8 Realistic Healthy Habits That Make a Huge Difference

 

everyone listening you probably think you are an excellent multitasker 100% of us think that we are excellent

multitaskers the truth is only 2% of human brains can effectively multitask multitasking is a scientific myth there

is no such thing if you can do 20 minutes of a walk every single day great it's the equivalent of a Facebook scroll

seriously we all scroll that's true or Instagram or choose your poison so you say in your research that there are six

elements that make up an incredible life what are

they hey it's your buddy Mel you know the other day I was standing in the grocery store staring at the pickles and

it occurred to me you know Mel you haven't changed the way you grocery shopped in probably five years I move

through the grocery store the exact same way every time I walk in the door I buy

the exact same things most of the time I don't even have a plan I bet you're the

same way I mean have you ever stopped to think about it just imagine if I were to put a tracker on you I know that would

be kind of creepy but let's just say that I was going to put a tracker on you I bet if we mapped you going into the

grocery store about a dozen times you would walk the aisles the exact same way

every time you go you would stop at the exact same spots every time well today

you and I are going to learn that there is a much better way to grocery shop a way that's going to lower your stress a

way that will make you healthier I mean this is going to blow your mind because you are going to learn it from a Harvard

medical doctor I mean how cool is that we're going to the grocery store with a Harvard medical doctor but that's not

all Harvard's doctor adidi nuroc car one of the world's leading experts on stress

she is back you loved her the first time she was on the Mel Robbins podcast she is back with eight proven and very

simple hacks on everything from how you and I can grocery shop better to one

change that she makes all of her patients do whenever they are on a zoom

call it immediately is going to lower your stress she's also here to teach you about the life-changing impact of

something called a fake commute I don't even know what that is but I want one and you're going to want one too and

she's also going to explain that there is this habit that's related to your

bottom yep you know the thing that you're probably sitting on right now if you're listening to me

if you're in your car or you're at work but there is this particular habit that

you have that's related to your rear end it is slowly killing you wait till you hear This research and what you need to

do about it and that's just the tip of the iceberg on the things that you're going to learn today and more

importantly what I love about this conversation is that these are simple changes that you're going to be so

inspired to make in your day-to-day life they're going to lower your stress amplify your happiness and make you

healthier and what I love is you're going to be able to make immediate changes to your habits that are going to

make you feel healthier with this advice from Dr adidi and here's how we're going to do this we're going to go down to our

studios in Boston for this incredible conversation I just want to jump right in take us to the grocery store how does

a Harvard doctor shop what are the best foods to buy let's hear your secrets a

Shop this way in the grocery store and you may lower your cholesterol.

simple thing I tell my patients is to walk the perimeter of the grocery store so as you go into your grocery store to

figure out what am I supposed to eat to heal or to strengthen or protect my gut brain connection just go on the

perimeter you have fruits and vegetables that's really important for a strong gut brain connection you can go into the

dairy section for fermented foods like yogurt kombucha cafir there's so many

fermented foods that are there whole grains and then lean proteins you can follow also a Mediterranean diet and

that word is kind of deceptive because it's not really a diet it's a way of life the Mediterranean diet is sort of

the gold standard in terms of the way of eating it's been used in all of the countries in the Mediterranean for eons

for centuries and now it's slowly making its way here to the US so focusing on a

plant-based diet eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables minimally processed foods whole grains beans nuts

oils like olive oils and minimizing Dairy and red meat and most importantly

here in the US the reason I mentioned the periphery and the perimeter of the grocery store because here in the US and

likely in other countries as well when you go into a grocery store the perimeter is where you have the produce

the dairy grains and meats and in the center all of those aisles are processed

foods many of them are ultr processed foods especially here in the US and so you want to minimize your consumption

this is not about becoming a monk and leading in existence where you are not engaging with food because food is

pleasure and it is important and especially when you're feeling a lot of stress eat a little chocolate cake it's good

for you it's good for your soul I certainly don't refrain but it's about when you create a habit and when you

have that habit of a slice of chocolate cake I talk about this in the book with one of my patients a slice of chocolate

cake every single night at 11:00 and then it starts affecting your you know your cholesterol and all of these other

things and then you're saying okay wait a second I got to get a handle out in this and it can be a slippery slope so really trying to focus be practical in

what you eat it doesn't have to be the huge lifestyle overhaul a little bit can go a long way so if you can make some

simple swaps you know like put a few forkfuls of sourkraut in your sandwich today when you're having lunch or at

night and you know have a little bit of extra extra helping of vegetables simple

daily things can make a big difference in the long run and it then what this does is when you have prebiotics

probiotics this sort of Mediterranean diet it doesn't have to be all day every day but if you can start slowly

incorporating a little bit at a time it strengthens your microbiome wow that is

super cool so as a a Harvard trained medical doctor when somebody comes into

your practice do you advise them to take supplements to improve their gut every

day people would come in with bags of supplements and say what should I take Dr Nar what's going to help me what's

not going to help me my standard line for every single patient who came in I would look at all of their medications I

would write them on the medical record to me very much taking a supplement is

like taking a medication right and so my Approach is always to strengthen and

give people a sense of empowerment to heal themselves from inside out and so

that's not to say I want to you know I don't want that to be taken out of context I very much am a part of the medical system I believe deeply in the

conventional medical system in medications to treat conditions but I mean when people come to say what

supplements should I take for my and my burnout I say try you know cuz I've had patients come in saying I sleep 4 hours

Are supplements really necessary?

a day can you tell me the best supplement to take to take to manage my stress and burnout I drink you know four

cups of coffee a day sometimes seven or eight cups of coffee a day I sleep four hours a day I'm just powering through

what's the best supplement to take my answer is that sleep is a therapeutic intervention let's focus on your sleep

let's decrease your caffeine intake let's get you moving a little bit these are the supplements that I want to

really in still in people rather than popping a pill I love that

answer and you know what else I'm thinking about is the fact that

you know we kind of just roll our eyes or we don't when you hear the advice

right just get better sleep shop the perimeter of the grocery

store like these small interventions right it's easy to dismiss this because

you think that the stress is so big or your problems are so big that there's no way that something so little would

actually impact something so big and I have always found in life that the

bigger the problem and the bigger the issue the smaller the solution I would say parent yourself back to a better

state of health you know that when if you are a parent listening or if you think about how your own parents were

maybe that's not the best example because you might not have had great parents but you know what it means to be a good parent right like a good bedtime

protecting sleep minimizing screen time eating good food a little bit of

exercise every day there are things that we tell our children all the time if you don't have kids you have nephews and nieces there are things that you know

will help them of course the adult brain is different than a child a child's brain but the adult brain is developing

as well because of the principles of neuroplasticity your brain is a muscle and it responds to external stimulation

If you think you’re too old for positive change, listen to this.

and external influence es even today I've had patients who have been 80 years old and made Behavior change and that

has made all the difference in their stress and burnout so these small little things actively influence the brain

because of neuroplasticity and can change and rewire your brain for less stress and burnout how does sitting all

day impact your stress as you may have heard in pop culture sitting is the new

smoking the science shows that sitting it's not just that exercise is good for

you and moving is good good for you for your stress anxiety burnout it's that

sitting is actually bad for you and it can increase your sense of anxiety

stress and burnout wow maybe we should have ordered standing desks around

here thank God we're only in here two two days a week and of course you want to sit and you know for me when I can

never use a standing desk I can't think right I need to sit down and do my work and have my deep thinking I wanted to

share a couple of pretty alarming statistics about sitting there was a

study of 800 people and the ones who sat the most this is like knock your socks

off data the people who sat the most had a 112% higher risk of

diabetes 147% higher risk of heart disease a 90% higher risk of death from

heart disease and a 50% higher risk from Death overall all to say that sitting is

actually bad for our health our well-being and as it turns out your stress and burnout how does sitting

trigger stress the mechanisms of action aren't entirely clear but the data

suggests that when you are sitting for prolonged prolonged length of time you

know you're stewing in your own emotions so to speak and so it's that getting up

and moving creates a whole Cascade of positive biological changes to your

brain and your body and when you're sitting for a long periods of time it that doesn't happen it also has a

cardiovascular benefit or rather it's detrimental to your cardiovascular health to just sit because a body is

meant to move your body is a the greatest machine and so use that machine

to do what it's meant to do it doesn't have to be you know you don't have to become an Olympian but certainly getting up and moving a little bit every day

even if it means 5 minutes between your Zoom meetings get up take a walk stretch

sitting for prolonged periods of time because think about it we sit all day at work then you sit all day at work and

then you sit in a car going back home and then you sit on your sofa all day so our the human body hasn't been designed

to just sit all day we are meant to move and move our bodies as a doctor what do

you recommend my watch has that standup thing I love it and I don't realize how how much time will go by and it's like

oh I haven't stood 2 hours holy cow I love that I would say there isn't

necessarily a prescription like a dose relationship for sitting and when to stand up and what's the dose of standing

and sitting just do it when you can you have a two-hour meeting can't stand up

right after that 2hour meeting instead of sitting on your slack Channel and responding to emails or doing all of those things get up and walk around

there is something to be said right like Plato Aristotle all of these greats talked about the benefit of a walk that

Mental Health of taking a walk and so it doesn't have to be this long profound walk just get up and stretch your body

do some gentle stretching some exercising connect your breath to your movement to your posture this is really

This is what sitting all day does to you, according to science.

important because that's like a way to tap into your Mind Body Connection as well how can you use your commute or

time that you're spending car pooling as a moment for reset 85% of employees

right now favor hybrid work I am a hybrid worker as are you as there many

people in on your team there are so many benefits of hybrid work increased autonomy greater

productivity and less stress and burnout as it turns out however our commute back

in the day when we all used to commute to and from the office it served two important roles the first was Geographic getting you from point A to point B the

second more important was psychological it got you out of home mode and into work mode think about when you're

working from home what you do you set up your laptop often on your kitchen table because many people don't have an office

right you set up your laptop you do all of your morning stuff to get the kids ready or to get yourself ready or get

your dog or pets or spouse or partners and then you just sit down on your laptop and you start your day or you

sometimes just get out of bed hopefully you're doing the 5-second rule you get out of bed brush your teeth put on some clothes sit down at your laptop your

brain loves compartments that is why in 2020 when we were parenting living and

working in the same space it was very difficult ult for us to function because your brain needs compartments when you

are giving yourself no time to transition from home mode in your bed asleep to work mode on your laptop your

brain can't adjust as well so what you can do is you fake your commute especially if you're working from home

it can again 5 minutes 2 minutes if that's all you have get your laptop your

workstation set up maybe you have a desktop get your workstation set up at your home maybe it's the kitchen table

put on your clothes at your wearing for the day get out of your pajamas head outside take a small walk go grab a cup

of coffee look at your to-do list look at your schedule and your meetings what do you have planned for that day you are

take a few minutes to just map out the day come back into your workstation your

quote unquote office and start the day why does it work it works because it honors your need for brain

compartmentalization while still you reap all of the benefits of a hybrid work model or working from home the

flexibility and all of that the reason it works is because your brain needs

time and space to transition we are multi-dimensional creatures humans and

we have many roles that we fulfill and we have to honor all of those roles and each of those roles and it this fake

commute allows us to honor all of those roles but also honor ourselves in the process and it gives you time and space

to transition out of home mode and into work mode and it's that buffer and reset

you need and if you can try to bookend it so at the end of your day instead of finishing up that last meeting and

rushing to daycare or rushing to get dinner ready you know a lot of times what we're doing throughout the day when we're working from home we'll say like

I'm going to do the laundry and I'm going to do this at the same time and I'm going to do that at the same time cuz I'm home might as well unload the dishwasher or load the dishwasher

instead when you create that fake commute bookend it day and evening it creates a little bit more structure and

it gives your brain a reset that is brilliant and it makes so much

sense like I sit here and I'm thinking but I'm trying to cram it all in and I get my exercise in and now I'm running late my first Zoom meeting so I'm just

going to leave my exercise clothes on and pull my hair up in a ponytail and then I never actually pull out of that

mode and so this based on how you explained it and the science and what your brain needs seems like the perfect

How your work commute can actually benefit your mindset.

solution again free anybody can do it it'll take you two minutes and it will help you manage your stress I love this

I'm curious since you were talking about um hybrid what's your recommendation about

video calls and stress like is there any research or anything that you teach

audiences when you're talking about like how to be on a zoom and I asked that

because I've seen uh lots of recommendations about turning your camera off and so I just wondered if you

had anything specific it is a real entity so in during the pandemic particularly

there was an entity called Zoom dysmorphia we don't ever look at

ourselves that much during the day right and so when you are on a zoom you are looking at yourself and so there was

this uptick of people who were not feeling very good about how they appeared and how they looked because they kept looking at their faces if it

makes sense for you shut off your camera if you can if you need to be on be on my

rule of thumb right now is that like just showing up is enough

you're on audio great you're present great I don't do anything else when I'm on the call but I will often say hey do

you mind if I'm just going to shut off my camera and I cannot tell you I am met with that such enthusiasm do you mind if

I shut mine off too no let's just have a conversation or do you want to just talk on the phone that would be great so

people welcome that we all have zoom fatigue it's a real entity it's not like laughable like H you don't have zoom

fatigue of course you do your brain is not wired to look at yourself all day every day there's something very

unnatural about that so it has been shown to have ramifications you know mental health ramifications in terms of

how you look but if you want to shut off your camera and you feel more empowered and you feel like you'll get your work done better or you'll engage better by

shutting it off shut it off more power to you talk to me about multitasking so in that day of working from home you do

the fake commute morning hopefully you do it in the evening but maybe you just do it once a day morning is more important than the evening and in the

day if you are feeling like you are multitasking or during your work day you are multitasking in it's the way of the

modern world you have your slack Channel going you have emails you're doing your meetings the thing about multitasking is

even though we think is it is a badge of honor and you know we pride ourselves on

being multitaskers right like everyone listening you probably think you are an excellent multitasker 100% of us think

that we are excellent multitaskers the truth is only 2% of human brains can effectively multitask multitasking is a

scientific myth it is a misnomer there is no no such thing when you are multitasking what you are effectively

doing is Task switching doing two separate tasks in Rapid secession and

your brain is wired to do one thing at a time the thing with multitasking is that it weakens your memory your cognition it

decreases your productivity ironically it also weakens your ability to solve

complex Problems by weakening your prefrontal cortex we talked about that area that is very important for our

brain and for adult in right we cannot afford to multitask the world is filled

with complex problems that urgently need solving so the antidote to multitasking is

monotasking monotasking is doing one thing at a time now everyone will say people say this to me all the time I

mean come on it's like totally unrealistic I I can't even bring that science into my life monotasking like

non-starter you can bring in the science of monotasking by practicing something called time blocking you've talked about

it before as well let's say you have four work tasks to do in an hour instead of completing them all at once spend

five or 10 minutes on one task then take a short break then the second Task 5 10 15 minutes if you can take a short break

Why you may want to turn your camera off during your next Zoom call.

so by the end of that hour you have made Headway on all four different tasks but you have not weakened your prefrontal

cortex in the meantime the other important thing to note is that those Brain Breaks we talked about the breaks

instead of mindlessly scrolling what do you want to do in those short breaks go for a walk stretch try some of the

breathing exercises be mindful and present during the breaks in fact a science a very fascinating study

recently showed they compared the brain scans of two groups of people and found that one group that took no breaks and

they looked at their stress at the end and then a group which took incremental 10-minute breaks and the group that took

breaks at the end of the day had decreased stress better cognitive function memory attention and more

engagement and they the researchers themselves they said these short breaks were reset for the brain from cumulative

stress so if you think oh my God what's a 10-minute break going to even do for me like I'm so up a Creek right now with

my stress and burnout try it the science shows that taking these short breaks can help reset your stress it gets you into

that goldilock zone of productivity it helps you with multitasking and gets

your prefrontal cortex feeling strong again it's all kind of connected Mel you know at the end of the day it's all just

one connected piece of tapestry here when we're talking about stress and burnout as a doctor at Harvard what do

Try mono-tasking instead of multitasking to improve your brain.

you do for exercise and movement 25 years ago I was a stressed

patient looking for answers and that is why that was that's my uh villain origin

story of how I became a doctor with an expertise in stress is because I was a stress patient looking for answers I

found my way out of the stress struggle put on my scientist's hat I had gone to see a doctor and my doctor had said you

know go get a aign and just relax just try to relax more so I was like okay I'll get a massage I'll have dinner with

friends I'll go retail therapy all the things that didn't work and so when I put on my scientist hat and I started looking and doing the research is when I

really found out okay this is how stress impacts the brain and the body and this is how I'm going to find my way out of

stress movement was one and then when I came out of that I said I wanted to be the doctor that I needed during that difficult time so that's my origin story

I mentioned that because movement was not something I did every single day I was working 80 hours a week and I don't

know I was running from one patient room to the other I thought that was movement enough and so what I did during that

time I was acutely stressed I was so depleted and running on fume smell I was

erratic in my food intake my sleep seeing death and dying on a daily basis

self-care and burnout or even stress was not in my lexicon it was not in my vocabulary when I was training in my

medical training my motto how I was trained was pressure makes diamonds

someone sat a whole group of medical students down in our first year or second year of Medical Training and said

I just want you guys to know what you're about to go through pressure makes diamonds so I was like Hey diamond in the making bring it on and then my

diamond cracked so when I discovered all of the science around why movement is important and exercise is like e the

dreaded e word no one likes to talk about it so I we can talk about Movement we can talk about exercise that to

answer your question it has changed when I was a stressed patient or a medical

resident working 80 hours a week and I had was running on fumes and so depleted I focused on gentle therapeutic movement

so I went to yoga class several times a week that was my gateway to I went to a f couple of yoga classes so just to say

that doctors are socialize to place small we don't share our own personal stories because we focus on the patient

so writing the five resets and sharing my personal story I have to tell you Mel I might start crying but you were an

inspiration for sharing that story because you share so so much of your own personal stuff to help people and I knew

that the only way that people would relate to me is if I told them the truth and not I'm just doing this for my

patients it's because no I was a patient I struggled with my stress and burnout and that's when I became the doctor I

needed during that difficult time and so your story and your example was like a leading sort of like a a light that

really a lighthouse that guided me well I'm thrilled that you shared your story because you clearly are the doctor we

all need thank you and so during that really difficult time I focused on a couple of days a week of

yoga gentle stretching nothing much and a few walks so I used to walk every single day even if it's 5 or 10 minutes

again you might say what's a walk going to do it's going to do nothing because it's not about the promise of physical

fitness this is the promise of mental Fitness and so a little bit of a daily

walk and the reason I walked every single day when I was a stressed patient and why I suggest when people are

feeling that acute sense of stress to walk is every single day is because it avoids decision fatigue if you say to

yourself when you're deeply stressed I'm going to go to the gym three times a week for an hourlong class okay then

How does a doctor at Harvard get her exercise?

Monday rolls around a deadline comes up at work you don't go Tuesday there's a family obligation or a conflict you don't go Wednesday same thing and by

Friday you might have gone zero or one time your sense of self your sense of self-efficacy goes down you're like H I

can't get anything right why bother at all and then your amydala starts firing

right cuz your the forward future planning prefrontal cortex isn't working as great instead aim to do something a

little bit every day it avoids decision fatigue now to answer your question it's changed so initially I started my I was

a sedentary person I didn't really exercise much I was into dancing as a child but not Sports now I understand

the value of sports for so many reasons gentle yoga and walks every day 10minute

walk that was like yes I walked check this is not about like walking five miles a day I love that cuz every cuz

the person listening is like okay how long what do I do and it's just 10 minutes just 10 minutes 5 minutes is fine too if you can do 20 minutes of a

walk every single day great it's the equivalent of a Facebook scroll seriously we all scroll that's true or

Instagram or choose your choose your poison it's the it's the equivalent of a scroll opt out of a scroll and go for a

walk instead do it in between your meetings if you can 5 10 minutes every single day it's that inertia that you're

you know sometimes it feels like you're waiting through molasses when you're feeling stressed of like lacing up your sneakers and going outside and if you

say oh I'm going to do this for 45 minutes forget it you're never doing it but if you say oh five minutes I can do that it's about closing that gap between

where you are and where you like to be and so five minutes so then now what I do because I am of a certain age I focus

on resistance training I probably I I aim to exercise 30 minutes every single day does that happen every single day no

but I probably get in four to five days of exercise and that includes walking or

if I do a 40-minute walk one day I won't do resistance training but I do some form of mov every day so now I focus on

resistance training and um balance because for me I've always I've been

very into fitness over the past several decades as you have and endurance

flexibility and strength right those are my three things that I was like okay that's what I'm going to be focusing on

but I realized I got on a balance board like 2 months ago and I was like falling off was crazy I'm like what happened to

my core strength I thought it was great it was comical and so every day I get on that little board I have one it's a

wooden board I stand on it when I'm taking a work call when I'm taking a meeting and I just incorporate it into

my day because it's hard to exercise when you are feeling a sense of stress lacing up those sneakers and doing

something and moving your body feels like waiting through molasses and you have to make it easy easier than you

even think you have to say what is this even going to do fine I'll do it anyway a lot of the way I describe it to

patients so I really focused on Behavior change and the psychology of habit formation when you're talking about how

to get people to engage in positive behaviors you are a master of this it is

about making things small and tangible and decreasing the barriers to making

the taking that step so fine you don't want to put on your sneakers take a walk up and down your hallway in your house

walk up and down a set of stairs research has showed that it in fact to decrease there was a study that was done

that Ultra short bursts of Activity 1 to 2 minutes so walking up a set of stairs

or going to you know parking far away when you're going to the grocery store we all look for parking really close to

the entrance Park far away take a walk up to the grocery store run for the bus or walk quickly to go get the bus or the

subway these short they're called Ultra short bursts of activity can decrease your risk of dying from cancer by 40%

wow you heard the doctor get your walk on every day 10 minutes it's all she's saying and it's going to

lower your stress another thing you can do as you're walking is think of it I mean you don't have to think about it this way but I used to is I hated to

meditate and when you're feeling a sense of stress the last thing you want to do is get into your head but in fact when

Stop thinking about exercise in such a big way.

you are feeling stressed it's so important right to like get out of your head and into your body so I people would initially recommend meditation it

was so forign to me at the time now I've been meditating for 25 years but at the time it was so forign to me so what I

did is movement meditation I would walk for five minutes or 10 minutes every single day it was like part of my day I

would park my car after a 30-hour shift and instead of walking directly into my building in Philadelphia I would take

the long way the scenic route and I would time myself I did it first it was I did 2 minutes it felt good I was like

oh that feels good I'm going to do it again for a little longer so every day it built up and up and you focus on your

feet on the floor as you're walking your feet have 30 bones and 100 muscles and

so when as you are walking it's a grounding force and so you walk you breathe you think about your day and

over time that you know over time that walk could increase you can also say oh

I now have that sense of daily movement I've made it into a habit then you can add your gym sessions no one has ever

the thing that bothers me about exercise so much of the fitness industry while I love Fitness for myself none of my

patients have ever been propelled or fueled by the promise of cosmetic so

taught bellies or biceps that doesn't appeal to someone who is feeling a sense of stress and burnout but if I say cuz

even me when I was working as a resident 80 hours a week I had a state-ofthe-art

gym in my building mail it was in the basement I walked in I knew I was a doctor I knew that exercise was

important it was a gym in my building I walked into the basement into the gym open the door saw the mirrors everywhere

the crazy machines the Techno the blast techno music turned around walk right back out never went in there again uh I

so relate to that story and I was also thinking that it's not that motivating

either because if I'm that stressed out I'm not thinking about being in a bathing suit I'm not thinking about going to a party I'm literally thinking

about how the hell I'm going to get through my day and so I love that you pointed that out because

the promise of a 10-minute walk outside is that you can do it it immediately

makes you feel better it's a way to engage in moving meditation it also gives you a sense of control back and

agency because you're seeing yourself follow through on something that you know is going to make you feel slightly

better there are medical benefits to doing it and as we're learning over and over and over from you that you are

sending a signal to your igula reset I'm in control I'm going to take a deep

breath and take myself on a walk and I'm going to put myself back in control and that's how I'm going to manage my stress

fantastic Dr adidi I know I've said it before but I just love all of the wisdom and the science and the tips that we can

put to use immediately there are so many people that I'm going to share this with and as you're listening please share

this episode because it will really make a difference in someone else's life and it's a simple way to say I really care

about you and you can send him Dr adidi to help all righty we're going to take a quick pause hear a word from our

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video Welcome back it's your friend Mel and I'm here with the amazing Dr adidi

and let's just jump right back into it so Dr adidi how long does it take for all these changes to become new habits

it doesn't happen overnight it takes eight weeks to build a habit understanding that it takes a little bit

more time because you may fall off give yourself a solid 3 months to get there and you will get there the reason you

have a most goal is because it is a concrete metric that you can measure for yourself and it can be many things I've

had patients who've said all sorts of things I want to feel healthy enough to take a bike ride through Europe I want

to run a marathon lots of physical things right it doesn't have to be something external it can be something

internal but I would say that framing it as a positive and say to to yourself I want My Future Self to be X Y and Z fill

in the blank I Want My Future Self to have better sleep or you can be fed up

and say I'm sick of not being able to sleep through the night I want to sleep through the night motivation comes in

many different forms it can be positive and energetic but it can also be that you're just fed up of your own

but if you start these today give yourself eight weeks but you will see a

Here’s why 6-pack abs and a “bikini butt” are not motivating.

difference within a week by the weekend you should start feeling better these things take shape quickly because your

brain and your body are rewiring all the time your brain is a muscle neuroplasticity a very fancy science

word but it means your brain is a muscle it's not a grab bag like what you got for birth is what you got for life it's not what it is your brain is like a

muscle just like a bicep so you know in exercise we the the thing with sleep that's fascinating is that like with

exercise if you did you know two lb dumbbells like 100 curls with your biceps you'd know that it's doing

something I mean it's not going to do as much is like a 10 pound but you try it anyway you're like you know what I'm going to try it so think of your brain

as a muscle try things out experiment understand that doing a little bit a

simple change like keeping your phone off your nightstand could make all the difference and could be a Game Changer it doesn't have to be this big giant

lifestyle overhaul also your brain cannot handle big lifestyle overhauls

when you are feeling a sense of stress cuz even positive change like all of these things that we're talking about change is considered a stressor to your

brain so you say in your research that there are six elements that make up an

incredible life what are they the prescription I give and it's probably one of my most universal prescriptions

it is this idea of live a lifetime in a day so the Genesis of this idea is I had

a colleague early on in my medical training my first year out of residency and he loved to play the guitar and he

worked many hours as a doctor but his great passion was guitar playing and

he would say to me it was a Thursday and we were both signing charts and he said H I can't wait only two more days until

I can play my guitar and I said what do you mean he said oh I can't play during the week I can only play on the weekend

and I I'm so busy during the weekend so I barely get any time last week I didn't play at all and I said why not why can't

you just play tonight when you get home and he said what do you mean it's a weekday I to do it on the weekend and so

Mel has a FREE workbook for you!

live a lifetime in a day is a direct response to that conversation because I thought why are you living for the

weekends why don't you bring in all of the good stuff during the week play your guitar every day I had another patient

who used to say similar things to me about also ironically guitar playing live a lifetime in a day is about

thinking about the six elements that make up a long Arc of a meaningful life

and bringing them into your day every day so when your head hits the pillow at night you rest your head feeling like

wow I had a fulfilling day even in the midst of stress and burnout so I can go through each of those very quickly so

the first is childhood can you do something today even if it means two or

five minutes to embrace that sense of wonder and curiosity and play really

live in that timelessness of the present moment we call this a state of flow in science and it is it does have a mental

health benefit and a therapeutic benefit so can you look at can you do something that creates a sense of childlike Wonder

play simply for play's sake you're not getting a reward for it no one's watching you it's just bringing you Joy

next work this one's an easy one yeah we need to stop working it sounds like can you

engage for us it's a few hours for others it's less now this doesn't have to be paid work it can be unpaid work

but something that creates a feeling of meaning and purpose a sense of accomplishment then can you spend a

How long does it take for changes to become new habits?

little bit of time in vacation also an easy one enjoying and reveling again we talked about we we haven't covered this

enjoy like do what you do on vacation right go outside just Ponder let your brain Ponder let your mind wander there

are lots of health benefits to that mind wandering brain circuit next spend time in community whether you have a family

or your chosen family or your friends that doesn't mean you have to be with them all day or even you know you don't

have to be present with them but check in with someone send a text message pop on a quick call just say hey just wanted

to hear your voice connect with someone because we know that has great mental health benefits loneliness is equal to

smoking 15 cigarettes a day next as much as you are engaging with

Community spend a little time alone because we know that that Fosters creativity and finally retirement this

one's my favorite spend a few minutes reflecting on your day taking stock of your accomplishments so when your head

hits the pillow at night you feel like wow I really did a lot this does not take time I know it's six steps and it

Six elements of a good life. Start adding them today.

feels like oh my God there's no way I'm going to fit this all into a day it can be 2 minutes but just so you hit all of

those points so you are not on that hamster wheel of just like work constant work constant work it will also help

with your stress and burnout it will increase your sense of fulfillment and I think I just want to say one thing about

39:38

happiness it will make you happier but the right kind of happy just like there are two kinds of stress there's good

healthy stress and bad unhealthy stress there are two kinds of Happiness one is

hedonic happiness this is really easy to understand it's Netflix binges fast

fancy cars beautiful purses or designer clothes all the bling this is something

that we really understand very well because we think oh if only we get all those things then we'll be happy that's

hedonic happiness The Joy pleasure the second kind of happiness is you dionic

happiness very long word hard to say even for me it this is not that thrill

kind of happiness it is about purpose meaning it's contentment so think about

something that brings you Joy a sense of purpose and meaning it doesn't have to be work rated but you know

hobbies are a great thing so when you're painting do you feel that sense of connection to yourself are you engaged

are you so those two kinds of Happiness are very different they also have a different impact on your brain on your

stress and you're burnout you need hedonic happiness those Thrills and the pure pursuit of pleasure for pleasure

sacred Joy it's like a Band-Aid and it's a gift to your brain and body you have to do that I have a list I have a group

chat with all of my girlfriends and we suggest good shows on Netflix to watch and that's like my hedonic pleasure I

love it I just watched shrinking I met Harrison Ford recently so he told me about shrinking I have to show you that

picture you'll love it and then I watched shrinking and I loved it it's about mental health it's comedy it's

beautiful I like ate it up it was hedonic pleasure and hedonic happiness but you dionic happiness but that has no

bearing on your it has an immediate benefit to your stress and burnout in mental health but it doesn't have any

lasting benefits but it's important so it's not to say again we're not leading a life of a monk you want pleasure and

joy and happiness in the moment it also makes you feel good when you're feeling stressed that's what I was chasing when

I was a stressed patient massages dinners out with friends retail therapy

that's when people say just try to relax that's what we do the thing about hedonic happiness it's called a the

hedonic treadmill that we have a set point that's why lottery winners they win a lot of money and then they come

back to the same Baseline of Happiness the other kind of happiness is what we really need to start chasing and create

a cultural conversation around you dionic happiness this is about meaning and purpose of feeling of connection the

science shows that this kind of Happiness can actually change your cells and your brain and your body know the

difference there are genetic and cellular changes that happen in your body with you dionic happiness they

don't happen with hedonic happiness Dr adidi you're the greatest I mean I love your advice about meditation in

particular because I'm married to somebody who has been a sit down close your eyes be still

meditator for a decade every single day for a decade this guy meditates and so I

always made myself wrong because I really couldn't sit still so I love hearing from a medical doctor that you

don't need to sit still you can do a walking meditation and it absolutely

still works and it counts I love that and as you're listening I am sure you've

Two kinds of happiness. Make sure you’ve got both in your life.

been nodding along smiling ear to ear you're like I love doctor adidi and there's probably somebody in your life

that comes to mind I mean I know I'm going to be sending this to my brother Derek to my friend jod who I want both

of them to stay with me for a long time and in order for them to do that they

need habits to be a little healthier they need Dr adidi in their life and maybe you're thinking of someone who is

struggling to eat healthier or who works too much you know who I'm talking about

you love them and just like I want my brother and one of my best friends to be a little healthier to take better care

of themselves you want the same for your friend so share this episode with them

it is a simple way for you to say I love you for you to say I care about you and for you to get a little more Dr adidi

into their life I mean you heard Dr adidi say that even as a doctor she knew

what to do but wasn't in the right environment in medical school to develop the habits I I just love it when people

admit that this kind of stuff don't you and she didn't have people around her supporting her in fact they were telling

her that she had to push harder wrong advice and so the thing about the people

that you love is they've got you they have you supporting them and you sending

them this episode saying hey I love you I see you and here's a little love

coming from Dr adidi and me so please please take a moment and send

this episode to somebody that you love because it really does make it difference and one more thing in case no

one else tells you today I want to tell you that I love you and I believe in you

and I believe in your ability to take all this inspiration and these eight

amazing simple sneaky little hacks from Dr adidi and use them in your life

because I do see that for you I want you to live a long and healthy and happy

life and if you take everything that you just learned today to heart and you put it to use in in your life you will all

righty I'll talk to you in a couple days and because you're here on YouTube I just wanted to say thank you thank you

thank you thank you I'm so excited for you thank you for sharing this and one more thing if you love this episode

please please show me that you loved it by hitting subscribe it literally takes a second it supports me

it supports me in being able to bring you free videos and worldclass experts at zero cost for free every single day

so hit subscribe I really appreciate it um and also since you're now super empowered by Harvard's Dr

adidi I want to share another amazing medical expert we're talking world class

with you check this video out next you're going to love this this is on the science of strength training and

Mel’s favorite kind of meditation.

learning how lifting weights even light ones those are the kind of ones that I lift will help you lose weight feel

better and live longer the science is fascinating you're going to love it so check it out

 

https://youtu.be/-Kd7I6GrdGM?si=5MQGz_xv-IE7Xk_q