All Episodes

May 7, 2025 13 mins

In this episode of Mindful Objective, we dig into five powerful listener questions that uncover deeper issues often missed in mainstream health conversations. We explore what “grounding” actually does for inflammation, anxiety, and nervous system health, and whether walking barefoot on the Earth is more than just a wellness trend. We hear from a shift worker navigating burnout and belly fat despite clean habits, and uncover how disrupted circadian rhythms sabotage digestion, hormone balance, and rest.


You’ll also hear from someone wondering if being “skinny fat” is a real issue—and how muscle loss, under-eating, and lack of strength training affect metabolism and body composition. A husband asks how he can improve his fertility and sperm health, and we break down nutrition, detox support, and hormone-friendly lifestyle tips. Finally, we speak to a woman years postmenopause still struggling with brain fog, joint pain, and emotional swings—and why support doesn’t stop after hot flashes do.


This episode is all about listening deeper and supporting smarter.


📝 Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not diagnose, treat, or cure any disease. Always consult a healthcare professional before making dietary changes. By listening to this podcast, you acknowledge that you understand and agree to this disclaimer.


📍If today’s conversation helped reframe your symptoms or sparked a question of your own, share the episode with someone who could benefit. For more insights, resources, and ways to connect, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠mindfulobjective.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ or follow along on social media ⁠⁠⁠@mindfulobjective⁠⁠⁠.


📍Submit a show question at ⁠⁠https://mindfulobjective.com/podcasts⁠⁠


Healing doesn’t happen all at once, but each question, each step, and each small win adds up. This episode is a reminder that the answers you’re seeking often begin by asking the right questions.


Stay Well!

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Mindful Objective, the podcast where we explore
health from a grounded root cause perspective, one that's
holistic, practical, and never been on A1 size fits all advice.
I'm your host, doctor Daniels bro, integrative health
practitioner and professor. Today's episode is dedicated to
your questions, real thoughtful ones we haven't tackled yet.
And in this episode, we're unpacking what those signals

(00:22):
might be telling you through an integrative lens and Real Life
Solutions brings to the table. As always, this podcast for
educational purposes only. We do not diagnose, treat, or
cure any illness or disease. Let's get into it.
Listener question #1 Sarah, 32, from Massachusetts.
I'm hearing about grounding, also called earthing, and I

(00:43):
don't know if I should take it seriously.
Friend of mine swears that walking barefoot on grass
everyday helped her anxiety and she said it could help with
inflammation and sleep too. I'm someone who struggles with
both. I'm not against holistic things,
but I don't want to waste my time on something that's all
hype with no science behind it. Can connecting to the earth

(01:03):
really affect the body's nervoussystem or immune system in any
measurable way? Have you seen it help people in
real life? Or is it just one of those
Wellness trends that doesn't do much for most people?
So, Sarah, it's a good question.You're not alone in thinking how
it sounds a bit out there, but grounding does raise eyebrows.
But let's look at what we actually know.

(01:25):
Grounding refers to direct skin contact with the surface of the
earth. This could be grass, soil, sand,
water. The idea is that the earth has a
negative charge and modern life,shoes, buildings, electronics
disrupts our body's ability to stay electrically balanced.
So some studies out there have shown grounding can reduce
cortisol levels, lower markers of inflammation, improve sleep,

(01:47):
and even a regulated auto atomicnervous system function.
For example, there's a 2015 study from the Journal of
Inflammation Research found thatgrounding reduced delayed onset
muscle soreness and help calm inflammatory markers post
exercise. Another would be a 2012 study
which showed improved sleep and reduced pain in people with

(02:08):
chronic issues like fibromyalgia.
So the mechanism is thought to involve free electrons from the
earth. Earth naturalizing positively
charge free radicals in the body.
While it's not mainstream yet, the potential is there and it
cost nothing to try right? If walking barefoot on beach or
grass makes you feel calmer and it's a psychological benefit

(02:29):
worth acknowledging, try consistently this for maybe 1020
minutes a day and journal how you feel.
Might surprise you. One thing I would just say out
there is there's a lot of products out there, earthing
products, veggies and stuff fromChina with synthetic materials
that could be more toxic than beneficial.
So kind of if you're going to buy sheets, see where they're

(02:50):
made at the quality of their made listener question #2 I work
as a it's James 49. He lives in Texas.
He says hi. I work as a firefighter and my
schedule is all over the place. We do a 24 hour shifts on
sometimes go days without real rest.
I eat clean, drink water and tryto take care of myself.

(03:11):
But my digestion is a mess. I put on belly fat and I feel
like a zombie some days, even when I sleep a full 8 hours the
next day. I heard you talk about stress in
the nervous system before, but how do people like me stay
healthy when our lives don't allow consistency?
Is it just damage control? Are there routines or specific
things that I can do to help my body from breaking down?

(03:32):
James, First off, thank you for your service.
That's a great career. So shift work is brutal on the
body, especially over time. Your experience?
What we call circadian rhythm disruption and it affects
everything from digestion, hormones, cognitive function,
immunity. Another one would be even
metabolism, right? That consists of weight gain,
heartburn, daytime fog. These are all classic signs that

(03:56):
your internal clock is out of sync.
So here's a few ways to protect your health even when you can't
change your schedule. Light management.
Expose yourself to bright light,ideally blue and blue light
enriched during your shift and block it afterwards, while blue
light glasses are there to help your brain understand it's ready
to wind down South. Darkness triggers melatonin even

(04:18):
if it's daytime outside, right? Especially you're sleeping
during the day. Got to get it dark, got to get
your body on that right cycle. Another one would be meal
timing. So you want to avoid large meals
right before or during night shifts out for smaller, easily
digestible meals with protein and fat to keep blood sugar
stable. Try to eat your largest meal
when your body expects it, usually late afternoon if you're

(04:39):
on rotating off nights. Another one you want to do is
gut support, so consider digestive enzymes or a little
apple cider vinegar and water tohelp ease heartburn and sluggish
digestion from odd eating times.I know that the shifts are rough
supplements, magnesium glycinate, taurine, althionine.
These can help support your nervous system and rest quality

(05:01):
your sleep environment, right? Use blackout curtains, white
noise, keeping your phone out ofthe room.
That's a. This is critical.
So treat your daytime sleep likeit's sacred, right?
Sleep is very important to the body to heal.
Take it seriously. You might not get perfect
alignment, right, but consistentrituals and smart strategies can
make your body more resilient despite the chaos.

(05:23):
Take one day at a time, slowly reduce and get on the right
path. Listener question #3 And this
episode here, we only have 5 questions so it's not going to
take up much time, but we didn'thave much this week.
So. Listener question #3 Deanna 26,
California. I'm not overweight but I feel

(05:43):
like I have no muscle tone and get a windy easily.
I heard the term skinny fat, Could that be me?
How do I even start to fix that?Yes what you're describing does
fit common definition of skinny fat where someone a pair of slim
by weight or BMI but has high body fat percentage and low
muscle mass. This is more common than people

(06:03):
realize especially among women who never resistance trained or
who under eat protein and calories.
Right so protein is a big one. We always say eat more not less.
To build muscle and prove energy.
You need enough calories especially from protein.
So get at least 0.8 to 1g per pound of body weight daily.
Again try that 30 grams, 2030 grams of protein within 30

(06:24):
minutes of waking. Another one would be strength
training. This is key.
So start with a full body workouts 2 to three times a week
using weights and resistance bands.
You want to focus on compound movements, Squat, lunges, rows,
push ups. You could use your body weight
from the beginning right? You can use that to to get you
on the right path with squats, push ups and so forth.

(06:46):
Use your body weight initially. Ditched a cardio obsession
right? Walking is great for general
movement, but long cardio sessions can actually make it
harder to build muscle. So you're not also eating more
and lifting. All right.
If you're doing a lot of cardio,make sure you eat extra.
So check your labs, ask your doctor, practitioner to run
thyroid labs, ferritin, vitamin D, Low energy and inability to

(07:11):
build strength can be related tounderlying nutrient or hormonal
issues. So building lean mass takes
time, but within two to three months of consistent training
and fueling, you'll feel stronger.
You also have more endurance andlook more tone without needing
to lose a pound. So there's other things that go
into it. All right, this is Tommy, 42

(07:31):
from Georgia is listener question #4 my wife and I are
trying to get pregnant. I started to wonder if my own
health plays more of a role thanI thought.
I always heard fertility talks focus on women, but is there
anything men should do to improve sperm health?
So absolutely, Tommy, your health matters as much as your
wife's when it comes to conception, right?

(07:52):
Male fertility issues contributeto 40% of infertility cases and
sperm health is heavily influenced by lifestyle,
nutrition and environmental exposures.
Right. Too much metals in your diet,
not enough hydration, not enoughzinc.
There's a lot that goes into this.
Key ways to improve sperm quality, nutrient support.
This would be zinc, selenium, Coq 10, Coq 10.

(08:15):
Depends how you say it. L carnitine.
These have all been shown to support sperm motility and high
quality men's fertility vitaminsis a smart investment all right.
Make sure you're getting a high quality multivitamin, but there
are ones out there for fertility.
So limit heat exposure, avoid hot tubs, tight underwear,
laptops on your lap. All can reduce sperm count by

(08:37):
increasing A scrotal temperature.
So again, you're going to have to ditch those hot tubs and a
saunas reduce toxins, minimize exposure to plastics, especially
the BPA. Pesticides are heavy metals.
Use a water filter and eat organic when possible.
Watch alcohol and smoke. I don't know if you do either of
these, but both decrease testosterone and can directly

(08:59):
damage sperm DNA. Another important one is sleep
and stress. Both of these influence your
testosterone rhythm. Poor sleep or high stress over
time will lead to low hormone levels and poor sperm function.
So if you're really serious, geta sperm analysis.
You could go to your primary. They can send you to the right
person to get this done. But this will give you a clear
baseline. So there are good news.

(09:21):
Sperm regenerate every 7090 days.
So small changes now can yield big benefits in just a few
months. And we hear on the opposite side
of spectrum, you hear don't go in hot tubs, don't go in asanas,
and don't do like TRT and stuff like that because it's going to
lower sperm count. But maybe that's what some of us
want. Listener.
And final question. Listener to question #5

(09:42):
Jeanette, 61, from Ohio. It's been a few years since
menopause and honestly I didn't expect to feel this out of
sorts. I have joint pain, dry skin,
sagging muscles, brain fog, and I've become more emotional.
Everyone told me that once the hot flash stop it gets better,
but I feel like my body is just different now and not in a good
way. Is there anything that can still

(10:05):
help? I don't want to go to this and
take synthetic hormones, but I also do not want to accept that
this is just my new normal. What options do I have this far
out from menopause? That's a good question, but
what? Your experience is unfortunately
very common, right? It's rarely talked about.
The postmenopausal phase still comes with real shifts,

(10:25):
especially if no support was provided during transition.
But there's hope not too late. Here's where you could focus on
tissue support. Collagen type 1, type 3, vitamin
C, silica and omega-3 can help support skin, joints, and
connective tissues. Hormone mimics phytoestrogens,
which is flax, fermented soy, red Clover, which gently bind to

(10:48):
estrogen receptors and may reduce symptoms without
synthetic hormones. Another one people are surprised
on this is strength training, right?
Lifting weights 2 to three timesa week boost muscle tone, mood
and bone density. Especially as we get older, you
want to lift light weights to maintain muscle mass.
That's beneficial for your brainand your heart and your body in
general. Cognitive supplements considered

(11:09):
a Copa another one be magnesium thryonate.
These both help support memory and keep your body calm.
So what I always tell people to everybody says they're in
postmenopausal, premenopausal and menopause.
Do lab testing to really rule that out to show that you don't
just don't go based on symptoms because you could have We'll get

(11:30):
it get into it more detail on a different episode when we cover
menopause, but there's a lot of symptoms that mimic each other.
We have for men, they think it'sa low testosterone or low
testosterone levels because it'sthey'll test and say my
testosterone is low and I have these symptoms.
So it must be a issue with testosterone when it's really
their thyroid. You know the thyroid and

(11:51):
testosterone mimic each other inthe same with menopause and
thyroid issues for women do functional lab testing, right.
We always say that what well known one out there is a Dutch
test, but organic acid test can both uncover neurotransmitter
imbalances, cortisol regulatories and detox pathway
sluggingness. So again, Dutch test or ALT can
uncover neurotransmitter imbalances, cortisol, regular

(12:14):
cortisol issues and detox pathways to see if they're
sluggish and they may be contributing to your symptoms.
So you deserve to feel strong, be clear headed and support
every stage of our lives, right?There's a lot that goes into
this. That's it.
That was our last question. But hormones play a big role in
our lives, right? Due to proper functional
testing. And we get you on the right
path. So that wraps up this episode of

(12:36):
Mindful Objective. We answered 5 important
listeners submitted questions. Again, these aren't minor
annoyances, right? They're signals your body way of
asking for support. So when we approach these issues
with curiosity and root cause thinking, we gain the power to
create real, lasting improvements on how we feel
every day, right? Remember this podcast for
informational, educational purposes only.

(12:56):
We do not diagnose, care or treat any illness or disease.
So again, as this podcast was helpful to you or you may know
somebody experiencing one of these issues, feel free to pass
it on. We want more people to identify
our podcasts. Hear us.
Hopefully, they'll walk away with something free information
and they could always reach out or if you can reach out if you
have any questions. So again, your story and your

(13:18):
willingness to learn can be encouragement that others need.
Maybe I'll pass it on. So if you want your question
answered in a future episode, visit
mindfulobjective.com/podcasts. Again,
mindfulobjective.com/podcast. Don't forget to follow us at
Mindful Objective for daily health tips, resource and
inspiration. Until next time, stay grounded,

(13:41):
stay empowered, and keep listening to what your body's
trying to really say to you. Stay well.
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