Latest / CareTalk: Healthcare. Unfiltered. / How Gratitude Can Impact Your Health

Transcript

How Gratitude Can Impact Your Health · CareTalk: Healthcare. Unfiltered.

• 0:00
  Thanksgiving is almost upon us.
• 0:02
  It's a wonderful holiday, unless you're a turkey.
• 0:05
  It can be a busy day in the emergency room, too, with Thanksgiving themed ailments like food poisoning and burns.
• 0:11
  But the big takeaway is that showing gratitude is good for your mental and physical health.
• 0:17
  So what are you grateful for?
• 0:20
  Welcome to Care Talk, America's home for incisive debate about healthcare business and policy.
• 0:25
  I'm David Williams, President of Health Business Group.
• 0:28
  And I'm John Driscoll, the President of Walgreens Health.
• 0:30
  David, we're kind of sending mixed messages here.
• 0:33
  You basically added a, an adult warning for Thanksgiving.
• 0:38
  This is my favorite holiday.
• 0:39
  I love...
• 0:41
  The idea of bringing people together, bringing the family together, and you're, you're suggesting poisoning and burns.
• 0:48
  Is this really a problem?
• 0:50
  John, like anything else, it's, it's sort of like, you know, you're going to have your fun, but it's going to be better if you got the warnings ahead of time.
• 0:56
  So I think this will be either.
• 0:58
  I don't know about your family gatherings, David, but go on and share more about what happens around poisoning and burns.
• 1:04
  This is sounding like sort of a Shakespearean drama in the Williams household.
• 1:09
  Is this a common problem?
• 1:10
  Well, let's set the table, so to speak.
• 1:13
  So, John, here's a little question for you.
• 1:15
  How many calories do you think people consume on Thanksgiving, typically?
• 1:19
  Uh, 2, 000?
• 1:22
  Yup, double it up and you're about right.
• 1:23
  So, the uh, the recommended uh, number of calories for a typical adult is about 2, 000 to 2, 500, depending on the person.
• 1:30
  And they say that the typical Thanksgiving dinner is about 3, 000 calories just for that, and plus people pack in at least another 1, 500 overall, and sometimes more.
• 1:40
  And so that kind of shows you uh, where the, where things stand for.
• 1:43
  Now, the um, the good thing is it's not Thanksgiving Day, you know, every day.
• 1:49
  Uh, but it's just a big, big starting point, but John, yeah, let's say one of the things that happens around the holidays is, uh, statistics are a little muddled on this, but there seems to be a boost in the number of people coming to the emergency room.
• 2:01
  Uh, what would you guess would be, uh, some of the reasons let's go back and forth and see if we can identify car crashes.
• 2:08
  I mean, little, little, little, little too much beer and wine at the, at the dinner table.
• 2:12
  I mean, that would be my, my guess, you know, sort of partying leads to.
• 2:17
  to, to problems.
• 2:18
  I mean, what, what, what, what is the leading?
• 2:21
  That's right.
• 2:21
  I mean, one of the, one of them is actually food poisoning, John, because the turkeys, you know, people get a frozen turkey.
• 2:27
  It's bigger than what they're normally cooking.
• 2:29
  And it takes a long time to thaw it out and then to cook it.
• 2:32
  People cut corners on one or both of those.
• 2:34
  So either they don't thaw it long enough.
• 2:36
  They don't, they don't cook it long enough, uh, or they actually leave it out and like warm it up for a long time while it's, uh, while it's thawing.
• 2:45
  So food poisoning is, is a big deal.
• 2:46
  Do you know, do you have personal experience in bungling the turkey?
• 2:50
  Ha ha ha ha ha.
• 2:52
  Uh.
• 2:53
  You know, I don't have that experience.
• 2:56
  I, you know, usually I'm one of those more backseat driver, you know, whereas I may raise this as a concern Uh for others, but no, I haven't done that myself Well, make sure you you you you turn the dial to at least 325 as you're heating up and thawing your frozen turkey But what else what else can go wrong?
• 3:13
  at As I as I as I trundle up up the road to my mother's house and bring everybody together Like what what else what else what else goes?
• 3:24
  Yeah, so well, so the closest thing that goes bang John is that, you know, there's, there's a lot of people trying to cook turkeys in a different way.
• 3:29
  And I actually saw this a few years ago in the wall street journal where people would.
• 3:34
  You know, take a turkey and do a deep fat fry.
• 3:37
  So rather than waiting forever, you know, turn the dial to 325.
• 3:41
  So the good news here is everybody's eating three times the amount of caloric intake that they need.
• 3:46
  And so what do you add?
• 3:48
  Deep fry.
• 3:49
  But the thing is, John, it's so big that people will put it outside, you know, and it's okay if they put it in the lawn, but sometimes it's a little cold at Thanksgiving.
• 3:55
  So they put it on their porch.
• 3:57
  And then not only does the turkey get burned, but you could burn the whole house down.
• 4:01
  Uh, when the, you know, huge barrel of oil explodes.
• 4:04
  So burns is a big issue too, John.
• 4:06
  And also, uh, cuts and lacerations.
• 4:09
  Now this is from, usually for, you know, like carrots and potatoes are pretty, pretty hard.
• 4:13
  So you're, you know, you're, you're cutting those up.
• 4:15
  And also amateur carving a word is, is, is a puncture wound.
• 4:19
  Carving the turkey is a separate type of a wound.
• 4:21
  That's usually not like a finger wound.
• 4:23
  That could be something more serious into the, into the hand.
• 4:27
  But yeah, no, you're, you're right.
• 4:28
  Um, John, uh, overeating.
• 4:31
  You know, alcohol poisoning, those are big ones.
• 4:33
  Also, overexertion.
• 4:34
  You know, some people who are not very active, uh, during the year, they could feel they got to run around and get the turkey ready for all the people coming.
• 4:41
  Like, demanding people, including yourself, uh, and me who might be arriving.
• 4:45
  And somebody who has asthma or a heart condition, they could just, just overdo it.
• 4:49
  So, you're kind of putting a whole paw on this whole Thanksgiving thing.
• 4:54
  What's, what's good about Thanksgiving?
• 4:56
  Well, Thanksgiving is great, John.
• 4:57
  I'm going to stick with this theme for another minute, so.
• 4:59
  The, one of the things that also happens, there's some things that happen like after the meal, you know, there's some things like the preparation and all that, you know, they may bring to the emergency room during the day.
• 5:07
  You mean, you mean that the disasters don't stop at dinner?
• 5:11
  That's right.
• 5:11
  So, so first of all, what happens is people are like, all right, mom or grandma, this is all good.
• 5:17
  We'll have our dinner, but then we're going to take you to the hospital because you've got some, you know, festering wound or something like that.
• 5:21
  So people come and they see people that they haven't seen.
• 5:24
  What a sick mind.
• 5:25
  This is exactly what people worry about with John.
• 5:28
  The next The next day, the biggies, now I'll stop after this, the next day the biggies are, uh, out of control diabetes, uh, atrial fibrillation from, you're just like completely overeating, overtaxing the system, bowel obstructions, you'd like that one, uh, and then, and then car crashes, John, it's usually going home that you have the car crash, not, uh, out of the way there.
• 5:47
  From the ER.
• 5:48
  Well, David, now that, now that you put a complete pawl over my favorite holiday, family, friends, time together, yeah.
• 5:58
  And it sounds like time in the ER.
• 6:00
  What, what, what's good about Thanksgiving?
• 6:02
  I mean, does your family have any positive Reflections on Thanksgiving other than health care deterioration, decline, and disaster?
• 6:12
  So we do have some doctors in the family and some of them actually love to talk about you know Some of the gory stuff that they've seen so I wouldn't I think let's not say what I said before was negative But John really Uh, you know, why is pretty negative, actually.
• 6:25
  I mean, I know, you know, your family may be unique, but, and I don't think it's typical.
• 6:30
  No, that's, that's pretty dark.
• 6:32
  I think it's good for people to know where they're warning our listeners that there are some things that can go wrong and Thanksgiving, but, but let's face it, David, this is, this is the many people's favorite holiday.
• 6:43
  Exactly.
• 6:44
  Recent because this whole gratitude thing is just, we don't, we don't have enough of it in our society.
• 6:50
  Yeah.
• 6:51
  So, yeah.
• 6:52
  You know, I think gratitude is actually very good for you.
• 6:55
  And there's a reason that people like Thanksgiving so much.
• 6:58
  And it isn't just the turkey and the potential for bowel obstruction.
• 7:03
  It's that, uh, gratitude is, is a great feeling.
• 7:06
  And, you know, there's actually research that shows that, uh, gratitude improves both your mental and physical health.
• 7:13
  And there's the concept that behavior changes biology.
• 7:17
  So having a day that's actually set aside for Thanksgiving for gratitude.
• 7:22
  Is a positive.
• 7:24
  Uh, for your overall health in the most holistic way, well, it actually is, is pretty robust in the psychological studies that a daily gratitude practice of any sort.
• 7:35
  It could be a religious one, or it could be one that is just a celebration and appreciation is something that is, is, is, is actually highly tied to, you know, better Mental health, it sort of comes across as somewhat woo woo, but it is, it is all of the motivational research, a lot of the psychological research all ties back to the notion that a, you know, expressing gratitude in a, you know, in a centering way through either meditation or just reflection really has a strong impact on mood and to your point, there's increasing evidence from Mayo Clinic and others that There's almost a psycho biological connection between that gratitude.
• 8:19
  I mean, I'm not particularly grateful for hearing all the things that go wrong in the ER.
• 8:23
  Um, but I am particularly grateful for the friends and family we've all pulled together, those who can, over Thanksgiving.
• 8:31
  And, and I think that it, it, it, it's a reminder.
• 8:34
  The, the power of this practice and that the practice and that are learning it really the science behind it is he's in an early stage, but it's very consistent that gratitude drives, uh, really, really much better psychological outlook.
• 8:50
  So they say that, uh, you know, from some of these early studies, as you mentioned, kit.
• 8:54
  Gratitude can reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety and stress and considering that the alternatives are just living with that or taking medications that Aren't 100 effective and have side effects.
• 9:05
  You know, that's a very positive outcome on the physical side You'll see that it could lead to better sleep lower blood pressure And stronger immune system.
• 9:14
  So those are all, those are all positive sorts of things.
• 9:17
  And you mentioned about having like, you know, specific practices of gratitude, but they're powerful, David.
• 9:23
  I mean, if you can lower, I mean, we spend billions of dollars on drugs to lower blood pressure.
• 9:29
  Cardiac, uh, disease is still the leading cause and getting cancer leading causes of death in America.
• 9:36
  You know, this, this, this is free, but takes time and focus.
• 9:40
  Not a lot of time.
• 9:41
  But a little bit of focus and it, it literally can replace pills for many people.
• 9:46
  So John, so that's, you know, one day a year and you know, do we need 3000 calories to get at it?
• 9:52
  You were, you were mentioning something about gratitude practices.
• 9:54
  I mean, how does Thanksgiving relate?
• 9:56
  Is this like something that you need to do and just like one more item I need to put on my to do list?
• 10:01
  Well, I, I think the way to think about a gratitude practice and, and certainly the research bears this out is it's not about one day, one day a year is great.
• 10:09
  Um, or is good.
• 10:10
  Uh, but what's powerful is when you can build it into a daily practice, even if it's in a small way, it really can change your biology.
• 10:18
  It's not going to change your, it's not going to counteract the effect of your 6, 000 calories, David, um, or your, or your visit to the ER, which will undoubtedly raise your blood pressure, but it does a daily gratitude practice where you express appreciation for the people and things in your life and can be reflective, you know, on a consistent, consistent.
• 10:37
  Way in a in a over a longer period of time really does have a direct effect on your biology.
• 10:42
  And I think that maybe the lesson from Thanksgiving, you know, sort of separating one chapter away from your disasters associated with with things to things to mistakes to avoid in places not to go on.
• 10:54
  Thanksgiving is to take one of the reasons why it's everybody or not everyone.
• 10:59
  That many people experience Thanksgiving in such a positive way and try to build that into more of the every day at a time, particularly with so many people, there's so much anxiety and unkindness in the world.
• 11:11
  And certainly social media is, you know, peppering us with with bad news.
• 11:18
  Maybe it's even more important for all of us to find our own paths to some form of a gratitude practice that we can practice every day.
• 11:27
  You know, I try to do is a couple of things.
• 11:28
  One is, um, and I don't do this regularly.
• 11:31
  I don't do this daily, but if I'm in a situation, I'm kind of down, I'll think of at least, you know, one or two or three things that I'm grateful for, like at the end of the day, you know, before going to sleep.
• 11:41
  And it can sometimes chase away some of the sort of negativity.
• 11:45
  And then also just, uh, you know, saying thank you and expressing gratitude to people, uh, you know, like my wife that I always Transcribed Appreciate and I assume she knows I appreciate it unless you mention it, it might not be the case.
• 11:57
  So I think it's really important.
• 11:59
  Yeah.
• 12:00
  So I think Thanksgiving gives that opportunity, uh, you know, for people to speak to their, their friends and their, their relatives in that way.
• 12:08
  And that'd be part of the practice.
• 12:10
  Well, the other thing that, that psychologists are starting to explore is do daily acts of kindness, um, to, to people, you know, and people you don't know also affect your psychobiology.
• 12:20
  I mean, I think this is a really interesting, this is, this was considered sort of out there, um.
• 12:26
  But how you're, how, uh, or, or sort of not, um, not tied to sort of the hard, uh, numbers of medicine, but increasingly we're finding that that daily acts of gratitude and kindness really can help lift your social, social, social wellness, um, and can kind of help build resilience in your own, in all of our psychological makeup.
• 12:48
  And I think it's, so I think it's not just our, our, our spouses and our partners and our kids and our family members.
• 12:55
  Uh, At least most of my family members.
• 12:57
  I'm grateful for, um, the, the, uh, but it's, it's, it's trying to find ways to integrate that into your everyday life.
• 13:04
  And I think that's, that's really the lesson of Thanksgiving.
• 13:07
  It's, it's, uh, in addition to the, the food and the accidents, it's really taking that, that, that gem of a feeling and trying to kind of find it every day and, and, or, or, or, or express it every day.
• 13:20
  And that, that, that I think probably is the most powerful thing, powerful message we can deliver to our, uh, to our, to our listeners on Thanksgiving, you know, once they get beyond the warning label of all the things that can go wrong from healthcare.
• 13:33
  Here's some of the, here's one of the things that could be right that you could integrate into your everyday.
• 13:37
  That sounds good, John.
• 13:38
  And since we are, uh, you know, healthcare wonks and not just a self help people, I did see in the research that there's also evidence.
• 13:44
  Of gratitude being able to help to transform the patient caregiver relationship and improve patient satisfaction and boost staff morale.
• 13:51
  So it's not just, uh, within the, uh, you know, the confines of one's Thanksgiving dinner table, but I think we saw this also during the pandemic in terms of some of the gratitude that was expressed toward the, you know, frontline workers and people putting themselves, uh, at risk and it's probably should be carried over, uh, more broadly.
• 14:10
  Yeah, no, we could, we could definitely in many, in many ways, patients feel a little bit too much like a vehicle for payment or transaction or a part of it in the, the, the massive industry of healthcare as opposed to connecting and feeling cared for it.
• 14:25
  And maybe that's another way that the healthcare system could work a little bit harder on integrating gratitude and actually even more than gratitude kindness.
• 14:34
  into, uh, all of the different pieces of whether it's how you show up at a, uh, for patients when you're bringing them through their massive paperwork or moving them down the hallway or just connecting with them in, uh, in the patient waiting rooms.
• 14:48
  It's one of the things I think that doc, one of the reasons why people love doctors and, but particularly nurses because they're, they're, they, they, in many cases practice kindness every day.
• 14:56
  And maybe that's a lesson for all of us in the, on the clinical and the nonclinical side of healthcare.
• 15:01
  Well, that's it for yet another episode of Cure Talk.
• 15:03
  We've been talking about Thanksgiving.
• 15:05
  I'm getting ready to dig into the turkey, but I'll use a special, uh, rubberized, uh, glove so I avoid any problems.
• 15:12
  I'm David Williams, president of Health Business Group.
• 15:15
  And I'm John Driscoll, the president of Walgreens Health.
• 15:16
  If you liked what you heard or you didn't, we'd love you to subscribe on your favorite service.
• 15:20
  And David, happy Thanksgiving, and happy Thanksgiving to all of our listeners.