TMHS 785 - How Optimism Impacts Your Health & The Truth About Your Emotions - With Dr. Sue Varma
The Model Health Show
Shawn Stevenson
4.8 • 7.2K Ratings
🗓️ 24 April 2024
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Did you know that your level of optimism can predict your health outcomes? Having a positive outlook is linked with longer, healthier lives and faster recovery rates. On this episode of The Model Health Show, you’re going to hear the science-backed benefits of being optimistic.
Our guest today is Dr. Sue Varma. She is a psychiatrist, cognitive behavioral therapist, and the first medical director and psychiatrist at the World Trade Center Mental Health Program. Her book, Practical Optimism, is a scientific roadmap to improving your mindset and building emotional resilience. On today’s show, Dr. Varma is sharing valuable insights into how optimism can help you reach your goals and optimize your health.
You’re going to learn how optimism can impact your brain health, cardiac health, and longevity. We’ll talk about realistic steps to label and express your emotions, how to break the cycle of negative thinking, and so much more. Dr. Varma is a true wealth of knowledge and experience in the realm of mental health – and this interview is a powerful resource I hope you will utilize.
In this episode you’ll discover:
- The connection between optimism and longevity.
- What it means to be a practical optimist.
- How our emotions can influence our habits and our health outcomes.
- The purpose that emotions serve.
- What your sleep can tell you about your mental health.
- Why shame is one of the most powerful emotions.
- The importance of labeling your emotions.
- How cultural differences can affect the expression of emotions.
- The number of facial movement combinations humans can express.
- Why we often need to identify our cultural conditioning to make room for acceptance.
- How social media use can be toxic.
- The connection between excessive social media use and depression.
- What the 4 P’s of pessimism are.
- The difference between pessimism and healthy skepticism.
- What percentage of optimism is genetic.
- The definition of the ostrich effect.
- How optimism can improve your brain health, cardiac health, and more.
- The 4 steps to break the cycle of negative thinking.
- How to harness the power of acceptance.
Items mentioned in this episode include:
- PiqueLife.com/shawn - Get exclusive savings on bundles & subscriptions!
- Eat These Foods to Support Fat Loss with Dr. William Li - Episode 670
- Bark App - Download for parental control settings
- Practical Optimism by Dr. Sue Varma
- Connect with Dr. Sue Varma Website / Facebook / Instagram
Join TMHS Facebook community - Model Nation
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This episode of The Model Health Show is brought to you by Pique.
Go to PiqueLife.com/shawn for exclusive savings on bundles & subscriptions on cutting-edge solutions for your head-to-toe health and beauty transformation.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You are now listening to the model health show with Sean Stevenson. |
| 0:04.0 | For more visit the model health show.com. |
| 0:08.0 | Did you know that our habitual emotions are deeply tied to how long we live? |
| 0:18.0 | A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2019 found that people who are exceedingly |
| 0:24.3 | optimistic live longer, healthier, recover from stress, injuries and |
| 0:29.8 | illnesses faster, the researchers found that optimism significantly decreases the risk of |
| 0:35.3 | cardiovascular events and also decreases the risk of early death from all causes. Now what about the other end of the spectrum? Well another long-term |
| 0:46.0 | study found that people with a strong history of depression can have up to a 50 |
| 0:50.8 | percent increase in premature death from all causes, essentially reducing projected lifespan by 10 to 12 years on average. |
| 1:00.0 | Being more optimistic isn't something that's fanciful or idealistic. |
| 1:05.0 | It's something that's very practical for our health. |
| 1:08.0 | Now, being a practical optimist is the key. |
| 1:12.0 | A cookie cutter, don't worry, be happy mentality is not all that is cracked up to be either. |
| 1:18.5 | There are fascinating steps to being a practical optimist and that's what we're talking about today. |
| 1:24.0 | Now keep in mind in this conversation with our special guest today |
| 1:27.0 | that so much of our mental health out-pixturing, |
| 1:30.0 | our expressions of things like depression, anxiety, |
| 1:32.0 | or on the other end optimism has a lot to do |
| 1:34.8 | with how we interact with stress. Do we have mental tools? Do we have skills that we've developed |
| 1:41.4 | to be able to reframe things effectively, to be able to |
| 1:44.8 | ask better questions that keep us empowered, and also keeping in mind that part of our |
| 1:49.6 | mental health individuality has to do with our genetics as well. And our special guest is going to share with you that it's only a small percentage of our mental health blueprint is based on our genetics, but it does play a role. |
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