The Right Questions Positively Transform Your Life

How can you restore hope and restore your vitality?

🎯 Top 3 Takeaways

1️⃣ We live in the world our questions create

2️⃣ Psychological safety ≠ comfort

3️⃣ "Companies have mission statements—why not mission questions 

In this thought-provoking episode hosts Gostick & Elton dive deep into the transformative power of questions with special guest Topaz Adizes. A master of human connection, Topaz's Emmy Award-winning experience design studio, The Skin Deep is renowned for creating immersive and thought-provoking interactive experiences that explore human connection and relationships. He is also the author of 12 Questions for Love: A Guide to Intimate Conversations and Deeper Relationships and the host of the Getting Under the Skin podcast.

Resources & Links

🌐 The Skin Deep – Workplace & Team Building Tools: theskindeep.com

🌎 Visit: TheCultureWorks.com for free leadership resources

📩 Connect with Us: Have a question or comment? Reach out on LinkedIn

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Transcript

How can you restore hope and restore your vitality? Hi, I'm Chester Elton and with me is my dear friend and co-author, Adrian Gostick. Well, thanks, Ches. Today our guest is a neuroscientist who's going to help us understand more about the brain and how to take more control of our health and our happiness. As always, we hope the time you spend with us will help reduce the stigma of anxiety at work and in your personal life. And with us is our new friend, Dr. David Stevens, the founder, president, and CEO of Humanity Restored. David has a doctoral degree in clinical psychology from the University of Denver with an emphasis in neuropsychology. His work is restoring human function, not treating conditions or disorders. He is the former chief of mental health services for the state prison services of Colorado, Missouri, and Wyoming. He's the author of the new book, Restored Hope, a neuroscience guide to optimal brain and human function. David, we are delighted to have you on the show. Thank you for finding the time. Thank you. I'm delighted to be with you. Well tell us a little bit about the new book then and your findings because you say in the book that we need to understand the connection between our brains and the brain's main fuel supply which is glucose. So help us understand your findings and what it means to all of us. Yes, and as you said, studied neuroscience, studied neuropsychology. And glucose, I think, was mentioned in a what was called physiological psychology doctoral level course. And really, the sum total was the brain is a glucose hog. And that's as far as we went. Which was not all. It didn't go really deep is what you're saying. No, and that was not that helpful. And I, like everyone else in the class and everybody else everywhere, okay, great. And went on about our business to seemingly more important things. But in my work, beginning in 2017, I found that restoring glucose to the brain eliminates really a very wide variety of cognitive, emotional, mental functional problems. That the key to human function really is full fueling of what I call the primary fuels, water, oxygen, and glucose and glucose arguably is the second most important of those, that people will die faster from lack of glucose in their body or their brain than they will from lack of water. How do we get glucose? We're not chugging it. People are starting to chug it, but we'll talk more about that. The human design is such that a portion of everything we eat, our bodies convert to glucose, primarily in the stomach, but also a little bit in the liver. So we don't have to be eating things that contain glucose. Our body makes it for us and then distributes it to every cell in the body, including the brain. So what are the best foods? I mean, your body converts every kind of food to glucose, so just keep eating? Is that what you're saying? Well, yes, that's important for a lot of reasons to keep eating. Carbohydrates, almost 100% of carbohydrates are converted to glucose. About 50% of protein is converted to glucose, and about 5-10% of fat is converted to glucose. But there's a problem that happens any time there's a sympathetic or fight-or-flight system activation that the glucose the brain gets is limited with every one of those events. And so our brains are progressively losing fuel or glucose. Glucose is the primary fuel for our brains and our bodies. So with every one of those events, we lose a little bit of fueling permanently to the brain until we treat it appropriately and restore that. But that just results in progressive loss of function that many people attribute to aging. And it's really not so much aging as, again, progressive loss of fuel. Interesting. You know, you offer in your book several ways to restore brain health. Clearly, that's one of them. Can you walk us through a few of the other solutions in your book? Sure. So, first and foremost, far and away the most important is ingesting glucose or dextrose directly. That gets to the brain without limitation. And so, that is the way to get the brain refueled. But it's also important to reduce glucose burning. So being alive burns about 120 grams of glucose in the brain every day. But then things like being on screens, like we are, burns glucose faster. Things like thinking I am insufficient or my performance at work puts me in jeopardy of either being demoted or not promoted or losing my job, that burns burns glucose faster. There's a number of things that we can do that help reduce what I call excess glucose burning. The combination of ingesting enough fuel, just like putting gas in your car, and reducing glucose burning, like taking the load of bricks out of the trunk of your car, are really what's necessary to function optimally. And yet if I'm somebody with, I mean, the podcast, Anxiety at Work, I'm somebody who lives with an anxiety disorder, say, I'm saying to you, I'm burning glucose every day. I am worrying about things, because that's the state I'm in. And you know more about anxiety than we ever will. But we're going to push you on this and say, okay, so if I'm living with anxiety, I'm burning it every day, what do I do then? How do I restore my brain and get to a place where I'm feeling like I can thrive? Right, and the first thing I do with everybody I work with is recommend that they begin taking glucose three times a day. And the reason for three times a day is our brains are continuously burning glucose, and so we have to replenish that supply. And the ultimate source of all anxiety is reduced glucose to the brain. Because the brain understands, which is a funny way to say it, but our brains understand that any reduction in glucose is a functional problem, And if that continues which people the people's brains have observed it continuing throughout their life Then it starts to represent Even a life-and-death Problem so the first reduction is what introduces anxiety to the person, even if they're one or two years old You you can see it that early in the in the developmental stage. Yeah, absolutely. Fascinating. Agitation, even there's a lot of reasons for fussiness. And of course, pre-verbal infants aren't very good at telling us what the specific cause is. But yes. Chester can be fussy too. But hopefully he's a little better at telling us. Depending on the day, you know. Yeah, it is interesting. You know, I was particularly interested in your work in the correctional systems. You know, you worked in Colorado and Wyoming and various Montana, I think it was. Talk to us about how in correctional facilities your work is, not only in your work with glucose and brain, you mentioned you're also involved in architecture and how that works to create a safer environment. I thought it was fascinating. Yes. And so, you're probably aware, people in the audience may well be aware that correctional facilities, people who are incarcerated are incredibly litigious. So, they will sue over nearly anything real or fabricated. And so, the correctional system is not yet ready to embrace, I would say, recommending that people take glucose because of the high level of misunderstanding. Like that will cause diabetes when in fact it reverses diabetes. But anything that an inmate could potentially sue for, one of them probably will. And so introducing glucose into the system in terms of people who are incarcerated taking it, that really has to be kind of an individual thing. But interestingly, and in all of my graduate training, never once did we talk about the effect of the building on human function. That's a pattern that causes the brain to have to pay more attention and burn more glucose in navigating that. If there are steps that aren't marked, that requires more concentration, that burns glucose the fastest. So, making things visually simple reduces glucose burning, which reduces anger and agitation. And then there's a good amount of research, and this research is increasing all the time, that on the effect of what are called biophilic implements in a building and even in a prison. So having either murals or actual plants or windows that look out on nature, there's been studies that show, like for example, in hospitals, patients recover more quickly when they have plants in their room than when they don't. That that's the major contributor to accelerated healing. And so when people who are incarcerated can see scenes of nature that has a calming effect, that requires less brain processing, less brain fuel, and anger they have. So, changing how a building is constructed has a major impact on the function of those in the building, including those who live there and also those who work there. Wow. Really interesting. And I think it applies to so many things. My mom, when she was 90, finally had to move into assisted living, and the first room they showed her stared at a wall on the other side, and she says, I can't live here. She knew instinctively, she says, if I look at that every day, it's not going to be good for my mental health. They put her in a room that overlooked the courtyard, happy as could be. It makes such a difference and being self-aware in that way. Right. David, oh, sorry, go ahead. Well, and people haven't understood specifically how much that directly affects how the brain functions, which also directly affects how the body functions. But one other comment about it, we're just now kind of delving into having the outside of the building communicate hope. And there's some cancer centers in Australia and New Zealand that are designed to communicate hope. And as you know, that's not the typical message of most correctional institutions. So designing them so they don't look like a prison, so they don't look like a school, so they don't look like a court, because people who are incarcerated have had very bad experiences in buildings. Houses, apartments, whatever, have often been the sites of a lot of abuse. And schools have been the sites of a lot of failure. And court, of course, is a place that nobody wants to go to. So designing a building that looks more like a hotel, or even more, probably more like a hotel even than a hospital, even reduces anxiety of someone who's arrested is brought to that building. You know, I find that really interesting because I went and visited a big prison fairly recently and it seems to me that the design is to scare the crap out of you. Right. You know, like you don't want to go in here. Of course, you are going in there. You don't have a choice by that point, do you? Yeah. It's not like you're choosing, well, yeah, I'd like to go here or I'd rather go to the Ritz. Yeah, yeah. Interesting, you know, it looks like a hotel. Do I get points for my 15 years stay? Exactly, yes. Yes. Hey, David, how do people learn more about your work? Where would you send them? As you mentioned, and I think I've got it here behind me, but the book came out. It's available on Amazon. It's called Restored Hope. Yes, and so that really describes in pretty good detail the whole process of restoring the brain. My website, restoredhumanity.com. Excellent. I'd love to talk to you about for a minute hope, because boy, if there's one thing that we're seeing right now with world events and here in the US, a lot of people are losing hope. Depending who's in power at the time, half the world, half the country loses hope. But there's also other things going on, of course. A lot of things that make us lose hope. What can we do when we are feeling like we're losing hope, which seems so pervasive right now? Right. Right, and so, as you can tell, I typically start with, get your brain fueled, get your brain restored. And it is really an amazing thing that people, when they discover that simply ingesting sugar changes their perception of themselves. And so, I talk about, people have two existential fears, fear of worthlessness and fear of death. And those two certainly overlap, but they're not exactly the same thing. And so understanding that I am not worthless, in fact I'm the opposite, I as a human am whole and complete, have infinite worthiness just as who I am. So enforcing that is an important step to hope. And then a corollary is, and a lot of people have a little bit of trouble with this, but my opinion is, and I think it's supportable, is that there's zero connection between person and behavior. So even the people that are on death row in maximum security, they as a human, that person as a human being is still infinitely worthy. Their behavior has been horrific and many of them need to be separated from society because they don't have the regulatory mechanisms to keep from hurting people, from assaulting people. And so again, behavior is terrible, needs to be regulated. But the person is still infinitely worthy. And so to put it more on a much more common level, so if I screw up a work assignment or a project, that doesn't change who I am at all. That doesn't diminish my worthiness. That doesn't make me less than. If I get the promotion over my colleague, that doesn't make me any more worthy than my colleague. That means I did a good job and somebody recognized that. And it may well mean my function is a little higher because I have a little more brain fuel, but people can trust, and I say this to people I work with all the time, it's so important to learn to trust yourself. And if you make a mistake in a relationship, acknowledge it and apologize, but recognize that doesn't make you unacceptable or unworthy. That doesn't diminish you at all. That underlying fundamental truth really is the foundation for hope. As our brains get more fueled, our brain will stop communicating to us, there's something wrong with you, there's something wrong with you, you have to figure out where your defect is. You have to find a way to hide certain things from other people so they don't figure out who you are, the imposter syndrome. No, I can be me and who I am is completely acceptable no matter what the circumstance is. Excellent. We're always interested in our guests and what they do for their mental health. I just want to be clear. So if I'm feeling a little imposter syndrome, if I'm feeling a little anxious, massive amounts of chocolate, is that going to help me? Because I love chocolate. Okay. Because I'm going through, I go, you know, more glucose, I'm thinking, okay, white chocolate, milk chocolate, or dark chocolate? What am I looking for here? Well, the really disappointing news is nothing you eat will change that. Because when we eat food, like we talked about earlier, our bodies convert that to glucose that goes to our bloodstream, then that's distributed throughout our bodies, including to our brains. But there's a limiting factor, to not go too deep in the weeds, but there's little cells in the capillaries in the brain called pericytes that determine how permeable the blood-brain barrier is, meaning how much glucose it will let in, how much glucose the brain lets in from the blood. With every sympathetic nervous system activation, that blood-brain barrier gets tighter and tighter and less and less and less glucose. So, you have to actually ingest glucose or dextrose. That gets to the brain via a different mechanism, via a different pathway without limitation. So that's the way to get your brain fueled. And yes, I take dextrose every day. Okay. Well, I have to say, that's very disappointing. That is disappointing. I'm sorry. So what are some of the things that you do, either you take dextrose or glucose, like you said, every day. Any other rituals or habits that you have that keep you on track? Yeah, I would say it's more mental habit. One of the things our brains do, which is a great thing in most cases, is our brains automate as much as they can. And so when something is practiced enough times, then the brain will automate it. Like, silly example, we don't have to think about the mechanics of tying our shoes. We just do it. And sometimes when I'm giving presentations, I'll have somebody come up from the audience, and I'll have them untie their shoe. Then I'll say, tie your shoe as fast as you can and I'll time it, then I'll say untie your shoe again, then this time think about every step, take the two laces, cross them over, loop them, etc. but still do it as fast as you can. And as they're thinking through it, sometimes that even kind of messes them up and is often three to four times slower it just automatically. Automation is a great thing for efficiency. At this point, I've practiced enough affirming those things I told you, that I have infinite worthiness as who I am. I can take responsibility for my mistakes and my failures and apologize to people and without feeling like it diminishes me or like I'm telling them something that's gonna give them ammunition to reject me or ridicule me. That I know who I am can't be diminished no matter what. So I can accept and acknowledge mistakes. I can apologize. I can make things right but still with the understanding that who I am isn't changed by any of that. There's great freedom in that. That apologizing part is so important. When I make a mistake, I'm going to apologize for it. So far, so good. Yeah, only 65 years or so, and you've, you know, good for you. Right. Acknowledging how perfect you are. Hey, yeah, this has been great, David. I love that thought too. I love that idea of, you know, setbacks don't diminish our worth. We are worthy no matter why. And what an important message for anybody with anxiety or anybody who, you know, leads a team nowadays. Our mistakes don't define us, they're learning opportunities, love that. Well, it's been such a great conversation. Give us one maybe takeaway, David, that you'd like everybody to remember as we go forward today. All, and this is kind of an outlandish statement in a way, but all human function can be restored. That no matter what happened to you at any age, and that includes people that have had horrible head injuries. I've worked with hundreds of combat veterans. I've worked with lots of people who have been incarcerated, people with autism and diabetes and a wide range of conditions. No matter what you've experienced, it can all be eliminated and full function can be restored. Wow. That's a big promise. It is a big promise. So far in my experience with roughly 1,200, 1,300 people that have completed the process with me, that's happened with every one of them. Wow. Hey, listen, this has been fascinating, David. Thank you so much for finding the time. His book, and you should all grab a copy, is Restored Hope, a Neuroscience Guide to Optimal Brain and Human Function. Sure appreciate the work you're doing out there, particularly in the penal system. More and more we're trying to figure out how to cut down on recidivism and get people back into society, so I appreciate that very much. Best of luck with the book. Sell a million. Thank you. Thanks for your time. Well, Chess, I think the biggest disappointment, probably of your life, that chocolate does not fix every ill. It doesn't restore your brain. I would have bet money. More chocolate equals smarter brain. Hey, but we learned a lot there, and wow, really interesting, fascinating research on glucose or dextrose, whatever you decide. But so, you know, it puts some neuroscience to what we've sort of known, the more stress we put ourselves under, the more bad thoughts we, inner voice has, the more we burn that glucose in our minds and we have to replenish. So a good reminder that what we're doing to our brains can be quite detrimental if we don't refresh. Yeah. I thought it was really interesting, and we get this so often in our podcast, the power of nature. Yeah. He says, plants in a hospital room contribute to healing. Even pictures of nature. Yeah. Which I thought was really interesting. Doesn't that have to be like the real McCoy? No. He says, and you create those visuals and we're already reinforcing all this negativity and causing more stress when even the prisons and the detention centers are so intimidating. I'm not sure that we're ever going to get to the point where you pull up to go to prison and it looks like a Ritz Carlton. I'm not sure that- Yeah, but other countries are working on some of those types of ideas to make it, you know, and as he says, there are people that need to be separated from society. They can't be maybe rehabilitated because of their, you know, the drives that they have. But for a lot of people, it's a chance. And some people I've read in other countries, they go to prison, they come back and they go, I learned a skill, I was given counseling, I feel better about myself. As he says, my worth is not defined by my past behavior. I can be better. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting when he talked about infinite worthiness. Yeah. Such an interesting definition that even if your behavior has been horrific, inside you have this infinite worthiness and this idea that so much of our lives is automated, right? Like tying your shoes or tying the shoelaces on your shoes, which is why I go to slip-ons, right? I don't have to worry about left over right. That's a lot to memorize with that. Yeah, for me it's just, is it the left foot or the right foot? It is interesting though, when you interrupt that and you say, hey, think about it, how it slows all down. We're talking about our friend, Michael Bungay-Stanger said 45% of our day is automated. We've all had that experience where we're in the car and all of a sudden we're there and I go, geez, I don't remember you stopping at that stop sign. It is interesting, but that infinite worthiness to me really struck me. It did. It did to me too because a lot of times, especially if you have anxiety yourself or you have somebody on your team that, as we know, half of people in their 20s had some level of sometimes crippling anxiety. And failure can feel like the end of the world. And what he's saying is, no, this doesn't affect your worthiness. We all learn from our missteps and there are learning opportunities. I love that thought that he left us with. Yeah. I think just to wrap up, it's this idea that everything can be restored. That was such a big claim you made right there. Yeah. That if you do it right, full cognitive restoration, no matter what you're. I'd be interested to read more about what he's done in certain areas because that seems like a huge promise. And he said, yeah, it is, but I can do it. So wish him well. Well, we want to thank our producer, Blink-Blink Klein, who restores our hope every day. See how I did that ches? That was pretty. I love the way you slipped that in. Very natural. And to Christy Lawrence, who helps us find cool guests. And to all of you who listened in, if you liked the podcast, download it, share it. We'd also love you to visit thecultureworks.com for some free resources to help you and your team culture thrive. Yeah, we love to speak to audiences, whether it's live or it's virtual. You know, small executive teams or big auditoriums. We speak on culture, we speak on teamwork, resilience. And of course, don't hesitate to buy a copy of our book, Anxiety at Work. Isn't it funny, we got the book Anxiety, and then the podcast has the same name. You know, it's just, there's a catchment there. But give us a call, we'd love to speak at your next event. Adrian, as always, fun to spend some time with you, and I'll give you the last word. Hey, thanks everybody for joining us. It was great to spend time with you too, Chess. Until next time, we wish you the best of mental health. Until next time, we wish you the best of mental health.