634: A cardiologist’s guide to mind-body medicine | Tara Narula, M.D.
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to the My Buddy Green podcast.
What is the power of resilience in heart health?
I'm Jason Wachub, founder and co-CEO of My Buddy Green and your host. What if two people could receive the same exact diagnosis and one recovers, adapts, and even thrives while the other struggles?
How does stress influence heart disease?
What if the difference isn't just medication or procedures, but something far more human? Today's guest believes the missing link in modern medicine is resilience and that learning how to build it can change the course of our health and our lives. Today's guest is Dr. Tara Nerula, a board-certified cardiologist, assistant professor of cardiovascular medicine, and author of The Healing Power of Resilience.
What are effective ways to handle the stress of a diagnosis?
In today's show, we dive into why stress may be one of the most under-recognized drivers of heart disease, how receiving a diagnosis can itself be a form of trauma, and why doctors need to do more than treat numbers like cholesterol and blood pressure. We'll explore the science behind resilience, the powerful connection between mental health and physical recovery, and eight practical tools Dr. Narula believes anyone can use to build resilience before and after life-changing health events.
What are the eight tools to build resilience?
Let's dig in. So you write that two patients with the same diagnosis can have wildly different outcomes, and the differentiator is resilience.
It can be.
How does spirituality contribute to resilience?
Yes. You know, I see a lot of patients in my practice, as you mentioned, a lot of them with the same diagnoses and I witnessed their journey and I've seen exactly that. You know, some do very well and some not so well.
Why is flexibility important in our life paths?
And when you try to tease apart what one or some of those factors might be. We continue to learn in cardiology and I think in medicine how much psychological well-being plays into our outcomes and our physical recovery. And so for me, it was really important to talk about this because I don't think we do a great job in medicine, number one, explaining that to patients, asking about their psychological well-being, and then scaffolding them with resources to support them in their journey to recovery. but it is extremely important.
How can we improve physical health to enhance resilience?
And I think that's like one of the big core messages that we can't treat the physical without treating the mental.
Well, I think it's so interesting that you're a cardiologist and you're writing this book and you're talking about stress because, you know, traditionally you walk into a cardiologist's office and, you know, a good cardiologist will say, you know, immediately, okay, blood pressure, you know, let's look at your LP little a, your APOB, maybe we'll dial into the cholesterol a little bit. Maybe we'll do a clearly or calcium to like get a 3d MRI of the heart. And then like, And that'll be and like that's kind of would be considered the gold standard if you go to a good cardiologist. But there's no mention of like what's going on in the rest of your life.
Exactly. And I think, I mean, that's exactly right. I do think that cardiology as a field is a little bit ahead of the game that, you know, despite what you said in terms of recognizing the impact of mental health, whether that's anxiety, depression, PTSD, stress on patients. heart health. There was actually guidelines published around this several years ago about psychology and the interface with cardiology. So we are taking steps in that direction, but we're clearly not where we need to be. And so every single patient that I meet on their first encounter and every subsequent visit as part of my history and talking to them, I ask them, you know, what is your stress level like? what is your mental health situation like?
Are you seeing a therapist? Do you suffer from anxiety or depression? How well controlled is that? So we have those conversations and a lot of them will look at me and ask, why are you asking me this? Because again, I think we haven't explained the connection between the brain and the mind and all the chemicals that get released and how damaging chronic stress can be. And I think that is why the whole first part of the book, I really wanted to devote to just educating about the impact of stress
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:02
2
What is the power of resilience in heart health?
0:02–0:18
3
How does stress influence heart disease?
0:18–0:42
4
What are effective ways to handle the stress of a diagnosis?
0:42–1:09
5
What are the eight tools to build resilience?
1:09–1:26
6
How does spirituality contribute to resilience?
1:26–1:39
7
Why is flexibility important in our life paths?
1:39–2:16
8
How can we improve physical health to enhance resilience?
2:16–45:19
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The mindbodygreen Podcast
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