00;00;00;12 - 00;00;29;21
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Stress. It's pretty ambiguous. It can be like a buzz word of sort. It's about really understanding your body and how it's responding to what's up here and what's out here. So often people are like, My life's good. I mean, not really inconvenienced. I like my job and like my spouse and my kids. But like all day, every day, they're ruminating on these thoughts that are not serving them.
You know, maybe it's they're dealing with feeling unworthy or maybe they're worrying about their future or, you know, carrying resentment from their past. But, you know, what's happening here is creating in the body this picture of stress.

00;00;47;06 - 00;01;23;19
Thais
A low and welcome to the Personal Development School podcast. I am so excited you're here. I am your co-host, Ty's Gibson, along with our new special host, Mike DiCicco. This is a podcast that discusses everything related to integrated attachment theory, the new attachment theory, along with the subconscious mind relationships, communication needs boundaries and so much more. Throughout this podcast, you'll see a series of episodes I upload with new information, educational tips, all about how to thrive in relationships and really master your emotional state in your life.

00;01;23;22 - 00;01;39;02
Thais
Along with special guests hosted by Mike Tiso to discuss all of these amazing topics. It's a longer form content. Thank you so much for being here and I really hope you enjoy this episode.

00;01;39;04 - 00;02;01;18
Mike
My guest today is an integrative health practitioner and stress expert specializing in nervous system regulation and adrenal health. She's the CEO of Well and Free and the founder of Stressed Mom Protocol, where she helps busy moms optimize health and upgrade wellbeing. This bestselling author and speaker is a fellow with the American Institute of Stress and a Stress master international associate.

00;02;01;25 - 00;02;20;03
Mike
With over 15 years of experience in health and wellness industry. She's been featured on Fox News, ABC News, U.S. News and World Report, Drug Topics, Forbes and dozens of Podcasts. Personal Development Podcast viewers and listeners. This is Dr. Jen Bourgeois. Hello, John. How you doing today?

00;02;20;10 - 00;02;23;16
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Hello, I'm doing wonderful. Thanks so much for having me here.

00;02;23;18 - 00;02;36;12
Mike
Patricia I was excited to have you on because you're a medical doctor. You have such a wealth of knowledge. So I have a lot of questions here today that I know I'm going to get a lot of value from. So I know our audience is really going to love it, too. So thank you again for being here.

00;02;36;17 - 00;02;37;15
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Absolutely.

00;02;37;17 - 00;02;42;16
Mike
So just to start off, can you just let us know like who you are, what you do, and maybe a bit of your backstory?

00;02;42;18 - 00;03;23;07
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Yes, I'd love to jump into that. So I am a traditionally trained pharmacist. I have bachelor's in nutrition, doctorate of pharmacy, and I started serving in the traditional health care model, like you said about 15 years ago. Loved it. My heart for first serving is really the people I knew from an early age that I wanted to make a difference in the lives of people through health and that I was that kind of new energy, new grad, newly licensed professional, just really ready to change the world.

00;03;23;08 - 00;04;00;09
Dr. Jen Bourgois
And what I noticed is immediately there were gaps in health care. There were gaps. The traditional model, you know, once my patients entered that sick care model, it just didn't seem like they were exiting. I began to really notice, you know, is there true healing? What's happening? Why aren't they being supported outside of just pharmaceuticals? Of course, with my bachelors in nutrition, I was really, really passionate about using food as medicine and healing abilities there.

00;04;00;09 - 00;04;30;25
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So just awareness in the beginning of, hey, there's things here that I feel like I can make a difference outside of that traditional role. So outside of just serving, you know, in this capacity as as a pharmacist and so integrative health, functional medicine and then that Stressed Mastery certification that I've pursued, all of this has been very specific to fill the gap to.

00;04;30;27 - 00;04;56;18
Dr. Jen Bourgois
You know, I say I stand with my clients in the gap. That's part of I feel like my role here and why I'm here is just to really support, you know what? Maybe they're already doing and then some of the goals that they have that they feel like in that traditional model, they're just not getting specifically what they need to advance forward and really begin to heal.

00;04;56;19 - 00;05;21;11
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So that's a little bit of my story on how I got here. I currently do service, spiritual space, supporting clients, integrative health. I really niche down into nervous system regulation work supporting adrenal health, but I do help specifically women, you know, really with all health goals, whether that be mineral balancing, hormonal balance, etc..

00;05;21;13 - 00;05;39;06
Mike
Wow, that's so wonderful. So many good things there. And you know, I love how you saw the need for something. And, you know, a lot of people will just continue to do what they're doing. They're making a good paycheck. They're, you know, have a good living. But you're like, no, like I see a need here and I'm going to deliver it because it's my sort of moral duty.

00;05;39;07 - 00;05;56;16
Mike
I want to do this for people, which is really, really beautiful and I know a lot of people who kind of get into these types of things maybe had their own healing journey. Was there anything on your end, like a catalyst or something that happened in your life that pushed you towards sort of getting into medicine or healing or this type of area?

00;05;56;18 - 00;06;18;24
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Exactly. That I was a busy professional. I'm a high achiever, very driven. I don't do things halfway, you know, And so even in the professional setting, I wanted to do a great job. So I worked hard. I came early, I stayed late, I had children. So I became a mom supporting a marriage. So, you know, the relationship with the spouse.

00;06;18;24 - 00;06;44;29
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So there was a lot of hats I was wearing and I became ill. I didn't really know what was happening. Chronic fatigue and really extreme fatigue and went to my doctor, traditional provider who had very few answers for me because my blood work was normal. You look great. Probably just, you know, tired, your mom. And so I had to continue to advocate for myself.

00;06;44;29 - 00;07;11;09
Dr. Jen Bourgois
And that's one thing I hope that our listeners will take away from my story is if you feel off, if you feel that kind of on settlement of sort within that something's wrong. Just continue to advocate for yourself because, you know, that's my story. I went back three times and I kept saying, I'm not okay. He wanted me to take this depression and get back on birth control and all.

00;07;11;10 - 00;07;34;07
Dr. Jen Bourgois
I said, No, no, no, I want to know what's wrong. You know, that's no longer okay with me. And so you finally diagnosed with Epstein-Barr, which is just a viral infection. And I think knowing what I know now and being on this side of the journey now, but of course, it was very much rooted in stress. My lifestyle, my busyness, not taking time to sleep.

00;07;34;07 - 00;07;54;23
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Sleep was optional for me. Sleep was option. It was one thing that if my day ran long, if my to do list was was at the point where there were still four things I needed to check off, then I would just delay sleep. Ah, wake up early, you know, this is optional and and that was detrimental to my health.

00;07;54;23 - 00;08;11;13
Dr. Jen Bourgois
I did not regulate stress. I did not have tools to regulate stress. My nervous system was a total mess from childhood trauma that was unresolved. And so it was just a really kind of perfect storm, if you will, to allow this virus to take over my body.

00;08;11;13 - 00;08;35;02
Mike
So there's so many things I love about that. But one thing I'm really happy you mention is on your side of the fence to say, don't stop like talking about, hey, there's something wrong here. I know something's off because I know for myself and probably a lot of other people, if they go like one, two, three times, they feel like maybe if they're not getting what they need, they're being a nuisance or maybe it's in their head and they're, you know, maybe there is nothing wrong with them.

00;08;35;05 - 00;08;49;07
Mike
But it you know, your body the best. And if you're feeling that and you know that something is off, you're saying just keep trying different things, maybe keep seeing different people like don't give up sort of on figuring out what's going on for you. I love that.

00;08;49;10 - 00;09;09;07
Dr. Jen Bourgois
You know, I think that's a beautiful part about the virtual community. The virtual space that we're in is no longer people feel, you know, they're not so boxed in to what's available to them in proximity to me, growing up in a really small town, proximity wise, I didn't have a lot of access. And I think.

00;09;09;07 - 00;09;09;20
Mike
The.

00;09;09;23 - 00;09;22;23
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Signing thing now with with health care is you have access to so many resources instructors and providers who really can help support where you are.

00;09;22;23 - 00;09;41;03
Mike
So right. And yeah, I'm thinking on my grandparents or probably my parents, it's like you went to your doctor. What that person said was Bible and you didn't question it and that was that. But now we have like so many things. Do we almost have too many things to choose from now or always? More is better because we can go with what resonates best with us.

00;09;41;06 - 00;10;04;12
Mike
Yes. Yeah. And then you mentioned sleep. We'll talk about sleep later, but I know a lot of people are like, Oh, you'll sleep on your diet or, you know, sleep this for lazy people or whatever. That couldn't be further from the truth. But we'll get into that a little bit later for sure. So in your one on one practice, what do you see as like the most common issue or what common issues come up over and over and over and why do you think they're so prevalent in sort of today's world?

00;10;04;14 - 00;10;32;13
Dr. Jen Bourgois
I would say I work mostly with women and it is 100% stress. I think that, you know, stress it's pretty ambiguous. It can be like a buzz word of sort. You think some people even get a little offended. They're like, I'm not stressed. And it's really it's about really understanding your body and how it's responding to what's up here and what's out here.

00;10;32;20 - 00;11;02;09
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Right. And, you know, so often people are like, my life's good. I mean, not really inconvenienced. I like my job and like my spouse and my kids what are what, you know, But like, all day, every day, they're ruminating on these thoughts that are not serving them. You know, maybe it's they're dealing with feeling unworthy or maybe they're worrying about their future or, you know, carrying resentment from their past.

00;11;02;09 - 00;11;32;00
Dr. Jen Bourgois
But, you know, what's happening here is creating in the body this picture of stress. And I think for my clients, specifically women, it is a lot of that underlying stress that's creating nervous system changes. Therefore, it's impacting adrenal health and thyroid health and liver health. And that's really where you start seeing those symptoms. So, you know, symptoms, it's just your body's way of communicating, right?

00;11;32;04 - 00;11;59;02
Dr. Jen Bourgois
That's how your body talks to you. It is it's giving you a signal or a sign to say, hey, pay attention, something's wrong over here. There's an imbalance, there's a dysfunction. And it's really those first triggers. Are you know, think about your I always I don't know why I use that analogy of a car with health, but, you know, just think about the dashboard of saw in your car when you when you're low on fuel, your fuel light comes on and when your tire gets low, your tire like.

00;11;59;04 - 00;12;17;12
Dr. Jen Bourgois
And so it's the same thing. You know, lights are equivalent to symptoms. And so your body really just wants to pay attention. And so when you start seeing those things change for me, insomnia, fatigue, right. Headaches. It was just my body's way of trying to get my attention that, hey, something's not working.

00;12;17;14 - 00;12;18;10
Mike
Yeah.

00;12;18;13 - 00;12;43;02
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Down, pay attention. And I think we can really start to if at that point you can you can become aware and bring some intention to the body, intention to the process of saying, Hey, I don't think everything's okay. Usually you can really start to uncover some of those initial imbalances and dysfunctions before they become disease.

00;12;43;04 - 00;12;59;24
Mike
Know that what you're saying? Pay attention to the body, whereas that can be quite logical and in my head a lot of the times. So yeah, it would be easy to say, well, I don't know why this would be happening. I love my job. I have a relationship, I have a home to live in, and you can almost like guilt yourself into being, you know, people have it so much worse.

00;12;59;24 - 00;13;16;20
Mike
And, you know, at least I have this, At least I have that. But, hey, the fact is, your body's alarms are going off and they're saying something is off here. I don't care what story you want to tell yourself, but we're letting you know there's something going on here and you can either attend to it or it's just going to keep persisting.

00;13;16;23 - 00;13;23;06
Mike
And like you said, it's if you don't look at it, it will turn into something a lot worse than it needs to be.

00;13;23;09 - 00;13;47;27
Dr. Jen Bourgois
You know, in this day and age, we're so busy, we're so disassociated from presence because of lifestyle. It would be because of all the pieces of life that are vying for our attention. You we just we're not present here. And so I think part of the problem is that we're not in tune with our body. We're missing alignment.

00;13;47;27 - 00;14;12;22
Dr. Jen Bourgois
We no longer live in the body. You know, we don't in our times, we don't even really feel a change in our body because there's just so much disconnection. And I think that's an important part to just share with the viewers here today or the listeners is, you know, a slow down check in on yourself. I tell my clients out, Are you really just sit down one second to yourself, How am I today?

00;14;12;22 - 00;14;40;12
Dr. Jen Bourgois
I am I feeling like let your body feel for just a minute, you know, really come back here and engage those senses, look around, smell, touch something with texture, you know, just really be in here in the present moment, because that will create some safety in your body and really allow you to kind of come off this spaceship that is, you know, where you kind of dissociate and you get on your spaceship and you're in la la land do in life.

00;14;40;12 - 00;14;47;14
Dr. Jen Bourgois
It's like, No, I'm here and get back in the body. And so I think that's important too. It's like that piece of the puzzle.

00;14;47;17 - 00;15;11;15
Mike
Yeah, definitely. That's great advice and probably put your phone down once in a while, right? We're probably looking at our devices way too often and again, doing that, we're ignoring ourselves and putting all our energy and attention outside of us, right? No, no, that's that's wonderful advice. Thank you. So, Dr. John, you created the Stressed Mom Guide, where you share the top five ways to reduce stress in less than 15 minutes per day.

00;15;11;18 - 00;15;19;25
Mike
We'll put a link to that in the show notes. But I was wonder if you can give our audience a sneak preview of a few ways you can reduce stress in less than 15 minutes per day.

00;15;19;28 - 00;15;45;06
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Yeah, I think that's so important is that we don't really need more to do we have enough to do. And I think that's one way that many people get overwhelmed with their health journey. They recognize, you know, I don't feel great. I've got around improving my diet and I need to exercise more. But they get overwhelmed with this more to do.

00;15;45;06 - 00;16;26;28
Dr. Jen Bourgois
I need to track my macros, you know, And so I try to keep the guide really simple was my heart was like, okay, let me help you give you some tips and and tricks, if you will, that you can incorporate alongside the day that you're already walking through. So one of the things that I'll sneak to, you know, right now is humming, humming is just a really great way that you can activate the vagus nerve to the part of the nervous system that really helps kind of relax you and maybe kind of bring back that check and balance, if you will, even just how while you're brushing or not hitting home while you getting ready,

00;16;27;01 - 00;17;04;17
Dr. Jen Bourgois
you can how much shower you can write home while you're cooking breakfast or while you're driving. It's simple. It's something we can incorporate alongside life. And so that's really that that's really what you'll find in that guide is just really practical, simple tips that you can incorporate to help with stress reduction. When I talk about stress reduction, yes, there's some practical things in there too, you know, lifestyle wise, but it's really about nervous system because that is the operating part of the body that really helps guide that stress response.

00;17;04;19 - 00;17;20;20
Mike
Wow. That's so brilliant. Just the fact that you're doing it alongside. Because when we're hearing all these things we need to be doing, we're like, Oh, I need to be meditating 30 minutes a day. But a lot of people are like, I don't want to stop everything. And for 30 minutes after meditating, like it's just it's too much.

00;17;20;20 - 00;17;39;11
Mike
So your tips are doing it alongside. Like you're going to be walking to work anyway. You're going to be in the car anyway. What's what's simple humming, you know, that's not going to take away from your day. In fact, it's going to add to it. So I love that. Does it have to be loud? Let's say you're walking doing your daily walk to work and those people around you don't have to do this loud about hum.

00;17;39;11 - 00;17;40;17
Mike
It's just like.

00;17;40;19 - 00;18;04;09
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Yeah, yeah, it's just the vibration, you know? So when you hear this kind of vibrating, that's gargling, you could gargle water. It's kind of same of sorts. But I find that when you gargle, why do you have to stop? That's a process, right? You can't really do that alongside. So humming is, has the same effect really that you don't have.

00;18;04;09 - 00;18;05;00
Mike
Anywhere.

00;18;05;02 - 00;18;06;21
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Quiet. Wow. Yeah.

00;18;06;23 - 00;18;08;14
Mike
Yeah. I can't.

00;18;08;16 - 00;18;23;02
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Help that. It's helpful if it's a song that brings you joy. Yeah, maybe it's going to mean something to you or one of your favorite songs. You know that typically when a brightens people, they're like, Oh, yeah, I vibe a little better. Yeah.

00;18;23;02 - 00;18;23;12
Mike
Yeah.

00;18;23;17 - 00;18;27;16
Dr. Jen Bourgois
You start seeing them kind of move and that's always like a positive thing too.

00;18;27;18 - 00;18;48;01
Mike
Oh, I love that. I can feel it already. Awesome. So you recently offered the Creating Calm and Motherhood Masterclass, which is for busy moms to release overwhelmed burnout and reconnect to more self-love presence worthiness. This sounds like it was such a beneficial class and I was wonder if you can touch on how it went. I know is very recently.

00;18;48;03 - 00;18;50;15
Mike
And will you be offering this again in the future?

00;18;50;17 - 00;19;43;24
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Yes, absolutely. We're going to bring it back. It's just so necessary as a fellow mom who are working moms who have been on this journey of growth and personal development for probably seven, eight years. And so I see firsthand personally. And then now, you know, on the practitioner side of it, the need, the need for women to be supported in this area, there's so much negative self-talk, you know, the limiting beliefs of saw that operating from that fear mentality in I think that it's a place that many people in the business journey entrepreneurship or maybe you know you've got this drive of sort to achieve in your profession.

00;19;43;27 - 00;20;20;21
Dr. Jen Bourgois
They're really honed in on personal development that I think that, you know, we do a great job connecting those to. I support a lot of moms and I think that it's not as accessible for them. You know, they don't they don't really connect the dots that like you would need personal growth and personal development, you know, no matter your role, no matter if you're a top exac or if you are that's nurturing, you know, these sweet kids at home and so I think that's been a really cool piece as to is to kind of pay that forward a little bit.

00;20;20;21 - 00;20;41;14
Dr. Jen Bourgois
And that to this group of people in my community that, you know, it can benefit you no matter where you are, just really grounding back to self and connecting back to the true essence of who you are. The soul, you know, the soul being that the part of you that, you know, spiritual side and, and really helping connect that act.

00;20;41;14 - 00;20;50;10
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So yeah we great as as a mom we need way more calm and in the chaos of motherhood it's yeah resonated really well.

00;20;50;17 - 00;21;11;04
Mike
I don't know obviously nothing about motherhood but I imagine a lot of moms are at home and they sort of alone and feel a little isolated and just don't know what to do. And you know, the fact that you offer something like this sounds super beneficial to moms and they don't have to be alone and they can gain support from people, probably every other mom going through the same thing, which is which is wonderful.

00;21;11;06 - 00;21;15;16
Mike
So I'm really happy to offer that.

00;21;15;18 - 00;21;37;07
Thais
I just want to jump in here and let you know that we are doing a 14 day free trial, which means you get access to the personal development school and everything we have going on on the other side for free for 14 days. That means you get access to the four live webinars I do every single week. You can come in, you can ask me questions with your camera on, we can chat, you can leave your camera off if you prefer, or type your questions in the chat.

00;21;37;07 - 00;21;58;26
Thais
There's lots of opportunity to get your questions answered and on top of that you get access to all of our different courses. We have over 55 different courses on relationships, communication boundaries, emotional mastery, guilt and shame, learning your needs. So many different facets that are really important to master our lives and feel really good about our lives going forward.

00;21;58;28 - 00;22;18;06
Thais
And last but not least, there's also community elements in there. So there's a daily community event, whether it's practicing communication or doing a guided morning routine or a guided reprograming exercise. We have trained facilitators and coaches who are in there doing that work, showing up to support you in your journey every single day. So I would love to see you on the other side.

00;22;18;06 - 00;22;36;20
Thais
There's lots of exciting stuff in there and we have had a 99.7% NPS score, which means we have literally that many people who report being really successful apprize and wanting to recommend us to others. And it was all done anonymously. So I felt really honored that everybody shared that. So thank you to those who did. But yeah, please join me on the other side.

00;22;36;20 - 00;22;41;27
Thais
Come check it out, see if it's a fit for you. I'd love to see you there.

00;22;42;00 - 00;23;07;15
Mike
So another area that I'm really interested in my own life and I'm happy to ask you about is minerals and supplements and the importance of them. So I was I was on if you could share like why supplements and minerals are so important beyond just our everyday food, sometimes we think, oh, we're eating healthy, so we're good. But what supplements and minerals should people look into taking beyond just their food and diet every day?

00;23;07;19 - 00;23;41;15
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Great question. So the purpose of a supplement is just that it's to fill the gap of your diet. And so ideally we would eat a diet that is nutrient dense, rich in this variety of vitamins and minerals. So, you know, from your BS to your fat soluble, all of your minerals great macros split in the truth of the matter is one, the American diet is really bad at this.

00;23;41;17 - 00;24;16;04
Dr. Jen Bourgois
You know processed foods, fast foods just it it does not lend itself well to us meeting our goals for our nutrients. Right. And food is changed you know with the changes in soil and all of that has two sides, herbicides, all the ways that, you know, mass production of crops and sort those the produce that wants, you know, gave us 100% of our vitamin C, You know, we're just we're not seeing the same.

00;24;16;04 - 00;25;05;03
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So unfortunately, there are gaps and we do need to supplement that. And so now that's what you'll find in the form of pills, capsules, liquid foods, that it's just a way for you to meet your nutrient goals. And so there are some really standard goals that that we all have in regards to certain vitamins and minerals. But what I have found to be really helpful in my work is to do some lab assessments to see where people are in regards to these goals and help specific support for them because it's hard for me to generally recommend supplements because our bodies are bio individual.

00;25;05;07 - 00;25;35;02
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Sure, theirs is different than mine is different than every single other person in this world. And so really understanding your body, seeing where you are, will help guide, you know, more specific supplementation. But mainly it's to fill the gaps. So if you know you don't like fish, you never eat fish. Probably need to take an omega. You know, if you're you're 20 years plus, you probably need to get on an omega if you're not eating fish.

00;25;35;02 - 00;26;07;00
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So that so those things are kind of simple. You know, if you haven't a are genetic mutation, you have to supplement with methylated B vitamins. Your body can't do that. So some of those things, you know, we know we burn through magnesium when you're stressed out. So if you're going through a really stressful time in your life, if you have a a job that's really demanding, it's probably a good idea for you to supplement with some magnesium to avoid that deficiency.

00;26;07;02 - 00;26;35;05
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So I think those are a few general guidelines we can kind of pay for it. And that minerals, I'm really passionate about that specific part because they are the spark. So they are the piece of of this kind of physiological equation that allows for the detoxification it know creates that enzymatic reaction. It allows certain hormones to enter into the cell.

00;26;35;05 - 00;27;05;00
Dr. Jen Bourgois
It helps with glucose transport. And we see, you know, major mineral deficiencies in in America, unfortunately, with diet and most of our water is not mineralized. So if you use filtered water, bottled water, so much of that is just stripped down all the way out. They take all the good with the bad. And so we kind of see that be a struggle just for baseline, you know, mineral needs.

00;27;05;00 - 00;27;37;21
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So a lot of times if you're not drinking mineral water, it's a good idea. Maybe you need to add some minerals back into the water. Right. But that's just a really passion of part of my work because I see nationally at a cellular level. So this being that we see here, you and I, trillions and trillions of cells make us up and so foundation of who we are, that cellular level, you know, if minerals are not balanced, it absolutely affects all processes that are trying to happen.

00;27;37;21 - 00;27;42;13
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So it's just a great foundational tool for me to use to help support clients.

00;27;42;20 - 00;27;54;20
Mike
That's super informative. And with someone just go to their GP and request a blood profile test. Or is that somewhere you got to go to like a naturopath or There's probably a hundred different ways, but I'm not I'm not totally sure. What would you recommend?

00;27;54;23 - 00;28;20;04
Dr. Jen Bourgois
100 different ways. My best way to do it is the hair, tissue, mineral analysis. So here is actually a tissue and it's really easy to sample. You just cut it versus in a big chunk out of your skin or going in for a biopsy on your liver. That's obvious tissue sample, too. But what we're trying to understand is we can use the tissue to see mineral status and it's cellular level.

00;28;20;04 - 00;28;47;07
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So blood work. So if you if you go in and have a blood draw and assess minerals, that's one way. And we do use that as a standard of care or different diagnoses of sort in the traditional community. But remember, blood is meant to be homeostatic. So blood's job is to write, transport and carry all these different minerals and nutrients to the cell.

00;28;47;09 - 00;29;11;06
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Right. You see that in the cell. So I like the TMA. You can find practitioners. I offer the assessment many, many other integrative and functional practitioners, all for that as a as an assessment tool to understand minerals. And I personally am also and I like to use. But yes, you can use blood work male GP to look at minerals too.

00;29;11;09 - 00;29;29;10
Mike
I love that. That's great. I don't love needles so I didn't even know that the hair samples. So I'm going that way next time for sure. So you talk about adrenals and cortisol. I was just wondering for anyone who might know what is adrenal fatigue and why does it happen and how can we correct it?

00;29;29;12 - 00;30;11;25
Dr. Jen Bourgois
One of my favorite topics. So thanks for asking. I adrenal health is so important and I think it's a big piece of the puzzle to many women's health symptoms. So we have our HIPAA access. So it's that system that, you know, connect connects several different organs, one of being the adrenals. And it's kind of this system that helps modulate stress, helps release certain hormones to make sure that we have kind of adequate hormone circulation.

00;30;11;25 - 00;30;43;26
Dr. Jen Bourgois
And again, a lot of activity with stress. So we see what we call are what we would diagnose, HIPAA, axis dysfunction. And that's really the new P.C. term to use versus adrenal fatigue, really a similar type of picture. As far as a clinical picture, though, you know, where the patient is typically going to have signs of fatigue, maybe some weight gain, just really struggling with life of sorts.

00;30;43;26 - 00;31;15;18
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Some type of stressor could be environmental. It could be thoughts, mental type, emotional stress, could be an infection. So remember, an infection creates stress in the body, inflammation creates stress in the body. So some type of prolonged stress has really caused this adrenal to have to work overtime. So the adrenal is going to be active, aided to say, hey, something's going on, there's some stress of sorts.

00;31;15;20 - 00;31;35;12
Dr. Jen Bourgois
This is just one way to activate it. But when you have sun stress kind of knocks on the adrenal and says, Hey, I need you release some cortisol. And then this cortisol secondarily makes all these different effects happen in the body. Your heart speeds up, your breath rate increases, digestive function decreases because the body thinks there's a stressor of sort.

00;31;35;12 - 00;31;55;09
Dr. Jen Bourgois
We need to kind of react. And so when you constantly kind of knock on the door, hey, adrenal, I need you, I need you, I need you. It's just like me as a mom. You know, the more times my kids come in here, mom, my mom, my mom, and my entire exhausted, What? How many more you know, are maybe your boss at work, you know?

00;31;55;09 - 00;32;21;27
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Or it's like change and gender this day, the citizen In a day, you're like, Oh, my gosh, you've. It's going to be 20 million things today. I'm exhausted. It's really the same concept. You know, the more that push and require an ask of our adrenal I just it gets tired and so this you know fatigue picture is just over time it's just this consistent chronic stimulations, cortisol, cortisol, cortisol.

00;32;21;27 - 00;32;51;27
Dr. Jen Bourgois
And now it's tired. Sometimes you can even see that the patient's cortisol production will be diminished. And so that creates problems with sleep. And again, wait, regulation, energy regulation can secondarily impact the Android and the liver. So all of those systems are very interconnected, but really it just comes down to helping people understand where they are, how these symptoms are correlating.

00;32;51;27 - 00;33;14;28
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Maybe we're looking at cortisol markers. I use that through a couple of different assessment tools to just see, okay, what is your cortisol level? Where are the we can assess adrenal function through through a test too, and really look at how is the adrenal responding throughout the day. So we get markers throughout the day to kind of see, you know, is it on that tired side?

00;33;14;28 - 00;33;42;04
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Is it more fatigued or is it overactive? You know, it's been this more heightened fight or flight where really it's acute stress, you're being bumped up and does pushing out a ton of cortisol and high cortisol creates problems with blood sugar regulation. So typically you'll see some correlations there with the the client, you know, high cortisol issues with glucose regulation.

00;33;42;07 - 00;34;03;26
Mike
So obviously it's very important and it sets off like a snowball effect if you don't take care of it. So is this a big problem with people who actually have a very stressful life, or is it also and can't be if people who have the perception of stress and are always worried about things that aren't even really happening, like worst case scenario or oh, what if what if I got laid off one day?

00;34;03;26 - 00;34;18;28
Mike
What if I don't have enough money for rent? So can it be also people who actually their life is not that stressful but their mind kind of tricks this system into? There's an emergency outside of us all the time that does that make sense it.

00;34;19;00 - 00;34;32;23
Dr. Jen Bourgois
100% does. And you're on to something. It is exactly the same. So our body cannot differentiate between what is really, really happening in front of us and what is happening here.

00;34;32;29 - 00;34;33;25
Mike
Right the.

00;34;33;25 - 00;35;13;06
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Way we're wired. And literally it's just that it is physiological wiring. Our our body can't differentiate. So those are ruminating thoughts on past and future, you know, whether it be like resentment and kind of judgment and or fear. Right. What's going to happen? Worry, like you mentioned, anxiousness, the body does it no differently at a physiological level. So if you're eating, if you're worried, if you're anxious, your body's perceiving that as stress as that, oh, my gosh, you know, they're going to lose the job.

00;35;13;13 - 00;35;57;12
Dr. Jen Bourgois
They lost the job. You know, what's happening. And so all of those physiologic changes are happening. Nervous system is beginning to activate. It's telling the adrenal out. We need some cortisol because there is a problem here. Digestion is going to start slowing down. You're going to get probably some secondary release of glucose. And so you can see just from this conversation we're having right now how easily what's here and even just like stress in your environment, how it's connected, directly connected to physical health, just listening about months of this kind of pattern of sort every single day.

00;35;57;14 - 00;36;22;04
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Mm hmm. If your digestion processes are being shut down or at least minimized every day, you're probably having trouble with bowel regulate action. You're not absorbing your nutrients appropriately over time. This can create problems with Candida. Oh, now you've got maybe like your in your stomach. Is it about in there? Now you're starting to have symptoms associated with all those things.

00;36;22;04 - 00;36;32;24
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So you can just see how one little piece of this whole big physical picture we're kind of presenting here, just that one little piece can become disregulated.

00;36;33;02 - 00;36;50;08
Mike
Yeah. So we definitely got to pay attention to our thoughts and not go down the rabbit hole of, you know, because like you said, your body thinks it's happening right now. And the more you feel it, those thoughts, the more is just going to continue to perpetuate that adrenal to pump over time and then eventually all these other health problems happen.

00;36;50;08 - 00;37;05;24
Mike
So, yeah, super important stuff, that's for sure. So we touched on earlier about how important sleep is. You know, if you want to show up as the best version of yourself in your daily life, do you have any tips for better sleep so people can feel more refreshed and energized?

00;37;05;26 - 00;37;49;06
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Make it a non-negotiable? It is optional for so many of us. Like you mentioned, you know, sleep when you're dead and sleep with the lazy and I think one is just giving yourself permission to kind of flip the script on that. Like it's not optional. It is 100% necessary if you want physical health. It is that time of the day where your body resets, where you detox, you clean out the debris, the toxins erupt, hair, any damage that is it is is essential.

00;37;49;07 - 00;38;21;10
Dr. Jen Bourgois
It's essential for health. And so I think that's the one thing, you know, to start the conversation is prioritize it, make it a non-negotiable schedule. And I'm going to bed at 10:00, so be it. The to do list may not be complete. So be it. Sleep is that important? And as a practitioner, I can't stress it enough. And so if you have struggles with sleep, maybe you can't fall asleep, maybe you can't stay asleep.

00;38;21;12 - 00;38;44;12
Dr. Jen Bourgois
You know, working with someone like me or practitioner that can really help support and help you understand your body, what's causing it? Is it cortisol imbalance? You know, is it because you're so stressed throughout the day now, your cortisol still really high at night? Well, there's circadian rhythm in that balance between cortisol and melatonin. That's how we wake up and that's how we fall asleep.

00;38;44;12 - 00;39;05;22
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So cortisol spikes in the morning wakes you up. It's kind of your energy, get up and go. And of course melatonin is dropping and cortisol is dropping and melatonin is rising and when that melatonin rises, you start to get sleepy. And that's a natural ebb and flow of sort that happens in the body. Or should your SO has up become dysfunctional?

00;39;05;25 - 00;39;34;13
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Is it an issue with glucose regulation So often that's an underlying cause of insomnia or sleep disturbances and then liver health. So if you constantly are waking up at that 2 to 3 a.m. hour every day, you know, you can't go back to sleep. We see that linked to some liver dysfunction. So really just understand in your body, you know, what are some of those barriers and set yourself up for success.

00;39;34;13 - 00;39;54;19
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Consistent bedtime is so important that plays directly into that circadian balance, that ebb and that flow if you're going to be in and then 12 and then nine and then to your body's like, what the heck is happening? I don't know when to drop the cortisol and when to release the melatonin. She's going to bed at this time this day.

00;39;54;19 - 00;40;28;17
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So that consistency helps your body really get in that ebb and flow and, you know, a great sleep environment right? Comfy bed, good temperature, dark. Maybe you need some noise in the background, but just really like set yourself up for success there and minimizing blue light. We do see so much research on that now. Right. Is is this overexposure, phones, computers, TVs at naps impact that melatonin release?

00;40;28;23 - 00;40;29;07
Mike
Right. Right.

00;40;29;07 - 00;40;45;02
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So if you're going to be a night if you you know, if you're that person, you got to work late or you're going to be on your phone as blue blocker glasses have been proven to help support so that you're not interrupting that cortisol, melatonin.

00;40;45;05 - 00;40;55;09
Mike
Because if you're staring at your phone late at night, essentially tricking your body, that it's kind of daytime, Isn't that the idea? Or it's just kind of like confused and not really sure what's what's going on there?

00;40;55;11 - 00;40;57;03
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

00;40;57;05 - 00;41;17;06
Mike
What what I would love to know is so I know sleep is so important and I'd love to know if you do this as well or don't do this Monday to Friday. I'm pretty good at going about at the same time and waking up at the same time because I know the need for consistency is super important, but then Friday night, Saturday night comes and you sort of want to treat yourself a bit, I don't know.

00;41;17;06 - 00;41;38;23
Mike
So I'll end up staying out maybe like one to 2 to 3 hours later on Friday and then wake up a little bit later on Saturday. And the same for Sunday. Then obviously Monday mornings I don't feel the most optimal. So is it super important to keep that schedule seven days a week or can you sort of shift it a little over the weekend?

00;41;38;23 - 00;41;42;00
Mike
But as long as you're getting the same amount of sleep, you should be okay?

00;41;42;02 - 00;42;03;12
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Well, that's a good question. It's actually optimal for you to keep it the same within party. So studies show it, you know, within about 30 minutes is deal and I think what the goal of this and the goal of this life is one, we want to enjoy it. I mean, no one wants to live a life where they look back and they're like, well, that wasn't fun.

00;42;03;12 - 00;42;26;12
Dr. Jen Bourgois
And I need to live this life where where we have experiences that may not align with optimal health. And so that's just like me. You know, I really enjoy a glass of wine occasionally, or maybe a steak occasionally, you know. So there are certain things that I know I do that aren't optimal. Yeah, but I in so I think it's the same concept.

00;42;26;12 - 00;42;56;18
Dr. Jen Bourgois
It's really going back to what are your goals, what are your health goals, What are you struggling with? For me, I had terrible insomnia. You know, when I talked about my health journey and how this all started, I have done anything for sleep. And so for me on the journey and really learning how to to heal and be more holistic with the process, I was I knew that even though I wanted to say what I knew, it meant honoring that commitment, you know.

00;42;56;19 - 00;43;24;18
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Yeah. Even if that was, you know, I do some Bible studies and some girls nights and different things like then, you know, I would be having great conversations with my girls and really just connecting and but I had to honor it and had to go. I got to cut it short. I know it's so important that I get in bed because and once you find that groove, if you haven't slept for a long time really well and then you start sleeping well, you're like, I am.

00;43;24;20 - 00;43;47;07
Dr. Jen Bourgois
I'm doing it because this feels so good to sleep. I want to. Yeah, really. Looking at the whole person. I mean, if you're not struggling with insomnia and you can and your body's has a more resilient kind of window of sort and you're able to to roll with sleep and a little bit late one night and maybe sleeping in the next day and your body bounces back pretty well then.

00;43;47;09 - 00;44;07;26
Dr. Jen Bourgois
And I don't think it's is important for you to adhere strictly, but yeah, people are really in a dysfunctional place. And when you're trying to really recreate this balance in sleep, it takes consistency. It really does. So yeah, not our answer, probably that.

00;44;07;27 - 00;44;26;06
Mike
No, it's good. And you know, I know it's needed and but I like how you said, you know, sometimes you have to give yourself permission to like cheat or not not do it because, you know, sometimes people invite me to like a Saturday function will be at 9 p.m. and I'm like, Oh my God, I go to bed at 10 p.m. most nights, so in an hour I'll be falling asleep.

00;44;26;09 - 00;44;46;15
Mike
But you know, if you do that once in a while, I'm sure you can get some natural energy from it. But if you're doing that every weekend and staying up much, much later than your normal bedtime, then you're probably going to feel that the next day or on Monday. So that's that's very helpful. Lucky I don't have too much of a social life, so I'm not getting a million invites on the weekends.

00;44;46;18 - 00;45;03;18
Mike
So anyway, in one of your Instagram posts, the title image says Coffee drinkers, and this is for you, and I was afraid to click on it. So I was like, No, I don't want to hear this because I love my morning coffee. So this question is for me and for everyone else who has benefits. What is the verdict?

00;45;03;18 - 00;45;07;15
Mike
Is coffee good? Or you should not be drinking coffee at all.

00;45;07;17 - 00;45;37;19
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So coffee is not bad. Coffee is absolutely not bad. And I think there there are some health benefits, too, you know, So we can't ignore that by purpose. In in that post, in the content that I shared, there is really to help people understand how caffeine works in some of those physiological processes that happen. Caffeine is a stimulant.

00;45;37;22 - 00;46;10;04
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So the job of caffeine is to give energy. Right. And so what it what it does, though, it's like pushing the gas pedal on the car. You know, talk about go back to my car analogy, but when you drink the coffee, caffeine gets in the body, pushes the gas. So now you feel energy. The problem is if the tank is empty sitting or driving your car and I mean, you're just hammering on the gas, but there's no gas in the in the tank.

00;46;10;06 - 00;46;41;01
Dr. Jen Bourgois
You're is man. It's it's mad. Right. There is some major function happening. And I think is what I see with a lot of women no gas in the tank meaning deficient depleted. You know, when I'm talking about nutrients, everything is low because our diet hasn't been great. Maybe the digestive function is imbalanced of sort not absorbing things. Well, and they're constantly pushing the gas.

00;46;41;03 - 00;47;08;09
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So much stress in the body that is to stress stress. Now, the adrenals involved. Right. And so even when you just have caffeine, that kind of squeezes the adrenal a little bit. And so now you've got the cortisol release that can do a million different things that can impact blood sugar being one of them. So I think it's just really understanding what caffeine does to the body.

00;47;08;12 - 00;47;43;29
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Where are you and your in your health? You know, if you are more depleted, then it's probably not the best idea to to do a lot of caffeine, whether that be coffee or energy drink soda, I mean, whatever your caffeine source is. And one tip I'll say is, you know, if you are going to drink the coffee, then it's actually good to drink it alongside food And so coffee on an empty stomach actually creates extra stress on the adrenal by means of cortisol and the secondary impact on blood sugar.

00;47;43;29 - 00;48;08;26
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So I usually tell my clients that, you know, if the morning coffee routine is for you, I'm not here to say, you know, that you can't do it, but let's let's think through. How can we let you enjoy this cup of coffee that you really like, how we do it in a way that doesn't create stress and turmoil in your body.

00;48;08;26 - 00;48;29;19
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So if you're going to drink coffee eating with it, maybe that means some collagen in your coffee. So there's some protein some people do MCT oil or some fat. Maybe it's just eating, making that going ahead and making the eggs or, you know, whatever you're going to have for breakfast and going ahead and eating with it. Maybe it's switching over to decaf coffee.

00;48;29;19 - 00;48;55;26
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So if we if with my work with my client, I determine adrenal fatigue. Picture major dysfunction in cortisol, and I'm going to really recommend, hey, we got we got to back off the caffeine because you are pushing the gas and there is nothing in the tank. So maybe it's just the experience of that morning warm cup of the coffee flavor that the person can still enjoy.

00;48;56;03 - 00;49;18;26
Dr. Jen Bourgois
But now we just remove the caffeine from it, which really helps support the body. So those are some of the things I shared in that post. But, you know, caffeine can deplete minerals, it can cause dehydration. So some of my women that are already stressed out, caffeine depletes magnesium. Earlier. So, yeah, you just have to be careful about some of those.

00;49;18;29 - 00;49;19;18
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Yeah.

00;49;19;20 - 00;49;32;04
Mike
Okay. That's wonderful. The not so coffee is not the devil, but you don't want to use that as a health aid if you're feeling depleted and tired and rundown, that's not where you're going to want to be drinking to feel better all the time.

00;49;32;06 - 00;49;51;01
Dr. Jen Bourgois
And I think that's a fair point. Yeah, I Dropped. I was just yesterday so we could, you know, reference out this one back. I'm just helping you understand like if you need that cup of coffee to wake up, let's dig into why it's burning in your body that's creating this low level of energy.

00;49;51;03 - 00;49;51;27
Mike
Right? Right.

00;49;51;27 - 00;50;13;04
Dr. Jen Bourgois
And so, you know, for my moms that overall feel great and they're just maybe they have an infant, maybe their kid woke up that night before. Okay. Okay. Yeah. You have the cup of coffee needle. Yeah. There like a a short term interruption of sort. But if it's every day, it can't wake up like your zombie is out of bed.

00;50;13;06 - 00;50;17;28
Dr. Jen Bourgois
And that's probably a signal that your cortisol is not where we want it.

00;50;18;04 - 00;50;41;14
Mike
Okay. So I would ask you about you're featured in the book Story creating the functional Medicine Revolution. And just to let our audience know, there's a book about creating functional medicine revolution that offers a raw and honest view into the lives of 15 health care who are choosing to step out of practicing conventional medicine in order to create purposeful life where whole life balance is possible.

00;50;41;17 - 00;50;50;09
Mike
So I was wondering if you could share your little bit of your contribution as one of the 15 doctors to this book, and why is this an important book for people to read?

00;50;50;15 - 00;51;28;08
Dr. Jen Bourgois
It's a really raw and real view of, like you mentioned, traditionally trained health care professionals that Saul and need a gap in and made the choice to kind of be that change that that was needed and and do something different to support people people's health and I've shared a lot of what I wrote in the book here mine was was pretty vulnerable to to really expose some of the ways that I've changed and I've grown on my journey.

00;51;28;10 - 00;51;59;22
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Yes, in regards to physical health, but also the emotional, spiritual, mental health piece as well, and be able to kind of let go of some of those mindsets and practices that weren't serving me anymore, like people pleasing, right Like this high achiever. I don't care what happens. I'm going to meet the goal. I'm going to get the credentials.

00;51;59;22 - 00;52;31;05
Dr. Jen Bourgois
I'm going to, you know, it was a very unhealthy side of being driven. And so just awareness around where I was in life and really understanding where I wanted to be in life goals and seeing the misalignment of sort and and learning the way to to be able to make those changes. And again, most of it is really about health and kind of the stories that I shared previously.

00;52;31;08 - 00;53;08;11
Dr. Jen Bourgois
But the itself, I think anyone who is on the practitioner side and just wants to kind of learn more about how people are shifting and the different ways that we are supporting clients kind of on some of us on each side of the practice model, some have total lifted out and strictly holistic practice now. But it's it's a really interesting book about real people religion, and I think it's neat to see all of our stories are all totally different.

00;53;08;14 - 00;53;36;14
Dr. Jen Bourgois
There's so much parallel to the foundation of this story. There are gaps in health care, and if you are a health care provider, you see it. And just like you said in the beginning, you know, no longer am I going to just stand by and do nothing. It's like, go eat, change. And so here's here's some ways we're going to start to shift the paradigm and and really help support people.

00;53;36;16 - 00;53;59;13
Mike
I love that and definitely like storytelling. And you telling your story is so helpful to people because they might see you now, someone who doesn't know you and be like, Wow, John's got everything really put together and she's she's killing and she's doing this, that and the other. And what a high functioning human being. But you're sharing, you know, like I went through a lot of the stuff that you might have gone through or you're going through right now.

00;53;59;16 - 00;54;17;04
Mike
And it's not due to me just, you know, being born with good genetics. Like I get good sleep every night. I take my minerals and supplements like you're doing all the things you need to do to perform at this high level. So I think it's important for people to see that you need to do these things and you're not.

00;54;17;05 - 00;54;37;12
Mike
You know, people don't just sort of fluke their way into good things. And as you touched on, some people are going through the same thing and they don't realize that a lot of other people are. And it's in hearing someone else's story, Oh my gosh, this resonates with me so much. And it gives them hope, it gives them inspiration and it gives them a bit of a path of how they can get better.

00;54;37;14 - 00;54;59;25
Mike
So just want to thank you for sharing in the book and also sharing with us here today. That's that's very generous and inspiring. Right? Changing topics. So myself, I'm a sauna addict. I'm half Finnish, so I was exposed to Sana at a very young age. And I just love Sana's. And I notice on your site there's a sauna blanket people can purchase.

00;54;59;28 - 00;55;13;10
Mike
I've never heard of a sauna blanket, and this sounds pretty cool to me. Do you want to describe sort of how the sauna blanket works? And if I don't have a traditional sauna around is on a blanket a really good alternative to get the same benefits?

00;55;13;12 - 00;55;43;15
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Yeah, it absolutely is. And that that's why I chose the blanket at the time. So Sunny is so many health benefits that the main one is detoxification will really help and to support the detox that yes happens naturally in the body but for so of us those pathways become blocked by several of the things we've already talked about.

00;55;43;15 - 00;56;11;27
Dr. Jen Bourgois
But you know, just even with the toxin exposure that is natural in the world, just a living. So really supporting that helps with relaxation. It actually helps balance the nervous system. Believe it or not, there's some research to show sauna use will help balance out the autonomic nervous system. So that kind of baseline operating system that is helps with inflammation, it helps reduce inflammation.

00;56;12;00 - 00;56;39;06
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So circulation, again, the list goes on and on and on. And I I'm a huge advocate for use. It's difficult for many of us one to find mutually purchase and a full sauna. Yeah space wise you know it takes up it takes up a lot of space. So I found that I was struggling with both of those limitations at the time in my journey.

00;56;39;09 - 00;57;02;29
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So the blanket was a good option. It's just, it's just a flat bag of thought and it Velcro, it's got one side, so it's almost like a sleeping bag. That's the image that I would share. So think of a sleeping bag and Velcro is down one side. So you open it up and then of course you you lie in it just like a sleeping bag.

00;57;02;29 - 00;57;27;08
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So you kind of pull it out of your cupboard all the way down to your toes. You're in this little cocoon of sort. It heats up and, you know, you get the same benefits of sauna. You can turn it up as high as you want, depending on where you are in your detox journey. You know, if you really want to sweat it out and your pathways are open and you've got toxins to clear, you can turn it up higher.

00;57;27;08 - 00;57;47;25
Dr. Jen Bourgois
And then for me, what I used it for a lot was just keeping it on a lower setting just to really help relax my body. I was struggling with this over activate a nervous system, and I needed I needed it to just help, kind of almost like calm me down. Give me some Zen of sort. And so I would just use the low setting for that.

00;57;47;26 - 00;58;01;14
Dr. Jen Bourgois
But I highly recommend I think it's a great tool. So it has amazing health benefits and so, you know, consider the blanket or the bag. If you have some of those restrictions, like I mentioned.

00;58;01;16 - 00;58;17;15
Mike
That's amazing. And so did you say you just lie down on the floor, Just put it down on your floor, pop in like naked or in your bathing suit or whatever you want, and then you come out and you have a nice little sweat going on and you can shower off after. And that's how it works. Essentially.

00;58;17;17 - 00;58;29;11
Dr. Jen Bourgois
I had like a little almost like a onesie suit. So it's actually sleeved and all the way down. And then I wear socks. So I'm actually pretty covered as far as touch points.

00;58;29;11 - 00;58;29;22
Mike
Okay.

00;58;29;27 - 00;59;01;24
Dr. Jen Bourgois
I find that to be most comfortable for me. There's a towel that that stays on the backside. So if you lie flat on it, you can lie on your back or your stomach. But if you are kind of on your backside, the towel will be down your back. So that can catch in the sweat that drips down. But yeah, so you get out, you take your towel out or clean that in because I wear the sleeves, I don't have a lot of sweat that builds up because on my on my clothing.

00;59;02;01 - 00;59;03;00
Mike
Oh wonderful.

00;59;03;02 - 00;59;09;10
Dr. Jen Bourgois
That's a good way to use that. Just to minimize that clean up that would be needed.

00;59;09;13 - 00;59;21;12
Mike
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I love that. Well, part of the thing I love a sauna is going into a sauna with someone and making it a shared experience. Is there room for two or. No, It's individuals on a gradual.

00;59;21;19 - 00;59;23;27
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Yeah, One at a time.

00;59;24;00 - 00;59;24;11
Mike
One at a.

00;59;24;11 - 00;59;36;02
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Time in your bag and lie together. But I. You know, I used them before. I mean, you could put it on a bed. They do so you could put it on a mattress to absorb it. Yeah. Yeah.

00;59;36;08 - 00;59;52;25
Mike
Did wonderful. I got to get one of those for sure. Okay, so we're coming towards the end of our interview. Thank you so much for your time today, Dr. John. So I want to talk about you have a she thrives community on Facebook who's who should join that community And if they do, what can they expect?

00;59;53;02 - 01;00;23;26
Dr. Jen Bourgois
It is open for for all women. I mean, I focus on women's healthcare, so I'm not trying to be I hate to say, you know, men are welcome. I don't want to be exclusive, but I just really focus on women's health. And so it's for anybody who wants to learn more about all things women's health, I try to provide things in there that I don't on my other channels which are free and and accessible to all.

01;00;23;29 - 01;01;00;06
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So challenges and maybe recipes, different things in there, but it's just a supportive place. I have found that community is really helpful on a wellness journey. Many people are, like you mentioned earlier, and maybe you're feeling a little bit isolated or you don't have proximity wise, you don't have a community that you can meet with and so I think it's just a good place to create content and education, but also that place of it's safe here.

01;01;00;09 - 01;01;08;22
Dr. Jen Bourgois
You know, you can come questions, share your story, challenges. You know, whatever you have you can bring it there.

01;01;08;24 - 01;01;26;01
Mike
I love that sounds wonderful. I will link that in the show notes for sure for anyone who wants to join. Okay. So as we sort of come to the end now, can you share a tool of strategy or something with the audience that might be able to help them in their everyday lives? One thing you can leave us with.

01;01;26;04 - 01;01;32;29
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Yes. So I thought about this because I really wanted to be able to add some value here.

01;01;33;02 - 01;01;36;08
Mike
We already have a lot, by the way, but I'm glad.

01;01;36;10 - 01;02;00;05
Dr. Jen Bourgois
That so what I was thinking of is know your body, grow your resilience. And I think again, there's so much heaviness that comes along with doing more. You know, you think I'm going to go on this wellness journey. I want to feel better, I want to look better. It's going to be so much, though. Maybe I don't have capacity in my in my schedule now.

01;02;00;05 - 01;02;38;17
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Maybe life is really stressful and difficult. Maybe your child is sick or you're taking care of a parent or you're struggling with your marriage. So like, there's just so many things in life that I think create barriers for people to take control of their wellbeing. And as I said, you know, to that point, there's so much we can do by just knowing, by just awareness, understanding, intention and attention to the body, again, like we talked about earlier, just really allowing yourself to connect to your self, the soul part of you.

01;02;38;20 - 01;03;04;15
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Slow down, say no more. I say it's, it's it's November No vember, you know, don't don't feel like you have to take it on. And more and more and more it's like sometimes your body just needs less And that's the E for healing. You know, for some people is less. And so really in your body grow in that resilience.

01;03;04;15 - 01;03;43;07
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So the more you understand where you are, what you need to connect and back to self coming back into your body being present, then that's going to help you grow that part of you, that, that expand that window of tolerance of sort, you know, allow you to handle more of the ups and downs that will come with life because it's, you know, just because you enter the journey to a wellbeing or this wellness journey, I mean, you never attain the destination there that you never get there.

01;03;43;07 - 01;04;13;13
Dr. Jen Bourgois
It's a choice every single day of just showing up and being intense, you know, with a person you're bringing to the table that day, you know, every choice. You know, it's you right there. And just being intentional with with those choices and how you're going to show up. And so if that is, you know, doing some things like we talked about some of those simple nervous system techniques coming, the other thing I'll share is really just being present.

01;04;13;13 - 01;04;43;05
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So the purpose of your nervous system is to keep you safe. That's the wiring of the nervous system is safety. So it's created in a way that it's looking for danger of sort. It's it's okay. What is she feeling? What is she thinking, what's in her environment? And so being able to ground into safety and let your body know I am good.

01;04;43;08 - 01;05;08;17
Dr. Jen Bourgois
I'm good right now. There's nothing in around me that is threatening me. And that is as simple as what I mentioned earlier. Being present, looking around, looking with detail, finding something that you can really start to oh, that that's a pink curtain and it has a little bit of texture. Maybe touch it, you know. Oh, it feels kind of rough.

01;05;08;20 - 01;05;34;15
Dr. Jen Bourgois
Oh, what do I Not all that she and I love that candle. So in my favorite candles, you just really digging into your senses because what you're doing now, you're present. You've turned off the part of the brain that signals alarm. So your prefrontal cortex, now you're back here in this logical place that says she is safe. She is saying that thought she was thinking about that job.

01;05;34;15 - 01;05;57;26
Dr. Jen Bourgois
She's going to lose her job. It wasn't even real. She's actually safe. She's in her office and she and she's in front of that curtain and she's smelling that candle. She's safe. And that's just another to calm the body down. And we think that we have we have to live this life where we never have those thoughts and we never have stress.

01;05;58;03 - 01;06;20;21
Dr. Jen Bourgois
It's not true. It's expanding that window of tolerance and that resiliency so you can move up and down. So as you experience this stressor, oh, it's I have a flat tire. Dang it, I'm going to be late for work. Oh, this terrible and so frustrated. And then utilizing one of your tools to come back down to be able to 30 minutes to an hour later, you're fine.

01;06;20;24 - 01;06;40;16
Dr. Jen Bourgois
You don't want to be dead. You're no longer stressed out. And so I think that's kind of what what it's all about. So it's really empowering yourself, you know, on the journey, like we mentioned, find those people who are like minded, who align with you, who can support your goals, help propel you forward where you want to go.

01;06;40;18 - 01;06;54;28
Mike
That's wonderful. So many good things in there, but I'll just leave it. I'd say that it's unbelievable and helpful. So I just want to know before we end, what are you offering these days and how can people find you and be in touch with you?

01;06;55;01 - 01;07;23;13
Dr. Jen Bourgois
My heart is help people. That's truly why I am here in this in this space of podcast and in social media and website. I mean, I just really want to help. So I'm active on Instagram. Dr. Jim Bourgeois and I have a website same W WW that Dr. Jim Bourgeois dot com and you can always connect with me in both of those places, always offering new things.

01;07;23;13 - 01;07;51;26
Dr. Jen Bourgois
I think as I continue to serve people, I learn more about the needs and some of the ways that I can give back and help through education and, and in health optimization. And so I just continue to to lean in to that piece, really seeing a need for nervous system regulation work, more people kind of understanding that operating system that is in the body.

01;07;51;26 - 01;08;18;24
Dr. Jen Bourgois
So I have some courses coming out around that always open to work one on one to help support again that help optimization for women, but really just love to connect. I'm a networker, I love people of meeting people very extroverted, so happy to connect in in Messenger And I started conversation just about who you are and any questions you have.

01;08;18;25 - 01;08;21;21
Dr. Jen Bourgois
I'm always open to answer those.

01;08;21;23 - 01;08;35;05
Mike
Okay. Well, Dr. John, thank you again so much for your time. I learned a lot and I'm sure our audience will have as well. And we'll put all your information in the show notes for anyone who wants to connect with Dr. John. And just thank you again so much for taking the time today.

01;08;35;12 - 01;08;39;13
Dr. Jen Bourgois
You are so welcome. Thank you for inviting me here. It's been a real pleasure.

01;08;39;16 - 01;08;44;08
Mike
And for our listeners and viewers, good luck on your healing journey and we'll see you next time. Thank you.