September 2, 2025 • 26 mins
In this episode we feature:
An interview with happiness researcher, Gretchen Rubin, author of the book Life in Five Senses.
Eat before you do something stupid!
You’re shrinking!
Eat beans for your heart
And more ways you can improve your health today!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:08):
Gib, hello and welcome to another episode of the
podcast. I'm Gib Gerard, herewith another one of our special
intelligence for your healthwith Connie Celica editions of
the show today. Her guest isnone other than Gretchen Rubin.
She's author of the book Life infive senses. So very excited to
bring that to you guys todayhere. Here we go without further
(00:28):
ado, one of my favorite thingswe do intelligence for your
health. With Connie Celica,don't make any important
decisions until you've had asnack. According to the
University of Dundee, when we'rehungry, we make more rash
decisions. In their study,hunger made people impatient and
more likely to settle forsomething they didn't really
want rather than wait forsomething else. Basically, our
(00:51):
brains need fuel for maximumalertness, so have a little nosh
then choose and if you make thatsnack a combo of protein and
complex carbs even better, thatwill improve your mental
strength, stamina and focus.
Here's a good reason to go tothe gym more often. It could cut
(01:11):
your risk of an early death inhalf. That's based on data from
the National Cancer Institute,which analyzed the lifestyle
habits and mortality rates ofmore than 100,000 adults.
Researchers found that whenpeople did a muscle
strengthening workout twice aweek, but nothing else exercise
wise, their risk of an earlydeath was 15% lower, on average,
(01:36):
than people who never liftedweights. So what about cardio?
People who got 20 minutes a dayof aerobic exercise and did
nothing else were up to 30% lesslikely to die of any cause
during this study. And whathappened when study subjects
combined a workout with weightswith 20 minutes of daily cardio,
(01:57):
the combination essentially cuta person's mortality risk in
half for conditions includingheart disease, cancer, stroke
and diabetes, and where's thebest place to get both weight
training and aerobic exercise atthe gym, which has the added
bonus of providing a socialenvironment, which is another
(02:17):
factor linked with a longer,healthier life. So according to
this new study, weights pluscardio plus being social is the
formula for adding years to yourlife coming up. We'll talk to
happiness researcher GretchenRubin, author of the book Life
in five senses. She'll explainwhy. She says, Our basic senses
(02:37):
of sight, smell, hearing, touchand taste are under appreciated,
even though we need them tosurvive. But first, here's an
easy way to help keep your bloodsugar in check. Eat more beans.
Tulane University researchersfound just a half a cup a day
can cut your risk of hearttrouble by 22% because beans
(02:59):
contain fiber and minerals likepotassium and magnesium that
help smooth out blood sugarspikes. So think lentils, kidney
beans, black beans and limabeans, and eat about a half a
cup every day for a healthierheart. It's true, we do get
shorter as we age, I have shrunkan inch. Dr Douglas Kyle is the
(03:19):
director of the musculoskeletalResearch Center at Harvard, and
he says Men shrink about oneinch during their lifetime, and
women shrink about two inches.
Here's why. First, with age,muscle fibers gradually weaken,
making it harder to hold ourspine upright. It gradually
causes us to hunch forward. Wealso get shorter, because we
(03:39):
tend to develop slipped discs aswe age. That's when the shock
absorbing discs between ourvertebra begin to dry out, and
by age 70, the discs that wereonce 13 millimeters high can be
down to one millimeter that cancause a shorter stature and
allow the vertebra to rubtogether and cause back pain. So
is there a way to avoid gettingshorter? Dr Kyle says the best
(04:04):
move is to exercise for 30minutes a day, focusing on
stretching and mobilityexercises, because that will
help maintain the strength ofyour bones and the muscles that
help hold up your spine. Okay,listen to this. Are you already
exhausted from all the holidayhoopla? Put your feet up and
look through old familypictures. Neurologist Dr Daniel
(04:27):
Amen, who wrote, Change YourBrain, Change Your body, says
too much socializing can depleteyour brain store of energizing
neurotransmitters and leave youdragging but positive images
trigger happy memories and cutproduction of stress hormones,
and that helps produce theenergizing neurotransmitter
GABA, which can increase yourenergy and banish the blues in
(04:50):
60 seconds or less. Today, ourguest is Gretchen Rubin. She's a
leading researcher on happy.
Ness, whose latest book iscalled Life in five senses, and
with a record number of peoplereporting more stress and
anxiety these days, Gretchensays she's not surprised that
many of us are looking forrelief by turning to immersive
(05:14):
experiences that appeal to oursenses in some way, including
taking nature walks, tryingtasting menus in restaurants and
playing games with virtualreality goggles. Gretchen says
our attraction to things we canimmerse ourselves in comes from
the fact that our senses areoften neglected in today's
world.
(05:34):
Well, I think there are twothings pulling on us from
opposite directions that make itvery easy to get disconnected
from our senses. On the onehand, life can feel very
flattened and drained. We'redoing things behind screens so
things can feel thin and we feellike we're out of touch with the
(05:55):
world. On the other hand,sometimes things feel hyper
processed, so you're eating foodthat's been so processed that it
hits every bliss point, butyou're not cooking it yourself,
so you're not getting thosesmells of grilling and roasting
and baking, or you're watching amovie where you're seeing so
many images and you're hearing asoundtrack that fills you with
(06:17):
emotion, and yet there's no airIn your face. There's no smells.
So I think we're both kind ofover stimulated and under
stimulated with our senses, andthat's what's making us seek
things like immersiveexperiences. The idea of being
in deep contact with our sensesis just feels very, very
appealing.
(06:37):
Today we're talking to happinessresearcher Gretchen Rubin,
author of the book Life in fivesenses, and according to data
from the National Institutes ofHealth, the number of people who
say they practice meditation andmindfulness has tripled in the
past decade, and sincemindfulness has been linked to
making us happier. I askedGretchen how tapping into our
(07:01):
senses can make us more mindful.
One of the things that's reallyhelpful about the senses is that
we're experiencing them righthere right now. Like if you're
smelling something, you'resmelling it right now. If you're
feeling something under yourfingers, you're feeling it right
now. And so it will call you tothe present moment. It will
really remind you to to focus inon what you're experiencing. And
(07:25):
that is a big part ofmindfulness, is just noticing
what you're noticing and beingaware of what is in your
awareness and and because of thethe senses, you know, one of my
favorite senses is the sense ofsmell, and I can't glut myself
on perfume. I can't bookmark it,I can't save it for later. I
(07:45):
can't even keep experiencing itover and over. I mean, you could
listen to the same song on aloop all day long, but with the
smell, you could only smell itfor a few moments before you you
habituate to it and you don'tsmell it anymore. So I can only
appreciate it in the moment. Andso I think that it's, it's
really great way to cultivatemindfulness, because it really
(08:05):
takes us into the presentmoment.
Do you break for cats, dogs,squirrels, skunks and possums?
How about horses, cows, elk,moose or deer? Well, the
Insurance Institute for HighwaySafety says you should fight the
urge to swerve as you brake,unless you have time to check
traffic first, of course, thesize of the animal matters. If
(08:29):
it's shorter than your car'shood and you don't have time to
check other lanes, go throughit. If the animal is taller than
the hood, avoid it. If you can,knowing it still might be better
to hit the animal. The InsuranceInstitute for Highway Safety
says animal collisions happen sofast. A lot of drivers don't
(08:49):
have the option of making adecision about what to do, but
the best thing, unfortunately,in most cases, is to hit the
animal and try to avoid swervingor doing something that could
cause you to lose control andhit somebody else or an object
or go off the road and rollover. Most human injuries from
(09:09):
animal collisions occur not whenanimals are hit, but from the
crash that follows today'smedical term retrograde
cricopharyngeus dysfunction,also known as a belchia or no
burp syndrome. It's the reasonwhy some people can't burp. It's
caused by a quirk in the musclethat acts as the gatekeeper to
(09:32):
the esophagus, the roughly 10inch long tube that moves food
between the throat and thestomach. The inability to burp
can cause bloating, pain,gurgling in the neck and chest,
and excessive flatulence,because the build up of air has
to get out somehow, it can causeperpetual nausea or pain as bad
(09:53):
as a heart attack in the chest,and some people have it from
birth, but it was recentlydiscovered. That it can be fixed
with Botox injections, they canrelieve a Belgium for up to 99%
of patients, the amount of Botoxneeded is more than twice the
amount often used to smoothforehead wrinkles, and it gets
(10:13):
injected into the uppercricopharyngeal muscle. Dr
Michael King is an ear, nose andthroat physician, and he says
it's the same way he treatspeople having a hard time
swallowing after a stroke.
People have been suffering fromthis condition for at least a
few millennia. 2000 years ago, aRoman philosopher described a
man who could not belch, but nowthere's a fix, and that's
(10:36):
today's medical term, retrogradecricopharyngeus, dysfunction,
also known as a belchia Comingup, we'll hear more from our
guest happiness researcherGretchen Rubin. She'll tell us
her one minute rule for beingmore productive, which in turn,
can make you happier. But first,can you take a break from your
phone for 30 minutes? If so,researchers from Rutgers say it
(10:59):
can boost your brain power. Forthe study, they had participants
work on word puzzles, theneveryone took a break, but one
group was allowed to use theirphones, the other wasn't. After
the break, the group that usedtheir phones finished the
puzzles 20% more slowly andsolved 20% fewer problems.
(11:20):
That's because the phonesdrained the participants brain
power. In fact, their brainpower was lower than those who
got no break at all. So if youneed to be on point mentally,
try taking a 30 minute phonebreak way back in 2017 we talked
about a condition called Deadbutt syndrome. It's absolutely
(11:42):
real, and it's making a comebacknow that people are back in
offices, sitting at their desksall day. It's known officially
as gluteal amnesia. It's acondition in which your glutes
or butt muscles go dormant frominactivity, basically when we
sit eight hours a day or more,our butt muscles become
(12:03):
desensitized because the neuronsthat tell them to contract have
weakened, and that's dead. Buttsyndrome, in a nutshell. Dr
Chris Colbert is a physicaltherapist at Ohio State
University's Medical Center, andhe says when your rear muscles
aren't working efficiently, itmeans all the surrounding
muscles need to compensate, andthat can cause stress injuries.
(12:27):
So how do you know if you havegluteal amnesia? Symptoms
include numbness, stiffness orcramping in your glutes when you
do move, but gluteal amnesia istotally reversible through
exercises that work thosemuscles and bring them back to
life, like side leg lifts,squats and doing a bridge where
(12:48):
you lie on your back, plant yourfeet on the ground and raise
your rear up and down, and, ofcourse, make sure you're moving
throughout the Day to avoid deadbutt syndrome in the first
place. Okay, listen to this. Ifyou want to start working out
more, tell yourself I'm a runneror I'm a cross fit athlete,
(13:08):
instead of telling yourself I'mgoing to run or I'm going to
lift some weights, according tothe journal self and identity,
when people used that strategy,they were better at sticking to
an exercise regimen. That'sbecause you're giving yourself
an identity, not just a command,and that makes you feel like
(13:28):
exercising is part of who youare. It also makes you feel like
you belong to a community ofexercisers or runners, and
feeling like you're part of anactive tribe makes you more
motivated to keep up back withmore health intelligence from
Gretchen Rubin, author of thebook Life in five senses,
earlier, she said that payingattention to our senses is that
(13:49):
key part of being more mindful,which is proven to make us
happier. But what if yousometimes struggle to get in
touch with your senses or wishthey could be stronger? I asked
researcher Ruben what sherecommends if
you want to really paymore attention to your senses as
you go through your everydaylife. One thing I love is a five
senses journal. And this isjust, you know, every single
(14:13):
day, seeing, hearing, smelling,tasting, touching, just note
down one notable memory. Itdoesn't have to be your
favorite, just something thatyou noticed. And you know. So
maybe you walked by a movietheater and you smelled movie
theater popcorn, and that's areally, a really powerful smell.
So you just write this down, andwhat I find is that this is a
(14:34):
way to just make sure that asI'm going through my life, I'm
paying attention to my senses,because a lot of times they're
just kind of runningunderground. We're tapping into
them as we need to, and it justsort of a utilitarian way, and
just by thinking to yourself,Okay, I'm looking for some
highlights from today. I'm goingto write them down. And also one
(14:54):
of the most common pieces ofadvice, I. For happiness is to
keep a gratitude journal. And Ihave to admit that I tried
keeping a gratitude journal, andI found it to be kind of a
deeply annoying exercise, but Ifound that a five senses journal
operated as a kind of gratitudejournal, but in a way that I
found much fresher and morecreative and more fun, but it
(15:17):
really allowed me to feel like Iwas I was paying tribute to the
beauty of the world by what Iwas noticing, and it really did
help me. It helps me every dayto just stay alive to everything
that I'm experiencing through myfive senses
back with more healthintelligence from happiness
researcher Gretchen Rubin,author of the number one New
(15:40):
York Times best seller, TheHappiness Project. And when it
comes to habits that can make ushappier, one of Ruben's
favorites is something calledthe One Minute Rule. So I asked
her to take us through the OneMinute Rule.
The One Minute Rule is exactlywhat it sounds like. If there is
a task that you can do in aminute or less, go ahead and do
it without delay. So if you canprint out a document and put it
(16:03):
in the right folder, if you canput something in the recycling,
if you can put the coffee mug inthe dishwasher, go ahead and do
it without delay. And what thisdoes is it just gets rid of all
those nagging casts, thosethings that are just kind of the
scum on the surface of life,which are not consequential on
their own. They don't take a lotof time, energy or money. These
(16:24):
are little, tiny tasks, and yetthey can make us feel very
weighed down. You know, if youwalk into your office and all
you see is just like a bunch ofstuff that is all out of order
and just needs to be dealt with,and you just keep
procrastinating about it. It'svery, very draining. And I have
to say, of all the things that Iwrite about with habits, this is
(16:44):
one where people most often say,wow, this really changed my
life, because they just feel somuch lighter and freer because
all these tasks have beencleared out of their way. And
sometimes when we get when wetackle the little task, we feel
more capable of tackling biggerthings. And that means that it's
we can do the things that aremore likely to make us happier,
(17:04):
healthier, more productive ormore creative.
If you're going someplace Sunny,or you live where there's sun
year round, put sunscreen onyour ears. Skin cancer on the
ears has been found to be moreaggressive. The tumors grow
larger and deeper than those onthe face. That's because ear
skin cancer is hard to catch,since we typically don't look
(17:25):
inside our own ears, so it has alonger time to take root before
it's spotted. And although skincancer that appears on your ears
typically is not melanoma, thedeadliest form, it can lead to
nerve and muscle damage, moreintelligence for your health.
From happiness researcherGretchen Rubin, and because her
latest book, Life in fivesenses, focuses on how to use
(17:47):
our senses of sight, smell,taste, touch and hearing to be
happier, I asked Gretchen ifthere's one of those senses that
tends to be more neglected thanthe others.
Well, it's fascinating. Afterthe book came out, I was still
I'm still so fascinated by thefive senses that I developed a
quiz. So you can go to Gretchen,rubin.com/quiz and you can take
a quiz to find what is your mostneglected sense. And this is a
(18:12):
really great thing to know aboutyourself, because when we
neglect a sense, we don't turnto it for comfort or pleasure.
We don't explore it. We don'tuse it to engage with other
people. We are often morefocused on avoiding the negative
of that sense, rather thanreally availing ourselves of all
(18:32):
the positives and pleasures ofthat sense. So it's really great
to know your most neglectedsense, because this is the low
hanging fruit. This is where youhave a lot of opportunities to
make your life richer. And oneof the things that surprised me
now that 10s of 1000s of peoplehave taken this quiz, is that I
kind of suspected that certainsenses would be the most
neglected, but in fact, it'sextremely evenly distributed
(18:57):
among all five, so there isn'tone that stands out as the most
neglected among big groups ofpeople. It's which I have to
say. I had predicted thatsomething like smell would be
most neglected, but I did notfind that, and I thought no one
would neglect sight, because ashuman beings, we're really hard
(19:17):
wired for sight. It's got themost wiring in the brain if
there's a conflict among thesenses, sight usually Trumps. So
I thought no one would neglectsight. Well, it turns out it's
it's just about the same as allthe other four. Once again, if
you'd like to take GretchenRubin's online test for
assessing your senses, or learnmore about her book Life in five
senses, check outgretchenrubin.com to get a
(19:38):
better workout, go ahead andgrunt, just like tennis players
do during a killer serve, it canactually improve your workout.
Sports Psychologist Dr Joel fishsays when an athlete grunts as
they exhale, their strengthincreases. Take weight lifting a
grunt helps the chest and open.
(20:00):
Leak muscles work significantlyharder. That's because
vocalizations during exertionimprove your muscles power
output and makes exercise seemeasier. In fact, when tennis
players were told to grunt whenhitting their serves, their
shots were five miles per hourfaster than the Silent Ones.
Grunting can also ensure properbreathing, which helps stabilize
(20:22):
your core and generates the mostpower. Here's an email I
received at Connie atintelligence for your
health.com, it comes from CarrieDeFranco, who writes, I hear so
much about electrolytes. Do Ineed special drinks with them or
something? Carrie the termelectrolytes simply refers to
substances that dissolve inwater. And as far as your body
(20:45):
is concerned, the most importantelectrolytes are sodium,
potassium, calcium andmagnesium, because without the
right balance of sodium andpotassium, for example, cells
can't function properly, andcalcium is needed to make your
muscles contract and for nervesto work. That's why companies
spend billions of dollars eachyear promoting drinks and
(21:08):
powders that claim to boost yourelectrolytes and keep you
healthy. The problem accordingto Dr grant Lipman, emergency
medicine physician at WashingtonHospital healthcare, the average
Western diet already containsmore than enough electrolytes to
maintain good health. In fact,he says, unless you're an
intense exerciser who loses moresodium than normal through
(21:31):
sweat, you can probably get allof the electrolytes you need
from a handful of mixed nutssome berries and a cup of water,
and tests of regular tap watershow it provides healthy amounts
of electrolytes. So the messagefrom Dr Lipman is, unless you're
an extreme athlete, you don'tneed to do anything special to
maintain your electrolyte level.
Thank you for your email.
(21:54):
Carrie, I hope this helps. Okay,listen to this for a headache.
Give yourself a neck rub.
University of Alabamaresearchers say to rub your
fingers along the back of yourneck and the base of your skull
that stimulates blood flow tothe brain, reducing headache
pain by half in five minutes.
Have you ever wanted to getrevenge on someone who wronged
(22:17):
you? It's a natural humanemotion. According to the
journal Psychological Science,just the thought of getting
revenge stimulates the part ofour brain that processes reward.
But the fact is, revenge almostalways makes us feel worse
instead of making us feelbetter, revenge prolongs our
bitterness and feelings ofresentment, and whatever was
(22:39):
done to us keeps tormenting us.
It creates a cycle that dragsthings out even longer. And
researchers at Hope Collegefound that simply imagining how
we get revenge on someone raisesour heart rate, constricts blood
vessels and causes other stressrelated health problems. On the
other hand, just trying toforgive someone lowers the level
(23:00):
of stress hormones that damageour immune system. So even
though they say Revenge issweet, it actually makes us feel
worse, mentally and physically.
More intelligence for yourhealth. From researcher Gretchen
Rubin, author of life in fivesenses and something she
(23:21):
recommends for boosting yoursense of taste is to throw an
occasional taste party that'swhere you gather friends to take
bites of different foods andthen get everyone to really
focus on comparing the differenttextures and flavors of each
bite. Gretchen says a typicalparty might involve trying a
variety of different apples orcheeses or even different
(23:43):
condiments. In fact, one of herfavorite items to highlight at a
tasting party is ketchup. Now,this is something that most
people have tasted hundreds,1000s of times during the course
of their lives. I mean, youknow, in the United States, most
people have it in theirrefrigerator, but Heinz Ketchup
is one of the rare foods thathits all five of the basic
(24:03):
taste. It's sweet, it's sour,it's bitter, it's salty, and
it's umami, and that is veryhard to do. So I had everybody
just taste a little bit of Heinzketchup on their tongue, and
everybody thought, oh my gosh,this is the most sophisticated,
complex taste sensation. Youknow. You think of it as being
(24:27):
this, this throwaway, blandthing that people glop all over
their food. But it's actuallyincredibly sophisticated, which
probably explains why HeinzKetchup is a secret ingredient
in all kinds of foods where youprobably would not expect to
find it, because it is socomplex that this was just a fun
way to connect with friends,like we were laughing, we were
(24:47):
talking, we were reminiscing. Ifelt like I got an insight into
their nature in a way that Inever had before,
and yet it was, it was easy andfun. Fun to put
together. So I really, I highlyrecommend doing a taste party.
That's it for our show today,our special intelligence for
your health with Connie Selig.
Edition of the podcast, I'm GibGerard. Don't forget to rate
(25:10):
comment and subscribe on Applepodcast. Spotify, wherever you
get your podcast. It helps usout a lot. And also, you can
reach out to us on social media.
All of our links are listed downin the show notes, we try to
respond to every DM, everymention of the show, because
ultimately, we do the show foryou guys. So thank you so much
for listening. You.
Gib, hello and welcome to another episode of the
podcast. I'm Gib Gerard, herewith another one of our special
intelligence for your healthwith Connie Celica editions of
the show today. Her guest isnone other than Gretchen Rubin.
She's author of the book Life infive senses. So very excited to
bring that to you guys todayhere. Here we go without further
(00:28):
ado, one of my favorite thingswe do intelligence for your
health. With Connie Celica,don't make any important
decisions until you've had asnack. According to the
University of Dundee, when we'rehungry, we make more rash
decisions. In their study,hunger made people impatient and
more likely to settle forsomething they didn't really
want rather than wait forsomething else. Basically, our
(00:51):
brains need fuel for maximumalertness, so have a little nosh
then choose and if you make thatsnack a combo of protein and
complex carbs even better, thatwill improve your mental
strength, stamina and focus.
Here's a good reason to go tothe gym more often. It could cut
(01:11):
your risk of an early death inhalf. That's based on data from
the National Cancer Institute,which analyzed the lifestyle
habits and mortality rates ofmore than 100,000 adults.
Researchers found that whenpeople did a muscle
strengthening workout twice aweek, but nothing else exercise
wise, their risk of an earlydeath was 15% lower, on average,
(01:36):
than people who never liftedweights. So what about cardio?
People who got 20 minutes a dayof aerobic exercise and did
nothing else were up to 30% lesslikely to die of any cause
during this study. And whathappened when study subjects
combined a workout with weightswith 20 minutes of daily cardio,
(01:57):
the combination essentially cuta person's mortality risk in
half for conditions includingheart disease, cancer, stroke
and diabetes, and where's thebest place to get both weight
training and aerobic exercise atthe gym, which has the added
bonus of providing a socialenvironment, which is another
(02:17):
factor linked with a longer,healthier life. So according to
this new study, weights pluscardio plus being social is the
formula for adding years to yourlife coming up. We'll talk to
happiness researcher GretchenRubin, author of the book Life
in five senses. She'll explainwhy. She says, Our basic senses
(02:37):
of sight, smell, hearing, touchand taste are under appreciated,
even though we need them tosurvive. But first, here's an
easy way to help keep your bloodsugar in check. Eat more beans.
Tulane University researchersfound just a half a cup a day
can cut your risk of hearttrouble by 22% because beans
(02:59):
contain fiber and minerals likepotassium and magnesium that
help smooth out blood sugarspikes. So think lentils, kidney
beans, black beans and limabeans, and eat about a half a
cup every day for a healthierheart. It's true, we do get
shorter as we age, I have shrunkan inch. Dr Douglas Kyle is the
(03:19):
director of the musculoskeletalResearch Center at Harvard, and
he says Men shrink about oneinch during their lifetime, and
women shrink about two inches.
Here's why. First, with age,muscle fibers gradually weaken,
making it harder to hold ourspine upright. It gradually
causes us to hunch forward. Wealso get shorter, because we
(03:39):
tend to develop slipped discs aswe age. That's when the shock
absorbing discs between ourvertebra begin to dry out, and
by age 70, the discs that wereonce 13 millimeters high can be
down to one millimeter that cancause a shorter stature and
allow the vertebra to rubtogether and cause back pain. So
is there a way to avoid gettingshorter? Dr Kyle says the best
(04:04):
move is to exercise for 30minutes a day, focusing on
stretching and mobilityexercises, because that will
help maintain the strength ofyour bones and the muscles that
help hold up your spine. Okay,listen to this. Are you already
exhausted from all the holidayhoopla? Put your feet up and
look through old familypictures. Neurologist Dr Daniel
(04:27):
Amen, who wrote, Change YourBrain, Change Your body, says
too much socializing can depleteyour brain store of energizing
neurotransmitters and leave youdragging but positive images
trigger happy memories and cutproduction of stress hormones,
and that helps produce theenergizing neurotransmitter
GABA, which can increase yourenergy and banish the blues in
(04:50):
60 seconds or less. Today, ourguest is Gretchen Rubin. She's a
leading researcher on happy.
Ness, whose latest book iscalled Life in five senses, and
with a record number of peoplereporting more stress and
anxiety these days, Gretchensays she's not surprised that
many of us are looking forrelief by turning to immersive
(05:14):
experiences that appeal to oursenses in some way, including
taking nature walks, tryingtasting menus in restaurants and
playing games with virtualreality goggles. Gretchen says
our attraction to things we canimmerse ourselves in comes from
the fact that our senses areoften neglected in today's
world.
(05:34):
Well, I think there are twothings pulling on us from
opposite directions that make itvery easy to get disconnected
from our senses. On the onehand, life can feel very
flattened and drained. We'redoing things behind screens so
things can feel thin and we feellike we're out of touch with the
(05:55):
world. On the other hand,sometimes things feel hyper
processed, so you're eating foodthat's been so processed that it
hits every bliss point, butyou're not cooking it yourself,
so you're not getting thosesmells of grilling and roasting
and baking, or you're watching amovie where you're seeing so
many images and you're hearing asoundtrack that fills you with
(06:17):
emotion, and yet there's no airIn your face. There's no smells.
So I think we're both kind ofover stimulated and under
stimulated with our senses, andthat's what's making us seek
things like immersiveexperiences. The idea of being
in deep contact with our sensesis just feels very, very
appealing.
(06:37):
Today we're talking to happinessresearcher Gretchen Rubin,
author of the book Life in fivesenses, and according to data
from the National Institutes ofHealth, the number of people who
say they practice meditation andmindfulness has tripled in the
past decade, and sincemindfulness has been linked to
making us happier. I askedGretchen how tapping into our
(07:01):
senses can make us more mindful.
One of the things that's reallyhelpful about the senses is that
we're experiencing them righthere right now. Like if you're
smelling something, you'resmelling it right now. If you're
feeling something under yourfingers, you're feeling it right
now. And so it will call you tothe present moment. It will
really remind you to to focus inon what you're experiencing. And
(07:25):
that is a big part ofmindfulness, is just noticing
what you're noticing and beingaware of what is in your
awareness and and because of thethe senses, you know, one of my
favorite senses is the sense ofsmell, and I can't glut myself
on perfume. I can't bookmark it,I can't save it for later. I
(07:45):
can't even keep experiencing itover and over. I mean, you could
listen to the same song on aloop all day long, but with the
smell, you could only smell itfor a few moments before you you
habituate to it and you don'tsmell it anymore. So I can only
appreciate it in the moment. Andso I think that it's, it's
really great way to cultivatemindfulness, because it really
(08:05):
takes us into the presentmoment.
Do you break for cats, dogs,squirrels, skunks and possums?
How about horses, cows, elk,moose or deer? Well, the
Insurance Institute for HighwaySafety says you should fight the
urge to swerve as you brake,unless you have time to check
traffic first, of course, thesize of the animal matters. If
(08:29):
it's shorter than your car'shood and you don't have time to
check other lanes, go throughit. If the animal is taller than
the hood, avoid it. If you can,knowing it still might be better
to hit the animal. The InsuranceInstitute for Highway Safety
says animal collisions happen sofast. A lot of drivers don't
(08:49):
have the option of making adecision about what to do, but
the best thing, unfortunately,in most cases, is to hit the
animal and try to avoid swervingor doing something that could
cause you to lose control andhit somebody else or an object
or go off the road and rollover. Most human injuries from
(09:09):
animal collisions occur not whenanimals are hit, but from the
crash that follows today'smedical term retrograde
cricopharyngeus dysfunction,also known as a belchia or no
burp syndrome. It's the reasonwhy some people can't burp. It's
caused by a quirk in the musclethat acts as the gatekeeper to
(09:32):
the esophagus, the roughly 10inch long tube that moves food
between the throat and thestomach. The inability to burp
can cause bloating, pain,gurgling in the neck and chest,
and excessive flatulence,because the build up of air has
to get out somehow, it can causeperpetual nausea or pain as bad
(09:53):
as a heart attack in the chest,and some people have it from
birth, but it was recentlydiscovered. That it can be fixed
with Botox injections, they canrelieve a Belgium for up to 99%
of patients, the amount of Botoxneeded is more than twice the
amount often used to smoothforehead wrinkles, and it gets
(10:13):
injected into the uppercricopharyngeal muscle. Dr
Michael King is an ear, nose andthroat physician, and he says
it's the same way he treatspeople having a hard time
swallowing after a stroke.
People have been suffering fromthis condition for at least a
few millennia. 2000 years ago, aRoman philosopher described a
man who could not belch, but nowthere's a fix, and that's
(10:36):
today's medical term, retrogradecricopharyngeus, dysfunction,
also known as a belchia Comingup, we'll hear more from our
guest happiness researcherGretchen Rubin. She'll tell us
her one minute rule for beingmore productive, which in turn,
can make you happier. But first,can you take a break from your
phone for 30 minutes? If so,researchers from Rutgers say it
(10:59):
can boost your brain power. Forthe study, they had participants
work on word puzzles, theneveryone took a break, but one
group was allowed to use theirphones, the other wasn't. After
the break, the group that usedtheir phones finished the
puzzles 20% more slowly andsolved 20% fewer problems.
(11:20):
That's because the phonesdrained the participants brain
power. In fact, their brainpower was lower than those who
got no break at all. So if youneed to be on point mentally,
try taking a 30 minute phonebreak way back in 2017 we talked
about a condition called Deadbutt syndrome. It's absolutely
(11:42):
real, and it's making a comebacknow that people are back in
offices, sitting at their desksall day. It's known officially
as gluteal amnesia. It's acondition in which your glutes
or butt muscles go dormant frominactivity, basically when we
sit eight hours a day or more,our butt muscles become
(12:03):
desensitized because the neuronsthat tell them to contract have
weakened, and that's dead. Buttsyndrome, in a nutshell. Dr
Chris Colbert is a physicaltherapist at Ohio State
University's Medical Center, andhe says when your rear muscles
aren't working efficiently, itmeans all the surrounding
muscles need to compensate, andthat can cause stress injuries.
(12:27):
So how do you know if you havegluteal amnesia? Symptoms
include numbness, stiffness orcramping in your glutes when you
do move, but gluteal amnesia istotally reversible through
exercises that work thosemuscles and bring them back to
life, like side leg lifts,squats and doing a bridge where
(12:48):
you lie on your back, plant yourfeet on the ground and raise
your rear up and down, and, ofcourse, make sure you're moving
throughout the Day to avoid deadbutt syndrome in the first
place. Okay, listen to this. Ifyou want to start working out
more, tell yourself I'm a runneror I'm a cross fit athlete,
(13:08):
instead of telling yourself I'mgoing to run or I'm going to
lift some weights, according tothe journal self and identity,
when people used that strategy,they were better at sticking to
an exercise regimen. That'sbecause you're giving yourself
an identity, not just a command,and that makes you feel like
(13:28):
exercising is part of who youare. It also makes you feel like
you belong to a community ofexercisers or runners, and
feeling like you're part of anactive tribe makes you more
motivated to keep up back withmore health intelligence from
Gretchen Rubin, author of thebook Life in five senses,
earlier, she said that payingattention to our senses is that
(13:49):
key part of being more mindful,which is proven to make us
happier. But what if yousometimes struggle to get in
touch with your senses or wishthey could be stronger? I asked
researcher Ruben what sherecommends if
you want to really paymore attention to your senses as
you go through your everydaylife. One thing I love is a five
senses journal. And this isjust, you know, every single
(14:13):
day, seeing, hearing, smelling,tasting, touching, just note
down one notable memory. Itdoesn't have to be your
favorite, just something thatyou noticed. And you know. So
maybe you walked by a movietheater and you smelled movie
theater popcorn, and that's areally, a really powerful smell.
So you just write this down, andwhat I find is that this is a
(14:34):
way to just make sure that asI'm going through my life, I'm
paying attention to my senses,because a lot of times they're
just kind of runningunderground. We're tapping into
them as we need to, and it justsort of a utilitarian way, and
just by thinking to yourself,Okay, I'm looking for some
highlights from today. I'm goingto write them down. And also one
(14:54):
of the most common pieces ofadvice, I. For happiness is to
keep a gratitude journal. And Ihave to admit that I tried
keeping a gratitude journal, andI found it to be kind of a
deeply annoying exercise, but Ifound that a five senses journal
operated as a kind of gratitudejournal, but in a way that I
found much fresher and morecreative and more fun, but it
(15:17):
really allowed me to feel like Iwas I was paying tribute to the
beauty of the world by what Iwas noticing, and it really did
help me. It helps me every dayto just stay alive to everything
that I'm experiencing through myfive senses
back with more healthintelligence from happiness
researcher Gretchen Rubin,author of the number one New
(15:40):
York Times best seller, TheHappiness Project. And when it
comes to habits that can make ushappier, one of Ruben's
favorites is something calledthe One Minute Rule. So I asked
her to take us through the OneMinute Rule.
The One Minute Rule is exactlywhat it sounds like. If there is
a task that you can do in aminute or less, go ahead and do
it without delay. So if you canprint out a document and put it
(16:03):
in the right folder, if you canput something in the recycling,
if you can put the coffee mug inthe dishwasher, go ahead and do
it without delay. And what thisdoes is it just gets rid of all
those nagging casts, thosethings that are just kind of the
scum on the surface of life,which are not consequential on
their own. They don't take a lotof time, energy or money. These
(16:24):
are little, tiny tasks, and yetthey can make us feel very
weighed down. You know, if youwalk into your office and all
you see is just like a bunch ofstuff that is all out of order
and just needs to be dealt with,and you just keep
procrastinating about it. It'svery, very draining. And I have
to say, of all the things that Iwrite about with habits, this is
(16:44):
one where people most often say,wow, this really changed my
life, because they just feel somuch lighter and freer because
all these tasks have beencleared out of their way. And
sometimes when we get when wetackle the little task, we feel
more capable of tackling biggerthings. And that means that it's
we can do the things that aremore likely to make us happier,
(17:04):
healthier, more productive ormore creative.
If you're going someplace Sunny,or you live where there's sun
year round, put sunscreen onyour ears. Skin cancer on the
ears has been found to be moreaggressive. The tumors grow
larger and deeper than those onthe face. That's because ear
skin cancer is hard to catch,since we typically don't look
(17:25):
inside our own ears, so it has alonger time to take root before
it's spotted. And although skincancer that appears on your ears
typically is not melanoma, thedeadliest form, it can lead to
nerve and muscle damage, moreintelligence for your health.
From happiness researcherGretchen Rubin, and because her
latest book, Life in fivesenses, focuses on how to use
(17:47):
our senses of sight, smell,taste, touch and hearing to be
happier, I asked Gretchen ifthere's one of those senses that
tends to be more neglected thanthe others.
Well, it's fascinating. Afterthe book came out, I was still
I'm still so fascinated by thefive senses that I developed a
quiz. So you can go to Gretchen,rubin.com/quiz and you can take
a quiz to find what is your mostneglected sense. And this is a
(18:12):
really great thing to know aboutyourself, because when we
neglect a sense, we don't turnto it for comfort or pleasure.
We don't explore it. We don'tuse it to engage with other
people. We are often morefocused on avoiding the negative
of that sense, rather thanreally availing ourselves of all
(18:32):
the positives and pleasures ofthat sense. So it's really great
to know your most neglectedsense, because this is the low
hanging fruit. This is where youhave a lot of opportunities to
make your life richer. And oneof the things that surprised me
now that 10s of 1000s of peoplehave taken this quiz, is that I
kind of suspected that certainsenses would be the most
neglected, but in fact, it'sextremely evenly distributed
(18:57):
among all five, so there isn'tone that stands out as the most
neglected among big groups ofpeople. It's which I have to
say. I had predicted thatsomething like smell would be
most neglected, but I did notfind that, and I thought no one
would neglect sight, because ashuman beings, we're really hard
(19:17):
wired for sight. It's got themost wiring in the brain if
there's a conflict among thesenses, sight usually Trumps. So
I thought no one would neglectsight. Well, it turns out it's
it's just about the same as allthe other four. Once again, if
you'd like to take GretchenRubin's online test for
assessing your senses, or learnmore about her book Life in five
senses, check outgretchenrubin.com to get a
(19:38):
better workout, go ahead andgrunt, just like tennis players
do during a killer serve, it canactually improve your workout.
Sports Psychologist Dr Joel fishsays when an athlete grunts as
they exhale, their strengthincreases. Take weight lifting a
grunt helps the chest and open.
(20:00):
Leak muscles work significantlyharder. That's because
vocalizations during exertionimprove your muscles power
output and makes exercise seemeasier. In fact, when tennis
players were told to grunt whenhitting their serves, their
shots were five miles per hourfaster than the Silent Ones.
Grunting can also ensure properbreathing, which helps stabilize
(20:22):
your core and generates the mostpower. Here's an email I
received at Connie atintelligence for your
health.com, it comes from CarrieDeFranco, who writes, I hear so
much about electrolytes. Do Ineed special drinks with them or
something? Carrie the termelectrolytes simply refers to
substances that dissolve inwater. And as far as your body
(20:45):
is concerned, the most importantelectrolytes are sodium,
potassium, calcium andmagnesium, because without the
right balance of sodium andpotassium, for example, cells
can't function properly, andcalcium is needed to make your
muscles contract and for nervesto work. That's why companies
spend billions of dollars eachyear promoting drinks and
(21:08):
powders that claim to boost yourelectrolytes and keep you
healthy. The problem accordingto Dr grant Lipman, emergency
medicine physician at WashingtonHospital healthcare, the average
Western diet already containsmore than enough electrolytes to
maintain good health. In fact,he says, unless you're an
intense exerciser who loses moresodium than normal through
(21:31):
sweat, you can probably get allof the electrolytes you need
from a handful of mixed nutssome berries and a cup of water,
and tests of regular tap watershow it provides healthy amounts
of electrolytes. So the messagefrom Dr Lipman is, unless you're
an extreme athlete, you don'tneed to do anything special to
maintain your electrolyte level.
Thank you for your email.
(21:54):
Carrie, I hope this helps. Okay,listen to this for a headache.
Give yourself a neck rub.
University of Alabamaresearchers say to rub your
fingers along the back of yourneck and the base of your skull
that stimulates blood flow tothe brain, reducing headache
pain by half in five minutes.
Have you ever wanted to getrevenge on someone who wronged
(22:17):
you? It's a natural humanemotion. According to the
journal Psychological Science,just the thought of getting
revenge stimulates the part ofour brain that processes reward.
But the fact is, revenge almostalways makes us feel worse
instead of making us feelbetter, revenge prolongs our
bitterness and feelings ofresentment, and whatever was
(22:39):
done to us keeps tormenting us.
It creates a cycle that dragsthings out even longer. And
researchers at Hope Collegefound that simply imagining how
we get revenge on someone raisesour heart rate, constricts blood
vessels and causes other stressrelated health problems. On the
other hand, just trying toforgive someone lowers the level
(23:00):
of stress hormones that damageour immune system. So even
though they say Revenge issweet, it actually makes us feel
worse, mentally and physically.
More intelligence for yourhealth. From researcher Gretchen
Rubin, author of life in fivesenses and something she
(23:21):
recommends for boosting yoursense of taste is to throw an
occasional taste party that'swhere you gather friends to take
bites of different foods andthen get everyone to really
focus on comparing the differenttextures and flavors of each
bite. Gretchen says a typicalparty might involve trying a
variety of different apples orcheeses or even different
(23:43):
condiments. In fact, one of herfavorite items to highlight at a
tasting party is ketchup. Now,this is something that most
people have tasted hundreds,1000s of times during the course
of their lives. I mean, youknow, in the United States, most
people have it in theirrefrigerator, but Heinz Ketchup
is one of the rare foods thathits all five of the basic
(24:03):
taste. It's sweet, it's sour,it's bitter, it's salty, and
it's umami, and that is veryhard to do. So I had everybody
just taste a little bit of Heinzketchup on their tongue, and
everybody thought, oh my gosh,this is the most sophisticated,
complex taste sensation. Youknow. You think of it as being
(24:27):
this, this throwaway, blandthing that people glop all over
their food. But it's actuallyincredibly sophisticated, which
probably explains why HeinzKetchup is a secret ingredient
in all kinds of foods where youprobably would not expect to
find it, because it is socomplex that this was just a fun
way to connect with friends,like we were laughing, we were
(24:47):
talking, we were reminiscing. Ifelt like I got an insight into
their nature in a way that Inever had before,
and yet it was, it was easy andfun. Fun to put
together. So I really, I highlyrecommend doing a taste party.
That's it for our show today,our special intelligence for
your health with Connie Selig.
Edition of the podcast, I'm GibGerard. Don't forget to rate
(25:10):
comment and subscribe on Applepodcast. Spotify, wherever you
get your podcast. It helps usout a lot. And also, you can
reach out to us on social media.
All of our links are listed downin the show notes, we try to
respond to every DM, everymention of the show, because
ultimately, we do the show foryou guys. So thank you so much
for listening. You.
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