#38 — Dr. Andrew Weil — The Medical Nostradamus

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author

Dr. Andrew Weil has been called “the medical Nostradamus” for his foresight into what’s on the healthcare horizon. He is a world-renowned pioneer in the medical and healthcare space — leading Western healthcare toward an integrative, healing and prevention-based approach to health, decades before it was en vogue.

His resume could go on for another few pages, and it still wouldn’t do it justice. He’s the best-selling author of over a dozen books, founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, and the co-founder of one of my favorite restaurants (and my wife’s all-time favorite) True Food Kitchen. He’s also a massive matcha tea fan.

He was one of the earliest healthcare professions to openly write about diet and nutrition, openly criticize the over-prescription of pharmaceuticals, popularizing themes like healthy aging, mind-body connection, breathing techniques... all years (and sometimes decades) before the rest of the medical community started to take them seriously.

I asked him after the episode something I wish I had asked him on-air, but he gave me permission to mention it here — and that was his dietary and healthcare advice for founders, leaders, and creators in high-stress jobs. His response was that his “first, second, and third piece of advice” would be to watch his short video on youtube on the 4-7-8 breathing technique. Breathing is one of the only activities that is both voluntary and involuntary, one of the only activities we can do to communicate back to the involuntary parts of our physiology that can get out of whack while stressed — like spikes of cortisol or increased heart-rate — which can be remedied by something as simple as practicing the super short breathing technique he talks about on that video for 4-6 weeks.

YouTube video on Dr. Weil’s free advice and free remedy for anyone in a high-stress job or circumstance in life. https://youtu.be/YRPh_GaiL8s

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