Feeling Stressed All the Time? This Is How to Fix It (Brain Optimization Blueprint - Pillar 2)

Hey there, I'm Claudia von Boeselager, a former investment banker turned entrepreneur, longevity coach, biohacker, and mother of two. Once burnt out and overwhelmed with chronic health issues, I've transformed my life and helped thousands of people do the same. I've even reduced my biological age by 17 years. Yes, I'm 26 again. Now I'm here to share the tools, strategies, and inspiration to help you live healthier, happier, and longer. On this podcast, I interview world-leading experts in health, biohacking, mindset, and performance, and share personal stories and learnings to bring you the latest insights and tips. Think of this as your go-to space for real talk about all things health and optimizing your life. Ready to unlock your best self? Let's dive in. This is the Longevity and Lifestyle Podcast.

Hello, my friends, and welcome back to the Longevity and Lifestyle Podcast, where we explore the cutting-edge strategies to live better for longer. I'm your host Claudia von Boeselager, peak performance coach, longevity explorer, and passionate biohacker. And today we're diving into Pillar 2 of the Brain Optimization Blueprint Solo Series: Stress, Resilience, and Emotional Regulation. If you missed Pillar 1 on neuroplasticity, I highly recommend that you go back, because if rewiring the brain is the goal, managing stress is how we protect and accelerate that process. Here's something most people get wrong: stress isn't the enemy. It's chronic, unprocessed stress that becomes the problem, because the Stress isn't just emotional, it's psychological. It literally reshapes your brain and body chemistry. But the good news, you can reshape it back. Let's talk about how. I wanna share something personal. There was a period when I looked on running my business, supporting my family, chasing high performance, but internally I was barely hanging on. Sleep was fragmented. My brain felt foggy. I felt like I was living in reactivity. Maybe some of you can relate. And what I later learned is that chronic stress rewires your brain. The hippocampus, your memory and learning center, shrinks. The amygdala, your fear center, grows, and you get stuck in survival mode, overreacting, overthinking, overwhelmed. It wasn't until I started learning the science of resilience and designing my resilience rhythm, my daily tools for nervous system recovery and emotional regulation, that things began to shift. And the shift wasn't just mental, it was biochemical, neurological, and energetic. This is why I'm so passionate about teaching this to others, because when you learn to regulate stress, everything changes. Your mood, your clarity, your performance, your relationships, even your longevity. So let's look at what the science says about stress and resilience and explore some insights from the world's leading experts I've had the pleasure of having on the show. Number 1 with Dr. Dave Rabin in episode 172 around nervous system recovery. Dr. Rabin's work with Apollo Neuro reveals how overstimulation, screens, alerts, hustle, traps us in this go mode. His research shows that vibration therapy can help the body return to a parasympathetic rest and digest state. We are chronically overstimulated. And here's some quotes from our episode. We are so chronically overstimulated, the average person operates neurologically like they have ADHD. And another one, just to give everyone an idea of how significant the overstimulation problem is in the first hour because of smartphones, in the first hour of being awake, people are consuming as much information as they were consuming in a week in the 1950s. And this leads to an ADHD misdiagnosis epidemic because as Dave says, that we are literally so stressed out that everybody looks like they have ADHD and misdiagnosing it as such. Also looking at amphetamines and the vicious cycle that the cost of amphetamines is poor sleep, which increases your reliance on amphetamines because then you start to sleep worse. And looking at what stress does to brain resources, that when you're under stress, the sympathetic nervous system is sapping attention resources so we can't focus, and then we think we have ADHD all the time. Your nervous system can be trained to recover faster. I use Apollo Neuro daily, as I've spoken about before, and many of my clients do too, for calming the vagus nerve and improving HRV. We also discussed in the show intentional versus unintentional smartphone use, and Dave's quote is, we are supersaturating ourselves with information so much that our bodies are kicking off the day in a stress response. And so try a digital nervous system reset. No screens for the first 30 minutes of the day. Literally keep it in airplane mode and breathwork or Apollo Neuro before any tech and ground your body before plugging in, ideally walking in nature, feet in the sand, wherever in the world you might be. Failing that, a PEMF mat could be really valuable. Let's look at HRV, which is essentially your stress fitness score. HRV, or heart rate variability, is one of the most powerful biomarkers for resilience. The higher your HRV, the better your body adapts to stress and recovers. I track mine daily, typically with my Oura Ring, and I teach my VIP clients to do the same. Even just 5 minutes of breathwork can shift your age. What if you could wake up every day feeling unstoppable, limitless energy, razor-sharp focus, and a body that's biologically years younger? This is your invitation to upgrade your life. For those that don't know me, I'm Claudia von Boeselager, former Goldman Sachs investment banker and serial entrepreneur turned longevity and peak performance coach. After reversing my biological age by for 17 years and counting, I now help high achievers like you do the same. My peak performance and longevity coaching is designed exclusively for visionaries, entrepreneurs, and leaders who refuse to settle for burnout, fatigue, or suboptimal health. Together, we'll optimize your energy, longevity, and performance so you can thrive in business and life. This is a bespoke, science-backed coaching experience integrating cutting-edge biohacking, longevity science, and high-performance strategies tailored to your unique biology and goals. If Ready to unlock your next level? Let's talk. Book a complimentary exploratory call now. Just answer a few quick questions to get started. Head to the show notes for the link, and I look forward to speaking with you. So in my podcast episode with Professor Marc Brackett, episode number 128 on emotional intelligence and the RULER method, R-U-L-E-R. Marc is the founder of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and author of Permission to Feel. And he says that you can't regulate an emotion if you can't name it. He teaches emotional granularity, going beyond I feel stressed to identify the real emotion. Is it overwhelm, or are you feeling ashamed, maybe anxious? This naming activates your prefrontal cortex, pulling you out of survival mode. So why not try this? Use the Mood Meter app or journal one emotion a day and watch your self-awareness transform. In my podcast episode with Dr. Julia Jones, episode number 83, Music as a Brain Biohack. Julia's research shows how music instantly shifts emotional state. As she says, your ears are a direct line to your brain. That's why music works faster than anything else. I recommend creating 3 custom playlists, one for calm and rest, one for focus and flow, one for energy and joy. Music isn't just background, it's neurochemical medicine. So make good use of it. In my interview with Dr. Stephen Sidoroff, UCLA resilience expert, Dr. Sidoroff describes resilience as flexibility, not force. He says that resilience is the ability to return to balance. His pillars include emotional openness, body regulation, and meaning. That's why purposeful recovery isn't laziness. It's brain optimization. This is something that I had to definitely learn too. And there is a thought, emotion, and action loop in it. And in my coaching, I teach a tool called the stress rewiring loop. Thought, emotion, action, reinforcement. Once you see the loop, you can interrupt it with a breath, a new thought, a reframe. Your brain rewires in real time based on what you do next. Breath isn't just for relaxation, it's resilience training. Try box breathing, where you inhale for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4, and hold for 4. This is a breathing technique also used by the US Navy SEALs. Just 2 minutes a day builds CO2 tolerance, trains calm under pressure, and improves metabolic resilience. So why not try it now? Hit pause and make sure to come back. Also, let's look at the polyvagal perspective. Dr. Stephen Porges' polyvagal theory shows how the vagus nerve is the highway between body and brain. Tools like cold water splashing or plunging, humming, or tools like Sensate can activate the safety state of your nervous system almost instantly. So let's look at the chemistry of resilience. Stress management isn't just mindset, it's neurochemistry. Oxytocin calms, serotonin stabilizes, and dopamine motivates. So introducing practices like hugging your kids or your pet, laughing with friends, and gratitude journaling shift your state in minutes. One of my favorite tools is gratitude as a resilience tool, and directing attention to gratitude actually rewires your brain. So try this now. What's one thing you're grateful for? Say it, feel it, and let your nervous system shift into safety. So a tool I want to share is to build your resilience rhythm, and here's how to integrate this into your day. Number 1, name it to tame it. Identify your emotions daily. Number 2, reset your nervous system. Use humming, breathwork, or a device like Apollo Neuro or Sensate. Number 3 is leverage music. Create playlists for calm, focus, or joy. Number 4 is practice micro-mindfulness. 3 minutes of nature or breathwork breaks. Number 5, reframe with gratitude. Instead of saying, I have to get up, I have to go get my kids, I have to go to work, swap that with I get to. I get to get up. I get to have breakfast. I get to pick up my kids. It's a really powerful tool. In my VIP Peak Life Coaching program, I help clients design their emotional resilience protocol, a personalized system that combines mindset mastery, HRV tracking, daily recovery tools such as red light, PMF mats, breathwork, incorporating also my Say No to Say Yes system to reduce decision fatigue. Because you can't live a peak life if you're always in reactivity mode. Even with my daughters, we practice naming emotions and doing calm-down breaths. It's never too early or too late to build emotional resilience. So, dear friends, what's next is Pillar 3, the gut-brain connection. In the next episode, we'll explore how gut health, blood sugar balance, and metabolic flexibility shape brain function and mood with insights from Dr. David Perlmutter, Dr. Dale Bredesen, and many more. The call to action, this week's challenge, try one resilience tool today. Tag me on Instagram @longevityandlifestyle or LinkedIn @Claudia von Boeselager and tell me what worked best. Also, what's your number one go-to for stress relief? DM me or share it publicly because I'm compiling a listener-generated resilience rhythm guide I'd love to feature you in. And if this episode resonated, please subscribe, leave a quick review, or share it with someone you love. Remember that you can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Your mind is your greatest asset. Let's train it together. Until next time, see you then. Hi everyone, it's Claudia again. Before you take off, would you like to get a short email from me to you several times a month with top tips, insights, and strategies to help optimize your life, health, and business? This could be interesting posts or articles I've read on life and longevity optimization, cool biohacking hacking or lifestyle products that I've discovered, and other fun things to help you be at your best. It's a very short piece of inspiration for you, so if you want to receive it, check it out by going to llinsider.com. 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