Nature’s Secrets with Dr. Susanne Bennett

On this Episode: Relax your Mind, Body and Spirit in 30 Minutes or Less!

Relax your Mind, Body and Spirit in 30 Minutes or Less!

Dr. Susanne Bennett

Our lives are so stressful; there just isn’t enough time for much self-nurturing behavior out there! Going to a restorative yoga class, sitting still…deep breathing for 30 minutes or chanting mantras may not be right for you.

Maybe you need a relaxation technique that is a bit more spontaneous. My workday is quite hectic, but I still try to spend 20 minutes or so each day on some mind/body self-care.

A quick re-connect with nature, the outdoors can often do the trick for me, and doesn’t cost a thing. A side benefit is getting just the right amount of my daily Vitamin D!

Today on Nature’s Secrets, I am going to share 5 simple but powerful strategies I have found that can really make a difference in relaxing your mind, body and spirit:

• Earthing
• Essential Oils
• Forest Bathing
• Oxygenate! (Dr. Susanne’s Favorite Deep Breathing Exercise)
• Appreciate!

#1 : What is Earthing?

In my book The 7-Day Allergy Makeover, in chapter 7, it is all about Cleaning up your stress, and I talk about Earthing… Sometimes called Vitamin G for “grounding” refers to the process of bringing the human body in direct contact with the negative electric charge of the earth’s surface and its inherent energy. Our ancestors spent every moment of their lives barefoot and connected to the earth and nature.

Our bodies adapted to receiving electrical energy from the earth, and it remains beneficial to our well-being and sense of belonging and place.

Years ago, our ancestors frequently walked barefoot and often worked in the soil; people were all just much more apt to be physically “connected” to the earth in the past, rather than insulated from it with cement buildings, paved streets, cars and less open space in our neighborhoods!

Our modern style of walking with plastic shoes and synthetic socks, fully clothed, wearing sunglasses and sunscreen, can leave us feeling disconnected and anxious.

Today, we are constantly bombarded with free radicals from the environment and electromagnetic pollution, which cause inflammation, immune response issues and premature aging in our bodies.

So why does all of this matter? Well, researchers believe that connecting with the natural energy of the earth’s ground can actually help neutralize some of those free radicals; the ground being electrically conductive. Studies show that earthing reduces cortisol levels and inflammation, lowers stress and pain, and even improves sleep.

So How do we get more Vitamin G? Spend 20-30 minutes walking barefoot on the ground, grass or beach…and you will improve your stress level, relax your body and improve your overall health.
If you can’t get outside during your lunch to feel mother earth beneath your feet, then you can bring it into your office! I do it when I travel for conferences where I often have to be indoors from 8 am to 8 pm… I connect to nature by walking on river rocks, natural stone! At the same time I am stimulating my acupressure points on the bottom of my feet so I get double benefit from earthing with river rocks!

#2. Use Relaxing Essential Oils

Essential oils are highly concentrated oils that are harvested from plants, trees and herbs, sometimes using a steam distillation process. Essential oils are typically used for aromatherapy or diluted topical application.

Researchers believe that the fragrance of the oil stimulates the nerves in the nose, where receptors respond by sending chemical messages along the body’s nerve pathways to the brain’s limbic system.
The limbic system controls our moods and emotions. Studies done using imaging have shown the effects of different smells on the limbic system and its emotional pathways, either calming or stimulating.

They can be used for calming and stress relief, as a stimulant, for other medicinal purposes (digestion, nausea), and even as an aphrodisiac.

Essential oils are an easy way to show yourself some love, is by using my favorite relaxing scent: lavender!

It is well-known for its soothing, relaxing and calming properties and is also wonderful for accelerating healing time for burns, cuts, stings and other wounds.

To Destress:
-Rub on neck and temples in evening to relax body and improve sleep
-Relaxing bath before bedtime by add lavender essential oils and epsom salts to restore body after a stressful day
-Diffuse in the air to relax and improve mood
-For a truly relaxing experience, try a massage using lavender essential oils. The essential oil is added to a carrier oil such as almond oil.and massaged into the skin. Give yourself a light temple massage in just minutes… so calming.

Just make sure to dilute the essential oil! It is very potent, add at least 15-20 drops to 1.5 tablespoons of a carrier oil like almond or jajoba oil and I always suggest that you do a skin patch test prior to using it over a larger area of your skin.

I actually have a sachet full of lavender next to my bed in a glass container that I can open and smell before bedtime, not only do I love the scent of lavender but what it does to my body so I can get some deep uninterrupted sleep!

#3 Forest Bathing to heal

Shinrin-yoku is the name given to the Japanese art of “forest bathing,”- mindfulness walks through the woods that reconnect the individual with nature and can help you de-stress, elevate your mood and strengthen your immune system.

Go on a walk or sit within the forest and use your senses of sight, smell and sound to consciously focus on elements within the forest setting.

In one study, forest bathers had an increase in the number of “Natural Killer” cancer cells in the body. It is thought that this may be due to breathing in phytoncide, an essential oil found in many forest trees. Studies have shown forest bathing to be relaxing and even quite spiritual, reducing levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Focus around you, the plants, smells and listen to the birds, the wind… you can even hug a tree to feel it’s presence and power!

20 minutes is all you need to rejuvenate your body and immune system!

A person might touch the bark and focus on how it feels to run their finger over it; or focus on the breeze, feeling it, listening to it, smelling it and watching how it moves leaves in a tree. Someone might inhale the fragrance of different flowers, or focus in on the detail of a particular flower or leaf, perhaps counting the number of petals or veins, or studying the color.

Just 20 minutes.

Ok, so what if you live in the city, where there are no forests close by what do you do to connect to nature? Go to your local park, or find a community garden , or even a Botanical Museum to be surrounded by plants, trees and flowers!

#4 Oxygenate to reduce Anxiety

One of the best things you can do to relax and center yourself is to just breathe, but do it correctly! What’s important though is the actual cadence of the breathing and that you use your diaphragm instead of your chest.

What you want to do is to breathe in through your nose deeply for 4 seconds. Then exhale slowly through your nose for 6 seconds. And then repeat that for a total of 6 times during the one minute. When you breathe in, use your diaphragm muscle to expand your lungs and take in more oxygen. Do this for 10 min only! And you will see how you can break the cycle of anxiety and panic quickly!

But you can’t be thinking about your “to do” list while doing this! That totally defeats the purpose and you likely will not breathe deeply and slowly. Focus on the breathing exercise. Feel your body as it takes in the breath and listen as your exhale.

Stress can make you forgetful, fatigued, depressed and sick. So it really is important to learn some simple techniques like deep breathing.

#5 Last tip on how to relax your mind body and soul is to Appreciate!

After you oxygenate, if you have another few moments I suggest pulling up a brief remembrance of love, compassion or gratitude into your thoughts.

You’ll be surprised at how relaxed and centered this can make you feel. We all have struggles, but I truly believe that we all have much to be thankful for. We’re just typically too busy to remember that!

Take a moment; be thankful for your passions, for your family’s health or recent accomplishments, great or small. Connecting with a loving memory can also be just the thing to de-stress from a challenging afternoon.

So take a few minutes each day and give yourself a little relaxation. You’ll start to feel great from the inside out in no time!

Nature’s Secrets with Dr. Susanne Bennett

On this Episode: Mother’s Day Health Secrets by Dr. Susanne

Moms are so special and they give so much to their family that often they forget to take care of themselves.

So for Mother’s Day, I thought it would be appropriate to support all of the moms out there with some advice on how they can best care for their own body… Today on Nature’s Secrets, I want to talk about 3 health tips that many women aren’t aware of and rarely talk about even with their doctors!

#1. How many women can say that they really know “their own breasts in detail? We’ve been told for years to do breast self-checks as a “preventive” measure, to support our breast health and catch problems early. And while spending the time doing that check, is there something more that we could do that might actually prevent breast cancer the most common cancer among American women?

I say Yes, there is. So let’s have you start now.

Lymphatic breast massage is a simple exercise you can do that can truly be considered preventive in nature to help

Your lymphatic system keeps tissue clean and the body’s immune system working. It is like a second circulatory system; it moves wastes and toxins out, and it produces immune cells that fight infection. The liquid that flows through the lymphatic system is called lymph, but it doesn’t have a pump like the circulatory system so only body movements activates the lymph flow!

If you don’t get enough exercise, or have a poor diet, have a hidden infection or exposed to toxins, your lymphatic system can become bogged down, stagnant with toxins that don’t get filtered out, then your body can become more susceptible to infection and disease such as cancer.

Here are the 4 simple steps to help move the breast lymph and prevent disease.

1. Put all 4 fingers into your armpit where the lymph nodes are and pump straight into your pit… this is not a massage, just push straight up to pump your tissue. Keep your shoulder relaxed during this action. Do it 10-20 times.
2. Next- hold the entire breast with both hands and pull your breast towards the armpit, towards the lymph nodes… 10 x – 20 x
3. Upper inner quadrant of the breast needs extra care because it drains differently… hold with the breast with the same side hand, the opposite hand supports above the breast, then you pump the upper breast towards the collar bone, using your palm. 10 x – 20 x
4. Last exercise, grab breast with both hands and push breast back straight into the chest wall. 10 x – 20 x

You can follow the 4 simple steps in a fantastic video made by the Breast Health Project, by going

https://drsusanne.com/breastexercise

This breast lymph exercise will help get your lymphatic fluid moving, filtering and removing wastes; and potentially reducing swelling, PMS breast symptoms, and other breast discomfort. Less toxins in breast tissues means less triggers that may stimulate cancer cell growth!

Plus, it turns the scary cancer-hunting self-check into a relaxing preventive massage that can help you strengthen your breast immunity, and detoxing the tissues.

One more thing about breast health… I suggest women do not wear under wire bras. It is way too restrictive, which inhibits lymph flow. There has also been some concern expressed over the wire having an antenna effect, stimulating the areas it touches in a harmful way.

More studies are needed, as other factors could be involved, such as diet and obesity, but until then… my view is why take the risk? I wear a wireless bra and so can you! Or just go completely free!

#2 Let’s Keep Your Vagina Healthy!

Healthy Microbiome:

#2: One of the best things to do to keep your vagina healthy is to keep your vaginal microbiome…the good friendly bacteria properly in balance by eating an appropriate diet, including the use of a probiotic.

If you eat a lot of sugar and simple carbs, the bad bacteria and yeast go into overgrowth mode, which leads to vaginal infections.

You can counter that by eating whole, healthy foods; low glycemic load carbs, lots of green leafy veggies and fermented foods such as kimchi my favorite, sauerkraut, pickles and miso, as well as coconut yogurt or Kefir otherwise take a daily probiotic.

Keep Things Clean:

You will also want to keep things in and around the vagina clean, but avoid over-drying and irritating chemicals. A healthy vagina is a pH of 3.8-4.5 and many soaps will change that to unhealthy levels. I recommend you avoid baby wipes, sprays and douching.

Douching impacts the pH level and studies have shown that douching can actually increase risk of infections, pelvic inflammatory disease and STDs.

Wash the vulva the outer area of the vagina daily. I recommend you try my Probiotic Cleansing Bar, which is pH balanced, chemical-free and hypoallergenic. It contains fermented lactic acid bacteria to ensure a healthy microbiome as well.

For Perimenopause or Menopausal women

Less estrogen will thin and dry vaginal tissues, increases pH level and fewer secretions can mean discomfort during sex. Having sex actually helps preserve your vagina’s thickness and moisture. Meaning if you don’t use it, you will lose it! Start taking Sea Buck thorn oil, Omega 7’s … it will increase the tone, and moistness within a week, reducing pain, irritation and inflammation that can be triggered by sexual activity. If you use lubrication, look for a natural water-based formula versus Vaseline or other toxic chemicals

“Health is Much More Than Skin Deep”

Lastly, Today many of us without knowing, poison our bodies by applying toxic skincare products and make-up. We slather on products on our skin loaded with synthetic chemicals– that can be easily absorbed by our body’s largest organ – our skin!

Synthetic chemicals found in the majority of skincare products are often “endocrine disruptors that mimic our natural hormones, signaling to our body to increase or decrease the production of other key hormones erroneously. They can actually tell cells to die prematurely or allow other dangerous hormones to accumulate.

Here are a few key culprits:

Amines are used to balance pH, help with foaming action and act as a preservative. Best case they can create irritation or dermatitis, worst case they can mix with nitrates and become carcinogenic.

Parabens have been found in biopsies from breast tumors and are very prevalent in our personal care products.

Bisphenol – A (BPA) An estimated 93% of us have BPA in our bodies, and it has been linked to breast and other cancers.

Phthalates are often simply labeled as “fragrance”, sounds lovely but they are known endocrine disruptors!

All of these toxins are lipophilic, they gets stored in fatty tissue such as the breasts and brain.

I dedicated a whole chapter in my book, “The 7-Day Allergy Makeover”, to this topic. It is so important to your health, and the health of all your favorite moms!

One more thing, Color additives are another concern in cosmetics and body care products. Yellow #5, Red #40…they are widely found in food products and cosmetics.

They are often even found in products labeled, “natural”. Let’s be clear, natural does not been clean and healthy. These additives can cause allergic reactions , I actually have a sensitivity to Red dye #40, and can’t wear any eye shadow with that colorant in it, otherwise I have a terrible case of conjunctivitis.!

So Read your labels! Look for products that are 100% organic (USDA certified) if possible. The Environmental Working Group, EWG, has a “Skin Deep” cosmetics database to help you find personal care products and make-up that utilize fewer dangerous chemicals.

So… Happy Mom’s Day to all the beautiful women in your life, including you!

Until then, This is Dr. Susanne, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to serve you, I am dedicated to helping you feel and be your best today! This is Wellness For Life Radio, on Radio MD, See you next time, stay well!