Why Small Stressors Can Actually Be Good For Us

Coming up on this episode of the Doctor's Pharmacy.

Small amounts of cold, good. Large amounts, as anyone knows, who's maybe not dressed right for a day of.

Skiing, it can be stressful. You know, heat, same thing. Hey everyone, it's Dr. Mark. I think we can all agree that we're thinking a lot about immunity these days, but the pandemic aside, I regularly see so many patients who struggle with recurrent infections. One of the most common is urinary tract infections. They're actually the second most common infection in the United States, especially in women. Now, there can be a lot of reasons someone might constantly be fighting infections like a UTI, but most of us have been overprescribed antibiotics at some point in our lives. We made too much sugar, we stressed out too much, and all these things can upset our microbiome, and that directly impacts the balance of bacteria in the urinary tract and the rest of our immune system. But a lot of women I talk to are doing the right things to try to avoid these recurrent infections, but without any luck. They've tried cranberry extract and they make sure to pee after sex, among other things, but they still get frequent bladder infections. So I was really intrigued to hear about a product my team recently discovered called Ucora. They were completely blown away by the results. Two of them who constantly struggle with frequent UTIs hadn't had a single symptom since trying Ucora. Ucora's unique target drink mix blends easily with water and tastes just like the pink lemonade you like when you're a kid, but without the added sugar. It flushes and cleans the urinary tract with well-researched ingredients like D-mannose and also boosts your immune system with things like vitamin C and B6. Eukora also makes a supplement called Control to cleanse the biofilm from the urinary tract and a vaginal probiotic called Promote to promote the growth of beneficial bacteria and discourage the bad ones. Both of these are a great addition to the Target Drink Mix for a more comprehensive protocol. Now, if you struggle with UTIs or bladder infections, I highly recommend checking out Eukora's potent line of products to promote urinary health. Right now, they're offering doctors, pharmacy listeners 30% off when you go to Eukora.com, .com/doctor. That's U-Q-O-R-A.com/doctor. Now let's get back to this week's episode of the Doctor's Pharmacy.

Hi, I'm Kaya Perowich, one of the producers of the Doctor's Pharmacy podcast. We typically think about stress as being a bad thing, but this isn't always the case. In fact, introducing micro-stressors can actually activate your body's healing mechanisms through a process called hormesis. Dr. Hyman recently explored this topic in his conversation with human performance consultant and.

Bestselling author, Ben Greenfield. We know any of these things that might induce some mild hormetic effect from cryotherapy to exercise to heat, they would be unfavorable in large amounts, but small amounts.

Okay, wait, wait, wait. So, you just said something with a very cool concept, which is hormesis, hormetic. People have no idea what that is. Most people have never heard of the word. And what it means is that when there's a stress to the system, it activates a healing response. So, a little bit of stress Like if you exercise and lift a weight, it's going to create a little bit.

Of micro damage in the muscles, but that makes them stronger, right? Yes, assuming you allow them to rest and recover. And the same could be said of radiation. There's one study that showed that the rodents around Chernobyl were living longer than non-irradiated rodents. So there's some evidence even mild amounts of radiation may be beneficial. This might be partially why earthing and grounding and going outside barefoot and getting exposed to that type of radiation is beneficial, lower risk of skin cancer with frequent, sane exposure to sunlight due to that hormetic effect and building up on that. And the cryotherapy you mentioned, which is cold shock therapy. Yeah, with the cold, that can excessively activate the sympathetic nervous system. It can stress the immune system. It can be too much, but in small amounts, right? You get nitric oxide production and you get that activation of the vagus nerve and you get a little bit of conversion of your adipose tissue into metabolically active brown fat. And so, small amounts of cold, good, large amounts, as anyone knows, maybe not dressed right for a day of skiing. It can be stressful. Heat, same thing. We know from the Finnish Longevity Study, the Men's Longevity Study, that sauna is four to five times a week in the sauna and you see a distinct increase. I do both. I do both.

I do like a hot steam, really hot, and then I jump in an ice bath.

Well, that's what they left out in that study, I think, because I've gone to Finland and I've gone to the ice baths. They jump in the ice. They'll go in the sauna and then they'll go jump in the Baltic Sea, stand outside, side to dry off shivering and then go back in the heat and do a few rounds of that. And then, of course, there's the social component, right? They're with there with their buddies hanging out. They, when they go in the sauna, you're quiet, you're breathing, you're not in your phone. So there's, there's some components that I.

Think go beyond the sauna.

Yeah.

And I remember once I was, I was in Maine. I had a friend of mine had a wood-fired sauna, and we literally sat in there for six hours.

Yeah.

And we'd go back out into the snow and roll around in the snow.

That's amazing. And then get back in the sauna, roll around in the snow. It was, I'd never felt that good in my entire wife. We do that at our house. My kids call them snow angels and what we'll do is do the sauna. Then, as you're walking out trudging through the snow out to the hot tub, you stop, you do snow angels, you get in the hot tub, you get that tingling in the skin, all that nitric oxide, then you go back out and do snow angels. Yeah, the idea of hot cold, again, for the hormetic effect is fabulous. Xenohormesis, though, is also very interesting. This idea that plants have built-in natural defense mechanisms that also induce a hermetic response. And, you know, this has sparked movements like the paleo movement and the carnivore movement and, you know, paleo movement kind of restricting, you know, many grains and soy and some of these compounds that have built-in defense mechanisms. Or the carnivore diet takes that even further and, you know, you get rid of kale and broccoli and cauliflower and most herbs and spices because of that mild amount of damage that these plants can cause the body. But, I mean, when you look at a lot of these blue zones and longevity hotspots, they eat all that stuff. They eat a vast array of herbs and spices and xenohormetic compounds. Yeah, they're not doing, you know, like they're not eating boatloads of quinoa that hasn't been rinsed and soaked and sprouted to get rid of the soap-like irritant saponins that cover the quinoa. And, in many cases, the gluten is being slow fermented like a sourdough bread, the pre-digested gluten and the phytic acids or, or soy, for example, edamame is not quite as good as miso or tempeh or natto because it's been fermented. And so, I think it's proper preparation and deactivation of some of the natural built-in plant defense mechanisms allows you to enjoy those foods shoving aside the argument whether or not those foods are necessary, which is carnivore diet folks will say, well, you get eating a properly comprised nose-to-tail diet, you get all the vitamins and minerals and everything that you need.

And, liver is far more nutrient-dense than any plant food ever.

Liver is nature's multivitamin. But, at the same time, plants are fun. It's fun to gather around a traditionally prepared meal and you've got whatever, maybe mom's casserole and grandma salad and some beets and goat cheese and arugula and rosemary. There's a lot of cool stuff on the planet that we can eat that goes beyond just animals. But, I think you just have to be smart. You have to deactivate these built-in defense mechanisms. But, even those, because you're never going to be able to fully deactivate them. I think they're not necessarily bad. The principle of xenohormesis Hormesis, these plant-based defense compounds can actually be good for you in insane amounts.

Dr. Hyman further explored the topic of hormesis in his conversation with fellow functional medicine practitioner Dr. Frank Lipman.

One of the things we haven't talked about and which actually seems to work well or stimulate the mitochondria is this concept called hormesis. which is...

I love that concept. What does that mean? What does that mean? I love that concept.

So, homesis means sort of what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, basically.

Ah, that's perfect definition. That's the best definition I've ever heard.

That's a little bit of stress is actually good for the body. Chronic stress, we know, is a problem and creates all these problems and it will help won't help you age well, but a little bit of stress, hormesis is good. And that's what fasting is. Fasting is physical hormesis. It's a stress, it's a little bit of mild stress on the body and your body's response to that and we talked about resilience, but your body's response to that is a positive response which stimulates all these factors that are good for aging. So we talk about fasting, we talk about a little bit of interval training where you push yourself a little bit more than usual. Going from hot to cold, so even just having an ice cold shower after a hot shower. I love going from a sauna, I've become obsessed with my sauna, going from my sauna, jumping into some freezing cold water. So, temperature extremes are another way of stimulating homeostasis.

I love that. I love going from my steamer sauna right into an ice bath.

That's good for aging. That's good, that's homeostasis. Anything that's a little bit of stress on the body is good. Actually, what's interesting, I remember years ago at Jeff Bland talking about this or someone at one of the functional medicine conferences, with phytonutrients, a lot of The homesis is really good for plants. Plants develop more antioxidants and protective phytonutrients to protect themselves from whatever they have to deal with to survive. So spraying them with herbicides and that doesn't actually help them develop these phytonutrients to protect themselves, which actually end up being good for us too. The first time I heard about homeostasis was years and years ago at one of the functional medicine conferences with someone, I think it was Jeff who talked about the importance of homeostasis on plants and developing phytonutrients that would then benefit us.

Yeah, it's really important to understand this idea because when you look at, for example, organic versus conventional plants or even wild plants even versus organic plants, The wild plants have way more by hundreds to thousands of times more antioxidant potential, phytonutrient compound, and they also taste better. And what's interesting is that flavor goes along with phytonutrients. So the flavor profile of a food is directly related to the nutrient density and to the phytochemical content. So if you go to a garden, which I did the other day to a friend of mine's garden, and you pick a really ripe tomato that's just ripened on the vine, you stick it in your mouth and it's an explosion of taste and flavor and phytochemicals that is so different than these cardboard store-bought tomatoes that don't taste like anything. So that's really the power of the little stresses. And I think the strength training, the hit interval training, the fasting, the phytochemicals, these are all ways to actually improve this. There are so many ways to activate.

The body's natural healing abilities. Dr. Hyman explores many others in his full-length conversations with Dr. Frank Littman and Ben Greenfield. I encourage you to check them out if you'd like to learn more. We all have the power to take our health into our own hands. By harnessing this knowledge, we can optimize our health and help our bodies support themselves. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Doctor's Pharmacy. If you enjoyed today's episode, please consider sharing it with a friend or leaving us a comment below. Until next time. Hi everyone. I hope you enjoyed this week's episode. Just a reminder that this podcast is for educational purposes only. This podcast is not a substitute for professional care by a doctor or other qualified medical professional. This podcast is provided on the understanding that it does not constitute medical or other professional advice or services. If you're looking for help in your journey, seek out a qualified medical practitioner. If you're looking for a functional medicine practitioner, you can visit ifm.org and search their find a practitioner database. It's important that you have someone in your corner who's trained, who's a licensed healthcare practitioner, and can help you make changes, especially when it comes to your health.

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