Good Life Project - Validation Fever | Heart Science.

Episode Date: January 11, 2018

Asking for honesty, but seeking validation? This tends to be the time of year where we look at making changes in everything from fitness and relationships and to careers, locations and beyond. And, the bigger the decision, the more we tend to look to others for advice.But, all too often, a request for honest input is really a veiled yearning for validation. We've already made up our mind, we just want permission, often to do the thing that'd keep us in a box of illusion and complacency. We’re so wrapped up in the quest for validation, we’ve forgotten that real change only happens when we stop seeking validation and start seeking the truth. That's what we're talking about in today's GLP Riff.Good Life Science: We know exercise is good for your heart, but can it actually "reverse" the damage done by years of inactivity? In our Good Life Science segment, we're diving into some fascinating new research on a very specific approach to exercise, and how it can reverse a specific and insidious type of damage done to the heart through sedentary living, aka, sitting around and working in a chair all day.What's fascinating is this exercise protocol is not only highly effective but also "dose dependent." Translation, the researchers also learned that while 2-3 times a week doesn't help a lot, 4-5 times a week makes a huge difference. And, as always, for those who want to go to the source, here's a link to the full study.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So this tends to be that time of year where there's a whole lot of advice being sought and a whole lot of advice being given for all parts of life. We're still in the resolution, exciting, new year, let's get awesome things done mode. So we start to consider big decisions and choices, and we seek advice. And so often, what we're actually seeking is not advice, but something entirely different, which ends up leading us down the wrong path and making us angry. That's where we're going in today's good life riff. And along with that, in our science update, we got some cool new research on how our hearts work and how exercise can actually reverse some pretty bad stuff and

exactly what type of exercise we're talking about. So that's where we're headed in today's Good Life Update. I'm Jonathan Fields, and this is Good Life Project. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch,

getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series X. Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone Xs are later required. Charge time and actual results will vary. Mayday, mayday. We've been compromised. The pilot's a hitman. I knew you were gonna be fun.

January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing. Mark Wahlberg. You know what the difference between me and you is? You're going to die. Don't shoot him. We need him. Y'all need a pilot. Flight Risk. And we are back in the post-New Year's resolution haze. One of the things that I've learned in sort of making daily intentions and taking daily action, committing to a daily practice. That said, I have a background in the fitness world. If you don't know it,

I actually own two companies in the health and fitness space and then the yoga space. And it was really interesting to see the stats back when I was in the industry with the fitness world was that something like 12 to 15% of new membership for the entire year happens in the industry, in the fitness world, was that something like 12 to 15% of new membership for the entire year happens in the first few weeks of January. And then it sort of rapidly drops off until you hit May, which is then like pre-bathing suit season. And then late September when people come back after the summer. But January is this time where we want to do big things and we want to make big changes in our lives. We consider lifestyle, health, and very often career and business, like making big decisions. Should I change jobs? Should I do things like this? And we think about relationships very often too, along with those fitness and

wellness and things like that. But here's an interesting thing that happens. We go out and we seek a whole bunch of advice along the way. What should I do? What diet should I try? What fitness routine should I explore? What job should I think about? How should I do this? How do I deepen into my relationships?

We want other people to tell us what to do. And we go looking for advice. But here's the thing, just because a piece of advice makes you feel good about the decisions that you've made in the past, and is easy to remember, doesn't mean it's right. So I give you an example here. Not too long ago, and actually this has happened many times to me over the years, I was having a conversation with somebody who was looking for some career advice. They were in a job and being offered, you know, like sort of the next step in a particular job. And they'd been in it for a pretty solid chunk of time. You know, they'd established themselves, they're comfortable making a solid living, but it was also pretty clear that they weren't growing a whole lot. So this new position within the organization, you know, would maybe allow for a little bit more growth, a little bit more money, but probably not. But it was comfortable. It was safe. They knew the dynamic, they knew the culture,

they knew the angels and the devils, and they knew the nature of the work. And they were also at a point in their life where they didn't want to destroy everything. And they were kind of concerned, but they were really yearning for something different, but also locked into a certain deep seeking for stability and security. So they had this one opportunity to take a slightly different job in their current company or do something, make a bigger change. There was an offer on the table from a completely different organization in a different industry, actually. And it would allow them to step into a new company, a new industry, learn and integrate into a new culture, have a whole different focus area, be involved with new

teams and different projects. And it would require a lot of change, a lot of challenge. There was a lot of unknown in it. And at the same time, there was a tremendous opportunity for growth, for potential equity, for learning, for really getting back into the edge of what lit this person up. But here's the interesting thing. As they were sort of laying these two options out for me, it became very clear which one of them they wanted me to validate for them. And what also became really clear was that the way the story was told was that the person wanted not to have to step into the abyss of something new,

the uncertainty of something new. And they really kind of wanted to continue along the safe path. And they told me they wanted my honest input. They said, hey, like these are the two options. I really want your honest feedback here. What do you think? But what they really wanted was my permission for them to be complacent. What they really wanted was validation for the choice to avoid both risk and growth. And I couldn't give it. I tend to be lovingly blunt that among the many entrepreneurs and people in organizations

and careers and friends and family, that's kind of become my reputation. I'm well-meaning to the extent that I can. I'm human. It doesn't always come from a place of love, but I really try and make it come from a place of love. I really try and come from a place of generosity and kindness and love. But I'm pretty blunt also. I will ask you very direct questions and I will give very direct input. my honest input, but it becomes really clear that what they're looking for is validation, not truth. And the truth that I see would invalidate what they want me to tell them. I will tell them I'm lovingly blunt. And that's exactly what I did. And it didn't land too well. And what I've learned over the years is this one truth, that so often we are so wrapped up in the quest for validation,

often delivering five-word slogans or simple yeses or grants of permission, which we don't need from anybody but us, that we've forgotten that real change, real progress, real growth only happens when we stop seeking validation and we start seeking truth. So true growth, the edge of life that makes things worth doing, worth becoming, worth living. It doesn't come from validation, which is often based on protectionism and an illusion or delusion of a fierce desire to not see things change. The real learning edge, the growth part of life, the thing that makes things really exciting and things come alive, it comes from truth. It comes from honesty. It comes from removing the veil of illusion and delusion and reckoning with reality. And that's something that I think this comes up every January, when I think a lot of people are seeking to make changes or at least outwardly proclaiming that they're exploring changes and seeking advice and input and plans and systems and methodologies. from people on these big decisions, be really careful. Be really careful. If this is you, and it will be you, and it will be me, it will be all of us at some point,

be really, really, really aware of whether you're seeking validation for something or whether you're seeking truth and whether you are looking for a reason to sort of stay a particular course or make a safe decision or whether you are looking for honesty that may put you into a place of challenge but also open doors to a much more interesting and alive future. That's kind of where I'm thinking about today because it's that time of year. So do you have validation fever? That's probably my big question for you. Think about it, play with it,

especially at this time of year, and especially if you're contemplating big decisions and changes or small decisions and changes, always be on the alert for whether what you really want, even though you may be asking for something different, is validation or honesty. And then understand why you may be leaning in one direction or the other. That is today's Good Life Riff.

And I'm really excited to dive into today's science, which deals with exercise and how it works with the heart in a bit of a different way than we have explored in previous science updates. Mayday, mayday. We've been compromised. The pilot's a hitman. I knew you were going to be fun. January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing.

Mark Wahlberg. You know what the difference between me and you is? You're going to die. Don't shoot him, we need him. Y'all need a pilot? Flight Risk. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever.

It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest charging Apple Watch, getting you 8 hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series X, available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone XS or later required, charge time and actual results will vary. And we are back with this week's Good Life Science Update for those who are new to the podcast. And we have had a huge increase in new listeners over the last month or so. So welcome, welcome, welcome, by the way. Very often on Thursdays, almost always at this point, but we're probably

going to start to mix it up a little bit and play with some new segments. We do a science update, and that is basically just ability to fill what I call the vitality bucket, our ability to optimize our state of body and mind, which is really critical in the desire and the quest to live our best lives. So I am constantly devouring information and once a week sharing in a science update some new bit of science, some new bit of research that I have discovered. And for my fellow geeks, I will also always include in the show notes, a direct link to the actual research to the study report for those who want to nerd out and go deeper into the study itself and see the modalities and the research methods and stuff like that. Today, we are talking about exercise and reversing damage to your heart, which is kind of interesting.

So we have known for years that being active, being fit, is critically important to all body systems, that it's one of the things that helps regulate hormonal balance in the body, neurological activity, and regulates and also greatly reduces risk for disease. We also know that it grows brain neurons and all sorts of other fantastic stuff. And it's really important to having a really super healthy cardiovascular system so that our lungs are pumping well and that our heart is doing really well. Here's the interesting question that today's

research dives into, and it comes out of UT Southwestern Medical Center. Cardiologists who are studying this were looking at whether exercise can actually reverse damage to the heart that has been done for somebody who's a little bit further into life, very often through simply being sedentary and being sedentary as we age. What we know is that as we get older, a lot of things start to degrade in the body. And among those is sort of what happens to our hearts. And I'm going to quote the researchers directly here. This is a quote from Dr. Benjamin Levine, who's the director of the Institute and Professor of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern. And his comment

comes in the context of what aging does to the heart. Apparently, when you age and you're largely sedentary, which is a huge percentage of the population as we move to knowledge work and become desk bound and don't exercise, that very often can lead to a stiffening, a hardening, a lessening of the elasticity in the heart, and in particular, the left ventricle of the heart, which is the heart that is primarily responsible for pushing oxygen, oxygen-rich blood cells out through the body. And here's what Dr. Levine said, quotes, when the muscle stiffens, you get high pressure and the heart chamber doesn't fill as well with blood. In its most severe form, blood can back up into the lungs. That's when heart failure develops.

The Apple Watch Series X is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series X.

Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone Xs are later required. Charge time and actual results will vary. Mayday, mayday. We've been compromised. The pilot's a hitman. I knew you were going to be fun. On January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing.

Mark Wahlberg. You know what the difference between me and you is? You're going to die. Don't shoot him, we need him. Y'all need a pilot? Flight Risk. So this is a bad thing. And this is something that tends to happen naturally if you're sedentary as you move into the middle and then later years of life. And that can lead to some really terrible outcomes to heart disease and to also premature death. So what this particular research was looking at was, can you reverse this? So earlier research has shown that if you are active, if you are not sedentary, you know, through a lot of your life that you can stave a lot of this off, you can

stop it from happening. You look at a lot of people who've been athletes for their entire lives and then master's level athletes. And what you see is not a stiffening, but a very high level of elasticity and power in the left ventricle and the heart that allows for all these bad things not to happen. The question this particular study looked at was for people who have not been that super athlete, who have not been active, people who have actually been really sedentary and started to develop a stiffening in the left ventricle, which would be leading to all sorts of bad stuff. Can exercise actually reverse this in participants? And what they found was really good news. Researchers looked at 53 participants that were sort of in the middle years of their life, age 45 to 64. A lot of those came from the well-known Dallas Heart Study, which includes 6,000 residents in and around Dallas. And what

they did was they put them through what a lot of people would consider a fairly intensive exercise protocol, and they tracked them for two years. What they found was this, that when they performed the protocol four or five times a week, there was a tremendous benefit. But two to three times a week actually was not enough to make a difference and reverse the damage done by being sedentary. And you may be asking yourself, well, what was that exercise protocol? Was it some sort of insane thing? So I'm going to break it down for you. This is what they share. The regimen was four to five times a week, about a half an hour at a time. And on one of the days, they would do what's commonly sort of like known now as HIIT high intensity intensity protocol, where it's intervals. So high intensity interval training, which means that you kind of go mellow and then you do a short burst of more intense and then mellow and short burst of intense.

And they would do these where they would peak out pretty high. These, again, were done in a clinical setting so they could monitor all of this. These intense sessions were then they would alternate with a more sort of like a lower intensity session. And there would be one day mixed in there that was longer also that lasted for about an hour at kind of like a medium intensity type of thing where you're probably sweating, you're probably breathing a bit heavier, but the classic, yeah, you can still carry on a conversation type of thing. And then one session also mixed in of strength training,

using weights or machines and stuff like that. So obviously if you've been sedentary for a big part of your life to sort of immediately start exercising four to five days a week, and sometimes at high interval levels and moderate levels is something that most people aren't prepared to do. So part of the study protocol actually allowed for a ramping up window for about three or four months where people would

slowly move into this level of activity. And what the activity found was at the end of two years, which was the duration of the study, the people who had exercised showed an 18% improvement in what's known as their VO2 max or their oxygen uptake, which is a sign of cardiovascular health, and a 25% improvement in the elasticity of that all-important left ventricular muscle in the heart, which is the thing that is critical in allowing us to pump blood, oxygenated blood, throughout the whole body. That, by the way, is a huge change. And what's super powerful about that is we're not just talking about maintaining something really good. We were talking about a reversal, a reversal of stiffening, which a lot of people thought for a long time was actually not possible that, you know, you could stop the progress of degradation or stiffening, but you kind of,

you know, we're stuck with what you had. It just maybe wouldn't become worse. Now, what we're seeing is that a really intelligent exercise protocol slowly ramped into under the supervision of people who know what they're doing, four to five times a day cannot just keep you at whatever health level you're at. It can potentially reverse some of the damage that's been done to your heart through being sedentary. And even when you're in the middle years of life, where you have maybe been sedentary for decades, there is still a pretty substantial amount of improvement. That is pretty awesome and pretty huge news. And it kind of ties along with some of the bigger trends that we're seeing in science and medicine now, which is showing that a lot of the things

which we thought were, you know, it's kind of like once you've lost it, you've lost it. And your best hope is just to kind of maintain whatever you have left that that across a lot of systems in the body is just not true. And what we're seeing also is that some of the most powerful interventions are not necessarily pharmacologically based. If you need medication, you need medication. I am not non-drug. There are plenty of things where it is critically important. But what we're seeing in the evolving research is that a lot of the most powerful interventions are actual simple, free, and lifestyle driven. And that is pretty awesome news. So that is wrapping up today's Good Life Science update. As always, as I mentioned, we will include a direct link to the research report so you can see the detailed protocols and the detailed results and outcomes.

And I will be back with you next week. I'm Jonathan Fields, wrapping up for Good Life Project. Hey, thanks so much for listening. And thanks also to our fantastic sponsors who help make this show possible. You can check them out in the links we've included in today's show notes. And while you're at it, be sure to click on the subscribe button in your listening app so you never miss an episode. And then share the Good Life Project love with friends.

Because when ideas become conversations that lead to action, that's when real change takes hold. See you next time. Tell me how to fly this thing. You know what the difference between me and you is? You're going to die. Don't shoot him, we need him! Y'all need a pilot? The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever,

making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series X. Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone XS or later required. Charge time and actual results will vary.