In this episode we feature:
An interview with pediatrician and author, Dr. Harvey Karp
How to manage your cholesterol without meds
Dr. Karp’s Five S’s for Newborns
The 90/90/90 method for goal setting
The truth about ice baths and inflammation.
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 (00:00):
Gib.
(00:07):
Hello and welcome to anotherepisode of the podcast. I'm Gib
Gerard, and today, yes, we haveanother intelligence to your
health with Connie Celica.
Episode of the podcast, this onefeatures an interview with none
other than famed pediatricianand Author, Dr Harvey Karp, all
kinds of information about howto best raise your kids. He's
unbelievable. I read his bookhappiest baby on the block when
(00:28):
my kids were little. Anyway,here we go without further ado,
intelligence for your healthwith Connie zelika, remember to
drink cold water at the gym.
According to a Stanford study,people who drank cold water
during exercise were far lesslikely to experience dehydration
than people who drank roomtemperature water. That's
(00:49):
because cold water stops yourbody's temperature from rising
too quickly. Drinking cold waterduring a workout also means a
lower heart rate and betterperformance overall, and that's
true whether you're doing cardioor weight training. Have you
ever noticed when you're sickwith a cold or flu or even
allergies, you feel worse atnight? Here's why, according to
(01:11):
Dr Michael Smolenski, acircadian rhythm expert at the
University of Texas, he says,when you're sick, your immune
system sends out infectionfighting cells to kill off the
virus, but those infectionfighters trigger inflammation,
which can cause symptoms likefever, congestion and sore
throat, and those symptoms arethe most severe when your immune
(01:32):
system kicks into high gear,which is at night. Another
reason you feel sicker at nightthe position of your head when
you're upright during the day,mucus drains instead of
accumulating in your throat andsinuses, like when you're lying
down at night. Plus, we tend todrink less water at night and
when we're dehydrated, mucusgets thicker and more likely to
(01:54):
clog your airways. So drinkplenty of fluids to keep your
mucus thinner, put it alltogether, and that's why you
feel worse at night coming up.
We'll talk to pediatrician, DrHarvey Karp. He'll explain why
sleep, which he calls vitamin S,is so crucial for babies and
their parents. But first, here'swhy men are more prone to back
(02:15):
pain than women. It's becausemen are built straight up and
down, where women have curvesand a straight spine, places
added pressure on lower backdiscs. That's according to
orthopedic surgeon Dr AlanHillebrand. So guys, here's your
strategy, run aerobic exercisedone upright, builds the muscles
(02:35):
supporting your spine, and afteryou run stretch men with tight
hamstrings are especially proneto slipped discs. Here are two
solutions for easing thephysical signs of stress so you
can face challenges moreeffectively. This comes from
clinical psychologist JennyTates. Give a half smile. Stress
(02:55):
can trigger tension in your faceand jaw, but it works the other
way. Your facial expression caninfluence how you feel, so a
clenched jaw or scowl canheighten feelings of stress.
It's why Botox injections in theforehead can help reduce
negative emotions, because theyprevent you from physically
furrowing your brow or just trya technique known as half
(03:20):
smiling. Raise the upper cornersof your lips slightly, which
automatically releases tensionin the brows, and by mindfully
relaxing your face, you'llappear calmer on the outside,
which makes you feel calmer onthe inside. Also try looking far
away when the body's fight orflight response kicks in, your
(03:41):
field of vision narrows. So trynoticing three things in the
distance. That's one of thereasons why a brief walk in
nature can boost your mood,because you're also expanding
your field of vision. Okay,listen to this. If you want an
honest answer from someone,don't ask yes or no questions.
According to the journal Currentopinion in psychology, asking
(04:03):
open ended questions is the bestway to get the truth. The
researchers found asking yes orno questions and leading
questions like you like mycooking, right? We're more
likely to lead to lies orpacifying answers, just so the
other person will drop thesubject a better tactic, reframe
your question to allow for areal, thought out response,
(04:25):
like, what do you think about mycooking? You're more likely to
get an honest answer. Today, ourguest is pediatrician and child
development specialist, DrHarvey Karp, he's known for his
best selling book, The happiestbaby on the block, and we asked
Dr Karp, why sleep, which hecalls vitamin S, is so crucial
for babies and adults, and ifthere's a way to help babies
(04:48):
Stop fussing and get the sleepthey need, vitamin s really
helps with our memory. It helpswith our attitude. It helps with
recovering.
In terms of our body's abilityto heal from the from the tiny
stresses that occur every day.
It's good for our immune system.
(05:08):
It's just, you know, it isimportant for all of us, in
terms of staying in balance.
Doctors used to say, well,there's nothing you can do with
babies. You know, they gottawake up a lot, and you got to
wait for four or five, sixmonths or longer, for them to
learn to be good sleepers. Butthen when parents are really
struggling, and they come to usjust completely, you know, over
(05:30):
the over the off the cliff, wewe whisper to them that there is
a secret magic way of teachingbabies to immediately cry less
and sleep longer. Drive them allnight in the car, and even most
adults, if you drive all nightin the car, and the adults
sleeping on the back seat, youknow they will sleep an extra
(05:51):
hour or two. We're lulled tosleep by airplane rides and
train rides and those rhythms,the Jigga, Jigga, Jigga, the
sound, the motion, lull all ofus to asleep. That's why we like
to rock in hammocks. We like thesound of the wind and the ocean,
and for babies, it'sparticularly helpful. And so
there are ways of wrappingbabies called swaddling, and
(06:13):
types of white noise andrhythmic motions that that all
imitate the womb and and helpbabies fall asleep much more
quickly and and sleep at leastan extra hour, or sometimes two
hours at night. Today, we'retalking to pediatrician, Doctor
Harvey Karp and one of his otherbest selling books is the
(06:33):
happiest toddler on the block.
And in it, he discusses thestrategy for dealing with
toddler tantrums. He calls itthe fast food rule, and I asked
him to explain how that rule canhelp parents communicate better
with their toddlers during ameltdown. This idea of the fast
food rule is really how younarrate back a child's feelings.
(06:56):
And the concept is this, whenyou go to a drive in restaurant
and you say, I want a burger andfries. They don't say it's $4
drive up front. What they firstsay is, burger and fries. You
want anything else with that?
And once they're sure they havethe order, then they get to
their agenda, $4 drive up front.
And so the key concept when whenyou're talking to a little kid
(07:18):
who's upset, or really anyonewho's upset is you narrate back
a couple of sentences, three,four or five sentences for
little kids, one or twosentences for an adult, to make
sure you got the message right.
So rather than saying, you know,honey, it's okay, you know, the
child falls, scrapes their knee,rather than saying, It's okay,
honey, I think you're all fine.
(07:39):
Don't rush to get to youragenda. Stick with theirs for a
little bit. Oh no, you fell. Youfell for maybe a little three
year old, who is upset youyou're you hurt your knee. I saw
you fall. And then, and thenyour face got sad, and you hurt
your knee. And then when theylook at you with those big eyes,
and they you know, areconnecting with you, then you
(08:01):
can get to your agenda of, letmommy take a look at it, or it's
going to be okay. Or, come on,let's go. We'll clean it up with
some soap and water. And you getto your agenda. If the summer
heat is making you stink, eatmore cashews. Researchers at
Reading University have foundthat people with body odor often
have a zinc deficiency. Itaffects about one in three
(08:24):
people, and the problem is evenworse in summer, when sweating
makes you lose even more zinc.
But cashews are loaded with themineral which stops the growth
of the skin bacteria that MakeYou stinky. Not a fan of
cashews, you can get more zincin spinach and baked beans too.
Today's medical term echopraxia, that's an abnormal
(08:44):
condition where patientsinvoluntarily copy another
person's actions. So forexample, if you scratch your
ears, someone with echopraxiamay suddenly start scratching
their own ears, and then whenyou stop, they stop. This may
sound like mirroring, which issomething we all do
subconsciously as a way to bondwith others. But with normal
(09:07):
mirroring, our actions aretemporary and situational. But
with echopraxia, health expertssay the mirroring behavior is
continuous and uncontrollable,as if the person can't help but
copy every action they see beingperformed, and it's a real
medical issue, becauseechopraxia is a common symptom
(09:28):
of serious neurologicaldisorders including autism,
schizophrenia and Tourette'sSyndrome. The good news is that
not everyone diagnosed withechopraxia Has any of those
conditions, and once it'sdiagnosed by a mental health
expert, the condition is oftentreatable, and that's today's
(09:49):
medical term echopraxia comingup. We'll hear more from
pediatrician and childdevelopment specialist, Dr
Harvey Karp and a.
Lot of parents go crazy tryingto stop their babies from
crying. So Dr Karp will tell usabout his proven method for
soothing a baby back to sleep.
But first, here's a quick way tosnap out of a bad mood. Look at
(10:10):
the last loving text you weresent and blow up the font like
you're severely far sighted.
According to research, readingupbeat, positive messages can
lift us out of a funk, but ifyou increase the font to 28
points or larger, you can makethose positive feelings last 20%
longer. That's because our braininterprets larger words as more
(10:34):
important, so those loving textmessages will have a more
powerful effect. Here are somecommonly shared exercise myths
you should ignore, according toexercise scientist, Dr Brad
Schoenfeld, first you may haveheard that the only way to build
bigger muscles is to liftheavier weights. Dr Schoenfeld
(10:55):
says, not true. You can buildthe same amount of muscle using
lighter weights. You'll justneed to lift them more often
than heavier weights, and as abonus, there's less risk for
injury. Another fitness myth,running is bad for your knees.
For years, people thought thatour knee joints were like tires
and that they could only endureso much before they wore out.
(11:17):
But according to Dr Schoenfeld,our joints have an incredible
ability to regeneratethemselves, as long as we stay
active, meaning we actually domore harm to our knees being
sedentary than when we'rerunning. And here's something
you should know about the trendymove of taking an ice bath after
a workout. Dr Schoenfeld saysice is great for treating
(11:39):
inflammation if you're injured,but if you're not, slowing
inflammation with ice will alsoslow the body's natural repair
process. Okay, listen to this.
If you have that butterflies inthe stomach feeling that's a
good thing. According to thejournal clinical psychological
science, the nervous jittersmeans your body is readying
(12:00):
itself to perform at your best.
That's because when we get thatfeeling, the body is sending
more blood and oxygen to ourbrain and muscles to make us
mentally sharp and better ableto tackle our fears. So don't
freak out if you get thatnervous sensation in your
stomach before a high pressuremoment. It's a good thing. It
(12:21):
means you're ready back withmore health intelligence from
pediatrician, Dr Harvey Karp,and he says all babies are born
with a calming reflex that'slike an off switch when they get
fussy. So I asked him to tell ushow to activate that off switch.
Why would we rock and shushbabies. And why even do adults
(12:42):
fall asleep without rocking andshushing? It's because babies
have a reflex that's kind ofalmost like an off switch for
crying and an on switch forsleep. It turns out that babies
are born with over 70 thingsthat we call reflexes. These are
automatic behaviors that arebuilt into the brain. It's like
(13:04):
built in software, and so youdon't teach your baby how to
suck or how to swallow or how tocry. Those are built in and
automatic behaviors that everybaby is born with. And what my
work observed about 20 years agois that they also have a calming
reflex in the womb. Babies arelulled into a trance by the
(13:28):
normal rhythms, and most motherswill tell you when they're going
to bed at night is when the babygets most active, and when
they're walking around duringthe day and the baby's getting
all of that extra bouncy rhythm,the babies tend to fall asleep.
Then, once they're born, we canimitate the womb experiences.
There's five ways we do that,called the Five S's, and those
(13:50):
womb experiences can triggerthis reflex just the way,
hitting someone's knee with alittle doctor's reflex hammer
can trigger a knee reflex doingthe five S's,
imitating the womb experiencecan can trigger the calming
reflex and help a baby fallasleep and and stop crying. Dr
(14:11):
Karp will take us through thosefive S's next back with more
health intelligence frompediatrician, Dr Harvey Karp,
author of The happiest baby onthe block, and he just mentioned
the five S's to help babies calmdown and fall asleep. So I asked
him to take us through the fiveS's and how they work. The five
S's stand for swaddling, whichis snug wrapping, usually with
(14:34):
the arms down, is what worksbest for babies on the on the
back side or stomach position,however, is the best way of
calming crying. The back is thesafest position for sleep. But
if you're calming crying, youwant to flip your baby over to
the side, or even the stomachposition. The third s for
soothing babies is is swingingor rhythmic motion. The fourth s
(14:59):
is.
Shushing or white noise, and thefifth s is sucking. Swaddling is
like the cornerstone. You haveto keep the babies from flailing
around so they can even payattention to whatever you're
doing to calm them down. Andthen you layer on different S's.
And pretty soon, in the in thedays or week or two after babies
are born, parents start learningwhat works best with their baby.
(15:24):
And they all, like I said, dobetter with with swaddling. But
then some of them are very soundoriented, and shushing can, like
in a second, calm babies down.
Other babies don't reallyrespond to shushing, but they
respond to jiggly motion. Andsome babies it's sucking, and
some babies need combinations oftwo or three of those all at the
same time. And then if you cando those throughout the night,
(15:51):
like using swaddling at nightand white noise, then you're
able to really smooth them overfor the first six months of life
to improve their sleep, reducetheir crying, and really teach
them to be good sleepers. Apiece of gum can make us better
drivers. The journal Brain andcognition found that chewing gum
(16:12):
improves the drivers reactiontime by 7% in just 10 seconds.
That's because jaw actionstimulates areas of the brain
responsible for spottingmovement, so you're more likely
to see a car changing lanes or abicycle darting out into
traffic. More intelligence foryour health from pediatrician
and child development expert DrHarvey Karp, if you'd like to
(16:35):
know more about him and his bestselling books, the happiest baby
on the block and the happiesttoddler on the block. Check out
his website, happiest baby.comnow for so long, people were
told not to put babies to sleepon their backs. Then in the
1990s that thinking changed. SoI asked Dr Karp, why back
sleeping is safer. Oh, yeah,1,000% back sleeping is safer
(16:58):
than stomach sleeping for thefirst really, the Academy of
Pediatrics recommends the firstyear of life babies only be
placed on the back to sleep. Weknow that that about 50, 60% of
all infants who die of SIDS,which stands for sudden infant
(17:19):
death syndrome, which is thistragic, tragic situation that
occurs to 3500healthy babies every year in the
United States. Things that 3500babies? That's the number of
Americans who died in 911 exceptit happens every year, over and
over. No change in the last 20years per baby. So we know that
(17:40):
keeping them on the backsignificantly reduces their risk
of getting their face into themattress and suffocating or
dying, and also keeping them outof the parent's bed or off of
the sofa helps as well. So intheir in their bassinet or crib,
without any blankets or toysaround on the back is is
(18:01):
definitely the safest position.
You know that having a dog canimprove your physical and mental
health, but what if you don'thave a dog, and you aren't at a
place in life where you can geta dog, no problem, pet someone
else's dog. Professor Nancy Geeis director of the Center for
Human animal interaction atVirginia Commonwealth, and she
(18:25):
says even a five minuteinteraction with someone's pet
can decrease the stress hormonecortisol and increase the feel
good hormone oxytocin. And thoseeffects can improve a person's
health, sometimes for a month ata time, and it goes both ways.
Dr G says they see the sameexact reaction in dogs. Their
(18:45):
oxytocin levels also increasewhen they interact with a human.
Here's an email I received atConnie at intelligence for your
health.com. It comes from NicoleWhittle, who writes, My
cholesterol is high and mydoctor wants me to go on a
statin. I want to try and reduceit myself before going on
medication. Are there any foodsI can eat to lower it faster?
(19:08):
Nicole, changing your dietprobably won't do the job on its
own. It didn't for me, but ifyou change the way you eat and
get more exercise, reduce yourstress and get more sleep, you
can lower your cholesterolnaturally. And here's advice for
changing your diet from Brighamand Women's Hospital. First get
rid of any trans fats in yourdiet. They're used to extend the
(19:30):
shelf life of packaged foods. Solook at labels for the words
partially hydrogenated. That'scode for trans fats. Then go
crazy with fruits andvegetables, they have nutrients
that lower cholesterol,including fiber plant pigments
and cholesterol blockingmolecules called sterols, and
the deeper the color of theproduce, the better it is for
(19:53):
your cholesterol. One more wayto lower cholesterol, eat
healthy fats likepolyunsaturated.
And monounsaturated fatty acids,you'll find them in plant based
oils like sunflower and oliveoils. Also eat more fatty fish
like salmon, tuna, herring andmackerel, plus seeds, nuts and
(20:14):
avocados for healthy fats. Thankyou for your email. Nicole, I
hope this helps. Okay, listen tothis. Are you afraid of needles?
Just start counting backwardfrom 100 according to the
journal cortex, you can usenumbers to numb yourself to the
pain of an injection. In thestudy, patients who began
counting backward out loud whilereceiving an injection reported
(20:38):
zero discomfort, and those whodid not count complained of
pain. So why does counting help?
Because it influences the samepart of your brain that's used
to detect pain, and if youreally want to avoid the pain,
count and close your eyes.
Another study found that painreceptors go into overdrive. If
(20:59):
you see yourself being pierced.
Get ready to crush your goalswith the 9091
method. It comes from leadershipexpert Robin Sharma. With the
9091 method, you take one biggoal, whether it's starting your
own business or running amarathon, and spend your first
90 minutes of every day for 90days working toward that one
(21:24):
goal. Why is 90 the magicnumber? Well, 90 minutes is said
to be the limit for focusingintensity on any given task
before we lose steam. It's basedon our ultradian rhythms, which
go in 90 minute cycles and causeour attention to peak and dip
after each 90 minutes of peakbrain activity, we have about 20
(21:47):
minutes of lower frequency brainactivity. As far as the 90 day
sweet spot goes. It's not soshort that you can't accomplish
your goals, but it's not so longso you lose steam or fall into
the I'll start tomorrow. Trap 90days is long enough to build a
habit. But an important key tothe success of the 9091 method
(22:09):
is making it the first 90minutes of your day, because,
according to the University ofNottingham, shortly after waking
up, self control, meaning ourability to avoid distractions
and accomplished tasks is at itspeak. So remember, spend 90
minutes every morning for 90days focusing on one goal, more
(22:32):
intelligence for your health.
From our guest pediatrician, DrHarvey Karp and in his book The
happiest baby on the block, hesays that it's dangerous for
babies to fall asleep sittingup, like in swings or car seats.
So I asked him to explain why.
Well, babies have, you know,these big heads, these big
melons up there, they have bigbrains. That's why the head can
(22:55):
barely come out when, when thebaby is born. That's why they
call it the Ring of Fire you'redelivering a baby,
and but they have weak, skinnylittle necks because they
haven't had any need to buildthose muscles up. And so when a
baby is sitting, their headstend to fall forward or to
(23:16):
decide, and that can can crimptheir trachea, their breathing
tube, and make it difficult forthem to breathe. And so
sleepers, where the baby issitting up, or rocking chairs,
rocking seats that babies havebeen put in for sleep, those are
all been taken off the marketbecause we don't want babies
(23:38):
sleeping sitting up for fearthat their heads will roll
forward and they'll have troublebreathing. And as we discuss,
safely on the back is the bestway of reducing a child's risk
of getting into a dangerousposition and having problems
with breathing throughout thenight. What about when a baby is
(23:58):
in a car seat in a car are theyin danger? Then? Yeah, that's a
great question. So it turns outthat when babies are in the car
and they're experiencing thatmoving and the jiggling and the
slight bouncing that happenswhen you're driving,
that's not the risk period forbabies, even if they fall asleep
in the car seat. The problem iswhen they're asleep in the car
(24:20):
seat, and then you gently thatcarry them into the home and
allow them to stay sleeping foran hour or two in the car seat
when they're not moving, that'swhen we've seen tragic
situations happen. So fallingasleep in the car seat, in the
car is fine, but not stayingasleep in the car seat once
they're brought into the house.
That's it for our show today,our special intelligence for
(24:42):
your health with Connie Selig,edition of the podcast, I'm Gib
Gerard. Don't forget to ratecomment and subscribe on Apple
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 ultimatelywe do the show for you guys. So
(25:02):
thank you so much for listening.
You.
Gib.
(00:07):
Hello and welcome to anotherepisode of the podcast. I'm Gib
Gerard, and today, yes, we haveanother intelligence to your
health with Connie Celica.
Episode of the podcast, this onefeatures an interview with none
other than famed pediatricianand Author, Dr Harvey Karp, all
kinds of information about howto best raise your kids. He's
unbelievable. I read his bookhappiest baby on the block when
(00:28):
my kids were little. Anyway,here we go without further ado,
intelligence for your healthwith Connie zelika, remember to
drink cold water at the gym.
According to a Stanford study,people who drank cold water
during exercise were far lesslikely to experience dehydration
than people who drank roomtemperature water. That's
(00:49):
because cold water stops yourbody's temperature from rising
too quickly. Drinking cold waterduring a workout also means a
lower heart rate and betterperformance overall, and that's
true whether you're doing cardioor weight training. Have you
ever noticed when you're sickwith a cold or flu or even
allergies, you feel worse atnight? Here's why, according to
(01:11):
Dr Michael Smolenski, acircadian rhythm expert at the
University of Texas, he says,when you're sick, your immune
system sends out infectionfighting cells to kill off the
virus, but those infectionfighters trigger inflammation,
which can cause symptoms likefever, congestion and sore
throat, and those symptoms arethe most severe when your immune
(01:32):
system kicks into high gear,which is at night. Another
reason you feel sicker at nightthe position of your head when
you're upright during the day,mucus drains instead of
accumulating in your throat andsinuses, like when you're lying
down at night. Plus, we tend todrink less water at night and
when we're dehydrated, mucusgets thicker and more likely to
(01:54):
clog your airways. So drinkplenty of fluids to keep your
mucus thinner, put it alltogether, and that's why you
feel worse at night coming up.
We'll talk to pediatrician, DrHarvey Karp. He'll explain why
sleep, which he calls vitamin S,is so crucial for babies and
their parents. But first, here'swhy men are more prone to back
(02:15):
pain than women. It's becausemen are built straight up and
down, where women have curvesand a straight spine, places
added pressure on lower backdiscs. That's according to
orthopedic surgeon Dr AlanHillebrand. So guys, here's your
strategy, run aerobic exercisedone upright, builds the muscles
(02:35):
supporting your spine, and afteryou run stretch men with tight
hamstrings are especially proneto slipped discs. Here are two
solutions for easing thephysical signs of stress so you
can face challenges moreeffectively. This comes from
clinical psychologist JennyTates. Give a half smile. Stress
(02:55):
can trigger tension in your faceand jaw, but it works the other
way. Your facial expression caninfluence how you feel, so a
clenched jaw or scowl canheighten feelings of stress.
It's why Botox injections in theforehead can help reduce
negative emotions, because theyprevent you from physically
furrowing your brow or just trya technique known as half
(03:20):
smiling. Raise the upper cornersof your lips slightly, which
automatically releases tensionin the brows, and by mindfully
relaxing your face, you'llappear calmer on the outside,
which makes you feel calmer onthe inside. Also try looking far
away when the body's fight orflight response kicks in, your
(03:41):
field of vision narrows. So trynoticing three things in the
distance. That's one of thereasons why a brief walk in
nature can boost your mood,because you're also expanding
your field of vision. Okay,listen to this. If you want an
honest answer from someone,don't ask yes or no questions.
According to the journal Currentopinion in psychology, asking
(04:03):
open ended questions is the bestway to get the truth. The
researchers found asking yes orno questions and leading
questions like you like mycooking, right? We're more
likely to lead to lies orpacifying answers, just so the
other person will drop thesubject a better tactic, reframe
your question to allow for areal, thought out response,
(04:25):
like, what do you think about mycooking? You're more likely to
get an honest answer. Today, ourguest is pediatrician and child
development specialist, DrHarvey Karp, he's known for his
best selling book, The happiestbaby on the block, and we asked
Dr Karp, why sleep, which hecalls vitamin S, is so crucial
for babies and adults, and ifthere's a way to help babies
(04:48):
Stop fussing and get the sleepthey need, vitamin s really
helps with our memory. It helpswith our attitude. It helps with
recovering.
In terms of our body's abilityto heal from the from the tiny
stresses that occur every day.
It's good for our immune system.
(05:08):
It's just, you know, it isimportant for all of us, in
terms of staying in balance.
Doctors used to say, well,there's nothing you can do with
babies. You know, they gottawake up a lot, and you got to
wait for four or five, sixmonths or longer, for them to
learn to be good sleepers. Butthen when parents are really
struggling, and they come to usjust completely, you know, over
(05:30):
the over the off the cliff, wewe whisper to them that there is
a secret magic way of teachingbabies to immediately cry less
and sleep longer. Drive them allnight in the car, and even most
adults, if you drive all nightin the car, and the adults
sleeping on the back seat, youknow they will sleep an extra
(05:51):
hour or two. We're lulled tosleep by airplane rides and
train rides and those rhythms,the Jigga, Jigga, Jigga, the
sound, the motion, lull all ofus to asleep. That's why we like
to rock in hammocks. We like thesound of the wind and the ocean,
and for babies, it'sparticularly helpful. And so
there are ways of wrappingbabies called swaddling, and
(06:13):
types of white noise andrhythmic motions that that all
imitate the womb and and helpbabies fall asleep much more
quickly and and sleep at leastan extra hour, or sometimes two
hours at night. Today, we'retalking to pediatrician, Doctor
Harvey Karp and one of his otherbest selling books is the
(06:33):
happiest toddler on the block.
And in it, he discusses thestrategy for dealing with
toddler tantrums. He calls itthe fast food rule, and I asked
him to explain how that rule canhelp parents communicate better
with their toddlers during ameltdown. This idea of the fast
food rule is really how younarrate back a child's feelings.
(06:56):
And the concept is this, whenyou go to a drive in restaurant
and you say, I want a burger andfries. They don't say it's $4
drive up front. What they firstsay is, burger and fries. You
want anything else with that?
And once they're sure they havethe order, then they get to
their agenda, $4 drive up front.
And so the key concept when whenyou're talking to a little kid
(07:18):
who's upset, or really anyonewho's upset is you narrate back
a couple of sentences, three,four or five sentences for
little kids, one or twosentences for an adult, to make
sure you got the message right.
So rather than saying, you know,honey, it's okay, you know, the
child falls, scrapes their knee,rather than saying, It's okay,
honey, I think you're all fine.
(07:39):
Don't rush to get to youragenda. Stick with theirs for a
little bit. Oh no, you fell. Youfell for maybe a little three
year old, who is upset youyou're you hurt your knee. I saw
you fall. And then, and thenyour face got sad, and you hurt
your knee. And then when theylook at you with those big eyes,
and they you know, areconnecting with you, then you
(08:01):
can get to your agenda of, letmommy take a look at it, or it's
going to be okay. Or, come on,let's go. We'll clean it up with
some soap and water. And you getto your agenda. If the summer
heat is making you stink, eatmore cashews. Researchers at
Reading University have foundthat people with body odor often
have a zinc deficiency. Itaffects about one in three
(08:24):
people, and the problem is evenworse in summer, when sweating
makes you lose even more zinc.
But cashews are loaded with themineral which stops the growth
of the skin bacteria that MakeYou stinky. Not a fan of
cashews, you can get more zincin spinach and baked beans too.
Today's medical term echopraxia, that's an abnormal
(08:44):
condition where patientsinvoluntarily copy another
person's actions. So forexample, if you scratch your
ears, someone with echopraxiamay suddenly start scratching
their own ears, and then whenyou stop, they stop. This may
sound like mirroring, which issomething we all do
subconsciously as a way to bondwith others. But with normal
(09:07):
mirroring, our actions aretemporary and situational. But
with echopraxia, health expertssay the mirroring behavior is
continuous and uncontrollable,as if the person can't help but
copy every action they see beingperformed, and it's a real
medical issue, becauseechopraxia is a common symptom
(09:28):
of serious neurologicaldisorders including autism,
schizophrenia and Tourette'sSyndrome. The good news is that
not everyone diagnosed withechopraxia Has any of those
conditions, and once it'sdiagnosed by a mental health
expert, the condition is oftentreatable, and that's today's
(09:49):
medical term echopraxia comingup. We'll hear more from
pediatrician and childdevelopment specialist, Dr
Harvey Karp and a.
Lot of parents go crazy tryingto stop their babies from
crying. So Dr Karp will tell usabout his proven method for
soothing a baby back to sleep.
But first, here's a quick way tosnap out of a bad mood. Look at
(10:10):
the last loving text you weresent and blow up the font like
you're severely far sighted.
According to research, readingupbeat, positive messages can
lift us out of a funk, but ifyou increase the font to 28
points or larger, you can makethose positive feelings last 20%
longer. That's because our braininterprets larger words as more
(10:34):
important, so those loving textmessages will have a more
powerful effect. Here are somecommonly shared exercise myths
you should ignore, according toexercise scientist, Dr Brad
Schoenfeld, first you may haveheard that the only way to build
bigger muscles is to liftheavier weights. Dr Schoenfeld
(10:55):
says, not true. You can buildthe same amount of muscle using
lighter weights. You'll justneed to lift them more often
than heavier weights, and as abonus, there's less risk for
injury. Another fitness myth,running is bad for your knees.
For years, people thought thatour knee joints were like tires
and that they could only endureso much before they wore out.
(11:17):
But according to Dr Schoenfeld,our joints have an incredible
ability to regeneratethemselves, as long as we stay
active, meaning we actually domore harm to our knees being
sedentary than when we'rerunning. And here's something
you should know about the trendymove of taking an ice bath after
a workout. Dr Schoenfeld saysice is great for treating
(11:39):
inflammation if you're injured,but if you're not, slowing
inflammation with ice will alsoslow the body's natural repair
process. Okay, listen to this.
If you have that butterflies inthe stomach feeling that's a
good thing. According to thejournal clinical psychological
science, the nervous jittersmeans your body is readying
(12:00):
itself to perform at your best.
That's because when we get thatfeeling, the body is sending
more blood and oxygen to ourbrain and muscles to make us
mentally sharp and better ableto tackle our fears. So don't
freak out if you get thatnervous sensation in your
stomach before a high pressuremoment. It's a good thing. It
(12:21):
means you're ready back withmore health intelligence from
pediatrician, Dr Harvey Karp,and he says all babies are born
with a calming reflex that'slike an off switch when they get
fussy. So I asked him to tell ushow to activate that off switch.
Why would we rock and shushbabies. And why even do adults
(12:42):
fall asleep without rocking andshushing? It's because babies
have a reflex that's kind ofalmost like an off switch for
crying and an on switch forsleep. It turns out that babies
are born with over 70 thingsthat we call reflexes. These are
automatic behaviors that arebuilt into the brain. It's like
(13:04):
built in software, and so youdon't teach your baby how to
suck or how to swallow or how tocry. Those are built in and
automatic behaviors that everybaby is born with. And what my
work observed about 20 years agois that they also have a calming
reflex in the womb. Babies arelulled into a trance by the
(13:28):
normal rhythms, and most motherswill tell you when they're going
to bed at night is when the babygets most active, and when
they're walking around duringthe day and the baby's getting
all of that extra bouncy rhythm,the babies tend to fall asleep.
Then, once they're born, we canimitate the womb experiences.
There's five ways we do that,called the Five S's, and those
(13:50):
womb experiences can triggerthis reflex just the way,
hitting someone's knee with alittle doctor's reflex hammer
can trigger a knee reflex doingthe five S's,
imitating the womb experiencecan can trigger the calming
reflex and help a baby fallasleep and and stop crying. Dr
(14:11):
Karp will take us through thosefive S's next back with more
health intelligence frompediatrician, Dr Harvey Karp,
author of The happiest baby onthe block, and he just mentioned
the five S's to help babies calmdown and fall asleep. So I asked
him to take us through the fiveS's and how they work. The five
S's stand for swaddling, whichis snug wrapping, usually with
(14:34):
the arms down, is what worksbest for babies on the on the
back side or stomach position,however, is the best way of
calming crying. The back is thesafest position for sleep. But
if you're calming crying, youwant to flip your baby over to
the side, or even the stomachposition. The third s for
soothing babies is is swingingor rhythmic motion. The fourth s
(14:59):
is.
Shushing or white noise, and thefifth s is sucking. Swaddling is
like the cornerstone. You haveto keep the babies from flailing
around so they can even payattention to whatever you're
doing to calm them down. Andthen you layer on different S's.
And pretty soon, in the in thedays or week or two after babies
are born, parents start learningwhat works best with their baby.
(15:24):
And they all, like I said, dobetter with with swaddling. But
then some of them are very soundoriented, and shushing can, like
in a second, calm babies down.
Other babies don't reallyrespond to shushing, but they
respond to jiggly motion. Andsome babies it's sucking, and
some babies need combinations oftwo or three of those all at the
same time. And then if you cando those throughout the night,
(15:51):
like using swaddling at nightand white noise, then you're
able to really smooth them overfor the first six months of life
to improve their sleep, reducetheir crying, and really teach
them to be good sleepers. Apiece of gum can make us better
drivers. The journal Brain andcognition found that chewing gum
(16:12):
improves the drivers reactiontime by 7% in just 10 seconds.
That's because jaw actionstimulates areas of the brain
responsible for spottingmovement, so you're more likely
to see a car changing lanes or abicycle darting out into
traffic. More intelligence foryour health from pediatrician
and child development expert DrHarvey Karp, if you'd like to
(16:35):
know more about him and his bestselling books, the happiest baby
on the block and the happiesttoddler on the block. Check out
his website, happiest baby.comnow for so long, people were
told not to put babies to sleepon their backs. Then in the
1990s that thinking changed. SoI asked Dr Karp, why back
sleeping is safer. Oh, yeah,1,000% back sleeping is safer
(16:58):
than stomach sleeping for thefirst really, the Academy of
Pediatrics recommends the firstyear of life babies only be
placed on the back to sleep. Weknow that that about 50, 60% of
all infants who die of SIDS,which stands for sudden infant
(17:19):
death syndrome, which is thistragic, tragic situation that
occurs to 3500healthy babies every year in the
United States. Things that 3500babies? That's the number of
Americans who died in 911 exceptit happens every year, over and
over. No change in the last 20years per baby. So we know that
(17:40):
keeping them on the backsignificantly reduces their risk
of getting their face into themattress and suffocating or
dying, and also keeping them outof the parent's bed or off of
the sofa helps as well. So intheir in their bassinet or crib,
without any blankets or toysaround on the back is is
(18:01):
definitely the safest position.
You know that having a dog canimprove your physical and mental
health, but what if you don'thave a dog, and you aren't at a
place in life where you can geta dog, no problem, pet someone
else's dog. Professor Nancy Geeis director of the Center for
Human animal interaction atVirginia Commonwealth, and she
(18:25):
says even a five minuteinteraction with someone's pet
can decrease the stress hormonecortisol and increase the feel
good hormone oxytocin. And thoseeffects can improve a person's
health, sometimes for a month ata time, and it goes both ways.
Dr G says they see the sameexact reaction in dogs. Their
(18:45):
oxytocin levels also increasewhen they interact with a human.
Here's an email I received atConnie at intelligence for your
health.com. It comes from NicoleWhittle, who writes, My
cholesterol is high and mydoctor wants me to go on a
statin. I want to try and reduceit myself before going on
medication. Are there any foodsI can eat to lower it faster?
(19:08):
Nicole, changing your dietprobably won't do the job on its
own. It didn't for me, but ifyou change the way you eat and
get more exercise, reduce yourstress and get more sleep, you
can lower your cholesterolnaturally. And here's advice for
changing your diet from Brighamand Women's Hospital. First get
rid of any trans fats in yourdiet. They're used to extend the
(19:30):
shelf life of packaged foods. Solook at labels for the words
partially hydrogenated. That'scode for trans fats. Then go
crazy with fruits andvegetables, they have nutrients
that lower cholesterol,including fiber plant pigments
and cholesterol blockingmolecules called sterols, and
the deeper the color of theproduce, the better it is for
(19:53):
your cholesterol. One more wayto lower cholesterol, eat
healthy fats likepolyunsaturated.
And monounsaturated fatty acids,you'll find them in plant based
oils like sunflower and oliveoils. Also eat more fatty fish
like salmon, tuna, herring andmackerel, plus seeds, nuts and
(20:14):
avocados for healthy fats. Thankyou for your email. Nicole, I
hope this helps. Okay, listen tothis. Are you afraid of needles?
Just start counting backwardfrom 100 according to the
journal cortex, you can usenumbers to numb yourself to the
pain of an injection. In thestudy, patients who began
counting backward out loud whilereceiving an injection reported
(20:38):
zero discomfort, and those whodid not count complained of
pain. So why does counting help?
Because it influences the samepart of your brain that's used
to detect pain, and if youreally want to avoid the pain,
count and close your eyes.
Another study found that painreceptors go into overdrive. If
(20:59):
you see yourself being pierced.
Get ready to crush your goalswith the 9091
method. It comes from leadershipexpert Robin Sharma. With the
9091 method, you take one biggoal, whether it's starting your
own business or running amarathon, and spend your first
90 minutes of every day for 90days working toward that one
(21:24):
goal. Why is 90 the magicnumber? Well, 90 minutes is said
to be the limit for focusingintensity on any given task
before we lose steam. It's basedon our ultradian rhythms, which
go in 90 minute cycles and causeour attention to peak and dip
after each 90 minutes of peakbrain activity, we have about 20
(21:47):
minutes of lower frequency brainactivity. As far as the 90 day
sweet spot goes. It's not soshort that you can't accomplish
your goals, but it's not so longso you lose steam or fall into
the I'll start tomorrow. Trap 90days is long enough to build a
habit. But an important key tothe success of the 9091 method
(22:09):
is making it the first 90minutes of your day, because,
according to the University ofNottingham, shortly after waking
up, self control, meaning ourability to avoid distractions
and accomplished tasks is at itspeak. So remember, spend 90
minutes every morning for 90days focusing on one goal, more
(22:32):
intelligence for your health.
From our guest pediatrician, DrHarvey Karp and in his book The
happiest baby on the block, hesays that it's dangerous for
babies to fall asleep sittingup, like in swings or car seats.
So I asked him to explain why.
Well, babies have, you know,these big heads, these big
melons up there, they have bigbrains. That's why the head can
(22:55):
barely come out when, when thebaby is born. That's why they
call it the Ring of Fire you'redelivering a baby,
and but they have weak, skinnylittle necks because they
haven't had any need to buildthose muscles up. And so when a
baby is sitting, their headstend to fall forward or to
(23:16):
decide, and that can can crimptheir trachea, their breathing
tube, and make it difficult forthem to breathe. And so
sleepers, where the baby issitting up, or rocking chairs,
rocking seats that babies havebeen put in for sleep, those are
all been taken off the marketbecause we don't want babies
(23:38):
sleeping sitting up for fearthat their heads will roll
forward and they'll have troublebreathing. And as we discuss,
safely on the back is the bestway of reducing a child's risk
of getting into a dangerousposition and having problems
with breathing throughout thenight. What about when a baby is
(23:58):
in a car seat in a car are theyin danger? Then? Yeah, that's a
great question. So it turns outthat when babies are in the car
and they're experiencing thatmoving and the jiggling and the
slight bouncing that happenswhen you're driving,
that's not the risk period forbabies, even if they fall asleep
in the car seat. The problem iswhen they're asleep in the car
(24:20):
seat, and then you gently thatcarry them into the home and
allow them to stay sleeping foran hour or two in the car seat
when they're not moving, that'swhen we've seen tragic
situations happen. So fallingasleep in the car seat, in the
car is fine, but not stayingasleep in the car seat once
they're brought into the house.
That's it for our show today,our special intelligence for
(24:42):
your health with Connie Selig,edition of the podcast, I'm Gib
Gerard. Don't forget to ratecomment and subscribe on Apple
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 ultimatelywe do the show for you guys. So
(25:02):
thank you so much for listening.
You.
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