6 Stress Relief and Work-life Balance Tips for Women in Medicine

So I am joined with my dear friend, Purvi. Thank you so much for stopping by. And you are a beautiful woman, and you are a working woman in cardiology. And so I kind of want to know, what can working women do to ensure heart health? Thank you so much for inviting me, Becca. It's always good to see you. You know that as a working woman in cardiology, women in cardiology, or even women in medicine, we all struggle with work-life balance. And where I work, most of my women are actually working, most of my women patients are actually working. And what we know from studies after studies, that women, regardless of their educational status, they ignore their heart health because they are too busy or they're too stressed, or they think that it's not their priority. Their priority is to take care of their family. And the other thing, as you know, stress is a very important risk factor for cardiovascular health. And what we know is stress affects women differently than men. And obviously, when we are full-time working women, we spend 70% or more of our time at work. So it's very important that we have stress-relieving strategies figured out of ourselves at work. And the other strategies, so that you ensure that you are doing the stuff that you need to do for your health. So I kind of have like six letters for you, for the tips, like six tips. And the tips, the letters are health, basically. So H, so my first technique that I give to my patients is a stress-relieving technique, also called as heavening technique, self-heavening technique. So can we demonstrate it? Maybe we should, right? Let's do it. You ready? Yeah. Okay. ACC stress. Let's conquer it. Okay, let's go. Oh, sorry, yeah. So basically, whenever you are in stressful environment, you know, you can just do this. And what you can do is close your eyes and kind of do these stroking moments around the arms. You can also do this. Now, all of us know that this works very well on kids, right? And, you know, for my patients also, when I'm trying to give them sedation, I do this technique. So this works very well. And then the third thing is, you know, just taking your hands and kind of rotating. Now, one thing that we do when we are doing this is kind of, you know, do the lateral eye moments from right to left. And that apparently, you know, causes the distraction. It relieves the stress. And, you know, it helps you relax. And it's funny because, you know, like where I'm from, from in India, there are some energy-shifting meditation techniques that are described, that are touch-based. So I tell my patients, I do it myself this morning when I was stressed, I did that on myself. So that's H, second health. So E is eating. So, you know, eating is very spiritual. I can use this. So eating is a spiritual act. I think we should all be very aware of what we are eating, right? So, you know, all of us know that, you know, more vegetables, you know, less meat. So one thing I always tell my patients and for the working woman, you know, always in our plate, we should visualize more colors and more colors with veggies and less color with meat. So prefer the white meat fish over, you know, the red meats. Then the third one is A. So A is always be ready. So, you know, you are the best example for that. I always see you, you know, jumping and doing pushups anywhere. You're very, very kind. Yes, you'd like do it anywhere, you know? And that's what a working woman should be, always ready to exercise wherever we get it, right? So what we know is by doing even short burst of exercise, you reduce your cardiovascular health, even if you don't have time, you know, half an hour in gym. So short burst of exercises, maybe pushups on the desk if you can't do pushups, you know, full pushups, like you're an expert. But not everyone is able to do those. Well, you can always find time to work out or focus on, like you said, your health, because as a woman, and we're very nurturing. Yes. And we're always taking care of other people, and not ourselves. And I like what you do. You know, you also inspire your kids. You also inspire two of your girls to do it. And you know, that's so important, right? Because that's probably, you know, obviously bonds you with them, you know? When you're instilling good habits at a younger age. Exactly, and plus it's your time with your kids, fun time, right? So H-E-A, we finished. Next comes L. So L is live a little, you know? So all the Blue Zone studies show that, you know, people who connect with the family, who have connection with society, you know, who go for nature walks, you know, in the community, taking their friends and family along with them, they do well. So live a little, that is L. T is time management. So, you know, manage your time well. So instead of parking your car very close to the work, you park it away, you know, take a 10 minutes lunchtime break and walk after you're done eating. So small stuff like that, you know, keep a bicycle pedal, you know, beneath your desk if you are, you know, if you're just always typing. So time management is important. The other thing that I realize with most of my patient is there is a lot of decision fatigue when you're busy on the weekdays on making, you know, food at home, and hence you order from outside. And we know that outside food is not always healthy. So I think doing the time management weekend, taking the time on the weekend, preparing your meals and just having it ready so that you don't have that decision fatigue in the weekday when you're trying to prepare food for your family. So that finished time management. So health T, and the last one, you know, is the H, and H is for the health checkups. So always, you know, know your numbers, right? And then- Heart numbers are important. Exactly. Blood pressure, cholesterol, especially your A1C. Yup, yup. Blood sugar, family history, right? So know your numbers, go for the health checkup. And you know, the other thing I realize is whenever patients come, they are not always prepared. They're like working, and then doctor's office, they forget all the questions, they're gone, and then they'll remember everything, right? We used to always tell our patients, especially those that are monitoring their blood pressure to keep a diary and to write them down and to bring those in. Yes, absolutely. So we can see more of a accurate recording of how their blood pressures are and if they're fluctuating or what's going on with them at home. And then also kind of what they were doing around that time, what stresses. Yes. Because it is so important to your heart health. And so thank you so much for stopping by. I really, really appreciate it. And we'll see you soon again. Yes. Thank you.