Dr Greg Hammer: Burnout and Mindfulness

welcome back to another episode of

christian natural health today i am very

excited to have dr greg hammer with us

dr hammer is a professor at stanford

university school of medicine pediatric

intensive care physician pediatric

anesthesiologist mindfulness expert and

the author of gain without pain the

happiness handbook for healthcare

professionals a member of the stanford

well md initiative dr hammer is

currently the chair of the physician

wellness task force for the california

associate society of anesthesiologists

he has been a visiting professor and

lecturer on wellness at institutions

worldwide and teaches gain to medical

students residents and fellows at

stanford dr hammer's clinical focus is

in pediatric cardiac anesthesia and

pediatric critical care medicine his

research is in developmental

pharmacology and immunology and he has

an active laboratory with multiple

ongoing studies in these areas he has

published widely on topics related to

pharmacology and perioperative care of

children undergoing cardiac and thoracic

procedures as well as organ

transplantation dr hammer is a health

enthusiast and meditator utilizing a

non-duality and mindfulness-based

approach including the gain method

welcome dr hammer thank you so much for

joining us

good morning lauren really nice to be

with you

thanks so all right so what your book

talks about the concept of burnout so

can you first give us a definition of

that what is burnout all about

burnout is a state of emotional and

spiritual and physical fatigue related

to chronic stress

and life itself is stressful

so even when things in the world seem to

be going as smoothly as they might ever

there's still a lot of stress in our

lives we struggle with many issues as

you well know but i think of late uh

things have really intensified and

all of us have an increased stress level

related to the pandemic i think what's

happening in ukraine uh the economy and

and several other issues that are

weighing heavily on all of us and so

burnout

related to that chronic stress has

really caused a pandemic of of spiritual

emotional and physical fatigue

absolutely

so um specifically can you speak to

burnout in the healthcare profession

since that's you know your area of

expertise what's that been like lately

i think there's always burnout in the

healthcare sector among physicians

nurses respiratory therapists others

you know it's a tough field

if you make a mistake it can cost

somebody their life

so the work is stressful although

immensely rewarding

but there are always changes going on

you know on the corporate side

acquisitions and cutbacks and

budgets being reevaluated and clinics

based being inadequate due to growth and

so there are a lot of stressors as there

are in all walks of life of course but i

think

uh in the last several years related to

the pandemic

uh that stress amongst health care

workers has certainly increased

substantially sure absolutely so um the

gain method that you share with uh the

students and fellows and everybody else

can you give us kind of a rough overview

what is that

sure

gain is uh an acronym for what i think

are the four pillars of spiritual

and general well-being and they are

gratitude

acceptance

intention

and non-judgment so

i teach and practice a form of

meditation it's a contemplative

meditation so i know it's hard for a lot

of people to sit and

empty their minds of all thoughts which

is what many are told they should do

when they're meditating

uh and also sitting for a long period of

time can be uncomfortable and very

distracting so this is really a three to

five minute practice that i do every

morning that i teach and basically it

just starts with getting in touch with

the breath

appreciating the magic of the breath

coming in through the nose and filling

the chest and then

just without any effort at all the

exhalation

so we sort of focus on that as many

forms of meditation do and then go to

that for which we're grateful and

despite the stress that we all

experience we have much for which to be

grateful we have

loved ones uh in my case i always go to

the work that i do it's such a privilege

to be able to

help children and their families and you

know my my general health etc and then

acceptance is the next thing because

pain is an inevitable part of life as

hopefully as joy

and there's a formula in the book lauren

which is suffering equals pain times

resistance

pain is there but when we resist it when

we try to push it out of our minds we

intensify the suffering

and so the a in game being acceptance

the idea is that we actually

picture opening our hearts and letting

the pain in and merging with it till

there's no separation

and uh you know i grew up in a little

town called highland park illinois and

it was the site of a mass shooting on

the 4th of july and it's just hard for

me to imagine and so

that is something that i focused on the

last few days because it's just

extremely painful for me to imagine and

so that's just an example of the pain we

all experience right the eye is

intention and we can talk about it if we

have time but the way our brains are

wired

probably related to evolutionary

pressures

there are a couple of ways our brains

are wired that really make it difficult

for us to be happy we have a negativity

bias

we have a distraction with the past and

future but the fact is that happiness

lives in the present moment

so if we want to be in the present

moment

be more positive

let go of this negativity bias we have

to do it intentionally or with purpose

because the default mode for our minds

is

otherwise it's to be negative and and

overly distracted by the past and future

and the end in gain is non-judgment

we're always making judgments of

everything around us most harshly

ourselves

and uh so with this negativity bias

and distraction with the past and future

we're

focused on ourselves we judge ourselves

very harshly

we judge things we did or said in the

past and feel shame or regret we worry

too much about the future and generate

fear and anxiety so the idea behind

non-judgment is just very simply just to

see the world and ourselves

for exactly what they and we are and

drop the good bad and and other

judgments then we simply return to the

breath then we open our eyes and we're

ready to go out in the world and

refer to these four principles

throughout the day

so when you're first teaching somebody

the gain method what do you find to be

the most difficult thing for people to

learn or the the hurdle that they get

over in order to actually move into that

i think if i'm if i'm sitting with

somebody there really are no hurdles

because it's so simple right um i think

the main hurdles as you can well imagine

and as you well know are

just to get people to do the practice

yeah

do it thinking it is one thing doing it

is another and that's why i made it a

three to five minute practice so

it's hard to make excuses for not taking

three minutes in the morning and

after we open the blinds and do our

morning hygiene thing finding a quiet

place to sit closing our eyes doing the

practice

opening our eyes getting up and going

about our day if that only takes three

or four minutes

of course

we just need to sit and do it sure

absolutely and do you find that there

are times if like your mind your monkey

mind kind of takes over and you start

kind of overthinking is it necessary to

sometimes implement that multiple times

a day if you can find the time i assume

well i we have the time what could be

more important than happiness so this

practice is

targeted to happiness

so the fact is you know i'm walking down

the hallway going to a meeting

i just

think of gratitude

i think of how grateful i am to be in

that place in that moment

going to sit with these wonderful people

who have like-minded

ideas and

and and intentions to help others

or i

find that i'm uh on my bicycle

riding to work and it's easy to think of

non-judgment i'm passing somebody and as

i'm approaching them from the back i see

they have buds in their ears and they're

looking at their screen and i start to

make judgments about

why are they doing this in this

beautiful place with all these lovely

trees and so on and then i realized i'm

doing it and i just dropped the judgment

so then i focus on non-judgment for

30 minutes 30 seconds or or a minute

but yes this is something that

by doing it first thing in the morning

and making it a habit it starts to

rewire our brains

so we more automatically just reference

these gain principles

at all moments during you know at all

times at any time during the day and and

that's the magic it's the simplicity of

these of these principles that you can

just go straight back to that place and

just kind of be aware of what you're

thinking about instead of thinking that

your thoughts are you essentially like

that that intention and awareness

beautifully put wow

so um tell me how exercise fits into all

of this is that one of the principles

that you you teach as well

well it's in the it's a chapter in the

book um in my first book and uh it's

true that sleep exercise and nutrition

really form

the three components or the tripod on

which our physical well-being rests so

we have to focus on sleep exercise and

nutrition with the eye and gain which is

intention

so we need to form good sleep hygiene

habits

we need to

focus on our diet maybe have more of a

plant-based diet etc

and with regard to exercise yes we need

to have a plan

but exercise is a great stress reliever

as we all know it generates

endorphins it makes us

feel

good about our bodies

makes us can make us feel more present

so even just a vigorous walk around the

block a couple of times

as a break during our

zoom

infested day

can really relieve stress get us outside

make us feel better about our bodies and

i think the more we do to feel good

about our bodies

the more we want to do

good for our bodies and

this helps let go of stress and i think

it's a it can be kind of a

self-propagating cycle of goodness

yep absolutely and exercise has

long-term benefits as well on our

cardiovascular system our immune system

our hormone system

uh exercise helps our sleep

and when we sleep well

we're more present

we're more optimistic

we're less likely to pick up a sugary or

fatty so-called comfort food during the

day to get that boost because we're not

so fatigued so again it's all kind of

self-propagating once we get in the

groove sure like that that's the concept

of habit stacking right essentially

where like you start to do one good

thing for yourself and it perpetuates

your ability to make other good

decisions

absolutely because you know so much

uh

so many things contribute to our

self-esteem

so that

our habits can

contribute negatively

or positively they can make us feel

better about ourselves and i think as

you suggested

the better we feel about ourselves the

more

we feel like doing things that are good

for ourselves sure yeah so again kind of

getting in the groove habit stacking if

you will

starting to get things on a positive

self-propagating

path

and so if somebody is not used to

exercise where would you encourage them

to start

i think

walking is a great place to start

just put on some comfortable shoes

go outside

and walk around the block there's so

many benefits to that you

you know you find yourself in nature

amidst the trees and so on regardless of

where you live even if you're in a city

you

you know you'll encounter trees

hopefully some grass

flowers you'll hear birds chirping

you might run into some neighbors

and start to

you know form some closeness with with

the people that live near you you know

it's amazing how many wonderful

conversations i have with people just

walking around the block or putting out

the recycling bins and there's my

neighbor doing the same and we

find that even if we're on the opposite

side of the street we're having a

conversation we're getting in touch with

each other and that sort of communion is

part of being outside and walking and so

that's a great place to start and and

i think as people get out and start

walking

if they've been very sedentary they'll

feel better

they'll walk a little more maybe they'll

walk walk a little more briskly

and maybe they'll say well i should get

that bicycle out you know i

maybe i'll ride around the block or

go a little bit further

and so hopefully one thing leads to

another and and goodness begets goodness

once again yeah absolutely and so you

also alluded to the sleep hygiene

concept so what do you recommend for

those things specifically

well there are a number of bullet points

i would say one is be mindful of things

that keep us from sleeping well caffeine

caffeine has a very long half-life that

means that

when you have that cup or mug of coffee

at

eight o'clock in the morning half of the

caffeine that's in that cup of coffee is

still in your body five or six hours

later

if you have another cup of coffee at two

o'clock in the afternoon

half of that caffeine is with you at

eight o'clock in the evening and

um

almost a third of it is still with you

at 10 o'clock at night when you want to

go to bed if you're sensitive caffeine

like i am

that may keep you up so i stopped having

that cup of coffee after lunch

alcohol very similar if you have alcohol

i think a glass of wine at dinner if

you're not eating too late is harmless

and may even be good for you

but alcohol disrupts our sleep alcohol

like anesthetic drugs

may help you fall asleep but your sleep

cycles are disrupted by alcohol so avoid

alcohol approximate to the time of bed

screen time

um you know your bed is for two things

and

neither of them are looking at a screen

right and so uh

try to cut down on that screen time and

so there are a number of other things

related to sleep hygiene but

uh create that comfortable space for

yourself try to cool the room down if

you can open the windows or whatever you

need to do

there are a lot of elements and they're

all fairly intuitive sure yeah

absolutely and diet of course is very

intuitive as well for most people i

think it's just a matter of just doing

it eating whole foods that are

unprocessed right any other particulars

that you like to hammer in on

um i think you know again sleep exercise

and nutrition nutrition being our diet i

think more of a plant-based diet um

you know cutting back on meat i think

that occasional

consumption of beef or pork is not

harmful but if it's excessive if it's

frequent it's not good for our

cardiovascular system and otherwise

um

make meal times relatively regular

avoid eating just before bedtime

um

you know again focus on natural foods

that are that are minimally processed if

at all

um fruits vegetables again all intuitive

as as we know lauren it's a matter of

doing it right exactly for the vast

majority of us that's the problem for

sure

so um back to the concept of burnout you

alluded to the zoom culture so a lot of

people are working from home now so how

would you advise them to start trying to

differentiate their work life from their

home life and try to to incorporate

mindfulness and stress management in

that situation

sure great question

well i would recommend starting with a

brief gain practice in the morning

and then take frequent breaks and go

outside

um you know go for a walk around the

block

talk to a neighbor

listen to the birds you know try to

focus on the on the present moment as

you're walking

i think

having a regular sleep time having a

regular wait time having regular meal

times

getting outside fairly simple stuff but

i think

actually if we do those things we'll

find that uh it's not so bad

avoiding the commute and being at home

sure yeah so it sounds like the

scheduling aspect is important in the

sense like just as if you were going

into the office still create that

regular schedule so that you can

maintain that pattern i think so yes

absolutely great yeah so is there

anything i have not asked you that you

want to make sure that you leave with

our audience

well i would like to leave people with a

very optimistic sentiment that although

our default mode of thinking

may include elements that are

that interfere with our happiness to

some degree our negativity bias

our overthinking of the past and the

future their solution to that is very

simple and we learn in small increments

with repetition

so

don't expect

huge changes but by changing the way we

think and the way we behave little by

little

after several months we'll look back and

appreciate how much progress we've made

so just start with that very simple game

morning contemplation and and

the rest will kind of fall into place

see what flows from there yeah awesome

so where can people go to learn more

about you

they can go to my website

greghammermd.com

g-r-e-g-h-a-m-m-e-r-m-d dot com

uh there are a lot of media there a lot

of

hopefully helpful

ideas and uh a link to my book as well

fantastic i'll include that in the show

notes and thank you so much for your

time and your expertise dr hammer really

appreciate it it's been a pleasure

lauren anytime

are you looking for a holistically

minded healthcare practitioner who truly

treats root cause rather than symptom

suppression

unfortunately even in the alternative

healing professions this isn't a given

that's why i've created

wholehealthdoctor.com a resource to help

connect patients to healthcare

practitioners in their area who share a

root cause philosophy alternatively most

of the practitioners listed also

practice telehealth so if there isn't

anyone local to you you can still find a

great practitioner to help you regain

optimal health go to

wholehealthdoctor.com that's

wholehealthdr.com

type in your location or adjust the

specialty that you're looking for and

find the practitioner who's right for

you

‍