September 12, 2024 • 13 mins
Ever wondered how stress affects the brain, particularly for mothers and moms-to-be? Join us as we unpack the complex interplay between brain health, stress and resilience, especially within the context of maternal child health. This minisode features insights from Jennifer Zientz, expert at the Center for Brain Health, and maternal child health expert, Jessica Anderson. Listen as our experts dive into how integrating brain health programs into various settings can lead to improved outcomes, lower costs, and empower individuals through a holistic approach that connects the mind and body.
By understanding the profound impact chronic stress can have on cognitive functions and emotional regulation, tailored support can be offered throughout the postpartum journey to help mothers navigate this exciting and often, stressful time. Tune in for a conversation that underscores the importance of maternal brain health and practical ways it can be applied throughout all walks of life.
Experts:
- Bob Gold, Chief Behavioral Technologist, GoMo Health
- Jessica Andersen, BSN, RN, Director, Clinical Performance Improvement and Organizational Excellence at GoMo Health
- Jennifer Zientz, MS, CCC-SLP, Director of Programs & Head of Clinical Services at the Center for Brain Health
Thanks for tuning in. Subscribe today to receive alerts of new weekly episodes and follow @GoMoHealth on social for the latest in healthcare engagement.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm Bob and my field of science is the science of
motivation, activation and howto develop and foster human
resiliency in people, and inmany respects, it's all about
this program.
You'll also be hearing from JenZions, one of the top talented
(00:20):
scientists at the Center forBrain Health and a mom, and
you'll also hear from JessicaAnderson.
She's a nurse by training and adeep expert in maternal child
health development and a mom oftwo beautiful girls.
So, first, while we have brainhealth programs for many
(00:41):
different populations Today'sfocusing on maternal child
health, but just want to say,for, if you're an employee or
you have your own business,listening today, or you're an
employer, head of HR benefits,there's programs within
(01:02):
companies around exercise, maybepay for your gym, around
nutrition and diet.
But actually, the most vitalorgan, if you're a person trying
to create a new product, a newdesign, think through how to
compete better, or you're in themiddle of implementing a
(01:22):
complex problem, what tools doyou have to help your brain
improve performance, focus, allthe types of things?
That's what we're going to betalking about today and it
really matters right For bothyou as a person and the company
that you may work for.
And if you're listening todayand you're a patient, so to
(01:46):
speak.
You have various chronic andcomplex conditions, or you know
people that do, or you're aclinician or work at a hospital
or healthcare plan and you'retrying to help people with
chronic conditions or complexissues.
Just focusing on theirphysiology really doesn't
(02:07):
produce a lot of outcomes.
Connecting the mind and thebody and integrating brain
health into those programs willactually achieve market improved
outcomes and decreased costs,and we'll show you those
examples in a minute.
So if you actually have acognitive and engagement science
(02:31):
and deliver it throughtechnology that we're doing here
, you can really scale theeffectiveness, impact and
outcome within your company,within your hospital, within
your healthcare plan.
But we've been able to affectcognitive performance, overall
(02:52):
brain health right, patientoutcomes, improved quality
measures, reducing gaps in care,reducing cost of care right,
and then really making peoplefeel better about themselves
that they can get through toughtimes or be more resilient.
(03:14):
Interestingly, outlook aperson's outlook in general is
one of the top triggers orinhibitors of how they listen,
learn and activate things thatcould make them better or put
them in a better way.
So that's what this whole ideaof what we're trying to do here.
(03:35):
So, before I turn it over to Jenand Jessica.
I just wanted to say that theengagement science we use is
called Behavioral RX and it'simplemented with a technique we
call MILD.
It stands for micro learningand doing.
It's a fascinating integrationof micro learning and doing, and
(03:57):
so the doing we do within aperson's lived environment at
home, at work, at play it couldfit into a person's lifestyle.
It's typically a thought at atime, an activity, a response,
so you can actually learn bydoing and meeting people where
they are, when and where theycan do these types of things.
(04:20):
So it's a really good techniqueto help with brain performance
as opposed to cognitive overload, right?
So that's the concept of how wedeliver this, and you'll start
to see some of that in a littlebit on how we actually do this
as Jen and Jess go through it.
(04:40):
So now I'm going to turn itover to Jennifer to talk a
little bit about the brainscience.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Thanks, bob.
Yeah, it's really.
It's a great opportunity towork together to be able to
scale out important informationthat I feel like probably
everyone who's a practitioner,we all know that a lot of
incredible findings andbreakthroughs in science come
out and they sit on shelves inpapers or in textbooks, and our
(05:10):
ability to actually translatethem into actionable directives
for people right now is what'simperative, and that's what
we're all about at Center forBrain Health, and partnering
with GOMO makes it just thatmuch more impactful, and so
Bob's kind of talked about a lotof these.
You know this impact of stresson moms moms to be a new moms.
(05:33):
I've been there, done that, andcertainly stress is not
something that is new, but overthe last two years it has
magnified the problems thatwe've had, and I think, just
when we think about stress froma brain health standpoint, it's
not just about our own hearthealth and trying to prevent
stroke.
It's really also about optimalfunction, and we know that
(05:55):
stress can be good.
We can all thrive off of stress, but chronic stress in the way
that we're living today is toxic, and so some of the things that
I think stress.
We wanted to highlight justsome of the impacts that stress
has on the brain, because thesehave implications for following
through with care.
So one of the things that'sreally striking, I think that
(06:17):
people don't realize, is thatstress can lead to hippocampal
cell death.
The hippocampus is responsiblefor memory and new learning.
So every time when we're undera great deal of stress I think
we all know when you go to yourdoctor, it's always good to take
another set of years with youbecause these impacts if a
patient cannot remember thedirectives that their physician,
(06:38):
the conversation that they had,what's the implication?
Reduce neuronal activity infrontal lobes.
Our frontal lobes areresponsible for our
decision-making, ourproblem-solving, our judgment,
our reasoning, all of our higherorder thinking.
To keep us independent is whatour frontal networks do.
So when we have inordinateamounts of stress, decreased
(07:00):
efficiency in being able to getthese things done and impaired
thinking and it can make usslower our decisions can be
wonkier than they wouldordinarily.
Hyperactive amygdala this isour whole emotional system.
So when our amygdala is onoverdrive probably many of you
you may have or have not heardof the amygdala hijack it's when
(07:24):
our emotions get the best of us.
And when your amygdala in thislimbic system gets activated,
our frontal networks go down.
So it's either we're acting, inreactive emotional mode or we're
acting in a logical thinkingwhere we're able to really think
through things and make somegood decisions and judgments for
ourselves.
So what we see is, with a lotof stress, we can have higher
incidence of depression, anxietyand even rage.
(07:46):
Another thing that stress doesis it reduces dopamine, and
dopamine is part of our rewardsystem and it gives us, when we
do things that are we feel good,when we accomplish things, then
it gives us this good rewardand we can have this winner
effect where we start at kind ofthis natural rewarding system
where we want to do more ofwhat's good for us.
(08:08):
So when we have all thesethings in the mix, you can see
that stress can have a really itcan have a really big impact on
our ability to follow throughwith care.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Giving people the tool that they can use and this
program to guide them throughhow to do this, and like bits
and pieces and apply it to theirlife.
It's so impactful because we'rehelping people empower
themselves to get out of thatand to see the light at the end
of the tunnel, which is amazing.
So to Jen's point you knowthere's so much clinical
(08:40):
research on brain health, andhow do we get that off the shelf
and into people's hands?
And so we, when we startedpartnering together, one of the
first things that we do isCenter for Brain Health and GOMO
.
Both have this foundationalpiece that kind of drives
everything.
No two people are the same.
No two people are the same.
No two brains work the same,and so what we did for this
(09:03):
population, specifically for preand post-natal moms, is really
look at, we understand the brainhealth and we need to
understand where mom is in herjourney, right?
So whether she's four monthsinto her pregnancy or two months
postpartum, what she'sexperienced is different, right?
So what does her access to carelook like?
(09:24):
Can she easily get to aprovider's office for guidance
or get a hold of them on thephone for guidance and support?
Does she feel empowered to makechoices in her everyday life
that can improve her life andthe life of her child.
What are her socialdeterminants of health?
What are those challenges thatshe's facing?
Does she have a support systemthat's guiding her?
(09:45):
I've been.
I mean, I am a mom and I knowJen's a mom, I know Bob's a
parent, right.
So we've all felt that tryingto figure out what is the best
thing to do in all thesedifferent situations and how do
I navigate that.
And one of the last things I amreally passionate about is
(10:06):
Maslow's hierarchy of needs,right, and so understanding that
where someone's at in thishierarchy is how we need to
address them in theirenvironment.
Are they able to hold theselike higher levels of thought
and process through stuff, orare they in an environment
that's super stressful andthey're really focused in on?
(10:28):
You know safe housing, foodsecurity, you know water, those
kinds of things.
And especially at the beginningof the pandemic, when you know
grocery store shelves were empty, like that, all kind of level
set everybody, no matter who youare, the pandemic has impacted
you at some level.
(10:49):
And so really just kind oflevel setting that we're all
experiencing this, we're allexperiencing stress and anxiety
and how do we help people kindof navigate through that and
give them the tools to feelempowered, that it's going to be
okay, I can get out of this.
I know what to do With all theprograms that GOMO does.
(11:09):
There's no app to download.
Everything we do goes out viatext message.
So the text messages give ahigh level of and kind of
introduce the thought, and thenwe use web-based care pages to
really go deeper into the topic,right?
So if we're talking about theimportance of taking a brain
(11:29):
break, we can hit on that in thetext message.
But to really understand whatthat looks like and the science
behind it and why it down intobite-sized pieces of information
(11:59):
that every mom can digest andwalk away with it with those aha
moments of okay, I get it, Ican do it and now I can apply it
and I feel confident in myability to use these tools to
better my life.
And I think you know, one ofthe things that we should keep
in mind is that brain health isimportant to all of us and all
(12:22):
of our lived experiences.
So, while this particularprogram that we're talking about
is geared towards the maternalpopulation, the concepts apply
regardless of the conditionsthat you're experiencing right.
So for people that are goingthrough behavioral health
challenges, you knowunderstanding how the brain
works and how you can applythese tools to navigate your
(12:44):
experience, that's helpful.
Same thing with diabetes, thesechronic conditions.
Oncology is a big one, you knowwe we talk.
Bob talked about rumination andhow we it's important to break
out of those cycles.
You know oncology that's onethat we see people you know we
we talk.
Bob talked about rumination andhow we it's important to break
out of those cycles.
You know oncology that's onethat we see people you know
ruminate on.
You know what's life going tobe like?
Is it always going to be likethis?
Am I going to get better?
You know these are tools thatyou can apply across the board
(13:07):
to any condition, because we allhave a brain and we all need to
be using it to the best of ourability and try to keep it as
healthy as we can.
I'm Bob and my field of science is the science of
motivation, activation and howto develop and foster human
resiliency in people, and inmany respects, it's all about
this program.
You'll also be hearing from JenZions, one of the top talented
(00:20):
scientists at the Center forBrain Health and a mom, and
you'll also hear from JessicaAnderson.
She's a nurse by training and adeep expert in maternal child
health development and a mom oftwo beautiful girls.
So, first, while we have brainhealth programs for many
(00:41):
different populations Today'sfocusing on maternal child
health, but just want to say,for, if you're an employee or
you have your own business,listening today, or you're an
employer, head of HR benefits,there's programs within
(01:02):
companies around exercise, maybepay for your gym, around
nutrition and diet.
But actually, the most vitalorgan, if you're a person trying
to create a new product, a newdesign, think through how to
compete better, or you're in themiddle of implementing a
(01:22):
complex problem, what tools doyou have to help your brain
improve performance, focus, allthe types of things?
That's what we're going to betalking about today and it
really matters right For bothyou as a person and the company
that you may work for.
And if you're listening todayand you're a patient, so to
(01:46):
speak.
You have various chronic andcomplex conditions, or you know
people that do, or you're aclinician or work at a hospital
or healthcare plan and you'retrying to help people with
chronic conditions or complexissues.
Just focusing on theirphysiology really doesn't
(02:07):
produce a lot of outcomes.
Connecting the mind and thebody and integrating brain
health into those programs willactually achieve market improved
outcomes and decreased costs,and we'll show you those
examples in a minute.
So if you actually have acognitive and engagement science
(02:31):
and deliver it throughtechnology that we're doing here
, you can really scale theeffectiveness, impact and
outcome within your company,within your hospital, within
your healthcare plan.
But we've been able to affectcognitive performance, overall
(02:52):
brain health right, patientoutcomes, improved quality
measures, reducing gaps in care,reducing cost of care right,
and then really making peoplefeel better about themselves
that they can get through toughtimes or be more resilient.
(03:14):
Interestingly, outlook aperson's outlook in general is
one of the top triggers orinhibitors of how they listen,
learn and activate things thatcould make them better or put
them in a better way.
So that's what this whole ideaof what we're trying to do here.
(03:35):
So, before I turn it over to Jenand Jessica.
I just wanted to say that theengagement science we use is
called Behavioral RX and it'simplemented with a technique we
call MILD.
It stands for micro learningand doing.
It's a fascinating integrationof micro learning and doing, and
(03:57):
so the doing we do within aperson's lived environment at
home, at work, at play it couldfit into a person's lifestyle.
It's typically a thought at atime, an activity, a response,
so you can actually learn bydoing and meeting people where
they are, when and where theycan do these types of things.
(04:20):
So it's a really good techniqueto help with brain performance
as opposed to cognitive overload, right?
So that's the concept of how wedeliver this, and you'll start
to see some of that in a littlebit on how we actually do this
as Jen and Jess go through it.
(04:40):
So now I'm going to turn itover to Jennifer to talk a
little bit about the brainscience.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Thanks, bob.
Yeah, it's really.
It's a great opportunity towork together to be able to
scale out important informationthat I feel like probably
everyone who's a practitioner,we all know that a lot of
incredible findings andbreakthroughs in science come
out and they sit on shelves inpapers or in textbooks, and our
(05:10):
ability to actually translatethem into actionable directives
for people right now is what'simperative, and that's what
we're all about at Center forBrain Health, and partnering
with GOMO makes it just thatmuch more impactful, and so
Bob's kind of talked about a lotof these.
You know this impact of stresson moms moms to be a new moms.
(05:33):
I've been there, done that, andcertainly stress is not
something that is new, but overthe last two years it has
magnified the problems thatwe've had, and I think, just
when we think about stress froma brain health standpoint, it's
not just about our own hearthealth and trying to prevent
stroke.
It's really also about optimalfunction, and we know that
(05:55):
stress can be good.
We can all thrive off of stress, but chronic stress in the way
that we're living today is toxic, and so some of the things that
I think stress.
We wanted to highlight justsome of the impacts that stress
has on the brain, because thesehave implications for following
through with care.
So one of the things that'sreally striking, I think that
(06:17):
people don't realize, is thatstress can lead to hippocampal
cell death.
The hippocampus is responsiblefor memory and new learning.
So every time when we're undera great deal of stress I think
we all know when you go to yourdoctor, it's always good to take
another set of years with youbecause these impacts if a
patient cannot remember thedirectives that their physician,
(06:38):
the conversation that they had,what's the implication?
Reduce neuronal activity infrontal lobes.
Our frontal lobes areresponsible for our
decision-making, ourproblem-solving, our judgment,
our reasoning, all of our higherorder thinking.
To keep us independent is whatour frontal networks do.
So when we have inordinateamounts of stress, decreased
(07:00):
efficiency in being able to getthese things done and impaired
thinking and it can make usslower our decisions can be
wonkier than they wouldordinarily.
Hyperactive amygdala this isour whole emotional system.
So when our amygdala is onoverdrive probably many of you
you may have or have not heardof the amygdala hijack it's when
(07:24):
our emotions get the best of us.
And when your amygdala in thislimbic system gets activated,
our frontal networks go down.
So it's either we're acting, inreactive emotional mode or we're
acting in a logical thinkingwhere we're able to really think
through things and make somegood decisions and judgments for
ourselves.
So what we see is, with a lotof stress, we can have higher
incidence of depression, anxietyand even rage.
(07:46):
Another thing that stress doesis it reduces dopamine, and
dopamine is part of our rewardsystem and it gives us, when we
do things that are we feel good,when we accomplish things, then
it gives us this good rewardand we can have this winner
effect where we start at kind ofthis natural rewarding system
where we want to do more ofwhat's good for us.
(08:08):
So when we have all thesethings in the mix, you can see
that stress can have a really itcan have a really big impact on
our ability to follow throughwith care.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Giving people the tool that they can use and this
program to guide them throughhow to do this, and like bits
and pieces and apply it to theirlife.
It's so impactful because we'rehelping people empower
themselves to get out of thatand to see the light at the end
of the tunnel, which is amazing.
So to Jen's point you knowthere's so much clinical
(08:40):
research on brain health, andhow do we get that off the shelf
and into people's hands?
And so we, when we startedpartnering together, one of the
first things that we do isCenter for Brain Health and GOMO
.
Both have this foundationalpiece that kind of drives
everything.
No two people are the same.
No two people are the same.
No two brains work the same,and so what we did for this
(09:03):
population, specifically for preand post-natal moms, is really
look at, we understand the brainhealth and we need to
understand where mom is in herjourney, right?
So whether she's four monthsinto her pregnancy or two months
postpartum, what she'sexperienced is different, right?
So what does her access to carelook like?
(09:24):
Can she easily get to aprovider's office for guidance
or get a hold of them on thephone for guidance and support?
Does she feel empowered to makechoices in her everyday life
that can improve her life andthe life of her child.
What are her socialdeterminants of health?
What are those challenges thatshe's facing?
Does she have a support systemthat's guiding her?
(09:45):
I've been.
I mean, I am a mom and I knowJen's a mom, I know Bob's a
parent, right.
So we've all felt that tryingto figure out what is the best
thing to do in all thesedifferent situations and how do
I navigate that.
And one of the last things I amreally passionate about is
(10:06):
Maslow's hierarchy of needs,right, and so understanding that
where someone's at in thishierarchy is how we need to
address them in theirenvironment.
Are they able to hold theselike higher levels of thought
and process through stuff, orare they in an environment
that's super stressful andthey're really focused in on?
(10:28):
You know safe housing, foodsecurity, you know water, those
kinds of things.
And especially at the beginningof the pandemic, when you know
grocery store shelves were empty, like that, all kind of level
set everybody, no matter who youare, the pandemic has impacted
you at some level.
(10:49):
And so really just kind oflevel setting that we're all
experiencing this, we're allexperiencing stress and anxiety
and how do we help people kindof navigate through that and
give them the tools to feelempowered, that it's going to be
okay, I can get out of this.
I know what to do With all theprograms that GOMO does.
(11:09):
There's no app to download.
Everything we do goes out viatext message.
So the text messages give ahigh level of and kind of
introduce the thought, and thenwe use web-based care pages to
really go deeper into the topic,right?
So if we're talking about theimportance of taking a brain
(11:29):
break, we can hit on that in thetext message.
But to really understand whatthat looks like and the science
behind it and why it down intobite-sized pieces of information
(11:59):
that every mom can digest andwalk away with it with those aha
moments of okay, I get it, Ican do it and now I can apply it
and I feel confident in myability to use these tools to
better my life.
And I think you know, one ofthe things that we should keep
in mind is that brain health isimportant to all of us and all
(12:22):
of our lived experiences.
So, while this particularprogram that we're talking about
is geared towards the maternalpopulation, the concepts apply
regardless of the conditionsthat you're experiencing right.
So for people that are goingthrough behavioral health
challenges, you knowunderstanding how the brain
works and how you can applythese tools to navigate your
(12:44):
experience, that's helpful.
Same thing with diabetes, thesechronic conditions.
Oncology is a big one, you knowwe we talk.
Bob talked about rumination andhow we it's important to break
out of those cycles.
You know oncology that's onethat we see people you know we
we talk.
Bob talked about rumination andhow we it's important to break
out of those cycles.
You know oncology that's onethat we see people you know
ruminate on.
You know what's life going tobe like?
Is it always going to be likethis?
Am I going to get better?
You know these are tools thatyou can apply across the board
(13:07):
to any condition, because we allhave a brain and we all need to
be using it to the best of ourability and try to keep it as
healthy as we can.
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