Welcome to the first edition of “Mental Health-ish.”
Mental health is a vital part of daily life. It doesn’t matter how many bubble baths you indulge in, smoothie bowls you consume, or hours you spend at the gym, if you’re not paying attention to your mind along with your body, your unchecked stress is bound to get in the way of your everyday functioning. I should know, because that’s exactly what happened to me during my medical training.
Before becoming a Harvard physician specializing in stress, I was a stressed patient looking for answers and in desperate need of change. One morning while working in the hospital, I felt a sudden stampede of wild horses across my chest. It blindsided me. For many weeks, the stampede would return just as I was ready for bed. When I saw my own doctor, after some initial tests, I was sent home with the dismissive verbal prescription: “It’s just stress. Try and relax more.”
I “tried to relax”—spa days, movies, dinners out with friends, even a beach vacation—nothing helped. I finally put on my scientist hat and found my own way out of the dark tunnel of stress. Slowly, I tested techniques that transformed my brain and body’s response to stress. I didn’t realize it then, but I was tapping into the mind-body connection, the idea that your thoughts and feelings can directly affect your body in both positive and negative ways. After overcoming my personal stress struggle, I vowed to become the doctor I needed during that difficult time, so I could offer a more helpful prescription than “just relax.”
Since then, I’ve dedicated my life to helping stressed people, like you and me, find actionable, practical, and science-backed approaches to transform their stress and burnout. As a doctor, I’ve witnessed countless patient stories that started in pain and ended in perseverance. As a speaker, I’ve shared my work with more than 500,000 people around the world. And as an author, my bestselling book, The 5 Resets, has helped readers in 35 countries and 15 languages to take back control of their lives. My greatest hope is that this newsletter empowers you to do the same.
Each week, I’ll share one bite-sized, science-backed and time-efficient technique to help you overcome your stress and prevent burnout for better mental health. With my mind-body approach, rooted in decades of clinical experience as a physician, researcher and health communicator, I’m here to help you reset, recharge and reclaim your mind, guiding you every step of the way. Because I deeply believe that meaningful change is within your reach. Here’s to your mental health reset!
I can’t wait to get started!
Until next week,
I am looking forward to next week ☮️
Mental health is key.
Thanking God every day for keeping my mind clean.