Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee - #211 INTRODUCING | Built to Thrive | An Amazon Original

Starting point is 00:00:00 This Friday Bite Size episode is brought to you by AG1 from Athletic Greens. Now I think AG1 is one of the best whole food supplements out there. I've been taking it for about three years now and one scoop contains 75 vitamins, minerals and whole food source ingredients including a multivitamin, multimineral, probiotic and green superfood blend in one convenient daily serving. For listeners of the show, if you go to athleticgreens.com forward slash live more, you can access a special offer where you get up to a year's worth of vitamin D free with your first order. All details are at athleticgreens.com forward slash live more. Normally on a Friday, I release a bite-sized episode, which is usually a

Starting point is 00:00:44 sort of five to ten minute clip from one of my previous conversations. And I know that loads of you really enjoy listening just before the weekend, and many of you go back and listen to the original conversation, which is fantastic. Now, today's episode is going to be something a little bit different, but hopefully you're going to enjoy it just as much. If you follow me on social media, you may well have seen that I've started a brand new daily podcast called Built to Thrive in partnership with Amazon Music. Now, it's one of the very few Amazon original podcasts that have been commissioned in Europe.

Starting point is 00:01:16 It's a daily podcast. Most episodes will be around five minutes long, Monday to Friday. So, very easy to get it into your daily routine. Now, it's not me talking to guests. It's me, by myself, trying to dispense helpful advice based upon my 20 years of experience as a doctor, as well as all the things that I've learned from chatting to guests on my Feel Better Live More podcast for nearly four years now. So today, I'm going to share with you episode one of Built to Thrive. This episode's all about micro stress doses, what they are, and how we can reduce them. And I think micro stress doses are probably one of the most useful concepts that I've ever come up with to

Starting point is 00:01:57 help my patients and the public understand what stress really is and where it shows up in our lives. I wrote about it, first of all, in my second book, The Stress Solution. And since this episode of Built to Thrive came out, the feedback has been really, really wonderful. So what you're about to hear is episode one of my Built to Thrive podcast, my new podcast. If you do enjoy it and think you may want to listen to it on a regular daily basis, you can do so free of charge either on the Amazon website or using the Amazon Music app. And for those of you who like using Alexa, if you simply say, Alexa, play the podcast Built to Thrive on Amazon Music, it will come up straight

Starting point is 00:02:39 away. Now you can think of this new podcast, I think it's The Little Brother or Little Sister or Feel Better Live More. It works as the perfect companion podcast for it. It's so short that you'll easily be able to fit it into your daily routine. And actually, so many of you have already gone in touch with me saying that actually you're listening to it every morning whilst you get ready. Many parents have been in touch to say they're listening on the school run with their kids, which is absolutely fantastic. And each week we're going to cover a different theme. First week was stress. Second week was breathing and breath work. Then we're covering foods, the immune system, gratitude, sleep, all kinds of things we're going to cover each week. So here it is, my very first episode of my brand new podcast, Built to Thrive. I hope you enjoy listening.

Starting point is 00:03:26 Hello, I'm Dr. Rangan Chatterjee. Welcome to my brand new daily podcast, Built to Thrive. And this week, we're going to be learning all about stress, what it is, and how we can reduce its impact in our daily lives. You might be wondering why I chose the subject of stress to begin this series. Why not choose something more light-hearted like creativity or getting out in nature? Well, we aren't going to get to subjects like those but the reason I wanted to start with stress is that in this podcast I'm going to show you how the body is one big interconnected system and what this means is

Starting point is 00:04:05 that if you make changes in one area of your life, there's going to be knock-on benefits for all sorts of other aspects of your health and well-being. And reducing our stress levels is a perfect example of this. Now when it comes to health, stress is a really big deal. It's estimated that up to 80% of all GP appointments are in some way related to stress. You see, the stress response affects every single organ of the body and chronic stress can lead to serious illness. Now, I mention these things not to create more stress for you, but instead to highlight what a massive difference it can make when you learn how to get your stress under control and that's what I'm going to show you this week. I've been seeing patients now for over 20 years, I've got a pretty reasonable amount of clinical experience, I've had a lot of feedback from

Starting point is 00:04:55 patients in the past, I've had a lot of feedback from readers of my books and listeners of my podcast and of course like most of us these days I've had my own experience of stress. So do stick with me this week. I want you to try out some of the suggestions I make. And hopefully by the end of the week, you'll find that you understand what stress is a lot better, and you're going to feel much better equipped to handle all the stresses that modern life throws at us. But for now, there's no need to do anything. Just listen. And we often don't realise we're stressed, do we? Until we reach a real crunch point. It's just a normal day. And then before we know it, we've had a row with our partner, we've snapped at the kids, or we've

Starting point is 00:05:37 driven dangerously in a rage. And often when we look back, we can't really figure out where the outburst came from. You know, we're not on a war zone, we're not being chased by a wild animal. So why do we feel the way that we do? Well, the best way I found to explain this to my patients is through a concept that I call micro stress doses or MSDs for short. And we'll use this term to describe all the seemingly little things that build up and create those feelings of threat and tension that are characteristic of stress. If we take one of my typical patients, right? She's a 41-year-old lady. She's a working mum. And I don't think her experience is going to be that much different from yours. So she's a working mum, right? She

Starting point is 00:06:21 had a late night trying to de-stress from work. And the next morning, her smartphone wakes her up at 6.45. MSD number one. She opens it up. She goes onto Facebook, where she notices that one of her work colleagues has posted that they're on a Greek island watching the most gorgeous sunset. MSD number two. She opens her news app and reads about the devastation caused by a mains gas explosion, MSD number 3, and a hate crime in a city thousands of miles away, MSD number 4. She then gets a text message from her mobile phone provider saying that her bill is ready to view, MSD number 5. Then she sees that there are paw prints on the duvet because the dog has been sleeping on the bed again. MSD number six. She goes to wake up her son for school who moans at her. MSD number seven. And then goes into the kitchen where she sees a pile of washing up from the night before. MSD

Starting point is 00:07:14 number eight. And while the kettle's boiling, she checks social media again. MSD number nine, 10 and 11. You see, you get the picture. That's just a normal morning. That's probably within an hour of waking up. She got up, she woke up with China, made a cup of tea. But in reality, there were at least 10 or 11 micro stress doses flying at her from all directions. And before she's even left the house, she's nearly reached what I call her own personal stress thresholds. We've all got our own personal stress thresholds. And it's when we get near to that threshold that things start to go wrong. We snap at our kids, we have a row with our partner, our back goes into spasm, or we start with our neck pain. These things are happening because we're at our stress

Starting point is 00:08:04 threshold. And when we're at our stress threshold. And when we get to that stress threshold, we often think it was the last thing that was the problem. But in reality, it was the buildup of MSDs throughout the day. Now, an important part of this podcast is going to be you giving things a try. So for each theme, I'm going to set you a variety of different challenges and experiments. And today, it's a really easy one one a nice easy one to start the week just take a moment to think back over your morning what MSDs can you identify in your own life keep this in mind during the day and make a mental note or write down on paper if you want

Starting point is 00:08:40 the sorts of MSDs in your life that are contributing to your overall stress levels. I honestly think if you just look at your morning, let's say you have to leave the house at a certain time for work, or if you're working from home, you have to be on your computer at a certain time, or you have to drop the kids at school at a certain time. Just ask yourself, how many MSDs have you experienced up until that point? Once you start looking at life like this, I think it may surprise you. Now, of course, we can't eradicate all the MSDs from our lives, but I can show you how to make some changes that will help you experience fewer of them and handle those that do come into your life a little bit better.

Starting point is 00:09:23 Now, what's going to be the impact of this? Well, I think you'll probably find that you're going to sleep better. You'll find that you're making better food choices. You might find your relationships feel closer and more fulfilled. The benefits, both physical and mental, really are endless. And when we're making changes to our lives, I find it's really helpful to keep our big motivation in mind or our reason why. So what's your motivation for reducing stress? If I reflect on my life, I think at this moment in time, the big motivations for me are because of the impact on other people. I know that when I feel less stressed,

Starting point is 00:10:11 I'm a calmer parent, I'm a better husband, and I'm a more attentive doctor. So what is your motivation? Really do have a think about it. And here's some suggestions that you might find helpful. Do you want to sleep better? Do you want to be more present for your loved ones? How about your mood? Do you want a better mood? Do you want to be more present for your loved ones? How about your mood? Do you want a better mood? Do you want to lose some weight? Do you want lower blood pressure, clearer skin, fewer headaches, deeper concentration? You know, what we want in life is going to be unique to us, but it's really important you just take a little pause and think about what is your reason why. Now, don't worry if you can't think of anything now. I don't want to put any pressure on you. It's completely fine. You might find during the week as we talk about this topic more and more

Starting point is 00:10:54 that actually something's going to come to mind for you. So just park it if it doesn't come to you now. We'll come back to it. Important thing is not to worry. Now, before we go today, I just want to highlight the difference between micro stress doses and macro stress doses. Macro stress doses are those big hits of stress that people experience when they have, you know, significant life experiences such as, you know, a bereavement, a divorce, or it could even be a violent crime. Now, these incidents can sometimes lead to conditions such as PTSD. If you're someone who is suffering the adverse effects of a traumatic event, then do seek professional help. But even if that is you,

Starting point is 00:11:38 the information this week, the suggestions I make are absolutely just as relevant, if not more relevant for you, because you may well already be living your life much closer to your own personal stress threshold than the average person. And therefore, it's going to take fewer MSDs to tip you over the edge. So that's it for today. I really hope you enjoyed listening. And the only thing that I would love you to do is to have a think about your motivation for reducing your stress levels and pay attention throughout the day to any micro stress doses or MSDs that come your way. When they do, be non-judgmental, don't beat yourself up, just observe them, make a note and come back tomorrow when I'll introduce you to our first coping strategy. So what did you think? Did you enjoy that? It's very different, isn't it, from Feel Better Live

Starting point is 00:12:33 More, but I think it works as the perfect companion. So if that's something that interests you and you think you or a friend or a family member are going to enjoy listening to that, all you have to do is go to the Amazon website or download the Amazon Music app and you can listen for free. As I mentioned in the intro, if you do use Alexa, all you have to do is say Alexa, play the podcast Built to Thrive on Amazon Music and it will come up straight away. Thanks very much for tuning in. Have a good weekend and I'll see you next Wednesday for a brand new episode of Feel Better Live More.

Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee - #211 INTRODUCING | Built to Thrive | An Amazon Original

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