August 7, 2024 • 21 mins
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What if stress wasn't your enemy, but your secret weapon for growth and resilience? In this episode, we demystify stress and flip conventional wisdom on its head, showing you how it can be a powerful force for personal development. We explore stress as an essential emotion triggered by life's challenges, much like how trees grow sturdier under the strain of the wind. You'll learn about cortisol, the chemical that heightens alertness but can also lead to anxiety when unchecked, and how to recognize signs of excessive stress. We provide actionable advice on re-framing your perspective and tackling stress-inducing tasks head-on.
Next, we delve into practical ways to manage stress by honing in on lifestyle choices. Discover how your thoughts, diet, and caffeine intake can either heighten or alleviate stress levels. We'll break down the impact of cortisol and how sleep and food choices play a crucial role in managing it. You'll get real-life examples of how caffeine affects your stress and sleep patterns and the importance of understanding your digestion timelines to avoid carrying stress into the next day. Join us for this insightful conversation aimed at helping you achieve a more balanced, stress-free life.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is episode 88, talking about stress.
Welcome back everyone toTaiwanica podcast.
This is your host, eric, hereback again after a short break,
but wonderful to be here forPapa, and the perfect timing too
(00:21):
, because it is Father's Day inTaiwan.
So, to all you dads out there,happy Father's Day to you.
It's going to be a fun episode,I guarantee it.
Don't stress out.
All right, all the corny jokesaside, now what we're talking
about today is something thateveryone experiences stress.
(00:42):
But a lot of people believethat stress simply is a negative
thing.
But I want to challenge thatidea today, for you to tell you
actually stress could be a goodthing, but we just have to
change our mindset about it.
What is stress, how does itwork and what can we do to
(01:07):
change that mindset are going tobe the three big things about
today's episode.
It's going to be quick, but Ithink you're going to really
enjoy what you learned today.
So let's go ahead and dive onin.
So let's start with stress.
What is it?
Well, stress overall is anemotion.
Yes, it's something that wefeel when we're in a
(01:31):
circumstance or situation thatcauses us to feel uncomfortable.
Okay, it can be something thatis related to a change in our
life or an upcoming event thatwe're feeling nervous about, or
even something small like, oh,having a conversation with
(01:52):
somebody that you don'tnecessarily have a good
relationship with.
All these things are related tostress, and there's so much
more that we feel in everydaylife, and especially in today's
society.
We feel stress all the timebecause we're mainly trying to
focus on achieving andsucceeding and moving forward
(02:15):
and growing, and these are allgreat things.
But let's look at somethingreally quick, really quick.
Stress happens not just tohumans.
It also happens to everythingin life, even plants and animals
, and when other animals andplants feel stress, we notice
(02:36):
something about them.
Well, one they're growing andthey are maturing, and when that
is happening, other things arehappening with them, some
consequences, like they'refeeling weaker or not as
confident in doing certainthings, and this is why stress
(03:00):
can be both a good thing or anegative thing, depending on how
you look at it.
Can be both a good thing or anegative thing, depending on how
you look at it.
So let's make an example here.
So let's look at a tree.
A tree is a very easy thing tolook at.
When trees are growing intobigger and bigger trees, they
actually go through quite a bitof stress to do that.
(03:20):
To do that they have to expandand grow deeper into the soil
that's around them by pushingand growing in their roots into
different locations underground.
They also have to expand theirtree trunk to become wider and
(03:44):
wider and taller and taller.
But you notice that a tree whenit first starts growing, it
actually starts very small.
As it keeps growing taller andtaller, some of it is actually
still pretty weak, so it doesn'tget that strong, very robust,
powerful look of a tree untilmuch later, and that's usually
(04:09):
after when most of the stress ofactually growing into a tree is
over.
Then it just slowly becomesmore and more expansive.
So for us as humans, when we areexperiencing stress, we tend to
believe that we need toconstantly achieve and grow, and
that's a good thing, don't getme wrong.
(04:30):
To constantly achieve and growis definitely a's a good thing,
don't get me wrong.
To constantly achieve and growis definitely a way to live life
.
But to always be like thatwithout any rest can cause a lot
of damage to the body.
And the reason for it isbecause when humans experience
stress we have a chemical that'sgoing on inside of our body.
(04:52):
That chemical is calledcortisol.
Cortisol is created when we areexperiencing something that
makes us feel scared orthreatened, or even worried or
fearful, and this chemical isproduced in parts of our body
(05:12):
like the liver.
And when we are producing thischemical, this is starting to be
spread all around our body.
And what it does?
It helps us start to becomemore alert and aware of what's
going on, and that's a goodthing.
It's good to be more aware andalert about what's going on, and
(05:34):
that's a good thing.
It's good to be more aware andalert about what's going on.
But the thing that makescortisol not so good is that
when we have too much of it, westart to get things like anxiety
or fearing, things that arereally small.
Another word for that would beparanoia.
These kind of ideas andexperiences are not necessarily
(05:58):
good for us, and so the questionis how do we know when we've
had too much cortisol or toomuch stress in our bodies?
Well, the easiest way to knowthat stress has become negative
inside of your life is when youstart to worry too much or
(06:19):
overthink things, andoverthinking here doesn't mean
that you're thinking too much,it just means that you're
thinking about one thing overand over and over again.
When you're experiencing thesekind of moments, that's probably
because there's a lot of stressgoing on in your life and in
order to resolve it, obviouslyit's to look at it from a
(06:42):
different point of view or tocomplete the thing that is
having you feel all the stress,and sometimes it's easy to get
the thing done.
But sometimes, especially in theworld that we live in, we have
things like deadlines andprojects and meetings, and when
we have these, they have certainfuture dates that are out of
(07:04):
our control.
So sometimes people will feelstressed between the time that
you're preparing for it and thetime it actually happens.
Even when things are alreadyall prepared and ready to go,
stress can still be there.
So now we're going to go intohow do we notice that this
(07:28):
stress is there and also whatcan we do about it.
Okay, so how do we notice thatthe stress is there and also
what can we do about it?
Okay, so how do we notice thatthe stress is there?
Well, some things that you'llnotice, besides the thinking
that we just talked about, issome body interactions.
Some of those body interactionsthat we're going to be noticing
are maybe you're breathing fast, faster than you usually do.
(07:52):
So a normal person, theybreathe about 11 to 12 breaths
every minute.
So when we're noticing that,when we're noticing we're
breathing faster than 11 or 12breaths a minute, that means
that we're probably breathing alittle bit too fast, which
stress can be high at thatmoment.
(08:13):
And then another thing that wecan notice is when we are
feeling a little bit overwhelmedin our body.
Maybe you're noticing yourheart is beating faster than
normal, or your eyes are movingaround more than usual, or maybe
you're shaking, okay, or evenyou have sweaty palms, like your
(08:37):
hands are wet, or your feet arewet, or maybe, if you're a
person like this is a bad habitthat I have when I'm stressed is
that I'll pick at something.
Maybe it's nails or hair, or,if you are a guy, you have a, a
beard.
You might pick at that.
You know something.
That is what we would sayfidgeting, you know, like
(08:59):
shaking your leg.
All of these are symptoms ofhaving a lot of stress.
So now, what do we do when wenotice these?
Because this is the mostimportant thing that a lot of
people don't realize they havethe power to do is that you can
actually use that energy, thestress energy, for a better
(09:20):
cause, and that is simplyacknowledging the stress.
So when people feel stress,they say, oh god, I don't want
to feel stressed, I hate thisfeeling, I don't want to feel
this feeling anymore.
When they go through this kindof experience of feeling this
(09:44):
negativity and avoiding theactual stress, in reality, the
stress isn't going anywhere,it's still hanging out, and so
what we want to do in this kindof moment is to simply say, oh,
there's the stress, okay, I'macknowledging it right now.
(10:04):
There's the stress Okay, nowthat I'm experiencing the stress
and saying I notice you arethere, I can do something about
it.
So the cool thing about stressis that it actually gets us
really focused, and so if wenotice that, that means we can
say, oh, I'm stressed.
(10:25):
What can I use this stress for?
Maybe I have a project that Ican do right now Okay, let's go
do it.
Maybe I have a project that Ican do right now Okay, let's go
do it.
And so you're actually utilizingthe energy that's there instead
of allowing it to just focus onthe thing that's out of your
control.
Pretty cool, huh?
So acknowledging stress meansthat you're accessing the power
(10:49):
of stress.
And when you access the powerof stress.
And when you access the powerof stress, you can now redirect
your focus onto something thatis inside of your control,
rather than focusing onsomething that's not, and doing
that means you're actually beingable to accomplish the things
that you want to do.
(11:10):
Yeah, it's a pretty cooltechnique, but now that you know
that, you have to also realizewell, there's some cases that,
even if you do know this thattoo much stress can still be a
bad thing, and the best thing todo in order to lower stress is
(11:30):
to obviously understand where isyour stress coming from?
And, yes, outside circumstancesare definitely stressful, like
all the things we mentionedbefore meetings, talking to
people that you don't like, orgoing to places that you don't
like.
These can cause stress.
These are outward experiences,but we also have inward
(11:53):
experiences that can createstress Because, remember, stress
is an inside feeling, whichmeans we create it, so we have
to think about it.
What are some of the thingsthat can also cause stress on
the inside?
Well, obviously, your thoughtscan do that, so thinking about a
(12:15):
stressful thing over and overand over again would cause you
to have stress.
So if you're thinking, oh man,I'm really stressed out thinking
about talking to that prettygirl at the bar and you keep
thinking about that over andover and over again.
Well then, yeah, obviouslyyou're going to have more stress
, okay, but there's more thingsthan just thoughts that can
(12:38):
create stress.
Remember, it's a chemicalcortisol.
Cortisol is a chemical and thatmeans it's created by something
.
Thoughts create chemicals aswell, but also food creates
chemicals, and anything elsethat we consume can create a
(12:59):
chemical, and anything else thatwe consume can create a
chemical.
So let's talk about food anddrinks for a minute here.
So one of the things that a lotof people like to drink that
creates cortisol is caffeine.
Yeah, I know A lot of peoplelove their coffee and they love
(13:20):
their tea.
I definitely understand, but wehave to understand that these
two things that give us energyand they taste really good also
have caffeine, and caffeinecreates cortisol.
Okay, so that means when wedrink these things that help us
wake up, it's also creating thesame thing that creates stress.
(13:43):
So that's why you may notice,if you have a friend, or maybe
in your own personal experience,that after you drink four or
five cups of coffee or tea, youstart feeling a little bit too
focused or a little bit anxiety,that's because of the cortisol.
There's just too much of it inyour body at that time.
(14:05):
Okay, now we understand what'shappening here.
So food can do that too.
There are certain foods,especially like spicy foods, um,
garlic and onion garlic andonion things that can stimulate
(14:27):
your nervous system.
Okay, they are also capable ofcreating the same reaction.
So we want to just be aware ofwhat are some of the things that
I have in my diet as well, andalso sleep, of course.
How much sleep am I getting?
Because sleep is related to howwe rest and digest.
What that just basically meansis, with the resting part, when
(14:50):
we're sleeping, we are helpingour body to regenerate or heal,
and if we don't sleep enough,then we're not allowing the
cortisol that's in our body tobe cleaned up, and so when we
wake up the next day, we mighthave some remaining cortisol
from the day before, and so thatmeans we're just bringing the
(15:10):
stress from yesterday to todayas well.
So rest is very important.
Knowing how much rest you needis also very important, so be
aware of that for yourself.
How much rest you need is alsovery important, so be aware of
that for yourself and thendigesting so food, right?
So there are certain foods thatyou eat that create cortisol,
or drinks that create cortisol,also understanding how those
(15:33):
need to be digested or cleanedup out of your body before the
next day.
So we use tea and coffee as anexample.
So we're going to just go backto that same example today to
talk about how we can make it sothat those are affecting you
the day after.
(15:53):
So let's look at both of these.
They both have caffeine in them, have caffeine in them, and
usually caffeine just so youknow has a about an eight to 14
hour lifetime inside your body.
What does that mean?
So when you drink coffee let'ssay you drink coffee at 5pm Okay
(16:19):
, what that means is is that thecaffeine inside your body can
stay inside of your body for thenext 8 to 14 hours.
Okay, well, that's a prettylong time.
It really depends on the personand you should understand how
well you digest food to knowwhat amount, how many hours, are
(16:41):
for you.
It could even be less for somepeople, about six hours.
So, just understanding what isthe timeline that really matches
with your lifestyle and howsensitive are you to caffeine.
So I'll give you a personalexample For me.
I digest food rather quickly,so if I drink caffeine, I
(17:04):
usually don't drink caffeinepast 2 pm, just simply because I
really value my sleep and Ialso sleep very early.
So what happens is when I drinkcaffeine at 2 pm as my last
drink of coffee or tea for theday, that would mean that all of
(17:26):
the caffeine and cortisolshould be digested and completed
by around 8 to 9 pm, prettyclose to my bedtime.
Okay, so that means I'm notbringing any of the stress with
me to the next day.
Does that make sense?
So when we're looking at you,what is going on with you when
(17:51):
it comes to your stress?
Are you doing somethingphysically when it comes to
eating or drinking, that iscreating stress and cortisol?
And if so, should you adjustthat so that less of it is
accumulated during your sleeptime and that way your next day
(18:11):
you can start it off stress-free?
It's something to reallyconsider.
So that's the idea of today'stopic.
Stress can be a very good thingfor you if you know how to use
it.
It can be a tool byacknowledging it, that it's
there, and when you do that,you'll be surprised how much
(18:34):
more focused you are on the taskrather than the thing that is
causing you stress in the backof your mind.
Notice that stress happens toeverybody.
It doesn't matter how old orhow young you are, what country
you're from everyone experiencesstress.
But how long we stay in stressright now in our society is very
(18:57):
long.
Sometimes people only live instress because they don't
realize that there are ways tomove in and out of it, and we
can talk more about that inanother episode.
But for today's purpose, simplyunderstanding that there are
ways to manage your stress ispossible, as long as you realize
(19:18):
that it comes from a chemicalcalled cortisol.
Okay, so understand whatcortisol is is very important.
And then, where are you gettingyour cortisol from?
Like your food, your sleep, thethings that you drink and the
timing that you have with thosethings are all very important.
(19:41):
Timing that you have with thosethings are all very important.
So finding ways to digest allof these things, like timing the
times that you drink them oreat them, or doing things like
even exercise or meditation, areways to help yourself relieve
these things even more.
Now that you have theseunderstandings, remember that
(20:03):
cortisol is just here becauseyou created it.
It's not a good thing or a badthing.
It's just a chemical.
So have more awareness ofwhat's going on inside of you so
that when things do happenoutside of you that are
stressful, you'll be able tomanage them better, because, in
(20:25):
the end, we cannot control anyof the things that are happening
outside of us, but we arecapable of responding to them
well when we know what's goingon inside of us.
Okay, so that's all I wanted toshare with you today about
stress.
I hope you found it veryinteresting and, if you did,
please definitely give thisepisode a thumbs up and follow
(20:48):
us on wherever you're followingus, and definitely feel free to
let us know how you felt aboutthem by sending us a text on our
website.
Great to listen to have you alllisten to this.
I don't know, I just sit there.
Let me do that again.
Thank you so much for listeninghere to taiwanica podcast.
We hope to have you join usagain in the next episode.
(21:08):
Until then, my name is eric.
Take care everybody.
This is episode 88, talking about stress.
Welcome back everyone toTaiwanica podcast.
This is your host, eric, hereback again after a short break,
but wonderful to be here forPapa, and the perfect timing too
(00:21):
, because it is Father's Day inTaiwan.
So, to all you dads out there,happy Father's Day to you.
It's going to be a fun episode,I guarantee it.
Don't stress out.
All right, all the corny jokesaside, now what we're talking
about today is something thateveryone experiences stress.
(00:42):
But a lot of people believethat stress simply is a negative
thing.
But I want to challenge thatidea today, for you to tell you
actually stress could be a goodthing, but we just have to
change our mindset about it.
What is stress, how does itwork and what can we do to
(01:07):
change that mindset are going tobe the three big things about
today's episode.
It's going to be quick, but Ithink you're going to really
enjoy what you learned today.
So let's go ahead and dive onin.
So let's start with stress.
What is it?
Well, stress overall is anemotion.
Yes, it's something that wefeel when we're in a
(01:31):
circumstance or situation thatcauses us to feel uncomfortable.
Okay, it can be something thatis related to a change in our
life or an upcoming event thatwe're feeling nervous about, or
even something small like, oh,having a conversation with
(01:52):
somebody that you don'tnecessarily have a good
relationship with.
All these things are related tostress, and there's so much
more that we feel in everydaylife, and especially in today's
society.
We feel stress all the timebecause we're mainly trying to
focus on achieving andsucceeding and moving forward
(02:15):
and growing, and these are allgreat things.
But let's look at somethingreally quick, really quick.
Stress happens not just tohumans.
It also happens to everythingin life, even plants and animals
, and when other animals andplants feel stress, we notice
(02:36):
something about them.
Well, one they're growing andthey are maturing, and when that
is happening, other things arehappening with them, some
consequences, like they'refeeling weaker or not as
confident in doing certainthings, and this is why stress
(03:00):
can be both a good thing or anegative thing, depending on how
you look at it.
Can be both a good thing or anegative thing, depending on how
you look at it.
So let's make an example here.
So let's look at a tree.
A tree is a very easy thing tolook at.
When trees are growing intobigger and bigger trees, they
actually go through quite a bitof stress to do that.
(03:20):
To do that they have to expandand grow deeper into the soil
that's around them by pushingand growing in their roots into
different locations underground.
They also have to expand theirtree trunk to become wider and
(03:44):
wider and taller and taller.
But you notice that a tree whenit first starts growing, it
actually starts very small.
As it keeps growing taller andtaller, some of it is actually
still pretty weak, so it doesn'tget that strong, very robust,
powerful look of a tree untilmuch later, and that's usually
(04:09):
after when most of the stress ofactually growing into a tree is
over.
Then it just slowly becomesmore and more expansive.
So for us as humans, when we areexperiencing stress, we tend to
believe that we need toconstantly achieve and grow, and
that's a good thing, don't getme wrong.
(04:30):
To constantly achieve and growis definitely a's a good thing,
don't get me wrong.
To constantly achieve and growis definitely a way to live life
.
But to always be like thatwithout any rest can cause a lot
of damage to the body.
And the reason for it isbecause when humans experience
stress we have a chemical that'sgoing on inside of our body.
(04:52):
That chemical is calledcortisol.
Cortisol is created when we areexperiencing something that
makes us feel scared orthreatened, or even worried or
fearful, and this chemical isproduced in parts of our body
(05:12):
like the liver.
And when we are producing thischemical, this is starting to be
spread all around our body.
And what it does?
It helps us start to becomemore alert and aware of what's
going on, and that's a goodthing.
It's good to be more aware andalert about what's going on, and
(05:34):
that's a good thing.
It's good to be more aware andalert about what's going on.
But the thing that makescortisol not so good is that
when we have too much of it, westart to get things like anxiety
or fearing, things that arereally small.
Another word for that would beparanoia.
These kind of ideas andexperiences are not necessarily
(05:58):
good for us, and so the questionis how do we know when we've
had too much cortisol or toomuch stress in our bodies?
Well, the easiest way to knowthat stress has become negative
inside of your life is when youstart to worry too much or
(06:19):
overthink things, andoverthinking here doesn't mean
that you're thinking too much,it just means that you're
thinking about one thing overand over and over again.
When you're experiencing thesekind of moments, that's probably
because there's a lot of stressgoing on in your life and in
order to resolve it, obviouslyit's to look at it from a
(06:42):
different point of view or tocomplete the thing that is
having you feel all the stress,and sometimes it's easy to get
the thing done.
But sometimes, especially in theworld that we live in, we have
things like deadlines andprojects and meetings, and when
we have these, they have certainfuture dates that are out of
(07:04):
our control.
So sometimes people will feelstressed between the time that
you're preparing for it and thetime it actually happens.
Even when things are alreadyall prepared and ready to go,
stress can still be there.
So now we're going to go intohow do we notice that this
(07:28):
stress is there and also whatcan we do about it.
Okay, so how do we notice thatthe stress is there and also
what can we do about it?
Okay, so how do we notice thatthe stress is there?
Well, some things that you'llnotice, besides the thinking
that we just talked about, issome body interactions.
Some of those body interactionsthat we're going to be noticing
are maybe you're breathing fast, faster than you usually do.
(07:52):
So a normal person, theybreathe about 11 to 12 breaths
every minute.
So when we're noticing that,when we're noticing we're
breathing faster than 11 or 12breaths a minute, that means
that we're probably breathing alittle bit too fast, which
stress can be high at thatmoment.
(08:13):
And then another thing that wecan notice is when we are
feeling a little bit overwhelmedin our body.
Maybe you're noticing yourheart is beating faster than
normal, or your eyes are movingaround more than usual, or maybe
you're shaking, okay, or evenyou have sweaty palms, like your
(08:37):
hands are wet, or your feet arewet, or maybe, if you're a
person like this is a bad habitthat I have when I'm stressed is
that I'll pick at something.
Maybe it's nails or hair, or,if you are a guy, you have a, a
beard.
You might pick at that.
You know something.
That is what we would sayfidgeting, you know, like
(08:59):
shaking your leg.
All of these are symptoms ofhaving a lot of stress.
So now, what do we do when wenotice these?
Because this is the mostimportant thing that a lot of
people don't realize they havethe power to do is that you can
actually use that energy, thestress energy, for a better
(09:20):
cause, and that is simplyacknowledging the stress.
So when people feel stress,they say, oh god, I don't want
to feel stressed, I hate thisfeeling, I don't want to feel
this feeling anymore.
When they go through this kindof experience of feeling this
(09:44):
negativity and avoiding theactual stress, in reality, the
stress isn't going anywhere,it's still hanging out, and so
what we want to do in this kindof moment is to simply say, oh,
there's the stress, okay, I'macknowledging it right now.
(10:04):
There's the stress Okay, nowthat I'm experiencing the stress
and saying I notice you arethere, I can do something about
it.
So the cool thing about stressis that it actually gets us
really focused, and so if wenotice that, that means we can
say, oh, I'm stressed.
(10:25):
What can I use this stress for?
Maybe I have a project that Ican do right now Okay, let's go
do it.
Maybe I have a project that Ican do right now Okay, let's go
do it.
And so you're actually utilizingthe energy that's there instead
of allowing it to just focus onthe thing that's out of your
control.
Pretty cool, huh?
So acknowledging stress meansthat you're accessing the power
(10:49):
of stress.
And when you access the powerof stress.
And when you access the powerof stress, you can now redirect
your focus onto something thatis inside of your control,
rather than focusing onsomething that's not, and doing
that means you're actually beingable to accomplish the things
that you want to do.
(11:10):
Yeah, it's a pretty cooltechnique, but now that you know
that, you have to also realizewell, there's some cases that,
even if you do know this thattoo much stress can still be a
bad thing, and the best thing todo in order to lower stress is
(11:30):
to obviously understand where isyour stress coming from?
And, yes, outside circumstancesare definitely stressful, like
all the things we mentionedbefore meetings, talking to
people that you don't like, orgoing to places that you don't
like.
These can cause stress.
These are outward experiences,but we also have inward
(11:53):
experiences that can createstress Because, remember, stress
is an inside feeling, whichmeans we create it, so we have
to think about it.
What are some of the thingsthat can also cause stress on
the inside?
Well, obviously, your thoughtscan do that, so thinking about a
(12:15):
stressful thing over and overand over again would cause you
to have stress.
So if you're thinking, oh man,I'm really stressed out thinking
about talking to that prettygirl at the bar and you keep
thinking about that over andover and over again.
Well then, yeah, obviouslyyou're going to have more stress
, okay, but there's more thingsthan just thoughts that can
(12:38):
create stress.
Remember, it's a chemicalcortisol.
Cortisol is a chemical and thatmeans it's created by something
.
Thoughts create chemicals aswell, but also food creates
chemicals, and anything elsethat we consume can create a
(12:59):
chemical, and anything else thatwe consume can create a
chemical.
So let's talk about food anddrinks for a minute here.
So one of the things that a lotof people like to drink that
creates cortisol is caffeine.
Yeah, I know A lot of peoplelove their coffee and they love
(13:20):
their tea.
I definitely understand, but wehave to understand that these
two things that give us energyand they taste really good also
have caffeine, and caffeinecreates cortisol.
Okay, so that means when wedrink these things that help us
wake up, it's also creating thesame thing that creates stress.
(13:43):
So that's why you may notice,if you have a friend, or maybe
in your own personal experience,that after you drink four or
five cups of coffee or tea, youstart feeling a little bit too
focused or a little bit anxiety,that's because of the cortisol.
There's just too much of it inyour body at that time.
(14:05):
Okay, now we understand what'shappening here.
So food can do that too.
There are certain foods,especially like spicy foods, um,
garlic and onion garlic andonion things that can stimulate
(14:27):
your nervous system.
Okay, they are also capable ofcreating the same reaction.
So we want to just be aware ofwhat are some of the things that
I have in my diet as well, andalso sleep, of course.
How much sleep am I getting?
Because sleep is related to howwe rest and digest.
What that just basically meansis, with the resting part, when
(14:50):
we're sleeping, we are helpingour body to regenerate or heal,
and if we don't sleep enough,then we're not allowing the
cortisol that's in our body tobe cleaned up, and so when we
wake up the next day, we mighthave some remaining cortisol
from the day before, and so thatmeans we're just bringing the
(15:10):
stress from yesterday to todayas well.
So rest is very important.
Knowing how much rest you needis also very important, so be
aware of that for yourself.
How much rest you need is alsovery important, so be aware of
that for yourself and thendigesting so food, right?
So there are certain foods thatyou eat that create cortisol,
or drinks that create cortisol,also understanding how those
(15:33):
need to be digested or cleanedup out of your body before the
next day.
So we use tea and coffee as anexample.
So we're going to just go backto that same example today to
talk about how we can make it sothat those are affecting you
the day after.
(15:53):
So let's look at both of these.
They both have caffeine in them, have caffeine in them, and
usually caffeine just so youknow has a about an eight to 14
hour lifetime inside your body.
What does that mean?
So when you drink coffee let'ssay you drink coffee at 5pm Okay
(16:19):
, what that means is is that thecaffeine inside your body can
stay inside of your body for thenext 8 to 14 hours.
Okay, well, that's a prettylong time.
It really depends on the personand you should understand how
well you digest food to knowwhat amount, how many hours, are
(16:41):
for you.
It could even be less for somepeople, about six hours.
So, just understanding what isthe timeline that really matches
with your lifestyle and howsensitive are you to caffeine.
So I'll give you a personalexample For me.
I digest food rather quickly,so if I drink caffeine, I
(17:04):
usually don't drink caffeinepast 2 pm, just simply because I
really value my sleep and Ialso sleep very early.
So what happens is when I drinkcaffeine at 2 pm as my last
drink of coffee or tea for theday, that would mean that all of
(17:26):
the caffeine and cortisolshould be digested and completed
by around 8 to 9 pm, prettyclose to my bedtime.
Okay, so that means I'm notbringing any of the stress with
me to the next day.
Does that make sense?
So when we're looking at you,what is going on with you when
(17:51):
it comes to your stress?
Are you doing somethingphysically when it comes to
eating or drinking, that iscreating stress and cortisol?
And if so, should you adjustthat so that less of it is
accumulated during your sleeptime and that way your next day
(18:11):
you can start it off stress-free?
It's something to reallyconsider.
So that's the idea of today'stopic.
Stress can be a very good thingfor you if you know how to use
it.
It can be a tool byacknowledging it, that it's
there, and when you do that,you'll be surprised how much
(18:34):
more focused you are on the taskrather than the thing that is
causing you stress in the backof your mind.
Notice that stress happens toeverybody.
It doesn't matter how old orhow young you are, what country
you're from everyone experiencesstress.
But how long we stay in stressright now in our society is very
(18:57):
long.
Sometimes people only live instress because they don't
realize that there are ways tomove in and out of it, and we
can talk more about that inanother episode.
But for today's purpose, simplyunderstanding that there are
ways to manage your stress ispossible, as long as you realize
(19:18):
that it comes from a chemicalcalled cortisol.
Okay, so understand whatcortisol is is very important.
And then, where are you gettingyour cortisol from?
Like your food, your sleep, thethings that you drink and the
timing that you have with thosethings are all very important.
(19:41):
Timing that you have with thosethings are all very important.
So finding ways to digest allof these things, like timing the
times that you drink them oreat them, or doing things like
even exercise or meditation, areways to help yourself relieve
these things even more.
Now that you have theseunderstandings, remember that
(20:03):
cortisol is just here becauseyou created it.
It's not a good thing or a badthing.
It's just a chemical.
So have more awareness ofwhat's going on inside of you so
that when things do happenoutside of you that are
stressful, you'll be able tomanage them better, because, in
(20:25):
the end, we cannot control anyof the things that are happening
outside of us, but we arecapable of responding to them
well when we know what's goingon inside of us.
Okay, so that's all I wanted toshare with you today about
stress.
I hope you found it veryinteresting and, if you did,
please definitely give thisepisode a thumbs up and follow
(20:48):
us on wherever you're followingus, and definitely feel free to
let us know how you felt aboutthem by sending us a text on our
website.
Great to listen to have you alllisten to this.
I don't know, I just sit there.
Let me do that again.
Thank you so much for listeninghere to taiwanica podcast.
We hope to have you join usagain in the next episode.
(21:08):
Until then, my name is eric.
Take care everybody.
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