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Why You’re Overwhelmed - 5 Ways to Beat Stress

2024-11-12 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali, TJ Power · recording, 14:58 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Health, sleep and habits · mode: Explanation and tutorial · tags: Evidence-based framing, Sponsor segment present

In the final episode of his four-part series with neuroscientist TJ Power, Ali explains endorphins and stress, TJ's law of endorphins (move your body every day) and five habits to release them: walk-runs, heat therapy, singing, laughter and his own "ups, downs and twists" stretch.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Why endorphins are so important; the last video of the four-part series with TJ Power

  • ★★ Ali says around a third of adults in the US are overwhelmed by stress on most days. (hedged) — 00:00:00
  • ★★ TJ Power says stress is part of being human and has benefits and challenges: it can help us advance and hyperfocus the brain, but chronic stress becomes a problem. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ The last video of Ali's four-part brain-chemical series with TJ Power is about how endorphins reduce stress and five actionable ways to release more of them. — 00:00:37

00:01:01 — The law of endorphins: the Hadza, the inactivity mismatch hypothesis, stress and runner's high

  • ★★ Ali cites a 2020 study of the Hadza hunter-gatherers of northern Tanzania: they spend around 10 hours a day without physical activity, like industrialised populations, but often squatting, which uses more muscle than chair sitting. — 00:01:06
  • ★★ By the inactivity mismatch hypothesis, humans evolved to use their muscles all day, and Ali says being completely sedentary for long periods increases the risk of death, heart disease and cancer. (hedged) — 00:01:36
  • ★★ TJ Power says humans evolved with two main forms of stress, hunger and danger, and both meant exerting the body hard; under extreme exertion the body releases endorphins that calm the brain. — 00:02:05
  • ★★ Ali says endorphins are the body's feel-good hormones: there are about 20 types, released from the brain under pain or stress, and they help us cope and improve our mood. — 00:02:34
  • ★★ Ali says beta endorphin, the first endorphin discovered and the one linked to runner's high, is a much stronger pain reliever than morphine. — 00:03:03
  • ★★ Ali says he has tried running for a runner's high but never feels good after a run; apparently you have to run for a while before you really feel the endorphin release. — 00:03:03

  • ★★★ The law of endorphins in Ali's series with TJ Power: move your body every day, since physical exertion is one of the best ways to release endorphins. — 00:03:03

    “the fundamental law of endorphins, which is move your body every day”

00:03:29 — Action one: walk-runs, exercise you enjoy and not caring what people think

  • ★★ Ali says studies show the more intense the exercise, the more endorphins are released, so high-intensity interval training releases more than casual walking or cycling. — 00:03:32
  • ★★ Ali says exercise is a great way to reduce depression: a big study in the BMJ found the most effective forms were walking or jogging, yoga and strength training. — 00:04:02
  • ★★★ Ali's most important takeaway on exercise: find a form you actually enjoy and can do consistently. — 00:04:02
  • ★★ Ali enjoys walking on the track outside his house with AirPods, talking to VoicePal, the app he and his team built, as an AI ghostwriter that asks follow-up questions; that is how he scripts his YouTube videos. — 00:04:31 · YouTube
  • ★★ Ali enjoys racket sports (badminton, tennis and squash) and feels much better and more energised after any game: the energy a game generates is greater than the energy it uses. — 00:05:00
  • ★★ For more intense exercise to maximise endorphins, Ali passes on TJ Power's walk-run: a walk without your phone or headphones. — 00:05:00
  • ★★★ TJ Power's walk-run: on a 20-minute walk, pick three moments to sprint as fast as you can as if a bear were behind you; done every day, this activates the chemical that keeps de-stressing your brain. — 00:05:29
  • ★★★ TJ Power says it is good to do things where people think you are weird: you realise no one actually cares and it does not hurt you, and not caring in small things like a walk-run spreads to bigger risks such as starting a YouTube channel. — 00:05:59 · YouTube

00:06:26 — Action two: heat therapy

  • ★ Ali says the hypothalamus acts as the body's thermostat, keeping core body temperature constant at around 37 degrees Celsius. — 00:06:26
  • ★★ TJ Power says a hot environment such as a sauna or a bath triggers a heat stress response: the body treats it like the physical danger of running from a bear and prepares itself. — 00:06:55
  • ★★ Ali says heat exposure increases the number of mu opioid receptors, making us more sensitive to endorphins, so their effect is bigger and lasts longer. — 00:07:24
  • ★★★ Ali's key takeaway on heat therapy: expose yourself to heat as often as you can to raise your core body temperature. — 00:07:54
  • ★★ Ali says the body takes around 15 minutes of heat to release endorphins, so saunas, hot baths or jacuzzis are probably the best way; a hot shower would take too long. (hedged) — 00:07:54

00:08:20 — Action three: the song habit

  • ★★ TJ Power says singing has a euphoric effect on the brain: really singing puts the body through physical work, which releases endorphins. — 00:08:22
  • ★★ Ali has sung most of his life: when procrastinating on YouTube videos or, years ago, on exam revision, he would play guitar, ukulele or piano and sing loudly, which helped him get into the state to work. — 00:08:45 · YouTube
  • ★ Ali sings so often around his team that they made a meme of it. — 00:08:45
  • ★★ Ali says if you are self-conscious about singing, no one cares, except perhaps in a big corporate workplace: you can just start singing, especially at home. — 00:09:15
  • ★★ Ali passes on TJ Power's advice to sing for at least five minutes, in the shower, in the car or on a walk, because it will make you feel a lot better. — 00:09:15

00:09:44 — Sponsor read for Productivity Lab

  • ★★ In a sponsor read for his own product, Productivity Lab, an online community of entrepreneurs, creators and professionals with Zoom co-working focus lab sessions and weekly reflection workshops, Ali says he joins the sessions for three hours each morning and that doing this every day pretty much doubles his productivity. — 00:10:13

00:11:12 — Action four: the habit of laughter

  • ★★ Ali cites a 2017 study that scanned the brains of men watching funny YouTube videos with two close friends: laughing raised endorphin levels in many areas of the brain. — 00:11:12 · YouTube
  • ★★ Ali says even fake laughter eventually becomes real: when he makes laughing faces for his thumbnails, his team thinks he is weird but cannot help laughing, which lifts everyone's mood. — 00:11:45
  • ★★ Ali says laughing engages muscles of the face, stomach and diaphragm, so the theory is that this muscle work may be what releases endorphins. (hedged) — 00:11:45
  • ★★ TJ Power asks people to rate from one to ten how much laughter they have in their life right now. — 00:11:45
  • ★★ TJ Power says that in his training people rate the laughter in their lives at 5.7 out of ten on average: something we want but do not get enough of. — 00:12:31
  • ★★★ To laugh more, Ali advises putting yourself where you are likely to laugh: call or FaceTime a friend if you are lonely in a new city, as he is now, meet people more often, or join a local comedy club. — 00:12:31
  • ★★ Ali says yoga is one of the best forms of exercise for reducing depression and, according to a meta-analysis, almost as effective as cognitive behavioural therapy. — 00:13:01

00:13:13 — Action five: up, down, twist; yoga and stretching

  • ★★ Ali says yoga lowers cortisol and stress, activates the relaxing parasympathetic nervous system, promotes mindfulness, releases muscle tightness and increases flexibility, all of which helps release endorphins. — 00:13:30
  • ★★ Ali is just starting to get into yoga because he is in a bit of a spirituality era in his life. — 00:13:30

  • ★★★ As a simpler alternative to yoga, Ali does a practice he calls ups, downs and twists when he wakes up and before he sleeps: reach up as tall as you can, reach down to the floor, then twist your spine. — 00:13:59

    “a more simple practice which I call ups downs and twists”

  • ★★ Ali advises going through ups, downs and twists twice a day, in the morning and before bed, to trigger endorphin release and reduce stress. — 00:14:28

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Mentioned

Central: endorphins · heat therapy · law of endorphins · TJ Power · ups, downs and twists · walk-run

Also: Projects: Productivity Lab

Organizations: BMJ · Dose Lab · Instagram · YouTube

Concepts: cancer · cardiovascular disease · cognitive behavioural therapy · depression · dopamine · high-intensity interval training · inactivity mismatch hypothesis · mindfulness · NOC mindset · oxytocin · parasympathetic nervous system · runner's high · serotonin · sympathetic nervous system · yoga

Products: FaceTime · VoicePal · World of Warcraft

Also centred on TJ Power: How to Reset Your Dopamine (And Change Your Life) · 5 Habits for Happier Relationships - The Oxytocin Effect · 5 Easy Habits That Could Transform Your Life

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