.
Do not practice the method during pregnancy or when having epilepsy. Persons with cardiovascular health issues, or any other (serious) health conditions, should always consult a medical doctor before starting with the Wim Hof Method.