Learn more about Laura lauraciniwellness.com
Hannah:
Welcome to the Burn Pod, listeners. I think many of you will resonate with today’s episode and our follow-up episode, which focuses on overwhelm, stress, anxiety, and that feeling of fullness, whatever you want to call the feeling, really. Many of us have felt that over the last couple of years in particular with all of this COVID crazy. I know that that hasn’t really slowed down for many of us, so a lot of us is feeling that right now, that little bit stress, that anxiety, that finding it hard to feel motivated or focused. It’s a big one. So I’m really grateful to have Laura Cini, owner of Laura Cini Wellness, joining us today. Now just a little bit of a background on Laura. She’s an expert nutritionist and naturopath with over 20 years experience. She’s skilled in natural medicine for health concerns, nutrition, and is a herbalist and naturopath and down to earth, no nonsense talker, and a really big supporter of burn theory. Welcome, Laura.
Laura Cini:
Thanks, Hannah. It’s good to be here.
Hannah:
Good to have you back. We’ve done a few of these, haven’t we?
Laura Cini:
Yeah, we have. It’s always good to have a chat.
Hannah:
Now for those of you that haven’t listened before, Laura has actually been a regular guest on a number of our podcasts. If you wanted to jump back, you’ll find heaps of episodes focusing on a range of really important topics and particularly topics of interest, I’m sure. For now though, let’s dive in. Firstly, I already provided it, but a little bit of background on yourself, Laura. I guess, what is a naturopath and a herbalist? Give us a bit of a rundown of what you actually do.
Laura Cini:
Sure. Yeah. A lot of people, it’s a bit vague, I think. A lot of people don’t really understand what we study and what we do. We study health science. We study three or four years full-time and we look at things like anatomy and physiology, biochemistry. We study evidence-based nutritional and herbal medicine, pharmacology, some counselling theory. They’re probably the main things that we cover. I’ve also done some graduate postgrad study in public health as well. In terms of the kind of things that people come to see me, obviously, I do podcasts and I write for the Hobart magazine and I’ve got social media, but mostly, people come to see me for all sorts of things. Because we’ve got such a broad range of study, we can treat quite a broad range of conditions. We have a good understanding of how the different systems of the body work.
People come to me for hormonal issues, things like endometriosis, fibroids, polycystic ovarian syndrome. Digestive complaints are a big one, irritable bowel, abdominal bloating, slow moving digestive system or the alternative, too fast, sleep problems, skin problems, eczema, psoriasis. Fatigue is a big one, longstanding fatigue, poor immunity, coughs, colds, sustainable weight loss. Oh, look, the list goes on.
Hannah:
Yes. Big list.
Laura Cini:
It’s quite a broad range of things, which is why it’s always so interesting because every client is different. What you’re looking for really is trying to find the reason behind what they’re experiencing. So you obviously want to alleviate symptoms and deal with the issue, but you’re really looking for the reason why are they getting this and how can we sort it out.
Hannah:
Mm-hmm. Well, look, let’s jump into the main topic today, which is, as I mentioned, that feeling of, whatever you want to call it, stress, anxiety, that feeling, maybe overwhelmed, a bit full, unmotivated, just the general, I guess, vibe that I’m seeing in the studios. I know a lot of us, as well as myself, are feeling it at the moment. What is it?
Laura Cini:
Yes.
Hannah:
How do different people experience this?
Laura Cini:
Look, I think this is really quite an epidemic actually, probably worsening over the last few years with the COVID situation. I think I see it a lot in my clients. I talk to my friends about it. I’m in an age group where women particularly have an enormous load on their plate. A lot of them have got work. Some of them are studying as well. There’s family. They’re trying to maintain a level of fitness. I think there’s a lot more pressure to look good now as you age. They’ve got relationships they’re trying to maintain with their partner or their friends, and it’s just an enormous load. So I think the feeling, most people describe it to me, is I’m just so busy. There is just so much to do. Some people describe it as anxiousness, anxiety.
Some people just say, I feel overwhelmed. I can’t relax. I can’t sit down and just relax. Some people describe it as more of a physical sensation. They say, I feel nauseous. I just feel nauseous and sometimes loss of appetite or my muscles are really tight. I’ve got really tight neck and shoulders or I’ve got a racing mind that just won’t switch off. Or even some people even get what they call palpitations, which is when you can actually feel your heart beating, which often happens at night. They lie in bed and you can feel your heart going. Look, I don’t know if you’ve ever had one of these. I know I’ve had a couple in the past, panic attacks. Have you ever had one of those?
Hannah:
Mm-hmm. They’re horrible.
Laura Cini:
Oh, look. They’re just-
Hannah:
So horrible.
Laura Cini:
… horrible. I had a friend I was chatting to the other day who said that lately, she started waking at night into a panic attack. So she wakes up with a panic attack. I know some people wake up in the morning straight into a panic attack and that is when you’re just feeling overwhelming anxiety and incredible fear. Some people say, I felt like I was going to die. My heart was racing. I was sweating. I felt sick. It usually lasts a few minutes, five minutes or longer and then the person eventually calms down. But that’s at the extreme end of the anxiousness feeling.
Hannah:
Yeah. I explain mine to people as I just feel like I’m on a wheel,-
Laura Cini:
Gosh.
Hannah:
… like the mouse in the wheel.
Laura Cini:
Yes.
Hannah:
It’s hard or I don’t know how to get off. Then when you do have a chance to, I feel guilty if I’m sitting-
Laura Cini:
Oh, right.
Hannah:
Yeah. If I’m having a day out, I’m like, “Oh, no. I should really be doing something on my computer,” or you’ll spend a day faffing around on the computer trying to get work done, but you’re procrastinating, and then you just get more and more anxious as the day goes by because you’re not getting anything done, but you’re also not resting either. So it’s just like ongoing flow on a cycle or [inaudible 00:07:48].
Laura Cini:
Oh, and that’s exhausting. It’s the pressure. It’s the should word. I should be doing this. I should be doing that. It is really, really common that people try to relax, but there’s that voice in your head going, well, the house is a mess and you haven’t done your assignment or there’s that work email you need to respond to, and it’s just exhausting.
Hannah:
It is. It is. I totally get it that waking up at 3:00 AM thinking about 100 different things, so it can be completely overwhelming.
Laura Cini:
Yes.
Hannah:
Well, let’s look at what is actually happening in the body then when you’re feeling this sensation. As you’ve pointed out, there obviously is a big spectrum. There’s just feeling a little bit busy on occasion to waking up having those panic attacks. What’s happening in the body?
Laura Cini:
Yeah. The body is not designed to be in that fight or flight mode long term. What happens when there’s anxiety or that the panic attack level or that restlessness, the edginess, the worrying, busy mind is there’s an adrenaline response. The body is designed to use an adrenaline response when there’s an emergency, so it needs to save your life. Our bodies haven’t changed, the genetics, the design of them for hundreds of years. It takes thousands and thousands of years for the body’s genetics and systems to start to change. We are designed to run away from dangerous animals, to run away from a waring tribe member. Back in the [inaudible 00:09:36], the adrenaline response is an emergency response. It switches on quickly. It’s meant to be short-term duration, and then the body switches it off and goes back to its normal day-to-day mode of business.
When you are in that anxiety, stress, hurry, worry, money, go, go, go mode, the body is running on adrenaline. For many of us, and I know me included, this can happen if it becomes overwhelming. It can happen day in, day out. So the body is using this system that’s only designed to be very, very short term. A couple of minutes, few hours, we’re using it day in, day out to actually fuel our activity, so it’s almost being used in as an energy source. Does that make sense?
Hannah:
It does, yeah.
Laura Cini:
I’m not putting blame on people here. This is just how some of us have always worked or the situations that we are in, that’s how we cope, but this is really tiring for the body. The body has to use a lot of raw materials, so nutrients like magnesium, zinc, B vitamins. It’s very resource-intensive to run on this adrenaline system. It also has many, many flow-on effects to the rest of the systems of the body and the normal chemical balance of the body, so dopamine levels, cortisol levels. I can go into a bit more detail, but basically, we were running our bodies in ways that they’re not designed to run and there’s consequences.
Hannah:
Yeah. Exactly. I’m assuming your adrenal gland spike, which then holds on too fast and that weight gain around stress, I think we all know that being stressed for long periods of time can reduce your ability to actually burn the fat that you usually would in any day life as you’re exercising. I know for me,-
Laura Cini:
Exactly.
Hannah:
… when I’m feeling stressed and anxious, the last thing I want to do is actually exercise even though it’s the first thing I should be doing just to help clear the mind, but you go into this hunker down state. I know that if I’m hunkering down and I’m feeling stressed, I’m so less likely to get work done, which then in turn perpetuates that poor cycle that I get in. So yeah, I totally understand that.
Laura Cini:
Yeah, it is. It has huge effects on the digestive system, on the reproductive system, hormone levels, oestrogen, testosterone, progesterone, and yeah, certainly inhibits fat burning, which many people… I get a lot of women coming to me for weight loss and they’re doing such a good job with their exercise and they’re trying to eat well. They’re really beating themselves up and feeling very bad. One of the reasons that they’re not burning fat, their body actually can’t access their fat stores is their cortisol levels are out of normal rhythm because they’re running on this adrenaline system day in, day out and they’re really burned out. It’s almost impossible for the body to actually access the fat to burn because there’s the way the body is designed. Some people call it burnout. Some people call it just feeling really flat, lost your mojo. Your adrenal glands, which pump out this adrenaline, just get really puffed.
Hannah:
Yeah.
Laura Cini:
They’re not meant to be-
Hannah:
Used all the time.
Laura Cini:
… working.
Hannah:
Exactly.
Laura Cini:
So other things suffer. The adrenaline and maintaining that response becomes the body’s priority because it feels like it’s in an emergency situation all the time.
Hannah:
Mm-hmm. Exactly. Well, let’s touch on the not so healthy ways that we are potentially dealing with this feeling.
Laura Cini:
Yeah. Look, I think most of us could probably name a number of ways that we cope and we know we shouldn’t be doing it, but it’s all about self-soothing and trying to ease that feeling of discomfort and unease and getting a quick fix, a quick feeling of comfort. For some people, and I think many women, food is [inaudible 00:14:42] on comfort eating. This is really, really common and food is everywhere. It’s relatively cheap. The kind of foods that people eat for comfort, relatively cheap, very accessible, so comfort eating. They tends to be the carbohydrates, which lead to a bit of a initial serotonin hit, which is a feel good chemical in the body. That can be quite comforting.
Unfortunately, the sugar gives you a little adrenaline rush, which can pick you up if you’re feeling pretty low and flat. Lollies, chocolates, cakes, biscuits, all that comforting stuff. So food, I think for a lot of people, is a really common self-soothing method. For some, it’s alcohol. I get clients that come to me and say, “Yeah, I get home and I just need a glass or two of wine just to wind down.” They know that they don’t want to be drinking.
Hannah:
[inaudible 00:15:57] on it. Yeah.
Laura Cini:
Yeah, or that one glass becomes two or three or four. They know that that’s not in their best interests, especially if they’re trying to lose weight, burn fat, but it’s got a quite an initially quite a calming effect, alcohol, and so that can give quite an instant feeling of relaxation. Gosh, look, social media. I think that’s a big switch off for people, even though it actually stimulates the brain and often makes people feel worse about themselves when they-
Hannah:
Yeah.
Laura Cini:
Do you think people use that as a switch off?
Hannah:
Yeah. I think we’ve been trained just to pick up the phone and just mindlessly scroll and then you end up an hour later and all you’ve done is just look at a blue light for the last hour. You might be sipping on your glass of wine because it helps you, what you think, unwind, but all it does is you might fall asleep initially, but it’s going to end up being not so great sleep.
Laura Cini:
Yes.
Hannah:
You’re feeling crappier and then you sip on the coffee in the morning to get going because you’re too tired and then you become too tired and then wired. Then it’s just this potential cycle again.
Laura Cini:
Exactly. In the midst of that, there’s this negative self-talk that goes on in a lot of people’s brains through the day. Okay, I need to stop eating the lollies. I need to stay away from the office lolly jar. I need to try and not have so much to drink tonight. Then there’s more pressure and more stress and that just adds into the cycle, which it really is quite exhausting really. You can understand why women particularly… I tend to see more women than men, which is why I tend to talk more about women. I think probably men, to a certain degree, feel this as well. Maybe they don’t talk about it as much possibly, but women just say, “I am just exhausted.”
Hannah:
Yeah.
Laura Cini:
You can see why.
Hannah:
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I know we’re going to get into it in the next episode in a lot more detail, but are there quick alternatives to these self-soothing options that we could use instead?
Laura Cini:
Yes. Look, again, most people will be familiar with these. It’s not going to be anything new, but it does help to remind people. Some people find things like yoga fabulous. It slows the breathing down. It actually releases feel good, calming chemicals in the body, brain chemicals that it’s been researched to do that. Some people say, “Oh, yeah, I just can’t do yoga. I don’t like it.” So just going for a walk, something that’s not too intense. Something that’s outside is wonderful. Get a bit of fresh air, try and switch your mind off. It doesn’t have to be anything too intense. It can just be a walk. It can just be going into your garden, patting your dog, or go and have a chat with your cat, just wandering around your garden, or it could be ringing a friend. Ring a friend that you find relaxing to talk to, not someone that’s going to drain you. What do they call them? Energy vampires. Someone that’s going to listen to you and support you and help you calm down, or meeting someone in person to do that that you connect with.
Meditation. I know that everyone says, “Ugh, meditate, meditate.” Sometimes the clients roll their eyes at me and say, “Oh, I’m too busy to meditate. I can’t switch my brain off to meditate. I hate sitting there.” So yes, it doesn’t work for everyone, but far out, the research on meditation is so impressive in terms of brain health, physical health. But even just, look, just making yourself a cup of tea, just the ritual of making yourself something warm, something soothing. I have had a lot of acupuncture in the past and my acupuncturist a few years ago said to me, “Right, I want you to find three or four times across the day when you can just take three slow, deep breaths.” I thought to myself, “Ah, really? Is that actually going to do anything to help?” because I was having quite a tough time at that time, feeling quite overwhelmed. I thought, well, I’m going to do it, but I was a bit sceptical and far out, Hannah, it made a massive difference.
I found the time. I put a sticky note in my car and did it in the car. Look, this might be a bit too much information, but I did it when I went to the toilet. It was a good time. I was by myself. It was private. I had a few minutes and that actually made quite a substantial difference because it switches you into the parasympathetic nervous system. It switches you out of that adrenaline, go, go, go into the relaxed, rest mindset and the physical reaction in the body. So it switches off momentarily that adrenaline. If you can get breaks through the day that you do that, that has a huge flow-on effect.
Hannah:
Yeah. I know there’s a lot of us out there, well, since COVID, are doing about either half, half work from home, work from office, or even fully working from home, and for someone who runs their own business, so part of the work is at home. I understand that difficulty with switching off when your computer and your laptop and everything are sitting there. Even though you have a day off, you might work on a Wednesday, but it’s all there looking at you.
Laura Cini:
Yes.
Hannah:
It’s something that I’ve really struggled with. I’m going to be honest. I continue to struggle with it, but the best way for me, I’ve found to actually stop myself from procrastinating and then doing an email and then feeling like I should is to take myself out of that environment. I know that sounds silly because it’s moving yourself away from your own home area, but even just getting up in the morning and instead of fucking around and then maybe going out later on in the afternoon, so you spend the whole morning anxious about doing something on the computer is the first thing that I do is try and organise to get myself out of the house.
I think that’s that break from that environment. The break away from the computer. I can’t physically do emails. I can’t physically look on the computer. It’s enough for my brain then to just have a little moment to switch my body to calm down, and then I find that I have a much better rest of my day. That may or may not help, guys, but that’s something that I do-
Laura Cini:
Yeah. So you-
Hannah:
… on my day off.
Laura Cini:
… physically remove yourself from-
Hannah:
Physically remove myself and do it first thing. You might physically remove yourself later in the afternoon, but you spent the whole morning after you’ve woken up and had breakfast, looking at the computer or knowing the computers in the room next door. I just find, I need to get out,
Laura Cini:
Yeah, that’s good.
Hannah:
… to get out of the house. Yeah.
Laura Cini:
Good idea.
Hannah:
Even if it’s just a long walk, if you’ve got the time [inaudible 00:23:16], even if it’s taking the kids to school and then I don’t know, going and grabbing a coffee and sitting down at a cafe by yourself for even just half an hour.
Laura Cini:
Yes.
Hannah:
It’s enough of that break, that split from normalcy and from that environment to give you the gap, enough, I found, to allow myself to have the day to myself afterwards.
Laura Cini:
Yeah. You’ll be switching the parasympathetic nervous system on, so you’ll be out of that adrenaline response and the body will be getting a lovely half hour in that parasympathetic, calm, relaxed state. Yeah, that’s fabulous. That’s a great thing, removing yourself.
Hannah:
Because it’d be nice to be able to remove the computer, but we all know that we put the computer in the car outside or if you have the opportunity, guys, leave the computer at work. Leave your tablet at work. I know a lot of us have access to email on our phone. I find that the key thing for me is when I wake up in the morning, don’t grab the phone and use it to wake yourself up. Wake up, look outside, don’t start in that fight or flight mode immediately, which I think we do as soon as we look at the phone and start checking emails.
Laura Cini:
Exactly. Yeah. I find it amazing that I go to a yoga class regularly and I would say 75% approximately of the people in the yoga class, as soon as they’re finished, they’ll pick up their phone straight away and check it. I always try not to because I’m in that lovely, calm, relaxed state and I don’t want the adrenaline switched on again for as long as possible. So just little things like that, I think. Okay, no, give yourself another half an hour, an hour if possible before you look at your phone.
Hannah:
Yes. You’re not sending yourself straight into that spike of adrenaline immediately when you wake up in the morning. You’re giving yourself that time.
Laura Cini:
Yeah. That’s good. Little things like that across the day can make a huge difference.
Hannah:
Huge. Yeah, exactly. Even for example, a lunchtime walk, that little bit, like you said, that drops you into parasympathetic. Is that what you called it?
Laura Cini:
Yeah, that’s right. The rest, the calm, the [inaudible 00:25:23].
Hannah:
Yeah. Before the afternoon slog, just little pops in your day will start helping and then you can grow those pops out.
Laura Cini:
Yeah. Spot on.
Hannah:
Make them larger. Yeah, exactly.
Laura Cini:
Spot on. Yes. Good.
Hannah:
We’re going to get in detail what we can do for particular areas. Join us on the next episode guys, but for the time being, thank you for joining us and thanks again, Laura, for all your time and effort.
Laura Cini:
Ah, you’re welcome, Hannah. No worries.
Hannah:
All right. Until next time, guys. Catch you later.
