[g_podcast id="12252560"]
This is part 3 of my mini-series on stress. With my guest today, molecular and evolutionary biologist Dr. Sabine Paul, I talk about the ingenious way to relieve stress with the help of essential oils and spices.
We talk about the following topics, among others:
Sabine regularly holds workshops and courses, such as her brain doping with spices course, you can find all the information on her websitehttps://www.nerven-power.de.
She also has a great new online course on "forest bathing" on her websitehttps://www.nerven-power.de/nervenpower-akademie/where you can of course also find all her other courses. I can also highly recommend her great book "Gehirndoping mit Gewürzen",which you can order here: https://amzn.to/2NO6aV7.
Next year, Sabine will also be focusing more on the topic of sleep, which I also think is a great and important topic! And if you would like to see her (and me, by the way) give a live talk, then come along to the LCHF Congress in Düsseldorf on February 29 and March 1. You can read all about the LCHF Congress in >listen to episode 66of this podcast again.
You can also learn methods for reducing stress in my online course Gut Happiness. It's about anti-inflammatory and gut-friendly nutrition, you'll learn how important it is to get your subconscious on board, you'll learn how self-hypnosis works, for example, and you'll get lots of concrete tools such as recipes, weekly plans, meditations and interviews with experts on related topics.
So if you want to get off to a good start in the New Year, sign up for the waiting listat www.darmglück.com. I will be hosting a free webinar at the end of December to give you the right strategies to start the new year in a positive way for you and your health, and of course you will receive an invitation if you are on the list.
In the next Darmglück episode, I have another exciting interview partner, namely the lovely KatharinaDöricht akaTasty Katy, who specializes in Ayurveda and gut health and has just published her first book.
I am delighted to have the lovely Sabine Paul as a guest on the topic of stress. What is your personal relationship with stress?
Sabine: It's also a stressful time for me at the moment, due to the events in the fall. I see the current stress as a kind of experiment, as I've just had to reorganize my online structure and have been putting off this task until now. So the stress mobilized me in this matter.
Yes, you are suddenly surprised when you set yourself a time limit how many tasks you get done in a short time. What effect does stress have on our bodies?
Sabine: Stress serves as a kind of survival mechanism. It fires off a lot in our body so that we can react automatically to dangerous/threatening situations, but also to new things, such as great opportunities, to which we should react quickly.
Our system has learned to tackle all unusual/threatening as well as positive situations with an automated response to ensure our survival and great opportunities. It is designed for acute situations. Unfortunately, however, many people are currently suffering from constant stress, which derails this useful response and leads to chronic stress, which can lead to burnout or depression.
Which senses do we humans use to absorb stress the most?
Sabine: It depends on the type of person. Many people are eye people, where a pile of paper on the desk is distracting, and background noise can also have a disturbing effect and drive up blood pressure. Smell is also interesting, we can't smell some things well, or some things simply don't taste good to us, which also leads to stress. Stressors can come to us through all 5 senses, and 1-2 channels are usually enough to trigger stress.
You like to work with essential oils and fragrances. How can we use smell to counteract stress?
Sabine: Fragrances act as a lightning helper, as they act very quickly. When we absorb scent molecules through our nose, they dock directly onto the olfactory mucosa and reach the emotional center via a nerve, where stress reactions are processed, where reward reactions are triggered and where our memories are located. We also process our experiences here. By inhaling the aromas, we can transmit these molecules to the emotional center within seconds and thus help ourselves very quickly.
Wow, that sounds exciting. Which fragrances work very well for stress?
Sabine: It's important to look at which counter-state you want to get into, do you want more energy or would you rather slow down? Due to the different requirements, you also need different oils. The choice is therefore very context-dependent.
For example, rosemary essential oils help in an exam or presentation situation, as they reduce stress hormones but at the same time stimulate the ability to concentrate. Even in ancient times, students used to put sprigs of rosemary in their hair when they were studying.
During the study phase, it is advisable to drink rosemary tea and inhale the vapors, for example, or simply place a pot of rosemary on your desk and smell it frequently.
There are also distilled oils that can be used with a diffuser. Vanilla is a classic feel-good aroma, as vanilla is often associated with warmth and security.
If you have difficulty falling asleep, you can make your own pillow spray from a mix of vodka and vanilla. You need the vodka as the oils dissolve well in the alcohol. You can also use the rest of a vanilla pod as an oil substitute, mix the two together in a bottle and spray onto the pillow. For children, you can also use this with water, but the scent evaporates much more quickly.
Lavender is very good for sleep disorders, but you should not use lavender on its own, as you can get into the deep sleep phase, where the important dream phases can be missing. We recommend using a combination of fragrances, such as lavender and vanilla.
You recommend the use of essential oils or teas. How recommendable is the use of herbs in the kitchen?
Sabine: Very good, herbs from the garden are brilliant, alternatively organic herbs. It is also best to place fresh (organic) herbs in the sun. Dried herbs are also highly recommended. It is great if you roast the dried herbs, because the aroma that is created when roasting is much more intense. It is important to roast them without fat, as this process increases the intensity. It has also been discovered that the same olfactory receptors that we have in the nasal mucosa can also be found in the intestinal mucosa.
Can you give us another good nutritional tip on the subject of stress?
Sabine: It is very useful to take turmeric every day, because turmeric has an anti-inflammatory effect, it reduces stress hormones and certain substances prevent memory cells from dying. You can drink this great spice, e.g. in golden milk, or you can use it as a good curry powder and add it to potatoes, sauces and stews, for example.
Is it possible to overdose on turmeric?
Sabine: Yes, it is important to take small amounts, one A tablespoon a day as a powder would definitely be too much. It is therefore better to take small amounts regularly and combine them with black pepper. Every good curry mixture should also contain pepper, as the curcumin can be absorbed better in combination via our bloodstream.
Very good. For many people, wintertime also means cold season. During this time, our immune system is weakened, which can of course also be caused by stress, do you have any tips on this?
Sabine: Yes, there are two good effective plants/spices for this. On the one hand, ginger is very popular. In addition to fresh ginger, the ginger mixture "Trikatu", which comes from Ayurveda, is also extremely effective in strengthening the immune system. However, this mixture is quite spicy and is more suitable for adults than children. You can also add a little honey to it to make a good cough remedy.
Ceylon cinnamon is also highly recommended. Cinnamon has an antibacterial effect, is good for sore throats and lowers blood sugar levels. Cinnamon powder can also be boiled with water and enjoyed as a tea.
Is there an essential oil with the scent of cinnamon?
Sabine: Yes, there should be, it is often enough just to smell cinnamon or drink it in the form of tea. Cinnamon also tastes quite sweet, so you don't need to add sugar.
You have also written a book called "Gehirndoping mit Gewürzen" (brain doping with spices), would you like to tell us what you mean by brain doping?
Sabine: What I mean by this is that we use natural substances in the form of food to get the brain in top form. So actually making sure that we can call up everything we want to call up, e.g. concentration, memory, mood,... and the nice thing is that we don't have to take medication to do this. Certain spices are currently being tested as antidepressants in clinical research. You can use these substances as therapeutic agents in the same quantities as we eat them.
I can also highly recommend this book, I've read it myself and think it's brilliant. You give great tips on where you can experiment yourself and how you can use spices in different forms, etc..
How can I find out more about this exciting topic?
Sabine: You can find lots more information on my website. There are sometimes live workshops where we make our own spice blends. Then there are online courses or"online forest bathing". Forest bathing comes from the Japanese and is about "bathing" in the forest atmosphere and using the aromas you absorb to reduce stress reactions. We often don't get to go for a walk in the forest when we are under too much stress, so I would like to transfer this possibility to the home in the form of an online course.
Super! Many of my Darmglück customers also often suffer from stress. My experience is that the more sides you can approach the issue of stress from, the better it is.
Thank you very much for your great tips. Is there anything else you would like to give us at the end? would you like?
Sabine: Yes, think about what you like to smell today and buy the matching essential oil or spice. Then integrate this fragrance into your daily routine and sniff it often. Experience has shown that it helps a lot to have something that smells good on your desk, as you can help yourself immediately. I hope you enjoy trying it out.
These are the links to the following:
Website of Dr. Sabine Paul: https://www.nerven-power.de
Online courses:https://www.nerven-power.de/nervenpower-akademie/
Book "Brain doping with spices":https://amzn.to/2NO6aV7
Now I recommend you subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss an episode, and if you like what you hear, I really appreciate a review on iTunes or Apple Podcast. Because these reviews also help other people find the podcast so we can spread the knowledge about gut and health more.
This is part 3 of my mini-series on stress. With my guest today, molecular and evolutionary biologist Dr. Sabine Paul, I talk about the ingenious way to relieve stress with the help of essential oils and spices.
We talk about the following topics, among others:
- What effect does stress have on our bodies?
- Why permanent stress in particular can lead to chronic illness?
- Which senses we mainly use to absorb stress
- Why fragrancesfrom essential oils are so effective as quick helpers against stresssuitable
- Why you should put a rosemary plant on your desk
- Which fragrance is suitable for winding down in the evening
- And much more! Don't miss this episode :-)
Sabine regularly holds workshops and courses, such as her brain doping with spices course, you can find all the information on her websitehttps://www.nerven-power.de.
She also has a great new online course on "forest bathing" on her websitehttps://www.nerven-power.de/nervenpower-akademie/where you can of course also find all her other courses. I can also highly recommend her great book "Gehirndoping mit Gewürzen",which you can order here: https://amzn.to/2NO6aV7.
Next year, Sabine will also be focusing more on the topic of sleep, which I also think is a great and important topic! And if you would like to see her (and me, by the way) give a live talk, then come along to the LCHF Congress in Düsseldorf on February 29 and March 1. You can read all about the LCHF Congress in >listen to episode 66of this podcast again.
You can also learn methods for reducing stress in my online course Gut Happiness. It's about anti-inflammatory and gut-friendly nutrition, you'll learn how important it is to get your subconscious on board, you'll learn how self-hypnosis works, for example, and you'll get lots of concrete tools such as recipes, weekly plans, meditations and interviews with experts on related topics.
So if you want to get off to a good start in the New Year, sign up for the waiting listat www.darmglück.com. I will be hosting a free webinar at the end of December to give you the right strategies to start the new year in a positive way for you and your health, and of course you will receive an invitation if you are on the list.
In the next Darmglück episode, I have another exciting interview partner, namely the lovely KatharinaDöricht akaTasty Katy, who specializes in Ayurveda and gut health and has just published her first book.
Autumn time is stress time
I am delighted to have the lovely Sabine Paul as a guest on the topic of stress. What is your personal relationship with stress?
Sabine: It's also a stressful time for me at the moment, due to the events in the fall. I see the current stress as a kind of experiment, as I've just had to reorganize my online structure and have been putting off this task until now. So the stress mobilized me in this matter.
Yes, you are suddenly surprised when you set yourself a time limit how many tasks you get done in a short time. What effect does stress have on our bodies?
Sabine: Stress serves as a kind of survival mechanism. It fires off a lot in our body so that we can react automatically to dangerous/threatening situations, but also to new things, such as great opportunities, to which we should react quickly.
Our system has learned to tackle all unusual/threatening as well as positive situations with an automated response to ensure our survival and great opportunities. It is designed for acute situations. Unfortunately, however, many people are currently suffering from constant stress, which derails this useful response and leads to chronic stress, which can lead to burnout or depression.
How essential oils can serve as "lightning helpers"
Which senses do we humans use to absorb stress the most?
Sabine: It depends on the type of person. Many people are eye people, where a pile of paper on the desk is distracting, and background noise can also have a disturbing effect and drive up blood pressure. Smell is also interesting, we can't smell some things well, or some things simply don't taste good to us, which also leads to stress. Stressors can come to us through all 5 senses, and 1-2 channels are usually enough to trigger stress.
You like to work with essential oils and fragrances. How can we use smell to counteract stress?
Sabine: Fragrances act as a lightning helper, as they act very quickly. When we absorb scent molecules through our nose, they dock directly onto the olfactory mucosa and reach the emotional center via a nerve, where stress reactions are processed, where reward reactions are triggered and where our memories are located. We also process our experiences here. By inhaling the aromas, we can transmit these molecules to the emotional center within seconds and thus help ourselves very quickly.
Rosemary boosts performance and lowers stress levels
Wow, that sounds exciting. Which fragrances work very well for stress?
Sabine: It's important to look at which counter-state you want to get into, do you want more energy or would you rather slow down? Due to the different requirements, you also need different oils. The choice is therefore very context-dependent.
For example, rosemary essential oils help in an exam or presentation situation, as they reduce stress hormones but at the same time stimulate the ability to concentrate. Even in ancient times, students used to put sprigs of rosemary in their hair when they were studying.
During the study phase, it is advisable to drink rosemary tea and inhale the vapors, for example, or simply place a pot of rosemary on your desk and smell it frequently.
There are also distilled oils that can be used with a diffuser. Vanilla is a classic feel-good aroma, as vanilla is often associated with warmth and security.
If you have difficulty falling asleep, you can make your own pillow spray from a mix of vodka and vanilla. You need the vodka as the oils dissolve well in the alcohol. You can also use the rest of a vanilla pod as an oil substitute, mix the two together in a bottle and spray onto the pillow. For children, you can also use this with water, but the scent evaporates much more quickly.
Lavender is very good for sleep disorders, but you should not use lavender on its own, as you can get into the deep sleep phase, where the important dream phases can be missing. We recommend using a combination of fragrances, such as lavender and vanilla.
You recommend the use of essential oils or teas. How recommendable is the use of herbs in the kitchen?
Sabine: Very good, herbs from the garden are brilliant, alternatively organic herbs. It is also best to place fresh (organic) herbs in the sun. Dried herbs are also highly recommended. It is great if you roast the dried herbs, because the aroma that is created when roasting is much more intense. It is important to roast them without fat, as this process increases the intensity. It has also been discovered that the same olfactory receptors that we have in the nasal mucosa can also be found in the intestinal mucosa.
The positive effect of turmeric, ginger and Ceylon cinnamon
Can you give us another good nutritional tip on the subject of stress?
Sabine: It is very useful to take turmeric every day, because turmeric has an anti-inflammatory effect, it reduces stress hormones and certain substances prevent memory cells from dying. You can drink this great spice, e.g. in golden milk, or you can use it as a good curry powder and add it to potatoes, sauces and stews, for example.
Is it possible to overdose on turmeric?
Sabine: Yes, it is important to take small amounts, one A tablespoon a day as a powder would definitely be too much. It is therefore better to take small amounts regularly and combine them with black pepper. Every good curry mixture should also contain pepper, as the curcumin can be absorbed better in combination via our bloodstream.
Very good. For many people, wintertime also means cold season. During this time, our immune system is weakened, which can of course also be caused by stress, do you have any tips on this?
Sabine: Yes, there are two good effective plants/spices for this. On the one hand, ginger is very popular. In addition to fresh ginger, the ginger mixture "Trikatu", which comes from Ayurveda, is also extremely effective in strengthening the immune system. However, this mixture is quite spicy and is more suitable for adults than children. You can also add a little honey to it to make a good cough remedy.
Ceylon cinnamon is also highly recommended. Cinnamon has an antibacterial effect, is good for sore throats and lowers blood sugar levels. Cinnamon powder can also be boiled with water and enjoyed as a tea.
Is there an essential oil with the scent of cinnamon?
Sabine: Yes, there should be, it is often enough just to smell cinnamon or drink it in the form of tea. Cinnamon also tastes quite sweet, so you don't need to add sugar.
Book recommendation: "Gehirndoping mit Gewürzen". Learn to experiment with spices
You have also written a book called "Gehirndoping mit Gewürzen" (brain doping with spices), would you like to tell us what you mean by brain doping?
Sabine: What I mean by this is that we use natural substances in the form of food to get the brain in top form. So actually making sure that we can call up everything we want to call up, e.g. concentration, memory, mood,... and the nice thing is that we don't have to take medication to do this. Certain spices are currently being tested as antidepressants in clinical research. You can use these substances as therapeutic agents in the same quantities as we eat them.
I can also highly recommend this book, I've read it myself and think it's brilliant. You give great tips on where you can experiment yourself and how you can use spices in different forms, etc..
How can I find out more about this exciting topic?
Sabine: You can find lots more information on my website. There are sometimes live workshops where we make our own spice blends. Then there are online courses or"online forest bathing". Forest bathing comes from the Japanese and is about "bathing" in the forest atmosphere and using the aromas you absorb to reduce stress reactions. We often don't get to go for a walk in the forest when we are under too much stress, so I would like to transfer this possibility to the home in the form of an online course.
Super! Many of my Darmglück customers also often suffer from stress. My experience is that the more sides you can approach the issue of stress from, the better it is.
Sabine's final words: Buy an essential oil with the scent of your choice, integrate this scent into your everyday life and sniff it often!
Thank you very much for your great tips. Is there anything else you would like to give us at the end? would you like?
Sabine: Yes, think about what you like to smell today and buy the matching essential oil or spice. Then integrate this fragrance into your daily routine and sniff it often. Experience has shown that it helps a lot to have something that smells good on your desk, as you can help yourself immediately. I hope you enjoy trying it out.
These are the links to the following:
Website of Dr. Sabine Paul: https://www.nerven-power.de
Online courses:https://www.nerven-power.de/nervenpower-akademie/
Book "Brain doping with spices":https://amzn.to/2NO6aV7
Now I recommend you subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss an episode, and if you like what you hear, I really appreciate a review on iTunes or Apple Podcast. Because these reviews also help other people find the podcast so we can spread the knowledge about gut and health more.
