August 27, 2024 • 40 mins
Unlock the secrets to managing stress and preventing disease with our special guest, Dr. Torkil Færø, a renowned general practitioner and emergency physician. Dr. Torkil takes us on a fascinating journey into the world of heart rate variability (HRV), explaining its critical role in reflecting our body’s stress balance. Learn how monitoring HRV with fitness watches can serve as an internal stress checkpoint, helping you to manage stress more effectively and ward off stress-related health issues. This episode promises to change the way you perceive stress and relaxation, offering practical insights for a healthier life.
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1:18 Heart Rate Variability for Stress Management
11:56 Healthy Habits and Heart Health
28:50 Restoring Health Through Relaxation Techniques
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Imperfectly Empowered
Podcast.
I am your host, Anna Fulmer.
Dr Torkel Farrow is a generalpractitioner and emergency
physician, documentary filmmaker, author, photographer and
globetrotter.
With over 25 years as a doctor,he has worked all over Norway,
had tens of thousands ofconsultations and has gained a
(00:21):
unique understanding of theillnesses that afflict us.
Here to share his expert adviceon how to lower disease risk by
monitoring your heart ratevariability using a fitness
watch.
Welcome, Dr Torkel Farrow.
I'm honored to have you.
I thoroughly enjoyed your book.
For those of you watching, Iapologize, I'm not in my normal
(00:43):
studio.
We are moving, so we are makingdo?
We are recording on the fly?
I have the book here.
We're talking about the PulseCure.
It's not really well, it's notreally showing very well, but
the Pulse Cure balance stress,optimize health and live longer.
I love on the title.
It says the runawayScandinavian bestseller.
(01:06):
It should become a bestsellerin the United States as well as
an incredible book.
I have not read anything likethis yet and really what you
talk about is this concept ofheart rate variability and how
we can monitor it in order toultimately not just prevent
disease but actually promoteliving well, less stress and
(01:31):
more energy.
But before we can even talkabout how we do that, I think
it's important to highlight whatheart rate variability even is,
because someone is alreadythinking oh, I just track how
high or how low my heart rate is, which isn't incorrect, but
it's a little incomplete, sotalk to us about it yeah, so the
(01:54):
heart rate variability showsthe stress level, the stress
balance in your body.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
So, um, it is a combination between how the
heart will react to breathing inand breathing out, and I can
explain that.
If you are in a relaxed state,in a recovery state that we are
made to be most of the timethrough evolution, then the
heart will beat a little bitfaster as we breathe in and
(02:21):
there is more oxygen in thelungs.
And when we breathe out andthere is less oxygen in the
lungs, it will slow down alittle bit faster.
As we breathe in and there ismore oxygen in the lungs.
And when we breathe out andthere is less oxygen in the
lungs, it will slow down alittle bit to save a little bit
of power.
And when we are stressed, itwill not allow the heart, your,
your body will not allow theheart to slow down.
It will think that now we needto use all available forces
(02:45):
because this organism may notsurvive the next moment, you
know.
So we need to push through,even if there is less oxygen in
the lungs and the the pulsedevices, they can measure this,
measured in milliseconds, andthen make an assessment of
whether you are in the relaxedstate or in the stressed state,
(03:07):
and it's important because wedon't really have a sense like
this.
All our senses from evolutionarytimes are directed outwards, to
the threats from animals, fromenemies, from food that is
contaminated or degraded that iscontaminated, you know, or
degraded.
So this sense of our innerstate would just be in the way
(03:29):
of those senses.
So it's not only that we don'thave this sense really developed
, but it's actually downplayed.
So to not disturb the outwardsenses and this is why we end up
in this we can go into afatigue situation where we are
totally burned out and you know,it can take years to come back
(03:49):
and some may even not manage tocome back to their state.
So this is a really, reallyimportant thing to avoid the
stress-related diseases, that is, the most common diseases these
days.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
So that is why it's so important.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
And the heart rate.
It has some connection to theheart rate, but it's usually
called.
It's like watching your heartrate with a magnifying glass and
it tells you so much about thisbalance in your autonomic
nervous system that is soimportant.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
And I think a point that is well made in the book is
that we often think that we arerelaxed when in reality we're
actually living with thiselevated baseline of stress, and
that's hard for us to recognize.
I have said before in in mycommunity, in my early morning
(04:44):
habit community, that,especially as women are stressed
is almost the new relaxed.
We don't even realize that welive with this constantly
elevated level of cortisol andwe think we're relaxed when our
bodies actually aren't, and it'swhy.
So I did not realize you werean emergency medicine physician,
(05:07):
I.
You may or may not know this,but I worked in the ER for 10
years and so it's an interestingperspective for us, because we
we have seen this so many timeswhere people come in with this
acute physical manifestationthat we cannot diagnose via lab
work, we can't diagnose viaradiological exams.
(05:31):
Chest pain is what comes to mindthe most, where there's
actually no cardiac diseasehappening from the standpoint of
there's nothing acute happening, but there's still this extreme
tension and pain that somebodyis feeling and, uh, you know
they don't even reportnecessarily any type of like
acute, but it's this ongoingchronic stress that starts to
(05:54):
build up in our system that endsup manifesting physically even
though there's no acute disease,which is precisely to your
point, that this ongoing stateof stress ends up leading to
chronic diseases whereinflammation is the underlying
(06:15):
pathology.
Monitor it tangibly, even ifmentally we don't think we're
stressed, but our body is sayingwell, actually you are.
It really gives us a tool tointervene early.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Yeah, so because when you really feel stressed, then
it does come a long way.
So, this will pick up smallersenses of stress.
So this will pick up smallersenses of stress.
So it makes it possible toavoid, to manage it, you know,
to navigate away from thepossible ditch you know that you
could end up in.
So it's so important that ourbodies are made for the acute
(06:58):
stress for a short time and thento recover.
So it has never in history, youknow, has people been stressing
all the time at some level.
You know, if you see peopleliving in natural conditions,
they are relaxing most of thetime, you know, in their
hammocks or just resting andjust talking and really relaxing
(07:19):
.
So we have gotten used to that.
When we think it, just as yousay that when we think we are
relaxed, there's another biglevel below that, because we
have just gotten used to that.
When we think it, just as yousay that when we think we are
relaxed, there's another biglevel below that, because we
have just gotten used to thishigh speed of our times.
And and we have to use thesemonitors to to find the peace,
to find measurable rest and notwhat we think is rest, because
(07:41):
you'd be surprised at whatstresses you when you start
monitoring.
You'd be surprised about theamount of stress caused by
alcohol, caused by too muchtraining or too little training,
or your diet.
You know, if you eat junk foodand you eat ultra processed food
, that will show on yourvariables, that will create an
(08:02):
inflammation, a stress in yourbody that will sap your forces
night and day.
And once you can identify this,that you can see that, okay, I
shouldn't eat this food, Ishould rather eat this kind of
food.
And when you see the result onyour, on your watch, it's so
much more motivating to takethose hard choices, because we,
(08:23):
you know, we all want to eat theice cream and eat the chocolate
and the crisps and everything.
But when you see that it reallyruins your day, then it's so
much easier to to pick an appleor some vegetables instead yeah,
I love you'd used a phrase thatyou just said measured rest.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
We need to be able to measure rest and that's such a
profound concept because we'renot talking about sleep.
We often think about rest interms of sleep, but rest is so
essential in our waking hoursand, like you just said, we were
designed to be at rest evenduring the day, designed to be
(09:08):
at rest even during the day.
And I mean, let me also, justfor anyone that's new around
here, I am preaching to myself.
I am one that has had to do alot of work to take that
measured rest, um, and beintentional.
Otherwise you are, you're juston the go all the time,
especially if you're that type aproductive personality speaking
of myself there, type Aproductive personality speaking
of myself there that does notrest.
Well, you just be intentional.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Exactly, and that is so important because the ones
that are most prone to go into aburnout situation are the
productive people, the type Apeople, the ones who are on the
go constantly and to lose them,lose their power, their, their
contribution to, to society, youknow.
So it's not only that thepeople are sick and needs
(09:51):
treatment often, uh, but youlose the ones that could be the
most productive in our society.
So it's like a double loss.
Uh, so, and that is a, thoseare the ones that are most happy
about the watches and that thewatches often will tell you you
should rest.
And that because they would notallow themselves to rest, they
(10:14):
would feel guilty, they feelthat they should do something,
from the morning until evening,you know and they crash
exhausted and we're just notmade for that.
It makes us sick.
Our immune system is not gearedtowards that speed that it
makes us sick.
Our immune system is not gearedtowards that speed.
And because we are surrounded bymachines.
We think that we are machines,that we can go on in full speed
(10:34):
from morning to the evening, butwe can't do that.
There'll be a price to pay.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
That's so good and you're so right.
I think technology has actuallymade us sometimes confuse the
fact that we are not we're notmachines.
I mean, that's also such animpactful statement because
technology, I think, has givenus this idea that we can do
infinitely more because thepossibilities are endless due to
(11:02):
technology, and we forget ourown limitations and even the joy
of having those limitations.
Like you said, there is joy inrest and so, yeah, thank God
we're not machines, that we weredesigned to rest, because
there's joy there being able torelax.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
And not only joy but performance.
So when you look at the bestperformers across across, you
know whether they are athletesor violinists or business people
.
They are good at rest becausethe rest is a very productive
time.
You think better and your brainin the default mode network
will produce better thoughts.
(11:41):
You're more creative.
So it's not just downtime thatis lost, it's actually the most
creative time, so you can restwith a good conscience.
You can still perform well.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
I love that.
That is literally the conceptof my health and fitness program
, early Morning Habit.
It is helping women busy womenstart their day being still.
It's that exact concept wherewe're tapping into that reality
that we think we've beenprogrammed to believe that going
faster and harder is going tocause us to stress less because
(12:16):
we can check off more on theto-do list.
But it just feeds that ongoingcycle of hustle harder, do more,
be better and then burn out.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah, yeah, I just read the rushing woman syndrome.
I don't know if you read thatno no, you should read that.
This is by libby weaver.
Uh, the rushing woman syndromethat creates stress, and she
says that many women needs to beeverything for everybody all
the time.
You know.
So they, they want to pleaseeverybody and you can't do that.
(12:47):
You'll end up being stressedout.
So the ability to relax willkeep the women that you're
talking about healthy andproductive all their lives, you
know, if they are able tomitigate the stress levels.
Amen, mm, hmm, amen, you, youknow you point out in the book
(13:27):
that there is a correlationbetween heart rate variability
and nine out of the 10 deadliestdiseases in the United States.
Talk to me a little bit aboutthat.
If anyone is not convinced yetthat this is important and
relevant, talk to us a littlebit about that.
Yeah, low heart ratevariability is a sign that your
body is under stress, and whenyour body is under stress, the
first thing that getscompromised is the immune system
, and the immune system affectsall the organs even the brain
and degenerative diseases likeAlzheimer's and Parkinson's and
(13:50):
many of those kinds of diseases.
So if you are stressed, you'renot giving your immune system
enough power to do its job.
So it will result in all kindsof lifestyle-related diseases,
including cancer.
So you can Google differentvariations of cancer and add
(14:10):
heart rate variability and youwill find that your risk of
getting cancer is connected toHRV.
Your prognosis if you getcancer is connected to HRV.
If you get cancer-free, yourchances of having a relapse will
depend on your HRV.
So it's so important for allthe big killers and death of all
(14:35):
causes.
But what is good about it isthat what you need to do to have
well-being in the moment is thesame things you have to do to
be healthy in the moment andover a long time.
And using the wearables makesit actually more fun to do it.
It's kind of a gamification.
You get some scores for yoursleep, you get your readings,
(14:58):
you know are you exercisingenough or too little?
So it's kind of you're gettinga game where your own life and
health is at stake.
So most people, many people,think that this will stress them
out.
This, this will just be onemore thing you know to just give
them more stress, but but thatis not my experience.
Um, uh, people find a way touse these numbers and to
(15:22):
maneuver.
So if you could see that you'restressed and not had the tools
to get out of it, okay, thatwould be stressful, of course,
but in the post-cure in my book,I'm telling the ways to get out
of it and the way to find thisbalance, and it works and this
is why it has been a bestsellerin Norway for almost a year and
(15:46):
a half in Norway for almost ayear and a half and kind of
changing.
So much about what healthconscious people, particularly
women, I must say it's like 85%of the ones who contact me,
they're women.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Interesting.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
So it has changed the way they look upon health that
you're not supposed to waituntil you get sick and then you
depend on the doctor's skillsand the health care provider's
skills and your money to getwell.
Rather, they would want to beCEO of their own health and take
(16:21):
charge and avoid getting sick.
And now we know so much abouthow to do that and and in my
book I try to, in a very easyreading way, to explain the most
important things that you cando for your own health and we're
going to dive into exactly howto use a watch, because I know
(16:41):
what you're thinking okay, thatsounds great, but how, how do I
do it?
Speaker 1 (16:45):
we're going to dive into that in a second and talk
about how to lower your diseaserisk and thrive by monitoring
your heart rate variability.
He has very specific, practical, tangible recommendations that
you can implement.
As soon as you are donelistening or watching, we're
going to play a speed round ofwould you rather?
With Dr Torkel.
He didn't know he signed up forthis, so I'm going to ask you
(17:06):
would you, you rather and it'svery simple no stress, no stress
, would you rather?
Would you rather go to thebeach or camp in the woods?
Speaker 2 (17:22):
beach, but I would do both they would when you sail?
Speaker 1 (17:26):
this is such an ignorant question.
I clearly don't do a lot ofsailing, although I would love
to do.
You like, um, but I would doboth when you sail.
This is such an ignorantquestion.
I clearly don't do a lot ofsailing, although I would love
to Do.
You dock your boat Is that whatyou call it?
I don't even know and spendtime on land.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
I like to anchor, anchor and take the dinghy in
and then go to the beach.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Okay, so you're primarily living on your boat
when you're sailing.
Yeah, absolutely okay, soyou're primarily living on your
boat when you're sailing.
Yeah, yeah, is there a lot of?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
hiking around you, like when you go sailing.
We love to, yeah, yeah, we loveto to combine, to go sailing,
go to the beach and then findsomewhere some trails to go
walking yeah, I'm also, I loveto walk.
I've done these pilgrimages, somaybe a month of walking to
Santiago de Compostela and inNorway and in Rome and even to
Jerusalem.
(18:14):
So I like these long hikes.
I would love to go to theStates and do the Appalachian
Trail and the Pacific CrestTrail and those kind of things.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yeah, my parents are, as we speak, hiking on the
appalachian trail.
Over the last, like six orseven years, they have worked on
hiking the entire trail, andthis is their very last one and
they will have completed theentire trail.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
So it's a whole culture the appalachian is like
there's a whole culture ofpeople that do it and I'm sure,
I'm sure that if you spend oneweek on the trail, you know you
will live for four months longer.
You know it's an investment intime, in lifetime I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Yeah, and memories, yeah.
Would you rather coffee or tea?
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Coffee.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Do you?
This is so tell me about coffeein your area.
Is there like specific?
I've always heard Italy has thebest coffee in the world, is
what I've been told.
But seeing as you've been aworld traveler, have you
experienced the best cup ofcoffee somewhere?
Speaker 2 (19:19):
I've had coffee in Ethiopia.
That was probably where coffeecomes from, or so they said.
So that was this different andinteresting, uh, but I'm not
really a coffee aficionado.
Maybe it's brazil would be thenicest coffee, and even colombia
, but in colombia they hadnescafe, so they didn't really
(19:41):
drink their coffee, or so itseemed yeah so, but I usually go
for the straight, easy choice.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
You know, get the normal coffee or americano is
what I usually order yeah, yeah,when I lived in peru they drank
a lot of instant coffee, whichkind of shocked me.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
I was like, oh, okay, even in colombia, where it
comes from, they also almostonly did instant coffee, but
that was like 30 years ago, sothat may have changed yeah, yeah
.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Um, if you had the choice, would you rather go to a
concert or a musical.
So either see like a concert.
Is that what you said?
Speaker 2 (20:21):
concert.
Yeah, I'm looking very muchforward to bruce springsteen's
concert now in july in oslo orin in Bergen in Norway.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Yeah so he's a concert concert man.
Um, would you rather you havean evening with your family?
Uh, would you rather watch amovie together or go outside and
play a sport?
Speaker 2 (20:45):
um play a sport you have two girls.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Is that what you said you?
Speaker 2 (20:49):
know one boy and or almost a man now he's 19 and a
girl that's 17.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Yeah, okay, and are they in the area you said?
They're in school yeah, they'rein.
They're in school still yeah,so when they come home you might
play something outside yeah, oror maybe traveling or sailing.
Yeah, I love that.
My kids are 11, 9, 6, and 6.
So we're not quite at the yeah,the relaxed.
(21:18):
I can't even imagine sailingwith my children at the moment.
I'm afraid one of them wouldfall overboard and I'd never see
him again.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
They would find a way to play.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Um, we've mentioned this ideaof heart rate variability,
monitoring it with a watch.
You do have a very specificwatch.
Uh, we have several watchrecommendations.
Um, garmin was the one to methat seemed, at least from our
(21:52):
standpoint, the most accessible,probably the name most familiar
.
Yeah, Garmin.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
You know US watch, us product it's still.
You know, two years after Iwrote the book, it's still the
best option on the market.
Two years after I wrote thebook, it's still the best option
on the market, even if there isSamsung coming up with their
products that maybe they will beapproaching it.
(22:18):
Apple, unfortunately, is not asgood.
You have the Aura Ring, youhave the Whoop Band, but my
favorite by far is the Garminwatches.
That will give you your stresslevel in the moment, uh, easy to
read the curve so you can seethe stress throughout the day.
You can identify thatyesterday's stress was between
(22:39):
two o'clock and four o'clock andthat was after I was eating
this or that, um, so it makes itso much easier to yeah to to
see your whole stress balancethroughout the day and night and
they call it the body batterybody battery.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, yeah, on the garmin watch on the garmin watch
.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
So it's a estimate of how much do you have in your
fuel tank, how much have youcharged overnight, how well have
you slept, how much energy doyou have to spend on this
particular day?
And the most important thing isto use only energy that you
have saved up, so you don't tryto to borrow forces or energy
(23:20):
from tomorrow.
That a lot of people do.
We can do that, you know.
As humans we have, we can pullourselves together and uh and uh
, you know, strain ourselves toomuch, you know, but at some
point it will lead to a disease.
So, um, the body battery.
(23:40):
Then you can see that if you arecharged more than you know 70,
80 you have enough forces tospend that day.
And then maybe you have beenhaving some glasses of alcohol,
you've been eating something youshouldn't eat, or maybe you
just slept like five hours andyou wake up with a body battery
of 30 or 35, then you have totake it easy, or you should take
(24:02):
it easy, so that you again cancharge up in the next night to
have enough power.
So it makes it uh easier to tofind your way.
And everybody will getsurprises and we're all
different.
We're all individuals so wewill all react a bit different
to different stressors.
(24:23):
So a husband and wife, forexample, can probably tell that
this kind of food stresses oneand not the other, and this kind
of uh trip will stress one andnot the other, not the other,
and so on and alcohol andeverything.
So, um, it makes it so mucheasier in that, particularly
couples and families you knowthey think it's fun.
You know what's your bodybattery today.
(24:44):
You know, is that breakfast?
You know it's.
It becomes kind of a game.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
So, um, a valuable one, a very valuable.
This is my thing, you guys, uh,that many of you are already
wasting time on silly games onyour phone or, you know, binge
watching netflix.
You're already putting thistime into assessing something
(25:09):
else or gamifying something else.
Gamify this and then benefitfrom it from a health standpoint
.
I that's what I love about it.
Like you said, people seem toenjoy it, and it makes sense to
me, because not only are youenjoying it, but it is also
preventing disease and promotingmore energy in your life.
So that's more energy in yourlife.
(25:31):
So that's it's such a great wayto approach it.
You pretty counter-culturalstatement.
However, research shows thistime and time again, and yet
people have a really hard timemaking the behavioral
modifications necessary.
But talk to us about alcoholbeing liquid stress.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Yes, and that is the group band that I have on my one
wrist here.
They are tracking theirconsumers, data, the data, and
they say that alcohol is by farthe worst stressor for your body
.
It's not the alcohol in itself,because the alcohol, it will
make you relax.
So in the evening you feel veryrelaxed and mellow, and the
(26:16):
problem is when you sleep thealcohol is converted into
acetaldehyde in your body, whichis a very poisonous toxic and
your liver has to work reallyhard throughout the night to
detoxify you.
So when you wake up in themorning, you know and I used to
drink a couple of glasses ofwine every day, that used to be
(26:36):
doctor's orders, you know, atthe time then I would wake up
really sluggish and groggy.
I would think it's just afeeling, but when I look at my
watches I see my has been as, uh, stressful as if I'm having a
lecture.
Uh, in the daytime I can have aheart rate that's 20 or 25, um,
(26:59):
like 85 instead of 60 in theheart rate during the night, you
know, just sleeping.
So, um, and of course there's somany diseases that are coupled
to alcohol and probably thestress of it is part of it.
And then people find out thatwithout alcohol, they feel much
fresher the next day and,according to Whoop, if you have
(27:23):
like four or five glasses ofwine or beer, it will take five
days until your recovery stateis back where it was before you
were drinking.
So then, if you drink like twotimes a week, you will never
know your performance level.
You, you will alwaysunderperform.
So that is what is so shockingto many people when they see the
(27:45):
physiological price for alcohol.
Yes, and I used to, of course,love alcohol.
I used to drink probably everyday for for 20 years.
Uh, it was even recommended, sothat's how I felt I could do it
, you know, with a, with a goodconscience, but the red wine,
yeah yeah, yeah, so, um sopeople but not everybody reacts
(28:08):
in this way, so there will bedifferences, as I said.
So you will find out whether youcan tolerate it or not.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Yeah, but I love that .
What the concept that we'retapping into here is data over
emotions.
It's this idea of we're goingto look at the science, not just
the external sense of how we'refeeling, but really diving into
the numbers and allowingyourself to be open to what it
is telling you and make thelifestyle modifications
(28:40):
necessary.
And I can tell you you know youguys listening and watching
anecdotally the amount of peoplein my, you know, fitness
nutrition program when I coacheduh that ended up removing
alcohol from even if it was justone to two glasses slept better
and generally feltsignificantly improved.
(29:02):
And actually a common uh, notjust sleep, but also, um,
general stomach pain or justdiscomfort interestingly tended
to correlate with that.
That could have been related toother strategies we were
implementing, but it wasinteresting how often that went
together.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Yeah, I would say that if you feel sick from any
cause or have some troublesomesymptoms of any cause, the first
thing I would cut is alcohol.
Have some troublesome symptomsof any cause?
The first thing I would cut isalcohol.
Try it for like two months andyou need maybe two months to see
how you are functioning withoutalcohol.
Yes, of course you can read alot.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Only from a week you know you will feel something,
but but the complete picture youwould probably need two months
without alcohol to to see whatyour performance level is then
so, so, uh, someone goes out,they're done listening to this
and they're like, yep, I wantthat Garmin watch, which you
guys will make sure it's linked,by the way, in the show notes
so that you can practically goright there and take a look at
(30:00):
it.
Um, as well as his book, ofcourse, the pulse cure, which is
going to be your guide towalking through all of these
steps diagnosing and thenintervening in your own life.
So they go in, they get thewatch and they learn how to use
the body battery and they'remonitoring it and they start to
see these trends.
(30:20):
They're educating themselves onwhat is causing them stress,
what is helping them to rest.
But talk to me a little bitabout kind of step number one
how do they start interveningwhen they realize they are
stressed?
Let's say they think they'rerelaxed, they're doing something
that they think allows them torest, but they're realizing that
(30:45):
they're not.
What types of where have youseen you know your community
make changes in their life thathave been surprising?
Um, maybe when it comes tostress and rest yeah, so you
have two parts of um.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
You know you have to stress lower.
You know to decrease yourstress and increase your
de-stressing activities yes soto to.
I call it active rest in thebook, and that would be like
breathing exercises, breath workand breathe in general,
breathing slower, breathing downto six breaths a minute, which
(31:25):
is half the breaths that youwould take.
If you don't think about it.
That would be maybe fourseconds in and then six seconds
out.
That would calm down yournervous system.
It would be the most effectiveway and you could do it, you
know, for like 10 minutes at atime, but you can also do it
just five breaths here and therethroughout the day.
(31:48):
Get used to calm yourself downby using your breath.
Another way is to use cold, totake a cold shower, a cold bath.
It can even be in summertime ifit's, if the water is well.
It depends in fahrenheit.
Maybe 70 degrees Fahrenheitprobably will still work well to
(32:11):
ease, to calm down theinflammation in your body.
So that would be the two go-tos.
And then, of course, you need tolower your stress, maybe to do
things less intensively, like ifyou do housework, you know, do
the dishes, and just do it moreslowly, more mindfully.
(32:31):
You don't have to do everythingquick to move on to the next
thing on the to-do list.
So just to slow down the speed,because what a lot of people
find out that they are racing atthe physiological speed of 110
miles an hour, you know.
And once you get that speeddown to 90, it's all manageable.
So if you can just do things abit more slowly, a bit more
(32:53):
mindfully, then that is half ofthe job, you know.
And then in between, take thisbreath works, takes moments of
silence, lie down, close youreyes, listen to music, read a
book.
So if you're very obsessedabout being productive, you know
also, the reading time can bevery, very restful.
(33:14):
Yeah, so, uh, so you can read abook, listen to a naughty book,
listen to a podcast, and and soon go for a walk.
Walk is also rest, um rest foryour brain.
So uh, so uh, that can beanother strategy.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Yeah, it's interesting that you mentioned
reading something that, sinceI've become a virtual
entrepreneur and stepped awayfrom emergency medicine, the
danger is that I can workanytime, any place, and so I
actually work more.
I enjoy it more, but I work more, and so it has really been a
(33:51):
challenge to figure out how torest because, to your point,
there can be physiological restwhere I'm not necessarily
working as fast but my mind isstill going as quickly.
And so for me, what Idiscovered with reading is that
it is the one time that I am Icannot multitask the concept of
(34:15):
sitting, not even an audio book,because I can still multitask
on my laptop or whatever where,if I am just sitting and reading
, I physically it's helpful tobe still, it's a little hard to
(34:35):
move and read at the same time.
You can do it, but it's a lotharder.
But it also mentally turns meoff, because I'm fully engaged
in the story and I'm notthinking about picking up this
person from here or everythingthat I need to do here for work.
So reading has been one of themost like plopping myself in a
chair and actually just readinghas been really restorative for
(34:59):
me.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yeah, and it's probably a bit like walking.
You know that you have thisspeed.
You have the speed of reading.
You cannot, you cannot speedread it.
So you have to keep the pacethat you are reading for that
time a half hour or an hour orso.
So if you can do that beforeyou go to bed, then you will
calm down your nervous systemand then you will sleep more
(35:23):
effectively, because that is howwe are designed to be.
Throughout evolution, thenighttime after the sun was down
, there was not so much to do torelax and then fall asleep.
So I used to think that if Iworked really hard all day and
go to bed really exhausted andsleep, you know, almost before
(35:44):
my head hits the pillow, that'sgood sleep.
But but that's not true.
You can see it immediately onyour watches that your stress
levels will be high throughoutthe night.
So, um, so, winding down in theevening, dimming the lights,
reading a book uh.
Stay away from social media andlaptop screens, uh.
Having the bedroom cool, uh,from I from 60 to 65 degrees or
(36:11):
so would be good.
In Fahrenheit and really dark,you should not be able to see
the hand in front of you in thebedroom.
Even a little bit of light candisturb the melatonin hormone in
your brain.
So if you do that, that willensure that you get enough sleep
and make sure that you sleep,you know, between seven and
(36:32):
eight hours.
That's so important.
So, uh, and then reading can bethen a part of the winding down
process yeah, you guys writethis down.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Write this down.
Um, I, really it was an honorto have you here.
We're going to make sure thatthe link to the watch
specifically, you guys I'm goingto link the, the garmin watch,
and then, uh, his book, thepulse cure I, I value your
perspective, I value the waythat you are bringing this type
(37:07):
of information it's so practicaland using data to help us rest.
We just don't do it well.
It is counter-cultural.
So I just I thank you for thelives that you're changing.
I pray God's blessing over yourheart and your home and your
sailing and your son and yourdaughter.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Thank you, but thank you so much Talking to you,
thank you.
Hello and welcome to the Imperfectly Empowered
Podcast.
I am your host, Anna Fulmer.
Dr Torkel Farrow is a generalpractitioner and emergency
physician, documentary filmmaker, author, photographer and
globetrotter.
With over 25 years as a doctor,he has worked all over Norway,
had tens of thousands ofconsultations and has gained a
(00:21):
unique understanding of theillnesses that afflict us.
Here to share his expert adviceon how to lower disease risk by
monitoring your heart ratevariability using a fitness
watch.
Welcome, Dr Torkel Farrow.
I'm honored to have you.
I thoroughly enjoyed your book.
For those of you watching, Iapologize, I'm not in my normal
(00:43):
studio.
We are moving, so we are makingdo?
We are recording on the fly?
I have the book here.
We're talking about the PulseCure.
It's not really well, it's notreally showing very well, but
the Pulse Cure balance stress,optimize health and live longer.
I love on the title.
It says the runawayScandinavian bestseller.
(01:06):
It should become a bestsellerin the United States as well as
an incredible book.
I have not read anything likethis yet and really what you
talk about is this concept ofheart rate variability and how
we can monitor it in order toultimately not just prevent
disease but actually promoteliving well, less stress and
(01:31):
more energy.
But before we can even talkabout how we do that, I think
it's important to highlight whatheart rate variability even is,
because someone is alreadythinking oh, I just track how
high or how low my heart rate is, which isn't incorrect, but
it's a little incomplete, sotalk to us about it yeah, so the
(01:54):
heart rate variability showsthe stress level, the stress
balance in your body.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
So, um, it is a combination between how the
heart will react to breathing inand breathing out, and I can
explain that.
If you are in a relaxed state,in a recovery state that we are
made to be most of the timethrough evolution, then the
heart will beat a little bitfaster as we breathe in and
(02:21):
there is more oxygen in thelungs.
And when we breathe out andthere is less oxygen in the
lungs, it will slow down alittle bit faster.
As we breathe in and there ismore oxygen in the lungs.
And when we breathe out andthere is less oxygen in the
lungs, it will slow down alittle bit to save a little bit
of power.
And when we are stressed, itwill not allow the heart, your,
your body will not allow theheart to slow down.
It will think that now we needto use all available forces
(02:45):
because this organism may notsurvive the next moment, you
know.
So we need to push through,even if there is less oxygen in
the lungs and the the pulsedevices, they can measure this,
measured in milliseconds, andthen make an assessment of
whether you are in the relaxedstate or in the stressed state,
(03:07):
and it's important because wedon't really have a sense like
this.
All our senses from evolutionarytimes are directed outwards, to
the threats from animals, fromenemies, from food that is
contaminated or degraded that iscontaminated, you know, or
degraded.
So this sense of our innerstate would just be in the way
(03:29):
of those senses.
So it's not only that we don'thave this sense really developed
, but it's actually downplayed.
So to not disturb the outwardsenses and this is why we end up
in this we can go into afatigue situation where we are
totally burned out and you know,it can take years to come back
(03:49):
and some may even not manage tocome back to their state.
So this is a really, reallyimportant thing to avoid the
stress-related diseases, that is, the most common diseases these
days.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
So that is why it's so important.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
And the heart rate.
It has some connection to theheart rate, but it's usually
called.
It's like watching your heartrate with a magnifying glass and
it tells you so much about thisbalance in your autonomic
nervous system that is soimportant.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
And I think a point that is well made in the book is
that we often think that we arerelaxed when in reality we're
actually living with thiselevated baseline of stress, and
that's hard for us to recognize.
I have said before in in mycommunity, in my early morning
(04:44):
habit community, that,especially as women are stressed
is almost the new relaxed.
We don't even realize that welive with this constantly
elevated level of cortisol andwe think we're relaxed when our
bodies actually aren't, and it'swhy.
So I did not realize you werean emergency medicine physician,
(05:07):
I.
You may or may not know this,but I worked in the ER for 10
years and so it's an interestingperspective for us, because we
we have seen this so many timeswhere people come in with this
acute physical manifestationthat we cannot diagnose via lab
work, we can't diagnose viaradiological exams.
(05:31):
Chest pain is what comes to mindthe most, where there's
actually no cardiac diseasehappening from the standpoint of
there's nothing acute happening, but there's still this extreme
tension and pain that somebodyis feeling and, uh, you know
they don't even reportnecessarily any type of like
acute, but it's this ongoingchronic stress that starts to
(05:54):
build up in our system that endsup manifesting physically even
though there's no acute disease,which is precisely to your
point, that this ongoing stateof stress ends up leading to
chronic diseases whereinflammation is the underlying
(06:15):
pathology.
Monitor it tangibly, even ifmentally we don't think we're
stressed, but our body is sayingwell, actually you are.
It really gives us a tool tointervene early.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Yeah, so because when you really feel stressed, then
it does come a long way.
So, this will pick up smallersenses of stress.
So this will pick up smallersenses of stress.
So it makes it possible toavoid, to manage it, you know,
to navigate away from thepossible ditch you know that you
could end up in.
So it's so important that ourbodies are made for the acute
(06:58):
stress for a short time and thento recover.
So it has never in history, youknow, has people been stressing
all the time at some level.
You know, if you see peopleliving in natural conditions,
they are relaxing most of thetime, you know, in their
hammocks or just resting andjust talking and really relaxing
(07:19):
.
So we have gotten used to that.
When we think it, just as yousay that when we think we are
relaxed, there's another biglevel below that, because we
have just gotten used to that.
When we think it, just as yousay that when we think we are
relaxed, there's another biglevel below that, because we
have just gotten used to thishigh speed of our times.
And and we have to use thesemonitors to to find the peace,
to find measurable rest and notwhat we think is rest, because
(07:41):
you'd be surprised at whatstresses you when you start
monitoring.
You'd be surprised about theamount of stress caused by
alcohol, caused by too muchtraining or too little training,
or your diet.
You know, if you eat junk foodand you eat ultra processed food
, that will show on yourvariables, that will create an
(08:02):
inflammation, a stress in yourbody that will sap your forces
night and day.
And once you can identify this,that you can see that, okay, I
shouldn't eat this food, Ishould rather eat this kind of
food.
And when you see the result onyour, on your watch, it's so
much more motivating to takethose hard choices, because we,
(08:23):
you know, we all want to eat theice cream and eat the chocolate
and the crisps and everything.
But when you see that it reallyruins your day, then it's so
much easier to to pick an appleor some vegetables instead yeah,
I love you'd used a phrase thatyou just said measured rest.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
We need to be able to measure rest and that's such a
profound concept because we'renot talking about sleep.
We often think about rest interms of sleep, but rest is so
essential in our waking hoursand, like you just said, we were
designed to be at rest evenduring the day, designed to be
(09:08):
at rest even during the day.
And I mean, let me also, justfor anyone that's new around
here, I am preaching to myself.
I am one that has had to do alot of work to take that
measured rest, um, and beintentional.
Otherwise you are, you're juston the go all the time,
especially if you're that type aproductive personality speaking
of myself there, type Aproductive personality speaking
of myself there that does notrest.
Well, you just be intentional.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Exactly, and that is so important because the ones
that are most prone to go into aburnout situation are the
productive people, the type Apeople, the ones who are on the
go constantly and to lose them,lose their power, their, their
contribution to, to society, youknow.
So it's not only that thepeople are sick and needs
(09:51):
treatment often, uh, but youlose the ones that could be the
most productive in our society.
So it's like a double loss.
Uh, so, and that is a, thoseare the ones that are most happy
about the watches and that thewatches often will tell you you
should rest.
And that because they would notallow themselves to rest, they
(10:14):
would feel guilty, they feelthat they should do something,
from the morning until evening,you know and they crash
exhausted and we're just notmade for that.
It makes us sick.
Our immune system is not gearedtowards that speed that it
makes us sick.
Our immune system is not gearedtowards that speed.
And because we are surrounded bymachines.
We think that we are machines,that we can go on in full speed
(10:34):
from morning to the evening, butwe can't do that.
There'll be a price to pay.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
That's so good and you're so right.
I think technology has actuallymade us sometimes confuse the
fact that we are not we're notmachines.
I mean, that's also such animpactful statement because
technology, I think, has givenus this idea that we can do
infinitely more because thepossibilities are endless due to
(11:02):
technology, and we forget ourown limitations and even the joy
of having those limitations.
Like you said, there is joy inrest and so, yeah, thank God
we're not machines, that we weredesigned to rest, because
there's joy there being able torelax.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
And not only joy but performance.
So when you look at the bestperformers across across, you
know whether they are athletesor violinists or business people
.
They are good at rest becausethe rest is a very productive
time.
You think better and your brainin the default mode network
will produce better thoughts.
(11:41):
You're more creative.
So it's not just downtime thatis lost, it's actually the most
creative time, so you can restwith a good conscience.
You can still perform well.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
I love that.
That is literally the conceptof my health and fitness program
, early Morning Habit.
It is helping women busy womenstart their day being still.
It's that exact concept wherewe're tapping into that reality
that we think we've beenprogrammed to believe that going
faster and harder is going tocause us to stress less because
(12:16):
we can check off more on theto-do list.
But it just feeds that ongoingcycle of hustle harder, do more,
be better and then burn out.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah, yeah, I just read the rushing woman syndrome.
I don't know if you read thatno no, you should read that.
This is by libby weaver.
Uh, the rushing woman syndromethat creates stress, and she
says that many women needs to beeverything for everybody all
the time.
You know.
So they, they want to pleaseeverybody and you can't do that.
(12:47):
You'll end up being stressedout.
So the ability to relax willkeep the women that you're
talking about healthy andproductive all their lives, you
know, if they are able tomitigate the stress levels.
Amen, mm, hmm, amen, you, youknow you point out in the book
(13:27):
that there is a correlationbetween heart rate variability
and nine out of the 10 deadliestdiseases in the United States.
Talk to me a little bit aboutthat.
If anyone is not convinced yetthat this is important and
relevant, talk to us a littlebit about that.
Yeah, low heart ratevariability is a sign that your
body is under stress, and whenyour body is under stress, the
first thing that getscompromised is the immune system
, and the immune system affectsall the organs even the brain
and degenerative diseases likeAlzheimer's and Parkinson's and
(13:50):
many of those kinds of diseases.
So if you are stressed, you'renot giving your immune system
enough power to do its job.
So it will result in all kindsof lifestyle-related diseases,
including cancer.
So you can Google differentvariations of cancer and add
(14:10):
heart rate variability and youwill find that your risk of
getting cancer is connected toHRV.
Your prognosis if you getcancer is connected to HRV.
If you get cancer-free, yourchances of having a relapse will
depend on your HRV.
So it's so important for allthe big killers and death of all
(14:35):
causes.
But what is good about it isthat what you need to do to have
well-being in the moment is thesame things you have to do to
be healthy in the moment andover a long time.
And using the wearables makesit actually more fun to do it.
It's kind of a gamification.
You get some scores for yoursleep, you get your readings,
(14:58):
you know are you exercisingenough or too little?
So it's kind of you're gettinga game where your own life and
health is at stake.
So most people, many people,think that this will stress them
out.
This, this will just be onemore thing you know to just give
them more stress, but but thatis not my experience.
Um, uh, people find a way touse these numbers and to
(15:22):
maneuver.
So if you could see that you'restressed and not had the tools
to get out of it, okay, thatwould be stressful, of course,
but in the post-cure in my book,I'm telling the ways to get out
of it and the way to find thisbalance, and it works and this
is why it has been a bestsellerin Norway for almost a year and
(15:46):
a half in Norway for almost ayear and a half and kind of
changing.
So much about what healthconscious people, particularly
women, I must say it's like 85%of the ones who contact me,
they're women.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Interesting.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
So it has changed the way they look upon health that
you're not supposed to waituntil you get sick and then you
depend on the doctor's skillsand the health care provider's
skills and your money to getwell.
Rather, they would want to beCEO of their own health and take
(16:21):
charge and avoid getting sick.
And now we know so much abouthow to do that and and in my
book I try to, in a very easyreading way, to explain the most
important things that you cando for your own health and we're
going to dive into exactly howto use a watch, because I know
(16:41):
what you're thinking okay, thatsounds great, but how, how do I
do it?
Speaker 1 (16:45):
we're going to dive into that in a second and talk
about how to lower your diseaserisk and thrive by monitoring
your heart rate variability.
He has very specific, practical, tangible recommendations that
you can implement.
As soon as you are donelistening or watching, we're
going to play a speed round ofwould you rather?
With Dr Torkel.
He didn't know he signed up forthis, so I'm going to ask you
(17:06):
would you, you rather and it'svery simple no stress, no stress
, would you rather?
Would you rather go to thebeach or camp in the woods?
Speaker 2 (17:22):
beach, but I would do both they would when you sail?
Speaker 1 (17:26):
this is such an ignorant question.
I clearly don't do a lot ofsailing, although I would love
to do.
You like, um, but I would doboth when you sail.
This is such an ignorantquestion.
I clearly don't do a lot ofsailing, although I would love
to Do.
You dock your boat Is that whatyou call it?
I don't even know and spendtime on land.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
I like to anchor, anchor and take the dinghy in
and then go to the beach.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Okay, so you're primarily living on your boat
when you're sailing.
Yeah, absolutely okay, soyou're primarily living on your
boat when you're sailing.
Yeah, yeah, is there a lot of?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
hiking around you, like when you go sailing.
We love to, yeah, yeah, we loveto to combine, to go sailing,
go to the beach and then findsomewhere some trails to go
walking yeah, I'm also, I loveto walk.
I've done these pilgrimages, somaybe a month of walking to
Santiago de Compostela and inNorway and in Rome and even to
Jerusalem.
(18:14):
So I like these long hikes.
I would love to go to theStates and do the Appalachian
Trail and the Pacific CrestTrail and those kind of things.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yeah, my parents are, as we speak, hiking on the
appalachian trail.
Over the last, like six orseven years, they have worked on
hiking the entire trail, andthis is their very last one and
they will have completed theentire trail.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
So it's a whole culture the appalachian is like
there's a whole culture ofpeople that do it and I'm sure,
I'm sure that if you spend oneweek on the trail, you know you
will live for four months longer.
You know it's an investment intime, in lifetime I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Yeah, and memories, yeah.
Would you rather coffee or tea?
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Coffee.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Do you?
This is so tell me about coffeein your area.
Is there like specific?
I've always heard Italy has thebest coffee in the world, is
what I've been told.
But seeing as you've been aworld traveler, have you
experienced the best cup ofcoffee somewhere?
Speaker 2 (19:19):
I've had coffee in Ethiopia.
That was probably where coffeecomes from, or so they said.
So that was this different andinteresting, uh, but I'm not
really a coffee aficionado.
Maybe it's brazil would be thenicest coffee, and even colombia
, but in colombia they hadnescafe, so they didn't really
(19:41):
drink their coffee, or so itseemed yeah so, but I usually go
for the straight, easy choice.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
You know, get the normal coffee or americano is
what I usually order yeah, yeah,when I lived in peru they drank
a lot of instant coffee, whichkind of shocked me.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
I was like, oh, okay, even in colombia, where it
comes from, they also almostonly did instant coffee, but
that was like 30 years ago, sothat may have changed yeah, yeah
.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Um, if you had the choice, would you rather go to a
concert or a musical.
So either see like a concert.
Is that what you said?
Speaker 2 (20:21):
concert.
Yeah, I'm looking very muchforward to bruce springsteen's
concert now in july in oslo orin in Bergen in Norway.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Yeah so he's a concert concert man.
Um, would you rather you havean evening with your family?
Uh, would you rather watch amovie together or go outside and
play a sport?
Speaker 2 (20:45):
um play a sport you have two girls.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Is that what you said you?
Speaker 2 (20:49):
know one boy and or almost a man now he's 19 and a
girl that's 17.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Yeah, okay, and are they in the area you said?
They're in school yeah, they'rein.
They're in school still yeah,so when they come home you might
play something outside yeah, oror maybe traveling or sailing.
Yeah, I love that.
My kids are 11, 9, 6, and 6.
So we're not quite at the yeah,the relaxed.
(21:18):
I can't even imagine sailingwith my children at the moment.
I'm afraid one of them wouldfall overboard and I'd never see
him again.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
They would find a way to play.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Um, we've mentioned this ideaof heart rate variability,
monitoring it with a watch.
You do have a very specificwatch.
Uh, we have several watchrecommendations.
Um, garmin was the one to methat seemed, at least from our
(21:52):
standpoint, the most accessible,probably the name most familiar
.
Yeah, Garmin.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
You know US watch, us product it's still.
You know, two years after Iwrote the book, it's still the
best option on the market.
Two years after I wrote thebook, it's still the best option
on the market, even if there isSamsung coming up with their
products that maybe they will beapproaching it.
(22:18):
Apple, unfortunately, is not asgood.
You have the Aura Ring, youhave the Whoop Band, but my
favorite by far is the Garminwatches.
That will give you your stresslevel in the moment, uh, easy to
read the curve so you can seethe stress throughout the day.
You can identify thatyesterday's stress was between
(22:39):
two o'clock and four o'clock andthat was after I was eating
this or that, um, so it makes itso much easier to yeah to to
see your whole stress balancethroughout the day and night and
they call it the body batterybody battery.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, yeah, on the garmin watch on the garmin watch
.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
So it's a estimate of how much do you have in your
fuel tank, how much have youcharged overnight, how well have
you slept, how much energy doyou have to spend on this
particular day?
And the most important thing isto use only energy that you
have saved up, so you don't tryto to borrow forces or energy
(23:20):
from tomorrow.
That a lot of people do.
We can do that, you know.
As humans we have, we can pullourselves together and uh and uh
, you know, strain ourselves toomuch, you know, but at some
point it will lead to a disease.
So, um, the body battery.
(23:40):
Then you can see that if you arecharged more than you know 70,
80 you have enough forces tospend that day.
And then maybe you have beenhaving some glasses of alcohol,
you've been eating something youshouldn't eat, or maybe you
just slept like five hours andyou wake up with a body battery
of 30 or 35, then you have totake it easy, or you should take
(24:02):
it easy, so that you again cancharge up in the next night to
have enough power.
So it makes it uh easier to tofind your way.
And everybody will getsurprises and we're all
different.
We're all individuals so wewill all react a bit different
to different stressors.
(24:23):
So a husband and wife, forexample, can probably tell that
this kind of food stresses oneand not the other, and this kind
of uh trip will stress one andnot the other, not the other,
and so on and alcohol andeverything.
So, um, it makes it so mucheasier in that, particularly
couples and families you knowthey think it's fun.
You know what's your bodybattery today.
(24:44):
You know, is that breakfast?
You know it's.
It becomes kind of a game.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
So, um, a valuable one, a very valuable.
This is my thing, you guys, uh,that many of you are already
wasting time on silly games onyour phone or, you know, binge
watching netflix.
You're already putting thistime into assessing something
(25:09):
else or gamifying something else.
Gamify this and then benefitfrom it from a health standpoint
.
I that's what I love about it.
Like you said, people seem toenjoy it, and it makes sense to
me, because not only are youenjoying it, but it is also
preventing disease and promotingmore energy in your life.
So that's more energy in yourlife.
(25:31):
So that's it's such a great wayto approach it.
You pretty counter-culturalstatement.
However, research shows thistime and time again, and yet
people have a really hard timemaking the behavioral
modifications necessary.
But talk to us about alcoholbeing liquid stress.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Yes, and that is the group band that I have on my one
wrist here.
They are tracking theirconsumers, data, the data, and
they say that alcohol is by farthe worst stressor for your body
.
It's not the alcohol in itself,because the alcohol, it will
make you relax.
So in the evening you feel veryrelaxed and mellow, and the
(26:16):
problem is when you sleep thealcohol is converted into
acetaldehyde in your body, whichis a very poisonous toxic and
your liver has to work reallyhard throughout the night to
detoxify you.
So when you wake up in themorning, you know and I used to
drink a couple of glasses ofwine every day, that used to be
(26:36):
doctor's orders, you know, atthe time then I would wake up
really sluggish and groggy.
I would think it's just afeeling, but when I look at my
watches I see my has been as, uh, stressful as if I'm having a
lecture.
Uh, in the daytime I can have aheart rate that's 20 or 25, um,
(26:59):
like 85 instead of 60 in theheart rate during the night, you
know, just sleeping.
So, um, and of course there's somany diseases that are coupled
to alcohol and probably thestress of it is part of it.
And then people find out thatwithout alcohol, they feel much
fresher the next day and,according to Whoop, if you have
(27:23):
like four or five glasses ofwine or beer, it will take five
days until your recovery stateis back where it was before you
were drinking.
So then, if you drink like twotimes a week, you will never
know your performance level.
You, you will alwaysunderperform.
So that is what is so shockingto many people when they see the
(27:45):
physiological price for alcohol.
Yes, and I used to, of course,love alcohol.
I used to drink probably everyday for for 20 years.
Uh, it was even recommended, sothat's how I felt I could do it
, you know, with a, with a goodconscience, but the red wine,
yeah yeah, yeah, so, um sopeople but not everybody reacts
(28:08):
in this way, so there will bedifferences, as I said.
So you will find out whether youcan tolerate it or not.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Yeah, but I love that .
What the concept that we'retapping into here is data over
emotions.
It's this idea of we're goingto look at the science, not just
the external sense of how we'refeeling, but really diving into
the numbers and allowingyourself to be open to what it
is telling you and make thelifestyle modifications
(28:40):
necessary.
And I can tell you you know youguys listening and watching
anecdotally the amount of peoplein my, you know, fitness
nutrition program when I coacheduh that ended up removing
alcohol from even if it was justone to two glasses slept better
and generally feltsignificantly improved.
(29:02):
And actually a common uh, notjust sleep, but also, um,
general stomach pain or justdiscomfort interestingly tended
to correlate with that.
That could have been related toother strategies we were
implementing, but it wasinteresting how often that went
together.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Yeah, I would say that if you feel sick from any
cause or have some troublesomesymptoms of any cause, the first
thing I would cut is alcohol.
Have some troublesome symptomsof any cause?
The first thing I would cut isalcohol.
Try it for like two months andyou need maybe two months to see
how you are functioning withoutalcohol.
Yes, of course you can read alot.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Only from a week you know you will feel something,
but but the complete picture youwould probably need two months
without alcohol to to see whatyour performance level is then
so, so, uh, someone goes out,they're done listening to this
and they're like, yep, I wantthat Garmin watch, which you
guys will make sure it's linked,by the way, in the show notes
so that you can practically goright there and take a look at
(30:00):
it.
Um, as well as his book, ofcourse, the pulse cure, which is
going to be your guide towalking through all of these
steps diagnosing and thenintervening in your own life.
So they go in, they get thewatch and they learn how to use
the body battery and they'remonitoring it and they start to
see these trends.
(30:20):
They're educating themselves onwhat is causing them stress,
what is helping them to rest.
But talk to me a little bitabout kind of step number one
how do they start interveningwhen they realize they are
stressed?
Let's say they think they'rerelaxed, they're doing something
that they think allows them torest, but they're realizing that
(30:45):
they're not.
What types of where have youseen you know your community
make changes in their life thathave been surprising?
Um, maybe when it comes tostress and rest yeah, so you
have two parts of um.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
You know you have to stress lower.
You know to decrease yourstress and increase your
de-stressing activities yes soto to.
I call it active rest in thebook, and that would be like
breathing exercises, breath workand breathe in general,
breathing slower, breathing downto six breaths a minute, which
(31:25):
is half the breaths that youwould take.
If you don't think about it.
That would be maybe fourseconds in and then six seconds
out.
That would calm down yournervous system.
It would be the most effectiveway and you could do it, you
know, for like 10 minutes at atime, but you can also do it
just five breaths here and therethroughout the day.
(31:48):
Get used to calm yourself downby using your breath.
Another way is to use cold, totake a cold shower, a cold bath.
It can even be in summertime ifit's, if the water is well.
It depends in fahrenheit.
Maybe 70 degrees Fahrenheitprobably will still work well to
(32:11):
ease, to calm down theinflammation in your body.
So that would be the two go-tos.
And then, of course, you need tolower your stress, maybe to do
things less intensively, like ifyou do housework, you know, do
the dishes, and just do it moreslowly, more mindfully.
(32:31):
You don't have to do everythingquick to move on to the next
thing on the to-do list.
So just to slow down the speed,because what a lot of people
find out that they are racing atthe physiological speed of 110
miles an hour, you know.
And once you get that speeddown to 90, it's all manageable.
So if you can just do things abit more slowly, a bit more
(32:53):
mindfully, then that is half ofthe job, you know.
And then in between, take thisbreath works, takes moments of
silence, lie down, close youreyes, listen to music, read a
book.
So if you're very obsessedabout being productive, you know
also, the reading time can bevery, very restful.
(33:14):
Yeah, so, uh, so you can read abook, listen to a naughty book,
listen to a podcast, and and soon go for a walk.
Walk is also rest, um rest foryour brain.
So uh, so uh, that can beanother strategy.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Yeah, it's interesting that you mentioned
reading something that, sinceI've become a virtual
entrepreneur and stepped awayfrom emergency medicine, the
danger is that I can workanytime, any place, and so I
actually work more.
I enjoy it more, but I work more, and so it has really been a
(33:51):
challenge to figure out how torest because, to your point,
there can be physiological restwhere I'm not necessarily
working as fast but my mind isstill going as quickly.
And so for me, what Idiscovered with reading is that
it is the one time that I am Icannot multitask the concept of
(34:15):
sitting, not even an audio book,because I can still multitask
on my laptop or whatever where,if I am just sitting and reading
, I physically it's helpful tobe still, it's a little hard to
(34:35):
move and read at the same time.
You can do it, but it's a lotharder.
But it also mentally turns meoff, because I'm fully engaged
in the story and I'm notthinking about picking up this
person from here or everythingthat I need to do here for work.
So reading has been one of themost like plopping myself in a
chair and actually just readinghas been really restorative for
(34:59):
me.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yeah, and it's probably a bit like walking.
You know that you have thisspeed.
You have the speed of reading.
You cannot, you cannot speedread it.
So you have to keep the pacethat you are reading for that
time a half hour or an hour orso.
So if you can do that beforeyou go to bed, then you will
calm down your nervous systemand then you will sleep more
(35:23):
effectively, because that is howwe are designed to be.
Throughout evolution, thenighttime after the sun was down
, there was not so much to do torelax and then fall asleep.
So I used to think that if Iworked really hard all day and
go to bed really exhausted andsleep, you know, almost before
(35:44):
my head hits the pillow, that'sgood sleep.
But but that's not true.
You can see it immediately onyour watches that your stress
levels will be high throughoutthe night.
So, um, so, winding down in theevening, dimming the lights,
reading a book uh.
Stay away from social media andlaptop screens, uh.
Having the bedroom cool, uh,from I from 60 to 65 degrees or
(36:11):
so would be good.
In Fahrenheit and really dark,you should not be able to see
the hand in front of you in thebedroom.
Even a little bit of light candisturb the melatonin hormone in
your brain.
So if you do that, that willensure that you get enough sleep
and make sure that you sleep,you know, between seven and
(36:32):
eight hours.
That's so important.
So, uh, and then reading can bethen a part of the winding down
process yeah, you guys writethis down.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Write this down.
Um, I, really it was an honorto have you here.
We're going to make sure thatthe link to the watch
specifically, you guys I'm goingto link the, the garmin watch,
and then, uh, his book, thepulse cure I, I value your
perspective, I value the waythat you are bringing this type
(37:07):
of information it's so practicaland using data to help us rest.
We just don't do it well.
It is counter-cultural.
So I just I thank you for thelives that you're changing.
I pray God's blessing over yourheart and your home and your
sailing and your son and yourdaughter.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Thank you, but thank you so much Talking to you,
thank you.
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