Latest / Masterminds Podcast / Stress Is Destroying Your Body: Doctor Explains Why || Masterminds Podcast EP28

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Stress Is Destroying Your Body: Doctor Explains Why || Masterminds Podcast EP28 · Masterminds Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: Medically, what stress?
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Stress is simply, let's say, maybe a mental tension that is caused by a difficulty or a challenge.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: We've been designed to be able to adapt to stress.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, the human being has been built to be able to adapt to stress.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_03: What are we not adapted?
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it can be so bad that it can even affect fertility.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: So the whole stress responses is for fight and flight, it's not for reproduction to give birth to a baby.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: So all those things become suppressed.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: So the woman to my have a difficult giving birth.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: And for the men, we have one of the most worrying conditions called the erectile dysfunction.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: Ooping mechanism where you can actually manage your stresses through exercise.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's actually better to stay married than to divorce.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: You can never discount a support system.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_04: This means acceptance is actually the best solution for stress.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: Being grateful for what you have and working towards what you want.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: But so when you're working towards what you want, you are not stressed out, you just have a strategy and a plan.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: So you are focused on your strategy and your plan.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: You are not stressed out.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_04: What about diets?
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_04: Can your diet positively or negatively influence your stress?
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, in a way.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we call some goods like happy foods.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: If you have a healthy lifestyle with your exercise and dieting right, you're able to adapt to stress better.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_04: Welcome to the Masterminds Podcast.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_04: Our goal here is to sharpen your greatest weapon, your mind.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_04: My name is Richie Mensa, and I'll be walking with you along this journey as we discuss powerful ideas and concepts that will put you on a mindset shift that allows you to be successful long term.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_04: Our goal is to turn you into a mastermind.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_04: Now, you cannot become a mastermind if you do not make sure you are taking care of the body, if you are not taking care of the conditions that will keep you going to master your mind.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_04: If you're watching this video, I believe it's because you've been experiencing a lot of tiredness and headaches and stress and you feel overworked and you don't know what to do about it.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_04: But there's one thing that we don't know.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_04: Stress is not just like the one thing that causes all these tiny, tiny ailments.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_04: It can actually affect you and cause more diseases that some of us don't even know about.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_04: So to discuss this, I brought a man that I respect a lot.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_04: And not just for the fact that he keeps me alive every time I fall sick, but because he's excellent at his job, he's very knowledgeable, and his people's skills are just excellent.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_04: When he's drawing my blood crime, I don't feel it.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_04: Dr.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_04: Mancola.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, seniority.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_04: What's it like coming into my world right now?
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's very new.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: I can't see any needles here.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_04: Thank God, thank God.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_04: So, Dr.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_04: Mancola, I mean, this episode is very personal to me because I think I went through a long period where I allowed stress to compromise my health.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_04: And I always just thought stress was, oh, I'm tired, I'm tired, and I if I sleep, when I wake up in the morning, I'll be fine.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_04: Until I started to feel the effects.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_04: So the reason I called you here was so that you can explain to us from a medical point of view.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_04: So let's let's even start it like this.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_04: Medically, what is stress?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so Richie, thank you for having me here.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, the ambience here has even brought down my stress.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: So um stress is is quite a slippery terminology.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's a terminology that is used so loosely of late.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: And someone might say it's not even really stress, but just to make it more understandable to those who are watching us, stress is simply, let's say, maybe a mental tension that is caused by a difficulty or a challenge.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: WHO actually coins it that way.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: However, other psychologists and uh other, should I say, academic boards, what they look at is that what we put term as stress is just something, the process that is what's ongoing.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: So stress is not like, oh, I saw something today, I wasn't happy.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: Stress is when you have what you call a stressor, something that is stressing your body, then your body's response to it.
• 4:51
  unknown: Yeah.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: So you can say that stress is the way you appraise a situation and how your body copes with that situation in order to overcome a challenge.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: So, in a nutshell, just to give a full idea as to this is what stress is.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_04: I love that explanation.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_04: I I watched a video that explained something which said there's a difference between stress and pressure because if you use a hammer to hit a metal, it's the same strength that you can use that hammer to hit a glass.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_04: But the stress on the metal is very different from the stress on the glass.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_04: So I think a lot of people don't consider the fact that it's not just the pressure that we are feeling which contributes to the stress, but it's our makeup which contributes to how we handle the pressure that we are under.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_04: But looking at it from that point of view, then does stress just mean tiredness and sleepiness and you know being overwhelmed, or does it go deeper than that?
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, you mentioned something very important, so it's not just about tiredness or like what you're talking about, everyone's adaptation is different.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so as you said, the glass with the same pressure, the glass might crack, yeah, but the metal, nothing can happen to it.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so everyone and how their response is to stress.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: So you may say, I am tired, but you are actually not stressed, you are just physically tired and you want to go and sleep.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: Another person's symptom of stress is that they are constantly and constantly tired.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to understand the personality of the person you are dealing with.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: For us to classify that, no, this person is stressed out, and this person is just tired and wants to sleep.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: So if you don't know your level, your threshold, your personality, and the rest, you may actually be in a trajectory towards chronic stress leading to depression and other things, and you control it early, and before you realize it's too late, it's too late.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: So it's more about understanding your personality itself and what you can handle and what you can't handle.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, okay.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_04: I I because I I was reading that about 70% of all diseases are either caused by stress or magnified by stress.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_04: So if that's true, like how are you able to tell the difference between like when somebody walks to the hospital right now, how are you able to tell the difference between something which is, I mean, oh, they have malaria, it was caused by mosquito bites versus okay, they had malaria in their blood already, but the stress in their life has made them fall even sicker.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_04: How are you able to distinguish?
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: So, with this particular one, we always have to take a social history.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: As a clinician, you have to know your patient.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: So even when they are training doctors, there's a part they call a social history.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: And if you know the kind of person, the kind of work the person does, the state you'll be in.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes Rich will come and say you are stressed out.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: Because I understand how your work is.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: You get it.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: So once you understand the work of the person, you can now skew your um, should I say, your clinical experience towards could this be stress or something else?
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: So once you know that, they said, okay, maybe this person has had a major life stressor.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: There's uh a number of what you call um a number of stresses which they've classified.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: We have significant life-changing stresses.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_07: Okay.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: So let's say a death of a loved one, um, even you moving from one city to another city, or maybe you've had a divorce, a marriage, a new child is coming, those are all significant life stresses.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_04: So if you get married, stress, if you divorce, either way, stress, stress.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: So so those are some of the things that you can look at.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a significant life change.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_07: Okay.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: And you can also look at stressor, a stressor in a form of uh let's say daily hassle.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I know what you do and everything, but let's say every day, maybe your neighbor at 5 a.m.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: will open some loud music and worry you.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: So every day you come to work angry.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: That is like a daily stressor.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that is worrying your life.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_04: A stress on alarm.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_04: A stress, stress on alarm.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: So when you come to me and we are taking a history, and you are like, Dog, of late, I'm waking up, I'm angry.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: I ask you that ah, why?
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: You you may not even tell me that it's because of maybe that neighbor later.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: You said that oh, every morning when I wake up, there's so much noise from my neighbors that it's giving me a headache.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: They realize that it's a stress that is causing your symptoms.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so we have to find a way to mitigate that stress.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_04: So maybe you're gonna suck the neighbor from the what are some of the most common health issues that come from stress?
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: So, with stress in particular, so you see, the body is such a way that it's supposed to, we've been designed to be able to adapt to stress.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, the human being has been built to be able to adapt to stress.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_03: So, why are we not adapting?
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, so so how you able to cope with stress is innate in you, okay.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: So there are a lot of what coping mechanism.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think we'll talk about that maybe a bit a bit later.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: So, um when let's say maybe you have stress and it comes, the first is you have to understand the situation and environment that what you are in.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, can you change it?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: Can you not change it?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: Then if you can, then okay, you try to adapt new ways.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: But some of the common symptoms and should I say conditions that come with it are um hypertension.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and hypertension is simply because let's take it like your heart.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: Your heart is an engine, okay, and uh it has valves, it has a lot of things in it, and supposed to pump to all parts of your body.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: If you are constantly stressed, there's what you call uh the flight and fight response.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so your heart is always what pumping so hard.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe every morning you you wake up, you are fighting with maybe your neighbor, or you are fighting with uh let's say you are going, someone crosses you in traffic, so your heart is always beating fast.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: So over a long period, your heart's muscles become a bit what?
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: Weak big and your vessels to become thicker.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so you can get what chronic hypertension.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: There are even some conditions where you can even get so in this same vein, there are some hormones in your body which we call a cortisol.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I won't go too technical, but oh that's technical.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: I like it.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: But this is what happens once the hormones go up, um, your blood sugar also goes up.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: The whole response is that it's preparing you to what maybe run a marathon from maybe a lion.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: You get it, but maybe you are just angry because someone crossed you in traffic.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so that uh sugar, or should I say the glucose in your blood is there and doing nothing over a long period of time.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_04: You're ready for war just to go and argue with Trucha Driver, exactly.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: But that glucose that was released for you, you should have been able to run from here to maybe uh ball guy in court, that kind of thing.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so over a long period of time you can develop diabetes.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and it can be so bad that it can even affect fertility.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and the interesting part is which I have even had patients, some uh women, because of how the stressful nature or their hormonal environment is in them, it can suppress their hormones.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: We have what call LH and FSH.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: They are the ones responsible for regulating their menstrual cycle and fertility.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so the whole stress responses is for fight and flight, it's not for reproduction to give birth to a baby.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so all those things become suppressed.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: So the woman to my have a difficult giving birth.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: And for the men, we have one of the most worrying conditions called the erectile dysfunction and incomp uh impotence, and they keep coming.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: Men, are you less than love is stressed though, or else and they keep coming and they keep coming, and you just have a discussion, why not?
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: You realize that no, it's probably a spousal issue, okay, a domestic issue.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: The person is maybe too stressed at work, the person is and such uh uh should I say interactions and a few lifestyle modifications, then they get back their erection.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Because with the stress too, the hormone we call testosterone, it can come so low.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, some men also have low libido at certain points, so their libido can be so low and it's a whole lot.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_04: So if I mentioned hypertension, yes, diabetes, yes, infertility, infertility, erectile dysfunction, yes, low testosterone, yes, low libido.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: And there's even more, I mean, there are even the behavioral ones.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, you can be pushed all the way to depression, yeah.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, because uh what we've noticed is that the stress hormone has receptors in the brain, and over a prolonged period of time, um, they can even cause parts of the brain to shrink.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, it has been shown in animal studies, and now even in advance, um, we have MRI CT scans.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: You can see that there can be changes in the brain.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_04: So that means that's like clinical depression, not the I'm sad depression.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_04: No, no, no.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: This one is proper clinical depression.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, some people too can be pushed into anxiety okay every time they are anxious about something because when you are in yes, they are always anxious about something, they are jumpy, they are some become paranoid at a point, so you can go into a state of chronic anxiety.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and we we have cases where for those who don't have good copy mechanisms, they can also uh end up in addictions.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: So we have those who are addicted to smoking, excess alcohol intake, uh illicit drugs, a lot of them because they want to, should I say, escape their reality?
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so that is also another condition that can come.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: And uh maybe a last one is you know, with stress, um there's a part of stress in the body where you have what you call inflammation.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: Inflammation simply means that um there's a tissue reaction trying to fight off an infection, but it can be so chronic, it can be so long that it can lead to muscle pains, it can lead to arthritis.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_04: So it's so like back pain.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: Back pains.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_04: I know a few people who should be watching this right now.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: So their back pains, their joint pains, what we call arthritis.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, simply because of this chronic stress that they are going through.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, this actually happened to me.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_04: I'm a living testament of this.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_04: I I kept having stress back and forth, back and forth, and everything.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_04: I think the point that I noticed the stress the most was when I had a very sharp back pain out of nowhere.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_04: It had never happened in my life before.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_04: And then I had to be rushed.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_04: They they had me do physio and chiropractic for like a year, and it still kept coming over and over again.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_04: And it reached a point, I just realized that I had to make lifestyle changes.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_04: It wasn't like what was causing it wasn't going away.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_04: So there's no treatments that can fix it because if they fix it today, I go back to the problem.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: To the same problem again.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_04: So I had to fix you know the source itself.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but a lot of people, like as I'm mentioning this, I'm fortunate that I was able to realize it was stress.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_04: But this was after a year.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_04: A lot of people are going through things right now, and they they can't even tell that this is what is causing it.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_04: So, what kind of indicators should people look out for to notice that stress is actually the cause of their problems?
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: So um there are a couple of things that you may have to look at.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes, as I said, it's a very tricky um, should I say, term stress, because now it's something that is used by a lot of the new generation.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm stressed out, and I mean it's stressed, toxic, toxic, demure.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: So all those things are there.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of technologies which you don't really have, and the stress is simply because probably they didn't get a particular designer bag, maybe in high school, like you know, so it's it's a very difficult, uh uh should I say, to put a blanket that will look out for these symptoms.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: What we can say is that when you feel uneasy or you feel your life is becoming shaky, that is when you can say no, you are stressed, or your usual routine of being, should I say, living your life becomes a bit disrupted?
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: So let's say every morning you usually have your normal routine, then you come to work and hear bad news.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: Then the next one week, you are totally off.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like you come to work, you're absent-minded, your mind is somewhere.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: At that point, you can say that no, you are stressed.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: Usually we look out for has there been a significant life change event?
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: Has something recently happened to you?
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: Probably, as I said, uh you've lost a loved one, and everyone understands that no this period.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you are stressed out.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you are having maybe relationship issues, some or another, no, at this point you are stressed out, it could be anything at all.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and as I said, everyone's response is different.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, someone may see uh stress much more you may be able to adapt to it very quickly, and you are not stressed out.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: It reminds me of this funny incident that happened to me in SS Prosec.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we were sitting in the classroom, and there was a snake that found its way into the classroom.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, yeah, very serious.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: So don't be small.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_04: Hey, more town there, like by now the Kensley girls would have jumped out the window before this.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: So we're sitting in the class, and there was it was by the window, and they were like, I mean, people were sitting there, but there was a guy who was like about 10 or 20 decks away from it and saw the tid and started shouting, snake.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: He moom and he jumped.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure within five seconds he was downstairs.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, Charlie.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: But the others who were there, there was one guy who quickly went and got a stick and killed it, and came to kill it.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and the guy went there and was panicking throughout.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: But the other person just went and what?
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: Hit a snake and he was okay.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so you can see the levels at which people can manage an event.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure maybe when he goes home, you go and dream about it, sir, and he won't even sleep.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: Because he's stressed, he's stressed out.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_04: So when we went when we went to school, as school motown, um, I remember one day in dining, and then there was like 10 tables or 12 tables down.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_04: We just saw all the girls on the table stand up like they threw their food, and then when that happened, it caused the ripple effect when all the next 10 tables, because it was all like woman hammers, Kensley Hamas girls was up, they all just like got up and screamed and all threw their food away and everything, and we were all wondering what was happening.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_04: Woman girls saw the cockroach.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_04: Man girls saw the cockroach.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_04: Everybody in us was reacting.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_04: That one girl's reaction, they didn't even know what was happening.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, stress.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_04: Stress.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: So so so that so that's basically it.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone and how they may adapt to it.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: So you may feel some headaches because something has happened to you.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: They realize that no, this is stress.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: But someone may be feeling some headaches because I mean they are just dehydrated or tired.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: So the symptoms of stress can be like any other disease, but just look out for significant changes in your life.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: Those things, once they come, you're like, no, where this is going, I need to find a way to adapt.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_04: So this means identifying stress in your life is more about knowing yourself.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_04: Very, very important.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_04: So that you understand that okay, I don't usually feel like this, I don't usually have this problem.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_04: So if this is happening now, it could be because of this change in my life.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, okay.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_04: That's very useful.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_04: But what type of habits or routines, what kind of things can we do every day that will help like mitigate the stress a bit?
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so I mean there are a couple of should I say coping mechanisms and also there are ways you can manage your stress.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um one of the coping mechanisms that we usually have is uh we call it a perception of control.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so some people feel like they can't control the situation.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so because of that, it's it's what has become like a headache for them.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: So let's see this example I made that probably every morning in your area.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: I saw it on um social media recently.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: I think there was a preacher who was always with a megaphone, and there was this diasperant person who had come and was like, I'm calling the police on this person for yeah, you know, and um the question is what can I do to adapt so that I can't because you cannot control that person.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, what do I do?
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: Am I going to wear headphones and be in my house in peace?
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, or the other option is maybe report the person to authority because it's noise pollution.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: Those are how you can adapt and realize that oh, if I can do A, B, and C, the situation will be controlled, yeah, then you know that I'll be able to cope.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: So perception of control.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: Then we have optimism.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when you have a condition and you are negative, negative, negative, negative, it gets worse.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: So optimism, knowing that there's a possibility that things can get better.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: Let's say, unfortunately, you leave a loved one.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: No, there's a possibility that I can also get someone not to replace, but to be able to also sit in that place.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: So having optimism, having a positive mindset that oh, this is a tragedy.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: However, a tragedy is not the end of the world.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: Can I move on?
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: So be very what have a lot of optimism.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: Optimism is very, very, very important.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: So that is one.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: Then um, another uh coping mechanism where you can actually manage your stresses through exercise.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, it's actually been shown that exercise really helps even with what we call neurogenesis, it splashes your system, it makes your heart beat better.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's a very good way to manage stress.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: So, and the exercise is more of like maybe you want to go for a run, you want to go for a walk, yeah, you can go to the gym.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: Some of the exercise you don't need to really some I I noticed that what is really preventing people from exercise is that sometimes they feel like we have to go to a gym, subscribe, that's too much work.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_04: And we always think about the extreme exercises, yes, yeah.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's basic, basic, basic.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: A morning, some people even do yoga stretches, which are okay.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, a morning walk.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, some have their own dumbbells at home that they use.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: So exercise, find a way to should I say, replace your stressful life with some routine exercises.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, if it's even 30 minutes every day or 30 minutes three or four times a day, it's it goes a long way to help.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: So exercise is very, very, very important.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: And we have another coping mechanism which you call you have to have what you call cognitive flexibility.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, explain that.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, cognitive is is that you have to understand that um you know this uh serenity prayer, yeah.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_04: Lord grants me the courage to change what I can and what I can't, and the wisdom to know uh the difference, yes.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: So, with that one, once you are flexible in your mind that it's not everything that I can really control.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: So, if I can really control it, what I can own and control, focus on that okay, and count that as a win.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: So you count your wins and not your losses.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: They say sometimes a bad day is not a bad life.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so if you're able to have achieved or adapted uh maybe two or three things in a day, you've had uh should I say accomplish like two or three tax in a day, and unfortunately, you are going home and you had a car crash, even though it's a tragedy, celebrate the three tax you're able to achieve.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it's more of like cognitive flexibility.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm flexible with times when things are difficult.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: I know that it's not all gone.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think it also comes with the optimism and all of that.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um also uh faith-based religion and they also help, you know.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: Some also really believe in every religion has their own, but they believe in a higher being, having control.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: Those really, really, really helpful.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: People adapt to knowing that you have the big man up there backing you in everything.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: It also helps to reduce your stress.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_04: How about something like meditation?
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_04: Does that also help me?
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: Meditation too is very good.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: So those who it also flows with the religious part.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: So people meditate.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: If you're a Christian, you read your Bible, the Muslims, they have their Quran, the Buddhists, and I mean a whole lot.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to choose, oh, this is what I can do to be able to adapt to my stress.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and a very, very, very important one, which I've said for love, uh, for the last is um having a support system.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_04: Nice.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: A support system is one of you can never discount a support system.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_04: So marriage is still better than divorce.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: Wait, wait, wait, wait.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's actually better to stay married than to divorce statistically, because you lose more by divorcing.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it's not only um some might look at it on one aspect.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: Let's say you have built a life and with someone, you are not losing only, should I say, property in quotes.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's an emotional bond.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: Those those are the difficult ones to deal with.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: And there are people that you've shared your whole life with, you know.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: So it's better if if only it is the right thing to do.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's better uh that you stay married rather than to divorce.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: But if you can't help it because of circumstances, the same thing, circumstances beyond your control, because actually, divorce can actually be a lifesaver for some people, let's say in abusive or in a toxic relationship, toxic relationship.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry to sound chenzi, but in a toxic relationship, exactly.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: So those ones are rather because I have seen people who have divorced and they seem to be living the best time of their life, and I've seen those who also married and they seem to be in the best time of their life.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: So each situation is different, each situation is different, but your social support, very important.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: Partners having good friends around you, very important.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: Partners, good friends now, and family, very very important.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_04: So I have to know.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I call these three hormones the happiness hormones.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_04: That's dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, which of these three actually reduces stress the most?
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: So the the point is um there's a balance of the hormones, okay, and it works on your what called the frontal lobe, your amygdala, your I don't want to go, that's too technical.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, get technical.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: My people like it.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: So they act on receptors in those parts.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: Your frontal lobe is mostly for planning, executive function, your hypocampus, memory, amygdala, and all of that.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: So what happens is that there are hormones that they let's say when you are in a happy mood, they sort of stimulate receptors in those parts of your brain.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and they make you feel happy, they make you feel relieved, and all of that.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: So all those hormones actually, but they have to be in a perfect balance.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, because at a point where you know, even um cigarette, alcohol, illicit drugs, they all also increase like dopamine and the rest.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: But the question is if the balance is switched, it can lead to um addiction.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so they have to.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: So you become an addictive, what you call the junkie.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: You are really looking for that.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: You want to be high on dopamine, that kind of thing.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_01: So there have to be a perfect balance.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to accept that there'll be good days and there'll be bad days, but you are still a human and you are existing.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_04: So this means acceptance is actually the best solution for stress.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, acceptance.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: Accepting what's still back to the serenity prayer.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_01: Accept what I can't change.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, accept what I can change, and what I can change, I do it.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, this is something Stephen Covey talks about in circle of influence, where you accept that certain things you may be concerned, but they are not in your influence.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_04: So you let it go and handle what you can influence.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_04: But a lot of people are stressed out because Charlie, times are hard.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_04: Times are hard.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_04: We are living with a hustle mentality.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_04: So where do you draw the line between I need to work hard to survive and make a living versus I need to slow down so I don't get stressed?
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_04: Because you keep talking about fight or flight.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_04: But for certain people, working hard is fight or flight because that's survival mode for them.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_04: So how do they balance it?
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: So, with the adaptation, I think when it also comes to the personnel, so someone who says I want to, I'm in a mansion in probably uh I only want to mention an area, maybe a very influential area in Ghana.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: But I want a castle in another influential area.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: So this is maybe in quote, someone who is in quote well off, but is stressed because they want to meet a certain level very high.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so if you have that mindset, it doesn't matter whether if you are rich or you are poor, you always be stressed out, being grateful for what you have and working towards what you want.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: But so when you're working towards what you want, you are not stressed out, you just have a strategy and a plan.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so you are focused on your strategy and your plan, you are not stressed out, okay.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_01: But if what you have now, assuming you are driving a Lancruiser, but you're like, no, no, no, no, probably you want to have maybe a Lamborghini.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you get it.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_01: A Lan Cruiser is a good car in the eyes of majority of people, but because of what you are striving for, you don't even appreciate what you have.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_01: So at that point, even though you are you have wealth, you are stressed out, and it can lead to so many diseases that I mean you should actually not be stressing yourself that way.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: It leads to so many, so it has to be more of the balance.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: Can I live a meaningful life with what I have now and work towards what I want?
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: So you need a moment of self-reflection.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, understand that this is me, this is where I can go to.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have a castle now, but I'm working towards the castle.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I shouldn't stress, I should enjoy the life as and when it's coming, and you reach there.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_04: But you know, one thing I've noticed in Ghana especially is a lot of us overlook mental and emotion and emotional health.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_04: How do you think we can get people to be more skewed towards this?
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_04: Because I know people who are suffering out there and need help, but they feel like it's too weak to be having mental or you know emotional problems.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_01: I agree, and it's something that comes to our attention a lot as clinicians because when you hear mental health, there's a lot of stigma.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_04: I'm going to see a therapist.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: So it's more about creating a lot of awareness.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's just that, um, as we were saying, um, now with the stress and uh the definitions, some people it's not that they are really mentally, it's more about a culture that they are following that I'm stressed out, but they are not really stressed out, yeah.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like maybe someone who has everything at home, like a kid, and he just feels stressed out because maybe he's not getting a first class ticket.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like things that these are like extra, extra, extra.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_04: But they went to a restaurant, and you know, the butter is on the wrong side of the state.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_01: That kind of thing.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_04: I'm stressed.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so those ones, those are not uh, should I say, mental that oh, I'm having a mental breakdown.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: Those are not the real things.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: The real ones are those who are depressed because they are somewhere that is killing them.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_01: They are in they are battling their mind every time.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: So it's awareness.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: We just have to let people understand if someone has a mental issue, you are not supposed to say, like, that's stigma and the rest.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's really a lot of awareness so that people can come out and also building capacity for, should I say, doctors and clinicians who can handle these kinds of um conditions because they are not so much also in the system.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have the statistics of it, but they are not much, they are actually very few.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, I know they even get stressed at a point because they have too many patients to handle.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's awareness, um, bring down the stigma so that people can actually get the help that they need.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_04: So, you personally, yeah, you were talking about the fact that you know I have a stressful job.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_04: But please tell me what job is more stressful than yours?
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_04: Being a doctor is stressful, being a surgeon is stressful, and then you also run your own emergency.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_04: How do you manage all that stress?
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_04: Because I've never seen somebody who is so calm and relaxed, like what do you do in the surgery, and you're so calm and relaxed, like you know, you're just making a sandwich or something.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_04: How do you manage the stress in your life?
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so um, I think with some of the coping mechanisms that I said, I also have my faith background.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_01: I believe in God.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I have a strong belief in God.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_04: In God we trust.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_04: I hear now the the crypto people say in code we trust.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so that also keeps me grounded.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: I also have um a good support system.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, yes.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I have good friends, I have I'm not married anyway, which I know.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_02: Or increase it, or increase it.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_02: We'll see.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_01: So, with that, I have uh good friends, I have a good social network, people that I meet, um, have a good family who also are very supportive of me, and um adaptation.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_01: I also try to, when I get a chance, to be able to at least work out a bit, you know, the exercise that we talked about, yeah, drink a lot of water, have a lot of uh, should I say, positive outlook on things because, as you said, with the number of things I'm juggling, you have to make sure that you have a sort of environment that is very uh supporting.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_01: Have good friends that you can go to and talk to when you are stressed out, have those who really have your back.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: Once you have that, I think it's it really goes a long way.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_01: And always remember your why.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_01: Why are you even doing what you are doing in the first place?
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you if you know that no, I'm doing this to be able to get to this level, it's because of A, B, and C I'm doing this, and I have my own list, why I do what I do.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay, so that keeps on pushing me and pushing me.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I said maybe you can't fit into my shoes, but uh the principles that I follow, if you also follow those principles, it may be able to help.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, yes.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_04: Is is there we've talked about uh how stress affects people differently, yeah.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_04: Right, so that's an individual difference.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, however, if you take young people and old people, is there a difference in the way generally it affects them?
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_01: So um like that category of people, yeah, yeah.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_01: So let's see with um let's say with the much older people, stress can actually lead to more conditions like you know, if you have maybe diabetes already, or you are growing old, so your body systems are sort of um, should I say, shrinking in terms of function.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_01: So if you are overly stressed, it will tip you off.
• 41:14
  unknown: Okay.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_01: A younger person has more young systems, so they can adapt more quickly to stress than when you are growing old.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's why they usually say when you are growing old, rather find a corner to be sitting more than chasing so many things.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_04: You know, when I was in my twenties and I was an artist, and we had to go out all the time, yeah.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_04: I can go drinking till 5 a.m.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, wake up at 7 a.m., go for an interview, be in the studio, you know, in two hours.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_04: Right now, if I decide to go drinking for the next three days, don't come.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's it's very true.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, once the organs are growing old, the adaptation capacity also comes down, so you learn to be able to live within your your age strata so that you are not too stressed out.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, interesting.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_04: Interesting.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_04: Um, are there any like warning signs for people?
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, like I know you mentioned changes in your life, but you know sometimes we don't self-reflect enough to notice the changes in our life.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_04: So, are there warning signs that people should look out for before it gets too late?
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: So, let's say with um maybe having probably persistent headaches, as could be due to you're always anxious, you're having persistent headaches, it's one of the things that you may have to be looking out for.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh for the life changes, as I said, you have to be able to deduce it.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_01: And um, other symptoms, uh, maybe if you are generally having these body pains and you can't really explain why you are having them, know that probably it could be stress with the guys.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_01: Once they come and they're like, Hey, now what they say is that dog, now I can't go far.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_01: I go only I go short distance.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_01: I go short distance.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_01: First, first, I I used to go far.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_01: I've had clients who have come like, oh, I'm with my wife, I can go for this long, but of late, then I just take my time and ask them, uh so why is this so?
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_01: Then you realize at this time finances are actually very poor.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_01: He has to be trekking to try and go and look for money and come home.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_01: Family is not happy, kids are not happy, wife are not happy.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, so all those things, it's like it's affecting his uh erection.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_01: You get it?
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh huh.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_01: So that is a sign that, but to him, he doesn't know his stress.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_01: He just knows that probably hey, I'm growing old or something.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_01: But once you're able to solve that stressor, usually.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: His uh potency and everything come back up.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_01: So those are just a few.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_01: But once you realize no, there's you are feeling a symptom which is not the usual, and you are not sure.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you can always approach a healthcare provider and see that okay, it's not an organic problem, but it's actually stress that is causing it.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_04: So, this question is for me.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_04: Can allergies be triggered by stress?
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_04: Hey, what's all my secrets?
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_01: You just so it's it's interesting.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_01: You can actually there we have we have what they call stress hives.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so they are like allergic bumps that you can see usually with us because our skin is dark, it's sometimes difficult to see it, but it's there, but usually Caucasians you can see it very clearly on their face, their chest, and and it's like uh it's not like the person is allergic to anything.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_01: It just happened that for the past few days, um, he's fighting at home, yeah, or he's he's lost his job, or finances are not going well, and all of a sudden he's having some rush, he doesn't know where it's coming from, and it becomes even a vicious cycle.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_01: He's thinking of the rash, then it's getting where stress, more stress, a vicious cycle, a stress loop, a stress loop, yes, yes.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_04: Wow, okay, that's good to know.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_04: Um see in the hospital after that.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_04: But I want to know, we're talking about lifestyle changes.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_04: We've spoken about exercise, about wellness with meditation, we've spoken about routines and stuff.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_04: What about diets?
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_04: Can your diets positively or negatively influence your stress?
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_01: So, yes, in a way, sometimes we call some foods like happy foods.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, chocolate.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_01: So we have we have foods like that, and um uh the the point is that with the healthy lifestyle, the wellness, the foods play a part in it.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, if you have a healthy lifestyle with your exercise and dieting rights, you're able to adapt to stress better.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_01: So let's say maybe you are really on choking on a lot of junk, and maybe you are putting on so much weight, you can't even move out to go and should I say exercise.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_01: You may have a lot of social frustrations because you've kept on so much weight.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_01: You can't even go out to meet friends because you're having ashamed of how you look.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_01: So having maybe a good diet and keeping a good, should I say, in quote, physique or looking well in a way can help you mitigate your stress.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_01: And besides the stress causing the hypertension and the rest, you know, those diets too can propagate or make your hypertension or diabetes worse.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_01: So it becomes another another trigger, yeah.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_01: Another trigger.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, yes.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_04: You know, um, I was told once this by a doctor that almost every Ghanaian consistently has malaria in their blood because of all the mosquitoes around.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_04: So when you fall sick with malaria, yeah, it's because you got stressed by either another sickness or something happening in your life that brought the malaria to how how true is this?
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so so it is it is more of it's it's here and there.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_01: Usually, um with malaria, there's what you call a cold sore.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, that one is uh herpesimplex, so it's like you have like a rash on your lip or something.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_01: When you are having the malaria, it sort of affects your immune system.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so your stress hormones to awaken, you're undergoing the whole pathology of malaria, so your immune system is a bit dropped.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, then the next thing you realize you have like a rash on your lip.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that one they usually come, the reactivation comes when your immune system is a bit lower.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so maybe that's why they say if you are so stressed, then malaria can kick in.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_01: Aha, but it's it's more of like a myth, sort of, but it helps you know that okay, probably having malaria when you see a cold sore.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and it's something that people have used for treatment and a whole lot, yeah.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, okay.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_04: So as I'm sitting here, I could have malaria right now.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, so I just I shouldn't get stressed.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, do a favor for me.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_04: There's somebody out there right now who's watching us, okay, who's battling consistent anxiety.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, how do you think you can help this person reduce their anxiety?
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_01: So, with this consistent anxiety, it's going to, I mean, the stress is coming.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_01: The question is, what is even causing anxiety?
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, just know that there's help available.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and you can start from somewhere.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_01: Someone will say, Oh, maybe I don't have money to go to the hospital, or I don't uh the stigma and all of that.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_01: But there are simple, simple, simple things you can start on your own.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_01: Some of the coping mechanisms we talked about.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now you are very anxious.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_01: Start with perceived control.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_01: Try and set realistic goals for yourself.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_01: And every day that you accomplish attacks, give yourself a thumbs up and forget about what you couldn't do.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_01: Be optimistic that there's always hope and you can always get out of your anxiety.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_01: Involve other people who are in your life, either good friends, either family.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there are so many online coaches, there are so many mentors.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_01: Reach out to someone and talk to them.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_01: Even having a small talk can go a long way to be able to help you.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_01: And always have that uh mental uh the cognitive flexibility that it's possible that I can come out of it.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_01: Having a lot of positivity is sometimes difficult.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's why when you have people encouraging you, people who are close to you are talking to you, it goes a long way.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_01: If all these ones do these are, should I say, the first steps that you should take.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_01: If these don't work, then for that I would strongly advise that you try and get in touch with the healthcare professional.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_01: Because there are people who are dealing with depression, they are dealing with anxiety, they don't know how to even uh um, should I say, develop coping mechanisms.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_01: So for that, uh we strongly advise that the seeker see a medical uh health professional so that the person can guide you.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_01: And we are in the 21st century, most of the health professionals have been trained to try and avoid this stigma.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, I mean, it's better.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_01: We have those who it can be so bad that they end up causing um suicide.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_01: I sometime back I had someone I knew from childhood cause suicide sometime back, and it was just so sad.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_01: And you could see the person had it's probably either some anxiety disorder and depression, but couldn't really come out.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_04: So many people are walking around with a lot on their shoulders, and yes, they just need someone to talk to.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I keep telling people be kind.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_04: Because you don't know the battle somebody is fighting as they are walking on the street, as somebody crossed you in traffic and you are screaming and cussing them out.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_04: You don't know that their loved one just died and they are coming from the hospital.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_04: And what you are saying is now adding to that stress.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_04: You know, like the truth is, I think everybody is going through some amount of stress and is looking for a way to reduce that stress.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_04: I personally think, like how you said one of the most important things is a support system.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_04: I would advocate that as humans, we should be the support system for everybody else.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_04: Like sometimes it's okay to take a loss, take the L just to make sure somebody else is able to release some stress, you know, and then somebody else will do the same for you, and it keeps going like that because life is hard.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_07: Life is hard, it's hard though.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_01: Seriously, yes, I will see it day in and day out.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, people visit us in the clinic, and you realize that this is not what you call it, not an organic disease, it is just something mental.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_01: The person is struggling with something like that, and they just need to be able to be head.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and once we know that we just direct them to the right people to see.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_01: So everyone is struggling.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_01: I said it's very good.
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_04: You just have to be kind and a good, it's so easy to be kind, yeah.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_04: So if I I have anxiety, can I come to RMC?
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_01: You have to, yes, yes, because we have um a clinical psychologist and a psychiatrist, too.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'll be there next week again.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_04: But doc, thank you so much.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_04: I know everybody watching right now is so much grateful for what you've been able to share with them.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_04: You've reduced their stress just by this conversation and taking them one step closer to becoming a mastermind like you.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you so much.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_04: Thanks for watching this episode.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_04: The fact that you stayed all the way through to the end tells me that you're not only curious, but you have the discipline to see what you do all the way through to the end.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_04: Now let's build a community of thinkers who are ready to become the best version of themselves.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_04: So subscribe to the channel and the mindset that you will develop and grow every day to become a true mastermind.