My question is about stress.
I am a 33 year old mother of two.
I have a full time career.
I recently my family and I, we moved out of state.
We're in the process of building a new home,
all during this pandemic.
So my son is also doing virtual, remote learning.
I'm cranky,
I'm snacking more than I typically would
And on sugary sweeter things that
I wouldn't ordinarily reach for,
when I try and find a time for exercise and self care
but as any mother would tell you,
that's challenging.
Most days,
I'm not sleeping well,
I oftentimes try and find some levity on social media
to see pictures of my friends,
cute babies and their puppies
but we all know sometimes that can
be a surface these days too.
And that can cause more stress.
So I'm wondering Dr. OZ,
you know what impact is all of this having on my health?
You know, especially thinking about long term
and the million dollar question,
what can I do?
Yeah, this is everyone.
I actually surveyed our audience.
90% reveal an increased amount of anxiety.
So I made a little animation
for you,
Rachel,
if it's okay,
let's play this animation.
This is where the stress hormone cortisol comes from.
See a little yellow things, they look like dones caps.
They're on top of the kidneys
and huge amount of blood supply
those little particles coming out are bits of cortisol.
And when you put too much of an app
you actually sometimes can injure the adrenal gland.
You get adrenal insufficiency,
but also inside of your heart,
this is the major blood vessel in your heart,
but it could be any of the blood vessel.
You get plaque over,
even in small vessels
especially in women.
This happens
and this is the major cause
of aging that we see,
those kidneys don't function well
within the intestinal system.
You see how they're wiggling around you get the butterflies
but it's actually causing damage
to a lot of your organs,
shrinking of the brain.
Kids by the way,
when they have too much stress cannot learn.
It causes additional belly fat,
which is very dangerous.
That's the major cause of
all the information that most Americans are fighting
but being overweight is the number one
risk factor for having problems with COVID-19.
So if it's okay then
I'm going to give you an at home stress test.
Can you do this with me?
Sure.
All right.
So,
I'm at home in the studio,
so it's not quite the same
but I've gonna reflect that yourself.
What you're going to do is get a
wall and try to lean up against the wall.
Now
if you lean up and your shoulders touch the wall like this
then you're doing fine.
But if instead of leaning up and touching the wall
instead you're like this,
they're just like slumped over.
Then this is now
obviously messaging
to people that you're being borne down by stress
but it means that your body's
actually not paying a price for the stress you're feeling.
So,
make sure
and you can do this exercise
by the way when I talk to friends,
I always put my hands behind my back and just sit like this
or stand like this,
that little mover,
pulls your shoulders back.
You can do it at the dinner table.
You can do it
instead of walking around like this,
walk around like that.
So that's just a simple little self test
but posture actually becomes an important factor,
If you can
make it part of your success story,
I'll give you a couple extra tips.
Yes please.
Alright.
So couple of things we've noticed first of
especially for women walking stairs
is hugely beneficial.
The exercise releases hormones
not the cortisol hormone that I was talking
about from the adrenal gland,
but serotonin and dopamine
the feel good hormones.
Right?
And they get blocked during stress.
That's why stress is so detrimental
to our emotional wellbeing
but you don't have to walk a lot
right?
Just walking stairs
for seven minutes a day
it reduces the risk of heart disease
by up to two thirds.
So that's one simple physical activity.
Now here's a really easy one.
I want you to find a deep key acupressure point
for stress reducing chemicals.
So if you take your hand and open up your thumb
and your index finger and right between that as little pad
of muscle,
can you feel that?
It's called a thenar--
I do that one all the time.
Perfect.
Grab that and massage it for five minutes
right?
It will lower your cortisol levels.
Reduce a rather release that oxytocin
which is really effective reducing stress in your body.
But the most important way to deal
with stress is each other
because we are the safety that for each other.
That's why when I heard about
the terrible fire next door
I quickly sent a message.
Not that I needed a response
but I want you to know that you were loved
by anyone who actually knew you
and Diana,
There are people in your life
who are Linked In to you
and I get social media as a benefit to connecting
with them,
but it has the opposite effect in you.
I think it's one of your triggers.
So there are screen time limits that
you can start your phone,
take advantage of them.
Thank you Dr.OZ,
you are really helpful
and I can't wait to implement them.
Yeah
this thing is going to be your favorite hobby.
Your husband's going to be like Lauren.
It really works.