- Speaker #0
Welcome to the Not Old Better Show Prevention Magazine Healthy Living Interview Series on radio and podcast. The show covering all things health, wellness, culture, and more. The show for all of us who aren't old, we're better. Each week, we'll interview superstars, experts, and ordinary people doing extraordinary things, all related to this wonderful experience of getting better, not just older. Now. Here's your host, the award-winning Paul Vogelzang.
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Welcome to the Not Old Better Show Prevention Magazine Health and Wellness Interview Series on radio and podcast. I'm Paul Vogelzang, and this is the September installment of our series with Marissa Cohen, the Deputy Editor at Prevention Magazine. Today, we have another engaging episode. In collaboration with Prevention Magazine, we are tackling some of the most pressing health topics crucial. for our audience, adults over 60 who are committed to living their best lives. Let's get right into it. We have another packed episode. For the September issue overview, Marissa Cohen, Deputy Editor at Prevention Magazine, is with us first. Marissa and I will talk about the September Prevention Magazine highlights with subjects like tapping into optimism, so important for our audience and their families. We will talk about whether your pet is lonely, the invincibility fallacy. Do we think because we do all the healthy precautions, we will never be sick? Well, spoiler alert, it's a fallacy. And we will talk about super nutritious, easy snack foods and recipes. We'll be joined today by Stephanie Dolgoff, Acting Editor-in-Chief, to talk about stress and anxiety. This is the September cover story, and Stephanie tells us more about the feature, including the importance of understanding how to balance, breathe. and be more aware to thwart the challenges of stress. They're not going away anytime soon, so let's mitigate and live better. But today's episode promises to be both informative and inspiring, tailored to our seasoned listeners who are passionate about living their best lives. Marissa Cohen, welcome back to the program. It's always so nice to talk to you.
- Speaker #2
Yes, thank you. Always good to talk to you as well.
- Speaker #1
I always enjoy our conversations about Prevention Magazine. We're going to talk today about the September edition. And I'm a fan of writing things down. I'm also somebody in our family that's known as the glass half full person. This all ties in with the September pulse section on tapping into optimism. I think optimism is, you know, it's kind of me. And so I'm often very optimistic and often very enthusiastic. And I think it's good for us to think that way. And I think the September's edition tells us to kind of write some things down. that happen to us that are good. I'm sure you probably do the same, knowing you.
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People either think of themselves as a glass half full or glass half empty person. You can really train yourself to see the glass a little bit more fully, I would say. And one of the ways we do this is by trying to find the moments of happiness and the moments of positivity each day. And studies have shown that doing this really can increase your... better mental and physical health. And it's associated with lower blood pressure, reduced risk of heart disease. And if you think about it, it really makes sense because when you're thinking positively, you sleep better. You're not sitting there all tensed up. Your muscles aren't tense. So you probably are in a little bit less general pain. So there really is a lot to be said for looking for these moments of happiness. And yes, writing it down is a great idea. There are people who love journaling. If you want to be a little more... techie about it. You can just write things down in your notes app or even take pictures of things and write captions to them. One thing I do, for a lot of families do this, my family has always been the type, every night at dinner, we'll try to say, hey, everybody mentioned one or two things that went well for you today. And it can really be anything from a great conversation with Paul on the podcast, or it could be the guy at the coffee bar gave me a little extra cream on my latte.
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Perfect.
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funny article or I read that, you know, saw this funny thing or I saw something at the Olympics. So it could just be anything that makes you think like, oh, you know, there's good people, there's nice things, there's things to be happy about.
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I do like to write them down too. Just as you say, I literally will take out a pen. I have a notebook that I keep. I don't journal per se, but then I kind of like to go back and look over those periodically, you know, go back. Yeah. And I think that kind of helps me. It kind of helps my habit of doing it too.
- Speaker #2
Yeah. And I think if you're in a... spot where you're feeling a little less optimistic, it helps to go back and remind yourself of, you know, of all those happy things.
- Speaker #1
Yes. Well, I'll tell you one thing that really made me quite happy. I wrote down my wife and I elected to send our new puppy to some obedience training out of the home where he kind of slept overnight for seven days, kind of his little version of sleep away camp. And now he's home. And I'm very optimistic having him with us that he just is doing great. And he has such a sunny disposition. He did well. He did well. And I think he's he loves to be around. people too, but there's another wonderful article in September's Prevention Magazine about pets, and I'm a pet person. I know you are too. And it asks the question, is your pet lonely? And I think sometimes they can be very lonely. You see that too sometimes? I mean, how do we even recognize that in them?
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Yeah. And this is definitely an issue that came up a lot in the last few years, because especially at the beginning of the pandemic, people were home all day, people who had the ability to work remotely. were home all day with their pets. We got our dog over when we were working from home. So they're used to spending a lot of time with you and then all of a sudden it's back to work. And this can be just like children, you know, miss you when you go off to work, your pets can too. And it's not just, you know, they're going to work sometimes maybe a child in the family goes off to college or somebody visits for a while and then leaves. So pets definitely can get attached to their people. And, you know, it also depends upon the animal some. who are happy to just sleep in the corner by themselves all day. Right. Some animals just need to be around humans all the time. So this can show up in pets in many different ways. Some specific signs you should look for are if your pet isn't as playful, if they're not eating as much, if they're sleeping more than usual. And then dogs can have some very specific behaviors that are sort of anxiety behaviors that can be brought on by loneliness, which is pacing, drooling, chewing excessively. I know my dog, when she gets a little upset, will chew on her. fall a little bit. Digging at doors is another thing, trying to get out. And then pets can do something called over grooming where they lick themselves and they can even get little bald spots because they're licking themselves too much. They can have issues of being in the wrong place. And so there are ways that if you pay attention, they will let you know. And of course, some people have the option to take their pet to work or some people can put their pet in doggy daycare. That's not an option for everybody, but... There are some things we recommend, like you can turn on the TV to a pet channel and they hear noises, they see animals. I'm a big fan of hiring a local kid to come over and play with your pet for a half hour in the middle of the day. So, yeah, there are ways to get around it.
- Speaker #1
Yeah. And they're such wonderful companions that we just we need to pay attention. And because often they will give an indication that something isn't quite right.
- Speaker #2
Right. And I think sometimes people think of it as like, oh, the dog is misbehaving or, you know, and it's not. They can't tell you with language why they're upset so they can act out sometimes.
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Well, let's jump into an article that I know you had a real hand in and a real role. It's in the health section of September's Prevention Magazine. It's titled The Invincibility Fallacy. I've found this one to be so helpful because I tend to be somebody who really I make an effort to. do the right things. I try to eat right. I try to exercise. I try to sleep right. I try to do some of those things, but that may not do it in every instance. And there's some fallacies around this invincibility that's at least created in my mind.
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Exactly. You know, and I think when we were originally talking about this article, we were thinking of the headline was, but I'm too healthy to get sick. And the idea is, and we, of course, in Fards is Prevention Magazine. We talk about this all the time and we all do this. I eat a plant-based diet. I... work out as often as I can. I do all the things that are supposed to lower your risk of heart disease, lower your risk of cancer. We try to follow all these rules, but the fact is that's about half of it. And you can definitely, and we encourage everybody to do everything like that. And that does decrease your risk a great deal, but it doesn't bring it to zero. So we sort of wanted to examine that idea that there are many people who say, well, I don't have a family history of cancer. I work out every day. I eat perfectly. I don't need to get my colonoscopy or my mammogram, or I've even heard this. I'm not the kind of person who gets sick, so I don't need a COVID vaccine. We try to get across. These are two parts of the same story that, yes, let's say there's 50% of things that are under your control. You do everything you can to make sure that you are doing everything you can, but then there's genetics, there's weird mutations, there's environmental things. There's just bad luck. Sometimes you get sick for no particular reason. And that is why it's so important, even if you think you're doing everything right, to make sure you get your screenings, make sure you get your vaccines. This story was actually inspired by a woman who we then told her story in this article who called prevention because she wanted to get the story across. that he was, you know, you're supposed to get your first colonoscopy when you're 50. And her doctor kept saying, you're supposed to get your colonoscopy. She said, I'm in perfect health. I have no symptoms. Everything's perfect. I work out, you know, every other day. And then a friend of hers, her young daughter, who has a daughter in her 20s, had colon cancer. And she said, oh, just to show my support, I'm going to finally go get my colonoscopy. I think she was about 60 at this point. And she was planning all the fun things to do and she could eat again the next day. day and she woke up with the doctors looking at her and said, you have colon cancer. And she had to get very major surgery. She's on immunotherapy medication. She's doing okay now, but she wanted everyone to know, don't have this happen to you. And that got us thinking about people who do like, oh, you know, I don't really get sick, so I don't need a flu vaccine. I don't need this. I don't need this single vaccine. And we just wanted to make sure everybody knows that the part of living a healthiest lifestyle is also. doing those things.
- Speaker #1
Right. It's kind of the reality check portion of the article that you really, you just need to kind of accept some of this and have it looked at intelligently by a practicing medical professional so that you really do get a sense of what's going on, that you don't just kind of live in the dark.
- Speaker #2
Right. And, you know, there's a, we go over a few reasons why people do that. And as I said, there's the statistics where people, they go on the side of, oh, I'm lowering my risk this much, but there's all that, the other side of statistics, which is, but there's still this risk. But the other thing is what I almost think is like the don't ask, don't tell aspect of it where, and believe me, I have been like this because you can go the whole year without thinking I'm fine. And then in that like week's lead up to getting your mammogram, you're like, there's a chance I could have breast cancer. I'm going, there's a chance they can tell me that. So it's like, if I don't think about it, if I don't do the mammogram, then I can't possibly have cancer. And of course, we also know now that most cancers, many cancers are very suitable at the early stages. And it's terrible. So that's why you don't sort of wait until you have terrible symptoms. You go regularly to get checked up. So if you do have something, if the odds are against you somehow and you do get something, you get it checked out as early as possible.
- Speaker #1
Yeah, I really like that point that you make in the article. It's under the section of how to face your health fears. You have to look at the facts objectively.
- Speaker #2
And it's very scary. thing, but we're all in this together and there are people to help you with it. And we encourage one person to go say, you know what, I've been meaning to get that colonoscopy. Let me go just do it. Then we will have done our job.
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It's always so great to speak with you, Marissa Cohen. Thank you. As deputy editor, we always get the insights really from exactly where we need to find them. And this issue of Prevention Magazine, September 2024, is just chock-a-block full of just some fantastic pieces. Congrats on the issue. My best to you. Great job on the invincibility fallacy as well as everything else. We look forward to talking to you again, but have a great weekend and we'll see you next month.
- Speaker #2
Sounds great. You too.
- Speaker #1
Thanks, Marissa. Always a pleasure to talk with you. Your insights are invaluable. September's issue is going to be a great one. And joining me now is Stephanie Dolgoff, acting editor-in-chief. As we discuss the reality and impact of stress on our health and relationships. In particular, Stephanie will share many useful... tips for combating chronic stress in situations all too familiar to our Not Old Better Show Prevention Magazine audience. Join me as we welcome Stephanie Dolgoff, the Acting Editor-in-Chief. We're going to be talking about stress and anxiety. Stephanie Dolgoff, welcome to the program.
- Speaker #3
Thank you so much for having me.
- Speaker #1
It is great to talk to you. You are a busy person, and so I just want to jump right into this, but welcome again, of course, the Acting Editor-in-Chief, Director of the Health Newsroom. You got a lot going on. And so we're going to talk about stress today because we all feel.
- Speaker #3
Better with it now than even before. So,
- Speaker #1
yes.
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But you know, everybody is very stressed these days. There's a lot of stress in the air, even if your immediate situation isn't that stressful. I think there's like a simmering low grade stress that everyone is feeling because of everything that's going on in the world. So I think it's great that you're doing this topic.
- Speaker #1
Well, thank you. Congratulations on your work on this topic, because I do agree with you. I think the world is a stressful place. And you use this term in the article that because we hear this term perfect storm, but you use this term with respect to stress and say it creates stress, creates this perfect biological storm. I love that. I just jumped right out to me and I just thought, boom, that is it in a nutshell. Could you tell us what you mean by that and how it? this stress can lead to health issues, chronic health issues, as a matter of fact, and how we can alleviate some of this stuff and get past the stressing and anxiety that all of us are feeling.
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Yeah, for sure. When you're under stress, like everyone's heard of a fight or flight. or then now they call it a or fawn 3s it's when you just sort of panic and try to make the situation okay by citating whatever is stressing you out that is a physiological response in your body that response which is very useful for survival when there's a car coming at you or when there is imminent threat it sends your body into a hormonal overdrive and you start producing a step hormone called cortisol and of course adrenaline which makes your muscles gear into action and your heartbeat faster and it makes you want to run and makes you able to run which is of course why it is a survival strategy and that's great and then what's supposed to happen is you calm down that is when your parasympathetic nervous system kicks in and they call that the rest and digest instinct which dials it all back down tells the hormones it's okay not to come out again you for a while until the next threat. And then rest and digest, meaning your body is able to go back to the things that it does when it's not in a state of emergency. Like you can sleep, you can digest your food, you can think clearly, the things that get set off on purpose when you're in an emergency, right? So that's the background. That's how it's supposed to work.
- Speaker #2
Unfortunately,
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the way we live now, a lot of the time, the stress feels like an emergency all the time, or a lot of the time. And it's really not the kind of physical emergency like a tiger chasing you into a cave. But it kind of feels that way because you have a deadline or you're going to miss the bus or, you know, you forgot to find the permission slip for your kid. And you're like, go into this panic mode that your kid is not going to be able to go on the field trip with his class. And oh, my God. So it elevates the levels of these hormones all the time. And. situations like I just described, usually you can bring it back down again and watch Netflix and sit back. But there are situations where you can't. Like, let's say you are, like I mentioned today, you're a caregiver and you don't have a job. And maybe you also have a health challenge. You are in a much more heightened state of stress most of the time. And that is when they call that chronic stress. And that is when it can lead to all these health problems because Your body is in an activated state for a really long time, which is not healthy.
- Speaker #1
This phrase that you used, rest and digest, it can work. The problem, as you describe, is that sometimes we are just on 24-7, as is the case with a home caregiver kind of arrangement. And that's a personal one for me. But I also work from home, so it's hard to shut down. It's hard to kind of get away from it. It's hard to rest and digest. And so... So for those of us who are working from home, how do we then manage this stress when we're constantly connected? And, you know, even during work off hours, we're working, really.
- Speaker #3
That is a challenge. And it's a challenge even if you're not working from home because of technology that enables your boss to hang you in the middle of the night. You know, a brilliant idea that you really don't have to act on right then, but it keeps you in that elevated state. What I do, I'm 57, so I've learned this hard way over time. is I have pretty strong boundaries around what is my work time and what is my relax time. And I need, like, you need to artificially create those because they've been walked away by the way we live now. So when I'm off, I am off. And I'm actually a manager. So if I have a brilliant idea, I will write it down. And I might even compose an email just to get it out of my head, but I won't send it until the next morning. And I know not everyone has the luxury of doing that because you don't want to, if your boss is working all day and all night, you can't, you're worried about being perceived as not dedicated. But in that case, what I would suggest is leaving yourself a 15 minute period, ideally before dinner, so you don't do it too close to bedtime, to get on, address all the miscellany that is being thrown your way after work hours, and then shut it down. You have to for your sanity and you have to for your health because being with stress can lead to all kinds of chronic health issues that you may be scoring points in the short term, but it's really not worth living like that long term.
- Speaker #1
I hope you've enjoyed our September 2024 Prevention Magazine interview series with Deputy Editor Marissa Cohen. Today, we spoke with Marissa about the September. Prevention Magazine highlights, as well as with Stephanie Dolgoff, acting editor-in-chief, to talk about stress and anxiety. Remember, the stress and anxiety piece is the cover story for September, and Stephanie told us all about the feature, including the importance of understanding how to balance, breathe, and be more aware to thwart the challenges of stress. They're not going away anytime soon, so let's mitigate and live better. Thank you, Marissa Cohen, Stephanie Dolgoff, for your invaluable insights into the September issue of Prevention Magazine. My thanks to executive producer Sam Henniger, and thank you, our audience, for tuning in. Remember, knowledge is power, and it's never too late to live your best life. The Not All Better Show Prevention Magazine Health and Wellness Interview Series. Check out the September 2024 issue available now on newsstands everywhere. Please sign up for the Prevention Magazine Premium Program. You'll find all of this in our show notes today. But be well, be safe, and let's talk about better. the not old better show prevention magazine health and wellness interview series until next time stay informed stay healthy thanks everybody we will see you next month
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Thanks for joining us this week on the Not Old Better Show. To find out more about all of today's stories, or to view our extensive back catalog of previous shows, simply visit notold-better.com. Join us again next time as we deep dive into some of the most fascinating real-life stories from across the world, all focused on this wonderful experience of getting better, not just older. Let's talk about better. The Not Old Better Show.
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Hi, one final thing. Please check out our website for this episode and all episodes at notold-better.com or subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts and be sure to check out your local radio stations to find out more about the Not Old Better Show on podcast and radio. You can find us all over social media. Our Twitter feed is notoldbetter and we're on Instagram at notoldbetter2. The Not Old Better Show is a production of NOBS Studios. I'm Paul Vogelsang and I hope you'll join me again next time to talk about Better, the not old, better show. Thanks everybody. We'll see you next week.
