October 28, 2025 • 29 mins
Stress isn’t always the enemy, it can actually help you grow. In this episode of The Wellness Connection, Fiona Kane explains how to harness stress so it works for you, not against you. Learn how your mindset can change the way your body responds to pressure, and how managing stress in healthy ways supports your heart and overall wellbeing.
In this video, you’ll learn:
Why stress isn’t always harmful
How your body and mind respond to pressure
Practical ways to manage and transform stress
How to create a balanced, resilient mindset
If you’ve ever felt anxious, overwhelmed, or stuck in a stress loop, this talk will help you see stress in a new light, and even turn it into a tool for resilience and heart health.
Subscribe for more wellness insights and guidance from Fiona Kane.
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Learn more about booking a nutrition consultation with Fiona: https://informedhealth.com.au/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Fiona Kane (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Wellness Connection.
I'm your host, Fiona Kane.
Today I'm going to be talkingabout stress, and I'm going to
be talking about a way ofharnessing stress that works for
you rather than being crippledby stress, a way of looking at
it, a different approach to howyou can look at stress.
So, like all things I've talkedabout on here before, is
(00:24):
everything is data.
So it's important to look ateverything as data.
So if you're having signs andsymptoms, like physical signs
and symptoms, you know, you'relooking at data, right?
And the same is for emotionalsigns and symptoms, so it could
be both.
And with stress response, youmay get both.
So you'll get physicalfeelings, but you also may get
(00:45):
emotional feelings.
Everything is data, so it's notpaying attention.
What is what is that thing I'mfeeling or experiencing?
And then what does that mean?
And stress is stress is nodifferent to that.
Stress is something where we,if we have starting to sort of
have a stress response, we'regoing to be looking around to
say, okay, what's going on?
Now, what often happens is whenwe first start sort of having
(01:10):
stress responses, or if we starthaving them a lot more, or
having panic attacks, that kindof thing, is in our mind we kind
of have this, we end up withthis sort of almost this muscle
memory of kind of saying, Oh,okay, when I feel this way, it's
bad, it's all bad, it's onlygoing to be bad, it's going to
end badly.
And sometimes, you know, we'vehad experience, right?
(01:30):
We've had experience thatproves that to us.
And so what happens is everytime we start to experience a
stress response, we immediatelythink it's bad, it's terrible,
it's all going to end badly, andof course it does.
And so this is a case wheresometimes we've got to reassess
and kind of understand what thestress response is so that we
(01:52):
have an appropriate response toit.
And like I always joke aboutthe fact that I have a stress
response when I see a cockroach.
It's ridiculous, but I do,right?
So I, in that situation, I talkto myself and I say, all right,
Fiona, it's just a cockroach.
Might be hideous, but you aresafe.
So you don't really need to gointo a full stress response.
(02:14):
So I pick myself up on it.
Like I notice what's going on.
I notice that I'm responding ina way that's not appropriate
for the situation.
And I'll pretty much just laughat myself and talk myself out
of it, right?
And when we have a stressresponse, so there's a few
things that are going on.
So I'll clarify, I have talkedabout some of this before, but
(02:35):
you know, it's an importanttopic, so I just think it's
worth revisiting.
We have two main modes of ournervous system.
There's more than that, butjust for sometimes simplicity is
good, even um even though it'snot 100% simplicity is good.
So we have fight or flight orrest and digest.
(02:55):
Rest and digest is where weshould be most of the time.
And rest and digest isbasically what it sounds like.
It's when your body is able toreplenish and uh digest and
absorb nutrients and and prettymuch where it rebuilds, you
right.
So resting and digesting iswhen your body's doing all the
things that it needs to do justto sort of function normally and
(03:19):
um and keep you well and uh andand and healthy.
So rest and digest is where weshould be, a mode that we should
be in most of the time, becausemost of the time we're safe and
everything's fine.
Now, the other one is fight orflight.
And fight or flight is where weshould be sometimes, but not
(03:40):
all of the time.
Now, historically, ourancestors, when they were in
fight or flight, it was for areally good reason, like it
wasn't a cockroach, it was abear or a lion, right?
So if you are being chased by abear, if you're about to become
lunch, it does not matter ifyou digest your lunch.
(04:01):
And that's exactly what'shappening when you're in fight
or flight.
When you're in fight or flight,you get no circulation to your
digestive system and nocirculation to your reproductive
system because your body kindof thinks, well, digesting,
reproducing, they're kind of notreally important right now.
What we need to do is survive.
So all of your circulation goesto your arms and legs and so to
(04:23):
your heart, your arms, legs,and to your eyes.
So the idea is that you can seebetter and you can run and
you've got strength.
And of course, that's fight orflight because if you're going
to have to fight the bear or runfrom the bear or whatever it
is, you need the strength andthe physical ability to see it,
run from it, that kind of thing,right?
(04:43):
So that response is appropriatewhen there's a bear.
It's less appropriate whenthere's a cockroach.
But the other place that wehave it in our lives is we have
it in our lives in regards tothings like it might be like a
job interview or some otherthing where there's a
performance involved and westart going into a stress
(05:04):
response.
Now, a stress, we don't need tonecessarily go into the full
stress response for uh for a jobinterview, but in saying that,
there's a way that you canharness this and understand what
it is and make it work for you.
So if you think, oh my god, I'mgonna have a panic attack and
start talking yourself into thefact that this is a negative
(05:24):
thing, that that what you'refeeling is negative, then that's
that you're talking yourselfinto that, right?
You're talking yourself intothat experience.
But if you can understand thatit's actually a positive thing,
because it is your body tryingto prepare you to deal with
something difficult.
And so if you understand thatthat's what your body is doing,
if you sort of see this as data,so you're kind of getting ready
(05:46):
to go for a job interview, andyou can feel you know your
heart's starting to flutter andand maybe your breathing's
changing a bit, and and youknow, you start feeling those uh
that surge of stress hormonesthrough your system.
Now you can tell talk yourselfinto all sorts of stories about
why that's a bad thing, or youcan actually say, no, no, it's a
(06:06):
good thing.
My body's preparing me to uh toperform.
And when you think about it,this is actually what happens to
people who do perform.
So if you're about to go outand do a big speech or you know,
perform a concert or whateverit is, I think most people, if
not all people, will let youknow that they do have this kind
of surge, this adrenalinesurge, this sort of thing that
(06:29):
happens before they go out onstage.
Uh, because and they'llacknowledge, they'll tell you
that it helps them perform.
It does help you perform.
That's so it's made to helpthat performance.
So when you start to have thosefeelings, you can say to
yourself, oh wow, okay, this ismy body supporting me.
This is my body helping me.
(06:51):
I'm about to do somethingthat's challenging.
Uh, here we go.
Now, if it's like my situationwhere I was a cockroach, then
you can say to yourself, Look, Idon't really need the stress
response for this, I just need acan of mortine or whatever it
is that I need.
But if it is uh you're about toyou do a performance and you
need to perform, you're about todo an exam or a job interview
(07:11):
or something like that, then itcan be quite useful.
So what you say is, okay, thisis my body preparing me to deal
with this.
Isn't this great?
Isn't it great that my body'sdoing this?
So, first of all, just staysaying that sort of makes a
difference.
And you know, so you know, uhone of the things that um one of
the things that uh that we knowis there's been studies on
(07:36):
this, and so what they did isthey did studies of um, you
know, the difference betweenthinking that you were sort of
stress was a bad thing and thedifference between believing it
was helpful for you.
And um, and they actually foundthat it is helpful, especially
when you believe it's helpful,right?
So they did that in a study,they conducted a study at
(07:57):
Harvard University, and beforethey went through this social
stress test, they were taught toreframe their stress response
as helpful, right?
Which is what exactly what Iwas just talking about,
reframing the stress response.
And, you know, so that poundingheart is preparing you for
action and you're breathingfaster.
That's so you can get moreoxygen to your brain.
And you know, so they were theywere sort of told to tell
(08:20):
themselves these things aboutstress.
And ultimately, what they foundis the participants who learned
to view the stress response ashelpful for their performance
were actually less stressed out,less anxious, and more
confident.
So the more they just saw it asa performance enhancer, the
more it was and the calmer thatthey were.
So the the hormones had theirdid that played their role, but
(08:42):
they weren't sort of completelycrippled by it.
It was actually something thatbenefited them.
And so, you know, it'sexplaining.
I'm just sort of reading thissort of article, and this is
based on um Kelly McGonagall'swork, so it's uh it's worth
checking her out.
She's she's great.
But in this, just she talksabout, you know, how your blood
vessels, you know, your heartrate goes up, your blood vessels
(09:04):
constrict, uh, and this is whyum this is why it can be
associated with cardiovasculardisease having um having stress
response.
And so it's important tounderstand this so that we can
harness this the right way.
So, anyway, so what they did isthey, and I'll tell you more
about that constricting vesselsand what that means and whether
(09:27):
or not you should worry about itor not.
I'll tell you that coming up.
But at this point, I'm justgonna tell you about this study.
So, you know, the study thatthe participants who you know,
essentially the people whoviewed their stress response as
helpful, well, what happenedwith them is their blood vessels
stayed relaxed.
So the people who thought itwas helpful, their blood vessels
stayed relaxed.
(09:48):
So the way you think aboutstress is more important than
the stress itself.
What you think about it isreally important.
So they stayed relaxed.
And so even though the heartwas still pounding, it was a
much healthier cardiovascularprofile, right?
So they were getting thebenefit without the negative.
Over a lifetime of stressfulexperiences, that single
(10:08):
biological change could be thedifference between a
stress-induced heart attack at50 and getting a letter from,
well, she wrote the queen atthis time, so it would be the
king these days.
So essentially, reframing thestress response can make a
difference to your not only youremotional health and your
ability to harness that stressand use that stress to help you,
(10:30):
but it also is going to make adifference to your your physical
health and your cardiovascularprofile over the long term.
Now, that's a really, reallyimportant information to have,
wouldn't you think so?
So essentially, uh what'shappening is in these studies,
they've proved that as long asyou harness the stress and as
(10:53):
long as you reframe it, and aslong as you say, oh, okay, this
stress response is here to helpme perform, great, isn't that
fabulous?
My body is helping me do this.
Woo-hoo! You know, it when yourespond in that way, blood
vessels uh relax, and but youstill but you still get the
benefit of the stress responsein that it helps you perform.
And this is what's really,really important to understand
(11:16):
because I think so many of uswho've had stress and anxiety
and those sorts of issues, weperceive that stress response
straight away.
We get start getting thatfeeling, and we perceive it as
being a negative thing, as beingsomething that's going to cause
us trouble, when in fact it'sactually can be and is a
positive thing, and it's allabout your relationship to that,
(11:36):
you know, you get thosesymptoms, and it's changing your
response to that what it is,it's reframing it, saying, Oh,
okay, it's here to help me, it'snot here to harm me.
That's a good thing.
So, the other thing that theylearned about uh in regards to
the stress response and how itaffects your cardiovascular
system, is that you know, theylearned about a lot of it's to
(11:58):
do with a hormone calledoxytocin.
So many of you would knowoxytocin.
Oxytocin is often referred toas the cuddle hormone.
It's essentially the hormonethat um that mothers make in
response to their babies, andyou know, and it's not just
mothers who do it, it's it's butthis is an example, and that's
why you know, this tiny littlething that drives you nuts, that
(12:23):
makes sure you don't get anysleep, and that takes everything
you have plus more.
It's what keeps it alive,basically, because it sort of
gives you the baby smiles andyou get all that oxytocin, you
have that cuddle with the baby,the breastfeeding, whatever it
is, all this lovely oxytocinfloods through your body, and
you kind of all you want to dois cuddle the baby, look after
the baby and care for it, andit's beautiful and wonderful,
(12:45):
and that's how the how the humanrace survives.
But that that's you know, thethe oxytocin is uh a great
hormone and it has that effect.
But what they also know, so youknow, it's it's involved in
childbirth, it's involved inbreastfeeding, but um, but it's
also involved, so it's whatthey're saying here is oxytocin,
(13:05):
the neuro hormone, itfine-tunes your brain's social
instincts.
So it primes you to do thingsthat strengthen your close
relationships, so it makes youuh crave physical contact with
your friends and your family,and it enhances your empathy and
makes you more willing to helpand support the people you care
about.
So it's also a stress hormone.
(13:27):
So your protrudy gland releasesas part of the body's stress
response, and it's as much apart of the stress response as
the adrenaline, it makes yourheart pound.
Now, when oxytocin is releasedduring a stress response, it
motivates you to seek supportand notice when someone in your
life is struggling and you mightneed to support the others.
And actually, this is actuallywhen I was talking about the
(13:49):
different modes, the differentstress modes when I was talking
about fight or flight and restand digest, there is another one
that's called tend andbefriend, and that's what
oxytocin does, and um and it'svery common women uh do the tend
and befriend response.
And one, it's because they'reprobably releasing more oxytocin
(14:10):
because they're the ones that'scaring for babies, that sort of
thing, historically.
But also, uh, if you thinkabout how a society was set up
back in the day, your villagegets attacked.
Well, the the women wouldactually have to be caring for
the babies, they'd have to becaring for the elderly, and
maybe even the tending to theanimals, right?
So, because they're in asituation where they were very
(14:32):
vulnerable because they werecaring for the little ones, they
couldn't do as much of thefight or flight like didn't work
for them because they would doit, they had to do the tendon
befriend, right?
So they had to actually kind ofyou know get people to work
with them.
And also, if you when you thinkabout it from a uh survival
point of view for women, uh alsobecause maybe we're not in the
same situation where we couldfight the same as men could, if
(14:54):
we learn how to tend andbefriend, we get people to help
us, right?
So it's a very common one inwomen to do this tendon befriend
thing.
But what they found is um isbecause this oxytocin, like I
said before, it motivates you toseek support or to sort of help
others and be part, you know,that community sort of thing.
Um, so it's um oxytocin acts onthe body, not just on the
(15:21):
brain.
So it's not just about thebrain and it's not just about
going, you know, being aware ofhelping others, that sort of
thing.
Uh, but its main role in thebody is to protect your
cardiovascular system from theeffects of stress.
So going back to what we weretalking about before, so it's
it's a naturalanti-inflammatory,
anti-inflammatory, and it alsohelps your blood vessels stay
(15:44):
relaxed during stress.
And um, and because it doesthat, you know, um, and I was
just saying the heart actuallyhas receptors for this hormone,
and oxytocin helps heart cellsregenerate and heal from
stress-induced damage.
So, this hormone, this stresshormone actually strengthens
(16:05):
your heart.
This is one of the many reasonswhy having healthy
relationships and connections tofriends in your community is so
powerful for good health,right?
And and we know this when welook back at um, there was
another Harvard study, uh,someone Waldinger, uh, what's
his name?
Uh I've talked about thisHarvard study before, but there
was a Harvard study aboutlongevity, and I think it's the
(16:28):
longest study on longevity thatthey've done.
And this particular studylooked at all of the things that
um followed these people formany years and looked at, and I
think now it's now looking attheir children, grandchildren,
but it was looking at what arethe things that predict
longevity and what are thethings that predict uh keeping
your marbles, basically, keepingyour memory, not ending up with
(16:50):
uh Alzheimer's, that kind ofthing, dementia.
And what they found is thatthey thought it was going to be
about the cholesterol number orsomething like that, but what
they actually found is it wasabout having connections.
It was about and theconnections in your life being
really important.
So it was that sort of if youhave a partner, the partner in
your life is someone that youfeel uh that is has got your
(17:13):
back, someone having your backwas the most important thing,
right?
So if you were in a combatitiveand and nasty relationship
where someone's undermining you,you were more likely to end up
dying young and more likely toend up losing your marbles, kind
of getting that dementiaearlier.
Whereas if you had a partnerthat had your back, it made a
big difference to your longevityand your brain function to a
(17:36):
much older age.
And you know, and it it's it'ssort of um that it shows you
that and it wasn't really aboutwhether or not you would fight
with your partner.
I mean, all human beingsdisagree on stuff, right?
And if you're going to be in amarriage with someone for 50, 60
years or whatever, you're goingto have disagreements.
It wasn't about that, it wasabout at the end of the day
(17:57):
whether or not you that personhad your back.
So there's a difference betweenhaving disagreements and having
a really combatitive,unsupportive relationship.
And this sh just showed thatthere was a difference in that,
right?
So, you know, we know that, um,and that again, that's probably
those relationships shouldproduce a lot more oxytocin,
don't you?
If you're if you know that atthe end of the day someone has
(18:18):
your back.
So, you know, there was anotherstudy that where they tracked
about a thousand adults in theUnited States and they ranged in
age from 34 to 93.
And they started the study byasking how much stress have you
experienced in the last year.
They also asked, how much timehave you spent helping friends
(18:39):
and neighbors and people in yourcommunity?
And then they used publicrecords to look at what panned
out for these people over thenext five years.
And what they found is forevery major stressful life
experience, um, whether it'slike financial difficulties or
family crisis, they increasedthe risk of dying by 30%.
(18:59):
So, like a major life issuelike that increased your risk of
dying by 30%.
But it was wasn't true foreveryone.
People who spent time caringfor others showed absolutely no
stress-related increase indying, zero.
So they what they've found isthat caring creates resilience,
(19:20):
right?
So when we care for otherpeople, and you know, I think
it's important, I think it'simportant to clarify this too,
though, because what I see is Isee sometimes people only care
about other things and neverother people and never care
about themselves.
And if all you do is give toother people and never care
(19:43):
about yourself, especially whenyou're doing it in a resentful
way where you don't really wantto be doing this and you just
feel like people are are umblackmailing you almost
emotional blackmail, whatever itis into doing the thing, that
doesn't end well.
So I I think self-care isimportant, and I teach my
(20:04):
clients all of the time to lookafter their health and practice
self-care.
And that whole, you know, oxyoxygen mask thing is true.
You know, if you don't put youroxygen mask on first, you're
not going to be to help peoplefor long, are you?
You're not gonna be much help.
So that is true.
At the same time, though, whenwe kind of live like as on an
island and don't care for otherpeople at all and only look
(20:26):
after ourselves, that is notbeneficial.
And if we're going throughstress and difficulties in life,
then um I would encourage youto reach out to other people.
And it might involvevolunteering somewhere, or it
might involve joining a group,joining a social group.
I know in in this area there'sbeen quite a few walk Penrith,
(20:47):
um, Penrith, and because I'm inSydney, in western, um
northwestern Sydney I'm in, butplaces like Penrith and North
Richmond and Springwood have,you know, they created men's
walk and talk programs, and nowthey've got women's walk and
talk where basically you can goand show up and go for a walk
and have people to talk to.
Uh, so there's all sorts ofdifferent groups, whether they
be social groups, whether theybe, you know, whether it's a
(21:08):
craft group, a social group, a awhatever it is, a group that
does dance or or singing orchoirs, or there's a whole
different types of groups thatyou can be part of, or there's
all sorts of differentvolunteering you can be part of.
And all of those things make adifference if you're just
basically spending time withother people and doing something
(21:30):
for other people.
It might even be, even if youdon't want to be involved in
groups and things, but it couldbe, you know, random acts of
kindness.
So it could be going out in thestreet and smiling at someone
and being kind, or paying forsomeone's coffee, or paying for
someone's groceries, or likewhatever it might be helping
someone lift a pram or awheelchair out of a car, or you
know, whatever it is, there's amany, many ways that we can do
(21:52):
acts of service, and acts ofservice are an important part of
this because what we're doingis releasing that oxytocin.
Now, we also know you can getoxytocin.
One of the reasons why somecertain YouTube videos are so
popular is we get oxytocin fromwatching other people do kind
acts of service.
So I think there's a guy, Ican't remember his name.
Is it Mr.
Mr.
(22:13):
Beast?
Is he the one?
Anyway, there's a guy who youknow gives away lots of money to
people and um does lots of kindthings on online.
And you know, that sort ofthing, what we know is even
watching someone do acts ofservice as she can help release
that oxytocin.
And you know, if you've everwatched, you know, if you've
ever got that good feeling andcalmed down from watching those
(22:34):
cute videos on YouTube whereit's like someone doing
something kind for someone orsomeone rescuing someone,
something like that, um, thenyou know, that's oxytocin.
So there's more than one way tocreate that, um, to release
that oxytocin into your system.
But one of those ways isactually to um, you know, acts
of kindness, doing somethingkind for somebody else and um
(22:56):
and having a connection, havinga human connection because we
are, we we do need a tribe, andthat's actually one thing that
uh Johan Hari uh describes inhis book.
He sort of says bees, uh he'sgot several books, but um, he
wrote one about addiction, andyou know, he says, like bees
need a hive, humans need atribe, and he's right with that.
(23:16):
And uh, it is true that we wedo need a tribe and we feel
unsafe if we don't have that.
Now, there's different sorts ofpeople, and some people like to
be alone more and have theirown space, and other people
really love being in it andamongst it all the time, and
there's everything in between,but we still all do need to be
to have a tribe and to feel likewe're part of a tribe, and when
(23:39):
we do, it helps us have thatsafety, but it also just helps,
you know, sometimes you justneed some support.
Sometimes you sometimes you'renot giving yourself the right
information, or you're stuck ina situation where you need
someone else's perspective orsomeone else's support, a
helping hand, whatever it is,and we all need that sometimes,
(23:59):
and so it's good to have thatcommunity, and you know, even
just like you know, I've noticedlike I worked from home for
five years pretty much alone alot of that time, and uh now I'm
doing some other work outsideof the home, and it's made a
real difference for my mentalhealth.
We do need to be part of atribe and part of something, and
(24:20):
when we spend too much timealone, we it's not good for us
necessarily to be stuck in ourown thoughts.
So we are human beings, we doneed to be part of a tribe.
Think Johan Hari says theopposite of um of addiction is
connection.
Uh, and and what he's talkingabout is that, you know, if
we've got addictions, it'susually because we're
(24:41):
disconnected, we don't have aconnection to something.
So think about that, uh,whether it be around, you know,
whether it be what whatever typeof addiction it is, whether
it's related to food or alcoholor drugs or whatever, uh, that a
big part of it is that we justnot don't feel connected to
something or someone orsomething bigger than ourselves.
(25:02):
So uh so feeling connected isreally, really important.
And we know that it's reallyimportant for releasing that
oxytocin, uh, which is reallyheart protective.
So if you think about, youknow, simple things you can do
to support your stress levels,to help you perform, but also
actually, this has turned out tobe really an episode talking
(25:24):
about heart health, right?
Important things you can do toincrease your longevity and
increase, you know, improve yourheart health and to reduce the
effects of of um of stressphysically on your body and on
your heart, this is reallyimportant information.
And the truth is that we're allgoing to have stress in our
lives because life happens, likewe all have stressful
(25:47):
situations.
So whether it's understandinghow the stress connection and
harnessing stress, you know, howyou can use that to get through
your job interview or an examor or you know, some sort of
performance, or whether it'sunderstanding just like from a
life point of view that howimportant oxytocin is to help us
manage our lives and how and tomanage our health and to keep a
(26:07):
healthy heart while we'redealing with all the stresses of
life.
And you know, you can seethat's why it happens so much
when people deal with, you know,they they're caring for a
partner or a sick child or asick parent, and um, and then
you know, they might pass awayfairly early, like a few years
after their parent or whateverit is.
(26:28):
You can see how it happens,right?
Because when we're in thischronic stress and we're not
doing anything to sort of bringin that oxytocin and to sort of
to support ourselves in thatway, um and just not practicing
self-care, then uh you can seehow we end up having this, you
know, like 30% of people had ayou know high risk of dying
(26:51):
after being in a stressfulsituation.
So it shows you it's notnecessarily about the stress
itself.
The truth is we are going tohave stress.
Stress happens, stress is partof life.
It's actually aboutunderstanding what it is, like I
said, data information and whatit means that you need.
So it's like, okay, I'm feelingreally stressed.
What do I need?
Do I need just to have someprotein to help me calm down?
(27:12):
Do I need to slow down mybreathing?
Do I need to ask for help orsupport?
Do I need to reframe what thisstress is about and understand
that it's actually can be hereto help me?
Um, do I need to do somethingcommunity related to help me,
you know, act of kindness,something just to get me out of
my head, release that oxytocin?
What is it that you need to dothat will support your heart
(27:34):
health and support your stressand help you harness that
stress?
And so I hope that this um hopethis episode has helped you to
think to sort of reframe stressand think about it in a
different way, and also think ina different way about heart
health and something reallypractical and really simple that
you can do to support yourheart health, learning all about
(27:55):
the oxytocin hormone and how itreally supports you with
stress, but also um you knowreducing your risk of um of
heart issues, because that'sexactly what I said I was going
to refer to later, but I didjump back in and talk about it
anyway, is essentially it stopsthat constriction of the
vessels.
So if you have all the vesselsin in your body constrict, then
(28:15):
you're more likely to have umdamage to your heart and damage
to periphery or damage toeverything because you're not
getting that circulation andthat oxygen, that those uh the
the blood and the oxygen aroundto all the important parts.
So if you don't get thatconstriction, uh you still get
all of that lovely blood flowand all of those lovely oxygen
and nutrients around the body,right?
(28:36):
So uh it's really, reallyimportant.
And so the difference betweenhaving that constriction in
blood vessels and not havingthem is about oxytocin, about
the um the uh the the sort ofhugging uh kind of hormone.
Uh it's a beautiful thing, it'sa lovely thing, and it's a good
thing to learn about.
Anyway, um I will leave it atthat this week.
(28:58):
I hope you uh enjoyed that andplease share this with your
friends.
You never know.
You might save your friend fromuh from a heart-related issue
if they learn how to managetheir stress and harness their
stress uh and um understandoxytocin.
So uh so please like,subscribe, share, um, share this
podcast, and uh please ratereview all those things, and um,
(29:20):
and I'll talk to you all againnext week.
Thanks so much.
This is uh podcast about uh,you know, where I have real
conversations about things thatmatter.
Okay, bye-bye.
Hello and welcome to the Wellness Connection.
I'm your host, Fiona Kane.
Today I'm going to be talkingabout stress, and I'm going to
be talking about a way ofharnessing stress that works for
you rather than being crippledby stress, a way of looking at
it, a different approach to howyou can look at stress.
So, like all things I've talkedabout on here before, is
(00:24):
everything is data.
So it's important to look ateverything as data.
So if you're having signs andsymptoms, like physical signs
and symptoms, you know, you'relooking at data, right?
And the same is for emotionalsigns and symptoms, so it could
be both.
And with stress response, youmay get both.
So you'll get physicalfeelings, but you also may get
(00:45):
emotional feelings.
Everything is data, so it's notpaying attention.
What is what is that thing I'mfeeling or experiencing?
And then what does that mean?
And stress is stress is nodifferent to that.
Stress is something where we,if we have starting to sort of
have a stress response, we'regoing to be looking around to
say, okay, what's going on?
Now, what often happens is whenwe first start sort of having
(01:10):
stress responses, or if we starthaving them a lot more, or
having panic attacks, that kindof thing, is in our mind we kind
of have this, we end up withthis sort of almost this muscle
memory of kind of saying, Oh,okay, when I feel this way, it's
bad, it's all bad, it's onlygoing to be bad, it's going to
end badly.
And sometimes, you know, we'vehad experience, right?
(01:30):
We've had experience thatproves that to us.
And so what happens is everytime we start to experience a
stress response, we immediatelythink it's bad, it's terrible,
it's all going to end badly, andof course it does.
And so this is a case wheresometimes we've got to reassess
and kind of understand what thestress response is so that we
(01:52):
have an appropriate response toit.
And like I always joke aboutthe fact that I have a stress
response when I see a cockroach.
It's ridiculous, but I do,right?
So I, in that situation, I talkto myself and I say, all right,
Fiona, it's just a cockroach.
Might be hideous, but you aresafe.
So you don't really need to gointo a full stress response.
(02:14):
So I pick myself up on it.
Like I notice what's going on.
I notice that I'm responding ina way that's not appropriate
for the situation.
And I'll pretty much just laughat myself and talk myself out
of it, right?
And when we have a stressresponse, so there's a few
things that are going on.
So I'll clarify, I have talkedabout some of this before, but
(02:35):
you know, it's an importanttopic, so I just think it's
worth revisiting.
We have two main modes of ournervous system.
There's more than that, butjust for sometimes simplicity is
good, even um even though it'snot 100% simplicity is good.
So we have fight or flight orrest and digest.
(02:55):
Rest and digest is where weshould be most of the time.
And rest and digest isbasically what it sounds like.
It's when your body is able toreplenish and uh digest and
absorb nutrients and and prettymuch where it rebuilds, you
right.
So resting and digesting iswhen your body's doing all the
things that it needs to do justto sort of function normally and
(03:19):
um and keep you well and uh andand and healthy.
So rest and digest is where weshould be, a mode that we should
be in most of the time, becausemost of the time we're safe and
everything's fine.
Now, the other one is fight orflight.
And fight or flight is where weshould be sometimes, but not
(03:40):
all of the time.
Now, historically, ourancestors, when they were in
fight or flight, it was for areally good reason, like it
wasn't a cockroach, it was abear or a lion, right?
So if you are being chased by abear, if you're about to become
lunch, it does not matter ifyou digest your lunch.
(04:01):
And that's exactly what'shappening when you're in fight
or flight.
When you're in fight or flight,you get no circulation to your
digestive system and nocirculation to your reproductive
system because your body kindof thinks, well, digesting,
reproducing, they're kind of notreally important right now.
What we need to do is survive.
So all of your circulation goesto your arms and legs and so to
(04:23):
your heart, your arms, legs,and to your eyes.
So the idea is that you can seebetter and you can run and
you've got strength.
And of course, that's fight orflight because if you're going
to have to fight the bear or runfrom the bear or whatever it
is, you need the strength andthe physical ability to see it,
run from it, that kind of thing,right?
(04:43):
So that response is appropriatewhen there's a bear.
It's less appropriate whenthere's a cockroach.
But the other place that wehave it in our lives is we have
it in our lives in regards tothings like it might be like a
job interview or some otherthing where there's a
performance involved and westart going into a stress
(05:04):
response.
Now, a stress, we don't need tonecessarily go into the full
stress response for uh for a jobinterview, but in saying that,
there's a way that you canharness this and understand what
it is and make it work for you.
So if you think, oh my god, I'mgonna have a panic attack and
start talking yourself into thefact that this is a negative
(05:24):
thing, that that what you'refeeling is negative, then that's
that you're talking yourselfinto that, right?
You're talking yourself intothat experience.
But if you can understand thatit's actually a positive thing,
because it is your body tryingto prepare you to deal with
something difficult.
And so if you understand thatthat's what your body is doing,
if you sort of see this as data,so you're kind of getting ready
(05:46):
to go for a job interview, andyou can feel you know your
heart's starting to flutter andand maybe your breathing's
changing a bit, and and youknow, you start feeling those uh
that surge of stress hormonesthrough your system.
Now you can tell talk yourselfinto all sorts of stories about
why that's a bad thing, or youcan actually say, no, no, it's a
(06:06):
good thing.
My body's preparing me to uh toperform.
And when you think about it,this is actually what happens to
people who do perform.
So if you're about to go outand do a big speech or you know,
perform a concert or whateverit is, I think most people, if
not all people, will let youknow that they do have this kind
of surge, this adrenalinesurge, this sort of thing that
(06:29):
happens before they go out onstage.
Uh, because and they'llacknowledge, they'll tell you
that it helps them perform.
It does help you perform.
That's so it's made to helpthat performance.
So when you start to have thosefeelings, you can say to
yourself, oh wow, okay, this ismy body supporting me.
This is my body helping me.
(06:51):
I'm about to do somethingthat's challenging.
Uh, here we go.
Now, if it's like my situationwhere I was a cockroach, then
you can say to yourself, Look, Idon't really need the stress
response for this, I just need acan of mortine or whatever it
is that I need.
But if it is uh you're about toyou do a performance and you
need to perform, you're about todo an exam or a job interview
(07:11):
or something like that, then itcan be quite useful.
So what you say is, okay, thisis my body preparing me to deal
with this.
Isn't this great?
Isn't it great that my body'sdoing this?
So, first of all, just staysaying that sort of makes a
difference.
And you know, so you know, uhone of the things that um one of
the things that uh that we knowis there's been studies on
(07:36):
this, and so what they did isthey did studies of um, you
know, the difference betweenthinking that you were sort of
stress was a bad thing and thedifference between believing it
was helpful for you.
And um, and they actually foundthat it is helpful, especially
when you believe it's helpful,right?
So they did that in a study,they conducted a study at
(07:57):
Harvard University, and beforethey went through this social
stress test, they were taught toreframe their stress response
as helpful, right?
Which is what exactly what Iwas just talking about,
reframing the stress response.
And, you know, so that poundingheart is preparing you for
action and you're breathingfaster.
That's so you can get moreoxygen to your brain.
And you know, so they were theywere sort of told to tell
(08:20):
themselves these things aboutstress.
And ultimately, what they foundis the participants who learned
to view the stress response ashelpful for their performance
were actually less stressed out,less anxious, and more
confident.
So the more they just saw it asa performance enhancer, the
more it was and the calmer thatthey were.
So the the hormones had theirdid that played their role, but
(08:42):
they weren't sort of completelycrippled by it.
It was actually something thatbenefited them.
And so, you know, it'sexplaining.
I'm just sort of reading thissort of article, and this is
based on um Kelly McGonagall'swork, so it's uh it's worth
checking her out.
She's she's great.
But in this, just she talksabout, you know, how your blood
vessels, you know, your heartrate goes up, your blood vessels
(09:04):
constrict, uh, and this is whyum this is why it can be
associated with cardiovasculardisease having um having stress
response.
And so it's important tounderstand this so that we can
harness this the right way.
So, anyway, so what they did isthey, and I'll tell you more
about that constricting vesselsand what that means and whether
(09:27):
or not you should worry about itor not.
I'll tell you that coming up.
But at this point, I'm justgonna tell you about this study.
So, you know, the study thatthe participants who you know,
essentially the people whoviewed their stress response as
helpful, well, what happenedwith them is their blood vessels
stayed relaxed.
So the people who thought itwas helpful, their blood vessels
stayed relaxed.
(09:48):
So the way you think aboutstress is more important than
the stress itself.
What you think about it isreally important.
So they stayed relaxed.
And so even though the heartwas still pounding, it was a
much healthier cardiovascularprofile, right?
So they were getting thebenefit without the negative.
Over a lifetime of stressfulexperiences, that single
(10:08):
biological change could be thedifference between a
stress-induced heart attack at50 and getting a letter from,
well, she wrote the queen atthis time, so it would be the
king these days.
So essentially, reframing thestress response can make a
difference to your not only youremotional health and your
ability to harness that stressand use that stress to help you,
(10:30):
but it also is going to make adifference to your your physical
health and your cardiovascularprofile over the long term.
Now, that's a really, reallyimportant information to have,
wouldn't you think so?
So essentially, uh what'shappening is in these studies,
they've proved that as long asyou harness the stress and as
(10:53):
long as you reframe it, and aslong as you say, oh, okay, this
stress response is here to helpme perform, great, isn't that
fabulous?
My body is helping me do this.
Woo-hoo! You know, it when yourespond in that way, blood
vessels uh relax, and but youstill but you still get the
benefit of the stress responsein that it helps you perform.
And this is what's really,really important to understand
(11:16):
because I think so many of uswho've had stress and anxiety
and those sorts of issues, weperceive that stress response
straight away.
We get start getting thatfeeling, and we perceive it as
being a negative thing, as beingsomething that's going to cause
us trouble, when in fact it'sactually can be and is a
positive thing, and it's allabout your relationship to that,
(11:36):
you know, you get thosesymptoms, and it's changing your
response to that what it is,it's reframing it, saying, Oh,
okay, it's here to help me, it'snot here to harm me.
That's a good thing.
So, the other thing that theylearned about uh in regards to
the stress response and how itaffects your cardiovascular
system, is that you know, theylearned about a lot of it's to
(11:58):
do with a hormone calledoxytocin.
So many of you would knowoxytocin.
Oxytocin is often referred toas the cuddle hormone.
It's essentially the hormonethat um that mothers make in
response to their babies, andyou know, and it's not just
mothers who do it, it's it's butthis is an example, and that's
why you know, this tiny littlething that drives you nuts, that
(12:23):
makes sure you don't get anysleep, and that takes everything
you have plus more.
It's what keeps it alive,basically, because it sort of
gives you the baby smiles andyou get all that oxytocin, you
have that cuddle with the baby,the breastfeeding, whatever it
is, all this lovely oxytocinfloods through your body, and
you kind of all you want to dois cuddle the baby, look after
the baby and care for it, andit's beautiful and wonderful,
(12:45):
and that's how the how the humanrace survives.
But that that's you know, thethe oxytocin is uh a great
hormone and it has that effect.
But what they also know, so youknow, it's it's involved in
childbirth, it's involved inbreastfeeding, but um, but it's
also involved, so it's whatthey're saying here is oxytocin,
(13:05):
the neuro hormone, itfine-tunes your brain's social
instincts.
So it primes you to do thingsthat strengthen your close
relationships, so it makes youuh crave physical contact with
your friends and your family,and it enhances your empathy and
makes you more willing to helpand support the people you care
about.
So it's also a stress hormone.
(13:27):
So your protrudy gland releasesas part of the body's stress
response, and it's as much apart of the stress response as
the adrenaline, it makes yourheart pound.
Now, when oxytocin is releasedduring a stress response, it
motivates you to seek supportand notice when someone in your
life is struggling and you mightneed to support the others.
And actually, this is actuallywhen I was talking about the
(13:49):
different modes, the differentstress modes when I was talking
about fight or flight and restand digest, there is another one
that's called tend andbefriend, and that's what
oxytocin does, and um and it'svery common women uh do the tend
and befriend response.
And one, it's because they'reprobably releasing more oxytocin
(14:10):
because they're the ones that'scaring for babies, that sort of
thing, historically.
But also, uh, if you thinkabout how a society was set up
back in the day, your villagegets attacked.
Well, the the women wouldactually have to be caring for
the babies, they'd have to becaring for the elderly, and
maybe even the tending to theanimals, right?
So, because they're in asituation where they were very
(14:32):
vulnerable because they werecaring for the little ones, they
couldn't do as much of thefight or flight like didn't work
for them because they would doit, they had to do the tendon
befriend, right?
So they had to actually kind ofyou know get people to work
with them.
And also, if you when you thinkabout it from a uh survival
point of view for women, uh alsobecause maybe we're not in the
same situation where we couldfight the same as men could, if
(14:54):
we learn how to tend andbefriend, we get people to help
us, right?
So it's a very common one inwomen to do this tendon befriend
thing.
But what they found is um isbecause this oxytocin, like I
said before, it motivates you toseek support or to sort of help
others and be part, you know,that community sort of thing.
Um, so it's um oxytocin acts onthe body, not just on the
(15:21):
brain.
So it's not just about thebrain and it's not just about
going, you know, being aware ofhelping others, that sort of
thing.
Uh, but its main role in thebody is to protect your
cardiovascular system from theeffects of stress.
So going back to what we weretalking about before, so it's
it's a naturalanti-inflammatory,
anti-inflammatory, and it alsohelps your blood vessels stay
(15:44):
relaxed during stress.
And um, and because it doesthat, you know, um, and I was
just saying the heart actuallyhas receptors for this hormone,
and oxytocin helps heart cellsregenerate and heal from
stress-induced damage.
So, this hormone, this stresshormone actually strengthens
(16:05):
your heart.
This is one of the many reasonswhy having healthy
relationships and connections tofriends in your community is so
powerful for good health,right?
And and we know this when welook back at um, there was
another Harvard study, uh,someone Waldinger, uh, what's
his name?
Uh I've talked about thisHarvard study before, but there
was a Harvard study aboutlongevity, and I think it's the
(16:28):
longest study on longevity thatthey've done.
And this particular studylooked at all of the things that
um followed these people formany years and looked at, and I
think now it's now looking attheir children, grandchildren,
but it was looking at what arethe things that predict
longevity and what are thethings that predict uh keeping
your marbles, basically, keepingyour memory, not ending up with
(16:50):
uh Alzheimer's, that kind ofthing, dementia.
And what they found is thatthey thought it was going to be
about the cholesterol number orsomething like that, but what
they actually found is it wasabout having connections.
It was about and theconnections in your life being
really important.
So it was that sort of if youhave a partner, the partner in
your life is someone that youfeel uh that is has got your
(17:13):
back, someone having your backwas the most important thing,
right?
So if you were in a combatitiveand and nasty relationship
where someone's undermining you,you were more likely to end up
dying young and more likely toend up losing your marbles, kind
of getting that dementiaearlier.
Whereas if you had a partnerthat had your back, it made a
big difference to your longevityand your brain function to a
(17:36):
much older age.
And you know, and it it's it'ssort of um that it shows you
that and it wasn't really aboutwhether or not you would fight
with your partner.
I mean, all human beingsdisagree on stuff, right?
And if you're going to be in amarriage with someone for 50, 60
years or whatever, you're goingto have disagreements.
It wasn't about that, it wasabout at the end of the day
(17:57):
whether or not you that personhad your back.
So there's a difference betweenhaving disagreements and having
a really combatitive,unsupportive relationship.
And this sh just showed thatthere was a difference in that,
right?
So, you know, we know that, um,and that again, that's probably
those relationships shouldproduce a lot more oxytocin,
don't you?
If you're if you know that atthe end of the day someone has
(18:18):
your back.
So, you know, there was anotherstudy that where they tracked
about a thousand adults in theUnited States and they ranged in
age from 34 to 93.
And they started the study byasking how much stress have you
experienced in the last year.
They also asked, how much timehave you spent helping friends
(18:39):
and neighbors and people in yourcommunity?
And then they used publicrecords to look at what panned
out for these people over thenext five years.
And what they found is forevery major stressful life
experience, um, whether it'slike financial difficulties or
family crisis, they increasedthe risk of dying by 30%.
(18:59):
So, like a major life issuelike that increased your risk of
dying by 30%.
But it was wasn't true foreveryone.
People who spent time caringfor others showed absolutely no
stress-related increase indying, zero.
So they what they've found isthat caring creates resilience,
(19:20):
right?
So when we care for otherpeople, and you know, I think
it's important, I think it'simportant to clarify this too,
though, because what I see is Isee sometimes people only care
about other things and neverother people and never care
about themselves.
And if all you do is give toother people and never care
(19:43):
about yourself, especially whenyou're doing it in a resentful
way where you don't really wantto be doing this and you just
feel like people are are umblackmailing you almost
emotional blackmail, whatever itis into doing the thing, that
doesn't end well.
So I I think self-care isimportant, and I teach my
(20:04):
clients all of the time to lookafter their health and practice
self-care.
And that whole, you know, oxyoxygen mask thing is true.
You know, if you don't put youroxygen mask on first, you're
not going to be to help peoplefor long, are you?
You're not gonna be much help.
So that is true.
At the same time, though, whenwe kind of live like as on an
island and don't care for otherpeople at all and only look
(20:26):
after ourselves, that is notbeneficial.
And if we're going throughstress and difficulties in life,
then um I would encourage youto reach out to other people.
And it might involvevolunteering somewhere, or it
might involve joining a group,joining a social group.
I know in in this area there'sbeen quite a few walk Penrith,
(20:47):
um, Penrith, and because I'm inSydney, in western, um
northwestern Sydney I'm in, butplaces like Penrith and North
Richmond and Springwood have,you know, they created men's
walk and talk programs, and nowthey've got women's walk and
talk where basically you can goand show up and go for a walk
and have people to talk to.
Uh, so there's all sorts ofdifferent groups, whether they
be social groups, whether theybe, you know, whether it's a
(21:08):
craft group, a social group, a awhatever it is, a group that
does dance or or singing orchoirs, or there's a whole
different types of groups thatyou can be part of, or there's
all sorts of differentvolunteering you can be part of.
And all of those things make adifference if you're just
basically spending time withother people and doing something
(21:30):
for other people.
It might even be, even if youdon't want to be involved in
groups and things, but it couldbe, you know, random acts of
kindness.
So it could be going out in thestreet and smiling at someone
and being kind, or paying forsomeone's coffee, or paying for
someone's groceries, or likewhatever it might be helping
someone lift a pram or awheelchair out of a car, or you
know, whatever it is, there's amany, many ways that we can do
(21:52):
acts of service, and acts ofservice are an important part of
this because what we're doingis releasing that oxytocin.
Now, we also know you can getoxytocin.
One of the reasons why somecertain YouTube videos are so
popular is we get oxytocin fromwatching other people do kind
acts of service.
So I think there's a guy, Ican't remember his name.
Is it Mr.
Mr.
(22:13):
Beast?
Is he the one?
Anyway, there's a guy who youknow gives away lots of money to
people and um does lots of kindthings on online.
And you know, that sort ofthing, what we know is even
watching someone do acts ofservice as she can help release
that oxytocin.
And you know, if you've everwatched, you know, if you've
ever got that good feeling andcalmed down from watching those
(22:34):
cute videos on YouTube whereit's like someone doing
something kind for someone orsomeone rescuing someone,
something like that, um, thenyou know, that's oxytocin.
So there's more than one way tocreate that, um, to release
that oxytocin into your system.
But one of those ways isactually to um, you know, acts
of kindness, doing somethingkind for somebody else and um
(22:56):
and having a connection, havinga human connection because we
are, we we do need a tribe, andthat's actually one thing that
uh Johan Hari uh describes inhis book.
He sort of says bees, uh he'sgot several books, but um, he
wrote one about addiction, andyou know, he says, like bees
need a hive, humans need atribe, and he's right with that.
(23:16):
And uh, it is true that we wedo need a tribe and we feel
unsafe if we don't have that.
Now, there's different sorts ofpeople, and some people like to
be alone more and have theirown space, and other people
really love being in it andamongst it all the time, and
there's everything in between,but we still all do need to be
to have a tribe and to feel likewe're part of a tribe, and when
(23:39):
we do, it helps us have thatsafety, but it also just helps,
you know, sometimes you justneed some support.
Sometimes you sometimes you'renot giving yourself the right
information, or you're stuck ina situation where you need
someone else's perspective orsomeone else's support, a
helping hand, whatever it is,and we all need that sometimes,
(23:59):
and so it's good to have thatcommunity, and you know, even
just like you know, I've noticedlike I worked from home for
five years pretty much alone alot of that time, and uh now I'm
doing some other work outsideof the home, and it's made a
real difference for my mentalhealth.
We do need to be part of atribe and part of something, and
(24:20):
when we spend too much timealone, we it's not good for us
necessarily to be stuck in ourown thoughts.
So we are human beings, we doneed to be part of a tribe.
Think Johan Hari says theopposite of um of addiction is
connection.
Uh, and and what he's talkingabout is that, you know, if
we've got addictions, it'susually because we're
(24:41):
disconnected, we don't have aconnection to something.
So think about that, uh,whether it be around, you know,
whether it be what whatever typeof addiction it is, whether
it's related to food or alcoholor drugs or whatever, uh, that a
big part of it is that we justnot don't feel connected to
something or someone orsomething bigger than ourselves.
(25:02):
So uh so feeling connected isreally, really important.
And we know that it's reallyimportant for releasing that
oxytocin, uh, which is reallyheart protective.
So if you think about, youknow, simple things you can do
to support your stress levels,to help you perform, but also
actually, this has turned out tobe really an episode talking
(25:24):
about heart health, right?
Important things you can do toincrease your longevity and
increase, you know, improve yourheart health and to reduce the
effects of of um of stressphysically on your body and on
your heart, this is reallyimportant information.
And the truth is that we're allgoing to have stress in our
lives because life happens, likewe all have stressful
(25:47):
situations.
So whether it's understandinghow the stress connection and
harnessing stress, you know, howyou can use that to get through
your job interview or an examor or you know, some sort of
performance, or whether it'sunderstanding just like from a
life point of view that howimportant oxytocin is to help us
manage our lives and how and tomanage our health and to keep a
(26:07):
healthy heart while we'redealing with all the stresses of
life.
And you know, you can seethat's why it happens so much
when people deal with, you know,they they're caring for a
partner or a sick child or asick parent, and um, and then
you know, they might pass awayfairly early, like a few years
after their parent or whateverit is.
(26:28):
You can see how it happens,right?
Because when we're in thischronic stress and we're not
doing anything to sort of bringin that oxytocin and to sort of
to support ourselves in thatway, um and just not practicing
self-care, then uh you can seehow we end up having this, you
know, like 30% of people had ayou know high risk of dying
(26:51):
after being in a stressfulsituation.
So it shows you it's notnecessarily about the stress
itself.
The truth is we are going tohave stress.
Stress happens, stress is partof life.
It's actually aboutunderstanding what it is, like I
said, data information and whatit means that you need.
So it's like, okay, I'm feelingreally stressed.
What do I need?
Do I need just to have someprotein to help me calm down?
(27:12):
Do I need to slow down mybreathing?
Do I need to ask for help orsupport?
Do I need to reframe what thisstress is about and understand
that it's actually can be hereto help me?
Um, do I need to do somethingcommunity related to help me,
you know, act of kindness,something just to get me out of
my head, release that oxytocin?
What is it that you need to dothat will support your heart
(27:34):
health and support your stressand help you harness that
stress?
And so I hope that this um hopethis episode has helped you to
think to sort of reframe stressand think about it in a
different way, and also think ina different way about heart
health and something reallypractical and really simple that
you can do to support yourheart health, learning all about
(27:55):
the oxytocin hormone and how itreally supports you with
stress, but also um you knowreducing your risk of um of
heart issues, because that'sexactly what I said I was going
to refer to later, but I didjump back in and talk about it
anyway, is essentially it stopsthat constriction of the
vessels.
So if you have all the vesselsin in your body constrict, then
(28:15):
you're more likely to have umdamage to your heart and damage
to periphery or damage toeverything because you're not
getting that circulation andthat oxygen, that those uh the
the blood and the oxygen aroundto all the important parts.
So if you don't get thatconstriction, uh you still get
all of that lovely blood flowand all of those lovely oxygen
and nutrients around the body,right?
(28:36):
So uh it's really, reallyimportant.
And so the difference betweenhaving that constriction in
blood vessels and not havingthem is about oxytocin, about
the um the uh the the sort ofhugging uh kind of hormone.
Uh it's a beautiful thing, it'sa lovely thing, and it's a good
thing to learn about.
Anyway, um I will leave it atthat this week.
(28:58):
I hope you uh enjoyed that andplease share this with your
friends.
You never know.
You might save your friend fromuh from a heart-related issue
if they learn how to managetheir stress and harness their
stress uh and um understandoxytocin.
So uh so please like,subscribe, share, um, share this
podcast, and uh please ratereview all those things, and um,
(29:20):
and I'll talk to you all againnext week.
Thanks so much.
This is uh podcast about uh,you know, where I have real
conversations about things thatmatter.
Okay, bye-bye.
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