Latest / Chatting with The Experts with Paula Okonneh / Six Pillars of Lifestyle Medicine
Transcript
- 0:00Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Chatting with the
- 0:04Experts where I speak with fantastic, phenomenal women from Africa, from
- 0:10the Caribbean and in the Diaspora.
- 0:13These women share my passion which is to educate, empower and encourage women
- 0:20globally and today's no exception.
- 0:24My guest is talking about wellness and today is an invitation to wholeness,
- 0:31to purpose, connection and the six pillars of lifestyle medicine.
- 0:39She says you can design a life that heals you from the inside out.
- 0:45She also says, "What if the ultimate medicine is already built into your
- 0:49daily routine?" She wants you to discover that lifestyle medicine's
- 0:54transformative power for your wellbeing can be built through joy, purpose,
- 1:00positive relationships which will cinch them all into a vibrantly healthy life.
- 1:06And with that, I want to welcome Dr. Ogunsan who is board certified in internal
- 1:16medicine and lifestyle medicine, and also a certified life coach and relationship
- 1:23coach to Chatting with the Experts.
- 1:27I know I've left out some things about you, Dr. Ogunsan, so please
- 1:31fill in any of the gaps that I might have forgotten, or left out.
- 1:36Thank you so much, Ms. Paula.
- 1:38I am so honored to be here today on your show, Chatting with the Experts.
- 1:44I think you covered most of it.
- 1:47I've been a physician for over three decades, and I do, you mentioned life
- 1:54and relationship coaching, which I absolutely love, combining it with
- 1:57medicine to bring wholeness to the full person, 'cause wholeness is not just
- 2:02about not having physical ailments.
- 2:05It includes psychological wellbeing.
- 2:08It includes relationships.
- 2:10So yes, and of course, I'm a child of God.
- 2:15That's the first thing about me I'd like people to know.
- 2:18I'm a wife.
- 2:18I'm a mom.
- 2:20Yes, thank you.
- 2:22I also failed to mention that she's the founder of New Vibrance Coaching
- 2:28and Consulting, and she consults with patients and coaches individually.
- 2:33She consults also with couples, professionals, and leaders, bringing
- 2:39them into clarity, emotional renewal, with Christ as the center of it all.
- 2:46So I think I covered everything now.
- 2:49Yes.
- 2:52Okay.
- 2:53I know offline we talked about the six pillars of lifestyle medicine.
- 3:01And I know you mentioned there's an unofficial seventh pillar.
- 3:06Let's talk about all six and that unofficial.
- 3:09It's the unofficial one I'm so excited about.
- 3:12So let's dive into that.
- 3:15Okay.
- 3:16Would you like, you'd like us to talk about all six, and then
- 3:19I would highlight the seventh?
- 3:21Yes.
- 3:21So- yes
- 3:23… First, I'm going to say lifestyle medicine is the new kid on the block.
- 3:28It's actually a medical specialty that enables one to use what we
- 3:34call therapeutic life interventions.
- 3:37We're talking about nutrition, exercise, sleep, common sense things
- 3:44to reverse chronic illness, to treat chronic illness, and to prevent
- 3:50chronic illness, and to just get a person to really thrive and flourish.
- 3:56So what are the six pillars?
- 3:58One, whole food plant predominant nutrition.
- 4:04I'll first highlight them before I talk about them in detail.
- 4:08Two, exercise, physical activity.
- 4:12And what we recommend is a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise
- 4:20per week, or 75 if you're such a busy person you can't get the 150 minutes
- 4:26in, 75 minutes of vigorous intensity exercise, physical activity per week.
- 4:34Then that should be accompanied with at least two days of strength training.
- 4:41That's the exercise bit.
- 4:43Then stress management.
- 4:47Restorative sleep is very important.
- 4:51Avoiding risky behavior, alcohol, excessive… actually we say
- 4:55reducing or completely eliminating alcohol, tobacco, other harmful
- 5:00substances, just getting rid of them.
- 5:03And last but definitely not least in the six official, pillars is positive social
- 5:11connection-… positive relationships, which ties them all together, enables
- 5:17one to keep living by the pillars.
- 5:20It helps to sustain them.
- 5:21We'll talk about that more in detail.
- 5:24Now, the seventh one is unofficial, but it's daily exposure to nature.
- 5:32Ah, exposure to nature.
- 5:36You said daily?
- 5:38Daily, as much as possible.
- 5:39We talk about 120 minutes of exposure to nature per week.
- 5:48120.
- 5:48Because the … Yes, 120 minutes, so-
- 5:51Okay
- 5:51… that would be 15 to 20 minutes a day.
- 5:54That's good.
- 5:54That's more manageable.
- 5:55And it can be combined with the others.
- 5:57So for example, it can be combined with exercise, it can be
- 6:01combined with eating lunch in the park when the weather is good.
- 6:04So it can be comp- combined with other pillars.
- 6:08Yeah.
- 6:08But it's not one of the official ones, but studies increasingly
- 6:12show that being in nature really helps regulate the blood pressure,
- 6:16lower the blood pressure, regulate the nervous system, calm one down.
- 6:20It helps with reducing anxiety.
- 6:23It helps with, even with the immune system, to strengthen the immune system.
- 6:28So this is the seventh unofficial pillar, which I believe in very much.
- 6:35And I love that seventh one because I have seen it work for me.
- 6:41You know, some days a lot of us work from home like I do, and some days are so busy.
- 6:46But just sometimes just stepping out, I have a puppy, taking him for his bio
- 6:52break, that's stepping out into nature, or sitting on the deck, you know?
- 6:59Getting out of the AC if it's in summer or, and it's not too hot, or even now
- 7:05that it's fall, sitting out because the weather's cooler, and just taking in
- 7:10nature, looking at the trees, the grass.
- 7:14Sometimes, it can just calm you down as you do your work.
- 7:19Yes.
- 7:21That's true.
- 7:22I like working outside sometimes.
- 7:24I actually take my computer with me outside, and I just sit down outside.
- 7:28It may be a bit shady.
- 7:30Sometimes early in the morning it's not too sunny.
- 7:33Yeah.
- 7:33I can actually sit.
- 7:34I don't have to be in the shade.
- 7:36But it's really true that regular exposure to fresh air, to nature, natural
- 7:41surroundings, it really helps one.
- 7:44It nurtures even emotional strength.
- 7:46Yes.
- 7:46So it lifts your confidence, it increases self-esteem, and
- 7:51this is all research based.
- 7:55Yes, yes, yes.
- 7:57I agree 100%.
- 7:58I love it.
- 7:59I love it.
- 8:01So you said you're gonna elaborate on those first six pillars that we
- 8:05typically, like the whole food, the plant.
- 8:08Let's start with number one.
- 8:10Yes.
- 8:10Must it be plant-based?
- 8:11Must it?
- 8:12You know, me, I'm struggling with that one.
- 8:16So we don't function from an austere perspective whereby we're saying,
- 8:22"Remove this, remove this, remove this." The truth is lifestyle medicine
- 8:27only works if you do things from an incremental approach perspective.
- 8:32It's the most effective way to build a healthy, flourishing lifestyle.
- 8:36To do it bit by bit.
- 8:37If we transition too quickly, it can lead to burnout.
- 8:40Yes.
- 8:41So we encourage just build the habits progressively step by step, and we
- 8:47want something that's sustainable for life, something that would
- 8:50lead to long-term behavior change.
- 8:53So more specifically to your question, we don't say, "Oh, you have to
- 8:56eliminate all animal protein." Lifestyle medicine is not becoming a vegetarian.
- 9:03Okay.
- 9:04What it is about is, has, there's a spectrum.
- 9:09There's a spectrum from the unhealthy, burger and fries and
- 9:14thick steak meat, moving more and more towards plant predominant diet.
- 9:22For those who can and go fully plant-based, great.
- 9:26If not, just incremental steps moving in the direction towards wholegrain.
- 9:32And it's not just plants, wholegrain.
- 9:34So going towards wholegrain plant predominant, so we're
- 9:38talking about your fruits, your vegetables, your nuts and seeds,
- 9:42and wholegrains, not refined grains.
- 9:44So I want to be practical.
- 9:47For example, if I'm just starting out, I would say, or when I'm
- 9:53working with someone, "Would you consider adding just one serving
- 9:57of fruit?" For example, an apple, a moderate sized apple is one serving.
- 10:02Adding one serving of fruit to your breakfast for this
- 10:05week, and do that every day.
- 10:08And that's just the only change for now.
- 10:11And then the next week we could say, "Would you consider adding one serving?
- 10:15What's a vegetable that you enjoy?"
- 10:17" Would you consider adding one serving of that vegetable to your dinner?"
- 10:22Just building on top of the one fruit.
- 10:23You're already taking one serving of fruit a day.
- 10:26What are the fruits you like?
- 10:28Okay.
- 10:29So last week you were taking one apple a day.
- 10:32Maybe we do one apple, one orange, one apple, one orange.
- 10:35And you come up with what works for you, what you think you can do.
- 10:39Some would stretch it over two weeks, some would stretch it over a month, but
- 10:42they begin with one change And they add.
- 10:46The thing is, the more you add the healthy food and you're full with
- 10:52the healthy food, you'll find that you don't desire junk any longer.
- 10:56It's true.
- 10:58It is true.
- 11:00Yeah.
- 11:02Yeah.
- 11:03That is true, because you're full.
- 11:05You're not craving.
- 11:07You're not craving.
- 11:08And, yeah.
- 11:09That's true.
- 11:10That's true.
- 11:12And then I could say swap out refined grains like white
- 11:16rice, swap it with brown rice.
- 11:19Which tastes quite good.
- 11:21Yes.
- 11:22There's so much, all the things that we did with, with white rice, find out that
- 11:27you can do fried rice with brown rice.
- 11:31I mean, not as much oil, but
- 11:33Yeah
- 11:33… still.
- 11:34Yes.
- 11:35It tastes quite good.
- 11:38Yes.
- 11:39Okay.
- 11:39I'm interrupting you, sorry.
- 11:41Oh, no, it's totally fine.
- 11:43And then, oils, changing to the omega-3, omega-6.
- 11:47Yes.
- 11:48We move to avocado oil.
- 11:50And yes, we use less.
- 11:52So it is really the small changes as we enjoy them, that we'll find that
- 11:59we're able to now take another step.
- 12:01So for example, someone who's been drinking soda all their life,
- 12:04or they've been drinking juice, orange juice in the morning with
- 12:08my meal, can we try drinking water?
- 12:11How many days a week would you be willing to try drinking just water?
- 12:15Because we encourage water to be the primary beverage.
- 12:19And so that's with nutrition.
- 12:21Then for physical activity and movement, the 150 minutes of moderate intensity, how
- 12:28would I know this is moderate intensity?
- 12:30The different types of exercises you could do, brisk walking,
- 12:34cycling, ballroom dancing, all of that can be vigorous or moderate.
- 12:39But how do I know it's moderate?
- 12:42If I can speak but not sing while I'm doing the activity,
- 12:47then it's moderate intensity.
- 12:49So for example, I'm going brisk walking.
- 12:51At this point I can sing, I can still speak, I'm not yet at moderate intensity.
- 12:56By the time I cannot sing anymore but I can still hold a conversation,
- 13:00I'm at moderate intensity.
- 13:02If I can't hold a conversation at all, I'm at vigorous intensity.
- 13:06The same with cycling, bicycling, so it'll be light bicycling or ballroom
- 13:11dancing, gardening and yard work.
- 13:14If I'm doing it, I'm enjoying it, and I can't sing, I'm at moderate intensity.
- 13:19Then double tennis as opposed to singles, usually that would be moderate intensity
- 13:26depending on how pro a person is.
- 13:28Golf, walking and carrying the clubs, and similar recreational sports where
- 13:34you're at a moderate pace and you know it because you can speak but you can't sing.
- 13:39That's good to know, because some of us go walking, and we are with other people.
- 13:47We're walking with company.
- 13:49But that one can be, sometimes moderate because when you're walking and you
- 13:53can kinda guess, "Okay, if I'm…"
- 13:55What did you say?
- 13:56Moderate is if you can speak but you can't sing, right?
- 14:00That's correct.
- 14:01Okay.
- 14:01You got it.
- 14:02But most times if we are on our own, we're doing neither speaking or singing.
- 14:06Yeah.
- 14:06We are most times listening.
- 14:07So it's good to go in company maybe.
- 14:09That may encourage the moderate intensity.
- 14:13That is true, and when you go in company, you're likely to continue
- 14:18the… if you do that together, you're likely to sustain it.
- 14:21You're adding the other pillar of social connection.
- 14:24Yes.
- 14:25It's beautiful.
- 14:26It works very well.
- 14:28All right.
- 14:29So we've done three almost because we covered, we added the social connection.
- 14:35Yes, and we're gonna talk extensively about that down the line.
- 14:39Okay.
- 14:40Okay.
- 14:40But I wanted to mention that vigorous intensity, 'cause some people say,
- 14:43"I can't do exercise. I just don't have the time." Jogging, going
- 14:47jogging, if you split 75 minutes into the seven days of the week and you
- 14:51go jogging, you go lap swimming as opposed to gentle swimming- faster
- 14:56cycling, you're at vigorous intensity.
- 14:58and like- What about, you talked about lap swimming.
- 15:00Some of us look like we can swim, but we can't.
- 15:03What about if we… the Aquafit, like in you join a club
- 15:07that does, that offers that?
- 15:10That's great.
- 15:11That's moderate intensity.
- 15:12Okay.
- 15:13That works.
- 15:14That works.
- 15:15Moderate intensity, depending on what the leader is doing-
- 15:19That's true
- 15:19… They can rev up to vigorous intensity.
- 15:22But that is great.
- 15:23We encourage starting where you are and doing whatever you
- 15:27can do with physical activity.
- 15:30One wouldn't go from zero to 150 at one go.
- 15:33So it might be walk to your mailbox, someone who's been completely sedentary.
- 15:39Take a 10-minute walk after you've eaten your largest meal of the day, and that
- 15:43would help with the blood sugar regulation
- 15:45Yes
- 15:45… and with digestion.
- 15:47So can you do that just for the next two weeks?
- 15:49Just you've eaten your last largest meal, 10 minutes, and before you know
- 15:54it, you enjoy this so much, you increase it to 20 minutes, and you keep on going.
- 15:59Yeah.
- 16:01Then I talk about sleep, and we call it restorative sleep.
- 16:07This focuses on establishing a consistent sleep pattern.
- 16:12Why?
- 16:13Sleep is vital to life.
- 16:15So we want to unlock great metabolic health and emotional resilience.
- 16:22I know how I feel when I don't sleep well, and it's not good.
- 16:26When I was a hospitalist, oh, those days where I work and I don't get enough sleep,
- 16:33it affects one's, emotional resilience.
- 16:35So we encourage committing to a fixed wake-up time.
- 16:40We can start there.
- 16:41Wake up at a fixed time.
- 16:43Just plan the wake-up time.
- 16:45That's where we start.
- 16:46Can you do that for the next seven days?
- 16:49So wait.
- 16:50Yes.
- 16:51I notice you stressed fixed wake-up time.
- 16:53Yes.
- 16:54But you didn't talk about fixed bedtime.
- 16:56Oh, we're getting there.
- 16:58Oh, okay.
- 16:59So I'm doing this in increment.
- 17:00We could start instead with a fixed bedtime.
- 17:02Some people find it difficult to start with a fixed bedtime,
- 17:06but let's start there.
- 17:07Can you start to go to bed at the same time every day?
- 17:13And let's just do that until the next time we meet and we talk again.
- 17:17And then the next time, okay, can you extend it further
- 17:20and go to bed the same time?
- 17:23So if I'm starting with that, then I would ask the next time, "Can
- 17:28you turn off, how soon can you turn off all screens around you?"
- 17:32Not just your phone, but the phone is now the primary one.
- 17:35How soon can you turn off all screens around you?
- 17:39I recommend 60 minutes before bed.
- 17:42Why?
- 17:43We want to get your natural circadian rhythm.
- 17:46We want to boost your natural melatonin production.
- 17:49So can you turn off all screens?
- 17:51Can we try that?
- 17:53So we're adding that to you've been successful in going to bed around the
- 17:56same time between se- between 9:00 and 9:30, between 10:00 and 10:30.
- 18:03Now let's add this one.
- 18:06Put the screen and put it down.
- 18:08Set an alarm on your phone and let that alarm tell you, "Okay, shut it down, all
- 18:13screens." Then once we've added that, we can now say, "Okay, can you make
- 18:20sure you step into natural sunlight?"
- 18:22That your first five to 10 minutes after you wake up, if you're
- 18:25waking up when the sun is up.
- 18:26If the sun is not up, when the sun comes up, can you just five
- 18:30minutes step into sunlight?
- 18:32You're already getting exposure.
- 18:34That also helps the circadian rhythm.
- 18:36It helps with the sleep-wake cycle.
- 18:40Gotcha.
- 18:40Now I need to say this.
- 18:42We recommend restorative sleep, which is seven to nine hours of
- 18:47uninterrupted high quality sleep.
- 18:50That's the goal.
- 18:51I think that you need to stress that because some of us, I am guilty,
- 18:55have seven to nine, seven, I'm not gonna say to nine, seven hours, but
- 19:00sometimes it's not uninterrupted.
- 19:03So does that take into consideration, you get up to go to the bathroom?
- 19:08Yes.
- 19:08The uninterrupted includes going to the bathroom-
- 19:11But coming right back to bed
- 19:12… coming right back to bed.
- 19:14Okay.
- 19:14However, if a person has a condition that causes them to start waking up three, four
- 19:19times, that needs to be addressed because their sleep will not be restorative.
- 19:23Okay.
- 19:24And then for those who drink a lot of water before bedtime, we ask why not
- 19:29start drinking earlier in the day so you're not drinking so close to bedtime,
- 19:33and then that interrupts your sleep?
- 19:37Yes.
- 19:38And so we want everyone to routinely achieve seven to nine hours.
- 19:43That's the goal of uninterrupted.
- 19:45Seven is a sweet spot.
- 19:46Beyond nine, no, not good.
- 19:49And so is your room cool enough for you?
- 19:52Is it dark?
- 19:53All the lights should be off.
- 19:56Yes.
- 19:57This is part of sleep hygiene, and you wake up fully restored.
- 20:00And do your best only to have your bed for sleeping and intimacy, nothing more.
- 20:07Nothing more.
- 20:08Yes.
- 20:09We encourage that.
- 20:09Now, the fourth one, stress management is important.
- 20:15Yeah.
- 20:16The essence is to focus the nervous system to move it from a
- 20:19state of survival, fight, flight.
- 20:22You remember the sympathetic nervous system.
- 20:25To move it from that state of survival, we want to move it to a state of calm,
- 20:29of recovery, of rest, as opposed to fight, flight, and I know we have the,
- 20:35the, the other, the fawn and the freeze and flop, which we may get into later.
- 20:40But we want to move away from sympathetic drive, overdrive, hypervigilance.
- 20:44We want to move to a state of calm.
- 20:48So what are effective ways?
- 20:50Breathing exercises, using imagery, music, combining them, pausing and
- 20:58taking these real conscious belly breaths-… when you feel overwhelmed.
- 21:03It helps to practice it normally, so that when one feels overwhelmed
- 21:07or when is, one is anxious, you just take that tool that you're
- 21:11already practicing and move to that.
- 21:14And then positive… Oh, I wanna talk about positive social connection last.
- 21:19So avoiding risky substances.
- 21:23This is really important because we introduce toxins to our bodies when
- 21:28we're taking alcohol, when we're taking, when we're smoking tobacco or
- 21:31chewing tobacco, taking it in any way.
- 21:34We're undermining our own biological healing.
- 21:37So we want to minimize or eliminate these risky behaviors, these toxic substances.
- 21:44And with regards to tobacco, those who, who smoke tobacco can work with
- 21:49their physicians, the primary care physicians, to eliminate that completely.
- 21:54So but we encourage, if possible, eliminating alcohol.
- 21:58Substitute it with herbal teas.
- 22:01Yeah.
- 22:01True
- 22:04So positive social connection.
- 22:08Relationships are,
- 22:12it's not, I won't call it just one pillar.
- 22:14It's among many.
- 22:16I say it's the secret glue because, and I call it the secret glue, I call
- 22:21it the quiet force that holds all the other pillars together, because it
- 22:26makes it something you can repeat.
- 22:30I'll give examples.
- 22:31It makes it sustainable.
- 22:33It makes it livable.
- 22:35When you're looking at all of these other pillars, because we're social beings,
- 22:42we were not made to live in isolation.
- 22:44We were made to connect with each other.
- 22:47We thrive when we connect.
- 22:49We don't thrive, we don't flourish in isolation.
- 22:52So we thrive when we have a sense of belonging, when we're in community.
- 22:56And so if I'm going to go on a walk with you consistently, and we
- 22:59actually have a friend that in the summer we walk together, I'm
- 23:03more likely to be consistent.
- 23:05I'm more likely to have the habit 'cause I have accountability.
- 23:09I was gonna say that.
- 23:10I have company.
- 23:12As we're conversing, we can share a laugh, stimulate our natural endorphins.
- 23:19There's the supportive presence of someone.
- 23:23So that company, it's lowering my cortisol.
- 23:27I'm just I'm combining that relationship with one pillar, exercise right there,
- 23:33and I'm already getting benefits.
- 23:35My cortisol is lower.
- 23:37I have oxytocin.
- 23:38My friend has oxytocin.
- 23:40We're both secreting oxytocin, which is called the bonding hormone, and
- 23:44it promotes healing and resilience.
- 23:46So relationship keeps me going with exercise.
- 23:49When we're doing the strength training together and I'm like, "I'm tired, I can't
- 23:52go on," my friend can say, "Just one more.
- 23:54Just one more." I could say the same thing as well.
- 23:58Okay.
- 23:59And so I would like to talk about, there's a whole lot more about
- 24:04relationships protecting against stress, and we talked about the seventh
- 24:07pillar, but let's talk about PERMA, and we can come back to relationships.
- 24:12But let's talk about PERMA.
- 24:15How do you spell that?
- 24:17P-E-R-M-A.
- 24:20PERMA.
- 24:20Okay.
- 24:21Yes So PERMA is actually, it's a psychological model, and I call, I call
- 24:32this PERMA lifestyle medicine-… because what we're doing is we're blending
- 24:37positive psychology, and it was created, this model of positive psychology was
- 24:43created by a man called Martin Seligman.
- 24:46So we're blending positive psychology PERMA wellbeing model with the
- 24:52six pillars of lifestyle medicine.
- 24:54What we're doing is we are creating a holistic approach to human flourishing.
- 25:00It's important for all of us to recognize that wellbeing is not just physical.
- 25:04It's psychological as well, and spiritual.
- 25:07Yes.
- 25:08And it's when you have the synergy of all of this together
- 25:11that a person is really whole.
- 25:14And this is supported by research.
- 25:15So what does PERMA represent?
- 25:18P is positive emotion.
- 25:20How do I cultivate that?
- 25:21I cultivate it with cultivating gratitude.
- 25:24I journal what are three ways God's grace showed up for me today?
- 25:29What are thing, three things that made me smile?
- 25:32And that cultivates gratitude, and joy, and hope, and optimism.
- 25:37That's positive emotion.
- 25:39E means engagement.
- 25:42What is it?
- 25:42What are some activities that, where do I catch myself that I'm
- 25:46in flow, that I'm fully immersed in that activity that I really enjoy?
- 25:51It may be a hobby, it may be work, but something that I'm deeply involved in
- 25:56and it's meaningful to me, so engagement.
- 25:59The R, we're back to relationships again.
- 26:02Yeah.
- 26:02The R, and this is a psychological model.
- 26:06When we have supportive, loving, meaningful social connection, we thrive.
- 26:14The M stands for meaning, and so every one of us needs, we need a
- 26:19sense of belonging, and when we belong to our, or, and we serve something
- 26:25larger than ourselves, it gives us a sense of meaning, a sense of purpose.
- 26:31And then the A represents accomplishment.
- 26:36It's so good when we pursue mastery in something for the sake of it.
- 26:42There's a sense of fulfillment.
- 26:45If I want to grow as a person in any area, my character, I sing.
- 26:53I want to really improve my skill in singing.
- 26:57My husband plays the keyboard.
- 26:59Aw.
- 26:59He pursues mastery in that.
- 27:01A sense of accomplishment when we have all of that, and we combine that
- 27:06with the pillars, it works beautiful.
- 27:08Oh.
- 27:08And the person flourishes.
- 27:10All right.
- 27:11I'm just looking at it.
- 27:12I love it.
- 27:14I love it.
- 27:15It almost, when I look at it permanently, almost what comes
- 27:18to my mind is, permanence.
- 27:20Like permanent peace, permanent joy, permanence as a person being, you know?
- 27:27Yes.
- 27:27And this represent that the positive emotion, engagement, whether it's
- 27:31work or hobby, relationships.
- 27:34We all need it, because God made us to be social.
- 27:38Remember when He made man, He said, "It's not good for man to be alone,"
- 27:41so He brought, created the woman.
- 27:44Our meaning.
- 27:45There must be a purpose.
- 27:47Everyone needs a purpose.
- 27:48And when you find your purpose, I see it in, so many of my guests.
- 27:52That's why they come on, because they wanna … they have a
- 27:55purpose, and that purpose lights them up like what you are doing.
- 27:59I can see how your … Look at that smile.
- 28:01It lights you up.
- 28:03That's right.
- 28:03Yeah.
- 28:04And then accomplishment.
- 28:07You have that I've heard you sing and, I wouldn't sing
- 28:11because that's not my strength.
- 28:14Some of us make a joyful noise unto the Lord.
- 28:18I wouldn't call it.
- 28:18Amen to that.
- 28:19Amen.
- 28:22Amen.
- 28:23Ah.
- 28:23He does love to hear our voices.
- 28:26Yes.
- 28:26Yes.
- 28:27Yes.
- 28:28This resonates so much with me, as well as those other, the six pillars
- 28:32plus the unofficial one, the seventh one that you outlined earlier on.
- 28:37But then you still came back again, we are seeing, you said something earlier
- 28:42on, relationships are the secret glue.
- 28:46Yes.
- 28:47They are the secret glue.
- 28:49Remember I mentioned accountability?
- 28:52Mm-hmm.
- 28:53It's not only accountability.
- 28:56Relationships, and when I was talking about when you're exercising and you
- 29:00have accountability with someone.
- 29:02So all the lifestyle habits, when we have, for example the sleep, if I have emotional
- 29:12safety, if I'm in relationship and I have a supportive environment, it's much easier
- 29:19for me, even if I'm post-menopausal, to develop the sleep hygiene habits that
- 29:25would help me develop restorative sleep.
- 29:29Relationships regulate our nervous system.
- 29:32We're biologically designed to co-regulate each other.
- 29:35So if I'm with someone who is a supportive friend, a supportive
- 29:40partner, I have a supportive presence, a calm voice, it just, it helps shift
- 29:46my physiology from the sympathetic fight-flight I was talking about.
- 29:50Mm-hmm, yeah.
- 29:51To the parasympathetic, just calm.
- 29:53It lowers my cortisol.
- 29:55This is just having someone that we're there together.
- 29:58We meet regularly.
- 30:00We may meet for coffee.
- 30:01We may meet to actually serve together, volunteer together, but we bond well,
- 30:08and we have a supportive relationship.
- 30:10So relationships shape our habits really.
- 30:14We imitate the people around us.
- 30:15So imagine if I'm meeting someone who already is really good with exercise
- 30:20or someone who's already really good, they're very good with stress
- 30:23management, I begin to imitate them.
- 30:27I begin to imitate what they're doing whenever they feel stressed,
- 30:30'cause we rise to the level of the community that we belong to.
- 30:33That's true.
- 30:34If I'm with people who have healthy relationships, it'll create an environment
- 30:39where good habits will feel normal.
- 30:41I wanna talk about blue zones here, and particularly something called a Moai.
- 30:48In Okinawa, Japan.
- 30:50Now, there are areas of the world that are known as Blue Zones, and
- 30:53many people have heard about it.
- 30:54You probably have heard about it as well.
- 30:57In this area, we have the healthiest centenarians in the world, and they
- 31:02found that they naturally practice these six pillars of lifestyle medicine.
- 31:08It just comes to them naturally in those areas.
- 31:11And the Moai is a group of four or five children that the parents bring together
- 31:18when they're from the age of five.
- 31:20They bring them together that they're going to share and do life
- 31:24together until they pass this life.
- 31:29And these women, there's a, the person who popularized the Blue Zones, who actually
- 31:34brought that concept, Dan Buettner, he met a moai of centenarians, women who had been
- 31:42together for almost, for some of them, 100 years, 'cause some of them were over 100.
- 31:49And he talks about how at this time they're not working, of course,
- 31:53they're over 100, but if one of them doesn't show up, they all gather.
- 31:57Now, I wanna talk about these relationships, because they didn't
- 32:00need to borrow money from banks.
- 32:03They would put money together to help each other.
- 32:06If one of them had a husband who was not doing well, was not shaping up,
- 32:09or who was treating his wife properly, the other four would go and address
- 32:12it with him that you need to shape up.
- 32:13This is not good.
- 32:14Wow.
- 32:15They supported each other.
- 32:17No wonder they were living that long, and they really could thrive this
- 32:22way, and they really were healthy.
- 32:25So relationships are really the pillar.
- 32:29We imitate people around, as I mentioned.
- 32:31Then relationships protect against stress.
- 32:34Loneliness is physically inflammatory, and connection is medicinal.
- 32:41So if we have supportive relationships, that's going to buffer stress.
- 32:46It's going to reduce the emotional overload that we have, and it helps
- 32:50us… you know, we all have, human beings have different coping mechanisms.
- 32:54Some people go and eat junk-
- 32:56Mm-hmm
- 32:56… when they're stressed.
- 32:58Some people turn to tobacco when they're stressed.
- 33:01Yeah.
- 33:01But if we have healthy relationships, we're more likely to choose
- 33:05healthy coping mechanisms.
- 33:08Go for a walk, do the breathing exercises, unburden to someone, to share to a friend.
- 33:16This is how relationships helps us with the stress management pillar.
- 33:23So relationships also give meaning and motivation.
- 33:27We would care better for our bodies when we have good relationships,
- 33:32when we feel connected, when we feel valued, when we feel that we're worth
- 33:36something, that, or we feel seen, then we begin to take good care of ourselves.
- 33:42So healing grows in belonging.
- 33:45So as I listen to this, I'm just thinking about the audience, and I'm sure that
- 33:49we can expand a lot more with them.
- 33:51They're probably waiting to hear so many, or ask you so many more questions
- 33:55about all of this because, like you mentioned that, in Japan, the, how do
- 34:00you spell that with the group of women?
- 34:02Mo- Moa?
- 34:03M-O-I?
- 34:04M-O-A-I.
- 34:05A- Moai
- 34:06… Moa.
- 34:07M-O- Moai … Moa.
- 34:09Yeah.
- 34:09I'm sure they'd love to ask you a lot more about this.
- 34:13So why don't we do this?
- 34:14Let's pause.
- 34:15No, not pause, because we're gonna open up the floor.
- 34:19And, so let's end for those of you who couldn't join us in the audience,
- 34:24you'll have to just watch this, and possibly we'll have to do another,
- 34:29an additional episode with Dr. Ogunsan where she can elaborate more.
- 34:34But for those in the audience, they will have an opportunity to ask
- 34:38you a lot more of those question because they will be in the room.
- 34:42So for those listening in on Spotify or Apple Podcast, and those who
- 34:47are also viewing this on YouTube, if they would like to get in touch
- 34:52with you, tell them more about that.
- 34:56I would love that.
- 34:58So I'm on LinkedIn as Oluwakemi Ogunsan, MD, FACP, DP, DIP, ABLM,
- 35:07just to show the difference if there's someone else who's Oluwakemi Ogunsan.
- 35:11I'm also, I also have a website, newvibrancecoaching.com, and you can get
- 35:17in touch with me through that website.
- 35:19just click the, book a consultation button.
- 35:23And I'm also on social media, and I would love to connect with people.
- 35:27Okay.
- 35:27I'll drop all of that in the chat, and we'll also have that
- 35:30in our show notes on the website.
- 35:32Thank you.
- 35:33And for those of you who would love to be a guest on the show, just
- 35:37like Dr. Ogunsan has been, please reach out to me on my website,
- 35:41which is Chatting With the Experts.
- 35:44You can also get in touch with me on LinkedIn.
- 35:47My profile there is Paula Okonneh, or better still, reach out to me
- 35:50on my business page on LinkedIn, which is Chatting With the Experts.
- 35:56I'm on Instagram and my handle there is @chat_experts_podcast.
- 36:03I have a Facebook page, business page, which is Chatting With the Experts.
- 36:07And last but not least, this episode is running live right now
- 36:12on YouTube on our live stream.
- 36:14But if you'd like to see all the other episodes of just all the other phenomenal
- 36:20women, just like Dr. Kemi Ogunsan, subscribe to our YouTube channel, which
- 36:26is Chatting With the Experts, and there you'll be able to watch the numerous
- 36:30episodes we've had with women who- Share my mission, which as I said is to educate,
- 36:37encourage and empower women globally.
- 36:42Doctor Kemi, thank you so much for being a guest.
- 36:45We have planned on you being a guest for such a long time, but this is
- 36:49the appointed time, so I'm grateful.
- 36:52Thank you so much for being a guest on Chatting With The Experts.
- 36:56Thank you so much for having me.
- 36:58It really is an honor.
- 36:59Thank you.
- 37:00Thank you.
- 37:01Now we open up the floor for all the questions to be asked.