April 1, 2025 • 24 mins
In this episode we feature:
An interview with Psychologist and author Dr. Michael Banissy.
Play chess for a longer life.
Eat more fruit to save your heart.
Don’t share your pills!
And more ways you can improve your health today!
For more information, and to sign up for our private coaching, visit tesh.com
Our Hosts:
John Tesh: Instagram: @johntesh_ifyl facebook.com/JohnTesh
Gib Gerard: Instagram: @GibGerard facebook.com/GibGerard X: @GibGerard
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:08):
Hello and welcome to another episode of the podcast.
I'm Gib Gerard. Today we haveanother special intelligence for
your health with Connie Celica.
Edition of the show featuring aninterview with none other than
psychologist and author, DrMichael Vanessa, so we're really
excited to bring this to you. Sowithout further ado, here is
intelligence your health withConnie selika, all we need to
lower our risk of death fromheart attack and stroke is to
(00:32):
eat one piece of whole fruit aday. That's according to the
British Medical Journal. It says10s of 1000s of deaths could be
prevented every year if we allate one piece of fruit a day.
The magic is in the fiber andnutrients that fruits provide.
There's a scientific reason whywe have a hard time falling
(00:54):
asleep in hot weather. DrMichael Decker from the American
Board of Sleep Medicine saysit's because the difference
between your body temperatureand the temperature of the room
is too small. The optimaldifference is about 30 degrees.
So since normal body temperatureis roughly 98 degrees
Fahrenheit, the ideal roomtemperature for sleep is about
(01:16):
68 degrees. Dr Decker says thathelps our core temperature dip,
which ignites our sleephormones. But if you can't cool
your bedroom down enough atnight, get ahead of sunshine in
the middle of the day, it willboost your body's nighttime
production of sleep inducinghormones. A study found that
people who got 15 minutes ofstrong sunlight a day, anytime
(01:37):
between 11am and 1pm slept 35%more soundly on hot nights.
That's because exposure to themost potent UV rays doubled the
brain's production of the sleepinducing hormone melatonin in
the hours leading up to bed. Soget 15 minutes of sunlight
between 11am and 1pm every day,and if you can set your bedroom
(02:00):
thermostat to 68 degrees atnight Coming up, we'll talk to
psychologist and touch expert,Dr Michael banasi. He'll explain
why touches, includingeverything from hugs to
handshakes, form the social gluethat helps us stay healthy from
the day we're born. But first,would you believe that men are
(02:20):
worse than toddlers when itcomes to eating fruits and
vegetables? It's true. Preschoolage children consume an average
of 12 different types of fruitand vegetables each week, but
the average man only eats halfthat amount. In fact, the
average man only eats a measly1.2 portions of fruit and
vegetables a day. Maybe that'swhy 48% of the women questioned
(02:43):
admitted using stealth healthtactics to trick their partners
into eating more produce. Themost popular tactics involved
covering vegetables with cheeseor cream sauce, hiding them in
soup, blending them intosmoothies or simply lying about
the ingredients in meals. It's awell known fact, people who are
(03:05):
physically fit live longer, soit's no surprise that elite
athletes like Olympians are morelikely to live to a ripe old age
than the average person. But itturns out that people who excel
in mental sports like chess livelonger too. That's according to
a recent study at Australia'sUniversity of Melbourne. The
(03:25):
researchers examined thesurvival rates of more than
16,000 Olympic medalists andinternational chess grand
masters over a 60 year period.
The result both the physical andmental athletes lived about
eight years longer, on average,than the general population.
(03:45):
Researcher Philip M Clarkbelieves chess players live as
long as Olympic athletes, partlybecause of the mental benefits
of strategic thinking, plus,like world class athletes, a
celebrated Grand Master gets ahuge boost in social status,
which has been shown to increaselifespan too. So would you like
(04:05):
to live as long as an Olympicathlete? Eat right, get regular
exercise and work towardbecoming an expert in a mind
sport like chess, poker or evencompetitive video gaming, and
you will be good for an extraeight years of life. Okay,
listen to this, don't loan yourprescription pills to family and
friends. 36% of North Americansdo, but you could be harming
(04:30):
more than helping. One out ofevery four people who borrows
pills has an adverse reactionand ends up needing to see a
doctor anyway. The most commonlyshared drugs are antibiotics,
prescription pain pills andantidepressants. Today, our
guest is Dr Michael banasi. He'sa professor of Psychological
Science at the University ofBristol in the UK, and he's also
(04:53):
the author of a new book calledTouch matters, which explores
the science behind one of ourmost basic senses.
And touch, Dr Battersea says itimpacts our lives in ways we
often overlook. Yeah. I mean, Ithink touch really is one of our
most underappreciated senses,and some of that is because of
the vast array of impacts it canhave. You know, from building
(05:15):
the bonds we've others that arevital to our social lives,
through to impacting on ourhealth and well being, and even
down to our workplaceperformance, our team
performance. Touch cuts acrossall walks of life and has this
very huge role that often wemight just overlook day to day,
because, you know, we just, weseem to touch so naturally, but
(05:35):
we we rarely stop and actuallythink about just how important
it can be to help us connectwith the world around us, and
speaking of connecting andbonding with others, your book
talks about how we all needtouch, literally from the day
we're born. Can you tell us moreabout that? So from birth, touch
is essential to our developmentand our well being. And studies
on newborn babies and theirparents have shown that engaging
(05:59):
in care giving forms of touchcan lead to things like less
crying and shorter hospitalstays in the infants, they can
also do things like lower thelevels of anxiety and things
like depression sometimes in theparents
and even adults benefit fromengaging in touch with others.
You know, these kind of simple,supportive, tactile behaviors,
like a hug from a partner. Theycan do things like reduce stress
(06:21):
and anxiety, they can lowerblood pressure, they can boost
our immune system. And all ofthis comes back to the fact that
touch acts a bit like a socialglue. So when we're touched in a
caring way, we release hormoneswhich are connected to social
connection, social well being,often called the love hormones,
hormones like oxytocin, theseare hormones that can bond us to
(06:45):
one another, and they can alsocalm us, and this is why touch
is such an important part of oursocial lives. Today, we're
talking to psychologist andtouch expert, Dr Michael banasi.
He was just saying that touchplays an essential role in
keeping us healthy, partly byboosting our immune system. And
I asked him to share some of thescience behind how something as
(07:05):
basic as a hug or holding handsmight do that. There's multiple
ways in which touch can behelpful. So one way is you can
see release of hormones likeoxytocin, and you can also see
modulation of ourparasympathetic nervous system.
So our parasympathetic nervoussystem is the, effectively, our
nervous system that brings ourbody back to baseline, following
(07:27):
things like stressful states. Soit's kind of trying to bring us
to a state of relaxation andnormal and so touch has, you
know, a number of routes to dothat. One is through things like
caregiving touch, so gentlecaresses on our body, but even
something like a kind ofmoderate pressure massage can
change our parasympatheticnervous system. So these are
some of the ways touch can playa role. But there's also other
(07:50):
ways. I mean, there's also justthe more emotional meaning of
touch. So, you know, just havingsomebody hold our hand, for
instance, that might bereassuring, that might provide
some form of comfort. It mightgive us the idea that someone in
the world cares about us andwants to be there to support us,
and this idea of touch actinglike a socially supportive
gesture has also been shown tobenefit our health and well
(08:12):
being, particularly in relationto things like the immune system
function to turn your moodaround. Experts say you should
not only hang out with a friendwho always seems happy go
exercise with them too. So gofor a hike or take a yoga class
and put your mat next to theirs.
Because when we can smell thesweat of positive people, their
chemicals influence us andactivate positive feel good,
(08:35):
brain chemicals in us. In fact,in a study at Utrecht University
in the Netherlands, peopleexposed to the sweat of happy
people smiled more themselves,and those who were exposed to
the sweat of negative peoplefrowned more. Today's medical
term eyelid myocymia, it's thefancy name for eye twitching,
(08:56):
which is something we've allexperienced at some point, and
while it's annoying,ophthalmologist, Dr Neil Miller
says eye twitching is almostalways harmless. In fact, even
if the twitching becomeschronic, it's rarely bad for our
health. Dr Miller says thetwitching is caused by the
misfiring of a nerve, usuallydue to stress, fatigue, eye
(09:17):
strain, or having too muchcaffeine. That's why the
condition almost always goesaway on its own within a few
minutes to a couple of weeks.
However, there are some commonsense tricks to help a sudden
eye twitch go away sooner. Forexample, if your eye twitching
starts after several nights oftossing and turning, try getting
(09:39):
back on a normal sleep schedule.
Also try replacing your energydrinks and sodas with water to
help cut down on caffeine,because caffeine and alcohol
stimulate our nervous system ina way that can magnify eye
twitching and find ways toreduce stress any way you can.
By the way, as we get older,you.
(10:00):
It is common to experiencetwitching in both eyes
simultaneously, and for that,doctors may prescribe drugs,
including an injection similarto Botox to help relax facial
muscles. And that's today'smedical term, eyelid My chemia
coming up. We'll hear more frompsychologist Dr Michael banasi,
author of touch matters, andhe'll answer this question
(10:23):
exactly, how long should we holda hug to experience health
benefits? But first, if you'regetting anything waxed from your
lips to your legs, how can youmake it hurt less? Schedule an
appointment in the morning.
Research at the NationalInstitute of Mental Health found
people are significantly lesssensitive to pain in the morning
than in the afternoon. That'sbecause our cortisol levels are
(10:47):
higher. Not only will you feelless pain, but you'll cut down
on any stinging, redness andswelling. Same goes for guys
getting their chest or backwaxed. Do it in the morning,
there's one thing you shouldnever do after getting a new
tattoo, go swimming. It couldmake you seriously ill. That's
because a fresh tattoo is anopen wound made from hundreds of
(11:11):
tiny punctures, which createshundreds of points of entry for
infection, causing bacteria.
Take the case of a 31 year oldman who went swimming in the
Gulf of Mexico five days aftergetting a tattoo, he developed
serious infections in his skinand his blood, and despite being
(11:31):
hospitalized and treated withhigh powered antibiotics, he
died. Dr Michelle s Green is adermatologist at Lenox Hill
Hospital, and here's what shesays about staying safe after
getting a tattoo, first, toreduce your infection risk, keep
your tattoo bandaged for atleast 24 hours after that, wash
(11:51):
your tattoo several times a day,gently pat it dry and cover it
with a thin layer of antibioticointment for five days. Finally,
avoid swimming or soaking inwater of any kind for at least
two weeks after getting atattoo, that means no bathtub,
hot tub, pool, river, pond orocean, and stay out of the water
(12:15):
for three weeks if the tattoo ison your foot or hand, because
they take longer to heal. Okay,listen to this. How many
Americans have optimumcardiovascular health? Only a
measly 7% that's according tothe American College of
Cardiology. You already knowwhat will make it better. But
(12:36):
let's review. Get 30 minutes ofmoderate exercise most days of
the week, eat plenty of fruitsand vegetables. Get seven hours
of sleep a night. Don't smokeand get plenty of omega three
fatty acids from fish and nuts.
Also de stress. Hang withfriends. Volunteer your time and
don't have more than onealcoholic drink a day. Back with
(12:57):
more health intelligence frompsychology professor Dr Michael
banasi. His latest book is touchmatters. In it, he says that if
you're not getting enoughphysical contact in your life,
you run the risk of becomingtouch hungry or touch deprived.
So I asked Dr banasi what peopleshould do if they're not getting
enough touch in their lives.
(13:20):
Yeah, well, I mean, I thinktouch hunger is a really, I
mean, it's a really seriousthing for us to think about,
becausewe did a study in early 2020 of
around 40,000 people worldwide,and we found that, you know, the
vast majority of people weresaying they weren't getting
enough touch in their lives. Andother researchers have shown
that when we feel touch hungryand we don't get touch in our
lives like that, this can leadto things like greater
(13:40):
loneliness. It has mental healthimplications, and, you know, can
also impact to a degree,physical health, given the
benefits the touch normally canbring there. So what can we do?
Well, it's really thinking abouttouch substitutes, I suppose, if
you haven't got someone aroundto give you a hug, for instance,
some of the work on hugging andstress has shown that just
giving yourself a self soothingtouch like a self hug, can
(14:02):
actually confer similarbenefits. So people who hug
themselves can, you know,sometimes reduce their stress
responses in a stressfulsituation. But there's other
things as well. I mean,something like taking up
gardening. You know, gardeninginvolves physical touch for
activities like planting,weeding and pruning, and you
know, if you if you join acommunity garden, you know, then
you're also going to buildpotential social connections
(14:24):
that could be useful. Peoplemind it to stroke a pet. So even
these days, you can now getthese robotic pets that actually
act almost like touchsubstitutes. And again, the data
is showing engaging with thoserobotic pets, stroking them can
confer similar benefits as whenpeople physically touch pets
themselves back with more healthintelligence from psychologist
(14:45):
and touch expert, Dr Michaelbanasi, and have you ever
wondered if there's such a thingas a perfect hug? Well, Dr
banasi admits there's no onesize fits all answer that
applies to everyone. I.
But scientists have come up withsome clues, including the ideal
duration of a hug. There'songoing research to try to look
(15:06):
at what ingredients make a greathug. And there's so many
different varieties in this. So,you know, some people go for the
criss cross hugs. That's wherekind of arms cross. Some people
go for the bear hug, but fromthe back hug. I mean, I don't
necessarily think that any oneof those hug styles is
necessarily the perfect way, butthe thing that a lot of people
focus on are things like theduration of hugging.
(15:27):
And there are studies out therenow that have looked at what
happens if you give someone likea short one second hug, or if
you give them a five second hugor a 10 second hug, where are
the preferences? And where doyou start to see benefits on
things like people feelingcalmer and stuff like this, and
you start to see some of thatcoming in from about five
seconds upwards. The studiestend to stop at 10 seconds. So
(15:48):
we don't quite know what the toolong hug is yet, but you know,
compared to a very brief hug,like a one second hug, you know,
something more like a fivesecond hug is probably going to
give you a nicer experience, sothat might confer some more
benefits from day to day. Is notjust men, whose hair gets
thinner with age. By age 52 outof three women have thinning
(16:09):
hair too. So what can you doabout it? Get more omega three
fatty acids in your diet.
Experts say getting threeservings a week of shrimp, tuna,
salmon or mackerel can increaseyour hair strength and thickness
by 38% that's because seafoodcontains essential Omega threes
and selenium and copper, whichspeed the repair and replacement
of hair follicles and boost thebody's natural production of
(16:32):
keratin, the protein in the hairshaft, so hair is thicker more
intelligence for your health.
From psychologist Dr Michaelbanasi, if you'd like to know
more about him or his latestbook, touch matters, check out
banasi.com that's spelled b, a,n, i, s, s, y, and there's some
(16:52):
research showing that physicaltouch in the workplace can
actually make us more effectiveand productive. So I asked Dr
banasi To explain theconnection, yeah. So touch cuts
across all walks of life, soeven something as simple as a
handshake or a fist bump, thesetypes of activities have been
shown to build trust and, insome cases, greater team
(17:16):
cohesion. So you know, one studyon professional basketball teams
found that teams who showed moretouches, like, I don't know,
kind of team huddle hands, whereyou put your hands in fist
bumping and high fiving, thesethings at the start of a
sporting season, the teams thatshowed more of those went on to
win more games as the seasonunfolded. And people seem to
think this is because, you know,when we have these kind of
(17:38):
short, kind of brief, tactileinteractions that are gestures
of connection, and, you know,trust and teamwork, that
actually some of these thingsmight then play out into other
behaviors like performance inthe workplace. Are you getting
surgery soon, but worried abouthaving a big scar afterward,
like Frankenstein's monster? TheMayo Clinic says the key to
(18:00):
reducing scarring is to protectyour wound from the sun, because
even minimal exposure tosunlight can cause darker
pigmentation within a scar,which is what turns a barely
visible one into something outof a horror movie. So for the
first few days after surgery,experts say, clean the wound
carefully and coat it withpetroleum jelly, which aids
(18:21):
healing. Then cover the areawith clothing. And even if
you're covered up, use sunscreentoo, that will help protect the
scar from the sun's UV rays,which can penetrate through
clothing. And you'll need toprotect the area for at least
six months for best results.
Here's an email I received atConnie at intelligence for your
health.com It comes fromStephanie Dykstra, who writes,
(18:43):
why do I sneeze on really sunnydays? Stephanie, you have what's
called a photic sneeze reflex,also known as sun sneezing.
About a third of the populationwill sneeze occasionally when
they come out of a darkenvironment into daylight or if
they squint into sun. Mostexperts think Sun sneezing
(19:03):
occurs when there are crossedwires in the brain, so to speak,
a sneeze is usually triggered byan irritation in the nose, which
is sensed by the trigeminalnerve, the main nerve in the
face, and this nerve is in closeproximity to the optic nerve,
which will sense a sudden floodof light entering your eyes, and
as the optic nerve sends asignal to constrict your pupils,
(19:26):
the trigeminal nerve may beaccidentally triggered that
makes the brain mistake thesudden light for an irritant in
the nose, which triggers asneeze. It's also linked to a
gene passed down from parents tokids, and that's why the photic
sneeze reflex is being studiedmore now, because epileptic
seizures and migraines can alsobe triggered by light, and there
(19:48):
may be a genetic link there tohelp scientists better
understand the connection. Okay,listen to this if you've been
using the same bottle ofsunscreen since last summer.
More you need to buy a new one.
That's because, over time,sunscreen can destabilize and
lose its power, plus the activeingredients may become less
evenly distributed, so you maynot get even coverage when you
(20:10):
slather it on. So go buy a newbottle. Do you think you could
sprint all out for 20 seconds?
That may be the key to losingmore weight and getting into
shape faster than any otherexercise plan. It's called a
micro burst workout. Researchersat McMaster University came up
(20:30):
with it, and here's how to doit. Go all out for 20 seconds,
rest for two minutes, thenrepeat that cycle two more
times, add it up and your totalcardio time is just one minute.
That might sound pointless, butwhen a group of people did a
micro burst workout every dayfor three months, they burned
(20:51):
48% more calories than peoplewho did less intense workouts
for a full hour a day. The microburst group also had
significantly better hearthealth and a lower risk for
diabetes. The reason becauseintense exercise triggers our
cells to burn fat moreefficiently, plus, the more
intensely we exercise, the moremuscle we build, which is proven
(21:15):
to help us burn up to 200 extracalories per day. And you can
apply this micro burst scienceto almost any form of cardio,
from running to biking tojumping rope, that magic recipe
again, go all out for 20seconds. Rest for two minutes,
then repeat that cycle twice.
More intelligence for yourhealth. From Dr Michael banasi,
(21:36):
a professor of PsychologicalScience at the University of
Bristol in the UK. And have younoticed that a growing number of
devices like your smartphone nowcome with touch screens that
seem to pulse and vibratedepending on how you use them.
Well, those touch screens areusing something known as haptic
technology, and according to Drbanasi, there's a ton of new
(21:58):
research that suggests thistechnology can be used to make
us happier and healthier, theidea of haptic technology, and
the idea of almost kind of howwe can introduce touch in our
lives through technology, Ithink, is the big new frontier
of both wellness and oftechnology more broadly. The
(22:20):
reason for this is if you thinkabout someone like virtual
reality, being able to being avirtual world and feel like
you're present, one of the mostimportant things in that process
is not just what you see and youhear, but it's what you feel,
our sensations of feeling,whether that's, I don't know,
feeling a keyboard under yourfingertips, or whether that's if
you're holding a bat and You'reabout to swing the bat, you know
(22:42):
that it's so critical to how weperceive the world that people
have really got to find ways tomake that feel right when you're
in a virtual world. And sothere's a huge amount of work
looking at that now. There'salso a huge amount of work
looking at this idea of hapticwellness, and that's that's very
much about, how can we use touchtechnology, I don't know, like a
watch that vibrates on ourwrist. How can we use that to
(23:03):
actually bring benefits topeople's health and their well
being? And one of the wayspeople do this is by, for
instance, using vibrations tovibrate at a frequency or a rate
that can induce these feelingsof almost like a slow breathing
or slow heart rate, which areconsistent with having the best
anxiety and doing this actuallydoes lead to benefits like that.
(23:25):
So haptic wellness, haptictechnologies, I think they're
huge opportunities for kind of,I suppose, gadgets and but not
just gadgets, but also, youknow, I suppose general kind of
daily activities moving forward.
That's it for our show today,our special intelligence for
your health with Connie Selig,edition of the podcast, I'm Gib
Gerard. Don't forget to ratecomment and subscribe on Apple
(23:45):
podcast. Spotify, wherever youget your podcast. It helps us
out a lot. And also, you canreach out to us on social media.
All of our links are listed downin the show notes. We try to
respond to every DM, everymention of the show, because
ultimately, we do the show foryou guys, so thank you so much
for listening. You.
Hello and welcome to another episode of the podcast.
I'm Gib Gerard. Today we haveanother special intelligence for
your health with Connie Celica.
Edition of the show featuring aninterview with none other than
psychologist and author, DrMichael Vanessa, so we're really
excited to bring this to you. Sowithout further ado, here is
intelligence your health withConnie selika, all we need to
lower our risk of death fromheart attack and stroke is to
(00:32):
eat one piece of whole fruit aday. That's according to the
British Medical Journal. It says10s of 1000s of deaths could be
prevented every year if we allate one piece of fruit a day.
The magic is in the fiber andnutrients that fruits provide.
There's a scientific reason whywe have a hard time falling
(00:54):
asleep in hot weather. DrMichael Decker from the American
Board of Sleep Medicine saysit's because the difference
between your body temperatureand the temperature of the room
is too small. The optimaldifference is about 30 degrees.
So since normal body temperatureis roughly 98 degrees
Fahrenheit, the ideal roomtemperature for sleep is about
(01:16):
68 degrees. Dr Decker says thathelps our core temperature dip,
which ignites our sleephormones. But if you can't cool
your bedroom down enough atnight, get ahead of sunshine in
the middle of the day, it willboost your body's nighttime
production of sleep inducinghormones. A study found that
people who got 15 minutes ofstrong sunlight a day, anytime
(01:37):
between 11am and 1pm slept 35%more soundly on hot nights.
That's because exposure to themost potent UV rays doubled the
brain's production of the sleepinducing hormone melatonin in
the hours leading up to bed. Soget 15 minutes of sunlight
between 11am and 1pm every day,and if you can set your bedroom
(02:00):
thermostat to 68 degrees atnight Coming up, we'll talk to
psychologist and touch expert,Dr Michael banasi. He'll explain
why touches, includingeverything from hugs to
handshakes, form the social gluethat helps us stay healthy from
the day we're born. But first,would you believe that men are
(02:20):
worse than toddlers when itcomes to eating fruits and
vegetables? It's true. Preschoolage children consume an average
of 12 different types of fruitand vegetables each week, but
the average man only eats halfthat amount. In fact, the
average man only eats a measly1.2 portions of fruit and
vegetables a day. Maybe that'swhy 48% of the women questioned
(02:43):
admitted using stealth healthtactics to trick their partners
into eating more produce. Themost popular tactics involved
covering vegetables with cheeseor cream sauce, hiding them in
soup, blending them intosmoothies or simply lying about
the ingredients in meals. It's awell known fact, people who are
(03:05):
physically fit live longer, soit's no surprise that elite
athletes like Olympians are morelikely to live to a ripe old age
than the average person. But itturns out that people who excel
in mental sports like chess livelonger too. That's according to
a recent study at Australia'sUniversity of Melbourne. The
(03:25):
researchers examined thesurvival rates of more than
16,000 Olympic medalists andinternational chess grand
masters over a 60 year period.
The result both the physical andmental athletes lived about
eight years longer, on average,than the general population.
(03:45):
Researcher Philip M Clarkbelieves chess players live as
long as Olympic athletes, partlybecause of the mental benefits
of strategic thinking, plus,like world class athletes, a
celebrated Grand Master gets ahuge boost in social status,
which has been shown to increaselifespan too. So would you like
(04:05):
to live as long as an Olympicathlete? Eat right, get regular
exercise and work towardbecoming an expert in a mind
sport like chess, poker or evencompetitive video gaming, and
you will be good for an extraeight years of life. Okay,
listen to this, don't loan yourprescription pills to family and
friends. 36% of North Americansdo, but you could be harming
(04:30):
more than helping. One out ofevery four people who borrows
pills has an adverse reactionand ends up needing to see a
doctor anyway. The most commonlyshared drugs are antibiotics,
prescription pain pills andantidepressants. Today, our
guest is Dr Michael banasi. He'sa professor of Psychological
Science at the University ofBristol in the UK, and he's also
(04:53):
the author of a new book calledTouch matters, which explores
the science behind one of ourmost basic senses.
And touch, Dr Battersea says itimpacts our lives in ways we
often overlook. Yeah. I mean, Ithink touch really is one of our
most underappreciated senses,and some of that is because of
the vast array of impacts it canhave. You know, from building
(05:15):
the bonds we've others that arevital to our social lives,
through to impacting on ourhealth and well being, and even
down to our workplaceperformance, our team
performance. Touch cuts acrossall walks of life and has this
very huge role that often wemight just overlook day to day,
because, you know, we just, weseem to touch so naturally, but
(05:35):
we we rarely stop and actuallythink about just how important
it can be to help us connectwith the world around us, and
speaking of connecting andbonding with others, your book
talks about how we all needtouch, literally from the day
we're born. Can you tell us moreabout that? So from birth, touch
is essential to our developmentand our well being. And studies
on newborn babies and theirparents have shown that engaging
(05:59):
in care giving forms of touchcan lead to things like less
crying and shorter hospitalstays in the infants, they can
also do things like lower thelevels of anxiety and things
like depression sometimes in theparents
and even adults benefit fromengaging in touch with others.
You know, these kind of simple,supportive, tactile behaviors,
like a hug from a partner. Theycan do things like reduce stress
(06:21):
and anxiety, they can lowerblood pressure, they can boost
our immune system. And all ofthis comes back to the fact that
touch acts a bit like a socialglue. So when we're touched in a
caring way, we release hormoneswhich are connected to social
connection, social well being,often called the love hormones,
hormones like oxytocin, theseare hormones that can bond us to
(06:45):
one another, and they can alsocalm us, and this is why touch
is such an important part of oursocial lives. Today, we're
talking to psychologist andtouch expert, Dr Michael banasi.
He was just saying that touchplays an essential role in
keeping us healthy, partly byboosting our immune system. And
I asked him to share some of thescience behind how something as
(07:05):
basic as a hug or holding handsmight do that. There's multiple
ways in which touch can behelpful. So one way is you can
see release of hormones likeoxytocin, and you can also see
modulation of ourparasympathetic nervous system.
So our parasympathetic nervoussystem is the, effectively, our
nervous system that brings ourbody back to baseline, following
(07:27):
things like stressful states. Soit's kind of trying to bring us
to a state of relaxation andnormal and so touch has, you
know, a number of routes to dothat. One is through things like
caregiving touch, so gentlecaresses on our body, but even
something like a kind ofmoderate pressure massage can
change our parasympatheticnervous system. So these are
some of the ways touch can playa role. But there's also other
(07:50):
ways. I mean, there's also justthe more emotional meaning of
touch. So, you know, just havingsomebody hold our hand, for
instance, that might bereassuring, that might provide
some form of comfort. It mightgive us the idea that someone in
the world cares about us andwants to be there to support us,
and this idea of touch actinglike a socially supportive
gesture has also been shown tobenefit our health and well
(08:12):
being, particularly in relationto things like the immune system
function to turn your moodaround. Experts say you should
not only hang out with a friendwho always seems happy go
exercise with them too. So gofor a hike or take a yoga class
and put your mat next to theirs.
Because when we can smell thesweat of positive people, their
chemicals influence us andactivate positive feel good,
(08:35):
brain chemicals in us. In fact,in a study at Utrecht University
in the Netherlands, peopleexposed to the sweat of happy
people smiled more themselves,and those who were exposed to
the sweat of negative peoplefrowned more. Today's medical
term eyelid myocymia, it's thefancy name for eye twitching,
(08:56):
which is something we've allexperienced at some point, and
while it's annoying,ophthalmologist, Dr Neil Miller
says eye twitching is almostalways harmless. In fact, even
if the twitching becomeschronic, it's rarely bad for our
health. Dr Miller says thetwitching is caused by the
misfiring of a nerve, usuallydue to stress, fatigue, eye
(09:17):
strain, or having too muchcaffeine. That's why the
condition almost always goesaway on its own within a few
minutes to a couple of weeks.
However, there are some commonsense tricks to help a sudden
eye twitch go away sooner. Forexample, if your eye twitching
starts after several nights oftossing and turning, try getting
(09:39):
back on a normal sleep schedule.
Also try replacing your energydrinks and sodas with water to
help cut down on caffeine,because caffeine and alcohol
stimulate our nervous system ina way that can magnify eye
twitching and find ways toreduce stress any way you can.
By the way, as we get older,you.
(10:00):
It is common to experiencetwitching in both eyes
simultaneously, and for that,doctors may prescribe drugs,
including an injection similarto Botox to help relax facial
muscles. And that's today'smedical term, eyelid My chemia
coming up. We'll hear more frompsychologist Dr Michael banasi,
author of touch matters, andhe'll answer this question
(10:23):
exactly, how long should we holda hug to experience health
benefits? But first, if you'regetting anything waxed from your
lips to your legs, how can youmake it hurt less? Schedule an
appointment in the morning.
Research at the NationalInstitute of Mental Health found
people are significantly lesssensitive to pain in the morning
than in the afternoon. That'sbecause our cortisol levels are
(10:47):
higher. Not only will you feelless pain, but you'll cut down
on any stinging, redness andswelling. Same goes for guys
getting their chest or backwaxed. Do it in the morning,
there's one thing you shouldnever do after getting a new
tattoo, go swimming. It couldmake you seriously ill. That's
because a fresh tattoo is anopen wound made from hundreds of
(11:11):
tiny punctures, which createshundreds of points of entry for
infection, causing bacteria.
Take the case of a 31 year oldman who went swimming in the
Gulf of Mexico five days aftergetting a tattoo, he developed
serious infections in his skinand his blood, and despite being
(11:31):
hospitalized and treated withhigh powered antibiotics, he
died. Dr Michelle s Green is adermatologist at Lenox Hill
Hospital, and here's what shesays about staying safe after
getting a tattoo, first, toreduce your infection risk, keep
your tattoo bandaged for atleast 24 hours after that, wash
(11:51):
your tattoo several times a day,gently pat it dry and cover it
with a thin layer of antibioticointment for five days. Finally,
avoid swimming or soaking inwater of any kind for at least
two weeks after getting atattoo, that means no bathtub,
hot tub, pool, river, pond orocean, and stay out of the water
(12:15):
for three weeks if the tattoo ison your foot or hand, because
they take longer to heal. Okay,listen to this. How many
Americans have optimumcardiovascular health? Only a
measly 7% that's according tothe American College of
Cardiology. You already knowwhat will make it better. But
(12:36):
let's review. Get 30 minutes ofmoderate exercise most days of
the week, eat plenty of fruitsand vegetables. Get seven hours
of sleep a night. Don't smokeand get plenty of omega three
fatty acids from fish and nuts.
Also de stress. Hang withfriends. Volunteer your time and
don't have more than onealcoholic drink a day. Back with
(12:57):
more health intelligence frompsychology professor Dr Michael
banasi. His latest book is touchmatters. In it, he says that if
you're not getting enoughphysical contact in your life,
you run the risk of becomingtouch hungry or touch deprived.
So I asked Dr banasi what peopleshould do if they're not getting
enough touch in their lives.
(13:20):
Yeah, well, I mean, I thinktouch hunger is a really, I
mean, it's a really seriousthing for us to think about,
becausewe did a study in early 2020 of
around 40,000 people worldwide,and we found that, you know, the
vast majority of people weresaying they weren't getting
enough touch in their lives. Andother researchers have shown
that when we feel touch hungryand we don't get touch in our
lives like that, this can leadto things like greater
(13:40):
loneliness. It has mental healthimplications, and, you know, can
also impact to a degree,physical health, given the
benefits the touch normally canbring there. So what can we do?
Well, it's really thinking abouttouch substitutes, I suppose, if
you haven't got someone aroundto give you a hug, for instance,
some of the work on hugging andstress has shown that just
giving yourself a self soothingtouch like a self hug, can
(14:02):
actually confer similarbenefits. So people who hug
themselves can, you know,sometimes reduce their stress
responses in a stressfulsituation. But there's other
things as well. I mean,something like taking up
gardening. You know, gardeninginvolves physical touch for
activities like planting,weeding and pruning, and you
know, if you if you join acommunity garden, you know, then
you're also going to buildpotential social connections
(14:24):
that could be useful. Peoplemind it to stroke a pet. So even
these days, you can now getthese robotic pets that actually
act almost like touchsubstitutes. And again, the data
is showing engaging with thoserobotic pets, stroking them can
confer similar benefits as whenpeople physically touch pets
themselves back with more healthintelligence from psychologist
(14:45):
and touch expert, Dr Michaelbanasi, and have you ever
wondered if there's such a thingas a perfect hug? Well, Dr
banasi admits there's no onesize fits all answer that
applies to everyone. I.
But scientists have come up withsome clues, including the ideal
duration of a hug. There'songoing research to try to look
(15:06):
at what ingredients make a greathug. And there's so many
different varieties in this. So,you know, some people go for the
criss cross hugs. That's wherekind of arms cross. Some people
go for the bear hug, but fromthe back hug. I mean, I don't
necessarily think that any oneof those hug styles is
necessarily the perfect way, butthe thing that a lot of people
focus on are things like theduration of hugging.
(15:27):
And there are studies out therenow that have looked at what
happens if you give someone likea short one second hug, or if
you give them a five second hugor a 10 second hug, where are
the preferences? And where doyou start to see benefits on
things like people feelingcalmer and stuff like this, and
you start to see some of thatcoming in from about five
seconds upwards. The studiestend to stop at 10 seconds. So
(15:48):
we don't quite know what the toolong hug is yet, but you know,
compared to a very brief hug,like a one second hug, you know,
something more like a fivesecond hug is probably going to
give you a nicer experience, sothat might confer some more
benefits from day to day. Is notjust men, whose hair gets
thinner with age. By age 52 outof three women have thinning
(16:09):
hair too. So what can you doabout it? Get more omega three
fatty acids in your diet.
Experts say getting threeservings a week of shrimp, tuna,
salmon or mackerel can increaseyour hair strength and thickness
by 38% that's because seafoodcontains essential Omega threes
and selenium and copper, whichspeed the repair and replacement
of hair follicles and boost thebody's natural production of
(16:32):
keratin, the protein in the hairshaft, so hair is thicker more
intelligence for your health.
From psychologist Dr Michaelbanasi, if you'd like to know
more about him or his latestbook, touch matters, check out
banasi.com that's spelled b, a,n, i, s, s, y, and there's some
(16:52):
research showing that physicaltouch in the workplace can
actually make us more effectiveand productive. So I asked Dr
banasi To explain theconnection, yeah. So touch cuts
across all walks of life, soeven something as simple as a
handshake or a fist bump, thesetypes of activities have been
shown to build trust and, insome cases, greater team
(17:16):
cohesion. So you know, one studyon professional basketball teams
found that teams who showed moretouches, like, I don't know,
kind of team huddle hands, whereyou put your hands in fist
bumping and high fiving, thesethings at the start of a
sporting season, the teams thatshowed more of those went on to
win more games as the seasonunfolded. And people seem to
think this is because, you know,when we have these kind of
(17:38):
short, kind of brief, tactileinteractions that are gestures
of connection, and, you know,trust and teamwork, that
actually some of these thingsmight then play out into other
behaviors like performance inthe workplace. Are you getting
surgery soon, but worried abouthaving a big scar afterward,
like Frankenstein's monster? TheMayo Clinic says the key to
(18:00):
reducing scarring is to protectyour wound from the sun, because
even minimal exposure tosunlight can cause darker
pigmentation within a scar,which is what turns a barely
visible one into something outof a horror movie. So for the
first few days after surgery,experts say, clean the wound
carefully and coat it withpetroleum jelly, which aids
(18:21):
healing. Then cover the areawith clothing. And even if
you're covered up, use sunscreentoo, that will help protect the
scar from the sun's UV rays,which can penetrate through
clothing. And you'll need toprotect the area for at least
six months for best results.
Here's an email I received atConnie at intelligence for your
health.com It comes fromStephanie Dykstra, who writes,
(18:43):
why do I sneeze on really sunnydays? Stephanie, you have what's
called a photic sneeze reflex,also known as sun sneezing.
About a third of the populationwill sneeze occasionally when
they come out of a darkenvironment into daylight or if
they squint into sun. Mostexperts think Sun sneezing
(19:03):
occurs when there are crossedwires in the brain, so to speak,
a sneeze is usually triggered byan irritation in the nose, which
is sensed by the trigeminalnerve, the main nerve in the
face, and this nerve is in closeproximity to the optic nerve,
which will sense a sudden floodof light entering your eyes, and
as the optic nerve sends asignal to constrict your pupils,
(19:26):
the trigeminal nerve may beaccidentally triggered that
makes the brain mistake thesudden light for an irritant in
the nose, which triggers asneeze. It's also linked to a
gene passed down from parents tokids, and that's why the photic
sneeze reflex is being studiedmore now, because epileptic
seizures and migraines can alsobe triggered by light, and there
(19:48):
may be a genetic link there tohelp scientists better
understand the connection. Okay,listen to this if you've been
using the same bottle ofsunscreen since last summer.
More you need to buy a new one.
That's because, over time,sunscreen can destabilize and
lose its power, plus the activeingredients may become less
evenly distributed, so you maynot get even coverage when you
(20:10):
slather it on. So go buy a newbottle. Do you think you could
sprint all out for 20 seconds?
That may be the key to losingmore weight and getting into
shape faster than any otherexercise plan. It's called a
micro burst workout. Researchersat McMaster University came up
(20:30):
with it, and here's how to doit. Go all out for 20 seconds,
rest for two minutes, thenrepeat that cycle two more
times, add it up and your totalcardio time is just one minute.
That might sound pointless, butwhen a group of people did a
micro burst workout every dayfor three months, they burned
(20:51):
48% more calories than peoplewho did less intense workouts
for a full hour a day. The microburst group also had
significantly better hearthealth and a lower risk for
diabetes. The reason becauseintense exercise triggers our
cells to burn fat moreefficiently, plus, the more
intensely we exercise, the moremuscle we build, which is proven
(21:15):
to help us burn up to 200 extracalories per day. And you can
apply this micro burst scienceto almost any form of cardio,
from running to biking tojumping rope, that magic recipe
again, go all out for 20seconds. Rest for two minutes,
then repeat that cycle twice.
More intelligence for yourhealth. From Dr Michael banasi,
(21:36):
a professor of PsychologicalScience at the University of
Bristol in the UK. And have younoticed that a growing number of
devices like your smartphone nowcome with touch screens that
seem to pulse and vibratedepending on how you use them.
Well, those touch screens areusing something known as haptic
technology, and according to Drbanasi, there's a ton of new
(21:58):
research that suggests thistechnology can be used to make
us happier and healthier, theidea of haptic technology, and
the idea of almost kind of howwe can introduce touch in our
lives through technology, Ithink, is the big new frontier
of both wellness and oftechnology more broadly. The
(22:20):
reason for this is if you thinkabout someone like virtual
reality, being able to being avirtual world and feel like
you're present, one of the mostimportant things in that process
is not just what you see and youhear, but it's what you feel,
our sensations of feeling,whether that's, I don't know,
feeling a keyboard under yourfingertips, or whether that's if
you're holding a bat and You'reabout to swing the bat, you know
(22:42):
that it's so critical to how weperceive the world that people
have really got to find ways tomake that feel right when you're
in a virtual world. And sothere's a huge amount of work
looking at that now. There'salso a huge amount of work
looking at this idea of hapticwellness, and that's that's very
much about, how can we use touchtechnology, I don't know, like a
watch that vibrates on ourwrist. How can we use that to
(23:03):
actually bring benefits topeople's health and their well
being? And one of the wayspeople do this is by, for
instance, using vibrations tovibrate at a frequency or a rate
that can induce these feelingsof almost like a slow breathing
or slow heart rate, which areconsistent with having the best
anxiety and doing this actuallydoes lead to benefits like that.
(23:25):
So haptic wellness, haptictechnologies, I think they're
huge opportunities for kind of,I suppose, gadgets and but not
just gadgets, but also, youknow, I suppose general kind of
daily activities moving forward.
That's it for our show today,our special intelligence for
your health with Connie Selig,edition of the podcast, I'm Gib
Gerard. Don't forget to ratecomment and subscribe on Apple
(23:45):
podcast. Spotify, wherever youget your podcast. It helps us
out a lot. And also, you canreach out to us on social media.
All of our links are listed downin the show notes. We try to
respond to every DM, everymention of the show, because
ultimately, we do the show foryou guys, so thank you so much
for listening. You.
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