Health Podcast: Embrace Silence; Beet Your Workouts; The Gut-Brain Connection

In this episode we feature:

An interview with Internist and Gastroenterologist, Dr. Trisha Pasricha

Find a workout partner

HIIT your brain

The Post Daycare Sugar Rush

And more ways you can improve your health today!

For more information, and to sign up for our private coaching, visit tesh.com

Our Hosts:
John Tesh: Instagram: @johntesh_ifyl facebook.com/JohnTesh
Gib Gerard: Instagram: @GibGerard facebook.com/GibGerard X: @GibGerard

Transcript

Unknown: 0:08

Gib, hello and welcome to another episode of the podcast. I'm Gib Gerard here with yet another intelligence for your health with Connie Celica, special edition of the show today. Her guest is Dr Tricia Pasricha. She is the ask a doctor columnist for the Washington Post. She's an internist and gastroenterologist at Mass General so and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Pretty good school. So I've heard, in any case, that is who we have for you on the show today. So here, without further ado, intelligence for your health with Connie Celica. If you like to exercise in the morning, try swapping your caffeine fix for a glass of beet juice. Kansas State University says it contains nitrates, which relax arteries and increase blood flow. Beet juice also increases the amount of oxygen delivered to muscles and makes them more efficient. So a glass of beet juice may be the ticket to powering through your workout, going faster and stronger and not feeling as much strain. Here's how to get the biggest mood boost from exercise. This comes from Dr Julia basso, a neuroscientist from Virginia Tech who studies the effects of exercise on the brain. First you need to get your heart rate up for at least 30 minutes. That's because it takes at least 20 minutes of moderate aerobic activity for the endocannabinoid system to kick in and start lifting your mood. That's what gives you an exercise high. You also need to exercise consistently for three weeks, just like it takes time to build muscle, it takes time for your brain to develop a strong dopamine reward system from exercise. And the more physically active you are, the more responsive this dopamine system will be. If you haven't been active in a while, you'll need three weeks of consistent exercise before it starts to feel rewarding. Another way to get the biggest mood boost from exercise make it social. When you exercise with friends or in a group, you get twice the oxytocin boost you get it from the physical activity itself and also from the social interaction. And switch up your exercise different types of workouts release different combinations of mood enhancing chemicals, and that's how to get the biggest mood boost from exercise coming up. We'll talk to gastroenterologist, Dr Tricia Pasricha. She'll tell us how our gut and our brain are connected and influence each other. But first, here's another good reason to love your pets. They can boost your immune function, according to the National Library of Medicine, petting a dog for 18 minutes leads to an increase in antibodies that fight infections. And we also know that our pets reduce our stress, and that increase in antibodies coupled with stress reduction is a one two punch for our immune system, plus therapy, dog visits at hospitals are proven to provide significant pain reduction in patients with chronic pain, so your pet is a powerful healer. Silence may be golden, but would you try a speech fast speech? Fasting is the practice of staying completely silent for a long period of time. It's a new Wellness trend that became popular after a famous singer claimed that she stays completely silent till midday to preserve her vocal cords. But being silent has a bunch of health benefits, even if you're not a performer. According to the journal heart, a two minute period of silence significantly reduced people's heart rates and blood pressure levels. And another study found that people who performed tasks in silence that required concentration experienced the lowest levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, and were less mentally overloaded. Being silent can also improve focus, stimulate brain growth and help with insomnia. What do you think? Could you do a speech fast until noon every day? Okay, listen to this before you get a flu shot this year. Watch a cute puppy video or talk to a friend who always makes you smile, because that can make the vaccine more effective. Researchers from the University of Nottingham found that study subjects who were in a good mood when they got their shot were 66% more likely to keep producing antibodies against the flu four months later. That's because being in a good mood lowers stress, so your body doesn't resist the vaccine. So before your flu shot, find a funny animal video or call your most upbeat friend for a chat. Today, our special guest is Dr Tricia Pasricha. She's a gastroenterologist, and the ask a doctor columnist for the Washington Post, and she says it's important for people to understand the brain gut connection. So I asked her to explain how stress and emotions can physically impact our digestive health and to give us some practical steps to manage those effects. Yeah, so the brain and the gut are in constant communication, and that's via this intricate network of nerves called the vagus nerve. And so the vagus nerve is this information super highway, and it runs between the brain and the abdomen, and that's the reason that our thoughts affect our gut so uniquely. For example, you know, before you're turning karaoke, which is often where this fits me, you might feel stressed and suddenly you have to use the bathroom, or maybe you're on a first date, and you might start to feel butterflies in your stomach. Those are the ways that our brain is communicating with our gut on a daily basis, but in the long term, stress and especially trauma can lead to these chronic gut health problems that can really impact your daily life, like with constipation, stomach aches, or other issues that can feel hard to manage the brain. Gut axis is really a two way street, meaning that the gut influences the brain just as much as the brain influences the gut. So we in gastroenterology, we sometimes call the gut a second brain, because it contains more than 100 million nerve cells that are sending and receiving messages from the brain all the time, and that can actually really impact our thoughts. And in terms of practical tips about about what you can do to kind of help manage that two way communication, if you're finding yourself really stressed, nauseated, you could always try something called a vagal maneuver to help yourself calm down, and that, in turn, can ease your gut symptom. So that can be as simple as box breathing, which is where you count the four count and you inhale, then you exhale for another fork count. It can be things like a vagal maneuver, where you try to bear down, almost like you're having a bowel movement. And that act of bearing down you're holding it for about 10 to 15 seconds, can also help decrease your heart rate and kind of improve that nausea. Today, we're talking to gastroenterologist and Harvard Professor of Medicine, Dr Tricia Pasricha, and in the last few years, we've heard how important it is to balance our gut bacteria, our microbiome. It helps control digestion and benefits our immune system. And when we don't have a good balance of unhealthy and healthy microbes in our intestines, it can contribute to weight gain, high blood sugar and high cholesterol. So I asked Dr Pasricha to share some food prescriptions for a healthy gut. That's a really good question with it's question that I get a lot in my own clinic, you know, and I dig, in a scheme of things, the gut microbiome. Microbiome is the term for the bacteria and all of their genetic information our guts. It's actually a relatively new scientific field, we've really seen an explosion of knowledge about the gut microbiome in the last 20 years or so. And I know that may sound like a long time, but most side just like myself, kind of agree that we've learned a lot about what our gut bacteria do, but there is so much that we still need to learn so and in terms of food, we have lots of great data about what can impact our gut microbiomes, and so that's what I like to recommend to my patients as well. So when people ask me, what sorts of things, what dietary changes should I make? Certainly, I think eating whole foods, cutting down Ultra processed foods, should be everybody's aim. And really, the Mediterranean diet is a perfect place to start. There are lots of resources for that. I personally try not to over complicate things for my patient. So what I recommend first and foremost, for a healthy gut is just eating more fiber, rich food, simple. Don't overthink it. Your microbio loves fiber, but the chances are that you're like the majority of us, like more than 95% of Americans, who are not eating the recommended amounts of fiber. So women are supposed to conceal 25 grams of fiber. Men are recommended to eat about 38 grams of fiber daily. And if you're not really reaching that goal of your diet, I say take a daily psyllium. Psyllium is a plant fiber made of the husk of seeds that can increase short chain fatty acid production. They're this beneficial byproduct of our guts bacteria. It's involved in metabolism and in our immune system, and short chain fatty acids are more often made by bacteria that are found among people who are eating a high fiber diet that's rich in plant foods and fish. Do you love things like horror movies and roller coasters? There's a biological reason why some people love being scared out of their minds. Is because it feels good. We get a type of high from being scared, because we have what's called a high arousal response. It's similar to the stress response that makes us want to fight or flee, but because we know we're not in real danger, our brain perceives it as pleasurable, and it is when we're scared, our body releases chemicals that change how our brain and body functions, so we have more energy. Our brain blocks feelings of pain, and it also shuts down non essential functions like critical and analytical thinking, so we can just react. We're literally scared. It out of our wits. As a result, we feel energized and free from thoughts that usually worry us. Today's medical term slapped cheek virus, that's the name given to a highly contagious respiratory virus that's quickly spreading among children. Its real name is parvovirus B 19, and it typically causes a pink facial rash in kids, which is how it got the nickname slapped cheek. It also causes pain in the joints of adults. Jennifer Walsh is a professor in the George Washington School of Nursing. She says about one in four people who get the slapped cheek virus never develop any noticeable symptoms. Half of people with infections will experience flu like symptoms, but in most cases, the illness is mild and resolves within a week. But the disease tends to strike in two phases. During the first phase, people experience a fever and fatigue. The second phase, which occurs seven to 10 days after the first phase is characterized by a pink facial rash and occasionally joint pain and a body rash. By the time those symptoms appear, the virus is no longer contagious, and it's usually safe to go back to work or school. As far as treatment, there are no vaccines or antiviral treatments. So the best way to stay healthy is to wash your hands frequently and avoid people who are coughing or sneezing. And that's today's medical term slapped cheek virus coming up. We'll hear more from Harvard Medical School professor and gastroenterologist, Dr Tricia Pasricha. She'll tell us what's normal when it comes to our bathroom habits and bloating, but first, would you like to keep your skin looking firmer and younger longer? Eat some pumpkin every day. Why pumpkin? Because it contains tons of antioxidants that soothe and heal skin and improve tone and texture. UCLA researchers found that just a quarter cup of pumpkin a day can prevent sagging and wrinkles. You can roast fresh pumpkin yourself, or simply use 100% canned pumpkin that's ready for pies. HIIT workouts can boost brain health for years, even in old age. That's the latest discovery in the journal aging and disease. It found that high intensity interval training, h, i, i, t exercises can increase brain function, and the results are long lasting. For the study, researchers looked at a group of healthy volunteers between the ages of 65 and 85 they were put through a six month exercise program, and it turns out that hit exercise can actually increase the production of neurons in the hippocampus, that's the brain area crucial for learning and memory, and giving it a boost can have a big impact on your overall cognitive abilities. So what exactly does high intensity interval training mean? In this study, it involved four cycles of running on a treadmill at near maximum exertion. It's like sprinting for short bursts, then taking a breather and repeating HIIT exercise pushes your body to its limits, but only for short periods. And even five years after the exercise program ended, the participants still had improved cognition, and that was true even if the participants never did hit training after those initial six months. Okay, listen to this good news. If you're taking a vitamin D supplement or you eat foods rich in vitamin D, like salmon, tuna, walnuts and mushrooms, Vitamin D has a protective effect in the brain, helping to prevent dementia. That's according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In the study, people with low D levels were more likely to be diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer's, but getting plenty of vitamin D reduced the risk. That's because D prevents the buildup of brain proteins linked to impaired function back with more health intelligence from Harvard Medical School Professor of Medicine, Dr Tricia Pasricha, and she says that irregular bowel movements can sometimes signal underlying health issues. So I asked her how we can differentiate between what's normal when it comes to our bathroom habits and what isn't you know, I'm a gastroenterologist, and it always really amazes me how little we're all taught about our gut health and things like our bowel movements, which are so intrinsic to our basic functioning. So a lot of the adults who come to my gastroenterology clinic, they really have no idea what's normal when it comes to bowel movements or blooming and in general, I would tell people that what I would consider normal is what is comfortable for you. And that might not be what's comfortable for your brother, your parents, your friends and family members, but you specifically and so a simple rule of thumb is that. That, and we're talking about bowel movements, anywhere from having three bowel nucleus per day to three per week, is kind of within the range of normal, but that's a pretty wide range, because stool frequency varies a lot by your lifestyle, your food, you eat, your age, your sex. And so in the United States, and you know, people have studied this, the majority of people who consider themselves have notable bowel habits. They report having between three to 7000 per week. But if you look at a country like India, especially on the East Coast, there have been other studies that found where people in this area, they're more vegetarian, their diets typically higher in fiber. They have the median of 14 bowel movements per week. And you know, if you go all the way to Europe, Italians tend to have one bowel movement per day. So because of all these differences, I really don't tell my patients that they should hold themselves to some number, but rather to make sure that however often they're going to the bathroom, it's effortless, so that means no straining, and it doesn't really interfere with their daily life or social activities. Back with more health intelligence from gastroenterologist Dr Tricia Pasricha, and I asked her about bloating. Is it normal, or is bloat a sign that we're eating the wrong foods? When it comes to bloating, we all bloat, some bloating after meal or than expected, part of digestion, and it should go away on its own. So for example, certain foods like those that are really rich in insoluble fiber, like cruciferous vegetables, broccoli, cauliflower, lentils, beans, these are classic offenders. But there's also maybe some other triggers of bloating that might not be so high on your radar. So fermented drinks like kombucha beer, the sweetener sucralose, and even things like onions, garlic and fruit, can trigger bloating. In some people, honestly, things like chewing gum, drinking carbonated beverage and even smoking, these things that increase the amount of air you're swallowing can also worsen bloating, and so cutting back on those can help but, but just like with bowel movements, a little bit of bloating is far for the course, but if it's becoming so bad that it's making you uncomfortable, it's interfering with your ability to function during the day, you're embarrassed to go out and meet your friend. It's definitely worth talking to your physician to see if we can identify other triggers you might be meeting, or if there's something else going on, like irritable bowel syndrome, which is treated differently sometimes with medication, will you achieve your goals? If you believe you will, you have a much better chance. According to a study in the journal emotion, when students were asked what grade they thought they'd get on an upcoming exam, those who were more optimistic about their grade did get a higher grade than those who had lower expectations, they were also better prepared for the exam. The researchers say optimism not only motivates us, it also reduces stress and boosts happiness. If you want to reach your goals, be more optimistic about them, more intelligence for your help from Dr Tricia Pasricha the ask a doctor columnist for the Washington Post, and one of her columns she wrote about the rise in certain cancers among younger populations. So I asked her, what lifestyle changes people can adopt to reduce their cancer risk. Yeah, so cancer rates among younger people, so people younger than the age of 50, they've been on the rise since about the 1990s and so we're talking about things like colorectal cancer, breast cancer, but the big thing that I tell my patients is that almost half of these cancers are preventable. So there is a big study that came out in 2022 that was published in romance. It that showed about 44% of these cancers were due to modifiable risk. So I really recommend three healthy lifestyle changes. So first, focus on eating whole foods with less processing and I know everybody's heard that one already, like a million times, so I sometimes tell a patient maybe make just one small change, and that would be to eliminate red and processed meat, like beef, ham, sausage, hot dogs from your diet. And I say that because those are the types of foods that have been particularly linked to cancer, especially colorectal cancer in young people, so much so that the World Health Organization issued an advisory about them second, cut down your alcohol so so drink no more than one drink per day for women and two drinks per day per med. And if we're getting real, recent studies actually suggest that there's no amount of alcohol that's truly good for you. In other words, the less you drink overall, the better. And last thing I recommend is to opt to get up and move over sitting around and watching television. Again, I know that's old information, but there is this study specifically looking at cancer development at the younger age of over 90,000 female nurses, and they found that those who are sedentary and watch TV more than 14 hours per week, they were more likely to develop cancer at a younger age than those who watch TV for less than seven hours per week. So there's kind of a reason why you always hear doctors give out the same old, boring advice, and that's because it actually works. Here's something to keep in mind when you're picking your kid or grandkid up from daycare or any after school program in the hour after leaving daycare, kids eat more added sugar snack foods and sweetened drinks than they do at any other time. According to the journal Children's Healthcare, kids eat 22% of their days added sugar intake in the single hour after they're picked up from childcare. And one of the reasons why is because the transition between home and daycare is one of the most stressful for kids and parents. Parents can feel stressed. The kids may be cranky, hungry or tired, and it becomes prime time for sugary treats and other unhealthy eating. So if you're picking your kid up from daycare or an after school program, come prepared with healthy snacks, like nuts, a banana or a baggie full of grapes. Here's an email I received at Connie at intelligence for your health.com, it comes from Heather Bailey, who writes, I've been overweight my whole life, and I've finally decided to get gastric surgery. I know I'll lose weight, but can it help with my diabetes too? Heather, yes, a number of studies have found that weight loss surgery not only helps people manage type two diabetes, it can reverse it. According to a study by the Cleveland Clinic, of 13,000 people who were obese and had type two diabetes, 75% of patients who'd had bariatric surgery no longer had diabetes and were able to stop taking insulin and other diabetes medications. And that's not all. The patients who'd had weight loss surgery also had a 40% lower risk of six major heart health problems, including a lower risk for heart attack, stroke, heart failure, diabetic kidney disease and atrial fibrillation. Dr Steven Nissen authored the study and is a heart and vascular specialist, and he says there are very few therapies in treating heart disease that have as big of an effect as weight loss surgery. So yes, Heather, the gastric surgery will help you lose weight control your type two diabetes and improve your heart health. Thank you for your email, Heather, I hope this helps. Okay, listen to this. Forget putting cucumber slices on your eyes. Use a thinly sliced raw potato instead. According to the journal Food and Agriculture immunology, you can de puff your face by placing potato slices on your skin for five minutes. Potatoes have enzymes that reverse water retention in minutes and anti inflammatory compounds that firm your skin to fall asleep faster. We need to avoid stressful activities before bed, and that can be anything from having an intense conversation to watching a scary movie. But it also goes for the content you consume on your devices. If you have a choice between watching reruns of friends or scrolling through disturbing videos on Tiktok, choose the Content that calms you down. That's according to clinical psychology professor Alison Harvey at UC Berkeley, she says we can still use our devices, but choose passive screen time versus active screen time, because if you're writing a Reddit response on your phone, you're probably more focused on writing than falling asleep. But if you're watching surf videos on YouTube, you'll have an easier time falling asleep. Dr Harvey says, if you're lying still and receiving information, you are allowing sleep to come to you. So try this tonight. If you're going to use a screen before bed, ask yourself whether the activity is keeping you engaged and alert. For example, if an alarm went off right now and said, Put your phone down. Could you if your response is no, switch to a more relaxing activity on your phone, more intelligence for your health from our guest, Dr, Tricia Pasricha, if you want to follow up with her, you can check out her ask a doctor column in the Washington Post or follow her on Instagram at Tricia Pasricha, MD, that's p, A, S, R, I, C, H, A, and as someone who emphasizes preventive health, I asked Dr Pasricha to share her best piece of health advice for people of any age, I would say the most important thing that my patients can do is actually to just start checking in with your doctor early, right? So people who are in their 20s and even 30s, they often don't have a primary care physician, or they're not making an appointment with their primary care physician, unless they're sick for some reason. And if you do that, if you're in your 20s and you're breathing through your 30s, and you're never actually really checking in. For a preventative care visit, which I recommend everybody do at least once a year, check their blood pressure in your 30s with certain risk factors you need to start checking and screening for things like diabetes. If you don't do that, you're going to miss these risk factors and miss that opportunity and window to start treating conditions early, rather than catching them, maybe in your 50s and 60s, when they've already become a problem, they've already started to damage your organs. So I think the biggest tip I would get give people is to make that appointment even when you feel otherwise healthy. Because people, I'll give you one example is colorectal cancer screening for a long time, everybody, and we all recommended that we do it at the starting at the age of 50. But in recent years, we've lowered that age to 45 and that itself people might not be aware of. But what the other thing that people might not be aware of is that if you have a family history of colorectal cancer, it can be either 10 years before that, so as early as the age of 35 or 10 years younger than their relative who had it when they were diagnosed. And so if you're really waiting until that end, you know your 40s to go get that checkup, you might miss the opportunity to get screened earlier. That's it for our show today, our special intelligence for your health with Connie Selig. Edition of the podcast, I'm Gib Gerard. Don't forget to rate comment and subscribe on Apple podcast Spotify, wherever you get your podcast, it helps us out a lot. And also you can reach out to us on social media. All of our links are listed down in the show notes. We try to respond to every DM, every mention of the show, because ultimately, we do the show for you guys. So thank you so much for listening. You.