Dr. Sharon Horesh Bergquist, an award-winning physician and author of *The Stress Paradox*, discusses the surprising upsides of stress. She explores the concept of hormesis, showing how healthy stressors can enhance resilience and personal growth. The conversation emphasizes the importance of optimizing stress rather than avoiding it entirely. Dr. Bergquist also dives into dietary diversity, the sirtuin response, and how targeted stressors like exercise can bolster our health and longevity. A fresh perspective on stress you won't want to miss!
01:16:00
forum Ask episode
web_stories AI Snips
view_agenda Chapters
menu_book Books
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
insights INSIGHT
The Need for Stress
Our bodies are not designed for chronic, continuous stress, like financial hardship or bad relationships.
However, brief, controlled stress, called hormesis, can be beneficial and build resilience.
insights INSIGHT
Defining Stress
Stress is defined by three variables: design (kind), dose (intensity), and duration (time).
Good stress is mild to moderate and brief, while bad stress is severe and chronic.
insights INSIGHT
Building Resilience
We don't simply bounce back from stress; we either become weaker or more resilient.
Good stress leads to a higher set point of resilience through cellular stress responses.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
Have we gotten the story on stress wrong? In The Stress Paradox, you’ll discover the latest science indicating the answer is yes, and that by incorporating five essential good stressors, we can unlock a sharper mind, improved mood, healthier gut, and reduced risk of common chronic diseases.
Dr. Sharon Bergquist
Most people understand that we have the ability to grow from adversity, yet in our culture we have a largely negative view of stress. In fact, we often do our best to avoid stress at all costs. Today, you’re going to learn about specific stress response systems that are part of our biology, and how to activate them in order to build resilience. Our guest is award-winning physician, Dr. Sharon Horesh Bergquist. Her new book, The Stress Paradox, explains the critical connection our biology has with stress. Her work explores how we can engage in purposeful healthy stressors to increase resilience and reap multiple health benefits. You’re going to learn the science behind how and why to activate your innate cellular stress responses. We’re going to talk about how specific strategies, like eating more plant toxins and engaging in high intensity exercise, can help you build a healthier, more robust stress response system. Not only will these protocols help you develop a healthier relationship to stress, but they will also reduce your risk of diseases and increase your longevity. I hope you enjoy this incredible conversation with Dr. Sharon Horesh Bergquest! In this episode you’ll discover:
What hormesis is and how it can enrich us.
Why we don’t need to minimize stress but optimize it.
How having too little stress can stop us from reaching our potential.
The three variables of stress.
What eustress is.
How to understand the stress set point.
What the 4 Rs are.
How the DNA damage response works.
What sirtuins are and how to activate them.
How autophagy works.
What’s missing from the conversation about plant toxins.
The importance of eating a diverse range of phytochemicals.
What heat shock proteins are.
How to improve your body’s ability to regulate inflammation.
The 5 key hormetic stressors.
What the most potent way to upregulate your mitochondria is.
The strongest predictor of mortality and disease.
Why experiencing good stress actually lowers your baseline level of stress.
The Model Health Show 
