WEBVTT
1
00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.319
The topics and opinions express in the following show are
2
00:00:02.319 --> 00:00:03.960
solely those of the hosts and their guests and not
3
00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:06.879
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We
4
00:00:06.960 --> 00:00:10.039
make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
5
00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:13.039
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability,
6
00:00:13.039 --> 00:00:15.679
explicit or implied shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio
7
00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:18.480
or its employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should
8
00:00:18.519 --> 00:00:20.800
be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing
9
00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:22.440
W FOURCY Radio.
10
00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:31.559
What's working on Purpose? Anyway? Each week we ponder the
11
00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:34.759
answer to this question. People ache for meaning and purpose
12
00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:38.159
at work, to contribute their talents passionately and know their
13
00:00:38.200 --> 00:00:41.560
lives really matter. They crave being part of an organization
14
00:00:41.640 --> 00:00:44.359
that inspires them and helps them grow into realizing their
15
00:00:44.439 --> 00:00:47.479
highest potential. Business can be such a force for good
16
00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:51.119
in the world, elevating humanity. In our program, we provide
17
00:00:51.159 --> 00:00:54.200
guidance and inspiration to help usher in this world we
18
00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:58.560
all want Working on Purpose. Now here's your host, Doctor
19
00:00:58.560 --> 00:00:59.679
Release Cortez.
20
00:01:04.920 --> 00:01:07.000
Welcome back to the Working on Purpose program, which has
21
00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:08.920
been brought to you with passion and price since February
22
00:01:08.920 --> 00:01:11.239
of twenty fifteen. Thanks for tuning in again this week.
23
00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:13.640
Great to have you. I'm your host, doctor Release Cortes.
24
00:01:14.200 --> 00:01:17.040
Most leaders are sitting on untapped human energy, and I
25
00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:20.519
help them unlock it. I'm an organizational psychologist, logal therapist,
26
00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:23.519
workforce advisor and the founder of the Gusto Now movement.
27
00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:26.159
But the title I really love is just much simpler
28
00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:29.200
and simply I traffic and energy, not the service level
29
00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:32.480
motivation or another engagement initiative kind, but the deeper force
30
00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:35.439
what I call Gusto, the life force for performance that
31
00:01:35.519 --> 00:01:39.280
drives commitment, perseverance, and genuine ownership of a shared mission
32
00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:41.319
in the clients we serve. You can learn more about
33
00:01:41.319 --> 00:01:43.799
as on how we can work together at Gusto dashnow
34
00:01:43.879 --> 00:01:46.439
dot com or my personal site at least Coortes dot
35
00:01:46.519 --> 00:01:49.040
com if you are just joining us. My guest is
36
00:01:49.239 --> 00:01:53.359
Justin High. He's a serial entrepreneur, product designer, and innovator
37
00:01:53.359 --> 00:01:57.719
whose career spans health, wellness, biotechnology, and consumer products. He
38
00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:01.959
has co founded multiple award winning companies, including Alastin's Skin
39
00:02:02.519 --> 00:02:06.640
Skincare and Gello Pharmaceuticals. Today, he serves as the president
40
00:02:06.680 --> 00:02:10.439
and CEO of Rebalance Health. His interest in hormone health,
41
00:02:10.520 --> 00:02:13.719
especially the overlooked role of cortisol, began with a desire
42
00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:17.439
to understand how modern stress impacts the body. He's written
43
00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:21.759
the book called Stress Nation, Escape the Technology Trap, Eliminate Stress,
44
00:02:21.800 --> 00:02:25.479
and Reclaim Rest. Will be talking today specifically about the
45
00:02:25.560 --> 00:02:28.759
role of hormones in our life and health, the technological trap,
46
00:02:28.759 --> 00:02:30.800
but he's going to help us really understand better and
47
00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:33.639
also a bit more about how his company, Rebalance Health,
48
00:02:33.719 --> 00:02:36.000
is helping to bridge the gap there. He joins today
49
00:02:36.039 --> 00:02:39.680
from Boulder, Colorado, justin a hearty welcome too, working on Furgos.
50
00:02:40.280 --> 00:02:42.759
Thank you very much, thank you for having me.
51
00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:45.680
It's wonderful to have you, and I appreciate and celebrate
52
00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:47.919
what you brought into the world here. It's really beautiful.
53
00:02:47.960 --> 00:02:50.240
It was a beautiful read, and I loved how playful
54
00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:53.800
it was. I saw that the language was described as
55
00:02:53.879 --> 00:02:56.639
being playful and accessible and it is so thank you
56
00:02:56.680 --> 00:02:57.639
for doing that for us.
57
00:02:58.240 --> 00:02:59.840
Thank you, You're welcome.
58
00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:03.400
So I want to just jump right into it because
59
00:03:03.400 --> 00:03:05.280
I told you before we got on air that I
60
00:03:05.319 --> 00:03:07.680
took your advice from your book to heart and started
61
00:03:07.719 --> 00:03:10.840
thinking better about or more deeply about how I interact
62
00:03:10.879 --> 00:03:13.280
with technology and how it might be impacting my health.
63
00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:16.560
I have certainly suffered from those sleep problems that you
64
00:03:16.599 --> 00:03:19.879
talk about for lots of different reasons. So I think
65
00:03:19.960 --> 00:03:23.639
it's important that we situate this idea of the technology trap,
66
00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:26.280
with this little thing that we all can't seem to
67
00:03:26.280 --> 00:03:29.280
get far away from, at least to start our phones.
68
00:03:29.319 --> 00:03:30.240
Could you start there?
69
00:03:30.759 --> 00:03:35.199
Yes, very simply, we look back to how we've evolved
70
00:03:35.240 --> 00:03:39.159
over the past forty years, and you really take a
71
00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:43.000
deep dive into how our life was much calmer, much slower,
72
00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:46.080
and how we have beginnings and endings to different parts
73
00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:49.240
of our day and where we are today, where there
74
00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:53.680
are no beginning and endings because we carry everything in
75
00:03:53.719 --> 00:03:57.240
our pocket, our little phone that gives us access to
76
00:03:57.439 --> 00:04:02.599
unlimited information and content we want it, whether it's good
77
00:04:02.680 --> 00:04:05.280
or bad information, or put that to one side, or
78
00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:08.360
just say that we have unlimited access and we weren't
79
00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:11.159
taught how to use it as humans. We just thought, ah,
80
00:04:11.159 --> 00:04:14.080
this will help me be more efficient. I'll work faster, harder, longer,
81
00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:18.480
And we've compromised our humanness in that process, and we've
82
00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:21.680
compromised our health. And to put it really simply, when
83
00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:25.600
Cortiso is elevated because of the device, it actually interrupts
84
00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:28.480
our natural rhythm that we have in our body called
85
00:04:28.680 --> 00:04:32.560
you know, the circadian rhythm. And what that does is
86
00:04:32.600 --> 00:04:35.240
it prevents us from falling asleep, and it prevents us
87
00:04:35.279 --> 00:04:38.920
from staying asleep. And the AHA moment for most people
88
00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:43.879
is you make your hormones predominantly in your sleep. So
89
00:04:43.959 --> 00:04:46.879
if you're not sleeping, you're not making the hormones. You
90
00:04:46.920 --> 00:04:50.000
need to function as a human being at your very
91
00:04:50.040 --> 00:04:54.000
best the next day. And that cycle repeats day after day,
92
00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:56.319
week after week, month after month, and that is why
93
00:04:56.360 --> 00:04:59.839
we have a massive hormone problem right now.
94
00:05:00.120 --> 00:05:03.600
Hm hm wow, way to open it strong, justin Yeah,
95
00:05:04.040 --> 00:05:06.240
so let's just throw our phones and all of our
96
00:05:06.279 --> 00:05:09.399
our technological devices right out the window, and I will
97
00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:11.240
be so poppuyar with all the tech companies.
98
00:05:12.040 --> 00:05:14.560
You know, I had nothing against technology. I love it,
99
00:05:14.600 --> 00:05:16.399
I use it. We're using it right now to do
100
00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:20.319
this wonderful interview. The problem is we weren't taught how
101
00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:23.279
to use it. And I'm very blessed. I have a
102
00:05:23.399 --> 00:05:26.800
very very influential board of directors, and one of the
103
00:05:26.839 --> 00:05:29.959
women on my board was very close to Steve Jobs
104
00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:32.279
and was part of the Apple She ran all of
105
00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:37.759
the stores globally, and she said, Steve would hate how
106
00:05:38.040 --> 00:05:41.120
the iPhone has, what it's become and what it's done
107
00:05:41.160 --> 00:05:43.519
to our lives. It wasn't what it was about, but
108
00:05:43.639 --> 00:05:46.279
it has naturally evolved that way. And there would no
109
00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:51.000
instructions from any technology company on how to use this
110
00:05:51.480 --> 00:05:55.399
for our well being. It's always about more, more, more more,
111
00:05:55.519 --> 00:05:57.720
but never about restraint. Yeah.
112
00:05:57.800 --> 00:05:59.519
Yes, And I want to dive in a little bit
113
00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:02.240
more as we go through the when we get into
114
00:06:02.279 --> 00:06:05.160
the technology trap into the next part of the conversation.
115
00:06:05.759 --> 00:06:08.360
But next loot to do is I want to situate
116
00:06:08.439 --> 00:06:12.319
for you. There's for you, and what you're teaching us
117
00:06:12.319 --> 00:06:14.240
in the book is that we have a master hormone
118
00:06:14.279 --> 00:06:17.120
and you call it it's cortisol, and you have resied
119
00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:19.199
yourself as its hype man because it gets a really
120
00:06:19.240 --> 00:06:20.920
bad rep Yeah.
121
00:06:20.959 --> 00:06:24.199
Cortisols a wonderful hormone. I mean, almost every molecular in
122
00:06:24.199 --> 00:06:27.680
the human body has a cortisol recepta, which means when
123
00:06:27.720 --> 00:06:30.319
that hormone is high or low, you feel it systematically
124
00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:33.240
head to toe. No other hormone operates that way. And
125
00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:37.800
if cortisol is high, it is able to stop the
126
00:06:37.839 --> 00:06:41.240
other hormones from functioning right simply as I explained, because
127
00:06:41.240 --> 00:06:43.319
if couso's high, you can't sleep, you can't make it.
128
00:06:43.560 --> 00:06:47.959
So if it's high, you're not making testosterone, progestion, estrogen, HGH,
129
00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:51.439
you name it, it's not being made because cortisol's interrupting
130
00:06:51.480 --> 00:06:54.519
that natural cycle. That's why I call it the master hormone.
131
00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:57.800
But on the positive side, when it is imbalance, it's
132
00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:00.600
doing wonderful things where immune system must sleep, wake cycle.
133
00:07:00.680 --> 00:07:05.839
It's doing something for you know, sucerlose levels, it does
134
00:07:05.839 --> 00:07:08.680
everything for metabolism and so forth. The way that you
135
00:07:08.680 --> 00:07:12.439
should look at cortisol is it's your body's alarm systems.
136
00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:16.480
It's there to protect you and keep you safe. We're
137
00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:19.480
all at arms with cortisol right now because we think
138
00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:22.079
that it's you know, it's doing harm to us. But
139
00:07:22.120 --> 00:07:24.720
what it's doing, it's saying danger, danger, danger. There's too
140
00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:27.920
much stimulation going on here. You're too high. You need
141
00:07:27.959 --> 00:07:31.240
to calm down, and we're all ignoring it. We say no, no, no, no.
142
00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:33.240
The tech company says, I can do more, I can
143
00:07:33.319 --> 00:07:35.560
be faster, and that's what I'm doing, and our bodies
144
00:07:35.560 --> 00:07:39.720
at a juxtaposition with cortisol all the time, and so
145
00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:43.079
if we can get cortisol to calm down, then it
146
00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:46.560
works in our favor and it does wonderful things. When
147
00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:50.399
it's in the alerted state, it's basically telling us you're
148
00:07:50.439 --> 00:07:54.319
in danger. And when our bodies are elevated in cortisol,
149
00:07:54.360 --> 00:07:57.279
that danger to the body seems like I'm running from
150
00:07:57.279 --> 00:08:00.240
a bonying building, I'm being chased by a bear, say
151
00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:03.480
the tooth tiger. It's designed to keep us safe. And
152
00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:05.600
when it does that, it goes, well, you don't need libido,
153
00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:09.040
let's turn that system off. You don't need metabolism, let's
154
00:08:09.079 --> 00:08:11.360
turn that off because I don't know when you're going
155
00:08:11.399 --> 00:08:14.079
to eat next. Right, you're running for your life, so
156
00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:15.879
I want to store as much of that fat as
157
00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:18.160
I can keep. So now all of a sudden, everyone's like,
158
00:08:18.199 --> 00:08:20.439
I can't lose weight. I'm gaining weight, I'm eating right,
159
00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:23.439
I'm exercising, but I can't lose the weight. Yeah, because
160
00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:26.519
your cornsole's high. Your body's not letting you burn that
161
00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:29.360
off because it's turned off metabolism because it thinks it's
162
00:08:29.439 --> 00:08:32.440
in a fital flight situation, not in a rest and
163
00:08:32.519 --> 00:08:37.799
digest environment. And so that's how cortisols interacting with our bodies,
164
00:08:37.799 --> 00:08:40.559
and we've all missed it. We all just think, why
165
00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:42.519
can't all I've got to do this diet, I've got
166
00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:44.480
to do that exercise routine, I've got to do it
167
00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:47.679
this way. No, we just got to learn slow down.
168
00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:51.440
So a couple of things to build on that. So
169
00:08:51.480 --> 00:08:54.080
for listeners and viewers who don't know as much about
170
00:08:54.120 --> 00:08:56.320
hormones as you do. I was shocked to learn that
171
00:08:56.360 --> 00:08:59.360
we have what more than fifty hormones that work that
172
00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:02.360
run us and two if listeners and viewers, if you don't,
173
00:09:02.360 --> 00:09:04.360
if you're not familiar with cortisol to the extent that
174
00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:06.919
Justin is or I was before I read the book,
175
00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:09.600
it's also called the stress hormone or the fight or
176
00:09:09.639 --> 00:09:12.559
flight hormone response. So just to situate that for the
177
00:09:12.600 --> 00:09:14.279
people that are listening, and it's just kind of getting
178
00:09:14.440 --> 00:09:17.759
getting getting acquainted to it. So another thing that I
179
00:09:17.799 --> 00:09:20.840
thought was really interesting is you talk about Allison Grant
180
00:09:20.919 --> 00:09:23.399
Raycom's work in the book and you talk about how
181
00:09:23.480 --> 00:09:25.879
she says cortosol has a rhythm. We always start really
182
00:09:25.960 --> 00:09:27.440
high in the morning and then we have peaks and
183
00:09:27.480 --> 00:09:30.159
troughs throughout the day and then we're trying to bring
184
00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:32.080
it down at night. Is that Do I have that right?
185
00:09:32.200 --> 00:09:35.759
Absolutely? So it's a natural circadian rhythm. As you wake up,
186
00:09:35.799 --> 00:09:37.919
your corso starts to spike. It's what wakes us up,
187
00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:41.559
and it goes up very quickly. It's why we we
188
00:09:41.639 --> 00:09:43.879
think the best first thing in the morning, we're on
189
00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:47.720
our best, we're fresh, and so cortisol definitely gets nice
190
00:09:47.720 --> 00:09:51.039
and high in spikes around made often. Then it really
191
00:09:51.039 --> 00:09:53.120
starts to come down on the other side of the
192
00:09:53.159 --> 00:09:55.799
curve and starts to head down. And if you think
193
00:09:55.840 --> 00:09:59.679
about cortisol and melatonin, if they were in a relay race,
194
00:10:00.600 --> 00:10:04.600
cortozo would hand the baton over to melatonin and then
195
00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:07.960
melatonin will say, yeah, it's time to prepare for sleep, right,
196
00:10:08.039 --> 00:10:10.799
But that means that cordozot has to come down to
197
00:10:10.879 --> 00:10:14.039
meet melotonin at the right level. But if cortisol's all
198
00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:17.480
the way up here and you know, melatonin's down here,
199
00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:21.320
they can't hand off that baton and we're constantly fighting it,
200
00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:23.320
and so what do we do. We'll take a whole
201
00:10:23.320 --> 00:10:26.279
handful of melatonin gummies. Maybe that'll force it to happen.
202
00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:29.200
It doesn't work that way. So that cycle is high
203
00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:32.879
in the morning, peaks abround midday or so early afternoon,
204
00:10:32.919 --> 00:10:35.200
starts to come back down, and it should be as
205
00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:38.480
low as possible as we hand off to melotonin and
206
00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:39.399
we want to go to bed.
207
00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:43.840
So speaking that this sleep part that you talk about
208
00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:45.879
was really alluring for me. A couple of things that
209
00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:48.159
stood out. If you tell me if I got through one,
210
00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:51.039
you said, napping doesn't count because what we're going for
211
00:10:51.240 --> 00:10:54.320
is what seven to nine good hours for if we
212
00:10:54.320 --> 00:10:56.960
were tween the ages of eighteen and sixty four. You
213
00:10:57.000 --> 00:10:59.360
mentioned other eight ranges is too. But you also talk
214
00:10:59.399 --> 00:11:03.159
about how what you mentioned the sleeps, there are the
215
00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:05.559
ram cycles and the in rim cycles, and we go
216
00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:07.399
through four or five of those at night, and you
217
00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:10.679
said you want we need five, ideally five complete cycles.
218
00:11:10.679 --> 00:11:11.360
Do I have that right?
219
00:11:11.879 --> 00:11:14.000
Yeah? I mean there's four to five cycles. You go
220
00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:16.559
from like slight sleep, you know, to more of a
221
00:11:16.600 --> 00:11:18.759
deeper sleep than into a RAM sleep, and then you
222
00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:22.720
rinse and repeat. Essentially, the most important sleep for me
223
00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:25.559
for tracking I like is deep sleep. You want it
224
00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:29.559
in for sixty to ninety minutes during an evening of
225
00:11:29.679 --> 00:11:32.039
deep sleep, because that's when you make it predominantly a
226
00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:34.559
lot of your hormones, your sex MNEs and so if
227
00:11:34.600 --> 00:11:37.600
you are not sleeping or you wake up in the night,
228
00:11:37.720 --> 00:11:40.759
you disrupt that cycle and your body is not able
229
00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:43.840
to make the efficient hormones you need to function the
230
00:11:43.879 --> 00:11:48.759
next day. And lots of analogies you could use, but
231
00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:54.799
people normally sleep the best when they're on holiday. Very simple.
232
00:11:54.840 --> 00:11:56.360
You just think about that. When I'm on holiday, I
233
00:11:56.360 --> 00:11:59.840
sleep like a baby. Right, there's probably more intimacy in all,
234
00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:03.120
there's probably more play in our world, more joy in
235
00:12:03.159 --> 00:12:06.399
our world. Just that's very easy way of looking at
236
00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:09.080
what stressed us to us and how it impacts us.
237
00:12:09.559 --> 00:12:12.200
And so when you can't fold a sleep and you
238
00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:16.039
can't stay asleep, and that's the keyword, stay asleep. Especially
239
00:12:16.080 --> 00:12:20.440
as we get older, your hormones are compromised. And that