Dr. Singh explains why zebras don't get stress ulcers but humans do: we stay stressed long after the threat passes, flooding our bodies with cortisol. The fix is moderate exercise that makes you sweat lightly and breathing hard enough that talking feels slightly difficult, for at least ten minutes.
Friends, there's a very famous book called Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers. So basically, you know, that book talks about why these animals in the wild, they don't get ulcers in the stomach like we do. And we all know that the ulcers are happening because of stress in the body, right? So basically what happened is, uh, when these animals in the wild, like deers or the zebras, when they get chased by tigers or lions, their stress hormones go way high, right? Like a high, even much more than like, you know, we experience because obviously, you know, they are running for their life, right? But then the interesting thing happens. So the moment the chase is over, their stress hormones come back to normal like nothing ever happened. They're back to grazing grass like nothing happened, right? But we people who are under stress, they don't experience that kind of a thing. You know, for them it's like they are seeing the tiger all the time. You know, they could be their deadlines, their work worries, their all the like stresses in their life, right? They keep on thinking about them, keep worrying about them, and it gives the signaling to your brain like, like a signal to a zebra seeing a tiger. Does it make sense, right? Now what happened is because of this, you know, there's something called HPA axis, you know, hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, you know, that the hypothalamus and pituitary, these are parts of your brain, right? Then the adrenal glands are the glands sitting on top of your kidneys, okay? So those are the glands which make this stress hormone. Now there's a, there's a connection, right? So the brain gives signal to your adrenals that, hey, there's a stress, hey buddy, help me out, we need cortisol, we need heart rate up, we need all that, right? So because it is stress in, uh, our surroundings. So this is what happened, right? So this is called HPA axis. Is short form for that. Now, in those wild animals, this axis is working fine. We need this axis to survive, okay? We cannot— okay, if somebody tell you the stress is bad, no, stress is not bad. It is the malfunction of this axis is bad. If we are keeping the axis stimulated all the time, you know, like even like a chronicle, even like a small amount, it's gonna wreak havoc on your organs, okay? Because chronic cortisol elevation is bad. right? So now the thing is, what do we do, right? Because hey, you know, I'm here, uh, this is a problem. So what is the solution? Okay, now there's something called hormesis. What is hormesis? So there's a very famous saying. Saying is that if something does not break you, it makes you stronger, right? So similarly, to use the concept of hormesis, use Exercise. So what happens is when you exercise like nature intended you to work you up, right? Your stress system should be working up like nature intended. Like when you sprint, you do exercise, weightlifting and all that, your heart rate goes up and then the heart rate goes down. This is the best thing you can do to reset your HPA axis in a healthy, normal manner like nature intended you to do. Okay, now the next question is how much exercise? All right, we can keep all those calculations aside, like maximum heart rate minus this 55, whatever, right? Moderate intensity training. The simple thing is, simple fact, do enough exercise that you are having a light sweat on your forehead and you are not comfortably having a conversation. I mean, you can have a conversation, but you prefer not to have. So this is like basically in simple manner when you want to understand the moderate intensity training, right? So at least start doing this much every day. But now the next question is how much? So to get the benefit of our misses, at least you do that for 10 minutes at a stretch. You can do 15 minutes, 20, 30 minutes. That's great, right? Do more. That's fine. But at least to get those benefits, you need to do that for 10 minutes. All right, I hope you like it. Okay, so more videos are coming. This is my stress— bye-bye stress series, where actually I'm going to talk to you about some tips and tricks how to handle stress. All right guys, I'll see you later. Take care. Say stay stress-free. Thanks.
