Your Mind and Your Skin
I’m speaking with Dr. Delia McCabe, a neuroscientist specializing in the fascinating connection between the brain and the skin. We dive deep into the mind-skin connection, exploring how stress, emotions, and daily habits shape the way we look and feel.
Dr. McCabe shares how mindfulness and nervous system regulation play a crucial role in maintaining a youthful, glowing complexion. She explains the science behind how chronic stress impacts skin health—leading to premature aging, inflammation, and imbalance—and why the key to reversing these effects lies in daily self-care rituals that soothe both the mind and body.
We also discuss practical strategies for bringing the nervous system back into balance, especially during moments of stress. Dr. McCabe emphasizes the importance of creating consistent routines that serve as a reset button for our well-being, helping us shift from survival mode to a state of inner calm and radiance.
By the end of this episode, you'll walk away with science-backed insights and actionable steps to enhance both your mental and skin health—so you can feel and look your best, no matter what life throws your way.
Tune in and discover how to cultivate a mindful approach to beauty, well-being, and resilience!
Connect with Dr.Delia McCabe via email dmccabe@me.com or on substack- The State of The Modern Mind
Transcript
Welcome to another episode of what's your face Story.
Speaker A:Today I wanted to talk about this something that no one wants to hear.
Speaker A:Your routine, your skin care routine.
Speaker A:I know you want to look radiant, I know you want to look glowing.
Speaker A:And what do you do?
Speaker A:You go and scout for the latest trends and products and just put this on and you shine for a minute and you're back to the same.
Speaker A:And I will in this episode I will try to bring my guest which is so amazing.
Speaker A:Neuroscientist and women's health specialist.
Speaker A:She is Delia McCabe.
Speaker A:She's going to dig deeper than what I'm going to just run through the surface of your routine.
Speaker A:In order for you to have a glowing skin, there is something you have to do daily and that something has to be done with love.
Speaker A:How about that?
Speaker A:You will never want to rush through it because your skin has its own mind, it has its own brain.
Speaker A:Each cell in our body has its own brain.
Speaker A:And if you rush it, if you think it, you can fool it, it's not going to happen.
Speaker A:None of it is going to absorb to your skin.
Speaker A:So let's go through this quickly and then we are going to speak with Delia about what can we do and why our skin is not responding to certain treatments or certain serums that are powerful and it should result in da da da.
Speaker A:Because every serum is different, but it's not.
Speaker A:So what, what is happening?
Speaker A:Okay, so here is the routine.
Speaker A:Look how simple it is.
Speaker A:You wake up in the morning, you put a smile on your face.
Speaker A:Whether you like it or not, your body will recognize that smile as you're putting yourself in a good mood.
Speaker A:So don't think of your day or day or to do list just yet.
Speaker A:Just go to the bathroom, get your skin care on your cleanser, your serum and moisturizer.
Speaker A:That's all what you need to do.
Speaker A:And as you're doing it, you might just look in the mirror if you wanted to.
Speaker A:If you feel you're going to give yourself that negative self talk, don't look at the mirror yet.
Speaker A:Just stay with me and we're going to get through this.
Speaker A:So you just washing your skin, putting the cleanser on, washing your skin, give it a 30 seconds of kind of rub, circles a little circles a little love.
Speaker A:Send a little energy from your fingertips to your skin to stimulate circulation and get your pore cleansed.
Speaker A:Okay, I'm going to digress here because I have a lot of questions about why should I wash my skin in the morning.
Speaker A:I'm cleaning right Delia is going to explain this to you later.
Speaker A:But just know you're sweating, you're self repairing at night and of course the pores will always be clogged.
Speaker A:That's why we're washing the skin in the morning and getting it nice and clean so the skin can breathe.
Speaker A:So that's your cleansing.
Speaker A:The next step is your serum.
Speaker A:So the serum is whatever your skin type is, whatever recommendations you've received from either myself or other skincare expert.
Speaker A:It is what you use right now.
Speaker A:So that's the product before a moisturizer.
Speaker A:The serum absorbs deep into the skin.
Speaker A:It goes through your pores, especially when it's water based.
Speaker A:It goes through your pores, goes deeper into the skin and it triggers some sort of chain of reactions.
Speaker A:But if you are not relaxed, if you are not calm, if you're not being present when you're doing, will not absorb.
Speaker A:Trust me, I've seen it firsthand with clients on my table, facial table.
Speaker A:So take my work, take my.
Speaker A:So take my word for it.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:And the last step is going to be a moisturizer.
Speaker A:The same thing.
Speaker A:Take a deep breath.
Speaker A:After about 30 seconds after the serum, apply a moisturizer and just follow with whatever else you need to do.
Speaker A:The moisturizer does not absorb through the skin.
Speaker A:It sits on the surface.
Speaker A:It's like a coat.
Speaker A:We wear winter coats for winter.
Speaker A:We don't wear anything on the skin.
Speaker A:This is why you put the moisturizer.
Speaker A:But I want to say don't go and spend $160 on a moisturizer thinking that it's going to do a magic trick on you.
Speaker A:It's not.
Speaker A:Moisturizer is a moisturizer.
Speaker A:You can even put a grapeseed oil as a moisturizer.
Speaker A:The most important part is the cleansing intention.
Speaker A:And the serum, the vitamins, the nutrition that you put on your skin.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:So Delia, I am so happy you're here because I always say our skin can hear us.
Speaker A:Our skin either protects us from the environment by tightening, by just creating a barrier, or opens up when we're happy, when we're relaxed and when we're in the loving state of being.
Speaker B:This is such an interesting conversation, Yolanda.
Speaker B:Thank you for inviting me to speak about it.
Speaker B:And just one very simple example I want to give to everybody that's watching and listening to this conversation is that if you have a look at people that have lived through a lot of stress and one of the primary examples of that is looking at presidents of countries so when they step up as the President or the Prime Minister, you see what they look like, and then you see what they look like.
Speaker B:As the years go by, it's very, very clear to see that these people age very, very quickly.
Speaker B:Now, why does this happen?
Speaker B:It happens because our skin is the most complex array of amino acids, that's protein in our body.
Speaker B:And so our skin responds to cortisol in a way that is really, really visible to us because we wear our skin every day and everywhere.
Speaker B:So when Yolanda was speaking about looking after our skin and making sure that we are very mindful when we do our skincare routine, why we need to do that is because when we are not mindful, our stress levels go up.
Speaker B:And let's just digress for one moment.
Speaker B:You know, the brain is a time machine.
Speaker B:So if you wake up in the morning and you immediately start thinking about what you've got to do for breakfast, what you're doing after breakfast, what the next meeting is, you know, what your deadlines are throughout the day already your brain is putting you into a state of stress.
Speaker B:You are not in a state of calm acceptance and mindfulness.
Speaker B:It's as if you started running a marathon already, which is a stressful experience.
Speaker B:So, you know, when Yolanda said, what you need to do is actually be mindful, do your cleansing, do your serum, massage your skin, put the moisturizer on.
Speaker B:All of that should be done in a state of mindfulness and a state of acceptance and appreciation for that moment that you've got for your own self care.
Speaker B:Because then your cortisol levels aren't high, then your skin is receptive to whatever you're putting on it and you in a state of being able to not only clean your skin, but also to be able to calm your whole body.
Speaker B:We know that when we've got very high levels of stress, we've also got very high levels of inflammation.
Speaker B:And we know that inflammation also ages us, both internally and externally.
Speaker B:So taking the time during that, that morning and that evening skin routine, to be able to be in the moment means that you're in a state of receptivity.
Speaker B:And once you get this, it'll be easier to take that, that feeling of mindfulness and transfer it to other aspects of your day as well.
Speaker B:So that the beautiful work that you do in the morning for your skin and in the evening for your skin can be amplified during the day.
Speaker B:You're making sure that all of the goodness that you put onto your skin can really be used and can benefit you throughout the day.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:That's exactly what we need to do.
Speaker A:Because no one wants to look older, right?
Speaker A:I saw your article and we're gonna bring this up a little bit.
Speaker A:No one ever says I want to look older.
Speaker A:Everyone wants to look younger.
Speaker A:How do you do that?
Speaker A:You set your day from the beginning.
Speaker A:You set the day the minute you wake.
Speaker A:So I know this is a training that it's required for a lot of us.
Speaker A:But if you just accept the fact that stop thinking of your phone and your to do list before you finish your self care in the morning.
Speaker A:Do you know that there is research saying that and I'm sure Delia is going to bring this up as well.
Speaker A:There is research that says that it's proven that if you start your day on the right foot, the rest of the day is going to follow without you.
Speaker A:You just going to be having a good day.
Speaker A:People are not going to bump into you, they're not going to cut you off.
Speaker A:Everything is going to go the way you set the beginning of the day.
Speaker A:Is that true?
Speaker A:Can we talk about this?
Speaker B:It's basically the habits of mind that we have about how we pace ourselves and the things that we set ourselves up for.
Speaker B:Because if you your day feeling positive and telling yourself that you're going to have a good day, but also telling yourself that if something bad happens, you're not going to stay in that state of mind.
Speaker B:One of the challenges that we have as humans is that we also try to predict things.
Speaker B:So apart from being a time machine, the brain is also a predictive machine.
Speaker B:And if you've had a few days with challenges in them, then it's very much easier for your brain to wake up and say, well, Monday I had a challenge, Tuesday I had a challenge, maybe Wednesday is going to be a challenge as well.
Speaker B:It's so much easier to do that because we prefer patterns to precision.
Speaker B:Now the thing to do when you wake up is to say to yourself, you know, I've had a few days with some challenges in them and I'm quite sure that there'll be challenges today.
Speaker B:But you know what?
Speaker B:I'm strong, I'm capable, I'm resilient, and I've dealt with many challenges before.
Speaker B:Whatever comes up today, I'm going to make sure that I'm going to keep a positive frame of mind.
Speaker B:I'm going to refer back to how I've solved challenges.
Speaker B:And you know what, it's going to be an amazing day because guess what?
Speaker B:There's going to be a very lovely surprise that will happen during My day, once we set ourselves up for that, you know what happens?
Speaker B:The brain is now looking for that pleasant surprise.
Speaker B:The brain is now primed to find it.
Speaker B:And we find it.
Speaker B:It may be an email from someone that we didn't expect.
Speaker B:It may be a smile from a stranger.
Speaker B:As you contemplate something as you're walking down the road, whatever it is, the brain is now primed to find something to be happy about and something that is a pleasant surprise.
Speaker B:We really do not take into account the power that our brain has to be able to allow us to feel calm and to be able to accept the challenges that come along and to be able to see ourselves as resilient and capable once we start developing those habits of mind.
Speaker B:Because that's really what it is.
Speaker B:It's basically neural pathways that you establish to make sure that you see the best in the world, not the worst.
Speaker B:Once we set those habits of mind in place, guess what happens?
Speaker B:They become who we are, and then we become the happy person.
Speaker B:We become the positive person that other people say, well, you know, you always see the bright side of life, and guess what happens?
Speaker B:Our face reflects that.
Speaker B:We know that when we smile, when we are happier, we find better connections with other people, and we also just look better.
Speaker B:You know, there's more blood flow to the face.
Speaker B:The old story about smiling, you know, uses up a certain amount of muscles.
Speaker B:But frowning, you know, those frowns stay there.
Speaker B:They get entrenched in our.
Speaker B:In our skin, like neural habits do.
Speaker B:So when we smile and we positive when we look at the world as a challenging place sometimes, but our capacity is really good.
Speaker B:We even change the structure of our face.
Speaker B:So there are benefits to every single thing that I've said and that you've introduced, Yolanda.
Speaker A:So what about the smile in itself?
Speaker A:Isn't that the pathway, neuropathy pathway connected to the brain?
Speaker A:And that triggers the cascade of events which releases happy chemicals?
Speaker A:Because when we smile, even if it's a fake smile, this is what I'm going to be talking about in a minute.
Speaker A:Even if we fake that smile, we trigger that calming mood, more peaceful.
Speaker A:So can we talk about this?
Speaker A:Is there a connection?
Speaker B:There absolutely is a connection between smiling.
Speaker B:When we smile, we tell the brain that everything is good and that we don't have a problem and that our interaction with another person or our interaction with the world is a good interaction.
Speaker B:However, other people can pick up if it's a fake smile or not, because a fake smile only uses these muscles.
Speaker B:A genuine smile also uses our eyes, and we can train ourselves to smile using our eyes.
Speaker B:And guess what?
Speaker B:Then we have even more of the positive chemicals that get released with that smile.
Speaker B:And the more we smile, the better we engage with the world.
Speaker B:And once again, we build those neural pathways for good things can happen.
Speaker B:Wonderful surprises are on their way.
Speaker B:That changes, you know, the brain chemistry versus the frown.
Speaker B:So, yes, smiling is very, very important.
Speaker B:But make it a real smile to make it count even more.
Speaker B:Engage your eyes.
Speaker B:Other people pick that up, which is.
Speaker A:Important because the brain can have two opposite.
Speaker A:Two opposing states.
Speaker A:It's either relaxed or stressed.
Speaker A:So that's how we're going to trigger that happy feeling, right, Yolanda?
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:And there's something else that's really interesting that we can use.
Speaker B:The brain cannot laugh and be in a stress state at the same time.
Speaker B:So when people have been in a stress state for a very long period of time, I tell them to go and find comedians that they think are funny.
Speaker B:Because when they start laughing and when they watch those comedians, suddenly their parasympathetic nervous system is switched on, and then their brain is getting the chemicals that all is good and all is calm.
Speaker B:The SNS is something that unfortunately switched on with most people today, all the time.
Speaker B:Now, just to keep something important in mind, that stress response, which the SNS is in charge of is only supposed to last for between 30 to 60 seconds.
Speaker B:After that time, we've either been eaten by the tiger or we escaped the tiger and we didn't need the stress response anymore.
Speaker B:But today, people on their phones, people on emails, people worried about the global catastrophes happening all over that we hear about all the time.
Speaker B:All of this information is keeping people in this SNS state.
Speaker B:So that means their levels of cortisol are really high.
Speaker B:That means they're aging faster.
Speaker B:That means they don't sleep well, which ages us faster as well.
Speaker B:That means their gut is impacted, which also ages us faster and impacts the nutrients that are available for the skin.
Speaker B:All of that just because we're not getting our PNs switched on.
Speaker B:So the laughter, the fun, the smiling, the engagement with other people switches the PNS on, which allows the brain and the body to recalibrate itself again.
Speaker B:So when people have been in a very chronically stressed state, the first thing I say to them is, start watching comedians.
Speaker B:You cannot be in a PNS state.
Speaker B:Sorry?
Speaker B:You can't be in an SNS state and laugh at the same time.
Speaker B:The body and brain cannot do that.
Speaker B:So that speaks directly to what you said before.
Speaker B:We can't be stressed and Calm at the same time.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And we are not really recommending that someone lives in a Lola land.
Speaker A:This wires just a couple minutes a day of being present, being in grounded, being in your body.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:The thing is that the more often we do that and the better we get at it, the more we can take those moments and use them in other times in our, in our day as well.
Speaker B:So we want to extend our PNS activity for as much as possible during the day and only have the sns, the stress response rarely, because when we do that, we're in a much calmer state.
Speaker B:You know, people are more creative when they're in the PNS state.
Speaker B:People make better decisions when they're in the PNS state.
Speaker B:People look at a perspective, a helicopter view, more accurately when they're in a PNS state.
Speaker B:When we're in an SNS state, we're responding immediately.
Speaker B:Knee jerk, habitual behaviors.
Speaker B:This does not lead to us being able to see connections with people doing things that we didn't see before and a whole lot of other benefits.
Speaker B:So start practicing with your skincare routine, but then take that, that moment, those moments of peace and calm and mindfulness, and extend them to other times during your day.
Speaker B:We all know that we're living in a world of constant change, of ongoing complexity, increasing complexity, lots of different challenges.
Speaker B:Immersing ourselves in the feelings related to all of those challenges doesn' serve us in any way, shape or form.
Speaker B:Because mostly we can't control any of those things.
Speaker B:We need to focus on what we can control.
Speaker B:And many of the things that we do every day, including our skincare routines, we can control.
Speaker B:We can be in the moment doing those things.
Speaker B:And the more we do that, the better, the more capable we become at dealing with the things that we can't control.
Speaker B:And we start to find out that, guess what, we can thrive despite the challenges.
Speaker B:And that's the state we all want to get to.
Speaker B:Because guess what?
Speaker B:We age less when we do that.
Speaker B:We feel more engaged with other people when we do that.
Speaker B:We find peace again.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Can you bring out the article that you wrote about that no one wants to look older.
Speaker A:Is there a science to this or it's just our mentality?
Speaker B:I think we've created a society where we have venerated youth and we believe that youth is the only thing that counts.
Speaker B:Now, there is a biological underpinning to this because the younger a woman is, the healthier she is to carry and give birth to a child.
Speaker B:So that is the biological underpinning of this.
Speaker B:But we have forgotten as a society what previous societies used to know, understand, and enact.
Speaker B:And that is that wisdom comes with age.
Speaker B:And you can't buy wisdom.
Speaker B:You can't read a book and become wise.
Speaker B:What brings you wisdom is experience.
Speaker B:And with experience comes, unfortunately, aging.
Speaker B:But we can age really well and be wise.
Speaker B:So although no one wants to be.
Speaker B:Wants to be older, there are many benefits to becoming older.
Speaker B:And one of the major ones is more experienced and wisdom.
Speaker B:And guess what?
Speaker B:If you really, really healthy, you've looked after your body, you've looked after your brain, you've looked after your skin, which is a visible manifestation of your health, then you can age with grace, still be beautiful, be wise, and be able to contribute in a very unique and different way to what young people contribute to in the world.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:What I say a glowing skin is a healthy skin.
Speaker A:It's not just there.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:It's not just what you put on it, it's what you put into it and what you do with it.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:This is why I want to just touch on the subject of people who are doing fillers and other invasive procedures to just look radiant, to look a little puffed up, because that brings them joy and maybe more confidence, but it's actually taking away the power from them.
Speaker A:They didn't achieve this themselves.
Speaker A:That means they might not be so healthy inside.
Speaker A:And this is what I want for you, my audience.
Speaker A:I want you to know that aging is inevitable, but skin aging is optional.
Speaker A:And I can show you how, with all the routines, with the right skin care products, and of course, with a little conversation like we just have with neuroscientists who understands the brain, the skin connection, of course there is other connections, but we're talking about those two.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:So what I wanted to say about the smile, before we jump into another subject, when you do smile, when you learn to do this, you might not be in a smiling mode at all right now.
Speaker A:That's okay.
Speaker A:So I always say, even if you fake it, just start doing something, because that will get you in a better state of mind.
Speaker A:And you know, as a bonus, when the cheeks are lifted, the muscle that the biggest muscle in the cheeks is getting worked up.
Speaker A:And guess what happens?
Speaker A:You look younger.
Speaker A:You look like you have fillers.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Just look at the cheeks that just went up.
Speaker A:So do this often enough, your mind will thank you, but your skin will thank you as well.
Speaker B:I love that.
Speaker B:That's beautiful.
Speaker B:A natural way to look younger and get our brain happier and more engaged.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And most people who are here with me and getting this facial done routinely.
Speaker A:And they appreciate that because they take the homework and they follow the homework, the work.
Speaker A:And I compliment them when I come in because I can see if they were actually doing it.
Speaker A:I compliment them.
Speaker A:And you know how proud they are, how proud they are of themselves.
Speaker A:That someone acknowledges, that's one second of all.
Speaker A:They didn't have to buy this.
Speaker A:They did it for them.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:So that gives them a feeling of locus of control.
Speaker B:They actually did the thing themselves.
Speaker B:They didn't have to pay someone else.
Speaker B:And you know, a lot of the, the skin care products, you'd know this better than me.
Speaker B:Most of them are hope and hype and not based on solid, on solid research.
Speaker A:This is why I did my own skincare line.
Speaker A:It was pathetic.
Speaker A:What's out there in, in really expensive, beautiful boxes.
Speaker A:And people spend huge money.
Speaker A:There was a client who came in to me with a.
Speaker A:Literally a hundred sixty dollars, a moisturizer, $160.
Speaker A:I'm like, are you serious?
Speaker B:Well, one of the biggest problems I have, Yolanda, and I know that we covered this in the summit.
Speaker B:We speak about, you know, hormones and the impact of hormones on our, and our health and well being.
Speaker B:But one of the problems for me is that many of those chemicals in those products are endocrine disrupting chemicals.
Speaker B:They mess with our hormones.
Speaker B:So when we use them, we are getting those chemicals in, into our endocrine system which manages our hormones.
Speaker B:And so a lot of women are battling with weight issues and battling with hormone fluctuations and all of these other challenges because they're putting so many of these EDCs onto their skin that their body is absorbing and their brain and body are battling to deal with and detoxify.
Speaker B:So that's another really important aspect that people need to keep in mind, particularly women using all of these products.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:The ingredient lists usually are very complicated.
Speaker A:I get it.
Speaker A:And people usually fall for the advertising or celebrity endorsed products.
Speaker A:And I definitely don't want you to do this because it is not true.
Speaker A:None of it is true.
Speaker A:You need to go and find someone like myself or others who are just as good.
Speaker A:You just need to see someone one on one and assess your skin, know what you need, and you might not need that much.
Speaker A:So my products are plant based for this very reason.
Speaker A:Because when you look at the ingredient list, it's very short.
Speaker A:And the first ingredient is always water.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:This is what we need to do.
Speaker A:So I love this and I know that the skin is important to everyone, but also the, the stress can we talk a little bit about how do you get yourself from the overwhelm and then the frowning that we do to that peaceful state?
Speaker A:What would you recommend we do?
Speaker B:Well, one of the first things that I do when I work with people privately, Yolanda, and in my group coaching, I ask them to make a big list, to do a big brain dump of all the things that are concerning them.
Speaker B:And this is generally a very long list.
Speaker B:And it's a, you know, it ranges from eco anxiety about, you know, the planet's climate challenges and biodiversity challenges, to problems in the organizations where they work, to children that they're battling with, relationship issues, loads of issues.
Speaker B:And then I say to them, okay, now let's work our way through that list and pull out only the things that you can control.
Speaker B:And that list is a very, very much shorter list.
Speaker B:Now, why does this matter?
Speaker B:This matters because we spend energy on many of the things that we can't control.
Speaker B:And in a world where we exposed to so much information about all the things that we can't control, our energy goes where our attention goes.
Speaker B:That's where your energy flows.
Speaker B:It flows to what you're paying attention to.
Speaker B:So if you're paying attention to a whole lot of things that you can't control, guess what happens.
Speaker B:Your cortisol levels are always going to be high.
Speaker B:You're going to be in a state of sterile inflammation.
Speaker B:That's what we call it when there's not an infection in your body, it's sterile inflammation.
Speaker B:Being in a state of inflammation ages us faster.
Speaker B:It damages the skin.
Speaker B:It damages every single one of our tissues, including the brain.
Speaker B:We know that chronic stress is linked to many different types of dementia, including Alzheimer's.
Speaker B:We know that it's linked to cardiovascular disease.
Speaker B:We know that type 2 diabetes is linked.
Speaker B:So we have all of these interconnections because we, we're trying to control the things that we can't control.
Speaker B:So that is the first step that I do with people.
Speaker B:I say, okay, let's only focus on what we can control.
Speaker B:And guess what happens?
Speaker B:They have a huge weight lifted off their shoulders now, because now they're learning to create neural pathways, also known as habits, habits of mind, around the things that they can control.
Speaker B:And a magical thing happens, Yolanda.
Speaker B:Suddenly they have even more control over the things that are in their environment, because guess what?
Speaker B:Now they've got more energy to focus on those things that they can control.
Speaker B:And I have had women tell me that they've had so many light bulb moments when that happens, because what happens is when they're confronted with something that they can't control, again, guess what happens?
Speaker B:Their brain says, no, I'm not paying any attention to that because I can do nothing about it.
Speaker B:I'm only going to pay attention to what I can control.
Speaker B:And so their power grows, they become empowered and they start making bigger changes in their environment.
Speaker B:And then another magical thing happens.
Speaker B:Suddenly they realize their influence is growing.
Speaker B:They are now able to make changes in places that they couldn't make changes before because guess what?
Speaker B:They have changed.
Speaker B:And so their relationships change.
Speaker B:So there's a beautiful domino effect when you realize that what you should be paying attention to is only what you can control.
Speaker B:So that is something that I wish more people would understand because the domino effect is positive on every single level of our mental and physical well being.
Speaker A:Our so our personality, who we are, how we act is con.
Speaker A:Is directly related to our personal reality.
Speaker A:So whatever we are exposing ourselves to or how we act towards creates our self sense of self.
Speaker A:And this is why you're saying about the habits.
Speaker A:When we develop those good habits, it will change our personality.
Speaker A:Guess what?
Speaker A:The personal reality maybe doom and gloom, but it's not going to be that.
Speaker A:Now I wanted to ask you, how long does it take for us to break a habit of something?
Speaker A:What is the time frame?
Speaker B:First important thing is we never break a habit.
Speaker B:A habit never ever gets broken.
Speaker B:We don't override a habit, we don't break a habit.
Speaker B:What we do, we create a new one.
Speaker B:And a good example here is that for example, if someone has smoked, and even if they haven't smoked for 20 years, if they get into an environment that is similar to where they used to smoke, suddenly they'll get a desire for smoking and they'll think oh, I need a cigarette.
Speaker B:Simply because that habit for smoking never went away.
Speaker B:But they created a new neural habit.
Speaker B:So what we need to do is firstly understand that secondly is work hard to create a new habit.
Speaker B:And it takes between 60 to 90 days and even longer to create a new neural pathway, a new habit.
Speaker B:The 21 day myth of creating a new habit isn't true.
Speaker B:It was used by self help and motivational gurus as a way to tell people that they could make change really quickly.
Speaker B:It was actually related to a plastic surgeon who discovered that it takes 21 days for a person to get used to their new face.
Speaker B:It wasn't related to a neural pathway.
Speaker B:So 60 to 90 days, even longer.
Speaker B:Especially if you are creating a new habit to use in place of one that is very deeply entrenched.
Speaker B:So let's say, for example, you are a person who hasn't done exercise for years and now you're trying to create a new habit for that.
Speaker B:It's going to take longer for you to create that neural pathway than for somebody who used to already exercise before, but is just making time for more exercise.
Speaker B:So it is all relative.
Speaker B:But the brain is very, very capable of creating new neural pathways if it's given the right nutrients.
Speaker B:And you've got new, a new way of thinking about this neuroplasticity, that it is possible that you can do it, that the brain is very, very capable.
Speaker B:If you have that perspective when you start out, guess what, you're making it easier for yourself.
Speaker A:That is so true.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And there is always hope.
Speaker A:Hope and possibility of changes.
Speaker A:Now I want to switch a little bit to the subject of pre menopause and post menopause body.
Speaker A:So I used to be able to eat a box of chocolates.
Speaker A:And because I was so active, so happy and always doing something, I would eat that box of chocolates.
Speaker A:I would see it on my hips, but the next day it would be gone because I would just burn it off.
Speaker A:And that was my thing.
Speaker A:Not until the menopause.
Speaker A:Things shifted.
Speaker A:I didn't feel I was burning that energy as fast.
Speaker A:So that means I had to deprive myself of the whole box.
Speaker A:I could only eat two or three.
Speaker A:So that's what we need to do.
Speaker A:We need to adjust with everything around us.
Speaker A:And of course, the hormones play a big role in our skin care as well.
Speaker A:When you are younger, you don't need all this.
Speaker A:The skin does its own healing.
Speaker A:It does work on its own.
Speaker A:Because when you are healthy from the inside, your estrogen, your hyaluronic acid, everything is working the way it's supposed to as we get older.
Speaker A:And the stress gets us down with.
Speaker A:Because the, the stress actually cuts down the production of collagen even lower.
Speaker A:So we don't want to lose the collagen.
Speaker A:Elastin, we are already losing it 1 1% a year until menopause and then after menopause even quicker.
Speaker A:And this is why the serums are helpful to restore that.
Speaker A:But let's talk about the stre.
Speaker A:The hormones and the stress as, as to related to aging.
Speaker B:Okay, Yolanda, I'm just going to move my blind because I see that my blind is actually affecting my eyes.
Speaker B:So I've closed the blind now and here I am again.
Speaker B:Very important conversation because as we move into perimenopause and as we move into menopause, we now start dealing with fluctuating hormones, which now impact neurotransmitters.
Speaker B:And those neurotransmitters, which is serotonin, and gaba, gamma aminobutyric acid.
Speaker B:Those hormones are related to appetite regulation.
Speaker B:Serotonin specifically related to mood regulation, related to feeling safe and settled.
Speaker B:And serotonin is also the precursor to melatonin.
Speaker B:So when our estrogen dips, so does our serotonin.
Speaker B:And that's why we notice that we may have a different type of hunger now, our appetite regulation isn't working as well.
Speaker B:And then we have gaba, which is also is involved with progesterone.
Speaker B:And when our progesterone really dips, as it happens in perimenopause and menopause, then we also notice it's harder for us to feel calm.
Speaker B:We often feel anxious more regularly.
Speaker B:And that's just because these hormones work with these neurotransmitters.
Speaker B:Now they work with all the other systems in the body as well.
Speaker B:And it's difficult to pinpoint exactly where the effects will be felt.
Speaker B:But the minute our blood glucose starts shifting, which happens when we feel more anxious and we don't sleep well, and we may be eating foods that we shouldn't eat because we're trying to prop ourselves up, you know, even if we have a lot of coffee, because now we're lacking in energy, that affects blood glucose.
Speaker B:And blood glucose is very, very important for everybody, always under all conditions.
Speaker B:But we notice the dips and the.
Speaker B:And the highs a lot in relation to weight gain, because the more often your blood glucose goes up and down, the greater the chances are that any excess carbohydrates will be dumped as fat.
Speaker B:So when you were younger, your blood glucose was more stable, and so you could eat the whole box of chocolates and you didn't gain the weight.
Speaker B:But when you got older, your blood glucose had more frequent ups and downs.
Speaker B:And so your body says, hold on a second, I need to hold on to those excess carbs.
Speaker B:And so you start wearing those excess carbs as fat.
Speaker B:And that's part of the challenge.
Speaker B:However, when we manage our mood and we manage our cortisol levels, and we manage the food that we eat, and we make sure that we eat the right kinds of essential fats, which are critically important both for skin, brain, body, every single cell, then what we find is our blood glucose has a greater chance of remaining stable.
Speaker B:Also, when we sleep well, our blood glucose remains stable.
Speaker B:Why?
Speaker B:Because when we don't sleep well.
Speaker B:The brain sends a message to the body.
Speaker B:We need extra energy.
Speaker B:And what do we normally go to?
Speaker B:Fast release energy.
Speaker B:Foods and drinks, like coffee, like crisps, like lollies.
Speaker B:Because we get a very, very quick release of energy and we feel, oh, I can cope, I've got energy.
Speaker B:But then we get the dip again.
Speaker B:So there are a number of different factors that are involved in this process.
Speaker B:Also a psychological or environmental variable is, is when we get to perimenopause and menopause, we often have children reaching young adulthood.
Speaker B:They're living in our home.
Speaker B:And then we also maybe have older parents that we need to take care of.
Speaker B:So we become the buffer between everybody in our home and the people outside our home that we're trying to care for.
Speaker B:Now that is what we call psychosocial stress.
Speaker B:And women have more psychosocial stress than men because of the way we've created the society that we now live in.
Speaker B:So we find that women are battling, trying to deal with these teenagers and young adults in their home, which can be very difficult to live with.
Speaker B:We all know that if we've had, you know, ages of these children in our lives and also dealing with older parents who may not want help, but may need help.
Speaker B:So we find ourselves working outside the home, battling all these different relationships, and then also going through these hormonal changes.
Speaker B:And guess what?
Speaker B:Women feel overwhelmed.
Speaker B:They're battling in secret because they don't want anyone to know they're battling.
Speaker B:Then they'll go and buy an expensive face cream, as we mentioned earlier, and they'll say to themselves, I'll buy this face cream and I won't age now.
Speaker B:I'll put it on.
Speaker B:But they put it on when they're all stressed and guess what?
Speaker B:It just becomes a downward cycle.
Speaker B:So I know that we address many of these issues on the summit, which is fantastic because women need to understand how this all works and what they can do to ameliorate these challenges.
Speaker A:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker A:Yes, we are going to have the summit in this month.
Speaker A:So if you are hearing this later on, unfortunately, that was then.
Speaker A:So maybe we're not going to even mention we're going to cut it there because it's, it's going to be living for a longer time than the summit.
Speaker B:I'm sorry.
Speaker A:Oh, no worries.
Speaker A:I will, I will adjust that.
Speaker A:So that's fine.
Speaker A:So we were talking about this, this, this, and then the hormones and aging.
Speaker A:Did we cover enough hormones and aging?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:The cortisol and low estrogen effects, Yes.
Speaker B:I think we did.
Speaker B:The other thing I just want to mention, Yolanda, which is an important thing to mention, is that women don't necessarily think that their hormones are related to nutrition, but hormones are made from nutrients.
Speaker B:When women are very stressed, their body and brain is directing cells to make a lot of adrenaline and cortisol survival hormones.
Speaker B:And so the body says, you know what?
Speaker B:I'm not going to be so concerned about reproductive hormones because it's more important that I survive.
Speaker B:And so women run out of the nutrients required to make hormones.
Speaker B:Now, this happens in the reproductive years, and women can have a lot of negative effects from that in perimenopause when they also become very stressed and these hormones are fluctuating wildly.
Speaker B:It's also a challenge because if they don't have the right nutrients, they can't make the hormones that are required, and that would still be able to be made within that perimenopause period.
Speaker B:When we go into menopause, we still need all the.
Speaker B:All the same nutrients, but now for different reasons.
Speaker B:So nutrition has a very big role in hormone production, hormone balance, and getting the calibration right again.
Speaker B:And even if women decide to use bioidentical hormone replacement to keep their hormones stable and to make that bridge between perimenopause and menopause easier to breach or get across, even if they do that, they still need all those nutrients to manage all the other systems within their body.
Speaker B:So nutrition is a very, very important part of this hormonal discussion.
Speaker A:And this is why the collagen depletes as well, because body is too busy to pro in producing the stress hormones.
Speaker A:So there is time.
Speaker A:Good.
Speaker A:So I always talk about nutrition from inside out because you can be healthy on the outside if you are not healthy inside.
Speaker A:So that's important.
Speaker A:And by the way, whatever you put into that smoothie in the morning can easily go on your skin like a mask.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:I love that 100%, because those nutrients can be absorbed by your skin, too.
Speaker B:So, yes, that's really important, Yolanda.
Speaker B:When I write my emails to people and they get any communication from me, my.
Speaker B:My signature says, to your glowing health.
Speaker B:And that's because your skin also glows when you're glowing inside.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And that's how you can tell the person is happy or at least content and healthy.
Speaker A:They're eating healthy.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And this is how we know.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:On their skin.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:So at the.
Speaker A:So we're gonna end the show with something that I want to break the myth about.
Speaker A:It's aging is inevitable, but skin Aging is optional.
Speaker A:Many people will tell me, my mom has this.
Speaker A:My grandma ages like this, so I will too.
Speaker A:That's not true.
Speaker A:Everything is in your hands.
Speaker A:Just what the conversation we just had about the hormones, about the chemicals, about the stress responses, that's your ammunition to take control over that aging and not age.
Speaker A:Like your gene pool, you are in control.
Speaker A:So what is it?
Speaker A:70%.
Speaker A:About 70% is in our hands.
Speaker A:Whatever the aging process, even internal 70% is in our hands.
Speaker A:So if you give the less than 30% power to age you, it's fine.
Speaker A:It's not the end of the world.
Speaker A:Just take it where you can grab it and then feed the health of your skin and your body and your mind as well.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:I love that 70%.
Speaker B:It's an enormous amount of power.
Speaker B:70% of the way we age is in our own hands.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And people don't want to believe this, but there is science to it, right?
Speaker A:There is, yes.
Speaker A:Bruce Lipton is someone who I follow and he's just amazing how he, how he simplifies the.
Speaker A:This, the science.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:So that's all what we have for you today.
Speaker A:And I hope you benefited from all of these different subjects.
Speaker A:Delia, could you please tell us where they can find you?
Speaker B:I'm on substack and the name of my substack is the State of the Modern Mind.
Speaker B:So people can find me there.
Speaker B:They can also find me on LinkedIn under Dr.
Speaker B:Delia McCabe.
Speaker B:And I'm happy to answer questions that people ask me and I love to have conversations with people and my email list is where I communicate about the latest research and latest science to make sure that we keep our brain really healthy.
Speaker B:And guess what?
Speaker B:If we keep our brain really healthy, our skin and the rest of our body is healthy too.
Speaker B:I can help people with one on one consultations when they really need help urgently and they want me to tell them exactly what they need to do.
Speaker B:So I do have that as part of my business.
Speaker B:I also do group coaching where people sign up for a group coaching session and we do weekly zoom meetings and they get a whole lot of information about the topic that we're discussing, whether it's gut and brain health or burnout recovery, or they just want to know how to optimize brain function.
Speaker B:And then I also work in organizations.
Speaker B:So when organizations want to help their staff be more engaged, more productive, more creative, make better decisions, they call me in and I teach them about how the brain functions and how to reduce chronic stress.
Speaker B:So those are the ways that I work with people.
Speaker A:Wonderful.
Speaker A:Okay, so that's all what we have for you.
Speaker A:Just get out.
Speaker A:Get in a community of people like minded, people like ourselves.
Speaker A:Get yourself surrounded by someone who thinks positive, never thinks negative, because that will rub off on you.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:So until the next time, thanks for.
Speaker B:Listening and we'll see you in the next episode.
Speaker B:Don't forget to subscribe and share it with your friends.
