51: Tackling the Holiday Stress Epidemic: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Surviving the Season with Science and Self-care

Ever feel worn thin when the holidays roll around? As an entrepreneur, it's common to juggle mounting tasks, hectic schedules, and heightened social and family commitments. This episode of Breaking Boundaries is your antidote to the holiday stress epidemic. We unpack the science of stress, specifically the role of the HPA axis – the intricate dance between the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal glands. With this knowledge, plus some savvy self-care strategies, you can maintain your equilibrium and avoid the burnout that often comes with the season.

 We also delve into the world of natural stress relief remedies, spotlighting the benefits a trifecta to help bolster your resilience. Learn about the importance of getting a minerals and metals lab test to uncover deficiencies and determine the right supplements for you. We also touch upon the anti-aging and deep sleep benefits of melatonin – an underrated jewel in the crown of well-being. As we look ahead, we share wellness tips that will empower you to prioritize your well-being over worry and stay on top of your game. So join us as we redefine holiday stress and turn it into a catalyst for entrepreneurial success. 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Managing Holiday Stress
• 14:26 Natural Stress Relief Through Supplements and Lifestyle Adjustments
• 26:33 Wellness Tips for 2024 and Beyond

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome fearless entrepreneurs and seekers of well-being to another energizing episode of Breaking Boundaries. Today, as the holiday season envelops us into its glittering embrace, we delve into a topic that resonates with many of you Christmas holiday stress. In the chaotic swirl of festive preparations and year-end business demands, finding equilibrium can be elusive. But fear not as we explore a revolutionary approach to managing holiday stress. Picture this integrative health, the untapped secret weapon in your entrepreneurial arsenal. Join us as we unravel the profound connection between holistic well-being and business success, navigating the jingle bells and the boardroom battles with grace. It's time to redefine how you conquer stress this holiday season and emerge not only unscathed but thriving. Stay tuned for insights that will transform your festive stress into a catalyst for unprecedented entrepreneurial breakthroughs.

Speaker 1: 1:10

Hello, I'm Jeffrey Mort. If you're like most entrepreneurs, you're busy taking care of business, yet who's taking care of you? If you're ready to take your energy and performance to the next level in your life and your business, then this podcast is for you, because today you're going to start breaking boundaries of your mind, body and business with integrative health, and when you do that, your possibilities are limitless. I'm grateful you're here. Yes, I'm always grateful for you joining me here on another episode of the Breaking Boundaries. Welcome to another Mind, your Monday episode of the Breaking Boundaries podcast for purpose-driven entrepreneurs just like yourself. This is episode number 51. And of course, you'll want to stay to the end when we bring it all together, wrap it up nicely with a beautiful bow on how to avoid failure and reach your next level of success with integrative health. And for all the show notes and links, visit JeffreyMortcom and click on the podcast button.

Speaker 1: 2:11

Shout out to our new listeners in San Juan, capistrano, california, st Louis, missouri and, internationally, montreal. Corbeck and I actually love Corbeck for the snow in the winter season Spent many trips up there in Lac-Magantic and St Martin region just north of the north woods of Maine. Beautiful country out there. So shout out to our listeners in Montreal. Today you're going to discover an integrative approach to holiday stress. There's so many entrepreneurs that have the boundary and that is, balance around the holidays.

Speaker 1: 2:51

Now I need to give you my disclaimer here that we don't provide medical advice, medical diagnosis, medical treatments or medical cures. But what we do what we do, my friends, is we get to the root cause of the problem, and what I do is I tell you how I know this, and the root cause today is worry. Now you can go back and listen to episode 29 of the Breaking Boundaries podcast for entrepreneurs, and it was titled Winning Over Worry and I'll link that up in the show notes. That is a key element to this time of year, especially because so many people let worry get to them. They keep their attention on the worry, they worry about things, worry about bills, worry about Christmas and presents and gifts and all the things and family and all that stuff. And it doesn't have to be that way. It does not have to be worry, and that worry leads to stress. And that leads us to today's topic holiday stress. So the holiday season it's often hailed as a time of joy and celebration and connection. However, for, especially for solo digital entrepreneurs so independent entrepreneurs that are strictly online, not in a brick and mortar store the festive period can bring unique stressors that impact both their personal and their professional lives.

Speaker 1: 4:12

So in this episode, we're going to explore the biology behind stress and the holiday perseverance agenda, the HPA access in layman's terms and then we'll also delve into a functional medicine approach, incorporating supplements and lifestyle adjustments as well, and these lifestyle adjustments can be instrumental in maintaining well-being during these demanding times. So let's talk about the HPA access. You can call it the holiday perseverance agenda If you like. It's a system in our body that plays a crucial role in how we respond to stress. Think of it as your internal stress management team. The HPA access involves the hypothalamus pituitary gland, the hypothalamus gland, the pituitary gland and the adrenal glands, all working in harmony. So HPA really stands for hypothalamus pituitary adrenal. I just made up the holiday perseverance agenda part so that you can maybe reference it to how the hypothalamus and the pituitary and the adrenal access work in relation to your stress around the holidays.

Speaker 1: 5:32

And so let's get into the hypothalamus. What is it? This is a region in a brain that senses stress and triggers the release of something called CRH, corticotropin-releasing hormone, and that hormone signals the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotropic hormone, so that's ACTH. So you can see how there's a cascade of events here, from the hypothalamus to the pituitary and now the pituitary gland releases that ACTH and that signals the adrenal glands. The ACTH prompts the adrenal glands to release a hormone called cortisol, and you may or may not know that this is part of your stress response. This is known as the stress hormone. It also releases adrenaline or norepinephrine, and these are the body's primary stress hormones. So during the holidays, the HPA access can go into overdrive, leading to things like increased cortisol levels and heightened stress response.

Speaker 1: 6:40

This can be particularly challenging for solo digital entrepreneurs juggling multiple responsibilities. Digital entrepreneurs, like anyone else, can face specific stressors during the holiday season, and some of these very, very common stressors during the holiday season can be work-life balance. I mean, that goes for really everybody. The holiday season often brings increased social and family obligations, as you know, which can make it so challenging for solo entrepreneurs to maintain a healthy work-life balance, especially when those entrepreneurs don't have a team behind them. Maybe they don't even have a virtual assistant to be able to do these things. So now we're trying to fit all these other activities into a regular monthly schedule. When we have all of these holidays and digital entrepreneurs often take part in things like Black Friday and Christmas specials for their business and balancing business responsibilities with holiday festivities and personal time can lead to stress and, yes, even burnout.

Speaker 1: 7:42

Another one is client expectations and deadlines. Clients may have expectations for work to be completed before the end of the year and deadlines might be tight. Managing client expectations and ensuring timely delivery of projects while also taking time off for personal celebrations can be a juggling act that contributes to stress. Another one I'm sure that you guessed this already, but financial pressures. The holiday season can bring additional financial pressures, such as buying gifts and hosting gatherings, or offering promotions and discounts, like I mentioned, for products and services. Solo entrepreneurs may feel the strain of managing their business finances alongside of personal expenses during this time. And, of course, we all have technology challenges. The holiday season can coincide with an increase in online activity and sales and marketing efforts. It's really saturated this time of year around the holidays. If you're listening to this in around the holiday season and this surge in demand, it can lead to technical issues, such as website crashes or server problems or other tech challenges, and dealing with these problems on your own can be stressful and time consuming, especially if you don't have a technical advisor or a technical department in your business or things like that.

Speaker 1: 9:04

And then, of course, when it comes to solo entrepreneurs working independently, isolation and loneliness play a big role in holiday stress. You know, during the holidays, the sense of isolation can be heightened. While others are enjoying festive gatherings at work or social parties at work, solo entrepreneurs may feel lonely or left out, and this emotional stress can impact motivation and overall wellbeing. So to manage these stressors, it's crucial for solo entrepreneurs, regular entrepreneurs, ceos, executives to plan ahead and set realistic expectations, to communicate effectively with clients and prioritize self-care. How many of you are doing that? So that means taking breaks, seeking support from peers and implementing effective time management strategies can all help to alleviate holiday stress. But in particular, I'm gonna give you a plan today on episode 51 of the Breaking Boundaries podcast for entrepreneurs, about functional medicine grade supplements and how these can buffer that stress.

Speaker 1: 10:15

So first let's talk about activated B vitamins. Functional B vitamins play a crucial role in energy metabolism and neurotransmitter synthesis. Now, activated B vitamins like methylcobalamin, b12, and I just want to say so, the activated part if you're taking a multivitamin and it doesn't say it's activated or methylated, or if you're reading on the back of it and it doesn't say methyl before something like cabalamin, which is vitamin B12, then chances are it's not activated. Now what does that mean? It means this it means that it is the activated form, so it is the most absorbable form. Your body has to do less work to convert that item, that vitamin, into a usable form. So when you get a functional medicine grade supplement and it's activated or methylated. That's what that means. And another one is 5MTHF, which is folate methylfolate. These support the nervous system and they help to regulate mood and they reduce the impact of stress.

Speaker 1: 11:23

Now how do you know if you're deficient in these vitamins, especially your B vitamins, because they play such a crucial role? You could take something as simple as the Candida metabolic and vitamins test. So this is a simple, advanced at home functional medicine lab test that you can do right in the privacy of your home, your home office, wherever you like to do it. Well, typically you do it in the bathroom at home, because it's a urine-based test, but a very simple sample. It gets frozen, goes into mail, gets analyzed by the lab, the results go to the integrative health practitioner or your functional medicine doctor and then you know exactly where your deficiencies are. And that test actually shows 75 different biomarkers. So you're looking at a lot of toxicities and deficiency markers there with that test. Now how do you get your activated B vitamins if you're not going to buy them at the you know big box stores?

Speaker 1: 12:13

Our daily nutritional support powder is fantastic for that. That has all of your essential vitamins and minerals, nutrients, 15 grams of vegan protein. It's absolutely amazing and that's the product that is actually used in our functional medicine detox protocol as well. You're just doubling up on that product. Instead of two scoops per day, you're doing four scoops per day, whether you're doing a 7, 14 or 21 day functional medicine detox, and that's going to help to replace those deficiencies. It's going to help to open up detox pathways and remove those toxicities. Absolutely amazing, amazing product. We actually have our community functional medicine detox coming up on January 8th of 2024.

Speaker 1: 12:56

If you're listening to this in December, we'd be happy to have you join us on that, and I'm sure you're hearing more about that before and after the podcast and if you're following us on social media as well. And, of course, we already spoke about activated the activated form of vitamins. So that's very important. So next in all, let me just back up for a second. All of your vitamins are extremely important, but when it comes to buffering stress, your B vitamins are extremely important and you know, for me personally, I start my day off with two scoops of the daily nutritional support powder in my morning smoothie. So that's my breakfast, with other goodness in their fruits and some vegetables and some other powders. But I'm getting my full vitamins and minerals in the morning and then in the afternoon, especially around stressful times, I will take just a capsule of an activated B complex vitamin and that helps me to buffer stress and actually gives me energy in the afternoon too Very important, like I said, a crucial role in energy metabolism and neurotransmitter synthesis. So this is going to help with those things like serotonin, your happy feel good. It's going to help with, you know, happy, feel good hormone and it's going to help with your mood as well. So, moving on, number two in this plan for functional medicine great, let me slow down functional medicine grade supplements that are going to help to buffer stress, especially around the holiday season.

Speaker 1: 14:26

Number two full spectrum magnesium. Now it's function. Magnesium is involved in over 300 biochemical reactions in the body. Imagine if you were deficient in something that was responsible for 300 reactions in the body. What's going to happen? Those reactions aren't going to happen because they don't have the raw materials, and some of these include relaxation of muscles and regulation of stress hormones. This is very, very important and you might be wondering how does this help? A full spectrum magnesium supplement can ease muscle tension and promote a sense of calm, counteracting the physical manifestations of stress.

Speaker 1: 15:10

Now how do you know if you're deficient in magnesium? You could do a simple minerals and metals lab. It's again advanced at home, functional medicine lab testing. This is done with a simple hair sample that goes to the lab. They burn it, they analyze the carbon, they get the results and that tells not what's available in the body but what the body has used up, what the body is excreted in minerals, and you can sort of see. It's a really good gauge, especially with your electrolytes when it comes to minerals and your magnesium. So calcium and magnesium, sodium and potassium the calcium and magnesium show me, as an integrative health practitioner, the level of stress that a person is under. When I look at minerals and metals lab result, the sodium and potassium the other major electrolytes show me the body's response to that stress. So a very, very important and very helpful test is that minerals and metals lab, also known as a hair tissue mineral analysis. Now that also tells me if the client needs strictly full spectrum magnesium or if they need something like CalMag or calcium and magnesium supplement, because if they're low in calcium we want to be supplementing with that as well. Now a lot of foods are fortified with calcium, although it's not a very high quality grade of calcium, but still, when somebody is stressed and they're using up all their calcium reserves, they can go into what's known as, in the practice, as a calcium shell, and I'll do an episode on that because that's a very important topic We'll talk about when it comes to stress.

Speaker 1: 16:50

So, moving on Number three, another one of my favorites here is ashwagandha. Love saying that word too, and it's function. It's an adaptogenic herb and ashwagandha helps the body to adapt to stress and maintain balance. Now this has been used in Ayurveda for thousands and thousands of years traditional Chinese medicine as well. And how it helps is ashwagandha can mitigate the effects of chronic stress and promote a more resilient response to challenges, and this helps to calm the adrenals. So we talked about the HPA axis, how the hypothalamus triggers the pituitary gland, how the pituitary gland signals the adrenals to fire off cortisol, norepinephrine, adrenaline and such. Now the ashwagandha helps to calm those adrenals, so they're releasing less cortisol and you, my friends, are under less stress.

Speaker 1: 17:49

Now we use this in an amazing product called Adrenal Soothe. The ashwagandha is actually the primary product in the adrenal soothe, and if you think to yourself well, I take ashwagandha or I drink ashwagandha tea. Look at the amount of ashwagandha, the quantity in those, and if it's just says a proprietary blend with ashwagandha and alfionine and some others, then you're not getting an accurate depiction of what is in there. But if you're using a functional medicine grade product, like Adrenal Soothe that we use in our practice, you'll note that there is actually 500 milligrams of ashwagandha in every serving, which is two capsules, and so we recommend usually two capsules in the evening or one capsule in the afternoon, two capsules in the evening depending on the results of that hair tissue mineral analysis and how stressed the person claims to be. Now, 500 milligrams, why so high? Because that is the dosage that is based on clinical studies. Most products out there are not basing their dosages on clinical studies or clinical practice. So there you have it.

Speaker 1: 19:03

And last but not least, another one of my favorites is melatonin. Now, melatonin is a hormone that regulates the sleep and wake cycles. You may or may not have already known that. How it helps, though. During stressful times, sleep can be compromised and melatonin supplementation can aid in achieving risk restful sleep, which is very, very important, essential for overall well being. Now we use a liquid melatonin because the dosage can be very, very important, more accurately distributed, especially for, you know, children, or even adults, or weight or effect. And Liquid melatonin tends to be non drowsy, so you're not waking up drowsy in the morning. That's very important. But the other reason why I like melatonin not only does it help you sleep better, which is going to help to buffer stress, but it is also one of our Tier one supplements for anti-aging. Now we have different groups of supplements when it comes to anti-aging, age reversal, and melatonin is in the top of the list in tier one, in the tier one bracket for Anti-aging that we're going to be bringing to you these protocols next month in our high-performance energy protocol for Longevity and for increasing health span.

Speaker 1: 20:25

So basically, you know this would be the the next step after you go through our program of discovering those underlying root causes and removing those Toxicities and replacing those deficiencies and letting the body heal. Now what do we do? We work on increasing your lifespan, how long you're going to stay healthy and alive and vibrant and have that vitality you know, good mood and exercise and energy and libido and all those things. That would be the next step in the program, and melatonin plays a key role in that. It's great for deep sleep support and that's actually part of our deep sleep support protocol. And you know all these protocols the deep sleep support, the adrenal sue, the CalMAG, the functional full-spectrum magnesium I in the activated B complex.

Speaker 1: 21:12

I can't link those up today, but what I can do is lead you in the right direction, and you probably already know that you can find all these at Love energy wellness. Comm forward slash shop. You can click on the shop tab on our website love energy wellness or Jeffrey morton calm. Both will get you there and you can find all these products on the shop page. So what about lifestyle adjustments? What can we do here? Let's give you four quick ones.

Speaker 1: 21:38

Mindful practices, as you may have guessed, incorporating mindful techniques, mindfulness techniques like meditation and deep breathing Things. Some of my favorites are Tai Chi and she gong. Those are known as moving meditation. So for me it's getting the best of both worlds in there. And, of course, a huge Advocate of hypnosis, being a consulting hypnotist as well. You know I create my own hypnosis audios that I use for myself for some of these relaxing events or manifestation events, things like that.

Speaker 1: 22:11

Next is prioritizing sleep. Establish a consistent sleep schedule. I know it's difficult, but you need to create a relaxing bedtime routine. I like to call it more of a ritual in a routine, because a routine is just something you do, you know, like you brush your teeth every morning. That's a routine, but a ritual is something you do with purpose and prioritization. So that's very important to have a relaxing bedtime ritual to support quality rest. And a few things that you can do to prioritize sleep is To go to bed at the same time every night. Make that an unbreakable standard, one of your non-negotiables.

Speaker 1: 22:49

Another one that you can do is Stop eating. What we'll get into that one next, because next we're going to talk about a nutrient dense diet. So, nutrient dense diet you want to fuel your body with nutrient rich foods to support overall health and resilience, to stress, that's right food. A nutrient dense diet can help to buffer stress, just like vitamins. Why? Because the food has the vitamins and the minerals in it. Now it doesn't necessarily have enough and that's why we need to supplement, because the soil is so depleted, the farms are so overworked meaning the land and the crops that they just don't have that nutrient profile that they used to have back in. You know, when our grandparents were around in the 1940s, 50s, 60s. Whatever the case may be Like, the food is just not the same today. It really isn't.

Speaker 1: 23:40

So one of the best things you can do with your diet is to stop eating three hours before bed. That may be difficult. I know a lot of people. They get home late. They want to eat something. You know, if you're going to skip a meal, most people are skipping breakfast. If you're going to skip any meal, make it dinner. Make it dinner time that you skip, and that's going to help, especially if you get home late. You know, although you may be hungry, most likely you can fall asleep and that's going to help your body to go into intermittent fasting a lot quicker. You know, if you eat before bed, then your body, you're winding up the digestive factory in your body and it's going to be working overtime all night long and it's going to keep you from getting your deep sleep and your REM sleep.

Speaker 1: 24:23

And then, last but not least, time management. I really don't. You know I don't really care for the topic of time management, but it's a reality, it's a construct. You know time doesn't really exist, it's just simply a tracking device. It's a construct. We can get into that in another episode. But time management set realistic goals, prioritize tasks, schedule your breaks. This prevents burnout. Very, very important, and you know this is something.

Speaker 1: 24:55

The mindful practices, the sleep prioritization, the nutrient dense diet, the time management these are all things that we teach to our private wellness clients as part of the de-stress protocol in diet, exercise, stress reduction, toxin removal, rest, emotional balance, science-backed supplements and success mindset. And that brings it all together for how to live a better life and reduce your stress around the holidays. So, if you're a solo digital entrepreneur, if you're a CEO, if you're executive and you're navigating the holiday season, integrating functional medicine grade supplements and adopting lifestyle adjustments can be instrumental in buffering against stress. By understanding the biology of things like the HPA access and taking a holistic approach, you can not only avoid failure, but you can find the success during the festive holiday hustle. Remember, your well-being is the greatest gift you can give to yourself this holiday season. So you're called to action.

Speaker 1: 25:58

Well, you can run your big five labs if you want to check out the at-home labs and see where you stand as far as your deficiencies and toxicities and what you need to work on this holiday season and coming up for your wellness plan going into the new year. Or you could simply run the starter kit, which is the minerals and metals lab and the Candida metabolic and vitamins by far the most bang for your dollar right there. And I do believe those are on sale this week. So if you want, you can reach out to us and we can work those sale prices into a three-month coaching package for you.

Speaker 1: 26:33

Number two support your body with the essential vitamins and minerals that it needs and, last but not least, work with an integrative health practitioner. Level two, for your personal wellness plan going into 2024. Or you can work with us over at Love Energy Wellness. We'd love to have you on board in our private wellness practice. So your key takeaway today I'm just going to give you one life is choice and so is holiday stress. So choose wellness over worry. Stay tuned for the next episode of the Breaking Boundaries Podcast for entrepreneurs, when we talk about how the body reacts to deficiencies. I'm grateful for you being here today. Please share the episode with somebody that you think it could serve and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform so that we can help more people and we'll see you next time to help you with breaking boundaries. Bye, bye, everybody.