What is the key to success in your career,
your relationships and your personal wellbeing? It's your emotional health.
And we don't just fall into emotional health.
We actively build it or harm it. In this video,
I'm going to share with you three things that are destroying your emotional
health. So if you're stressed out,
burned out and wondering where along this path to success and greatness,
you lost control of your life. This video is for you.
Stick around until the end,
because there's a phenomenal free tool that I'm going to share with you.
This is the Dr. K Show.
[Inaudible].
Most high achieving professionals and entrepreneurs suffer with constant stress.
I'm Dr. Karthik Ramanan,
and I'll teach you to end burnout so you can reclaim your energy and passion for
life. On this channel, I do motivational videos, guided meditations,
and the Dr. K Show where every week I discuss valuable topics to end burnout and
build your emotional health.
Hit that subscribe button and the notification bell.
Did you know that even if you're a subscriber,
you might not see my videos on your YouTube home screen.
Turning on that notification bell is the only way to ensure that you do not miss
out. What is emotional health?
It's your emotional intelligence and your emotional resilience.
I made a video about that, which a link to in the description below.
Now onto three things that are destroying your emotional health. Number one,
eating the wrong foods. I'm going to break this down into two aspects.
The neurotransmitters that regulate our nervous system function and the gut
bacteria that regulate our neurotransmitters. Let's start with the latter.
Our gut is the home to over 100 trillion bacterial
cells that we collectively refer to as the gut microbiome,
100 trillion.
They outnumber our own cells by a massive margin.
And did you know that among their many functions we're learning about daily,
they're involved in the production of 90% of our neurotransmitters
neurotransmitters are the chemical messengers between nerve cells.
They run our thought processes, feelings, stress responses,
and so much more. And 90% of them come from our gut.
Do you see where I'm going?
Our nutrition is key to ensuring proper gut microbiome
and therefore proper neurotransmitter function, proper brain function,
and ultimately proper emotional health.
When we eat foods that are high in oils, refined sugar,
processed and artificial foods and animal products we're taking in less fiber
antioxidants and phytonutrients. Rather, when we eat foods,
as they grow from the earth, that is to say primarily whole plant foods,
we feed our microbiome what they thrive on, which is fiber.
So what should we be eating focus on the produce section of the grocery store,
not what you find in the aisles.
Eating more whole plant foods feeds your gut microbiome the fiber that
it needs. And what about those neurotransmitters?
Did you know that the most important neurotransmitters in our body come from
amino acids, the building blocks of protein?
Therefore it makes sense that we want to have adequate protein intake to produce
those neurotransmitters. But wait, Dr. K,
didn't you just talk about eating lots of plants? Plants don't have protein! Oh,
on the contrary, in this chart,
you'll find the neurotransmitters serotonin and melatonin, GABA, dopamine,
norepinephrine.
And epinephrine along with the amino acids that form them some of the effects of
having low amounts of those neurotransmitters and some common plant foods that
can provide those amino acids. If you want me to make a video,
explaining this chart in more detail, let me know in the comments below. Say,
Hey, Dr. K, make a neurotransmitter video. I'll wait.
By the way,
I made a video on some fascinating research regarding the effect of fluoxetine
on a gut bacteria species that regulates serotonin.
I link to that video in the description below. Number two,
sleeping with your phone,
sleeping with your phone will wreck your emotional health on so many
levels. Sleep is one of my five pillars of emotional health.
If you don't sleep well,
your emotional resilience is not going to be on solid ground.
If your phone is next to you, while you sleep,
chances are you were on it before you went to bed.
That light from the phone can alter your body clock by disrupting your melatonin
production. Furthermore, if you read something that stimulated your mind,
either positive or negative,
that can keep your attention level high and make it harder to fall asleep.
Let's say you get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom.
Let me guess you check your phone again before you go to sleep? Come on,
be honest. Once again,
melatonin regulation gets thrown off and you stimulate your mind.
Lastly, your phone alarm rings and you wake up. What do you do right away?
Get on your phone, scroll through social media, check your email,
all things that can stress you out before you've even gotten a chance to start
your day on your terms. Do yourself a favor.
Buy a real alarm clock and put your phone in another room at night.
You'll survive. Do you know how I know?
Because we managed to sleep for all of humanity minus last
12 years, without smartphones. You can do it too.
If you want to know more about how light exposure and other factors screw up
your body clock and sleep schedule, check out this video,
which I'll link to in the description below as well. Hey,
if you're getting value out of this so far,
please do me a favor and hit that like button. Thank you. And number three,
no morning routine. This ties in with waking up to your phone.
Think about it. You wake up and you're on your phone instantly.
You've given away all of your power to make it a great day.
You have let the outside world into your head.
Before you have given your brain a chance to reconnect with yourself
before you've built your morning, cortisol your alertness,
hormone up to where it should be.
You've given up all control of your morning and chances are the rest of your day
is survival mode as well.
This is no way to live an emotionally healthy life. Listen,
fellow high achiever.
I know you've heard all about morning routines as a great
productivity tool. And all of that is true.
I'm saying they're important if you want to live an emotionally healthy life.
And here's why. When you start your day on your terms,
you get to properly visualize your tasks for the day and
plan for what you'll do if things go off track.
You get to connect with yourself before the world tries to take your
attention from you.
A healthy morning routine is something you do before looking at your phone for
the first time before letting the outside world in.
It also is a tool that when repeated allows you to reclaim control of your day,
when you do have that odd warning, when things go off track.
It is so important.
Here's some ideas to consider in constructing a morning routine that lights you
up. Meditation or prayer,
a short walk out in the sun, making a green juice or smoothie,
review your short and longterm goals,
review your calendar and visualize how important appointments of the day will
go, plan for how you'll implement healthy lifestyle habits that day.
And my favorite journaling. Okay. Journaling was not my favorite at one point.
I knew how important it was for processing unconscious feelings and building
emotional health. But open-ended journaling was just not for me.
So I created a journal that incorporates several of the things that I just
mentioned before. Goal setting, planning,
and visualizing your day by exploring it in the past tense.
That's a nice little brain hack, reviewing your calendar,
tracking your sleep and planning your nutrition and exercise for the day and
creating a space for a quick and powerful end of day
reflection. If you want an unstoppable morning routine,
download the Dr. K journal for free at drkjournal.com.
Check it out. I'd love to know what happens for you as you use it daily.
Be sure to tune in next week for another episode of the Dr. K Show.
And while you wait for that episode,
be sure to check out this video on how to reset your body clock,
to get better sleep at night. Always remember,
I believe in your greatness.