Episode #467: Are You Rested or Restless? with Dr. Uche Odiatu

Health is wealth. It’s the prerequisite for everything we want in life. But while we want to be healthy, many of us struggle in getting started. So, to help us establish a foundation for overall wellness, Kirk Behrendt brings back Dr. Uche Odiatu, one of ACT’s favorite wellness gurus, with advice for head-to-toe care. We can all use a stronger health reserve! If you're ready for your holistic health journey, listen to Episode 467 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

• Be equally passionate about your life and your practice.
• Don't take your health for granted. It’s your wealth.
• Breathe through your nose, not your mouth.
• Stay focused on the positives.
• Focus on self-care.

Quotes:

• “Losing that “been there, done that” T-shirt keeps you young.” (2:55—2:58)
• “We see stress show up in the mouth. So, patients love it when you start talking total head-to-toe care. And I'm not just trying to get them into the office more often for hygiene. But I do tell them, ‘If you have stress in parts of your life, not enough sleep, overeating, and it’s showing up in your mouth, one way to reduce your inflammatory burden is to not just come in twice a year for hygiene, come in three or four times.’” (10:17—10:37)
• “It’s not just about changing amalgams to resin; it’s looking at stress and how it shows up in the mouth, and talking about sleep, and talking about nutrition at the same time.” (10:42—10:51)
• “Knowledge is power. We have more. You can Google, ‘How to get a flat stomach,’ and you'll find it. You can Google, ‘What's the best source of magnesium?’ and you can get the result. But taking action on it is a whole other thing. It’s not just taking action. A lot of people are motivated. But three days in, they’ve lost the motivation.” (12:48—13:02)
• “When people say, ‘I'm having a hard time translating my case presentations into treatment plans and production. I'm having a hard time getting patients to say yes,’ well, it’s because you don't have the conviction. Conviction sells.” (15:07—15:19)
• “There's nothing like self-care to make you feel valuable.” (20:30—20:32)
• “Most people go to see a physiotherapist when they have a problem. Go before you have a problem.” (20:39—20:42)
• “[Have] equal passion for your personal life as your professional life.” (21:36—21:39)
• “A lot of dentists, clinically, we’re incredible. We’re between Kois, Pankey, Dawson, and all these other programs. But the courses on clinical are packed at conferences. The ones on leadership and intangibles and communication, always lower in attendance because people say, ‘I want to know how to do a crown in eight minutes.’ But the fact that you have leadership issues, that you have self-regulation issues — that's where you should be. Most dentists have challenges in the intangibles, not the clinical.” (21:40—22:05)
• “If someone has poor physical reserve, poor emotional reserve, and poor financial reserve, you can't weather any financial storm, any economic storm, any emotional storm, any physical storm. So, we need to rebuild our reserves so we can weather the storms — because the storm is coming.” (24:22—24:36)
• “People talk about conversations with colleagues and peers and team members. The most important conversation we have is with ourselves. That self-conversation is numero uno.” (26:21—26:30)
• “We’re always self-deprecating. Why can't we have that feeling, ‘Hey, I'm a healthcare provider. I'm in one of the top three professions on the planet that's resilient against recession’? Why can't our self-talk be stronger?” (27:01—27:14)
• “Metacognition is catching yourself doing something you no longer want to do, and you set the tone for a new conversation. And that's where I think this starts. It’s the mindset of good self-care. It’s a mindset of resiliency.” (27:32—27:43)
• “The brain is eavesdropping on your breath, up to 21,000 breaths we take. So, if we’re breathing shallow, the body thinks, ‘Hey, what's wrong? What's the problem?’ Any time your brain goes, ‘What's wrong? What's the problem?’ cortisol goes up. Blood sugar goes up. Blood pressure goes up.” (30:40—30:54)
• “Most people are breathing shallow all the time. If your nervous system and your brain senses shallow breathing and mouth-breathing, the default is, ‘I wonder what the stress is. You'd better go eat. Food is cheap. Go to Uber Eats,’ and you do more anxiety-relieving things. Well, if you breathe in through your nose, it’s impossible to have your nervous system think negative, angry thoughts. It disconnects immediately. You go from sympathetic to parasympathetic. So, the more nasal breathing we do, the more we’re in the moment, the more we’re healing, the stronger our immune system, the more oxygen to our brain. And who doesn't want more oxygen to their brain? You think better, you have better wisdom, you tap into left and right brain.” (31:02—31:41)
• “If you want access to both sides of your brain and all 85 billion neurons, nasal breathing will get you there. And you'll be a lot more fun to hang around, because mouth-breathing is a stressful angst state where people think, ‘Not approachable.’ You're breathing in through your mouth, not approachable. Nose breathing, ‘Hey, who’s that lady? Who’s that guy?’ So, forget Tinder — nose breathe!” (31:50—32:10)

Snippets:

• 0:00 Introduction.
• 2:00 Dr. Odiatu’s background.
• 3:12 Why this is an important topic.
• 6:15 The relationship between stress and food.
• 7:39 Stress shows up in the mouth.
• 10:50 Now is an opportunity to become a value provider.
• 12:25 Why people haven't been getting healthier.
• 14:15 The power of conviction.
• 19:21 Stress response and restlessness.
• 21:21 Have equal passion for your life and your practice.
• 22:15 Balance your different health reserves.
• 26:07 Last thoughts.
• 27:42 Focus on the positives.
• 30:10 The importance of breathing and breath.
• 32:15 More about Dr. Odiatu and how to get in touch.

Reach Out to Dr. Odiatu:

Dr. Odiatu’s website: http://www.druche.com/

Dr. Odiatu’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UcheOdiatu

Dr. Odiatu’s social media: @fitspeakers

Resources:

Margin by Dr. Richard A. Swenson: https://bookshop.org/books/margin-restoring-emotional-physical-financial-and-time-reserves-to-overloaded-lives/9781576836828

Dr. Uche Odiatu Bio:

Dr. Odiatu has a DMD (Doctor of Dental Medicine). He is a professional member of the ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine), a Certified Personal Trainer (National Strength & Conditioning Association) NSCA, and the Canadian Association of Fitness Professionals (canfitpro). He is the co-author of The Miracle of Health (c) 2009 John Wiley (hardcover) & (c) 2015 Harper Collins, and has lectured in Canada, the USA, the Caribbean, the UK, and Europe. He is an invited guest on over 400 TV and radio shows, from ABC 20/20, Canada CTV AM, Breakfast TV, to Magic Sunday Drum FM in Texas. This high-energy healthcare professional has done over 450 lectures in seven countries over the last 15 years.