Getting 7-8 hours of good quality sleep helps you become 60% more reactive during the day
Exercise is crucial because it prepares you for stress response
During major adjustment periods, people should limit external commitments for 6 weeks to avoid high levels of stress
Some people are more prone to stress than others
Before seeking professional help, people should assess the intensity, frequency and duration of their anxiety
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#UAEnews #podcast #stress
Exercise is crucial because it prepares you for stress response
During major adjustment periods, people should limit external commitments for 6 weeks to avoid high levels of stress
Some people are more prone to stress than others
Before seeking professional help, people should assess the intensity, frequency and duration of their anxiety
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV
#UAEnews #podcast #stress
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NewsTranscript
00:00Not all stress is bad. Some stress is actually good for you.
00:04So when you are running on the treadmill,
00:07you are activating the stress response in your body.
00:11And that is a good thing because it is then,
00:14when you stress the system, then the system says,
00:17okay, I've got to now meet that demand.
00:20And that's how you grow.
00:22And that's how you expand your abilities,
00:25whether it's physical strength or mental strength.
00:28You do have to put a little bit of pressure
00:30or a little bit of stress onto that system
00:32in order for that system to then expand
00:35beyond what it is comfortable with.
00:38So you think about your comfort zone as having no stress,
00:42but you think about your growth zone as having some stress.
00:45But you are able to meet those demands and adapt
00:50and then push yourself out and then meet those demands and adapt.
00:59Okay, so I'm not sure if this was answered in our conversation,
01:03but this was one of the questions I had.
01:05What's the difference between acute and chronic stress?
01:08This is something that I read about and I was like,
01:11okay, I've never heard of that before.
01:13What is the difference between the two?
01:15Acute is short-term.
01:17Acute meaning short and small.
01:19Acute stress, we can deal with it.
01:21It comes and it goes.
01:23So acute stress could be like end-of-the-year reports.
01:27We're under acute stress right now.
01:29Chronic stress is we are working in a psychologically unsafe environment.
01:33We are living in an environment with many microstressors.
01:37That is chronic.
01:39Chronic meaning long-term.
01:41Constant.
01:42Constant.
01:43Okay.
01:44Chronic, not good.
01:46Acute pushes you.
01:48You still have to manage it.
01:50You still aren't going to perform your best
01:52if you're really under too much stress,
01:55but it usually doesn't last very long.
01:57Yeah.
01:58So it's temporary.
01:59It's sort of like project-based basically kind of.
02:02Okay.
02:03So we spoke about stress and we spoke about what causes it
02:07and we spoke about the different types of stress.
02:09So the big S, the small S, acute, chronic.
02:13What can I do to prevent this?
02:16So like what are some stress management,
02:21I don't know, I want to say mechanisms
02:24that a person can do so that they don't reach that point.
02:27What are certain things that I may do during my day
02:30that will make a big difference by the end of the week
02:34so I don't feel overwhelmed?
02:36What are certain like if you can give like people tips
02:39on what to do during your day
02:41so you do not reach that point where you shut down?
02:46There are many things you can do
02:48and your stress-relieving activities would be different than someone else's,
02:55but there are some non-negotiables.
02:59This is like, hey, listen, if you ain't doing this,
03:02you could be reading every book,
03:03you could be listening to every podcast,
03:05it ain't going to help.
03:06Right.
03:07So let me tell you what the non-negotiables are.
03:09One, sleep.
03:11It is a non-negotiable.
03:14You can come to therapy until seven years from now,
03:19twice a week,
03:20and if you aren't sleeping,
03:22it's not going to help
03:24because what sleep does,
03:27I mean, that's a whole other podcast, by the way,
03:29I'm not going to go into the details of that,
03:31but you need the sleep
03:33because if you don't sleep seven to eight hours of good quality sleep,
03:39not just passing out at two in the morning,
03:41good quality sleep,
03:43you are 60% more reactive in the day.
03:50So you come into the day,
03:52you have stress,
03:53I have stress,
03:54I slept well,
03:55I'm more capable, more able.
03:58We have the same resource,
04:00literally the same exact person,
04:03same background, same histories, everything.
04:06I am my clone of me, okay?
04:09Right.
04:10And they come in,
04:11this one slept and this one didn't.
04:14This one is going to be more reactive.
04:17They're just going to be more reactive
04:19because the amygdala is going to be much more in control.
04:24The amygdala is our fight-or-flight reactivity system, okay?
04:27We are going to be more reactive
04:29when something doesn't go our way.
04:31So that's the first thing.
04:33You've got to, got to, got to get your sleep in order.
04:37We can talk about how to do that another time.
04:40Another thing I would say is that you've got to exercise.
04:45Literally exercise.
04:47Not just like, oh, stretching.
04:49No, movement is good,
04:51but you've got to do some cardio,
04:53you've got to exercise.
04:55That exercise actually prepares you for the stress response.
04:59Really?
05:00So it actually is giving you small doses.
05:04It's like a vaccine.
05:05It gives you the small dose of the flu,
05:08mobilizes your immune system to then come in and say,
05:11I can handle the big dose if the flu comes my way.
05:15What exercise does is it gives you small doses of stress,
05:19so then you are actually more capable of dealing with stress.
05:23It not only does that, it actually releases stress.
05:26It gives you positive chemicals,
05:28like endorphins and serotonin and dopamine
05:31and all the beautiful things that we want.
05:34So not only is it protective,
05:37it actually is generative for you
05:40when it comes to what it does for you.
05:43So exercise is a non-negotiable.
05:46If you're sitting all day and you're dealing with stress,
05:49even if you're sleeping,
05:51you're not fully resourced.
05:55And then the third thing that I would say, eat right.
06:0190% of our serotonin, which is our happy chemical,
06:06which is an antidepressant
06:09and all different types of medications,
06:12is in our gut.
06:14It's produced in our gut.
06:17And more and more research is showing about the gut-brain access.
06:21The gut communicates to the brain,
06:23the brain communicates to the gut,
06:25and we're all talking to each other.
06:28You literally feel what you eat.
06:31And if you're eating Doritos all day long, guess what?
06:34You're going to feel dead.
06:36You're going to feel not alive.
06:38You're going to feel suffocated.
06:40Basically, you're going to feel like a Dorito.
06:42A Dorito, I was just going to say.
06:44And so what you want is you want to eat of the earth.
06:48You want to nourish your body.
06:50And that's what you are doing.
06:52Now, what am I doing as I do these three things?
06:55Sleep, eat, exercise.
06:57C, so you can see straight.
06:59S-E-E, okay?
07:02When you are doing this, you actually are able to see straight.
07:05You're able to see better.
07:07But other things that are actually very protective of stress
07:11are things like making sure you get your blood work done routinely.
07:18Because sometimes it's a magnesium deficiency.
07:21It's a vitamin D deficiency.
07:23And we think, oh, I feel so depressed.
07:25And it's like, no, actually you're low on vitamin D
07:28or you're low on magnesium.
07:30And that can mimic the symptoms of depression.
07:34No energy, can't concentrate, can't motivate myself, all of that.
07:38And bottom up, your body is saying something ain't right.
07:42So I would say do routine blood work.
07:44I would also say hydrate.
07:46Dehydration can look like depression.
07:49Dehydration can also look like anxiety and anger issues.
07:52So are you hydrating yourself?
07:54Minerals, vitamins, all of that stuff.
07:56So those are some of the things that I would say are non-negotiables.
08:00Now on the flip side, there are going to be some protective measures you can have.
08:06Make sure you have a tribe.
08:08I know we live in Dubai.
08:10It's a transient community, although it's not so much anymore.
08:14But you want, even if you're here for two years, find your people.
08:21Whether it's your cycling club or your book club or your work people,
08:25find your people. You need people.
08:28We are tribal people for as long as time.
08:32We have been tribal people.
08:34So who is your tribe?
08:35And they can't be the people that are living across the ocean
08:38because they're not accessible to you in the same time zone as you.
08:41And if I'm really stressed, I need you.
08:44I need you to help me regulate.
08:46So who are your people here?
08:49Find those people.
08:50That is the number one most protective measure against stress.
08:55It mitigates, it regulates when it comes to stress.
08:59And then I would say is that build coping skills.
09:03You've got to have good coping skills.
09:06And that could be anything from mindfulness.
09:08It could be a hobby.
09:09It could be a new thing you do.
09:12It could be cognitive behavioral therapy techniques.
09:15It could be something you work with your therapist with.
09:18It could be small things you do throughout your day
09:21that actually help regulate you.
09:24You need to keep putting into this little bucket of resource.
09:30You need to keep resourcing yourself.
09:32The bigger the challenge, the more the resource.
09:36And there are times where I go through, for example,
09:39September is a very hectic time.
09:43As a mother of four children, one in boarding school,
09:46one in this curriculum, one in that curriculum.
09:48All of this stuff is moving,
09:50and then the business really takes off in September.
09:54The demands on me are high at that point.
10:00I turn down the socializing.
10:02I love socializing.
10:03I have a few people that I hang out with,
10:06but the big social events, no, I'm not doing those.
10:10So I turn those down because that also takes resources.
10:14So I don't want to get dressed up, and I don't want to go out,
10:16and I don't want to be in loud environments,
10:18and I don't want to stay out late,
10:19and I don't want to eat foods that might compromise me.
10:22I can do that regularly in different months,
10:25but in September, it's just buckle down,
10:27and let's get a system in order for the first six weeks.
10:31So during major adjustment periods,
10:33I would say to people and parents, generally human beings,
10:38when you are in an adjustment period,
10:40which is any adjustment, you have a new job,
10:42you have a new child, you have a new marriage,
10:44you have a new relationship, any adjustment,
10:47give it six weeks.
10:49Buckle down.
10:50You've got to go into like Olympian mode.
10:53Resource up.
10:55Limit the things that chip away at you
10:58because you're going to need that.
10:59Right, right.
11:01So I'm glad you mentioned that because I think that a lot of us,
11:06again, with the social life,
11:07you were saying you turn that down a little.
11:09That's sometimes an escape for people
11:11when they feel like they're overstressed.
11:13They feel like that social aspect is going to help them
11:16when it doesn't necessarily.
11:18It actually stresses them out even more
11:21because they think about, oh, I need to get dressed,
11:23and what am I going to wear, and where are we going,
11:25and then you stay up late, which affects your sleep,
11:27and so on and so forth.
11:29So it sort of affects every other aspect.
11:32The second thing that I wanted to comment on is finding your people.
11:35I actually love that.
11:37That's beautiful because sometimes finding the wrong people
11:40can actually be what harms you,
11:42and I feel like finding the right people is so important
11:45and is sometimes difficult,
11:47to find the right people that will give you the right energy
11:49and that will give you the right encouragement in the right place.
11:53So I really like those two.
11:55I would just correct one thing.
11:57It's not sometimes.
11:59It actually is.
12:00I mean, it's a researched fact that if you have the wrong people around you,
12:04you are far more compromised.
12:07There you go.
12:08You are not going to be happy.
12:09There you go.
12:10Period.
12:11So really look at who's around you.
12:13And, of course, we can't choose our family,
12:16and we might be in places where we have to deal with difficult colleagues.
12:20You're just going to have to limit those interactions,
12:22and you're going to resource up before you go in front of those people.
12:25Exactly, yes.
12:26But who are your people that you go to where you are in your pajamas,
12:31and you can just be like, hey, listen, I just want to talk,
12:33and hey, why don't you come hang out and let's have a burger?
12:36It's not about what you do.
12:39It's just you're hanging out and being with those people,
12:43and they're being with you.
12:45You are supporting them, and they are supporting you just by being with each other.
12:50Yes, exactly.
12:52Okay, so moving into like professionally,
12:56do you feel that there are some people that are more prone to stress?
13:02Yeah, sure.
13:04Are there certain personalities or certain, I don't know,
13:09people that are just more prone to stress?
13:12I'm actually curious to know because is it an excuse or is it actually true?
13:17Like if someone comes and says, oh, I'm more prone to it,
13:20sort of like when you were saying I'm predisposed to get diabetes, for instance.
13:26But do you feel like some people are more prone to stress?
13:30Sure.
13:31People with childhood, your childhood experiences,
13:34people with perfectionistic tendencies,
13:37people with type A personalities that are kind of highly driven,
13:41highly ambitious, highly like not intolerant of things that go wrong,
13:48like that type of person is going to be far more stressed.
13:51So there are certain life circumstances also that happen
13:56that then are depleting us so much of our resources that we are going to be more prone.
14:00So it's not just, oh, I was predisposed to stress
14:05because I lived in a stressful home environment.
14:08That is a predisposition that my system is charged up
14:14because I had traumatic childhood or I had complex trauma during my childhood,
14:21relational trauma, a traumatic childhood that I lived in,
14:24parents that were actually quite volatile, violent or aggressive.
14:29Any of these things puts us in this vigilant state.
14:34And when we're in that vigilant state, we are just looking for that thing to go wrong.
14:42So that is a predisposition of life experiences that can charge people up a certain way.
14:48But it also is you could be a pretty chilled out person,
14:53but life is asking a lot of you now.
14:55Maybe you're going through a divorce and you just had a baby
14:59or maybe you had a death in the family and your job, you just got promoted.
15:04Like it's about what is life asking of you?
15:08And are you able with the resources you have?
15:13And that doesn't mean that you step down from life.
15:16That just means you've got to resource out more in order to meet those demands.
15:21So that's where it's like get support because that's support that lifts you
15:26into being able to meet those demands.
15:29This is where the bigger the life gets, the more you want to do in your life,
15:34you're going to need support.
15:36You cannot do it alone.
15:38It's impossible.
15:40Trust me, I tried.
15:42It doesn't work.
15:44It doesn't work.
15:45It's just an equation.
15:46It's just how it works.
15:47So you're absolutely right.
15:50Loud inner critic, lots of fears that they haven't confronted,
15:55low self-esteem, low confidence.
15:58These are all things that are going to contribute to them being more predisposed
16:03to stress, burnout, anxiety.
16:06Of course, of course.
16:07Okay, so we can talk about stress until tomorrow.
16:10Until next year.
16:12Exactly.
16:14But I want to go into anxiety a bit more.
16:17So I want to discuss when does anxiety get out of control
16:22and when does a person know that, okay, I need professional help
16:27because I can no longer control the anxiety.
16:29I'm always anxious about anything, the little things and the big things.
16:33When does it need professional help?
16:37So think about these three words, intensity, frequency, duration.
16:46How intense it is, 1 to 10?
16:49How are you feeling?
16:50How anxious are you feeling?
16:51Oh, my God, I'm a 10.
16:53I'm like 12, actually.
16:56Frequency, how often is that happening?
16:59Oh, it just started happening.
17:02Frequency, like how often?
17:03Is it every day?
17:05Duration, how long has that been going on?
17:09Now, if my daughter comes to me and says,
17:12I'm anxious or I'm depressed, I'm looking for these three things.
17:18And she could say, well, it's been going on all day
17:22and it's a 10 out of 10.
17:24For how long?
17:25For three days.
17:27It is not depression.
17:28It is not anxiety.
17:29But it's enough of a flag.
17:31We've got the orange flag going at this point.
17:33The red flag is not up, but the orange flag is up.
17:36You need an intervention because if you don't address it now,
17:39it then could become a disorder.
17:41You see?
17:42So you just don't wake up one day and you're anxious.
17:47Of course.
17:48You don't just wake up one day and you have a clinical diagnosis of depression.
17:51Right.
17:52It slowly builds to a place where it becomes unmanageable.
17:58And it's because people are dismissing it all the way through.
18:01It's no big deal.
18:02It's no big deal.
18:03I have everything to be happy about.
18:05I have nothing to be anxious about.
18:07We say these things to ourselves.
18:09At one point, then, a small thing could throw us over the edge.
18:13So we might be managing life and it's no big deal.
18:16And then something unexpected happens.
18:20And that then breaks us because we just were not addressing it.
18:24So intensity, frequency, duration.
18:29Is it happening all day, every day, for how long?
18:32And what's the rating here?
18:34So you want to address it if it's happening.
18:37You mentioned that anxiety could lead to different mental disorders.
18:42What are some of the things that it could lead to?
18:44Well, anxiety is a disorder.
18:46Anxiety disorder, we can have just generalized anxiety disorders.
18:51It could lead to phobias.
18:52It could lead to depression.
18:54Often there's an overlap because of the neurochemical changes and the structural changes.
18:59It could lead to concentration issues.
19:02It could lead to you losing your job.
19:05And then you have financial issues.
19:07It could lead to addictions.
19:09Those usually go together a lot because it's so intolerable
19:12that we start to then smoke or drink or whatever it is that people do, shop.
19:18And then we have financial issues.
19:19That could lead us into relationship issues.
19:22So it's a ripple effect.
19:24It's a ripple effect.
19:26It can touch every corner of our life.
19:29And it could lead to physical health issues.
19:33It could lead to things like diabetes and cardiac issues and GI issues.
19:40So it's not and, and, and.
19:42I mean I could go on and on.
19:43Right.
19:44And sleep issues.
19:45And then the sleep could then affect.
19:46So it's this back and forth of mind and body and then the psychosocial issues that then results in.
19:55Yeah.
19:56And it just goes.
19:57It gets worse.
19:58Yeah.
19:59It's basically what we've been speaking about, how the mind and the body are interconnected.
20:02They're not two separate things.
20:04I mean they both affect each other.
20:05So it makes sense.
20:07I know you don't have a lot of time left.
20:10And before we end the session, I just wanted to ask you what advice.
20:14Like you told us about the C, which is sleep, exercise, and eat.
20:21Right.
20:22Okay.
20:23So I got that.
20:24For stress.
20:25And for anxiety, what to look for in terms of frequency and the duration and the intensity of it.
20:31That's right.
20:32Am I doing well?
20:33You are doing so well.
20:34I'm glad.
20:35What's some general advice for people who are just generally going through a tough time at this time of the year?
20:41You mentioned September.
20:42September is one of the toughest months of the year for a lot of people, especially in this region,
20:47because it's going back to work after a summer vacation.
20:49Kids are going back to school.
20:51People are flying back into the country.
20:54Targets are being set in different jobs that you need to meet before the end of the year.
20:59So it is a pretty stressful time.
21:02What is your advice just in general?
21:08I think the most important thing for me in the recent years is learning that while I was preparing for the big S's,
21:21I was not realizing that it was the small S's that were chipping away at me.
21:31And burnout was not a result of big things.
21:37I was actually worn out before I was burnt out.
21:42And so look for the small things you can change in your life.
21:50Ease the small annoyances and issues.
21:56Put systems in place for those small things that are annoyances.
22:01So you actually have the resources to deal with the big things when they come.
22:08That's one thing.
22:10The second thing that I would say is that you've got to come at life with a level of discipline.
22:18I love this go with the flow, but no.
22:22You've got to go with scheduled, disciplined health activities.
22:31Things that feed you.
22:33If I go with the flow, I ain't going to flow into the gym.
22:37It's not going to happen.
22:39You've got to schedule in.
22:41You need a structure.
22:42A structure, a schedule.
22:45When am I going to see my friends?
22:47When am I going to exercise?
22:49When am I going to do professional development?
22:51When am I going to make sure that I am doing something I love?
22:56It's called hedonistic scheduling, but you've got to schedule it in.
23:01It's not going to happen.
23:03Life will spill over into your whole schedule and you will not have space for you.
23:08So it's going to be very important to put yourself in that schedule
23:13because it will get taken up by everything else.
23:17I would say the third thing and the last thing is take tiny steps.
23:24Most of us think, I've been in my life actually,
23:28there were times when baby steps were too big.
23:32I don't have the energy for baby steps.
23:35Don't take baby steps.
23:37Take tiny steps towards your goal.
23:40It does matter.
23:42So sometimes people are like, well, what's me walking to my car,
23:48parked far away, going to do for my health goals?
23:52Parked far away.
23:53It's okay.
23:54Walk.
23:55It'll make a difference.
23:56Every step makes a difference.
23:59So look for the tiny shifts that you can make in your day that serve you
24:06because then you are feeling like I'm actually doing something for myself.
24:11The research shows that even if you put one flower
24:15and you look at it for a few seconds a day throughout your day,
24:20you're walking and then you pause, you take a deep breath and you walk,
24:24just that calms your nervous system.
24:29Those small things and you say, I did something for myself.
24:31I showed up for myself.
24:33And then the momentum builds
24:36and that momentum is precisely what you need in order for big change to happen.
24:40So the tiny things do build momentum.
24:42Do not wait for the big energy to do the big things.
24:46It's never going to come, I promise.
24:49And motivation will never come.
24:51Motivation only comes when you start taking the tiny steps towards it.
24:55We really underestimate those little wins that we get throughout the day.
25:00You were just talking about walking to your car,
25:02feeling good about yourself that you walked, you know,
25:04you did some more steps today.
25:06I just took the steps instead of taking the elevator.
25:08Yeah, the stairs.
25:09And that's also another good example.
25:11So we really underestimate those little wins, those little achievements.
25:14We always aim high.
25:16And that stresses us out even more,
25:18like when we put a goal that is just unattainable and so far away.
25:23And so that stresses us out rather than achieving the little goals
25:27that I can actually, you know, get a sense of satisfaction from right now.
25:31So, yeah, absolutely.
25:32And it will move you.
25:33Like people will say, I want to do one hour in the gym every day.
25:37But then they just wait for that energy to come inside of them to say,
25:41okay, I have enough energy now and enough motivation now
25:44and enough desire now to actually do it.
25:46It's never going to come.
25:47Exactly.
25:48It will never come.
25:49Exactly.
25:50Even people who have been diagnosed with diseases
25:53and the doctor says it will save your life if you start exercising,
25:58they don't do it.
25:59So you have to think about how much energy you actually need
26:03in order to make that change.
26:04So start with the small things.
26:06Yeah.
26:07And the energy will build.
26:08Yes, precisely.
26:09Dr. Salha, thank you so much.
26:11It was a pleasure having you and we'd love to welcome you back.
26:14That's it for today.
26:16I know your time is really tight, but thank you so much for joining us.
26:20Thank you for having me.