Something You Should Know - How to Create More Willpower When You Need It & Skin Care Myths That Could Be Harmful

Episode Date: March 31, 2022

Putting Covid aside, it turns out people are not getting sick and dying like they used to or in the numbers they used to. In fact, the number of cases of some very common diseases has decreased dramatically over the last few decades. Listen to discover why - sort of. http://www.popsci.com/many-diseases-are-declining-and-doctors-arent-sure-why Do you ever wish you had more willpower? It does seem that some people have a lot more of it than others. Psychologist Kelly McGonigal says you probably have more of it than you think and you can create even more. Kelly is a lecturer at Stanford University and author of the book The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More (https://amzn.to/2JqGQ35). She joins me to explain how willpower works and how you can create more. You probably know that your skin is the largest organ of the body. And you likely spend time everyday taking care of it. Yet there are quite a few myths about the skin and how to best treat it. Here to help bust some of those myths and offer some excellent advice is dermatologist Dr. David Leffell. He is an internationally recognized authority in skin health, founder and chief of the Dermatologic Surgery Program at Yale Medicine. His book is titled Total Skin: The Definitive Guide to Whole Skin Care for Life (https://amzn.to/30zZvjX). Need more space to store things in your house? There are some simple ways to open up a lot of room for the things that really matter. Listen to discover some amazingly easy yet clever strategies for getting rid of things you will never miss and open up tons of space. http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/organizing/declutter-garage PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! We really like The Jordan Harbinger Show! Check out https://jordanharbinger.com/start OR search for it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen!  Go to https://Indeed.com/Something to claim your $75 credit before March 31st! Discover matches all the cash back you’ve earned at the end of your first year! Learn more at https://discover.com/match Follow CALL ME CURIOUS on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or you can listen one week early and ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app.  Download Best Fiends FREE today on the App Store or Google Play! Use SheetzGo on the Sheetz app! Just open the app, scan your snacks, tap your payment method and go!  https://www.geico.com Bundle your policies and save! It's Geico easy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Today on Something You Should Know, people aren't dying like they used to, and no one really knows why. Then, you have more willpower than you think. You just have to know how to manage it. In fact, when we talk about willpower being a bit of a limited resource, it seems like the I won't power is actually more limited than our I will power. That is, when we have a goal that we're making progress toward,

that often is more motivating than when we're constantly trying to say no to something. Also, a simple way to open up a lot more storage space in your home. And we're going to bust a lot of myths about skin and skin care. For example... One thing that immediately comes to mind, and we still deal with it, the notion that if you let a wound air out, it'll heal faster, is so incredibly wrong that it's amazing the myth has persisted for so long. All this today on Something You Should Know.

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start the chat download bumble and try it for yourself Something you should know. Fascinating intel. The world's top experts. And practical advice you can use in your life. Today, Something You Should Know with Mike Carruthers. Hi, welcome to Something You Should Know. And we start today with some really good news. And here it is. People are not getting sick as much as they used to.

The weird thing is, though, no one's really sure why. A host of age-related diseases are diminishing in wealthy countries, and it can't be entirely explained by advances in treatment, screening, or diagnostics, according to the New York Times. For example, about half as many people are dying from colon cancer now as during its peak in the 1980s, according to a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine. Rates of heart disease, dementia, hip fractures are all decreasing as well, and people are remaining in good health longer. So whatever it is you're doing, you should

keep it up and do more of it. The problem is, we don't know what it is. And that is something you should know. How many times have you said to yourself, I wish I had more willpower? It's pretty common, I suspect. We all struggle with wanting to do something or stop doing something that's really, really hard to do. Well, Kelly McGonigal is a psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University and author of the book, The Willpower Instinct, how self-control works, why it matters, and what you can do to get more of it. And I don't know anybody who knows more about willpower than she does. And she's here to shed some light on this very important topic. Hi, Kelly. Thanks for having me. So what is willpower? I define willpower as the ability to do what matters most to you, even when it's difficult, or especially when

some part of you wants to do something else. So like, when you think about the word willpower, what's something that challenges you? What would you say you need to use willpower for? I need willpower, I think, for a lot of things. But the biggest challenge I find is perhaps late at night when, you know, there's something in the kitchen, a piece of pie I could go eat that I probably know I shouldn't. And if it were in the morning, I wouldn't do it. But in the evening, I don't seem to have as much willpower and I'm more likely to cave. That is such a great example for a couple of reasons. One, you have perfectly described, I think, the central challenge of willpower, which is that there are a lot of things in life where there's one part of us that wants one thing and another part of us that wants

something else. So maybe in this case, when you're in the kitchen, there's a part of you who wants health, longevity, vitality, whatever it is that's making you think you shouldn't have that extra piece of cake or dessert. And then there's another part of you that thinks it's going to taste really good right now. And maybe you're feeling a little low on energy and you want a little pick me up and it's just calling your name. And there's this competition of selves, the two parts of yourself. And one way to think about willpower is it's the ability to remember what that sort of long-term self or wiser self wants so that you're not constantly giving into immediate gratification. But the other thing you

said that's so, I think, important for people to realize is, you know, willpower is not a fixed thing. It's not the case that if you have a lot of willpower, you always have a lot of willpower, like it's a personality trait. It actually is more like an energy or strength that we draw on. And it is the case, as you described, that when we're tired, when we haven't had enough sleep, when our blood sugar is low, or when we're feeling really stressed out, we often have less access to our willpower, and we're more likely to give in to immediate gratification. And when I do that, and I think when most people do that, you know, the test of failing willpower is the next day, you think to yourself, yourself, geez, I really wish I hadn't. Yes. And you know, that actually is a great moment to reinforce your willpower. So,

you know, when we think about what willpower is, we're often thinking of that, I won't power, the part of you who maybe the night before should have said no and closed the refrigerator door. And that's just one part of willpower, the ability to not give into temptation. But we often don't talk about this other aspect of willpower that I call, I want power. And that's the ability to be really clear about what it is you care about, what's most important to you. And when you're really clear about that, it actually makes it easier when you're faced with that choice, that moment of temptation or that moment of anxiety or dread to find the courage or the strength to make the choice that's consistent

with your biggest goals, your most important values. Is willpower, do you think, a virtue? And what I mean by that is, for example, when you look at like world-class athletes who train like crazy and they deny themselves a lot of things to get their body to look like that and to perform like that. And I don't think I have that. I don't think I can do that. And is what they have a virtue that, that just some people have and some people don't. You know, one thing that's really important is not look out at other people and assume that they have this amazing strength that we lack. Often when we look at athletes, yeah, they might have amazing willpower because a certain goal is really important to them. And

you'll see that in some aspects of their life, like in training or in diet. But it may be the case that in other aspects of their life, they're falling apart a little bit. You know, maybe they're having affairs or they're gambling or they're struggling with drugs and alcohol. And what I've actually found in working with people on willpower challenges over the years is that all of us, when we find a goal that's really important to us, we all have these strengths, the ability to resist temptation, to put our energy toward what matters most to us. I call that the I will power. We can find the I won't power to say no to the things that get in the way. If we have a strong enough want power,

and I would guess that if I were to analyze your life, I'd find something in your life where you're showing tremendous willpower because it's what matters most to you. And what matters most to you is not necessarily being a world-class athlete or sculpting the perfect body. I think it's a perception that people often have is when you see a world-class anybody, athlete, business person, actor, that they're so on top of their game in that, that they must be on top of their game in all elements of life.

But I always suspect that if you're so self-disciplined and self-controlled in one area, that your humanness has got to leak out somewhere else, that you can't be on top of your game in every aspect of your life. Yeah, I think that actually is the case, and you often see that. But there is a common idea in the science of willpower that willpower is a limited resource. It's a kind of a controversial idea right now, but I've actually found it quite helpful when people are thinking about making important changes in their lives to understand that if there's something that you're spending a lot of time and energy trying to control and you want to change something else in your life, you might need to shift some of that control, some of that energy away from the

other thing so that you can put your energy and attention toward what matters most right now. This idea that we could ever be perfect human beings who are controlling every thought, every action, every temptation, that's not really what willpower is about. I think that's why I define it as being able to choose what matters most. Well, I think that's really key to this discussion, because so often I think when we think of willpower, we think in terms of being able to deny ourselves something. But what you're saying, if I hear you correctly, is that it's not just what you're not going to do, but if you have something that you do want to do, it makes it easier. Exactly. And in fact, when we talk about willpower being a bit of a limited resource, it seems like the I won't power is actually more limited than our I will power. That is when we have a positive motivation and there's something that we want to chase or there's a goal that we're making progress toward, that often is more

motivating. We have more energy behind it than when we're constantly trying to say no to something. It's why often when people are trying to quit a bad habit, one of the pieces of advice you'll often hear is you have to find something to replace it with, or you have to be very clear about how when you say no to that cigarette, what is it you're saying yes to? Is it being a good role model for your kids? Is it that you're saying yes to an extra year of your life? And you can make that kind of concrete link in your mind. Because like you said, just saying no all the time to something that seems like it might feel good right now or might be easier right now, that can actually be exhausting. And we weren't born to have unlimited reserves to say no to

immediate gratification or comfort. Well, there is that rationalizing that humans do of, you know, what's one more cigarette? What's one more piece of pie? I could skip the gym today. It's not going to make any difference. Yes, there are a lot of cognitive traps that we fall into when we're trying to make a change or make progress on our goals. One of them is this idea we have that our future self is going to have more willpower than our current self. And it's actually, it's a funny psychological phenomenon. Researchers have found that if you ask people, how much free time do you think you'll have a few weeks in the future? How much energy do you think you'll have? How much

self-control do you think you'll have? We idealize our future selves and we think that our future self is going to be able and willing to do something that is really hard for us right now. And that's one of the reasons why we say, well, just one more cigarette or drink today and tomorrow a fresh start. And I always encourage people to take the smallest positive action that is possible for your present self. Because actually, one of the ways that we strengthen our willpower is by making very small choices that just ask us to flex one of our willpowers, to delay giving in for say five minutes,

even if you end up giving in. We know from the science that that actually builds willpower like a muscle so that we're capable of actually doing more tomorrow. That's how we get a future self that actually is stronger. So you mean if you're craving that piece of pie, tell yourself, wait five minutes, just wait five minutes. Yes. And you know, some people think that's a trick and you'll forget about it. But even if you eat it and you went through that delay of five minutes, here's what you have strengthened. So first of all, we know that if people even define a choice

as a willpower challenge, it increases their chances that they will make a choice consistent with their, their bigger goals. And then if you actually get through those five minutes, you're doing something that, um, researchers sometimes refer to as surfing the urge. It's the strategy of acknowledging in this moment, some part of me really wants to give in. And maybe you feel that desire, you feel that anxiety, you feel that impatience. And rather than trying to distract yourself and pretend like it's not happening, you actually let yourself feel it, acknowledge it, and feel yourself saying no for 10 seconds, for 30 seconds, for a minute, for five minutes.

And studies also show that when people go through that process, even if they give in at the end of three minutes or five minutes or 10 minutes, that the next time they go through that process, they can delay longer or they actually end up delaying completely. And in fact, this technique that I just described, this like notice the temptation and try to resist it while paying attention to it, it's been shown to be more effective for quitting smoking than actually nicotine replacement therapy. What about the idea, I think it's kind of conventional wisdom in trying to make a change or to do something like lose weight or whatever it is, that you can't deprive yourself forever

and so that if you're a good six days out of the week, that the seventh day you can cheat kind of thing, that you have to have some reward for sticking to it. How does that work in this? A lot of times people identify with the part of themselves that really just wants the immediate relief or the immediate gratification. And that's when they can fall into this trap of trying to reward themselves for resisting. So, you know, if I ate a healthy breakfast, then I can reward myself with an unhealthy lunch because part of you is thinking like who I really am is the person who wants the unhealthy food. And so I have to, I have to express that part of myself in order to balance out the suppression or the repression of my true self

that happened at breakfast when I ate something healthy. And if we can get very clear about who we are and what our values are, it's less likely we're going to fall into that trap. You know, you only have to bribe yourself or reward yourself for being good if who you think you really are is bad. And I actually don't even like to use those moral terms. The other thing I will say is that, you know, it's also the case that when we engage in a behavior over time, it often becomes more intrinsically rewarding. Exercise is a perfect example of this. So is saving money or paying down your debt. There are a lot of things that don't sound fun until you've been doing it for a while and you start to get better at it and you start to realize, I really like how I feel when I'm doing this.

And I really like how I feel after I've done it. And a lot of the things that we think of as, as being a chore that we have to endure because it's good for us, if they actually are good for us in the sense that they, they help us have more energy, more health, more happiness. They give us more control over our lives. If they really are good for us, they will feel good in the long term. And so it's not the case that you're going to have to, for the rest of your life, try to bribe yourself to do the quote-unquote good thing. Kelly McGonigal is here.

She is a psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University and author of the book, The Willpower Instinct, how self-control works, why it matters, and what you can do to get more of it. Contained herein are the heresies of Rudolf Buntwine, erstwhile monk turned traveling medical investigator. Join me as I study the secrets of the divine plagues and uncover the blasphemous truth that ours is not a loving God and we are not its favored children.

The Heresies of Randolph Bantwine, wherever podcasts are available. People who listen to Something You Should Know are curious about the world, looking to hear new ideas and perspectives. So I want to tell you about a podcast that is full of new ideas and perspectives, and one I've started listening to called Intelligence Squared. It's the podcast where great minds meet.

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So, Kelly, this may be just a complete rationalization people use, but the idea of willpower is basically, in most of our minds, basically the ability to do something you don't want to do or to not do what you do want to do. I know, it's exactly the opposite of what I think willpower really is. And it's because, oh gosh what I think willpower really is. And it's because, oh gosh, there's so many reasons why it's part of our culture. You know, it's, it's part of how we were raised as children. Um, and I, I just wish if I could challenge one idea that people have

about what willpower is, it's really to give people permission to understand that the reason we have willpower, the reason that your brain and body knows how to resist temptation, the reason that your brain can mount this defense against fear and anxiety that you need to overcome to have the courage to do something difficult. The reason you have that is because we are equipped to pursue the things that are most important to our survival and most important to our happiness and our well-being. And that's what we have these strengths for. And we should give ourselves permission to direct those strengths at the things that matter most to us.

And if there's something you really don't want, it is such a waste of our strength and our energy to try to marshal all your willpower toward it, whether it's, you know, trying to, trying to control your thoughts or trying to be someone you're not, or trying to control something that as it turns out is really hard to control, like your weight. You know, there are times when you can say, this is not working and I'm going to put my energy and attention toward what I believe will truly enhance my life and allow me to contribute to the world. And that's what we have willpower for. But there are things that compete that, like, you may say, you know, I really want to be healthy, but God, life wouldn't be, if I had to give up donuts, life would be horrible.

So those two things are competing. Are they incompatible? Are they mutually exclusive? Well, let me take a very firm stand on this, that donuts are not incompatible with being a good person or having willpower or even having good health. I will definitely always come down on the side of donuts. And here's the thing. When people are talking about having to use willpower to make a difficult change, it's never about one donut. One donut is not going to destroy your health or your happiness. But often in our lives, we find ourselves in patterns, in, in habits that are creating more

suffering than they are creating joy. You know, the people who most need to marshal their willpower toward food choices are actually the ones who, if you take a look carefully, if they investigate their experience, maybe they'll find that they have a relationship with food that makes them feel worse about themselves, that is creating obvious negative health consequences, that they're using food as a coping mechanism. And in those cases, the suffering is actually pretty clear. And that's different than do you celebrate your kid's birthday with a donut? And I think when I'm

helping people figure out like what's a willpower challenge that I want to tackle, rather than having people start with the most obvious choices, the things we tend to set New Year's resolutions around, but to really ask people, what's something in your life right now that's creating suffering that you think if you were to change it, that habit or that pattern, it would relieve some of the suffering in your own life? And what's something that would create more joy or more meaning? And to find your way towards the answer to that question. And that's why we need willpower around food, not because there's some sort of moral imperative never to enjoy yourself. Even with the best of intentions, even with a strategy in place, everybody who is trying to exert willpower will come to face to face with some temptation that's going to be very,

very hard to resist. And so what do you do in that moment? What do you do right then when it looks like it's a losing battle? One of the things I often encourage people to do is to imagine that they already know the end of the story. And this can really support willpower, whether you need I won't power or I will power, to actually imagine yourself a year or 10 years in the future where you've resolved this challenge, you have made the change and to have a clear vision of that. Because one of the things we know is that willpower as a, as a strength or as an instinct in your brain and body, it's really about the future. And if you have a

positive vision of your future, your brain and body are more likely to shift into that, that biological state that helps you say no, or that helps you find the energy to keep going. And so, you know, if someone were to tell me that they felt hopeless about past failures, I would say, create that vision of the positive future. And in a very non-woo-woo, sort of non-woo-woo way, it's literally going to help the brain give you the resources and the strength you need the next time you try to quit or the next time you try to take positive action. And so how does willpower work best? Does willpower work best when you take little steps or does willpower work best when you try to dive into

the deep end of the pool and just go for everything? What's the best strategy? Both. This is a wonderful yes and kind of answer that you can find evidence in the scientific literature for both of those strategies to take the smallest concrete steps, even if they seem like they couldn't possibly add up to the outcome you want. There are plenty of studies showing that any positive action, any small step in the direction of your goal can actually become cumulative, can lead to an upward spiral toward change. And you should never be afraid to do something because it seems too small. You know, as I mentioned, there's, there was one study that showed that if you can delay your first cigarette of the day, even by a few minutes, that increases your chance of

being able to quit. And that's something that anyone can do. And you can sort of figure out what's your version of that, what's your version of delaying the first cigarette of the day and knowing that that can lead to positive change. But also, you know, at the other end, there's some people who when they get very clear about what they want, they know what their goal is or they know what that value is,

that making a bigger change helps them because it becomes sort of part of their identity. So if you're someone who feels like I need to go into this all out, I need to make this a core part of who I am. Um, I would never want to discourage somebody from taking a bigger step toward change. If it feels like that's what's possible in this moment. I mean, the real answer is you start where you are and you don't wait until tomorrow to start. But if you are to say, if you say to yourself, you know, I really want to get healthy. So tomorrow, I'm going to start jogging twice a day, I'm going to go to the gym, I'm going to drink lots of water, I'm going to do all these 17 things

starting tomorrow, and I'm going to do them every day. That seems like a prescription for failure. You know, it might be for 99 people, but I bet you there's one person listening to this who could nail that because that's part of their core personality. There's some people who are just all in. But I think actually your central point is quite important that sometimes we set these extreme goals of change because it feels so good in the moment to make that vow. We get this like hit of optimism and hope and dopamine when we say tomorrow is when everything changes and I'm a completely different person. And if you sense that that's part of what's driving all of these resolutions to do the different things that you listed, that's when I

say, okay, maybe slow your roll a little bit, pull back and say, what's the different things that you listed, that's when I say, okay, maybe slow your roll a little bit. Pull back and say, what's the one thing that you definitely can do tomorrow? And trust yourself that that can become part of this upward spiral of change. It doesn't all have to happen tomorrow in order to be of consequence. But there is that one listener I'm telling you, probably somebody heard it, and they're going to do it tomorrow because they hear it and they say yes, and it's time.

Well, you know, one of the things you've said that really resonates with me, because I kind of stumbled onto it myself, that really seems to work, is this idea of when your willpower is waning, to force yourself to just wait five minutes. You know, don't eat the donut now. Tell yourself you can eat it in five minutes if you really want to.

And I find that that's a pretty effective way to postponing it because in five minutes you've had time to think about it and you know what, maybe you don't need it. But these are all really great suggestions. Kelly McGonigal has been my guest. She's a psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University, and her book is called The Willpower Instinct, How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It.

You'll find a link to that book in the show notes. Thanks, Kelly. Thanks, Mike. It's been a pleasure. Since I host a podcast, it's pretty common for me to be asked to recommend a podcast. And I tell people, if you like something you should know, you're going to like The Jordan Harbinger Show. Every episode is a conversation with a fascinating guest. Of course, a lot of podcasts are conversations with guests, but Jordan does it better than most. Recently, he had a fascinating conversation

with a British woman who was recruited and radicalized by ISIS and went to prison for three years. She now works to raise awareness on this issue. It's a great conversation. And he spoke with Dr. Sarah Hill about how taking birth control not only prevents pregnancy, it can influence a woman's partner preferences, career choices, and overall behavior due to the hormonal changes it causes. Apple named The Jordan Harbinger Show one of the best podcasts a few years back, and in a nutshell, the show is aimed at making you a better, more informed, critical thinker. Check out The Jordan Harbinger Show.

There's so much for you in this podcast. The Jordan Harbinger Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. show, we count down our top 10 lists of all things Disney. There is nothing we don't cover. We are famous for rabbit holes, Disney themed games, and fun facts you didn't know you needed, but you definitely need in your life. So if you're looking for a healthy dose of Disney magic, check out Disney Countdown wherever you get your podcasts. You've probably heard it said that your skin is the largest organ of your body. And because it's right there on the outside, it is the organ you're probably most familiar with and the one that you spend a lot of time taking care of.

Yet some of the things many of us believe about our skin are wrong. And today we're going to set that right and talk about how to keep your skin looking and feeling great with dermatologist Dr. David LaFell. He is an internationally recognized expert in skin health. He is founder and chief of the Dermatologic Surgery Program at Yale Medicine and author of the book Total Skin, the definitive guide to whole skin care for life. Hey, doctor. Welcome. Happy to be here. So as a doctor, as a dermatologist, how do you view the skin?

How do you, when you look at a patient, what are you looking at? What is the skin to you? It's true that the skin is the largest organ in the body, but it's a very complex organ, in fact. What's interesting is it's the one organ that we all know the best, right? People know whether their skin is itchy, whether they have a cut, whether they have a rash. They don't necessarily know what condition their kidneys are in. And for that reason, the skin becomes the focus not only of individuals, but also of the physician, the dermatologist, the primary care doctor.

The skin, in some ways, is a window into the body because there are conditions that people can develop that find expression in the skin. And underlying all of that is the complexity of the organ, where the immune system plays a primary role, the wound healing cascade, as we call it, plays a primary role, and temperature regulation in the body. Anybody who has ever found themselves sweating understands that. So one could go on and on about the various functions of the skin, but in a nutshell, it's much more complex than we would imagine just looking at our own skin. Because, as you said, our skin is the one organ that we know the best, what are some of the myths that have cropped up that you see as a doctor

that people believe when it comes to caring for their own skin? One thing that immediately comes to mind, and we still deal with it, especially those of us that do surgical dermatology, the notion that if you let a wound air out, it'll heal faster is so incredibly wrong that it's amazing the myth has persisted for so long. In reality, if you cut yourself, if you have a surgical wound, if you have anything on the skin that needs to heal, we know that if you keep it moist, it'll heal about 50% faster. And when you stop and think about it, all of us started in a moist environment.

Cells divide more rapidly in a moist environment. And that is one of the reasons why we always say apply Vaseline or, in some cases, an antibiotic ointment to a wound. And in fact, it'll heal much faster. So that's a very narrow answer to your question. With respect to general skin health, I think that moisturization continues to be the foundation of good skin care. And it's not that there have been substantial innovations in how to take care of the skin, but rather we live in increasingly artificial environments. Forced air heating in the winter, in cold climates, air conditioning at other times, and that tends to alter the ambient moisture which affects your skin. So something I've always wondered is, you know,

when you get a cut, the concern is always that it might get infected. Well, but it might not. And so why do some cuts get infected and some don't? bacterial population on the skin that competes with the bad bacteria, the ones that would cause an infection if they could. They kind of are there to crowd out the bad bacteria. But whenever there are discoveries or innovations in dermatology, again, going back to my earlier comment about everyone is much more familiar with their skin than they are with their internal organs. It also means that people like to experiment and try different things on their skin. And this goes back certainly to the earliest of recorded times in ancient Egypt, the use of all sorts of liniments that were used to try to improve the skin

and deal with injuries to the skin. But we're still at the stage of doing a lot of research. Its role in eczema in children, you know, where the skin barrier has broken down and the kids can get superficial infections, but it's also created, as these type of discoveries often do, a whole world of non-regulated web-based commercial products, skin care products that aim to restore your microbiome. And I think if a listener were to Google it, they'd be amazed at how many products are out there, not a single one of which, as far as I know, has ever been proven to be effective. Well, one of the things I wanted to ask you is, people have heard for a long time now about skin cancer and sunscreen and all of that, and advice to put on sunscreen and whenever you're

outside and and there there have been other people who said but we don't know that sunscreen really does much and in fact if you chart on a graph sunscreen sales as they go up you also see skin cancer going up and so what's your take on that? Is sunscreen really what people say it is? And if so, why is skin cancer rates going up when so do sunscreen sales? The fact of the matter is that the best solutions for medical and health problems are based on an understanding of the science behind it. And with respect to skin cancer, which includes non-melanoma skin cancer, such as basal cell cancer, the most common cancer in humans, and squamous cell cancer of the skin, as well as melanoma, are all impacted, all caused by the sun and by ultraviolet radiation, specifically from the sun. There's no question

that a program of sun protection reduces the risk of skin cancer. That's been well-validated scientifically. Sunscreen use is one component of skin cancer prevention. There's no question that it works in that context. All one has to do is see what happens when you're out in the sun and you haven't used sunscreen and you develop a sunburn. Sunburn is closely related to the development of skin cancer later in life. So, doctor, I know it sounds cliche to say that the human body is so amazing, but when you think about it, it really is in the way the skin heals itself. I mean, when you get a cut, your skin heals back to the way it was, and that's pretty amazing.

So how does that work? There's a whole cascade of things that happen when you cut yourself. The cells in your blood are released and they produce compounds that stimulate the growth of scar tissue and then allow the epidermis, the top layer of the skin, to heal over. And that healing process, whether it's in the skin or the gut or the heart, is very similar. And it highlights the fact that nature has endowed, I think, pretty much all organisms with the ability to repair themselves. As a practicing physician, what are some of the other myths that you come across? And there must be others that people cling to about their skin and how to take care of it.

Well, just staying on the issue of wound healing for a moment, one of my favorite myths is the idea that applying vitamin E to a wound will help it heal. Not only is there no evidence for that scientifically, but it's been remarkable to me that there's actually no entity that will profit from selling vitamin E. So it really has become part of the folklore. Vitamin E does nothing for wound healing. Others? What about hydrogen peroxide? People love to put that on cuts and things because it bubbles up, and so it must be doing something.

Yes, very dramatic bubbling. It actually, ironically, probably does the opposite of what you're hoping it'll do. Hydrogen peroxide out of the bottle over the counter is a relatively weak solution, and it actually will inhibit the growth of epidermal cells. So when we have a wound that's healing naturally and we want to slow it down so that it heals nicely, we use hydrogen peroxide to slow down the healing. It serves no purpose with respect to infection in skin wounds.

Does diet affect your skin in any significant way? You know, that's a question that opens up a very broad discussion, which I'll try to keep focused. There are certain foods that may have an impact in certain populations on acne, for example. But in general, the notion that you are what you eat, it's probably true in a general sense. But the direct measurable impact on skin, in my experience, is not something that you can really pin down. So I think the best advice is to eat healthy and protect your skin from things that we know are harmful to it.

What about your fingernails? They're part of dermatology, but are they the same thing as skin, or what are they? They're a form of keratin, the same compound that makes up hair. And so hair and nails are very much a part of the specialty of dermatology. The nail grows out of the nail matrix, which you get a sense of when you look at your nail and you see the little white lunula, like half moon, we call it. And that's the area, it's almost like a pasta maker. Those are tissues that are producing the nail at some regular rate. And over time, nails change, of course, with the aging process. But they serve an important purpose in terms of dexterity, being able to function. And one of the biggest complaints, of course, is brittle nails, and there are various approaches to try to improve that.

And hair? It's the same thing as nails, but it sure doesn't look the same. Yeah, it's a different type of keratin. There are many different classes in that, just like there are many different types of Toyotas. There are many different types of keratin. And the type of hair, the color of hair, the curliness of hair, all of the features of hair that vary from person to person and contribute to our individual identity are related to genetic factors, including, by the way,

the loss of hair in certain people as they get older. Something, I don't know, I've always wondered about is you look at people, say, on the beach where they're, you know, not wearing a lot of clothes, you will see pretty much everybody has some imperfections on their skin, a mole here, a mole there, freckles, whatever they are. And I've often wondered, well, why? Why is that there? Why is that there and not two inches to the left? What are those things and where do they come from?

So as to why things grow where they grow, I think one might ask the same question about why do two different people have different shaped noses. There are probably genetic factors that are beyond our ability to discriminate using genetic analysis at this point. But we suspect, you know, there's genetic factors in most things and certain conditions run in families. Skin type, as we call it, type 1 skin, the people that are so fair they burn, never tan, all the way down the list to people with very darkly pigmented skin who never burn.

These are all determined by genetic factors. But if you look at those people on the beach, older people have more of those marks on their skin than a baby does. So time must play a role in that. Absolutely. And statistically, most of the lesions you're looking at are something called seborrheic keratoses, which I refer to as barnacles of life. These are these rough raised brown, tan, sometimes black, velvety bumps very often on the back and they are benign, completely benign. One of their main advantages is because they can look worrisome to individuals, they are often what bring the patient in to see the dermatologist and provide an opportunity for a proper full skin exam. And lastly, just your general advice,

I mean, to the person who doesn't have any specific problem, but just general skin care advice is to do what? Have a daily routine that involves a non-soap cleanser. Soap, per se, strips the skin of its necessary oils. Moisturize with a quality moisturizer that has some sun protection factor in it. If you're going to be active while outdoors, use sunscreen. Wear a brimmed hat, as difficult as that is for some people, and follow all the guidelines about avoiding sunburn. My philosophy is you have to enjoy life, so don't lock yourself in a room. But if you're the type of person that has fair skin, a family history of skin cancer, use common sense and avoid the harmful effects of the sun,

certainly during the peak hours. But there is the recommendation, and we've quoted on this podcast some pretty reliable sources that say you do need the sun, that you have to have some sun, that it is good for you, for your mood, for vitamin D, and all of that? I think that the public is pretty knowledgeable about the harmful effects of the sun, but there's also a lot of misconception about the role of vitamin D, for example, and there's information out there that you have to get X amount of sun in order to get normal vitamin D levels. And if you don't, you'll increase your chance of cancer and other diseases.

There's really not a lot of evidence for that. Vitamin D is easily obtained through nutritional supplementation. And actually, for a relatively fair-skinned individual, the amount of sun exposure you need if you decide you want to get some vitamin D the so-called natural way is really very limited. So to use vitamin D as an excuse to go and lie out on the beach is probably not a great strategy. Yes, but I sometimes think people might take that advice too far. I mean, you know, human beings have been walking the planet out in the sun, you know, forever and not using sunscreen. And somehow we've managed to get this far and that, you know, the sun is not necessarily the enemy. You just have to do it in moderation.

Yeah. In fact, that's why I say don't lock yourself in a room. You have to enjoy life and you just have to be aware in your particular situation about what your risk is and modify your lifestyle according to that. I think that the harm of not enjoying the outdoors has to be balanced against the harm of whatever the risk is in an individual for developing skin cancer. One other thing I wanted to ask you about it, because I've heard someone else talk about this. You know how some actresses will say, you know, well, I drink 85 cups of water a day, and that's why my skin glows the way it does. And I've heard that that's probably nonsense. Yeah, so the only thing I would disagree with in what you're saying is the word probably. It's definitely nonsense. Tom Brady came out with a book claiming that his water intake is what made his skin so great. Obviously, the reason you stay hydrated at all times is because it's healthy

to be hydrated. And there are people who are extremely dehydrated where a physician or even a layman can identify changes in their skin, wrinkling, but that's a far cry from normal. And I think if you drink more than needed, you'll be avoiding sun because you'll be in the restroom a lot. It's always good to separate the fact from the fiction and get the real expert advice when it comes to something so important as your skin. My guest has been dermatologist Dr. David LaFell. He is an internationally recognized expert in skin health. He's founder and chief of the

dermatology surgery program at Yale Medicine and author of the book Total Skin, the definitive guide to whole skin care for life. You'll find a link to that book in the show notes. Thank you, doctor. Thanks for being a guest. Okay, you're very welcome. If you have 30 minutes, there are a bunch of things you can find in your closets and garage that you can toss right now with no regrets and miraculously have a ton more storage space.

For example, newspapers, catalogs, and magazines. If you've kept them, you will never read them. You really won't, so throw them out. Cast off clothes and shoes. If you have clothes that have migrated to the garage, come on, they're done. Throw them away. Also, check the far ends in the closet.

Clothes that have made it to the far end of the rod in the closet probably never get worn and could be tossed out. Old electronics, like computers, printers, and fax machines, VCRs. Even if you could fix them, you won't fix them because there would be no purpose in fixing them. Broken or duplicate tools. You really don't need four hammers, and a broken pair of pliers has no function.

Old paint cans. Unopened paint lasts 10 years. Once opened, it lasts 5 years maximum. If it's older than that, it has no purpose, and you can throw it out. And that is the podcast today. I'm Micah Ruthers. Thanks for listening to Something You Should Know.

Welcome to the small town of Chinook, where faith runs deep and secrets run deeper. In this new thriller, religion and crime collide when a gruesome murder rocks the isolated Montana community. Everyone is quick to point their fingers at a drug-addicted teenager, but local deputy Ruth Vogel isn't convinced. She suspects connections to a powerful religious group. Enter federal agent V.B. Loro, who has been investigating a local church

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and someone is watching Ruth. Chinook. Starring Kelly Marie Tran and Sanaa Lathan. Listen to Chinook wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Jennifer, a founder of the Go Kid Go Network. At Go Kid Go, putting kids first is at the heart of every show that we produce. That's why we're so excited to introduce

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