Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee - BITESIZE | The Simple Habit That Can Transform Your Life | Rich Roll #335

Episode Date: February 10, 2023

Downtime had been eroded out of our lives, but what impact is this having on our health? Feel Better Live More Bitesize is my weekly podcast for your mind, body, and heart.  Each week I’ll be featuring inspirational stories and practical tips from some of my former guests. Today’s clip is from episode 93 of the podcast with my good friend and fellow podcast host, Rich Roll. In this clip, Rich talks about the importance of having time alone with our thoughts and why we need discomfort in order to grow. Thanks to our sponsor http://www.athleticgreens.com/livemore Support the podcast and enjoy Ad-Free episodes. Try FREE for 7 days on Apple Podcasts https://apple.co/feelbetterlivemore. For other podcast platforms go to https://fblm.supercast.com. Show notes and the full podcast are available at drchatterjee.com/93 Follow me on instagram.com/drchatterjee Follow me on facebook.com/DrChatterjee Follow me on twitter.com/drchatterjeeuk   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 other qualified health care provider with any questions you may 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.

Today's Bite Size episode is brought to you by AG1, a science-driven daily health drink with over 70 essential nutrients to support your overall health. It includes vitamin C and zinc, which helps support a healthy immune system, something that is really important at this time of year. It also contains prebiotics and digestive enzymes that help support your gut health. It's really tasty and has been in my own life for over five years. Until the end of January, AG1 are giving a limited time offer. Usually they offer my listeners a one-year supply of vitamin D and K2 and five free travel packs with their first order. But until the end of January, they are doubling the five free travel packs to

10. And these packs are perfect for keeping in your backpack, office, or car. If you want to take advantage of this limited time offer, all you have to do is go to drinkag1.com forward slash live more. Welcome to Feel Better Live More Bite Size, your weekly dose of positivity and optimism to get you ready for the weekend. Today's clip is from episode 93 of the podcast with my good friend and fellow podcast host, Rich Roll. In this clip, Rich talks about the importance of having time alone with our thoughts and why we all need discomfort in order to grow. When I think about life, when I think about health, when I think about what people are

struggling with these days, and if someone was to ask me what I think the number one problem in society is, I think it's solitude. I think it's the fact that we have no downtime, we have no space. I think one of the negatives that technology has done, for all that's positive, one of the negatives is, I don't think the negative that's been spoken about enough, which is the fact that any bit of downtime we previously had has been stolen from us. I want you to think about this for a moment. I'm older than you, but I think one thing that we share in our general age bracket is that to the extent that we are the same general generation,

same general generation, we are the last crop of people who know what it's like to live in a pre-internet world and now live in a fully connected world. Our childhood was marked by periods of boredom where we had to go out of our way to figure out creative ways to entertain ourselves. Like the amount of energy that you would have to exude with your imagination to figure out how to spend time was extraordinary. Fast forward to the 12-year-old now or the 10-year-old or the eight-year-old. or the eight-year-old, they have to exert even more energy to not be distracted, to find boredom, to find stillness. And I think it cannot be overstated how profound a change that is. And I'm not sure that we really appreciate the extent to which that's going to change the course of humanity, because what is that person going to look like in 20 or 30 years when they're an adult? It's have to be by ourselves ever again,

ever, ever. You have to go out of your way to find a moment of stillness. And who was it who said, you know, all of man's suffering can be boiled down to his inability to spend, you know, time alone with himself. I mean, we don't ever have to be alone with ourselves. And I know that I've found myself struggling with this because of how different my life is now from when I wrote my first book. Now there's so many more things vying for my attention. And a lot of those are driven by technology that you have to move heaven and earth to create boundaries around that to carve out a few moments of quiet because you're expected to be accountable and in communication at every given moment of your waking day. I agree that I don't think we recognize the gravity of this.

I think when we, you know, we're missing a lot of the big picture when we talk about even things like food and sugar, for example, as important as they are, when you understand where a lot of our behaviors come from, this whole idea of these underlying stressors in our life and how we then use our certain behaviors to compensate for them. I think a lack of downtime is one of the biggest stressors because if you can't sit alone with your thoughts and you always need distraction, well, you're going to use distraction, whether it's social media, whether it's Netflix, whether it's food, right? So how much of unhealthy food intake is driven by an inability to sit and be alone? I think a lot.

Yeah, I mean, I think emotional eating is a condition that's underappreciated. It's easy to dismiss that, like, oh, I'm addicted to whatever kind of food. But I think most people's compulsive eating behaviors and patterns are a function of this unconscious drive to change their emotional state, like this reflexive need to not feel

whatever they're feeling. And I think if somebody was to do a food journal or to posit the question, like, how come I always like, you know, end up, you know, face planning in the Haagen-Dazs, you know, three times a week at midnight or whatever. Like if you were to journal, like what happened to you emotionally that day? Like there's triggers for these things, like something emotional, you're feeling, you're experiencing some kind of emotion that maybe you're not even consciously aware of or completely in touch with that is compelling you in an unconscious way to behave in a certain way to change that emotional state so that you can feel different.

So whether it's drugs and alcohol or food or the phone or whatever else is, it's all the same thing. It's all the same thing. It's all the same thing. It is a, you know, addictive predisposition to alter your emotional state and avoid having to confront, you know, a feeling or an emotion and an inability because of the way we're hardwired to understand that feelings are just that, they're feelings.

Like when we have an uncomfortable feeling or a fear impulse or something like that, you know, we're hardwired through our amygdala, which we talked about earlier, to think that we're in peril, we're going to die, right? And we're going to act accordingly to redress that. But the truth is, it's just an emotion. You're not gonna die. And if you can develop the wherewithal to sit with it, to be in that discomfort, you will come to understand one fundamental aspect of emotions, which is that they are constantly in flux

and they are not static and it will change and it will pass. But it is only through the willingness to weather through that discomfort that you can become connected to that. And I think we're in a culture right now where nobody wants to be uncomfortable for a minute. And everything about society is oriented around luxury and comfort and convenience. And the idea of having to tolerate even a moment of discomfort is considered, you know, something that we're trying to transcend. And yet deep within us, we have a deep need to be in discomfort in order to grow. And I think that's why you're seeing like Spartan races

and ultra endurance, like there's, you know, like if it's all about luxury and comfort and, you know, a padded bank account, then why are all these people showing up to climb in the mud, you know, on a cold Sunday morning? It's because as human beings, we're disconnected from that natural state. And I think the more that we're willing

to be in discomfort, the more resilient we become, the more alive we feel and the more connected to the planet, to ourselves and to each other we learn to be. So what's the take home for someone who's listening to this? All I can do is share my experience.

And if that connects with people, that's great. So please, you know, take this with a grain of salt. But I just know from my own experience that the way that I can get myself to feel more alive is to carve out time and protect time to do things that I enjoy, first of all. In my case, it happened to be fitness-oriented and that turned into ultra-endurance. In the listener's case, it could be anything. It could be painting. It could be stand-up comedy. It could be model trains. It could be anything. But I think it's really important, no matter how busy your life is, to exercise self-care by making sure that you do something that you love. And if you don't know what you love, try to remember the things that you enjoyed doing as a kid. What

were you naturally drawn to? I mean, that's what brought me back into swimming and running. I think that's really important. And I think it's really important to step outside your comfort zone and challenge yourself to do something that scares you. And it doesn't have to be some big deal. Even if you're extending yourself outside your comfort zone a little bit, I think it's important. And I think you'll find it to be incredibly gratifying. And I think it also fuels resilience and an openness to more change. And if you can kind of walk that path a little bit, I think the universe expands. It opens up for you. Hope you enjoyed that bite-sized clip.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend. And I'll be back next week with my long-form conversation on Wednesday and the latest episode of Bite Science next Friday.