Cortisol, Cardio & The Everyday Habits Protecting Your Brain

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1:01welcome to the wellness scoop your twice weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration and as always we're both here as your hosts i'm ella mills and i'm rianna lambert and after a decade in the wellness industry we know that it can be really overwhelming and confusing and that's why this podcast here to cut through the noise and make healthier living simple fun and personal and very excited to say this is officially episode 97 of the wellness scoop which means we're three episodes away from 100 episodes and I don't know something about that feels mega to me it is mega I feel like when we hit um our year anniversary and this I feel like it's definitely the start of really um hopefully good things to come we can continue to be that positive space for you because I know Ella and I just want to acknowledge a few things don't we yeah I mean look we want to be a I don't want to say safe space but a happy place for you guys a place of respite of inspiration of empowerment but obviously you know chat about health and wellness doesn't exist in a vacuum you know the world operates around us and i think it was just important to we record this a week in advance we're recording morning of the second of march but we're just super aware that there are enormous geopolitical tensions eruptions shifts happening right now the world feels incredibly unstable and we just want to kind of send huge love we know we have listeners all over the world.

2:24We're going to have listeners listening in affected countries, people feeling really nervous. And we just wanted to say we are thinking of you. We are aware of kind of how frightening and unknown the world feels right now. And we just want to send a lot of love to you all. Yeah, we really do. We know you listen everywhere around the world and we are sending all of our wishes and thoughts with you and we think you're incredibly brave. So welcome to our space today, The Wellness Scoop. Let's have a chat about some things to take our mind off everything and what's coming up in today's show, Ella.

2:57Okay, we have some very interesting new research that's just come out on cortisol stress and cancer cells. So we're going to talk about what that means and what it doesn't mean, of course. We've got some new data that suggests men may need nearly twice as much exercise as women for the same heart benefits, which is super interesting. The link between brain health, oral hygiene and everyday cognitive habits. There's a bit more of a deep dive into some of the dementia bits we were talking about last week and why we need to brush our teeth. We are going to talk about fiber layering versus fiber maxing.

3:28So the first trend was fiber maxing. Apparently the new big trend is fiber layering, all fiber stuff. So it's music to resist and whether diversity is the smarter gut health strategy. And then finally, we have a few tips and tricks on how to fall asleep faster. And of course why sleep is the foundation of long-term health having not slept really for the last few weeks i find that very concerning to highlight do you know what i feel like sleep is that thing that you've either got it or you don't and it's so concerning isn't it and you read it everywhere so let's hope this is going to be a good trend and some good tips that we can unpack to help us all with that.

4:07Ella, how has your week been? Yeah, my week's been good. We had a really family-filled weekend, which was so nice. Had my father-in-law, my sister-in-law, her husband, her daughter, everyone over yesterday. You know, it's just, I think one of the really lovely things for me since we moved is being able to host people and have people over and really spend that more kind of concentrated time with people that matter so much to us and it's just like spring it's weird isn't it because it's the first day of spring yesterday and it was part of me it's like oh my gosh the sun's coming out the daffodils are here it feels a little bit of warm and like spring in the air but equally yeah as we said then you're kind of open the news and you're like goodness me are we still going to be here when we get to summer so it's a slightly odd weird juxtaposition it is it you know what I always struggle with at this point is I almost have this guilt feeling for, I mean, we all have to live our everyday lives, but I do struggle with it very much.

5:06I struggle having a career that means, you know, I do post things online sometimes. You know, I'm going to a big conference this week. I'm speaking at an obesity conference and sometimes just everyday life just feels a little bit, I think heavier, but then we have to continue. And it's a really difficult place and position to be in. I think for everybody listening, I'm sure you all feel the same. Everyone wishes they could just do something. I totally agree. I want to hear what you're talking about in the BCT conference in one sec. I will say I listened to this podcast last week and it's by a, it's on Oprah's Super Soul, which actually I don't normally listen to, but someone else recommended this.

5:44And it was with someone called Sean Anker or Sean Acker. I can't remember how you say his surname. Anyway, he's one of the foremost experts, Harvard educated on happiness and positive psychology and the kind of psychology behind happiness. And he was talking about two things. The first is that really to cultivate happiness, we have to, essentially there's a kind of element of discipline in it. And like the idea, which I've always really liked that you've got to show yourself you're worth it. Like these teeny, teeny habits, you know, whether it's waking up in the morning, not scrolling, but instead opening the window, looking outside, taking a deep breath, making a cup of coffee, sipping it, you know, and just think, Oh, this is nice doing one thing for your health.

6:23Maybe that's a probiotic you take, or it's your vitamin D, or you make yourself a healthy smoothie or whatever it is but you kind of you show yourself from the outset that like I'm going to do those little things to take care of myself I matter I'm worth taking care of and being really consistent in that which I love but the other thing that he talked about was that actually they showed in just 21 days so three weeks taking two minutes to write down your gratitude list so three things you really feel grateful for and then also a further two minutes to write down a meaningful moment from your day something that actually mattered has been shown to turn a low level pessimist into a low level optimist in just 21 days yeah and it's funny because I used to do that for a little while and I loved it and I started doing it again last week after I listened to this just I've got a little notepad by my bed and it's so nice and what he said is basically by doing that you you live the experience again and you kind of embody your body with these feelings and they can be such small things.

7:21You know, we started, I love reading with my kids. We finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory recently and they loved it. We've just started on Matilda. It was just like their little faces while we were talking about Matilda and like how hilarious they thought some of it was when Matilda super glues the hat to the dad's head. And I don't know, it's just these little moments of your day, but really reflecting on them. Anyway, I'll pop the podcast in the show notes. I really recommend it. But it just, if you're feeling funky, it's such an easy thing to do and it's really nice. gratitude is so important though i think you're right it's one of those things that happiness isn't a permanent state is it and i feel like every day if we all practiced gratitude and what's relative to us it would really help 100 yeah it's so interesting so what are you talking about at the obesity conference do you know i need to actually um go through that today so i haven't had much time to prepare what it's going to be i know that i'm leading the nutrition workshop workshop there so it's a big more kind of a few hours you know where I'll be speaking to lots of different scientists delegates and just um giving also food examples um from my books obviously my books out in three days everyone which is um so exciting it is exciting it does feel strange talking about it like you said and Jo what's really you you know how passionate I am about this and we've made some real headway recently in the conversation around fiber and thank you to the wellness scoop listeners anyone that's pre-ordered or orders it makes it makes a humongous difference because I genuinely feel that with the movement we've got behind it and if I can show that books like this do well that we can actually try and advocate for more fiber rich meals in schools and we can actually get some groundwork up change when it comes to nutrition policy and there are things that are changing and yeah it's out in three days everyone the fiber formula if you could pre-order.

9:10That would be amazing. But like I said, it feels strange talking about it, Ella. Yeah, well, you should be super proud of it. It's an unbelievable book. Yeah, it's been a lot of work, everyone. But I think that moves us on nicely to the health headlines today that matter.

9:31Okay, so if you're new to the show, and we've had loads of new listeners recently. So welcome, guys. It is such a pleasure to have you here. In this section every week we look at what are the big stories that you would have read on all the different news outlets that you subscribe to or that you read. Maybe they've been picked up on socials, on Sky News, BBC, wherever it is and we're going to pick our three favourites every week or the three that we think are most helpful or relevant or confusing for you and break them down. So we have also an extra pickup from last week. So we were talking about dementia last week and about that amazing new research showing that lifelong reading writing learning that kind of investment in your intellectual stimulation can lower your risk of dementia by nearly 40 percent and delay onset by up to five years so absolutely mega and then this week there was another piece of the puzzle which was that there was a huge um conference in the u.s and experts there were talking about that poor oral health might be linked to higher risk of dementia and more than 50 other conditions from arthritis to bowel disease or a whole platter of things.

10:31Do you know, we've had this discussion around oral health for many years when it comes to brain health. And finally, it's like you said, putting the pieces in the puzzle together with the research. But it feels like it's never really made the news. Well, there was that headline about flossing and dementia last year. But you're right, it's not mainstream knowledge. I mean, but then we have to put everything into perspective and say, you know, the food you eat still probably has more weight or, you know, look at all these things. but all these factors combined. And what a privilege oral health is again, you know, this is another factor that you're right, it should be discussed.

11:06Yeah, so regular flossing was linked to a reduced risk of dementia, potentially lowering it by 10 to 20%, which is absolutely extraordinary. I hate flossing my teeth. So I really need to take that as inspiration. Well, I've got the wire, you know, behind your teeth. So I have to go to the hygienist because I've got the wire. And I've got really tiny gaps between my bottom teeth. It's really hard to get the floss in I had to buy a special one and even that wasn't enough so I bought a water pick a water thing oh yeah and I try that I mean I don't know at home dentals oh yeah there you go we're all trying it out here so the idea with this um piece of the puzzle essentially is that the theory comes that bacteria from inflamed gums because you haven't been looking after them properly both in terms of brushing your teeth and flossing can enter the bloodstream and that can cause chronic inflammation or contribute to chronic inflammation over time and potentially even cross the blood brain barrier which can influence cognitive decline so it's not that not cleaning your teeth one day is going to have that but kind of cumulatively over time you can then get that bacterial build-up super interesting you know this is discussing adults but i just want to put a little shout out out there as a reminder for children's dental health because we have one of the highest rates again in europe of children under the age of five having tooth decay and again it's dietary led and of course oral hygiene so it's something that it is an issue and I don't I think if parents knew you know that it's linked to their brain health not just their teeth I mean the teeth should be enough surely you don't want your child in hospital having an operation for tooth decay which is really sad it's it's very interesting everyone let's just little reminder brush our teeth longer I'm pretty sure that um tooth decay is the number one reason that children have to have anaesthetic.

12:54Yeah, roughly a quarter of five-year-olds experience tooth decay, affecting on average three to four teeth in this country. And it is the most common reason for hospital emissions in children aged five to nine, predominantly by high sugar consumption, poor oral hygiene and deep inequality. So again, it's a privileged conversation here. There's so much to discuss. I will say trying to clean your children's teeth is really a battle. Do you know what I've done? Everyone listening, I'm so sorry if this is too much, but I've got a toothbrush station downstairs and in the upstairs bathroom because they don't want to run back upstairs to do their teeth so I just do it downstairs with the toothbrush station.

13:32I've got it in the kitchen. There you go yeah it's easier isn't it straight after. I'm so glad we've discussed this I feel seen. Yeah I've ever in the kitchen and I've bought frozen toothbrushes as the incentive. There you go exactly there's some good toothbrushes out there but we'll move on to the fact that the, you know, another headline that we've got on dementia here actually links to older generations too. And that running around after grandchildren can keep people's brain sharp. I saw a lot of this. I wish my parents did listen because I don't have much childcare support. But you know what?

14:04If you are a grandparent and you're helping with childcare, you are amazing and helping yourself. Yeah. So there was some research that analysed about 3 ,000 English grandparents and they were showing that helping with homework, playing games, preparing meals for your grandchildren can help starve off cognitive decline, particularly for grandmothers, which is so interesting. I think it makes sense because you hear of those studies where you retire and your health just suddenly rapidly deteriorates. I think it must be mental health, first of all, a sense of purpose and then probably just the fact that you have to keep active and keep moving.

14:41What do you think? No, I totally agree. It's absolutely fascinating. The research was led from a university in the Netherlands. And as I said, they were looking at about 3000 grandparents and doing different surveys and cognitive tests between 2016 and 2022. And interestingly, it didn't actually matter quite how many hours they spent with the grandchildren doing these things was just the fact that they did it. And as I said, it was things like helping with homework, playing games, preparing meals, driving grandchildren to school or activities, caring for them when they're ill, watching them overnight.

15:13And those who were actively involved in that caregiving showed a slower decline in memory over the six-year period compared to those who didn't. A similar pattern was seen in verbal fluency, which measures quite how quickly and flexibly the brain retrieves information. So pretty cool, huh? Grandparents involved in children maintain all those skills better over time. I think it's fantastic. And also, I think it just goes to show that as a human race, we've evolved to, there's elements of the human being that we can't ignore. The fact we are meant to care for others. We have social interaction. We do need to keep testing our memory.

15:47You know, you see a lot of people saying, oh, I took up piano or Sudoku. You know, that week we were talking about different hobbies you can do to stimulate your brain health. I love Sudoku. Honestly, me too. And then sometimes I'm sat there with my eldest maths homework. He's only in year one. And I'm having to literally question myself going is that what the question's asking like it's taken me a while to actually compute it because I have not done maths in so many years and now I do wonder if we need it as much because obviously we have AI and we have everything online but it definitely tests your brain Ella.

16:20It really does and I think all of this and our next headline is just that we always have it and I think it's such an important part for the both of us when we think about health and wellness being so 360 and that it's so easy to kind of reduce it down to eating broccoli and eating protein and you know lifting a weight and obviously those things are super important I'm not discounting them but it's just that it doesn't exist in a vacuum and not cleaning your teeth and not kind of being actively involved in your community all of these things are detrimental to your health and so it's just and I always think it's such a nice reminder like maybe you've got loads going on in your life right now and you're struggling with making healthy meals or you've got to just grab and go a lot of the time because you're traveling for work or whatever it is just normal life and it's just important to know like that's not the only marker or measure of your health like invest in those other bits of your health going for a walk engaging your brain stimulating learning connecting with other people because all of that counts for so much for our long-term health.

17:24And that's something I'm also going to bring up at this obesity conference on Wednesday. It's the 360 degree. Obviously, my area there is nutrition, but even just mentioning the fact that it's hard to stick to healthy behaviour change or nutritional advocacy, just sticking to a diet that works for you. Often, social situations occur. Where do you go out for lunch together? What do you consider the norm? What's in your home environment? All of these factors play such a role with our health and wellness. And I love that we've started with toothbrushing you know me too yeah I think it just shows yeah as I said health and wellness is so much more than just what's on our plate although what's on our plate is very important can I mention one thing that I saw um over the weekend on social media to do with this health and wellness conversation it was actually on the diary of a ceo podcast you know the clickbait viral dangerous headlines super clickbaity honestly this one was shocking and for the first time I actually had to comment underneath it because I just ended up getting you know pulled it it was about pregnancy nutrition and it was basically saying 90 percent of mothers aren't eating well in pregnancy i mean the stat was pulled out of nowhere and essentially saying that orange juice again is as bad as coke coca-cola and the women who don't eat well in pregnancy are basically giving their babies chronic diseases later on in life and it was just it was such a terribly worded from someone that's not a pregnancy expert or a nutritionist and there's no qualifications in the area whatsoever.

18:52And the fear that it would have spread, Ella, to anyone that is pregnant, has been, couldn't eat well in that first trimester or throughout the entire pregnancy. It was as if it was this easy choice people have to make. And it was really shocking. And we get so many emails into hello at wellness-scoop.com if you want to get in touch about pregnancy and people worrying because they feel so awful and they just can't eat their normal diets and I know you and I have both had those experiences in the past I mean with my first pregnancy I literally just ate different varieties of potatoes yeah five months like crisps chips nausea is so debilitating if you've got hyperemesis and you're you can't keep any fluids down and you know what it was such a terrible clickbait Ella headline I think it's unethical and in my opinion as a health professional, I'm sure many others, our job is to not panic people and fear people.

19:47And the fact that clip was put out there, I think it does more harm than good. So anyway, everybody, wellness is not viral clickbait clicks is what I'm trying to say. It is about what we're discussing today. And our next headline is about meditation. Yes, it is. Obviously, I'm in my kind of, yeah, big interest in more like that 360 side of health at the moment. So it's caught my eye. But it's super interesting. So the headline when this headline in particular comes from The Telegraph, although it was picked up everywhere, meditating twice a day can reduce the spread of cancer. Patients may be told to cut stress to prevent high cortisol levels, which could, and I emphasize could, be linked to tumor growth.

20:28And this was a report on research that was presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Conference in Phoenix, Arizona a couple of weeks ago. And it was really interesting this is just to clarify from the outset this is super super early stage ideation like they're presenting research they haven't gone through all the steps yet this is super super early stage this is just a kind of premise to now be explored from very very very early stage research but to this point of health being 360 i think it's very very interesting i think what's really important to remember like ella just said 360 is that stress is linked to so much we know stress is linked to hypertension, heart disease, it makes perfect sense in our body.

21:11It's not good for us. We know this with chronic inflammation. And they were presenting research that said that those who have cancer, if they meditate each morning and evening, so that's twice a day, could reduce the chance of it spreading. So twice daily attempts to reduce stress, they basically prevent those cancer cells becoming more robust, the metastasis, the spreading of it and it becoming harder to treat Ella. So I mean, meditation takes different shapes and forms, doesn't it? It's not just sitting there first of all and imagining white light for everybody. No, there's so many different ways to do meditation.

21:47And it's kind of just sitting still and literally just breathing with your thoughts is pretty difficult, which I think it is for so many of us. You know, A, there's so many guided practices. Breath work's really interesting because obviously you're counting your breath. So it's so effective at calming down your nervous system, reducing stress, but it's also a little bit more active, which can be helpful. But you can also do, you know, kind of mindfulness practices where you go for a walk and obviously you don't take your phone on this, but say 20 minutes and you just focus on all your senses. So really focus, like, how does it feel as your feet touch the ground?

22:21Like, can you really feel your feet on the pavement or on the grass, wherever you're walking? Like, what can you smell? what can you really feel like can you feel the breeze on your palms of your hands kind of going next to your ears what can you um see and not just like literally right in front of you but like can you again see like the breeze rustling the leaves like you just really engage all of your senses and kind of feel it deeply and that can be so effective so yeah you don't have to just kind of sit and like come by our different versions but like you just said ella for so many people that their weekdays are stressful because you know remember the commute i described in the morning you've rushed to get out the door you're pounding concrete you see no you know nature if you're going to a community in the city so perhaps those grounding techniques when you get to your office or you sit down or you start your day at work that's even helpful isn't it just to try and ground yourself when you get to that zone oh my gosh literally just sit in your desk chair you don't have to close your eyes but just like feel rooted like feel again your feet on the ground your butt on the seat that your back may be resting against something and just like sit for 20-30 seconds and just like be in your body like connect your mind and your body back together I also think this links into the work that you've discussed before and that I used to do back in the day on breath work because you can do that anywhere totally you can literally just like consciously as you do that just start feeling your breath just like breathe slowly breathe deeply like feel the air when it actually gets into your belly into the bottom of your ribs like you literally just feel that your belly's rising and your ribs are expanding and then your ribs are deflating and your belly is softening and just again just you don't even need to do kind of any specific practices just slow it down through your nose out through your nose and it's amazing just a minute of as i said like feel yourself in the chair your feet on the ground do you know i can imagine because when we did our live event last year we had Cordelia do a breathwork session and even on stage in front of 800 people I nearly fell asleep I remember doing the breathing it was so powerful but here in the we've got um Dr.

24:28Kimberley uh Bussey from Midwestern University and she presented this research exploring how cortisol affects cancer cells and said it is very important to be clear about what's involved here that the experiments were conducted on cancer cells in a lab and not in patients. And like Ella said, it's really early research. And we have to remember, you can't always apply in vitro, so in the laboratory to everyday life. But the cortisol levels used corresponded to what people normally see every day, you know, our peaks and our troughs. And that's where they started with this research. Exactly. And then what they did is they grew cancer cells under three different conditions.

25:05So they had one batch of these cancer cells that acted as a normal control group. Then they had a second batch of the cancer cells that were exposed to cortisol continuously for four weeks and a third batch that was exposed to cortisol and then had the hormone removed. And that allowed the team to observe the short term and more persistent effects of cortisol or stress hormone exposure, which is really interesting. And it's important to say as well, what they're sort of starting to see in these early findings as well often is that cortisol or stress hormone can remain really stubbornly high in some people with cancer.

25:38whereas as Rhi said in a kind of healthy individual it would rise and fall across the day but they're starting to see potentially that it can be remaining quite high and what they saw is that the cells in this case in this experiment that were exposed to sustained cortisol appeared to be more resistant and more motile which means that they were more capable of moving and therefore potentially invading up the tissues and spreading and the persistent exposure against the stress hormone were also associated with changes in gene expression, which is just a suggestion, but the suggestion that cortisol might influence long-term cancer cell behaviour and therefore the response to therapy.

26:15So this Dr. Boosie, as we referred to, who was reporting on this, she said, our data suggests that cortisol might be important in the spread of cancer within the body. Our data is consistent with the literature that suggests that psychological stress, particularly if it's chronic, is a contributing factor to both the development of cancer and the response to cancer therapy? Also, cancer is stressful. You said, of course, patients have elevated levels because your body's undergoing either treatment or a huge immune response. There's a lot going on there. And it makes perfect sense that the cortisol levels are different in patients with cancer.

26:49So if we can isolate that and look into that more, that's really, really interesting. And cortisol, we have to remember, isn't inherently bad. I think it's important to just break down why cortisol has a purpose, our fight or flight response. It basically essentially helps us perform better as well. You know, athletes need cortisol to stand on that start line and hear that firing gun and off they go. You know, we need it. Short term increases are normal and adaptive. But, you know, when it's chronic and constantly sustained, even in everyday life, we're probably increasing our risk of disease with stress, which is well researched.

27:24You know, every single day, the stressful commute, the constant noises, the inability to switch off from life. sometimes that can lead to chronic stress levels. So even though it's early research, I think it's a little reminder for us all as human beings to try and preserve ourselves a little bit more. Yeah, I totally agree. I think this is super interesting potentially in this example, but it's, as we said, very, very early research. And it's not to say it's anyone's fault for not controlling their stress or anything, goodness me, no. But I think if we zoom out and look at this, as you said, in the context of all the information that we have on the impact of stress, I think it is a really effective reminder for all of us that ultimately, obviously, no one can just eliminate stress.

28:08Stress exists. That's absolutely fine. The key thing is to try and do the little things that helps us have a kind of, quote unquote, healthier baseline. And so we do have a stressful day. We have an argument with a partner, you know, we have a nightmare with our kids or with our commute or a really stressful deadline at work or at university or whatever it is. But you can then come back from it and I think the challenge comes when we don't have those tools and techniques in our lives where we can't then refine that baseline and as I said obviously I really enjoy breathwork and meditation things like that I know it's not for everyone but mindful coloring baking um running swimming music listening to music singing anything you can do listening to music playing music there's you know a walk outside as I said like I'm just immersing yourself in nature nature bathing forest bathing as people call it all of these things it doesn't have to just be sitting with cross legs meditating although give it a go

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30:40I have answered every question from gut health and energy, cancers and heart disease to aging skin longevity and even microplastics. Built on over a decade of clinical research it gives you my fibre formula. 30 grams of fibre a day, 30 different plants a week, 30 chews and 30 minute meals plus 60 delicious minimally processed recipes to make it doable. I've done the hard work so the protein, fibre and plant points are all laid out for you. I'm a small fish in a very big murky pond of wellness books and so your pre-orders really do matter and they help my message reach more people if you head to the link in the show notes or any bookstore or on Amazon where you can get 15 % off and a lowest price pre-order guarantee I really can't wait to touch on our next headline I think it's fascinating Ella yeah it's really interesting we have a very food light episode this week I've just realized makes a nice change you know you can all order my book for thursday yeah exactly get cooking fiber rich recipes guys we'll come on to some fiber in a minute but men need twice as much exercise as women to lower heart disease risk researchers suggest sex specific strategies after analysis of cardiovascular health improvements so that headline in particular comes from the guardian but again this is sort of thing it picked up everywhere um it actually came out a couple of months ago, but we didn't have time to include it in the episode, but I've been really wanting to.

32:11This came out at Xiamen University in China. I hope I've said that correctly. And they were analysing activity tracker data for more than 85 ,000 adults. And again, this comes from the UK Biobank. Yeah, everyone, the UK Biobank just gives and gives everybody. And this study is fantastic. First of all, 85 ,000 individuals is humongous and middle aged adults and they followed them for eight years. The core findings were pretty straightforward. women achieve the same level of heart protection with half the amount of weekly exercise compared to men. Now, I want to draw in there's so many reasons why this could be in a minute.

32:49But the current recommended minimum of we've got in this country, 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, that's NHS guidance. I know it varies around the world, but roughly everyone's on that level. Women had a 22 % lower risk of developing heart disease, and men had a 17 % lower risk. So there's not too much in it there. But when activity levels increased, this is when the gap happened. The difference really showed through. So at around 250 minutes per week, women reduced their coronary heart disease risk by 30%. But men needed 530 minutes per week to have the same 30 % reduction. So to reach that similar level, men needed twice as much exercise.