 Welcome to Movement Matters. I'm your host, Christine Linders, physical therapist and board certified orthopedic clinical specialist. Movement Matters is designed to bring you not only the most effective physical therapy tips, but also holistic information to help you achieve total body wellness. Today, I'll be talking with you about the harmful effects of stress and how to put a halt to the vicious cycle now, especially during this pandemic we find ourselves in. Every day during this pandemic, we are faced with increased stress, anxiety, fear of the unknown and a constant effort to adapt to these new challenges. So we need a well-functioning immune system to help us stay healthy and fight off disease while we're stressed. However, chronic stress negatively impacts our immune system and thus our health. Today, you will learn how using natural herbs, getting the sleep you need and clearing your sleep space can help you find calm and boost your immunity. So what are some of the harmful effects of prolonged feelings of stress as we have all suffered these past four months? High blood pressure, hair loss, weight gain, exhaustion, poor ability to sleep, depression, constipation, irritable bowel and acne are among the most common. If you've suffered any of these signs of stress, you're going to love today's show. Let me welcome back Blair Townley, founder of Get Salty and Wildcraft Herbs for part two to help you get a better understanding of the complications of stress and share strategies to boost your immunity naturally so you'll be prepared for anything that comes your way. Welcome back, Blair. Hi, thank you. How are you doing? I'm good. I'm excited to talk to you guys today. Good. So let's talk and get immunity right away because I know we don't have tons of time, but what is the importance of keeping your immune system so resilient and functioning well during these uncertain times? Well, there's a lot going on in the world and having a functioning immune system is one of your biggest insurance policies. The immune system does so many functions, it would be hard to count and most of it we are not aware of, right? And so what we really struggle with now is the amount of stress we're undergoing and then how that can impact the immune system. I think many people don't realize that there is a direct link. A lot of people talk about stress being toxic, but that might be sort of like this vague concept. But the immune system can actually get directly impacted specifically by cortisol. Cortisol has a lot of impacts on the body that are negative and most of this comes from when cortisol is heightened for a long period of time. So we need cortisol to function. I'm not saying we should have no cortisol, we actually need it to live. But if you look at, we have a slide on cortisol's negative impacts when the cortisol is elevated over long periods of time. So some of the things that can happen include digestive issues, which we kind of touched on in the last show, high blood sugar, high blood pressure, and then also a weakened immune system. So when we are chronically stressed, the lymphocytes actually decrease in our body and it disables some of our immune system's abilities to deal with things that it encounters day to day. Yeah, and we need our immune system to function. I know that I've been aware of immune system function for a very long time, but also being stressed noticing and becoming aware of my body over the years, how I'm more prone to colds, my allergies get worse. I find I'm not sleeping well at night and that's when the stress has been on me for a long period of time. Not just normal stress, a busy day, a bad phone call, a bill that didn't get paid on time or it didn't get through. And so there's that little bit of fight flight stress, like that's the kind I think you're talking about. We live with that. We deal with hardships and excitement and all these different kinds of stress, but when you're understressed for a long period of time, I don't look as good. I get dark circles under my eyes. I feel less energetic. And I, you know, you just kind of don't feel, I feel a little, I don't know, down or suppressed. And so give us some tips. What are some of the things we can do? I know you mentioned adaptogens. I just, I mean. Yeah, so the idea that we can, you know, remove stress from our lives is unrealistic. And so I'm not suggesting that at all. In fact, I think what we really need to focus on are ways to adapt and to become more resilient in these times so that we can show up for ourselves and our families. And so there is a whole class of herbs that are called adaptogens. And this is a really cool class of herbs. So similar to that neurovines are a class of herbs. Adaptions are a totally different class of herbs. And basically adaptogen comes from the Latin word adaptere. And that means to make fit or, you know, to adapt. And so the idea is that these herbs help the body cope with stressors and when taken over a few months, they can actually inhibit some of the, you know, spike in stress hormones that happens during these stressful periods. There is a graph that I have that shows the stress response and that shows someone that hasn't taken adaptogens might experience a high spike in stress hormones and also physical symptoms. And then someone that has taken adaptogens over, you know, a couple of month period, like let's say six weeks would experience a much less of a spike in those stress hormones. So if you could pull that graph up, it's really pretty profound. So this is just an example of what it could look like in the same person with the same stressful experience. So the red line shows, okay, a stressful experience happened, the stress hormone spike, the blood pressure increases, heart rate increases, maybe they're sweating. And then that stressful period passes and it goes, you know, actually below baseline. So you almost have a roller coaster effect that you might be familiar with. But then if you look back at the green line, the green line is super interesting because that same stressful experience becomes more modulated. It's much more mellow in how you experience it. And so this doesn't happen right away, but you can see that everything kind of like normalizes a bit. So you can experience these very stressful occasions but not have such an intense experience of it and be able to handle it in a much more modulated way. That sounds incredible. I know when you mentioned when it dipped below, that's what I used to call that post-adrenaline crash, right? Is that the thing that when you're not... A lot of people experience exhaustion afterwards, sometimes kind of like a depressive state or even crying, it really just depends on the person how intense that experience was. But what tends to happen for people is it becomes this roller coaster effect. And so you get a really extreme response to another stressful event, let's say later in the day, and then that same thing happens. And so what we'd love to see is with things like meditation, yoga, adaptogens, all these things are things that work over a longer period of time. You're not gonna do one yoga class and not react to some things stressful in a big way later in the day. But if you do yoga for maybe like six months, you might have a wider berth for stressful situations. And the same is true with adaptogens that they kind of are for a better tomorrow versus a better today. If you want stress relief right now, then you might look back at the nerve lines that we talked about in the last show. Those help in the moment. But to help you two months down the line, that's when you wanna look at adaptogens and you wanna take them probably almost every day or very regularly. I think that's fantastic. I mean, oh, is this a picture of the adaptogens? Yeah, so this is a great chart. I found that it shows a lot of different options of adaptogens. I start the ones that are personal favorites of mine that I use in my practice. And similar to nerve lines, adaptogens also have energetics that are different. So for example, rhodiola. A lot of people I think have heard of rhodiola recently. And that one is great. It's energizing, but also very drying. So someone that's dry, rhodiola is actually not a good choice. But then things like licorice, that's moisturizing but should be taken in smaller doses. So there's very specifics around different adaptogens. Some are more appropriate for like the general population and have just more neutral energetics. So it really just depends on what you're looking for. Wow, that's fantastic. How can you find out, I know the dry and the moist, how can you find out which adaptogen you need? Like right now, people are very stressed even if they're not realizing it's stressed. I see it in people and I hear it in stories. And in myself too of so-and-so got really upset with me because I didn't call her. And I think just tensions are high. People are really concerned about this pandemic. People have lost loved ones and know someone who's lost a loved one. And you're just kind of worried if your loved ones haven't caught the disease that they're going to catch the disease or that you're gonna catch the disease. And I'm seeing different reactions in people that I've known forever and including myself that I'm not, you're not used to seeing and it's because we're all have this heightened stress of the unknown and at moments we're so lucky to live in Hawaii, we have relative low numbers but it's still in some of the areas where it's increasing. I can't imagine how they feel living there as the numbers are really growing and how that's affecting their kids, their families, their relationship with their parents. So if they wanna take some adaptogens instead of having these big spikes, every time they get the news that the new numbers are going on or what everything's going on in the world right now is very stressful too. Not just with the coronavirus, all of it's happening at once. Where can they start? What can they take? I know you mentioned last time going to Whole Foods or different places or seeing you. Where could they get started if they're watching this show and they're like, ah, that sounds great. Let me start taking something. So over the next couple of months my reactiveness will kind of ease during this time. Yeah, it's a great question. And again, I know it can be overwhelming. I've been there in Whole Foods and there's a million supplements and where to start. Part of why I went to Earth School was to just not have that panicked feeling in Whole Foods. But some general, I would say good starts would be the medicinal mushrooms. So all mushrooms are considered adaptogens which is super interesting. Most of the mushrooms are pretty neutral and energetic, I would say compared to some of the other adaptogens. So you can find these in like supplements or there's like a couple of new brands that have them available in powders. But if you even wanna get more creative, like in the kitchen, they go really well in bone rocks. So if you dried mushrooms from a trusted herbal source, make sure they're organic and put them in bone broth and cook them a really long time. That's a great place to start. I would say reishi mushroom is great, cordyceps. Sometimes you see formulas that have like all the medicinal mushrooms in one formula. I don't think that's necessarily the best half all the time, it's a little bit of overkill. Personally, I like to see people experiment maybe with one or two herbs at once, especially if they're new, so that they can get to know an herb and see what's really working for them versus like something that has a ton of ingredients. What else? I would say Gotakola is a nice one that grows in Hawaii. That one can be pretty stimulating, it's very energizing and a little drying, but that one is local. It grows, it's like a little ground cover plant. So that one's pretty cool. I have that one in a focus formula tea that I make for my clients that I also drink, and so that helps with brain function. And I'd like to mention that a lot of these adaptogens, in addition to lowering stress levels, that does have that impact on immunity, right? So, and then they also work in so many different ways. They're considered superior tonics, meaning they're multi-directional. They have multiple talents in the body. And so they're quite magical class of herbs and one that we pretty much always include in someone's formula as a holistic approach. I love that. And so we have a question. Thank you so much for sending this question. And they're asking if you can put adaptogens in food, which you mentioned some bone broth. They were wanting to know like a smoothie. Can you put them in a smoothie and drink that? Does it have to be hot food, like a bone broth or tea? Good question. So that's great. So each individual herb, each individual adaptogen will have its own unique set of, I would say rules that make it bioavailable. So mushrooms, you always want to cook a really long time, which is why bone broth is an appropriate vehicle. So you wouldn't just want to put like mushrooms in a smoothie and not cook it. So, but then there are things like powdered maca, let's for example. That one is popular to put in smoothies. So that would be a great choice. Licorice, which is an adaptogen. You see that a lot in tea, that little, yeah. So each one is very specific. Some are water soluble. Some are only soluble in fats or alcohol. And so it really just depends on the herb, but there's a lot of information online. You know, you can look up individual adaptogens and probably find out like the best way to use them. But it is a super good point they brought up is incorporating them into foods is probably one of the best ways because then you'll be much more likely to integrate it daily. Ah, that's right, because we eat daily. And as I learned last time, we no longer eat in our car or racing somewhere so that we can absorb these nutrients from our food. What a difference that makes when you just stop for a second. It doesn't take long to eat, you know? So thanks for that. Yeah, and I mean, it's such a great idea, you know, with any type of herb, not just adaptogens is to figure out ways to layer them into your daily routine. So maybe that looks like taking a tincture in the morning and evening. Maybe that looks like making tea overnight and then sipping on it throughout the day over ice. And maybe that looks like incorporating adaptogens into your bone broths and then sipping those, you know, throughout the week. So there's a lot of ways to integrate herbs into the daily routine so that it doesn't feel like work or effort or it's easy to forget. You know, it just takes a little bit of modification to leave them in. I think that's, I think that's perfect because we're gonna eat and we need to form that habit. And so you link up taking your adaptogens to fuel your body and also fuel your immune system so that you can keep your cortisol levels at normal levels instead of prolonged levels. So on that whole cortisol thing, when you showed, we were going through the pictures earlier, you showed the picture of the cluttered room and I immediately was like, oh, let's talk about how clutter in your environment can affect your stress, affect your sleep and affect your immune system. Cause most people, I'm back to work but I like to come home to a nice environment after being rushing around all day at work. Most people are home in their environment now. So they don't, if they're cluttered, they don't even get to escape to work, knee, you know what I mean? Like they say the housekeepers or desk, the organizer's desk is always a mess cause you organize work and you come home and you're like, forget it. So tell me something about clutter and clear. Yeah, well, so this kind of came up because pre COVID, I would often see clients in their homes. It was one of the things that I really found was helpful because I got to see people in their home environment. Sometimes I would see them in their work environment just dependent on what they preferred. But either way, I got to see the environment in which they spent many hours. And so one of the things that would sometimes come up is maybe their home was cluttered, especially maybe the bedroom is an issue for some people. I noticed a lot of times if people had sleep issues, sometimes the bedroom would be very chaotic. And you know, one thing I did want to bring up with this is it's not just maybe, maybe the clutter doesn't bother you. You know, they state that there's about like a quarter to a third of the population that like can live in a super cluttered house and have no stress response. And so those people, you know, they're fine. But you forget that there's also issues with mold, you know, animal trumpings, dust, all these things can really exist in a lot of this clutter that really can impact indoor air pollution and overall health and wellness. So it's something that I saw a lot in my practice was this idea of, you know, sometimes there would be mold on the walls, sometimes there would be super musty closets and clothes and piles. And so it was really important to clear out these spaces in order to improve sleep. And then also just general, you know, overall health because indoor air pollution is something that's not really discussed a whole lot. But oftentimes, and I would say especially in Hawaii, indoor air pollution is actually more of an issue than outdoor air pollution, unless you live right on, you know, one of the highways. And so it's something that is overlooked and can really make a huge difference in your overall wellness. I agree, it's very moist out here. And I lived in San Diego for very many years and I was very well adept at keeping the bed and everything about two inches away from the walls because otherwise my first mistake, I shoved the red against the wall and like, what's all this mildew? So you just let it airspace in a moist area. It was near the beach and then you're fine. There's no problem except for if something gets wet. But in Hawaii, I noticed it's even more humid here. And so even when things have an airspace, they can get the layers of, I want to say mildew, but that slight little discoloration to surfaces that are damp and not in a good airflow, even if they're open. And so that affects my allergies. So I keep it very clean, slightly cluttered space with all my book research and everything all over the place. But it's clean because then I don't have to worry about the dust affecting me. And I want to say too, after the show two weeks ago, I moved, I have a cube where I store my clutter like my book title stuff, my research articles, everything that I've done, previous drafts. I have a cube so I can see it, which makes it a little bit cluttered, but I kind of need to see it right now. So I stay focused on it. I moved it to a different area of my room and I feel like I moved to a different location. It's so much more open, I've been sleeping better and I'm less stressed. I noticed a huge difference. I moved it, we did the show on Tuesday. I moved it Friday night. I finally said, you know what, it was 1030. Let me just move this thing. And that started my renewal. I moved one object and I made a huge difference. So thank you for that. People know how impactful it can be. Yeah, and you brought up a really good point around the airflow thing. So that really is the most important thing and why clutter can be an issue is that the lack of airflow mold doesn't like airflow and it also doesn't like UV exposure. So getting natural light into the rooms is also important. So if you never open the curtains, you never open the windows, you never open up airflow, maybe even just get a fan if you don't have good trade wind exposure. All those things are gonna be helpful but you really do need to stay ahead of it. Like once it's taken hold, it is kind of an issue to get rid of. It really is expensive to do mold remediation. So staying ahead of it, keeping decluttered and keeping it not only nice for your lungs but also nice for your eyes and nervous system when you can come home to a decluttered home I think is a really nice priority for people, especially now that we're spending much more time there. Maybe it might be easier for people, I don't know to embark on this concept of decluttering or just organizing and it doesn't necessarily mean you have to live in a super minimalist household but the idea of just really being critical on is this space healthy? Is it getting enough airflow? And what can I do to remedy that? Let us look, I know we're getting close to time and I've got a question on adaptions I'll ask you in a minute coming in but let's see that photo of the cluttered versus clear space so everybody can get a sense for how they feel when they look at the cluttered or disorganized room. Yeah, and in Hawaii it's really like it's easy to get past bugs and things like that and it doesn't take very many days for bugs to find just one or two crumbs and so that's another thing that I've really realized is keeping things bug free is a journey as well. Yeah, that's great. So I don't know how many of you viewers felt different with the cluttered space versus the clear space. I know I did. So Blair, let me ask you a question about adaptogens that came in. Thanks again for sending these questions and it's great. How do you know when the adaptogen is working to reduce stress? Okay, so it's great question. So it would be the same as how you would know if your meditation practice was working or if your yoga practice was working or if your therapy was working. So adaptogens tend to be a pretty subtle shift over many weeks to months even. So it's not gonna be something where it's this huge impact after one week necessarily. Anything's possible. I have seen many people really show a lot of benefit after a few weeks of a new formula. But in realistic terms, I would say that you might just notice a lack of extremes. So whereas last week when you got a flat tire or the last time you got a flat tire maybe it was a huge issue. But this time you go, okay, what do I need to do to handle that? And those things are actually hard to notice. I think we notice when things are extreme but we don't notice when things are sometimes resolved. Sometimes people don't even notice like that their pain has gone, for example, until someone asks them about it. So I encounter that as well with people where it'll take them coming into their next session and me asking them questions based on their experience last time we met and I'm going, oh, you know what, that is different. I haven't had as much insomnia or panic attacks or something like that. So those are extreme examples, but it just shows that you can make, I would say incremental progress is what adaptions offer. I experienced that not with adaptogens. Maybe I did in the tincture that you gave me from my allergies, but I experienced that when I started doing regular mindfulness after a seminar I took where they were saying 30 minutes a day for six weeks made a difference. I did three to five minutes a day for two weeks. Sometimes I did it twice a day, depending on how I was feeling. I was sitting in a lot of traffic with a heavy schedule when we opened up a new busy clinic. And in two weeks, my reactiveness was so much better. Something that would have set me into this kind of a mode. I just kind of looked at it and was like, ah, you know what I mean? It was just a very nod of dissatisfaction, but no big reaction. I can't believe this, the things that are a big deal, like getting a flat and saying, gosh, one more thing. And then two weeks later, I noticed a huge difference. It's like, oh shoot, another flat. Let me call the tow truck. What do I need to do? You just, your brain functions better and it handles, it handles these things better. So we have about a minute and a half left, Blair. How can people get in touch with you if they want to do a Zoom meeting with you to find out which adaption it might be best for them or which herbs might be best for them? Or if you have ideas on how to declutter, if they're really interested, how can they get access you? Yeah, great. So my website is www.wildcraftherbs.com with a K. And so you can get in touch with me there. And yeah, again, I just want to mention that with all herbs, there are contraindications. So it's always good to do your own research if you don't work with an herbalist to make sure that if you go purchase an adaptogen at the store, that it doesn't coincide with medication that you're taking or other health condition. So yeah, do your research or talk to somebody that is familiar with these plants. Wow, that's fantastic. So I think we'll wrap it up for everyone watching. Thanks so much for watching. This was great to have you, Blair. Thanks for coming. And I think whatever you can do to find calm immediately right now, whether it's breathe, do a mindfulness app, consult Blair to get some herbs. I fill my space with these beautiful Plumeria flowers. This one's a few days old. I pick them up off the ground, they're everywhere. And I come home and I stick them in water. Just seeing them relaxes me. And at night, it's warm here, but I light a candle to stay relaxed. So everyone take a deep breath, look at Blair in her calm space. And let's try to make a difference right now so we can get everyone together. Thank you so much. Thank Tech Hawaii, our sponsors, our donors. Thank you, Blair and our viewers for watching us and calling in to ask these great questions. Aloha everyone. We'll see you in two weeks.