May 1, 2025 • 27 mins
Don't stress! Episode 1 of Real Talk: Community Health Care in Action is here! Your host, Quincy, is joined by Frontier Nursing University's Department Chair of the Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing Dept. Kevin Scalf, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC, CNEcl. They talk all things stress, why we feel it, and how to handle it. Please enjoy the inaugural episode! We are excited to bring you more for your health.
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Episode Transcript
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Unknown (00:00):
🎵 🎵
Speaker 00 (00:08):
Welcome to episode one.
My name is Quincy Fuehne and Iam with Frontier Nursing
University.
This podcast is a communityhealth initiative brought to you
by Frontier Nursing Universityand the Woodford County Chamber
of Commerce to improve communityhealth and increase healthcare
awareness.
We plan to release new episodeseach month.
In today's episode, we aregoing to talk about stress and
(00:30):
adulthood.
Stress is something we all dealwith.
And according to an AmericanPsychological Association
survey, around three in fiveadults 62% said that they don't
talk about their stress overallbecause they don't want to
burden others.
Joining myself and producerCorey today is psychiatric
mental health nurse practitionerDr.
(00:51):
Kevin Scalf.
Dr.
Scalf is the department chairfor the Department of
Psychiatric Mental Health NursePractitioner Program at Frontier
Nursing University.
And he continues to workclinically as a PMHNP, helping
to provide care to individualswho are experiencing acute
mental health crises.
I want to
Speaker 01 (01:11):
clap.
I want to clap.
That's awesome.
I just met you, Kevin.
Great to
Speaker 02 (01:14):
meet you.
Thanks for being here.
Nice to meet you.
Thanks, Quincy.
Speaker 00 (01:16):
Yes, thank you.
And can you tell us a littlebit about your background and
why you became a PMHMP?
Speaker 02 (01:23):
Sure.
Well, I started off, I've beena nurse since 1997, I guess.
And during that course of time,I spent most of my time in
critical care units.
And just by looking around atthe unit at any given point in
time, you know, I could pick outprobably 80% of those patients
struggled with some type ofmental health issue that really,
(01:46):
you know, it either directlycaused their admission or it
made things worse, requiringthem to be admitted into the
ICU.
And, you know, during thecourse of that time, we did a
really good job of just likemanaging the medical issues and
things, but we hardly evertalked about the mental health
aspect of things.
(02:06):
And that just really sparked mycuriosity and I learned more
about this this role and I wentto school and fast forward a few
years later here I am so it'salways been a it's always been a
big interest of mine
Speaker 00 (02:22):
yeah and you you practice in rural eastern
Kentucky is that correct
Speaker 02 (02:27):
I do I do my current practice is in an inpatient
psychiatric unit and I've alsopracticed outpatient mental
health as well saw people acrossthe lifespan, children,
adolescents, young adults, olderindividuals, that sort of
thing.
But right now, I primarily workwith adults.
Speaker 00 (02:48):
Yeah, that's awesome.
So you are the perfect personto talk to us about stress and
adulthood.
And might I add, Kevin, yourvoice is so soothing.
I don't know.
Now we're getting somewhere.
Anytime I have a meeting withyou, he just brings me peace.
Thank you.
Speaker 01 (03:08):
That's beautiful.
That's so true.
Like you said that, I'm like,oh my gosh, yes.
I needed that today.
So check that box out.
Speaker 00 (03:20):
I got that down.
So can you provide us a basicdefinition of stress?
Speaker 02 (03:24):
Absolutely.
That's a great question.
So stress is something we allexperience, right?
But it's often misunderstood.
At its core, stress is reallythe body's response to any type
of demand or challenge let'ssay, that we're facing.
That can be either a physicalchallenge, an emotional
challenge, a psychologicalissue.
(03:45):
Basically, stress occurs whenwe feel pressure, we feel
uncertainty, or really, we don'treally feel we're in control of
a situation, so to speak.
And so, basically, stress, Ithink, is a natural reaction of
our body to adjust to thosechallenges and changes.
And it's kind of like an alarmsystem sometimes.
(04:07):
Stress is like our body's alarmsystem to let us know that
there could be some danger aheadand it gets us prepared to deal
with that.
Man, I mean, just
Speaker 01 (04:18):
hearing you say the definition is incredible.
We all live with stress, butman, hearing you say exactly
what it is, it just makes youthink.
You don't hear that.
You don't think about what itmeans too often.
You just think, oh, I'mstressed.
Exactly.
Everyone knows
Speaker 02 (04:36):
what stress is, right?
If we say I'm stressed out, wekind of get the meaning of it.
But how often do we reallythink about what is that then?
What is the stress?
Speaker 00 (04:45):
Yeah.
Okay.
not to put you on the spot, butlike something for me, I guess,
what is the difference betweenstress and anxiety?
Speaker 02 (04:55):
Great question.
Great question.
So stress is more of like aninward response to something
that we perceive as being achallenge, right?
So we perceive something asbeing a potential threat to us
in some way that creates thisinner feeling kind of like a
(05:17):
some things in line here.
Anxiety is more so like asymptom of stress.
And so we see the stress, thenwe kind of turn that around in
our brain.
We interpret what that means tous.
And then if that causesanxiety, we see that kind of as
an external symptom.
And that's different foreverybody.
(05:38):
Sometimes people say, well,what are the symptoms of
anxiety?
Well, it depends on thatindividual.
Some people deal with anxietyin many different ways compared
to other people.
And so it's all subjective,right?
It's all subjective.
But anxiety, I think, stemsfrom stress.
Yes.
And so anxiety, I think, ismore of like an apprehension.
(05:59):
I'm uneasy about something.
You hear sometimes people say,I feel nervous about it, right?
That's more like anxiety.
And so stress, I think, is theroot cause of a lot of anxiety.
Speaker 00 (06:14):
Okay.
So anxiety equals stress, butstress.
Stress does not necessarilyequal anxiety.
Correct.
Okay, perfect.
That's helpful for me to know.
Okay, so we talked about, youmentioned symptoms.
Yes.
What are some symptoms that wemight have as a result of
stress?
I feel like sometimes peoplemight have...
(06:37):
I'm going to just say likemigraines, and you're not
attributing it to stress, but Ithink that's important to know
the root cause of some of oursymptoms.
So what symptoms should peoplekind of look out for for stress
or maybe our bigger red flags?
Sure.
Yeah,
Speaker 02 (06:53):
that's another great question.
And again, it's different foreverybody, right?
But stress can show up inreally just– many, many, many
different ways.
Physically, it can show up inour life.
Emotionally, and also even likehow we behave and some of our
behavior patterns.
And so if you think about,let's say, emotional response to
stress, for example, stress canmake us feel anxious, like we
(07:16):
just talked about.
It can also make us feelirritable.
We can feel overwhelmed, evendepressed sometimes.
And you make notice, sometimesthere's subtle things that just
pop up here and there, right?
you may notice that you're moreshort-tempered than usual.
Maybe little things thatwouldn't normally bother you
(07:38):
suddenly feel like this hugedeal.
It can also be really hard tofocus or make decisions during
increased times of stress.
It's almost like your brain isjust too overloaded to think
clearly and make good decisions.
And so that's some emotionalresponses that we see, right?
But you also mentioned somephysical things too.
(08:00):
Right.
Physically, stress can causethings like headaches, muscle
tension, fatigue, even maybesome stomach issues.
Have you ever really just hadlike a really stressful day and
suddenly your neck and shouldersfeel kind of tight and you're
like, what's up with that,right?
Well, that's stress at work.
(08:20):
It's just manifesting in yourphysical body.
And so it can also mess withyour sleep.
Some people struggle withinsomnia.
Other people maybe sleep toomuch because they're trying to
escape that bad feelingassociated with stress, right?
And so sometimes we see that.
Also, let's not forget aboutthe impact on the heart and the
(08:45):
cardiovascular system.
I think that's really, reallyimportant.
Stress, we all know, can leadto high blood pressure, right?
It can also lead to heartdisease.
It can lead to a heart attackor a stroke.
And so it really does have somehigh stakes value when we're
looking at somebody's overallhealth, right?
So physically, you know, that'sthe thing.
(09:06):
And then I mentioned alsobehavioral symptoms, changes in
appetite, whether you're eatingtoo much, much too little maybe
sometimes or maybe you're withstarting to withdraw from your
friends your social connectionslike from just life you just do
the bare minimum that you canget by with um that's another
thing that we see with stresssometimes and then the other
(09:27):
thing that we see sometimes isprocrastination oh have we ever
had things that were uneasy orwere nervous about it's it's
hard it's a challenge definitelywe keep putting it off right oh
my gosh i'll do this tomorrowI'll do it next week.
It sits on my list forever.
It's forever.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So those are some things thatwe see, you know, symptoms of
(09:49):
stress that we can see in justtypical everyday life.
And if you don't think aboutit, maybe you don't really
connect it as good as what weshould.
Speaker 00 (09:57):
Right.
Speaker 01 (09:58):
We have something interesting here, Quincy, that
I've never done before on apodcast.
So this is a first first, and Ilove it.
We have another guest that justpopped
Speaker 00 (10:08):
up.
Just popped in.
I
Speaker 01 (10:09):
love it.
And it fits perfectly with thepodcast.
what we're talking about, butthat's why I'm here, all right?
I'm here to help produce.
So please.
Speaker 00 (10:17):
We have Carrie with Elemental Yoga here in
Versailles.
So Carrie, do you want tointroduce yourself and your
background?
Speaker 04 (10:23):
Sure, absolutely.
I am Dr.
Carrie Davidson here fromElemental Yoga and Wellness.
I have been running the studiofor almost three years now,
Speaker 03 (10:34):
but
Speaker 04 (10:35):
my background is exercise physiology.
That's what I am by degree.
I've been the fitness managerfor over 20 years.
I've at University of Kentucky,actually.
And then I run the studio here,too.
So lots of irons
Speaker 01 (10:46):
in the fire.
How cool is this that we werejust talking about the physical?
It's so awesome.
Speaker 04 (10:53):
The synchronicities,
Speaker 00 (10:54):
man.
And Carrie can really speak tothe part of alleviating the
stress and all of that goodstuff.
But I want to go back to thesymptoms really quick because
personally, personal experience,I know...
you mentioned like irritabilityand I wouldn't consider myself
a super irritable person, but Iwill notice that if I'm, Having
(11:18):
a stressed out day, and I don'treally acknowledge that the day
was stressful.
In the evening, like with mykid, I'm gonna be a little not
as patient, and I'm like, oh mygosh.
That is
Speaker 02 (11:28):
so hard to believe.
I've never seen you that way.
Speaker 00 (11:30):
And my husband would be like, are you good?
Why are you acting like this?
But then I realized, oh mygosh, I'm just so stressed.
I need to breathe.
And then I want to go back to,so one of the physical things
symptoms, the heart.
So how do we identify thatbefore it leads to something
(11:55):
like a heart attack or a strokelike how do you say oh there's
an issue and we need to takecontrol absolutely that is
Speaker 02 (12:02):
such a great topic right because you know we need
to really catch these thingsbefore they could become this
huge snowball right and theybecome this huge problem in our
life because we have to remembersometimes it's a little bit and
a little bit and a little bitand before we know it it's
enough to tip the scale and thenall of a sudden we're starting
to have a lot of problems sothat earlier we can catch
(12:24):
things, the better, right?
So, you know, I tell peoplesometimes When you start to feel
different about certain things,you know, that's, I think
that's a opportunity for us tostop and ask ourselves the
question, why am I feeling thisway?
You know, when I'm confrontedwith X situation and I, all of a
(12:47):
sudden I start to feelirritable, like you just talked
about in the evenings, right?
People are just getting on mynerves and usually that doesn't
happen to me.
You know, that's an opportunityfor me to just imagine this big
red stop sign and say, okay, Ineed to stop for a minute what's
really going on here, right?
And really do some reflectionand figure out what's causing
(13:08):
some of this stuff.
So anything out of character.
we have different feelingsabout things.
That's an opportunity for us tostop and just kind of take
inventory.
Speaker 04 (13:17):
I would add to that as well, not just feeling that
irritability, but anything thatis your normal routine that
comes out of alignment.
So are you sleepingdifferently?
Are you having trouble going tosleep?
Are you having trouble stayingasleep?
Are your eating habitsdifferent?
Have your exercise habitschanged?
Anything that is the norm foryou that is no longer the norm,
(13:40):
those are all going to betelltale signs is that there's
too much on the calendar.
Speaker 00 (13:43):
Right.
Right.
And I think a lot of people, Imean, me especially, like how do
we alleviate that?
Like, okay, so we identifiedthere's a problem.
Now what?
And so I think that's a hugequestion.
But also, like...
I think preventative healthcare and preventative care in
general.
So whether that is exercisingor finding a meditation or you
(14:07):
always say everyone can benefitfrom a good therapy session.
Absolutely.
Unknown (14:11):
Absolutely.
Speaker 00 (14:11):
I'm going to
Speaker 03 (14:11):
agree
Speaker 00 (14:12):
with
Speaker 01 (14:12):
that.
Yes.
Absolutely.
Speaker 00 (14:19):
But tell me about getting that preventative care
and what are some...
some ways that we can do thatand what are, what's a
preventative care that we needto prioritize.
So Kevin, I'll start with youand then we'll move to you.
Speaker 02 (14:30):
Sure.
You know, one of the thingsthat I hear from people all of
the time is life is just sobusy.
Um, there's one deadline afteranother deadline, there's 24
hours in a day and I don't knowhow to manage everything.
And so I talk to patients a lotof the time about good life
work balance.
And part of that is settingboundaries and learning to say
(14:51):
the word no.
Speaker 04 (14:54):
Cool.
You're stepping on some toes,
Speaker 02 (14:55):
I think.
Yes, yes.
And, you know, it's reallyimportant because we have to
recognize our limitations.
We cannot be all things toeverybody all of the time.
And so we have to kind of takean inventory of what's the
resources I have to give becauseI have to give some to myself,
right?
Because self-care is notselfish.
It's essential.
But we have to.
(15:16):
I know, I was like that.
Yeah.
That is good.
We have to.
But we always put ourself lastfor some reason.
But it's really important forus to, I think, be aware of what
we have to give as far asresources go.
And not to overextend that.
I think that's a reallyimportant point when we're
looking at trying to preventthings.
Like we said, stress is part oflife, right?
(15:37):
There's good stress, there'sbad stress.
A little bit of stress is goodfor us because it keeps us
motivated.
It keeps us on our toes.
But when we start to cross overinto that land of pathology, it
starts to work against us.
And so I think the first thingis recognizing what What's my
resources?
What are my limitations?
What can I handle to maintain agood life balance?
Speaker 00 (16:02):
And I think, sorry, just one thing on that work-life
balance.
What about within the workplacecan help their employees avoid
stress or feeling
Speaker 02 (16:14):
overwhelmed?
Great question.
You know, I think one thing isI think employers...
need to work to make sure thattheir staff, their employees
feel safe, number one.
Because we always have to feelsafe in our workplace.
I think people need to be andfeel supported by their
(16:35):
employer.
I think their employer needs tolook at workload.
Is this a reasonable amount ofwork for what we're trying to
get done?
And then the pace of the work.
Not everything has to be donetomorrow.
We need to leave a little bitfor next week and maybe next
month.
And so how can we kind of pacethis work out a little bit?
(16:55):
Again, going back to realisticexpectations and recognizing
this is a person that's part ofour team.
And one of the things that wesee across the nation is when,
let's say, the community'sstressed, whether it's been a
natural disaster or somethingbig has happened in the
(17:15):
community, what do we see?
Well, we see decreasedproductivity in the workforce
because people are distracted.
People have other things ontheir mind.
And so I think that's one ofthe biggest things employers can
do is help each other achievethat work-life balance because
that's really where theproductivity, I think, really is
(17:36):
maximized.
Speaker 00 (17:38):
That's good.
Speaker 04 (17:39):
One of the things I do with my staff, whether it be
at my studio or elsewhere, isthat I check in with them on a
regular basis.
I have an every-two-weekstanding meeting on an
individual one-on-one witheveryone, and I say, are you
eating?
Are you sleeping?
Are you working out?
How are your grades if they'rea student?
Is there anything I can do foryou?
Do you need anything from me?
Is the way that we communicateworking for you?
(18:02):
Do you need that to change?
That's awesome.
And it's just a check-in.
Speaker 00 (18:05):
Yeah, this is a good list.
Speaker 03 (18:07):
That's a good list.
Yes, yes.
Speaker 04 (18:09):
It's just a check-in, and sometimes there'll
be, you know, I'm really notgetting enough sleep.
Is there any way that somebodyelse can take my 5 a.m.
shift?
Yeah.
Yeah, we can do that, right?
We can make those switches.
And don't ask the question ifyou're not willing to then also
make the changes to meet theirneeds, right?
Don't
Speaker 02 (18:24):
ask the question.
Exactly.
That wouldn't go too well.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, sorry about
Speaker 04 (18:29):
that.
Have a good day.
That might be a problem.
But I also want to speak alittle bit, too, to self-care.
And you said self-care isessential.
It's not selfish.
And I absolutely agree withthat.
And I tell people all the time,you cannot pour from an empty
cup.
And if all you do is give andgive and give and give, then
there's nothing left to give.
And you're going to be a bettermom.
(18:51):
You're going to be a betteremployee.
You're going to have bettermorale, a better wife, a better
husband.
Whatever role you play, you'llbe better if you're taking care
of yourself first because it'syour job.
Right.
It's no one else's job to takecare of your own self.
Right.
Speaker 00 (19:04):
I
Speaker 02 (19:04):
love
Speaker 00 (19:05):
that.
Yeah.
It's very powerful.
It's a
Speaker 04 (19:07):
little harsh, but that's why I'm here.
Speaker 02 (19:10):
I
Speaker 00 (19:10):
love
Speaker 02 (19:10):
that.
Speaker 00 (19:11):
So what are some forms of self-care?
Speaker 04 (19:13):
Oh, gosh.
I think it's very individual,but absolutely sleeping the
appropriate amount of time,eating a healthy diet instead of
what's convenient or what youcan just grab, mindfully,
intentionally choosing thingsthat are going to nourish your
body right movement of whateversort whether that be walking
running lifting yoga movement isessential to making sure that
(19:38):
we're taking care of ourphysical bodies um you know at
the studio we offer a variety ofclasses and i don't expect
every member to come to everyclass that's not why we do it
right we do it because noteverything speaks to everyone
right so it can be veryindividual sometimes you know it
also depends if you're anextrovert or an introvert yeah
and if you're an extrovert youyou get energy from being with
(19:59):
other people and you need that.
That's what fills you up.
And if you're an introvert, youneed some alone time.
That's what fills you up.
Right.
So it's a little bit personal.
It's a little bitindividualistic, but there are
some generalized things likeeating well, sleeping well,
moving well that are going to goa long way.
Speaker 00 (20:14):
Right.
Okay.
And so speaking to the eatingpart, and this is, I mean, it
goes with stress, but it kind ofis overall health, but eating
right.
I know can be hard for somepeople just due to access to
good and healthy food.
So do you have ideas for peoplewho might not have access or
might not be able to access thefresh fruits and vegetables or
(20:38):
whatever that looks like
Speaker 04 (20:39):
sure and right now we're not in season for a whole
lot especially here in kentuckyit's pretty snowed over right
now but even going to the frozenfood section or the canned food
section you may not get as manynutrients in a canned vegetable
or a frozen vegetable as you doa fresh but it's still better
than grabbing a bag of chipsright and it's also cheaper
Speaker 00 (20:59):
right right yeah
Speaker 02 (21:00):
that's a good point yeah yeah
Speaker 04 (21:02):
yeah
Speaker 00 (21:03):
OK, so can you speak to like a meditation,
especially in the workplace?
I was actually before cominghere, I was looking at like
Workplace yoga, workplacemeditation and how that looks.
So can you talk to us?
Maybe we can walk us throughthat.
Speaker 04 (21:20):
Sure.
Well, you mentioned it earlier.
You said when you get irritatedand it's late at night and
you're tired and you're kind ofat the end of your rope, you
have to just breathe.
And the breath is somethingthat is with you all the time.
You don't think about it, butthe breath is with you all the
time.
And so if you can take a big,deep inhale, and we're all just
kind of chilling here, likewe're all slumped over a little
(21:40):
bit, but this does not give ourdiaphragm room to breathe.
So if you just sit up tall andcreate the space that you need,
then you can actually take adeep breath.
And it's really not the inhalethat's so helpful for stress.
It's the exhale.
So the exhale really stimulatesparasympathetic nervous system.
So think about that, right?
Like saber tooth tiger, you'rein your fight or flight.
(22:02):
And so you breathe fast,breathe fast, breathe fast.
So you can run, so you canfight, right?
And you breathe fast and youbreathe fast.
But then when that's allover...
Then you exhale.
It's that relaxation.
And that's what moves you intothe parasympathetic, out of your
sympathetic nervous system.
Speaker 00 (22:18):
And is there something to...
audibly exhaling?
Speaker 04 (22:23):
Yes, there is.
I feel like there might be.
There is.
I'm so glad you asked.
Yeah, so people don'tunderstand or maybe they
underestimate the power ofsound.
We're getting ready to do aworkshop actually in March on
the power of sound.
But you vibrate the back of thethroat with the exhale.
And I just happen to lookaround.
(22:44):
There's a lot of horses here inKentucky.
Think about that horse breathwhenever they exhale.
Speaker 02 (22:49):
That is true.
Yes.
Speaker 04 (22:52):
Sounds like a horse.
Yeah.
But that's what they're doing.
They know how to regulate.
Animals just know how toregulate.
So there's something to thatvibration, whether it be the
horse breath or what we callUjjayi breath.
It's a whisper breath where youvibrate the back of the throat
or even just chanting a prayeror a sound or your intention,
whatever that is.
(23:12):
There's absolutely sciencebehind it.
That's
Speaker 01 (23:16):
very cool.
I'm going to send my wife toyou all when she gets on to me
for walking around the house.
Okay.
Sure.
Speaker 04 (23:26):
Stress relief.
Do you want to come and teachsome of
Speaker 01 (23:30):
that?
I'm down.
Give me a day or two to perfectit.
Speaker 00 (23:34):
We've been trying to teach our one year old.
We have a one year old son athome and we've been teaching him
deep breaths and he does itwith us, which is really cool.
But we do the with him.
And so I think we're going tobe doing that.
And I know I've read beforeabout like filling your belly,
like you're, lungs all the waydown to your belly button,
filling your lungs that far downto help.
Speaker 04 (23:55):
I'm not sure if you want a whole anatomy lesson, but
if you, in your mind's eye,okay, well, in your mind's eye,
think about a skeleton.
You have a rib cage, and yourrib cage has your heart and your
lungs.
Those are your most vitalorgans.
You can't function withoutheart and lungs.
And so the cage protects thosevital organs.
And then you have a diaphragmright below the rib cage, and
that's your major breathingmuscle.
(24:15):
That's your prime mover.
Okay.
And so under that, then youhave all the other organs,
right?
Okay.
stomach, your intestines, andall the other things that are
underneath.
So when we inhale, thediaphragm pushes downward so
that we create the vacuum andthe air rushes in to fill the
lungs.
But when the diaphragm pushesdown, all of this belly stuff,
there's no cage.
It has to go somewhere so thebelly pooches out.
(24:36):
So we really aren't breathinginto our belly.
We're breathing into thedeepest capacity of the lungs,
but the diaphragm's working andit makes all the other internal
organs pooch out.
And then when we exhale, thediaphragm relaxes and then
expels that air to push it rightback out again.
So that's why I said we can'tdo it if we're all slumped over.
Which is what we do at ourdesk.
All
Speaker 02 (24:56):
day long.
Speaker 04 (24:57):
Or at our car.
Or at our smartphone.
Or whatever it is that we have.
So if we can just sit up, we'regoing to go a long way to
taking a deep breath.
Speaker 02 (25:06):
Makes you feel better.
Speaker 04 (25:08):
Absolutely.
And I lead a lot of corporateevents and wellness groups and
things like that.
And when I have people sit upstraight and take a deep breath,
it never fails.
I get a yawn.
And I'm like, thank you for theyawn.
Unknown (25:18):
It means it's working.
Speaker 03 (25:19):
It's working.
Unknown (25:22):
It's working.
Speaker 00 (25:22):
Yeah, cool.
Yawns are not bad.
That's right.
That's
Speaker 03 (25:25):
right.
Speaker 00 (25:27):
I'll take it.
All right.
Anything else you two have toadd or words of wisdom for
people to follow with stressand...
taking care of themselves?
Speaker 04 (25:37):
I mean, the breath is always with you, and so
that's like my number one go-totool.
But there are definitelymeditations that you can do,
mindfulness activities that youcan do.
And again, I don't know if youwant this whole lesson on
mindfulness, but the definitionof mindfulness is paying
attention on purpose to thepresent moment without judgment.
So there's four parts to that.
(25:57):
I know, right?
It's packed.
That is good.
You can thank Jon Kabat-Zinnfor that definition.
But the without judgment piece,That's the piece that really
made a difference for me.
You can maybe recognize thatyou're having these thoughts,
that you're having theseemotions, that these things are
coming through, but if you canlook at them as a neutral
(26:18):
witness, just like you'rewatching things on a screen go
by, and you're not judging it asgood or bad, or I've got to fix
that.
I
Speaker 02 (26:26):
love that.
Speaker 04 (26:27):
No judgment.
You're just a neutral witness.
That's the hardest part for me,personally.
But that can also really make adifference in how how you go
about your day.
Speaker 02 (26:37):
That's powerful.
I like that.
I love
Speaker 00 (26:39):
that.
Okay.
My little tidbit, notexpertise, but I clench my jaw
all the time.
And so that's one thing that Icatch myself, especially if I'm
having trouble sleeping.
I'm like, open your mouth, openyour jaw, drop your jaw.
So anyway, thank you both somuch for joining us today.
This was a great episode.
And I feel so much calmer.
(27:02):
Our job is done.
Speaker 02 (27:03):
Yes.
Success.
Speaker 00 (27:05):
So we hope this episode was insightful and that
you are able to take away someways that you can manage your
stress and prioritize yourhealth.
Prioritizing your healthcreates a happier and healthier
overall community.
We will see you next time.
🎵 🎵
Speaker 00 (00:08):
Welcome to episode one.
My name is Quincy Fuehne and Iam with Frontier Nursing
University.
This podcast is a communityhealth initiative brought to you
by Frontier Nursing Universityand the Woodford County Chamber
of Commerce to improve communityhealth and increase healthcare
awareness.
We plan to release new episodeseach month.
In today's episode, we aregoing to talk about stress and
(00:30):
adulthood.
Stress is something we all dealwith.
And according to an AmericanPsychological Association
survey, around three in fiveadults 62% said that they don't
talk about their stress overallbecause they don't want to
burden others.
Joining myself and producerCorey today is psychiatric
mental health nurse practitionerDr.
(00:51):
Kevin Scalf.
Dr.
Scalf is the department chairfor the Department of
Psychiatric Mental Health NursePractitioner Program at Frontier
Nursing University.
And he continues to workclinically as a PMHNP, helping
to provide care to individualswho are experiencing acute
mental health crises.
I want to
Speaker 01 (01:11):
clap.
I want to clap.
That's awesome.
I just met you, Kevin.
Great to
Speaker 02 (01:14):
meet you.
Thanks for being here.
Nice to meet you.
Thanks, Quincy.
Speaker 00 (01:16):
Yes, thank you.
And can you tell us a littlebit about your background and
why you became a PMHMP?
Speaker 02 (01:23):
Sure.
Well, I started off, I've beena nurse since 1997, I guess.
And during that course of time,I spent most of my time in
critical care units.
And just by looking around atthe unit at any given point in
time, you know, I could pick outprobably 80% of those patients
struggled with some type ofmental health issue that really,
(01:46):
you know, it either directlycaused their admission or it
made things worse, requiringthem to be admitted into the
ICU.
And, you know, during thecourse of that time, we did a
really good job of just likemanaging the medical issues and
things, but we hardly evertalked about the mental health
aspect of things.
(02:06):
And that just really sparked mycuriosity and I learned more
about this this role and I wentto school and fast forward a few
years later here I am so it'salways been a it's always been a
big interest of mine
Speaker 00 (02:22):
yeah and you you practice in rural eastern
Kentucky is that correct
Speaker 02 (02:27):
I do I do my current practice is in an inpatient
psychiatric unit and I've alsopracticed outpatient mental
health as well saw people acrossthe lifespan, children,
adolescents, young adults, olderindividuals, that sort of
thing.
But right now, I primarily workwith adults.
Speaker 00 (02:48):
Yeah, that's awesome.
So you are the perfect personto talk to us about stress and
adulthood.
And might I add, Kevin, yourvoice is so soothing.
I don't know.
Now we're getting somewhere.
Anytime I have a meeting withyou, he just brings me peace.
Thank you.
Speaker 01 (03:08):
That's beautiful.
That's so true.
Like you said that, I'm like,oh my gosh, yes.
I needed that today.
So check that box out.
Speaker 00 (03:20):
I got that down.
So can you provide us a basicdefinition of stress?
Speaker 02 (03:24):
Absolutely.
That's a great question.
So stress is something we allexperience, right?
But it's often misunderstood.
At its core, stress is reallythe body's response to any type
of demand or challenge let'ssay, that we're facing.
That can be either a physicalchallenge, an emotional
challenge, a psychologicalissue.
(03:45):
Basically, stress occurs whenwe feel pressure, we feel
uncertainty, or really, we don'treally feel we're in control of
a situation, so to speak.
And so, basically, stress, Ithink, is a natural reaction of
our body to adjust to thosechallenges and changes.
And it's kind of like an alarmsystem sometimes.
(04:07):
Stress is like our body's alarmsystem to let us know that
there could be some danger aheadand it gets us prepared to deal
with that.
Man, I mean, just
Speaker 01 (04:18):
hearing you say the definition is incredible.
We all live with stress, butman, hearing you say exactly
what it is, it just makes youthink.
You don't hear that.
You don't think about what itmeans too often.
You just think, oh, I'mstressed.
Exactly.
Everyone knows
Speaker 02 (04:36):
what stress is, right?
If we say I'm stressed out, wekind of get the meaning of it.
But how often do we reallythink about what is that then?
What is the stress?
Speaker 00 (04:45):
Yeah.
Okay.
not to put you on the spot, butlike something for me, I guess,
what is the difference betweenstress and anxiety?
Speaker 02 (04:55):
Great question.
Great question.
So stress is more of like aninward response to something
that we perceive as being achallenge, right?
So we perceive something asbeing a potential threat to us
in some way that creates thisinner feeling kind of like a
(05:17):
some things in line here.
Anxiety is more so like asymptom of stress.
And so we see the stress, thenwe kind of turn that around in
our brain.
We interpret what that means tous.
And then if that causesanxiety, we see that kind of as
an external symptom.
And that's different foreverybody.
(05:38):
Sometimes people say, well,what are the symptoms of
anxiety?
Well, it depends on thatindividual.
Some people deal with anxietyin many different ways compared
to other people.
And so it's all subjective,right?
It's all subjective.
But anxiety, I think, stemsfrom stress.
Yes.
And so anxiety, I think, ismore of like an apprehension.
(05:59):
I'm uneasy about something.
You hear sometimes people say,I feel nervous about it, right?
That's more like anxiety.
And so stress, I think, is theroot cause of a lot of anxiety.
Speaker 00 (06:14):
Okay.
So anxiety equals stress, butstress.
Stress does not necessarilyequal anxiety.
Correct.
Okay, perfect.
That's helpful for me to know.
Okay, so we talked about, youmentioned symptoms.
Yes.
What are some symptoms that wemight have as a result of
stress?
I feel like sometimes peoplemight have...
(06:37):
I'm going to just say likemigraines, and you're not
attributing it to stress, but Ithink that's important to know
the root cause of some of oursymptoms.
So what symptoms should peoplekind of look out for for stress
or maybe our bigger red flags?
Sure.
Yeah,
Speaker 02 (06:53):
that's another great question.
And again, it's different foreverybody, right?
But stress can show up inreally just– many, many, many
different ways.
Physically, it can show up inour life.
Emotionally, and also even likehow we behave and some of our
behavior patterns.
And so if you think about,let's say, emotional response to
stress, for example, stress canmake us feel anxious, like we
(07:16):
just talked about.
It can also make us feelirritable.
We can feel overwhelmed, evendepressed sometimes.
And you make notice, sometimesthere's subtle things that just
pop up here and there, right?
you may notice that you're moreshort-tempered than usual.
Maybe little things thatwouldn't normally bother you
(07:38):
suddenly feel like this hugedeal.
It can also be really hard tofocus or make decisions during
increased times of stress.
It's almost like your brain isjust too overloaded to think
clearly and make good decisions.
And so that's some emotionalresponses that we see, right?
But you also mentioned somephysical things too.
(08:00):
Right.
Physically, stress can causethings like headaches, muscle
tension, fatigue, even maybesome stomach issues.
Have you ever really just hadlike a really stressful day and
suddenly your neck and shouldersfeel kind of tight and you're
like, what's up with that,right?
Well, that's stress at work.
(08:20):
It's just manifesting in yourphysical body.
And so it can also mess withyour sleep.
Some people struggle withinsomnia.
Other people maybe sleep toomuch because they're trying to
escape that bad feelingassociated with stress, right?
And so sometimes we see that.
Also, let's not forget aboutthe impact on the heart and the
(08:45):
cardiovascular system.
I think that's really, reallyimportant.
Stress, we all know, can leadto high blood pressure, right?
It can also lead to heartdisease.
It can lead to a heart attackor a stroke.
And so it really does have somehigh stakes value when we're
looking at somebody's overallhealth, right?
So physically, you know, that'sthe thing.
(09:06):
And then I mentioned alsobehavioral symptoms, changes in
appetite, whether you're eatingtoo much, much too little maybe
sometimes or maybe you're withstarting to withdraw from your
friends your social connectionslike from just life you just do
the bare minimum that you canget by with um that's another
thing that we see with stresssometimes and then the other
(09:27):
thing that we see sometimes isprocrastination oh have we ever
had things that were uneasy orwere nervous about it's it's
hard it's a challenge definitelywe keep putting it off right oh
my gosh i'll do this tomorrowI'll do it next week.
It sits on my list forever.
It's forever.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So those are some things thatwe see, you know, symptoms of
(09:49):
stress that we can see in justtypical everyday life.
And if you don't think aboutit, maybe you don't really
connect it as good as what weshould.
Speaker 00 (09:57):
Right.
Speaker 01 (09:58):
We have something interesting here, Quincy, that
I've never done before on apodcast.
So this is a first first, and Ilove it.
We have another guest that justpopped
Speaker 00 (10:08):
up.
Just popped in.
I
Speaker 01 (10:09):
love it.
And it fits perfectly with thepodcast.
what we're talking about, butthat's why I'm here, all right?
I'm here to help produce.
So please.
Speaker 00 (10:17):
We have Carrie with Elemental Yoga here in
Versailles.
So Carrie, do you want tointroduce yourself and your
background?
Speaker 04 (10:23):
Sure, absolutely.
I am Dr.
Carrie Davidson here fromElemental Yoga and Wellness.
I have been running the studiofor almost three years now,
Speaker 03 (10:34):
but
Speaker 04 (10:35):
my background is exercise physiology.
That's what I am by degree.
I've been the fitness managerfor over 20 years.
I've at University of Kentucky,actually.
And then I run the studio here,too.
So lots of irons
Speaker 01 (10:46):
in the fire.
How cool is this that we werejust talking about the physical?
It's so awesome.
Speaker 04 (10:53):
The synchronicities,
Speaker 00 (10:54):
man.
And Carrie can really speak tothe part of alleviating the
stress and all of that goodstuff.
But I want to go back to thesymptoms really quick because
personally, personal experience,I know...
you mentioned like irritabilityand I wouldn't consider myself
a super irritable person, but Iwill notice that if I'm, Having
(11:18):
a stressed out day, and I don'treally acknowledge that the day
was stressful.
In the evening, like with mykid, I'm gonna be a little not
as patient, and I'm like, oh mygosh.
That is
Speaker 02 (11:28):
so hard to believe.
I've never seen you that way.
Speaker 00 (11:30):
And my husband would be like, are you good?
Why are you acting like this?
But then I realized, oh mygosh, I'm just so stressed.
I need to breathe.
And then I want to go back to,so one of the physical things
symptoms, the heart.
So how do we identify thatbefore it leads to something
(11:55):
like a heart attack or a strokelike how do you say oh there's
an issue and we need to takecontrol absolutely that is
Speaker 02 (12:02):
such a great topic right because you know we need
to really catch these thingsbefore they could become this
huge snowball right and theybecome this huge problem in our
life because we have to remembersometimes it's a little bit and
a little bit and a little bitand before we know it it's
enough to tip the scale and thenall of a sudden we're starting
to have a lot of problems sothat earlier we can catch
(12:24):
things, the better, right?
So, you know, I tell peoplesometimes When you start to feel
different about certain things,you know, that's, I think
that's a opportunity for us tostop and ask ourselves the
question, why am I feeling thisway?
You know, when I'm confrontedwith X situation and I, all of a
(12:47):
sudden I start to feelirritable, like you just talked
about in the evenings, right?
People are just getting on mynerves and usually that doesn't
happen to me.
You know, that's an opportunityfor me to just imagine this big
red stop sign and say, okay, Ineed to stop for a minute what's
really going on here, right?
And really do some reflectionand figure out what's causing
(13:08):
some of this stuff.
So anything out of character.
we have different feelingsabout things.
That's an opportunity for us tostop and just kind of take
inventory.
Speaker 04 (13:17):
I would add to that as well, not just feeling that
irritability, but anything thatis your normal routine that
comes out of alignment.
So are you sleepingdifferently?
Are you having trouble going tosleep?
Are you having trouble stayingasleep?
Are your eating habitsdifferent?
Have your exercise habitschanged?
Anything that is the norm foryou that is no longer the norm,
(13:40):
those are all going to betelltale signs is that there's
too much on the calendar.
Speaker 00 (13:43):
Right.
Right.
And I think a lot of people, Imean, me especially, like how do
we alleviate that?
Like, okay, so we identifiedthere's a problem.
Now what?
And so I think that's a hugequestion.
But also, like...
I think preventative healthcare and preventative care in
general.
So whether that is exercisingor finding a meditation or you
(14:07):
always say everyone can benefitfrom a good therapy session.
Absolutely.
Unknown (14:11):
Absolutely.
Speaker 00 (14:11):
I'm going to
Speaker 03 (14:11):
agree
Speaker 00 (14:12):
with
Speaker 01 (14:12):
that.
Yes.
Absolutely.
Speaker 00 (14:19):
But tell me about getting that preventative care
and what are some...
some ways that we can do thatand what are, what's a
preventative care that we needto prioritize.
So Kevin, I'll start with youand then we'll move to you.
Speaker 02 (14:30):
Sure.
You know, one of the thingsthat I hear from people all of
the time is life is just sobusy.
Um, there's one deadline afteranother deadline, there's 24
hours in a day and I don't knowhow to manage everything.
And so I talk to patients a lotof the time about good life
work balance.
And part of that is settingboundaries and learning to say
(14:51):
the word no.
Speaker 04 (14:54):
Cool.
You're stepping on some toes,
Speaker 02 (14:55):
I think.
Yes, yes.
And, you know, it's reallyimportant because we have to
recognize our limitations.
We cannot be all things toeverybody all of the time.
And so we have to kind of takean inventory of what's the
resources I have to give becauseI have to give some to myself,
right?
Because self-care is notselfish.
It's essential.
But we have to.
(15:16):
I know, I was like that.
Yeah.
That is good.
We have to.
But we always put ourself lastfor some reason.
But it's really important forus to, I think, be aware of what
we have to give as far asresources go.
And not to overextend that.
I think that's a reallyimportant point when we're
looking at trying to preventthings.
Like we said, stress is part oflife, right?
(15:37):
There's good stress, there'sbad stress.
A little bit of stress is goodfor us because it keeps us
motivated.
It keeps us on our toes.
But when we start to cross overinto that land of pathology, it
starts to work against us.
And so I think the first thingis recognizing what What's my
resources?
What are my limitations?
What can I handle to maintain agood life balance?
Speaker 00 (16:02):
And I think, sorry, just one thing on that work-life
balance.
What about within the workplacecan help their employees avoid
stress or feeling
Speaker 02 (16:14):
overwhelmed?
Great question.
You know, I think one thing isI think employers...
need to work to make sure thattheir staff, their employees
feel safe, number one.
Because we always have to feelsafe in our workplace.
I think people need to be andfeel supported by their
(16:35):
employer.
I think their employer needs tolook at workload.
Is this a reasonable amount ofwork for what we're trying to
get done?
And then the pace of the work.
Not everything has to be donetomorrow.
We need to leave a little bitfor next week and maybe next
month.
And so how can we kind of pacethis work out a little bit?
(16:55):
Again, going back to realisticexpectations and recognizing
this is a person that's part ofour team.
And one of the things that wesee across the nation is when,
let's say, the community'sstressed, whether it's been a
natural disaster or somethingbig has happened in the
(17:15):
community, what do we see?
Well, we see decreasedproductivity in the workforce
because people are distracted.
People have other things ontheir mind.
And so I think that's one ofthe biggest things employers can
do is help each other achievethat work-life balance because
that's really where theproductivity, I think, really is
(17:36):
maximized.
Speaker 00 (17:38):
That's good.
Speaker 04 (17:39):
One of the things I do with my staff, whether it be
at my studio or elsewhere, isthat I check in with them on a
regular basis.
I have an every-two-weekstanding meeting on an
individual one-on-one witheveryone, and I say, are you
eating?
Are you sleeping?
Are you working out?
How are your grades if they'rea student?
Is there anything I can do foryou?
Do you need anything from me?
Is the way that we communicateworking for you?
(18:02):
Do you need that to change?
That's awesome.
And it's just a check-in.
Speaker 00 (18:05):
Yeah, this is a good list.
Speaker 03 (18:07):
That's a good list.
Yes, yes.
Speaker 04 (18:09):
It's just a check-in, and sometimes there'll
be, you know, I'm really notgetting enough sleep.
Is there any way that somebodyelse can take my 5 a.m.
shift?
Yeah.
Yeah, we can do that, right?
We can make those switches.
And don't ask the question ifyou're not willing to then also
make the changes to meet theirneeds, right?
Don't
Speaker 02 (18:24):
ask the question.
Exactly.
That wouldn't go too well.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, sorry about
Speaker 04 (18:29):
that.
Have a good day.
That might be a problem.
But I also want to speak alittle bit, too, to self-care.
And you said self-care isessential.
It's not selfish.
And I absolutely agree withthat.
And I tell people all the time,you cannot pour from an empty
cup.
And if all you do is give andgive and give and give, then
there's nothing left to give.
And you're going to be a bettermom.
(18:51):
You're going to be a betteremployee.
You're going to have bettermorale, a better wife, a better
husband.
Whatever role you play, you'llbe better if you're taking care
of yourself first because it'syour job.
Right.
It's no one else's job to takecare of your own self.
Right.
Speaker 00 (19:04):
I
Speaker 02 (19:04):
love
Speaker 00 (19:05):
that.
Yeah.
It's very powerful.
It's a
Speaker 04 (19:07):
little harsh, but that's why I'm here.
Speaker 02 (19:10):
I
Speaker 00 (19:10):
love
Speaker 02 (19:10):
that.
Speaker 00 (19:11):
So what are some forms of self-care?
Speaker 04 (19:13):
Oh, gosh.
I think it's very individual,but absolutely sleeping the
appropriate amount of time,eating a healthy diet instead of
what's convenient or what youcan just grab, mindfully,
intentionally choosing thingsthat are going to nourish your
body right movement of whateversort whether that be walking
running lifting yoga movement isessential to making sure that
(19:38):
we're taking care of ourphysical bodies um you know at
the studio we offer a variety ofclasses and i don't expect
every member to come to everyclass that's not why we do it
right we do it because noteverything speaks to everyone
right so it can be veryindividual sometimes you know it
also depends if you're anextrovert or an introvert yeah
and if you're an extrovert youyou get energy from being with
(19:59):
other people and you need that.
That's what fills you up.
And if you're an introvert, youneed some alone time.
That's what fills you up.
Right.
So it's a little bit personal.
It's a little bitindividualistic, but there are
some generalized things likeeating well, sleeping well,
moving well that are going to goa long way.
Speaker 00 (20:14):
Right.
Okay.
And so speaking to the eatingpart, and this is, I mean, it
goes with stress, but it kind ofis overall health, but eating
right.
I know can be hard for somepeople just due to access to
good and healthy food.
So do you have ideas for peoplewho might not have access or
might not be able to access thefresh fruits and vegetables or
(20:38):
whatever that looks like
Speaker 04 (20:39):
sure and right now we're not in season for a whole
lot especially here in kentuckyit's pretty snowed over right
now but even going to the frozenfood section or the canned food
section you may not get as manynutrients in a canned vegetable
or a frozen vegetable as you doa fresh but it's still better
than grabbing a bag of chipsright and it's also cheaper
Speaker 00 (20:59):
right right yeah
Speaker 02 (21:00):
that's a good point yeah yeah
Speaker 04 (21:02):
yeah
Speaker 00 (21:03):
OK, so can you speak to like a meditation,
especially in the workplace?
I was actually before cominghere, I was looking at like
Workplace yoga, workplacemeditation and how that looks.
So can you talk to us?
Maybe we can walk us throughthat.
Speaker 04 (21:20):
Sure.
Well, you mentioned it earlier.
You said when you get irritatedand it's late at night and
you're tired and you're kind ofat the end of your rope, you
have to just breathe.
And the breath is somethingthat is with you all the time.
You don't think about it, butthe breath is with you all the
time.
And so if you can take a big,deep inhale, and we're all just
kind of chilling here, likewe're all slumped over a little
(21:40):
bit, but this does not give ourdiaphragm room to breathe.
So if you just sit up tall andcreate the space that you need,
then you can actually take adeep breath.
And it's really not the inhalethat's so helpful for stress.
It's the exhale.
So the exhale really stimulatesparasympathetic nervous system.
So think about that, right?
Like saber tooth tiger, you'rein your fight or flight.
(22:02):
And so you breathe fast,breathe fast, breathe fast.
So you can run, so you canfight, right?
And you breathe fast and youbreathe fast.
But then when that's allover...
Then you exhale.
It's that relaxation.
And that's what moves you intothe parasympathetic, out of your
sympathetic nervous system.
Speaker 00 (22:18):
And is there something to...
audibly exhaling?
Speaker 04 (22:23):
Yes, there is.
I feel like there might be.
There is.
I'm so glad you asked.
Yeah, so people don'tunderstand or maybe they
underestimate the power ofsound.
We're getting ready to do aworkshop actually in March on
the power of sound.
But you vibrate the back of thethroat with the exhale.
And I just happen to lookaround.
(22:44):
There's a lot of horses here inKentucky.
Think about that horse breathwhenever they exhale.
Speaker 02 (22:49):
That is true.
Yes.
Speaker 04 (22:52):
Sounds like a horse.
Yeah.
But that's what they're doing.
They know how to regulate.
Animals just know how toregulate.
So there's something to thatvibration, whether it be the
horse breath or what we callUjjayi breath.
It's a whisper breath where youvibrate the back of the throat
or even just chanting a prayeror a sound or your intention,
whatever that is.
(23:12):
There's absolutely sciencebehind it.
That's
Speaker 01 (23:16):
very cool.
I'm going to send my wife toyou all when she gets on to me
for walking around the house.
Okay.
Sure.
Speaker 04 (23:26):
Stress relief.
Do you want to come and teachsome of
Speaker 01 (23:30):
that?
I'm down.
Give me a day or two to perfectit.
Speaker 00 (23:34):
We've been trying to teach our one year old.
We have a one year old son athome and we've been teaching him
deep breaths and he does itwith us, which is really cool.
But we do the with him.
And so I think we're going tobe doing that.
And I know I've read beforeabout like filling your belly,
like you're, lungs all the waydown to your belly button,
filling your lungs that far downto help.
Speaker 04 (23:55):
I'm not sure if you want a whole anatomy lesson, but
if you, in your mind's eye,okay, well, in your mind's eye,
think about a skeleton.
You have a rib cage, and yourrib cage has your heart and your
lungs.
Those are your most vitalorgans.
You can't function withoutheart and lungs.
And so the cage protects thosevital organs.
And then you have a diaphragmright below the rib cage, and
that's your major breathingmuscle.
(24:15):
That's your prime mover.
Okay.
And so under that, then youhave all the other organs,
right?
Okay.
stomach, your intestines, andall the other things that are
underneath.
So when we inhale, thediaphragm pushes downward so
that we create the vacuum andthe air rushes in to fill the
lungs.
But when the diaphragm pushesdown, all of this belly stuff,
there's no cage.
It has to go somewhere so thebelly pooches out.
(24:36):
So we really aren't breathinginto our belly.
We're breathing into thedeepest capacity of the lungs,
but the diaphragm's working andit makes all the other internal
organs pooch out.
And then when we exhale, thediaphragm relaxes and then
expels that air to push it rightback out again.
So that's why I said we can'tdo it if we're all slumped over.
Which is what we do at ourdesk.
All
Speaker 02 (24:56):
day long.
Speaker 04 (24:57):
Or at our car.
Or at our smartphone.
Or whatever it is that we have.
So if we can just sit up, we'regoing to go a long way to
taking a deep breath.
Speaker 02 (25:06):
Makes you feel better.
Speaker 04 (25:08):
Absolutely.
And I lead a lot of corporateevents and wellness groups and
things like that.
And when I have people sit upstraight and take a deep breath,
it never fails.
I get a yawn.
And I'm like, thank you for theyawn.
Unknown (25:18):
It means it's working.
Speaker 03 (25:19):
It's working.
Unknown (25:22):
It's working.
Speaker 00 (25:22):
Yeah, cool.
Yawns are not bad.
That's right.
That's
Speaker 03 (25:25):
right.
Speaker 00 (25:27):
I'll take it.
All right.
Anything else you two have toadd or words of wisdom for
people to follow with stressand...
taking care of themselves?
Speaker 04 (25:37):
I mean, the breath is always with you, and so
that's like my number one go-totool.
But there are definitelymeditations that you can do,
mindfulness activities that youcan do.
And again, I don't know if youwant this whole lesson on
mindfulness, but the definitionof mindfulness is paying
attention on purpose to thepresent moment without judgment.
So there's four parts to that.
(25:57):
I know, right?
It's packed.
That is good.
You can thank Jon Kabat-Zinnfor that definition.
But the without judgment piece,That's the piece that really
made a difference for me.
You can maybe recognize thatyou're having these thoughts,
that you're having theseemotions, that these things are
coming through, but if you canlook at them as a neutral
(26:18):
witness, just like you'rewatching things on a screen go
by, and you're not judging it asgood or bad, or I've got to fix
that.
I
Speaker 02 (26:26):
love that.
Speaker 04 (26:27):
No judgment.
You're just a neutral witness.
That's the hardest part for me,personally.
But that can also really make adifference in how how you go
about your day.
Speaker 02 (26:37):
That's powerful.
I like that.
I love
Speaker 00 (26:39):
that.
Okay.
My little tidbit, notexpertise, but I clench my jaw
all the time.
And so that's one thing that Icatch myself, especially if I'm
having trouble sleeping.
I'm like, open your mouth, openyour jaw, drop your jaw.
So anyway, thank you both somuch for joining us today.
This was a great episode.
And I feel so much calmer.
(27:02):
Our job is done.
Speaker 02 (27:03):
Yes.
Success.
Speaker 00 (27:05):
So we hope this episode was insightful and that
you are able to take away someways that you can manage your
stress and prioritize yourhealth.
Prioritizing your healthcreates a happier and healthier
overall community.
We will see you next time.
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