Good Health is Your Wealth - Dr. Uche Odiatu
I have a treat for you today! I have my friend, Dr. Uche Odiatu.
He's a Jamaidian. He lives in Canada, but he's come to Jamaica several times.
So we have reclassified him.
Welcome, Dr. Uche. How are you doing today?
Uche Odiatu
Great. It's always a pleasure chatting with you. We loved the vibe of taking care of yourself and the whole, you know, Jamaican lifestyle of self-care.
Heather-Dawn
Yes, I think so too. I know quite a bit about the book. Can you share a little bit about yourself? What do you bring to the world?
Uche Odiatu
I've been a practicing dentist for 25 years. I'm a certified yoga instructor and a certified trainer. I'm the author of two books. I've given 500 lectures in seven countries over the last 20 years.
I've appeared in over 400 TV and radio interviews. So I love igniting the spirit of self-care in my audience. So whether it's a dentist, hygienist, assistant, or front office manager, I'm passionate about self-care.
Heather-Dawn
Yes, I agree with that 100%. So here's my first question to you, Dr. Uche. What is good health, and why is that important for the dental team now?
Uche Odiatu
Great question. Some people always think of getting healthy as having a flat stomach or a six-pack. Meanwhile, good health goes far beyond the flat belly and the nice six-pack for the selfie.
It's mental health. It's physical health, financial health, and social health.
It's how connected you are to the community, your family, and your friendships.
That is health.
People think it's just about the flat stomach, but it goes far beyond those basic six or seven spheres of health when we talk about a balanced life and having an overall balance in the sphere of what it's like to be human in 2022.
Heather-Dawn
Yes, and this has been a very stressful two and a half years, I would say, and I believe that those who have been in good health, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, have been able to push through a little easier than those who were ill-equipped. Would you agree?
Uche Odiatu
I agree.
Good health is like currency.
Energy is like cash. It's like coins. It's the reserve in your bank account.
So when you have a reserve in your physical account and in your emotional account, you can weather any storm, whether financial, emotional, or spiritual.
Anyone who has stayed healthy for the last two years of this pandemic and is just coming out of it has had a much easier time staying balanced and staying healthy.
If you have a deep reserve, that deep reserve comes from, you know, eating healthy, sleeping well, managing stress, and consuming good-quality foods.
Heather-Dawn
That is so important. Those of us who spend our lives taking care of others are often guilty of not taking good enough care of ourselves.
You know, we talk about the triad, good nutrition, adequate sleep, and exercise. Well, let's break it down a little bit. Tell me about good nutrition.
And the reason why I'm going to focus on good nutrition is that everybody has a solution as to the right way to eat. What do you recommend as a good guide to follow for healthy eating?
Uche Odiatu
Great question. I love that fact because a lot of people think they're experts. But I say if you're an expert, let's see you in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. I see many people giving advice online.
They have blogs and articles, but what do they look like? Are they living the talk?
So I think a big part of eating healthy is walking the talk. And I see a lot of extreme diets. I think 95% of all people on diets within one year fall off the wagon, and they're either back to the same weight or even heavier than they were when they started that diet.
So diets do not work, but it's a $60 million-a-year industry in North America.
So that being said, eating healthy goes far beyond cutting calories, eating salads, and taking supplements.
It's a way of choosing food. It is mindfully looking at the menu.
Is this next food item going to take me closer or further away from how I want to look and feel? This next breakfast I'm going to eat, is it going to serve my day?
Many people are eating when they're already full. It's like putting gas in your car when it's full.
Suppose I was at a gas pump and you saw me and the gasoline was coming out, you'd be like, "Dr. Uche, why are you putting gas in?" Oh, you know, I thought I would because the gasoline station was there.
Well, that's a silly reason to put gas in. That's a silly reason to eat. Why are you eating when your stomach is full? Gastroenterologists are now saying it takes four to six hours for the stomach to empty.
So it could be that the best possible time to eat is four to six hours between meals. So there's mindfulness to nutrition when it's done well.
Heather-Dawn
So you know something, Dr. Uche: convenience and cost are often two big factors in deciding what we're going to eat.
Okay, I only have 30 minutes for lunch. What can I get? What's close by? And what's nearby isn't always the healthiest option for you. Any advice as we think about how to choose something quickly?
Uche Odiatu
Sometimes people just eat because it's a known time to eat, like because it's lunchtime.
But if you're not hungry, why are you eating?
Are you just eating because you feel an emotional void?
Is there a challenge in your relationship?
Or are you having a stressful morning? I deserve to have something fun, some fun comfort foods.
We've been on the planet for almost a million years. We've been kind of raised to go up to three days without food.
There have been times when our ancestors have gone up to 30 days without eating. We're designed to go a month without food.
So, literally, if someone's having breakfast, and now it's one o'clock, but you say you're starving, hey, think back to a million years ago.
Are you really hungry, or do you just have some emotional void to fill? Instead of eating for convenience, why not call a brother or sister who needs your emotional support?
Convenience doesn't lend itself to quality choices. Comfort foods are packed with fat and carbohydrates.
So next time it's lunchtime if I'm not hungry, how about just going for a walk and getting some sun on my skin? How about I just make a few calls to someone who might need my conversation?
Heather-Dawn
Yes, I get that. But are there any fast foods that are healthier for you than others? Or are they all in the same category?
Uche Odiatu
Not really. The concept of counting calories has been proven wrong because 1000 calories of salad are treated very differently in your body than 1000 calories of donuts. "So a calorie is a calorie" is an old-school Vanilla Ice way of thinking from the 1980s and 1990s.
So the new abstract is that eating has a different effect, and it depends on the quality. So, if you're making whole food choices, what they're saying is that the food that's closer to the vine is divine.
So the more natural your food is, the healthier it is.
So a salad, an apple, and a sandwich of whole grain bread are easier for the body to recognize as food, digest, absorb, and become your knee, your brain, your liver, your heart, your lungs, and your shoulder than if you choose a meal full of preservatives and artificial sweeteners and sugar.
Heather-Dawn
Okay, great. So, you know, most of the time when people speak about good health, they neglect to mention sleep.
It's almost as if we take pride in saying, "Well, you know, I only got four hours because I was pumping. I was burning the midnight oil."
Everything to make it seem as if you should be rewarded for getting less sleep.
And I think that we have done ourselves a great disservice by taking on that point of view. What do you think?
Uche Odiatu
For sure. There's a really good book that I read recently—one of my favorite books is actually called "Why We Sleep." It's written by a neuroscientist out of Berkeley called Matthew Walker, Ph.D. And he said every organ benefits from good sleep.
But every organ also suffers from poor-quality sleep. And I even share it; I have a six-hour program.
BASICALLY, GOOD SLEEPERS ARE GOOD HEALERS. POOR SLEEPERS ARE POOR HEALERS.
I see a patient in my chair who's 80 or 95; they are always good sleepers. So where are the bad sleepers? They're gone. They don't live long; they don't live past the age of 80.
So, if you want to reach that 80- to 100-year-old milestone, or be the world's centennial, you must master sleep and make it a must rather than a should.
Heather-Dawn
That is such a salient point. Make it a must instead of a should. And people are talking about anti-aging; get more sleep.
Uche Odiatu
Yes, exactly.
Heather-Dawn
But you know, I heard you make some connections between the healing process and sleep, specifically REM sleep. Could you elaborate on that a little bit?
What is REM sleep, and how does that help us?
Uche Odiatu
For sure. REM sleep is also known as rapid eye movement sleep.
Many people think dreaming is something we do to reminisce about our days, but neuroscientists have now shown that REM sleep actually helps you process emotion and memory.
Sleep scientists now say we need 100 minutes a night.
So you only get 100 minutes when you sleep seven to nine hours.
Not so for anyone who is a shift worker—anyone who is on rotating shifts and up all night on a regular basis, like your emergency room doctors or police officers, firefighters, or new moms. So mommy has a poor memory and is flying off the handle as someone who's sleep deprived.
It's really hard to have good emotional intelligence if you're a poor sleeper.
Consider a healthcare provider or a chairside assistant.
Think of the hygienist. Think of the doctor. If you want to be a healthcare provider or take care of someone's dental, emotional, and anxiety needs, you have to be well-balanced.
That's why they say EI, or emotional intelligence, could be more important than IQ. A patient never cares how much you know but how much you care about them.
And it's not possible if you're flying off the handle, having all your nerves fried, and burning the candle at both ends.
Heather-Dawn
Yes, yes, that is so true. So it's no longer a Medal of Honor to get inadequate sleep. And we heal best when we close our eyes and allow that REM sleep to refresh and renew.
Not only does it help with our physical functioning, but also with our emotional intelligence.
Thank you for that. I once heard you say that exercise lowers muscular tension. And that, in turn, allows our brains to work better. Can you unpack that a little bit for me, please?
Uche Odiatu
I love that. You're a good student. You take good notes in my courses. A lot of people have challenges in daily life because oxytocin is off, serotonin is off, melatonin is off, and brain-drive neurotrophic factor is off.
And they've actually shown that muscles become tense when you're stressed. When you're actually under stress, when you're in fight-or-flight mode when you're annoyed, irritated, or frustrated, your dentist is asking for instruments quicker than you wanted, and you're feeling tense.
What happens is that you carry that tension from the whole day into the evening, carrying it home to your family and into the evening time towards bedtime.
You're probably wondering why I can't sleep. Hey, but you haven't exercised, and you're emotionally weary. That's why a gentle walk at night can lower your muscular tension.
WHEN MUSCLE TENSION IS REDUCED, YOU FALL DEEPER INTO SLEEP MORE EASILY.
And they've actually shown that anytime you actually lower muscular tension, cortisol goes down.
When cortisol goes down, melatonin goes up. When melatonin levels go up, you can actually sleep deeply, and when you sleep deeply, you're rejuvenated.
So it's a bit of a long formula, but the whole idea is that exercise lowers muscular tension. It reduces cortisol and allows for the production of melatonin, which is released at night. And now you can see deeper and better. You can wake up fully rested and ready to take on the day again.
Heather-Dawn
Okay, so if you are feeling like you've had a stressful morning and you're not necessarily feeling hungry at lunchtime, a nice walk would be good to get you back in tune for the second half of the day.
Or if you've been through the day and it just feels like you're frazzled, including some light exercise, you could just walk it out.
One of my favorite or most effective stress relievers is putting on some headphones with some soothing music and walking, and I literally feel a difference physically once I finish that activity. So I think I have a little proof to back that up.
Uche Odiatu
You're living this. One of the best ways to teach is to role model, so you're doing that while also sharing the benefits firsthand at this moment.
Heather-Dawn
Yeah, well, you know, I think it's so important for us to share the pearls that we've learned on our life's journey with those people who are just coming into our profession or who've been in it for a little while but haven't quite figured it out.
So what we're saying is that good health is imperative. What we're saying is that good health is measured by good nutritional choices.
Look at salads over doughnuts, because although they have the same number of calories, your body looks at and processes them differently.
What I hear you saying is that seven to nine hours of sleep is the key to really getting the degree of relaxation that the body needs so that we can refresh, renew, heal, and improve not just our physical but our emotional status.
And I also heard you say that exercise, whether it's just walking, going to the gym, or whatever sporting or dancing activity you like, can make a big difference in how you are able to relax and get adequate sleep so you can face the day again. Did I cover it well?
Uche Odiatu
You're a good student of the universe. I love it. I believe I've done my job well when people have takeaways through which they can actually get information.
Instead of just knowing it or feeling it, they actually took action on it.
So let me challenge every one of your audience members out there.
If something has been said to me, or something resonates with one of your 100 trillion cells inside, you take action on it, not next month, but within 24 hours, and in those 24 hours, you will really make information of your own.
And that's true being a student of the universe and living new information.
Heather-Dawn
I think the only thing that I would add to that is that it doesn't have to be all or none, meaning that if you can't find an hour to walk but you can only do 15 minutes, do it.
Uche Odiatu
Yes. Okay, I like that. Hygienists and dentists are such all-or-nothing people. Either I can do 100% or I can't do anything. All or nothing doesn't work.
So what I'm saying is that even a gentle step can be maintained most days, if not every day. I work out most days. I've been exercising for over 40 years, but not every day.
I do most days. So no joints are sore. I love it. I'm inspired by it. I love teaching it. And I'm sure I'll be around for another half-century. That's my goal.
Heather-Dawn
I have one more question for you. I always like to end my podcast with a quote. Do you have one that you'd like to share with us today?
Uche Odiatu
Thank you. I think the one that's most germane to this conversation is that...
...if you're a healthcare provider and you want to pour out your genius, your talent, and your insight, you cannot pour from a vessel that's empty.
So if you're pouring from a vessel that is empty, nothing could come forward. Like in an airplane. In the event of an emergency and the planes go down, put on your oxygen mask first.
If you are a healthcare provider, a mother or father, or if others rely on you, you have to take care of yourself first.
It's not selfish to take care of yourself first, because only by taking care of yourself first and having a full vessel can you pour forth your genius and your joy, and you'll love the people you care about most.
Your family, your patients, your friends, and the community, the world at large, and the global community.
Heather-Dawn
Awesome. Thank you so much, Dr. Uche. I don't know when I'm going to see you on this side of the world again, but anytime you come, we always have a great time.
You always leave us with things that we can implement immediately. So have a wonderful time up there in Canada, and I hope to see you again. God bless.
Uche Odiatu
My pleasure. Take care. Bye bye
Heather-Dawn
That was another great session with Dr. Uche. And he reminded us that an irreplaceable dental assistant can't be at his or her best unless they're healthy.
He reminded us that...
- We shouldn't eat unless we're hungry.
- You should choose the type of calories you opt for and look for more organic, less processed foods.
- Sleep is important; at least 7 to 9 hours are required on a nightly basis so that your body can refresh, renew, and heal.
- And most of all, we need to move, move, and move. Do what you can with the time that you have.
An evening walk relaxes you and prepares you for a good night's sleep, allowing you to have a great day the next day. Just be consistent. After all, your health is your wealth.
Many of us can do simple things to improve our health. What about encouraging your team to end a work day by walking together? Or how about some stretching for a minute or two during your morning huddle?
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Would you like to LISTEN to this article?
This is Episode 18 of my Irreplaceable Dental Assistant podcast.
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