The #1 Thing That Could Be Shortening Your Life—And How to Stop It

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I am your host, Dr. Axe, and each and every week on this show, we explore science and principles behind how to grow in body, mind, and spirit and take your health and your life to the next level. Today I'm gonna be talking about something that really shocked me when I opened up my functional medicine practice many years ago, and that is the number one cause of health problems.

And I'm talking about the number one cause of hypothyroidism, of low testosterone, of weight gain in a lot of people, number one cause of cancer, heart attacks, and a whole lot more. And it has to do with— Stress. How you deal with stress.

Now, people hear the word stress and sometimes I've found people kind of tune out and think, well, you know, I, I wanna hear more about vitamins and supplements and something maybe more exciting like a biohack, like an infrared sauna or red light therapy. But the reality is this, if you don't take care of this very basic area of your health, it will destroy your health.

And listen to this, I truly believe that emotional, spiritual, mental, stress, not being able to deal with that well, is more harmful to your health than eating a bad diet. I'll give you an example of this. If somebody is struggling with, now this isn't stress per se, but it, it is a type of stress, loneliness. That is the, we've seen the studies around that being the equivalent.

If you struggle with loneliness, it's the equivalent of smoking about a pack of cigarettes a day, or at least 15 cigarettes a day. And, and so we see that Different sort of mental— not having a purpose in life takes years off your life. Having mental health illness, having depression, anxiety, loneliness, but also the way you deal with relational stress absolutely can destroy your health.

And I'm gonna go through very practically how to reduce stress and live with a more powerful mindset today. You know, I can tell you from taking care of tens of thousands of patients, What will cause somebody who is has inflammatory bowel disease to flare up their digestive issues just as much as if they went and ate ice cream and a pizza with gluten in it?

If they were having an emotionally stressful week, they would have the very same symptoms if they ate something that was very toxic for them, like a food intolerance or food allergy. It's a very, very same or similar reaction. So you have to know that if you are going to heal and overcome any medical condition, or if you're going to promote longevity.

Longevity, lowering stress, and it's not just stress, it's not just lowering it, and I'm going to dive into this. It's how you perceive it and actually deal with it. That is the key to health and healing. Because if you are— listen, we're meant to be stressed. Our muscles are meant to be stressed. That's an example. Your muscles are an organ, okay?

So when you are lifting weights, and if you're doing— let's say you, you get up and you're doing like 20, 25-pound dumbbells, you're curling those, you feel good with that. But then if you try and do a 50, you can't do it. If you keep trying to do it over and over again, you're going to tear a muscle, you're going hurt yourself.

In a very similar way, your body is meant to deal with a certain amount of stress in a very specific way. Here's another thing to think about. Let's say you have a 25-pound dumbbell and you try and curl it. Well, some of you might not be able to do that at all, but what if you were to squat with that weight?

Well, you can typically squat, you know, probably, you know, you know, probably 5 to 10 times more weight than you can curl. So maybe there's a way you deal with the stress differently where now you can deal with a lot more stress in your life. I'll go through how to do that today as well.

Before I dive in though, make sure to subscribe to the channel and hit the notification bell so you don't miss a single thing. You know, there are a lot of people that aren't subscribed now. A lot of you are, but if not, you're missing out on a regular basis. We're not gonna pop up in your feed on YouTube, so make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss a thing.

For instance, I just did an amazing interview with Jillian Michaels that'll come out here in just very, very soon. And, and it was an amazing interview. Like, you don't wanna miss it. And if you're not subscribed, you're gonna miss a lot of these interviews. They're not gonna pop up. You won't even know that they, that they're out. And so don't miss it. Okay, so let's talk about stress.

And there's a big difference between acute and chronic stress, right? And for a lot of us, you have the same stressors day after day after day, and it's because you have been re— you've, you've wired yourself in a certain way. Oftentimes we get sort of these wirings neurologically between the ages of 0 and 5 years old. Okay?

That, that, that's when we are most, we have the greatest level of sort of neurological wiring is going on where we respond to things in very specific ways. And then oftentimes as well, from 5 to 18, you know, really through high school, it, we are really influenced in a major way as well.

And then as time goes on, we tend to kind of have these neurological patterns of stress that we sort of live in, uh, constantly.

And so for, for, for example, you know, you can have a child who maybe, um, was, uh, you know, got really scared at 3 years old and maybe it was around certain types of, And it could be, you know, maybe they were at the petting zoo and they got bit by a sheep or goat, which is almost, it never really happens.

We were actually just at a zoo with my daughter, our 4-year-old, and she was having, I mean, she had like slobber of, you know, lambs and sheep and, and cows all over her and they, they didn't bite her. But let's say it happened. Okay? If that happens, well then maybe some person develops a fear of animals just in general.

So anytime they're around animals in the future, any animal, even dogs, cats, they, they have this stigma. State of their, their nervous system without them even knowing, sort of gets in a heightened response. And now they're walking around sort of fearful and afraid anytime there's an animal nearby.

And oftentimes the person isn't even fully conscious of it, or they are and they don't know how to overcome that. Well, there are specific ways to deal with that, by the way.

Um, and it basically— the best type of therapy to overcome something you're afraid of is exposure therapy, where you expose yourself in microdoses and prove to yourself it's okay, it's not So, for instance, if I had somebody I was working with who had this sort of fear, what I would have them do is we would start off with like a puppy, okay? A puppy that doesn't bite, by the way.

And we would kind of have them spend time around a puppy and then maybe a kitten and maybe the animals that sort of grows over time that's more of a gentle animal. And, and so you do these micro exposures and sometimes it's first just being in the same room as it, saying, okay, well now we're gonna do deep breathing exercises to help your nervous system regulate.

And this is not something a lot of people are aware of, is how they act, that, that we have neurological wiring. And I'm curious for, for you, is there something that you have a fear of that when you get around maybe a certain type of person, a certain type of animal, certain situation in life, and it sort of strikes fear in you?

Maybe something embarrassing happened to you as a kid, or maybe you had a parent or somebody who was very critical of you. So now when you get around those similar people, people that are overly critical, you just try and avoid them at all costs.

Cost, but because you try and avoid people that basically give a lot of feedback, now you can't grow in life because you become uncoachable and you're not willing to change. You see what I'm saying? Oftentimes we have these things happen in our life that lead us down a path that basically can disrupt our growth spiritually, mentally, physically as well. And, and these are all forms of stress.

So my point is this: you could have one person in the room with a puppy, and for them it's, it's a de-stressor. It's filling them with light. You know, maybe they had a great experience as a child growing up with animals. Okay? Like my wife Chelsea's a great example of that. She's around dogs, she literally lights up inside. You could have somebody else who is deathly afraid of dogs.

We had somebody the other day, they were, they were around and so somebody had told me, they're like, that person is very afraid of, of, of dogs. And so, being aware of that. And so, but, but this happens with a lot of things in life is that we have these things that are causing us stress. And we know that different types of stress affect different organ systems.

Now, the most common form of stress we typically relate to stress is stress in the form of fear. Okay? That's when our body gets in a fight or flight response. And that form of stress most impacts our adrenal glands and our body starts producing stress hormones like cortisol and other stress hormones, uh, norepinephrine, epinephrine, those sort of hormones.

And when those get high over time, it starts to sink and tank our melatonin levels. It also starts to impact our other hormones like thyroid hormone, testosterone. Um, and if you live in that state of stress where you're in that state of adrenal stress, that then is going to impact other organ systems over time. For instance, with a lot of women, it's going to affect their thyroid.

This is why a lot of women have hypothyroidism or high Hashimoto's thyroiditis. In fact, I have rarely taken care of a— let me say rarely. Most commonly when I take care of patients with hypothyroidism, which is— I've taken care of thousands and thousands— most of the time the thyroid is not the primary issue.

Most of the time it is an adrenal issue, or secondarily, if it's autoimmune, there's a, there's a microbiome issue. Um, but that's the more of the primary issue. So there's a lot of women today who think, I've got a thyroid problem, maybe I have a genetic issue, No, it's your adrenals. We have to heal your adrenal glands first and then support your thyroid as well.

But it's, it's not typically solely a thyroid issue. It tends to be tied to cortisol being released because you're getting too stressed due to situations you oftentimes shouldn't be stressed in. And, you know, I, I can remember going back, I used to have patients come in and, um, and by the way, I still have a, a a virtual practice today where I have practitioners that I work with that see people.

And if you're ever interested in getting care, it's called The Health Institute. And this is something we have practitioners that I've trained who help people actually use food as medicine, the right supplements. We lay out really specific plans for people. So my point is, I've been doing this for years for people, and it's rarely— it's rarely an issue with the thyroid.

It tends to be related to emotional stress is a big culprit. Now, believe me, there are dietary issues, there are methylation issues where we need to make sure we're getting methylated B vitamins, certain probiotics. There's a number of other things, but stress is just as important.

And I can remember when I used to have these patients come in, and even today when they come in, oftentimes they'll tell me— I said, well, what did your doctor tell you to do? And there tends to be one thing they always tell them to do with hypothyroidism, and that's take Synthroid or take levothyroxine, take some sort of thyroid medication.

But the other thing they'll tell some people to do, if the doctor tends to be maybe a little bit more naturally minded, they'll say you need to reduce stress. And then I'll ask the patient, I'll say, well, what did they tell you to reduce stress? And they'll say, well, they didn't, they just told me I need to reduce it. I'm like, what kind of prescription is that, right?

It's, you're giving a diagnosis or saying this is a problem without giving a cure, without giving a solution. Solution. And so it's really important that you have a solution in order to heal, and I'm going to get into that here in a few minutes. Now, I want to go back to this. Listen to this: 90% of doctors' visits are stress-related. Let me say that again.

Up to 90% of doctors' visits today are stress-related. Chronic stress has been linked to headaches, muscle tension, fatigue, sleep disturbances, Heart attacks, high blood pressure, and numerous health issues. It's also, you know, also we're looking at mental health here, as I mentioned earlier, anxiety, depression, loneliness, identity disorders, all these mental health disorders.

Cardiovascular diseases, we talked about as well, is definitely related to stress. Heart disease, hypertension, stroke, these are conditions that are greatly impacted by stress. And inflammatory bowel disease. Is another one. So we're seeing this with a lot of issues are stress-related. And of course, chronic fatigue syndrome, adrenal fatigue, hypothyroidism— these are all connected as well.

Now, all of us experience stress during the year, but the most stressful time of year for most people, according to studies, is the holiday season. And there was a 2015 survey at Healthline, and they found that 62% of respondents described their stress levels as Very or somewhat stressful, elevated during the holidays. So it was higher than normal.

And the American Psychological Association reported that nearly 9 in 10 adults feel stressed during the holidays due to financial concerns, missing loved ones, and family conflicts. I mean, I can tell you for myself, this is gonna be the first Christmas we will celebrate without my father-in-law. And we just, and, and also we, we did Thanksgiving without him and it was hard.

I mean, there were tears and there were hugs and it was hard. Yeah. And I know even harder for others like my mother-in-law. And so I, so I really feel for anybody when you're going through, and I, you know, my mom who is best friends with her brother, and what's crazy about both these men died, one at 59, one at 60 of heart attacks.

And, and with, with my, with my uncle, we really believe it was tied to a certain type of shot he got. We believe it was tied to myocarditis. And for him, my mom, it's been a few years now, even 3 years later now, and she still has a very hard time during Christmas around the day that he, he passed, which is the day after the 26th.

And so all that being said, like, I, I really feel and understand the stress around holidays due to the losses in my own family. And of course it's hard for me, but it can be even harder to people who are even closer, even, even more closely connected. Of course, there's family conflicts. I really see this in more in my extended family.

You know, there are definitely a lot of conflicts going on and that, that's very hard. And of course, finances. I mean, there's a, and then sometimes it's just the, the busyness of, you know, especially if you're coming outta a divorce family, you're ha— some people are doing 4 Christmases, which by the way is one of my top 5 Christmas movies.

But you know, some of people are, you, you're traveling and you're going and, You know, almost any, almost any time that I've personally been sick, it's been due to I was traveling. I mean, traveling is so stressful on people's bodies, we don't realize it. So there's a great amount of stress for some people. They're dealing with all of that. They're dealing with financial concerns.

They're dealing with the travel. They're dealing with missing loved ones, family conflicts, just busyness. And all of that stress starts to build up on the person over time and it increases their likelihood Of every disease you can imagine.

And so what I want to say is, is that when you are going into one, the holidays, I think it's very important that you work on your mindset around the holidays and think about the reason for the season and find a way to make it enjoyable for everybody. And listen, I think there's always a balance in life. I think there's a balance of You're called to serve and love other people, right?

We're called to love one another. We're called to treat our neighbor as ourselves. So we're called to do those things. But we're also called to receive love and rest and take care of ourselves. You know, we've heard the example of if your plane is going down, you need to put on your oxygen mask first and then those around you. And so it's Yeah. And it's important.

I see this with a lot of moms especially. It's they nurture and nurture and nurture everyone else around them, and they don't get nurtured themselves. And you can't pour out to others if you're not being poured into. Okay? And the number one place to be poured into is via God. Okay?

Him pouring into you and being able to connect and have that spiritual awareness, that spiritual strength, that living water inside of you. I mean, that, that is gonna give you the mindset and the life around that. And so, so let me just say this.

If you're going into a stressful situation around Christmas or Thanksgiving or any holiday in the future, and you go in with the mindset of, oh, this is going to be really stressful, I'm going to have to deal with this person and this person and this person, and I'm not going to be able to sleep as well, and you're just— and you're thinking about all the negatives around it, it is going to be even harder on your body than if you go into the mindset of saying, you know what, I'm gonna do my best to care for other people.

I'm not gonna make 4 Christmases this year. We're just gonna do 2 and we're gonna alternate years. And so you're taking care of yourself and then you're going and showing up and saying, you know what? Um, you're openly communicating. You're letting people know you love them. You're looking to be a peacemaker. You're looking to nurture other people there.

And you're going in with that mind frame of, you know what? Christmas is such a blessing. There are people in Africa, there are people all around the world who don't get to celebrate Christmas, who aren't gonna get a single gift, who aren't.

And so when you If you go in with an attitude of gratitude and an attitude of being a peacemaker and just deciding, you know what, you're going to turn lemons into lemonade no matter what, the amount of stress that's actually built upon your body is maybe a quarter of what it would have been. So yes, there's stress happening, but the stress that's happening isn't going to break you.

It's not going to ruin your health. And so that mindset you go into is so important when you go into holidays, when you go into the workplace, when you go into that difficult person you have to deal with around the entire year when you're around your kids, right? So, so your mindset about stress is even more important than the stress itself.

Now, here's some reasons why holidays can be so stressful. Number one, I mentioned financial pressure, buying gifts, hosting events, traveling. These all strain your budgets, time constraints, balancing work, your family life, social obligations can be overwhelming, especially for introverts. Family dynamics gathering may rekindle these unresolved conflicts or heightened losses.

And then health habits—it disrupts your diet, your exercise routine, your sleeping routines—can all be thrown off, especially around the holidays. Now I want to be that doctor that gives you the practical tips of what you can actually do to start to reduce stress in your life. Okay, so because many doctors are just telling you you should reduce stress, well, how do you actually do it?

Number one, I wanna share something that is used in religions around the world and very much talked about in the Bible, and that is meditation. Okay? Practicing mindfulness and meditation can significantly reduce stress. And now here's how I do it. Okay? I will go and I will take a Bible verse and I will meditate on that verse that's in relation to the situation.

So if I'm going into, for instance, and I know, okay, there's gonna be relational stress or there's There's loss. Okay. Um, I will go and meditate on the verse in the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus that, you know, blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. And then I'll maybe go and look up another 5 or 10 Bible verses, and I will meditate on those verses.

And I'll just say, and I'll just say, Holy Spirit, thank you so much for your comfort. Thank you so much for your love. I pray that you'll just be with me in this situation right now. Okay? So I meditate very practically, not on nothingness, which is sort of a, you know, certain types of Eastern practices.

I meditate on something that is truth, absolute truth that's in relation to the situation I'm about to enter into. So meditation is probably the most powerful tool out there to negate and reduce overall stress. Invite Jesus, invite the Holy Spirit into you as you do this and meditate on the Word of God. And it really just takes sometimes 2 minutes. It's just very, very quickly.

You can look at 1 or 2 verses. And then what I found is really great to couple with meditation is breathing exercises. Okay? There are so many different breathing exercise techniques out there. Breathing exercises are amazing to couple with meditation.

And I think also there's really something interesting about, I mentioned earlier, this meditation inviting in the Holy Spirit, which is, can be Oftentimes the same word for wind or breath, the breath of life. And there's something about breathing with it that I think is, is really spiritually relative. So what I like to do is breathe. And listen, there are so many breathing techniques.

I'm just gonna give you a very simple one. Breathe in for 5, hold for 1, breathe out for 5. So it's— Ah. And when you're doing this, you're breathing in with your nose and you're breathing in your chest and your belly both.

You're breathing out as expansive as possible, and then you're blowing out and feeling it a little bit in your lower abdominal, almost breathing all the way out to where you're feeling it a little bit in kind of your lowest area of your abdominal wall. And when you do that, it's so beneficial. Do that, you know, the 5 and 5, you know, hold for 1 second and do it 10 times.

Right after that meditation and then walk out with that new mindset you have after meditation. And that is such an incredible way to de-stress. Hey everyone, Dr. Josh Axe here. Listen, if you're struggling with restless nights and daily stress, I have a revolutionary solution for you.

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SolTech Health, rest, recover, and rejuvenate. Now, there's a few other things you can do that can also help reduce stress. Exercise, of course. I think walking in general, getting outside and walking.

One of the things I always try and do around Thanksgiving and Christmas and And, and just in general, I, my workday, if I am filming in the morning and I'm working on podcast episodes or writing my next book or in an intense team meeting, what I tend to do is lunch is I, my, I take a full hour for lunch and I also tend right after I eat to go on a walk.

So I may eat for 40 minutes and re— and relax and hang out, go on a quick 20, go on a 20-minute walk. And I, and, and oftentimes I don't listen to anything. I'm either with somebody or by myself. And I just go on a walk. And it's incredibly powerful at reducing stress.

So walking, of course, all forms of exercise from weight training to cardiovascular exercise to Pilates to yoga to barre, these are all great options. Now in ancient Chinese medicine, they would use tai chi and qigong. And what they're doing with that is they're coupling breath, breathing with exercise.

And so you'll kind of breathe in while moving your arms and doing different movements, moving your full body. And so that can be great as well. And those Eastern practices of exercise, uh, like yoga and tai chi do a really good example of this, of sort of coupling your breath with the movement as well.

And studies have shown these help release endorphins, which actually reduce stress when you're exercising. And there was a study on this published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine and examined the effects of acute aerobic exercise on stress reactivity. And the majority of the studies utilized 20 to 30 minutes of exercise, indicating that this duration effectively reduced stress.

So again, it just takes around 20 to 30 minutes, and this could be going for a brisk walk outside, it could be jogging, it could be cycling, it could be swimming, it could be a group fitness class, it could be pickleball or tennis. But these forms of exercise where you're moving, they greatly reduce stress.

Try and incorporate these in your daily rhythms, knowing these are going to help help break up and reduce stress. And again, remember, listen, if you don't have— here's the thing— if you don't have an hour, do 45 minutes. If you don't have 45, do 30. If you don't have 30, do 20. If you don't have 20, do 10. If you don't have 10, do 2.

Okay, but you know, do whatever you can to keep your body moving. It's going to help you heal. It's going to help, uh, reduce stress. All the medical studies show this. Now there's a few other forms of regenerative medicine and different therapies that I really like for reducing stress. And one of those is regular infrared sauna sessions or regular sauna sessions.

It's been shown to lower cortisol and promote relaxation. Sessions of 15 to 20 minutes in a regular sauna at 175 to 195 degrees, 2 to 3 times a week, have been shown to significantly reduce cortisol levels and enhance relaxation. Also, for additional benefits, post-sauna cooling, like a cold shower or cold plunge, enhances the stress resilience benefits.

So doing both infrared sauna and cold plunge, that's even greater. And then a solo study on cold plunging discovered that cold plunging between 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 to 5 minutes can improve stress management by stimulating the release of norepinephrine and endorphins, which we know lower stress.

There was also a 2018 study published in PLOS ONE found that regular cold exposure improves stress resilience and mood among participants. And listen, if you've never cold plunged before, start with a cold shower for 1 minute or get in there for just 1 or 2 minutes. But I will tell you, I mean, anyone, any of you who have done cold plunge can testify it is a mood changer. I mean, it really is.

If you get in a cold plunge, there is, there is a really significant endorphin release. And by the way, I think that we're going to see more studies in the future with certain people, uh, it having even greater benefits.

I have a friend of mine, Don, who told me recently that he saw his testosterone levels double, and the only thing he's done differently was started cold plunging, and it's doubled. I'm talking about went from like— yeah, I mean, actually more than doubled. He said it went from like 400 up to nearly 1,000. And so massive, massive difference. And so we know cold plunging can be beneficial.

I do think you have to be conscious though, and also I really prefer people incorporate infrared sauna or hot baths or hot tub along with it at different times of the day or around it, because I do think that if you get your core body temperature too cold, especially with hypothyroidism and certain other medical issues, it might make that issue worse over time.

But again, there are benefits there of that. Now, I also want to talk about infrared light therapy and infrared saunas specifically. Provide deeper heat and penetration and may support relaxation by reducing oxidative stress. So infrared sauna is that infrared light. While the saunas don't get as hot as a regular sauna, the heat actually goes deeper into the body.

And a study published in the Journal of Complementary Medicine noted that infrared sauna use over 4 weeks significantly reduced fatigue and stress in participants with chronic fatigue syndrome. You know, I have a lot of patients I take care with adrenal fatigue, hypothyroidism, Lyme disease, a lot of— almost any infection.

And I do everything I can to have them get an infrared sauna because the benefits are just tremendous for people with low body temperature or people fighting infection or people who are dealing with a lot of stress. So many benefits. And really, you can get in, you know, just even 15 to 30 minutes, you know, 3 times a week, and the results are profound and amazing.

So any of you who are thinking about or in, or in the position in life financially to get an infrared sauna, it has so many benefits. Or maybe there's a health club you go to that might have it. But, but anyways, it's, it's something that has great benefits for reducing stress.

Now I want to talk about the dietary approach to reduce stress, and it has to do with reducing inflammation and supporting brain and neurological health and cellular health. Omega-3 fatty acids are very important. They've been found in studies to support reducing stress, specifically those found in wild-caught fish like salmon. Also walnuts and flaxseeds and chia seeds can play a role.

A 2011 study in this— in the Journal of Brain Behavior and Immunity studied students, and those that consumed about 2,500 milligrams a day of omega-3 fatty acids experienced a 20% reduction in anxiety symptoms compared to the placebo group. And there are many studies showing that fish oil lowers the risk of heart attack, lowers blood pressure, and extends lifespan.

Also is good for depression, anxiety because of its anti-inflammatory benefits. And so it's probably the top supplement along with magnesium when it comes to reducing, uh, stress. And so if you want to know, hey, what supplement should I take For, for stress, omega-3s and magnesium are the top 2. After those 2, I would say doing herbs like ashwagandha and other herbals that are more relaxing.

Also considering a different, um, you know, I would also say vitamin D would be the next one in line in terms of a nutrient. But if you're wanting to know the top 4, it's likely going to be omega-3s, magnesium, vitamin D, along with some herbals that support relaxation. Those typically adaptogens like ashwagandha or reishi or schisandra are going to be great as well.

Reishi mushroom is another good one. Also, you want to get some more vegetables in your diet. We want to get some blueberries. We want to get healthy fats from things like avocados. But the food that in particular is high in fat that probably has the most benefits is cacao powder, which is found in dark dark chocolate.

So buying dark chocolate with 70% cacao and also that has a natural form of sugar in it is going to be great for reducing stress. I mentioned ashwagandha there. There was a 2019 study that found that if you supplement with 600 milligrams daily of ashwagandha, it lowered cortisol levels by 23% over 8 weeks. It really is amazing. So ashwagandha is one of those top supplements you can be using.

Another favorite of mine is holy basil. Holy basil, known as tulsi, was used in Ayurvedic medicine. There was a study published in an Ayurvedic medical journal and found that tulsi tea, which is holy basil tea, drinking that for 6 weeks lowered stress in participants.

And a few others here— rhodiola rosea is an absolute favorite of mine, especially for hypothyroidism, for mental stress issues, also for physical performance. There are 11 studies on rhodiola Rhodiola rosea and its effects on supporting and helping mental fatigue.

Sometimes the reason why people sort of crack or have issues with stress is they become mentally fatigued from dealing with the kids, dealing with work, dealing with the stress. All of it starts to build up. Well, Rhodiola rosea helps with that. Also, it helps with mitochondrial function and cellular energy, so it's also going to give you an energy boost.

So So loads and loads of benefits there of rhodiola rosea specifically as an adaptogenic herb as well. And one more category, and this can also, when you're traveling, help you get better sleep. Doing a lot of the floral supplements or teas like chamomile, linden, lavender, passionflower, hops, these are all very, very good for reducing stress, calming the nervous system as well.

And in helping you achieve better benefits. And again, getting better sleep is very important. I want to end with a couple things, and one of them being Bible verses. The Bible has so much wisdom, and I think it's the greatest manual for reducing stress ever. It's God's word. And if you are dealing with stress in your life, turn to God and turn to his word.

You know, 1 Peter 5:7 says, cast all your cares upon him, Because he cares for you. Cast your anxiety, cast your fear, cast your depression, care it all on him because he cares for you. And so I think that there is something, and I would even encourage you to take a picture. Think about what is that burden you're carrying that's not yours to bear? I recently did this myself, actually.

I decided I wanted to go and I wanted to— actually did something called HeartSync. I worked with this incredible man and I had a season in my life, as you guys know, I've shared before, where I lost my health for, for, for years with, with the spinal infection and not walking for the year. And so I had sort of some loss there and not being able to spend time with my family.

We lost both of our dogs. We lost— the hardest loss of all, even more than my health, was my father-in-law. And I lost a business. I lost a lot of things, a lot. And I realized also because of that, I was trying to gain it back. I was trying to kind of, through my own effort, gain some of it back. And I thought, I need to help somebody help me work through some of this.

And so one of the things I did is I started to list out what are all the burdens I was carrying. Well, I was carrying things like I had to care for not just my own family, but my extended family in, in, in meeting their, you know, their, you know, and, and supporting them. And not just supporting them, doing it for them, I felt like I had to do. I was carrying you know, this financial stress.

I was carrying the stress of just a lot of things in life. And I went through that list and I actually pictured myself like in a box, all of these cares that I had that were like, literally I pictured them, they were on my shoulders weighing me down and taking them all off, putting them in a box and then handing them to Jesus and him taking them away. And I really prayed through that.

And there's something about the way that especially the right hemisphere of our brain works and our spirit and soul. Is that it works via pictures. It works via events and memories, and so being able to actually do that and create a picture of it is even more powerful sometimes in letting things go. And so remember that first Peter five seven cast all your cares upon him because he cares for you.

So that's a great one. And then my favorite are the Psalms. You know, I love Psalms twenty three. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. And so being able to meditate on the Psalms, read, just reading those regularly is very healing. You know, Matthew 11:28 says, come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

And then I also love Matthew 5 and 6, really going through the Sermon on the Mount and reading those scriptures where God says, listen, I take care of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. I clothe them, I feed them. Of course I'm gonna take care of you. Right.

So I think if you're able to go and set aside sometimes just 5 minutes a day, read through those, meditate on those, breathe a little bit, what that's going to do, especially again, if you can wake up early, go into the bathroom if you have to, you know, your in-law's house or whatever, you know, during holidays or at work, you know, around lunch, whatever it is, but make it a habit.

That's what I encourage you to do. Make it a habit. Because if you just say, I'm going to try and do it here and there and it doesn't happen, A lot of times it just, it doesn't, it's not as effective versus if you start doing it regularly, it, it really creates a breakthrough. It's gonna create greater health. It's gonna reduce the stress in your life tremendously.

Now, because the holiday season is the most stressful season for most people, I wanna share with you some things that you can think about as well, uh, when it comes to overcoming stress. And the first one is this. Let go of perfection. Listen, it's not gonna be perfect. Okay?

You know, some people think, you know, that they want the kids to behave perfectly and everything to go as planned, and it's just not life. So going in and saying, no matter what happens, even if it rains on my parade, I am going to make it the best parade ever. Okay? Focus on what truly matters, like spending quality time with your loved ones.

Embrace the beauty of imperfection, whether it's slightly burnt pie or mismatched holiday decor, whatever it is. Say, hey, let's make this a memory. Okay? Let's make the best of it. Let's turn lemons into lemonade. Number 2, have a gratitude practice. Start each day with the 3 things you're grateful for.

You know, there was a study published in the Journal of Personality, and they found that gratitude practices reduce stress by 25%. So going in, you could do a gratitude journal or just say what you're grateful for. That's powerful. Number 3, set realistic expectations. Avoid overcommitment. Committing to events or taking on too much responsibility.

I mean, this to me is one of the biggest things people do is they take on, they say, I'm gonna make every meal and I'm gonna go to 3 Thanksgivings. And you're, and you just end up being wore out. The holidays should be more about rest and relaxation, rejuvenation than it should be just, you know, just busyness. And so do your best in that way. Practice saying no.

To preserve your energy for meaningful activities. And number 4, be present. Limit screen time during the holidays and focus on in-person interactions, being deeply concerned about the needs of others and then supporting them in that. But screen time is gonna actually increase your stress versus true personal connection. So here's a checklist.

Number 1, create those healthy habits, reading the Bible, meditation, Meditation, deep breathing, exercise, you know, whatever you can. And, and part of that is also planning ahead, right? Plan ahead and create those healthy habits. Number 2, prioritize sleep. Do your best to get 8 hours a night. Hydration, make sure to also get plenty of water. And then have a support system.

You know, reach out to a trusted friend if stress becomes overwhelming that can pray for you, that can talk to you about things, maybe give you some advice in those situations. The reality is this. Stress is one of the biggest killers in society today. It's an even bigger killer than poor diet for most people.

And the holiday season is an opportunity to embrace joy and connection and not let stress overwhelm you. And if you can incorporate some of the things we talked about, you're going to see great results. Everything from adaptogenic herbs to regular exercise to saunas to, to a gratitude practice Because remember, if you can take care of yourself, you can take better care of others.

And I wanna say thanks so much for tuning in here to the Dr. Josh Axe Show. Remember, each and every week we are diving deep into the science and principles behind how to heal and grow in body, mind, and spirit. Hey, make sure to subscribe, like, and share this episode. I'm so grateful for you being on mission with me. I'll see you on the next episode.