Anxiety 101: Step-By-Step Instructions For Eliminating Anxiety And Taking Your Life Back.

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Hey folks, it's Ben Greenfield here. And I gotta tell you, I actually didn't used to be a very anxious guy, but it seems like the more that my life goes on and the more tasks that I take on, the more pressure there is for me to maintain a fit body or a healthy nutrition protocol. The older and more active my twin boys get, the more responsibilities I have. It seems like I get just a little less laid back and it affects my sleep quality. And some days I find myself laughing less or there are some days where I really need to go out of my way to remember to just kind of stop and smell the roses. And it was during the summer last year that I actually did some blood measurements that included a cortisol reading that was very high. And it was high in a way that really concerned me and convinced me that I needed to do some pretty serious stress management before I started to take years off my life. So I delved into a lot of stress management and anxiety management protocols and since then I've actually been really interested in this whole field of the anti aging and life enhancing and health bestowing benefits of managing stress and anxiety and in natural ways. So a few weeks ago when I got this book in the mail called Anxiety 101, a holistic approach to managing your anxiety and taking back your life, I was pretty interested. And I have to admit I kind of thought when I first got the book that it would be kind of the typical ho hum advice like quit worrying or get a massage or, or learn how to meditate. But this book actually went into a pretty comprehensive list of a wide variety of holistic management options for anxiety and for stress that I didn't know about. And it also had some really good explanations of the biological and the biochemical mechanisms underlying a lot of our stress behaviors. So this book was written by a holistic physician who practices in Florida and who happens to be on the podcast with me today. Her name is Dr. Eudine Harry and she really has churned out one of the better books on stress and anxiety that I've ever read. So, Dr. Harry, thanks so much for coming on the call today.

Well, thank you for Inviting me, I appreciate it.

So let's just delve right in. You talk about a lot of things in your book that can cause anxiety. And I think one of the things that you mentioned that I thought was really interesting was this whole concept of brighter tomorrow. Can you explain how the concept of brighter tomorrow affects our anxiety levels?

I think oftentimes what creates anxiety in a lot of individuals is that we always anticipating ahead, right? And we want things to be better and we're not focusing on where we are right now. And so we're always thinking, okay, we want a brighter tomorrow and so what can we do to get that? And that's a reasonable question, except when you keep over focusing on it.

So, you know, one of the things that I've found, and again, this is just something kind of as I get older that sometimes I find myself slipping into that trap of feeling like maybe I'm not going to be able to achieve everything that I wanted to achieve or be as great as I wanted to be. And do you find that to be common in the folks you work with, with stress and anxiety is this difference between kind of our perception of what our life should be and what it actually is? And if so, what do you do about that?

Here's the thing, the word should I find is an interesting word in the English language because I've always found that it tends to cause increased stress in individuals because we're always shoulding ourselves especially, and you're correct, when we get to be maybe about 30, 35, we start looking at ourselves and thinking, oh gee, at this stage I should have accomplished this, I should have done this already. And we start comparing ourselves to everyone under the sun. And the thing that we start doing is looking at ourselves and thinking we are not where we should be at this stage of our lives. And we start generating a whole bunch of anxiety around that. And actually what we do at that point is diminish our accomplishments that we've already achieved. We negate those. And so let's say you have a fantastic job or you've got a bachelor in college degree. You completely negate that and say, well, you know, so and so has a master's degree or so and so has a PhD and I should have that as well. And many times what I ask each individual is, you know, really you have to pay attention to what you've accomplished and start really giving yourself some credit for what you've already done and remove the word shit from your vocabulary. I think it's one of the most dangerous words we have in our vocabulary today is the word should. It's always saying that we are not enough. And that's basically what the word should says. And if you're never enough, then that absolutely keeps you living in a state of anxiousness.

Yeah, yeah, I like that approach. I find myself slipping into that trap often with everything from my kids should be doing this activity and that activity and another activity, or I should be at this point financially in my life or at this point from a fitness perspective in the year. And yeah, I think that framing things not necessarily based on other people's expectations, but with where you're at in life is important. I like how you point that out in the book. Genetics play their part is something that you say. And how much of a role do genetics play in anxiety?

Well, we're finding out that genetics may actually have a significant contribution in anxiety. And I always start off by saying that we should not let our genetics determine who we are or who we're going to be. But basically what we use genetics for, in my opinion, is to let you be aware that you've got to be very selective about your environment. So there are a few genetic studies that have gone on and continues to go on. And we're finding that, for example, there's a gene called the serotonin transporter gene. And what that gene does is manages serotonin levels in the brain. And people who inherit the shorter variant version of that gene tend to be able to. They respond to stress a little bit more negatively, so they respond to negative stimuli just a little bit stronger than those who inherit a longer version. But what that says to me is that we've got to be respectful of ourselves and of others as well. And so just because you're able to tolerate whatever environment doesn't mean that everybody else may be able to tolerate that environment. And oftentimes I think we judge ourselves and we judge others based on that. We're even finding out that prenatally may have some impact on how we handle stress and how the brain is performed during the prenatal period as well. So all of these things, I think, contribute to make us who we are and to form the brain. But I think what it needs to do above all else is just to really make us be focused about the environment that we place ourselves in. So I'm currently. I'm very on the edge about whether we should be doing genetic testing or not, because I think what it might then lead to people either giving up and saying, well, what's the point? I've Got X, Y, and Z. Instead of seeing it for what it is. Changing your environment because there's such a thing also as epigenetics. And what that means is because we've got the genes for that doesn't mean we have to activate that gene. The environment activates the gene or quiets the gene. So I think that's how we should be using genetics.

Yeah. I have one sibling who seems to be wired very much like me, and I've noticed them go through a stressful time in their life that actually resulted in a lot of gut issues and ulcer issues and almost like autoimmune issues, kind of. Kind of like an activation of these really deleterious stress responses based off of the way that they responded to stress and some of the information that you would go over in your book as far as, like, how genetics affects these things. Seeing something like that makes me all the more want to make sure that I'm careful with managing stress in my own life and my response to anxiety. So I think that is important for folks to at least be aware of potential for genetic predisposition to some of these issues. One of the things that you talk about is that worrying about an event can create just as much anxiety as if you were actually experiencing the event. Is that really proven by science, or is that something that you've actually seen occur from a biological level?

Both, actually. And they have performed a scientific study where they did show that just the anticipation of the event creates just as much habit as actually experiencing the. And that's what we were talking about before. When you're living in constant anticipation of something bad happening, or as my mom used to say, wait for the other shoe to drop, you are actually creating all of those nasty things that stress tends to do to us. So oftentimes, even around the vacation time, for example, or holiday time, is something that comes up a lot because you. When it's Christmas or you're thinking about Christmas in June and you're thinking about all the things that you have to experience, you are already creating that stress. And now you have six months of living that stress instead of maybe the week of living that stress. So we have to be very careful about that because our thoughts can actually set that whole stress cascade into motion.

So if you have something that you know is going to be stressful or anxious kind of coming up in life, one of the things that you shouldn't do is actually dwell on that or focus on it or go through that scene in your head.

If you go through it in A different way. If you're dwelling on it with the anticipation of a negative result, then you've already set up that stress cascade for that negative result. So if you do want to go there and visualize that situation, I would strongly suggest to try visualizing a positive outcome of that situation so you can remove some of the angst that goes along with assuming that it's going to be negative. The first thing that we're doing there is fortune telling, because we really don't know what's going to happen in that situation. And what I have found out is that once we seem to find ourselves for a negative outcome, we tend to start acting in a way that brings that on. And so if we start, if we have a situation that's coming up, let's say, for example, a big presentation or a big seminar, this is something that you haven't done before. Instead of visualizing people heckling you or visualizing people getting up and leaving the room, why not visualize them enjoying your presentation, asking a lot of questions? What that does is then puts the switch a little bit. It turns that stressor into perhaps a challenge that motivates you, a challenge that inspires you and puts you in a better place emotionally to be able to give a better performance.

So in the same way that thinking about something can cause us to become more stressed, we can also kind of almost use that inner game of tennis, inner game of golf type of approach to visualize success and kind of kind of turn that on its head.

Absolutely. Because there was a really nice golf experiment that was done that you mentioned golf. And what they did was divided into three groups. One group, they asked to visualize cutting into a hole. One group they asked to visualize missing the hole, and the other group they just sort of let do whatever they wanted. And of course, the group that did the worst was the group that visualized missing the hole. They missed the hole consistently. And the group that did the best was those that visualize actually getting the ball into that hole. So, yes, it seems to work that way.

Speaking of visualization, I know that a lot of people that listen into this podcast are high achievers. Many of them are all or nothing personalities. Many folks, especially in this day and age, are multitaskers. In your book, you talk about this persistent tonic state and how there's a particular part of our brain that is responsible for like this persistent high level of firing or activity. Can you talk about how that if we do have this kind of all or nothing or multitasking or do everything at Once approach how that can actually affect us from a stress level.

Oh, absolutely. And the part of the brain that's the local coeruleus that you're talking about.

It'S called the locus coeruleus. Is that how you pronounce it?

If you're going along, let's say just simply walking and something jumps out, that part spikes and allows you to pay attention and allows you to decide what to do at that point. But if you are constantly in that tonic state that you're talking about, that was the thing, that state was spiked or misappropriate. But if you're constantly at a high level all the time, then you're not going to be able to tell what to pay attention to because you're trying to pay attention to everything. So everything you want to make everything important. So nothing is important. So you're not really differentiate at that point what really needs attention and what doesn't need attention.

Gotcha. So when this locus coeruleus is in a constant state of overstimulation, or what happens?

Well, what it does is it floods the brain with newer adrenaline and the prefrontal part of the brain that really is considered the cognitive part of the brain and the part of the brain that kind of talks the emotional part of the brain down, so to speak, because they've got a really nice connection going on and allows us to make clear decision and organizational decisions. That has an optimal amount of neuroadrenaline that it uses to help us to stay focused and clear and make executive decisions. When that part of the brain becomes overstimulated, with all the flooding from the local coeruleus, all that neuroadrenaline that comes in from the local coeruleus, it actually starts functioning in the opposite direction. It starts losing a more focused. You're actually able now to make less informed executive decisions. You actually become less of an executive thinker because with that much neurogenaline, it activates different receptors in that part of the brain that then makes us less efficient.

Wow. So you're basically, when you're trying to focus on doing a bunch of tasks at once, you're basically flooding your brain, brain with things like norepinephrine. And eventually are you eventually creating almost like an insensitivity to that neurotransmitter?

Eventually created. That's a very good way of putting it eventually. And the body has an interesting way, a lot of mechanisms in place that when you have too much of something, it's like Insulin resistance, for example, when you've got too much of insulin, it almost stops listening to insulin. So insulin stops functioning appropriately. And so that then leads to that whole pre diabetes stage and perhaps increase your risk for diabetes at type 2. It's very much the same thing. It's got a mechanism in place that when the brain gets flooded with something, what it actually does is reduce receptors of brain or the body, reduce receptors for that thing to become less sensitive to that.

Now of course, that running from a lion feeling a lot of times is the hypothalamus responding to all that norepinephrine and causing us to release cortisol by the adrenal glands. And I think a lot of folks are familiar, of course, with cortisol and how activation of those adrenal glands, if kind of stimulated in excess, can produce some pretty deleterious amounts of of stress. And in your book you actually talk about these cytokines, these inflammatory cytokines and how they play a role in anxiety and stress and that reaction by the adrenal glands as well. Can you explain exactly how that works?

Sure. It's like a cat chasing itself kind of a scenario. What we have is we have some studies that shows us that actually when you're under a lot of psychological stressors, that can actually increase those pro inflammatory cytokines and they themselves can then activate the hypothalamus, which then activates the adrenal glands and stimulates the release of more cortisol. So then you've got that cycle going where you can't put it out because one thing is fueling the other thing. So these cytokines are very important and the body doesn't generate things for nothing, but they're usually meant for acute situations and not meant to be in a chronic state all the time. So what they can actually do is stimulate the stress response de novo without you actually having psychological or physical stimuli for it. They themselves really go into the brain and activate that stress response. And so that is something that we've got to be very careful for because we know that these inflammatory cytokines can actually then go on to create more diseases in the body and increase your risk of cardiovascular disease and even autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. So we starting this whole task in is what's so important for me for people to realize that. And I hear this all the time, they're like, oh, well, it's just stress. And it's not just stress you're looking at, in my opinion, I think stress and nutrition really kind of compete for the place in the things that can be prevented most chronic illnesses, if we take care of ourselves.

Wow. So essentially, you could do a very good job at eliminating stress and, you know, making sure relationships are good and getting enough sleep and being really careful with not working too much. But you could actually consume something that creates, like gut inflammation or colon inflammation, create these inflammatory cytokines, and they can cross your. Into your brain. Brain and stimulate the neurons that cause anxiety. So you could be doing all these good things to manage anxiety and still screw yourself if you're producing cytokines.

Yes, exactly.

Wow. In your book, you talk about how that mechanism is actually kind of tied into how when we age, we tend to grow more anxious or at least be more prone to anxiety. How exactly does that work? I mean, I guess the reason I ask that is I've always thought that maybe as we age, we take on more responsibilities or we have more things to worry about, or we see more things on the news or something like that. But the way that you explain it, there's a little bit of a biological mechanism here too.

Yes, there's a little bit of biological mechanism here as well, because as we age, there's so many things that happen, actually information as we age. And then that, of course, can generate anxiety. And we know also years of stress can start anatomically changing the brain, actually be more susceptible to anxiety. So these are all things. We also know that years of strep can then shorten the protective end of the DNA cause called the telomere, the ES distress actually starts shortening that as well. And all of that actually accelerates the aging process. And nobody, we all want to get older and live longer, but we need to be able to think about living well, because we've all seen people who are older and they're not living so well. And so, you know, I have people say, oh, I want to live to be 100. I said, that's great, but what is the quality of that?

Yeah, and I think that's interesting that I think a lot of people don't really realize that. That as you age, you naturally produce more of these inflammatory cytokines. So controlling inflammation. You know, we actually recently did an interview about how inflammation can inhibit fat cell apoptosis and kind of keep you fat or at least inhibit the ability of fat cells to die or be converted into other cells like nerve cells or muscle cells. It sounds like the constant presence of these inflammatory cytokines that you might tend to be more predisposed to as you age is also a great way to dig yourself into this anxiety hole.

And it's also a great way to dig yourself into this anxiety hole.

One of the really interesting things that you talked about, as you discussed in inflammation and even like gut infection, in this case infectious colitis in, I believe it was mice, was where bacteria and probiotics play a role with anxiety. Can you explain that?

And that seems to be so interesting to me as well. And I know they've done. Those studies were done in mice and in animals where they actually were able to change the animal behavior simply by changing the makeup of the bacteria in the gut. And that was very interesting. What they've done recently now is with humans, and I believe they use women for this very small study, but they used probiotics and actually found that there was a wiring change in the brain that could potentially, with use of probiotics, that actually could potentially reduce the amount of anxiety and improve the way that we handle stress. And now we're starting to see those studies being transferred into human studies, even though, again, they're small studies. But I usually, if probiotics can potentially help me with that, I'm certainly going to be thinking, my probiotics are eating foods that are going to be high. When you're looking at behavior being able to change just by changing the bacterial content of the gut. If that doesn't show the mind body connection, I don't know what that.

Wow, that's amazing. So do you, with the folks who you work with for stress and anxiety, do you use probiotics as a regimen?

Absolutely. Especially those who are having a lot of gastrointestinal distress. And we know that with high anxiety and stress, a lot of the symptomatology tends to involve the gut. And those people who are having a lot of gut issues. Well, what I might tend to do is just do a stool analysis first to see if there really is a significant disruption going on in the gut and really work on healing that. So I do tend to use probiotics quite frequently in my practice. What this court is now trying to sort out is what probiotics does. And that would be. I look forward to that research now.

Kind of going away from probiotics as a nutritional therapy and jumping into the world of hormones. You have an entire very thorough chapter in your book about the link between anxiety and hormones. And. And I would really encourage people to go out and get the book and read through some of this stuff because Dr. Harry delves into much more detail than we're even getting into in today's podcast. But one of the hormones that you talk about, Dr. Harry, is progesterone. And in terms of the link between progesterone and anxiety, what exactly is going on with that one?

Well, progesterone seems to actually be able to activate the GABA receptors in the brain. And as we know, the GABA receptors are the calming receptors. It's very similar to, perhaps things like benzodiazepines will do, which will activate the GABA receptors. But it's the body's own natural way of doing so. It actually has an anxiolytic component to it. And many people actually will find that when they're approaching that perimenopausal stage, they start experiencing increasing anxiety symptoms and they start experiencing increasing issues with insomnia. And oftentimes that can be secondary to a hormonal imbalance that's going on there. So, to me, it's really very interesting the way the body plays together. It takes one thing to do another thing, and everything helps each other out. And progesterone is just one of the things that seems to be able to help some individuals with that.

Got it. I like how you also point out that progesterone helps to form the protective sheath of the fats around the neurons, you know, the myelin, which helps your nerve cells to communicate better. And I think that that should give folks who perhaps are either eating a, say, like a really low fat diet, which can affect your. Your the fat cell sheaths, and then also folks who are maybe doing things that are decreasing progesterone significantly, like four to five cups of coffee a day, I know is one of the ways to do it should give folks pause when it comes to making sure that they get adequate progesterone. And I don't know if you use progesterone creams or lotions or things of that nature in your practice. I encourage folks to try and use natural means of elevating progesterone as much as possible. But have you ever used those type of things in conjunction with elements like probably probiotics to help with stress?

Yeah. Well, for some individuals, and we all know not everything is appropriate for everybody, and that's why it's important to work with someone on that. And I'm with you. I oftentimes really encourage using food, nutrition, lifestyle choices because you can really make a huge impact with your hormonal balance with those things, and your lifestyle habits can wreck a lot of that significantly. And oftentimes I see people wanting to use hormonal replacement therapy, but they're not changing their lifestyle habits. And to me, it's a wash or it becomes a little bit detrimental when you're not doing everything together. So for the appropriate people, yes, I would use that at times, but not everybody's a really good candidate for replacement therapy of any kind. And so then we'll have to find other ways to go about doing that as well.

Gotcha. Now, we've talked about cortisol a little bit, and obviously there are salivary tests out there that you can get for cortisol. I know that a lot of our listeners are probably aware of things like the adrenal stress index for measuring cortisol and dhea, and I certainly think that's good for overtraining and adrenal fatigue and potential for stress and anxiety and things of that nature. But you also talk about what you call the mystery of functional deficiencies in your book, and it looks like these deficiencies kind of go above and beyond, just like a cortisol excess or a DHEA deficiency. Can you talk a little bit about functional deficiencies and how we might be able to test for or address those?

Sure. Well, functional deficiencies. And I say functional because oftentimes, for example, what I see is that we will check Perhaps the development B12 level, for example, and many times it comes back within that huge normal range of 200, 1100, or whatever it is, depending on the lab that's testing it. But functional deficiencies really talked about for that person's makeup on activity level, is he or she getting enough of that nutrient? Is it the appropriate amount for them? And so what we do, and I say we in a general sense, so it's a lab that does it. But what the lab is able to do is to look at urine and blood and look at different markers to be able to let us know if that individual is getting the right amount of that supplement or that nutrient for them. So functional deficiencies can wreak havoc oftentimes. I see. I've seen some patients who come in and they've gone to the gamut of testing, and I'm usually very happy when that's done because at least that's something I don't have to do. But it turns out they've got perhaps a functional deficiency of magnesium, and that's all it takes. And it's always great that I look like a star, but it's really not the case. You need to be able to test that individual to see if they have some Nutrient deficiencies that could be potentially obstructing the way that their body functions normally. For example, we know that glutamate, that's an excitatory neurotransmitter that we need for learning, et cetera, but in excess can actually generate more anxiety, gets converted in the body over to GABA, which is a primary neurotransmitter. And without deficient vitamin D6, that conversion that not happen. So then looking at that functional deficiency of perhaps the basis in that individual.

Yeah, I think that that's so important to actually test and take a look at this stuff. And obviously in this day and age, there's a lot of different ways you can go out and get a test. And I know you talk about a urine organic acid evaluation and I know that my, for example, my naturopath is able to run that pretty easily. And I think that most folks, if they were to hunt down a natural medical practitioner, could get a test like that. But then you also talk about functional deficiencies that I know folks might be able to order via blood tests through like Wellness FX or Direct labs or any of these wholesale companies. You mentioned magnesium. I know in the book you also talk about some others that if deficient can be directly linked to elevated anxiety and stress. You mentioned the vitamin B complex, omega 3 fatty acids, vitamin D and folate, which I know is a biggie. So really, really interesting there in terms of it kind of going above and beyond just like hormones and inflammation.

I'm just saying you have to because those things are not going to work optimally if you don't have the proper nutrients because that's how the body functions.

Yeah. I've talked before about how sometimes when I need to take a nap in the middle of the afternoon or if I wake up at night and my mind is racing, I will use passion flower as something to help with anxiety. And I was pleased to see that in the book. But you also have some other herbs in the book that you like for anxiety, Some other herbs and amino acids and remedies. What are some of your big wins that you find to be really effective, effective for anxiety?

Well, there are a few things that I like and I like things because I'm big on mechanism of action. Just tell me how they work and let me look into myself. Passion power is certainly one I love. The sun theanine. L Theanine. I think that's a great one because that's actually been shown to work and gather receptors actually had some impact on apple in the brain, which is Something else that we haven't touched on yet, but it's in the book that helps to keep us calm and focused and also optimize our dopamine as well.

And that's L Theanine.

Yes. And great. It's extracted from green tea. So many of us who find green tea relaxing. We're not crazy. It actually may help us. And then we want to look at things. I know, I think it's over the counter, it's called or something like that. It's magolia bark extract that seems to actually calm cortisol levels down. So to me, what you think is really based on what that person is showing, like you mentioned, you went and you got your cortisol levels checked and you found out that they are elevated. And I would certainly use a different treatment for that over somebody who seems to have another mechanism like significant inflammation going on. Then I would use another treatment for that. Very individualized.

You also mentioned something that I actually, when I go down and compete in the Hawaii Ironman World Championships in Kona, tend to find and actually use as. As an anti anxiety remedy down there. And that's kava. Can you talk about kava and how that works?

Yeah. Kava also seems to be another gaba stimulator and it's been around for centuries, as we all know, and we know that there was concern some time back about potential liver issues and there's some concern about that. But I bet, I understand at that point there was some contamination also as well. So it's a little murky whether that was even cost or not. But I usually say, what's with bio? It's important to work with someone, especially if you've got liver issues and you have concerns. Work with someone that can follow that along with you. Make sure that you're doing appropriate dosing, et cetera. Yes, Hawaiian people would use pava because the Indians used a lot of kava. And you've got. Your source is so important when you're choosing this. You have to be aware of the source.

Yeah. You're pretty careful in your book too, to give some recommendations on dosages. Like, I know for kava you say not to exceed. I think you recommend the extract of kava not to exceed 250 milligrams daily. Because you're right, I think there are some potential for liver issues with that one or with using it in. In excess, as I think would be the case with a lot of these things that you probably wouldn't want to use to excess. One of the other Things that you talk about that I think is really interesting because, I mean, you have so many techniques in this book that I hadn't seen before. But one really simple one that you talk about is this hand warming technique. Can you explain what the hand warming technique is and how we could use that for anxiety?

The hand warming technique, and sometimes it doesn't work so much as well as 100 degrees, but basically what that is, it's just imagine or visualize, for example, holding your hand to something that's warm, holding a warm cup, a warm cup of tea, a warm cup of coffee. What they actually found was that by doing that, that you not only seem to relax more, but it puts us in a friendlier state, for lack of a better terminology. And so that's a very simple technology. People can visualize their hands over the fireplace, but most of us. Do you not feel a sense of soothing and calm when you start holding a warm cup of tea or a warm cup of coffee or whatever it is that that you do drink? Studies showed that that is a thing.

Wow, Nice. And it's just a matter of kind of like rubbing your hands together and warming them.

You could do that as well. You could do that as well. It's just bringing heat to the hands. In their study, they used the warm cup technique.

Maybe that's why that nice warm cup of coffee, especially on a cold morning like coffee or tea, can almost feel like it's opening up blood vessels in your brain and decreasing anxiety just by warming the hands. That's really interesting. You have so many other things that you talk about in the book as far as ways to reduce anxiety and reduce stress. And if I may, I think I'd like to ask you one other question, because I watched a funny movie last night. I actually watched Anchorman and was howling during most of the movie, the Legend of Ron Burgundy. But you talk about an actual biological link between laughter and something else that we've already mentioned earlier in this show and how laughter can decrease it. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Laughter can decrease information. I think it's a wonderful thing, because I know there was a book out sometime written. I can't believe. His name is Bernie Siegel, the young man who talks about healing itself with laughter. And when we look at this, actually a physiological reason, it seems that laughter can actually decrease inflammation. And some studies are actually showing cortisol may be involved in that as well. Quite frankly, you know, it feels good. I'm with you. Like, if I'm feeling a little down a little Blue I will find a funny movie or a funny show or something that I know that will make me laugh. And usually within 10, 15 minutes, I'm feeling so much, so much better. These are all simple things that we can do. You talked initially in the beginning, you said, you know, you're finding yourself not maybe not laughing as much. And that's something that we start doing. The more or less becomes stressful, the less we take time out to handle that. And we're finding out that that may actually not be the way to go.

Yeah. And you know what I think is really interesting and again, something I like about your book is you tie it into science and biology and studies. You actually talk about how the patients who are assigned to the laughter group in this particular study in which they measured markers of inflammation like interleukin and TNF alpha and cytokines, they had a 66% drop in the levels of some of their inflammatory markers, which was just amazing. Yeah. One of the stress control methods that I use that we haven't really talked about is journaling and a gratitude practice. And part of my daily journaling is using this thing called a five minute draw journal. And it actually asks you in the morning what your daily affirmation is going to be. And actually my daily affirmation because I felt so good when I went to bed last night after watching this funny movie. My daily affirmation this morning was simply I laugh a lot. So there you go. So a ton of really helpful information in this book. Dr. Eudine Harry actually practices in Orlando, Florida. I was actually just down there. I spent two days at Legoland. I probably could have used a little anti anxiety after chasing twin six year old boys around Legoland in Orlando. Anyways though, for those of you who are in the Florida area, she practices down there. And for people listening in from anywhere in the world, definitely check her book out. I'm going to put a link to her book in the show show notes for this episode over@BenGreenfieldFitness.com the name of the book is Anxiety 101 the Holistic Approach to managing your anxiety and taking back your life. I've been taking notes during our call and I'll put lots of helpful resources for you as well over in the show notes for this episode@BenGreenfieldFitness.com and Dr. Harry, I want to thank you for your time and for coming on the call today.

Well, thank you so much for having me and I'm always excited when someone really appreciate the information because I find it so interesting that when we start seeing how the body plays together, then we can start actually taking steps to improve it.

Yeah, it's fascinating stuff. I love it and you did a great job on this book. So, folks, until next time, this is Ben and Dr. Eudean Harry signing out.

From Ben Greenfield health fitness.com visit BenGreenfieldFitness.com for even more cutting edge fitness, nutrition and performance advice.

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