Six Pillars of Lifestyle Medicine

Paula: [00:00:00] Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Chatting with the Experts where I speak with fantastic, phenomenal women from Africa, from the Caribbean and in the Diaspora. These women share my passion which is to educate, empower and encourage women globally and today’s no exception. My guest is talking about wellness and today is an invitation to wholeness, to purpose, connection and the six pillars of lifestyle medicine.
She says you can design a life that heals you from the inside out.
She also says, “What if the ultimate medicine is already built into your daily routine?” She wants you to discover that lifestyle medicine’s transformative power for your wellbeing can be built through joy, purpose, [00:01:00] positive relationships which will cinch them all into a vibrantly healthy life.
And with that, I want to welcome Dr. Ogunsan who is board certified in internal medicine and lifestyle medicine, and also a certified life coach and relationship coach to Chatting with the Experts. I know I’ve left out some things about you, Dr. Ogunsan, so please fill in any of the gaps that I might have forgotten, or left out.
Dr Oluwakemi: Thank you so much, Ms. Paula. I am so honored to be here today on your show, Chatting with the Experts. I think you covered most of it. I’ve been a physician for over three decades, and I, I do, you mentioned life and relationship coaching, which I absolutely love, combining it with medicine to bring wholeness to the full [00:02:00] person, ’cause wholeness is not just about not having physical ailments.
It includes psychological wellbeing. It includes relationships. So yes, and of course, I’m a child of God. That’s the first thing about me I’d like people to know. I’m a wife. I’m a mom. Yes, thank you.
Paula: I also failed to mention that she’s the founder of New Vibrance Coaching and Consulting, and she consults with patients and coaches individually.
She consults also with, with couples, professionals, and leaders, bringing them into clarity, emotional renewal, with Christ as the center of it all. So I think I covered everything now.
Dr Oluwakemi: Yes.
Paula: Okay. I know offline we talked about the six pillars of lifestyle medicine. [00:03:00] And I know you mentioned there’s an unofficial seventh pillar.
Let’s talk about all six and that unofficial. It’s the unofficial one I’m so excited about. So let’s dive into that.
Dr Oluwakemi: Okay. Would you like, you’d like us to talk about all six, and then I would highlight the seventh?
Paula: Yes. So- Yes, yes, yes …
Dr Oluwakemi: First, I’m going to say lifestyle medicine is the new kid on the block. It’s actually a medical specialty that enables one to use what we call therapeutic life interventions. We’re talking about nutrition, exercise, sleep, common sense things to reverse chronic illness, to treat chronic illness, and to prevent chronic illness, and to just get a person to really thrive and flourish.
So what are the six pillars? One, [00:04:00] whole food plant predominant nutrition. I’ll first highlight them before I talk about them in detail. Two, exercise, physical activity. And what we recommend is a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week, or 75 if you’re such a busy person you can’t get the 150 minutes in, 75 minutes of vigorous intensity exercise, physical activity per week.
Then that should be accompanied with at least two days of strength training. That’s the exercise bit. Then stress management. Restorative sleep is very, very important. Avoiding risky behavior, alcohol, excessive… actually we say reducing or completely eliminating alcohol, tobacco, other [00:05:00] harmful substances, just getting rid of them.
And last but definitely not least in the six official, um, pillars is positive social connection- Mm-hmm … positive relationships, which ties them all together, enables one to keep living by the pillars. It helps to sustain them. We’ll talk about that more in detail. Now, the seventh one is unofficial, but it’s daily exposure to nature.
Paula: Ah, exposure to nature. You said daily?
Dr Oluwakemi: Daily, as much as possible. We talk about 120 minutes of exposure to nature per week.
Paula: 120.
Dr Oluwakemi: Because the … Yes, 120 minutes, so-
Paula: Okay …
Dr Oluwakemi: that would be 15 to 20 minutes a day.
Paula: That’s good. That’s more manageable.
Dr Oluwakemi: And it can be combined with the others. So for example, it can be combined with [00:06:00] exercise, it can be combined with eating lunch in the park when the weather is good.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Dr Oluwakemi: So it can be comp- combined with other pillars. Yeah. But it’s, it’s not one of the official ones, but studies increasingly show that being in nature really helps regulate the blood pressure, lower the blood pressure, regulate the nervous system, calm one down. It helps with reducing anxiety. It helps with, even with the immune system, to strengthen the immune system.
So this is the seventh unofficial pillar, which I believe in very much.
Paula: And I love that seventh one because I have seen it work for me. You know, some days a lot of us work from home like I do, and some days are so busy. But just sometimes just stepping out, I have a puppy, taking him for his bio break, that’s stepping out into nature, or sitting on the deck, you know?
[00:07:00] Getting out of the AC if it’s in summer or, and it’s not too hot, or even now that it’s fall, you know, sitting out because the weather’s cooler, and just taking in nature, looking at the trees, the grass. Sometimes, you know, it can just calm you down as you do your work.
Dr Oluwakemi: Yes. That’s true. I like working outside sometimes.
I actually take my computer with me outside, and I just sit down outside. It may be a bit shady. Sometimes early in the morning it’s not too sunny. Yeah. I can actually sit. I don’t have to be in the shade.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Dr Oluwakemi: But it’s really true that regular exposure to fresh air, to nature, natural surroundings, it really helps one.
It nurtures even emotional strength.
Paula: Yes.
Dr Oluwakemi: So it lifts your confidence, it increases self-esteem, and this is all research based.
Paula: Yes, yes, yes. I, I agree 100%. I love it. I love [00:08:00] it. So you said you’re gonna elaborate on those first six pillars that we typically, uh, like the whole food, um, the plant.
Let’s start with number one. Yes. Must it be plant-based? Must it? You know, me, I’m struggling with that one.
Dr Oluwakemi: So we don’t function from an austere perspective whereby we’re saying, “Remove this, remove this, remove this.” Mm-hmm. The truth is lifestyle medicine only works if you do things from an incremental approach perspective. It’s the most effective way to build a healthy, flourishing lifestyle. Mm-hmm. To do it bit by bit. If we transition too quickly, it can lead to burnout.
Paula: Yes.
Dr Oluwakemi: So we encourage just build the habits progressively step by step, and we want something that’s sustainable for life, something that would lead to long-term behavior change.
So more specifically to your question, we don’t say, “Oh, you have to eliminate all animal protein.” [00:09:00] Lifestyle medicine is not becoming a vegetarian.
Paula: Okay.
Dr Oluwakemi: What it is about is, has, there’s a spectrum. There’s a spectrum from the unhealthy, um, burger and fries and thick steak meat, moving more and more towards plant predominant diet.
For those who can and go fully, fully plant-based, great. If not, just incremental steps moving in the direction towards wholegrain. And it’s not just plants, wholegrain. So going towards wholegrain plant predominant, so we’re talking about your fruits, your vegetables, your nuts and seeds, and wholegrains, not refined grains.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Dr Oluwakemi: So I want to be practical. For example, if I’m just starting out, I would say, or when I’m working with someone, “Would you consider adding just one serving of fruit?” For example, an apple, a [00:10:00] moderate sized apple is one serving. Adding one serving of fruit to your breakfast for this week, and do that every day.
And that’s just the only change for now. And then the next week we could say, “Would you consider adding one serving? What’s a vegetable that you enjoy?”
Paula: Mm-hmm. “
Dr Oluwakemi: Would you consider adding one serving of that vegetable to your dinner?” Just building on top of the one fruit. You’re already taking one serving of fruit a day. What are the fruits you like? Okay. So last week you were taking one apple a day. Maybe we do one apple, one orange, one apple, one orange. And you come up with what works for you, what you think you can do. Some would stretch it over two weeks, some would stretch it over a month, but they begin with one change And they add.
The thing is, the more you add the healthy food and you’re full with the healthy food, you’ll find that you don’t desire junk any longer.
Paula: It’s true. It is [00:11:00] true. Yeah. Yeah. That is true, because you’re full. You’re not craving.
Dr Oluwakemi: You’re not craving.
Paula: And, um, yeah. That’s true. That’s true.
Dr Oluwakemi: And then I could say swap out refined grains like white rice, swap it with brown rice.
Paula: Which tastes quite good.
Dr Oluwakemi: Yes.
Paula: You know? There’s so much, I mean, all the things that we did with, um, with white rice, find out that you can do fried rice with brown rice. I mean, not as much oil, but
Dr Oluwakemi: Yeah …
Paula: still.
Dr Oluwakemi: Yes.
Paula: It tastes quite good.
Dr Oluwakemi: Yes.
Paula: Okay. I’m interrupting you, sorry.
Dr Oluwakemi: Oh, no, it’s totally fine. And then, uh, oils, changing to the omega-3, omega-6.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Dr Oluwakemi: We move to avocado oil.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Dr Oluwakemi: And yes, we use less. So it is really the small changes as we enjoy them, that we’ll find that we’re able [00:12:00] to now take another step. So for example, someone who’s been drinking soda all their life, or they’ve been drinking juice, orange juice in the morning with my meal, can we try drinking water? How many days a week would you be willing to try drinking just water? Because we encourage water to be the primary beverage. And so that’s with nutrition. Then for physical activity and movement, the 150 minutes of moderate intensity, how would I know this is moderate intensity? The different types of exercises you could do, brisk walking, cycling, ballroom dancing, all of that can be vigorous or moderate.
But how do I know it’s moderate? If I can speak but not sing while I’m, while I’m doing the activity, then it’s moderate intensity. So for example, I’m going brisk walking. At this point I can sing, I can still speak, I’m not yet at moderate intensity. By the time I can, I cannot sing anymore but I can still hold a [00:13:00] conversation, I’m at moderate intensity.
Mm. If I can’t hold a conversation at all, I’m at vigorous intensity. The same with cycling, bicycling, so it’ll be light bicycling or ballroom dancing, gardening and yard work. If I’m doing it, I’m enjoying it, and I can’t sing, I’m at moderate intensity. Then double tennis as opposed to singles, usually that would be moderate intensity depending on how pro a person is.
Golf, walking and carrying the clubs, and similar recreational sports where you’re at a moderate pace and you know it because you can speak but you can’t sing.
Paula: Um- That’s good to know, because some of us go walking, and we are with other people. We’re walking with company. But that one can be, I guess, sometimes moderate because when you’re walking and you can kinda guess, “Okay, if I’m…”
What did you say? Moderate is if you can speak but you can’t sing, [00:14:00] right?
Dr Oluwakemi: That’s correct.
Paula: Okay.
Dr Oluwakemi: You got it.
Paula: Right. But most times if we are on our own, we’re doing neither speaking or singing. Yeah. We are most times listening. So it’s good to go in company maybe. That may encourage the moderate intensity.
Dr Oluwakemi: That is true, and when you go in company, you’re likely to continue the… if you do that together, you’re likely to sustain it.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Dr Oluwakemi: You’re adding the other pillar of social connection.
Paula: Yes.
Dr Oluwakemi: It’s beautiful. It works very well.
Paula: Mm-hmm. All right. So we’ve done three almost because we covered, we added the social connection.
Dr Oluwakemi: Yes, and we’re gonna talk extensively about that down the line.
Paula: Okay. Okay.
Dr Oluwakemi: But I wanted to mention that vigorous intensity, ’cause some people say, “I can’t do exercise. I just don’t have the time.” Jogging, going jogging, if you split 75 minutes into the seven days of the week and you go jogging, you go lap swimming as opposed to gentle swimming-
Paula: Mm-hmm
Dr Oluwakemi: faster cycling, you’re at vigorous intensity.
Paula: Mm.
Dr Oluwakemi: So,
Paula: and like- What about, um, you talked [00:15:00] about lap swimming. Some of us look like we can swim, but we can’t. What about if we… the Aquafit, like in you join a club that does, that offers that?
Dr Oluwakemi: That’s great. That’s moderate intensity.
Paula: Okay.
Dr Oluwakemi: That works. That works.
Moderate intensity, depending on what the leader is doing-
Paula: That’s true
Dr Oluwakemi: … They can rev up to vigorous intensity. Mm. But that is great. We encourage starting where you are and doing whatever you can do with physical activity. One wouldn’t go from zero to 150 at one go. So it might be walk to your mailbox, someone who’s been completely sedentary.
Take a 10-minute walk after you’ve eaten your largest meal of the day, and that would help with the blood sugar regulation
Paula: Yes …
Dr Oluwakemi: and with digestion. So can you do that just for the next, for the next two weeks? Just you’ve eaten your last largest meal, 10 minutes, and before you know it, you enjoy this so much, you increase it to 20 minutes, and you keep on going.
Paula: Yeah. [00:16:00]
Dr Oluwakemi: Then I talk about sleep, and we call it restorative sleep. This focuses on establishing a consistent sleep pattern. Why? Sleep is vital to life. So we want to unlock great metabolic health and emotional resilience. I know how I feel when I don’t sleep well, and it’s not good. When I was a hospitalist, oh, those days where I work and I don’t get enough sleep, it affects one’s, uh, emotional resilience. So we encourage committing to a fixed wake-up time.
We can start there. Wake up at a fixed time. Just plan the wake-up time. That’s where we start. Can you do that for the next seven days?
Paula: So wait.
Dr Oluwakemi: Yes.
Paula: I notice you stressed fixed wake-up time.
Dr Oluwakemi: Yes.
Paula: But you didn’t talk about fixed bedtime.
Dr Oluwakemi: Oh, we’re getting there.
Paula: Oh, okay.
Dr Oluwakemi: So I’m doing [00:17:00] this in increment. We could start instead with a fixed bedtime.
Some people find it difficult to start with a fixed bedtime, but let’s start there. Mm. Can you start to go to bed at the same time every day? Mm. And let’s just do that until the next time we meet and we talk again. And then the next time, okay, can you extend it further and go to bed the same time? So if I’m starting with that, then I would ask the next time, “Can you turn off, how soon can you turn off all screens around you?”
Not just your phone, but the phone is now the primary one. How soon can you turn off all screens around you? I recommend 60 minutes before bed.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Dr Oluwakemi: Why? We want to get your natural circadian rhythm. We want to boost your natural melatonin production.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Dr Oluwakemi: So can you turn off all screens? Mm. Can we try that?
So we’re adding that to you’ve been successful in going to bed around the same time between se- between [9:00] [00:18:00] and [9:30], between [10:00] and [10:30]. Now let’s add this one.
Put the screen and put it down, put it down. Set an alarm on your phone and let that alarm tell you, “Okay, shut it down, all screens.” Then once we’ve added that, we can now say, “Okay, can you make sure you step into natural sunlight?”
That your first five to 10 minutes after you wake up, if you’re waking up when the sun is up. If the sun is not up, when the sun comes up, can you just five minutes step into sunlight? You’re already getting exposure. That also helps the circadian rhythm. It helps with the sleep-wake cycle.
Paula: Gotcha.
Dr Oluwakemi: Now I need to say this.
We recommend restorative sleep, which is seven to nine hours of uninterrupted high quality sleep. That’s the goal.
Paula: I think that you need to stress that because some of us, I am guilty, have seven to nine, well, seven, I’m not gonna say to nine, seven [00:19:00] hours, but sometimes it’s not uninterrupted.
Dr Oluwakemi: Mm.
Paula: So does that take into consideration, like, you know, you get up to go to the bathroom?
Dr Oluwakemi: Yes. The uninterrupted includes going to the bathroom-
Paula: But coming right back to bed …
Dr Oluwakemi: coming right back to bed.
Paula: Okay.
Dr Oluwakemi: However, if a person has a condition that causes them to start waking up three, four times, that needs to be addressed because their sleep will not be restorative.
Paula: Okay.
Dr Oluwakemi: And then for those who drink a lot of water before bedtime, we ask why not start drinking earlier in the day so you’re not drinking so close to bedtime, and then that interrupts your sleep?
Paula: Yes.
Dr Oluwakemi: And so we want everyone to routinely achieve seven to nine hours. That’s the goal of uninterrupted. Seven is a sweet spot. Beyond nine, no, not good.
Paula: Mm.
Dr Oluwakemi: And so is your room cool enough for you? Is it dark? All the lights should be off.
Yes. This is part of sleep hygiene, and you wake up fully [00:20:00] restored. And do your best only to, to have your bed for sleeping and intimacy, nothing more.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Dr Oluwakemi: Nothing more. Yes. We encourage that. Now, the fourth one, stress management is important. Yeah. The essence is to focus the, the nervous system to move it from a state of survival, fight, flight.
You remember the sympathetic nervous system. To move it from that state of survival, we want to move it to a state of calm, of, of recovery, of rest, as opposed to fight, flight, and I know we have the, the, the other, the fawn and the freeze and flop, which we may, we may get into later. But we want to move away from sympathetic drive, overdrive, hypervigilance.
We want to move to a state of calm. So what are effective ways? Breathing exercises, using imagery, music, combining them, pausing and taking these real [00:21:00] conscious belly breaths- Mm-hmm … when you feel overwhelmed. It helps to practice it normally, so that when one feels overwhelmed or when is, one is anxious, you just take that tool that you’re already practicing and move to that.
And then positive… Oh, I wanna talk about positive social connection last.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Dr Oluwakemi: So avoiding risky substances. This is really important because we introduce toxins to our bodies when we’re taking alcohol, when we’re taking, when we’re smoking tobacco or chewing tobacco, taking it in any way. We’re undermining our own biological healing.
So we want to minimize or eliminate these risky behaviors, these toxic substances. And with regards to tobacco, those who, um, who smoke tobacco can work with their physicians, the primary care physicians, to eliminate that completely. So but we encourage, if possible, eliminating alcohol. Substitute it with herbal [00:22:00] teas. Yeah.
Paula: True
Dr Oluwakemi: So positive social connection. Relationships are, it’s not, I won’t call it just one pillar.
It’s among many. I say it’s the secret glue because, and I, I call it the secret glue, I call it the, the quiet force that holds all the other pillars together, because it makes it something you can repeat. I’ll give examples. It makes it sustainable. It makes it livable. When you’re looking at all of these other pillars, you know, because we’re social beings, we were not made to live in isolation.
Mm-hmm. We were made to, to connect with each other. We thrive when we connect. We don’t thrive, we don’t flourish in isolation. So we thrive when we have a sense of belonging, when we’re in community. And so if I’m going to go on a walk with you consistently, and we actually [00:23:00] have a friend that in the summer we walk together, I’m more likely to be consistent.
I’m more likely to have the habit ’cause I have accountability.
Paula: Right. I was gonna say that.
Dr Oluwakemi: I have company. As we’re conversing, we can share a laugh, stimulate our natural endorphins. There’s the supportive presence of someone. So that company, it’s lowering my cortisol. I’m just um, I’m combining that relationship with one pillar, exercise right there, and I’m already getting benefits.
My cortisol is lower. I have oxytocin. My friend has oxytocin. We’re both secreting oxytocin, which is called the bonding hormone, and it promotes healing and resilience. So relationship keeps me going with exercise. When we’re doing the strength training together and I’m like, “I’m tired, I can’t go on,” my friend can say, “Just one more.
Just one more.” I could say the same thing as well. Okay. And [00:24:00] so I would like to talk about, there’s a whole lot more about relationships protecting against stress, and we talked about the seventh pillar, but let’s talk about PERMA, and we can come back to relationships. But let’s talk about PERMA.
Paula: How do you spell that?
Dr Oluwakemi: P-E-R-M-A.
Paula: PERMA. Okay.
Dr Oluwakemi: Yes So PERMA is actually, it’s a psychological model, and I call, I, I call this PERMA lifestyle medicine- Mm-hmm … because what we’re doing is we’re blending positive psychology, and it was created, this model of positive psychology was created by a man called Martin Seligman. Mm-hmm. So we’re blending positive psychology PERMA wellbeing model with the six pillars of lifestyle medicine.
Mm-hmm. What we’re doing is we are creating a holistic approach to human flourishing. [00:25:00] It’s important for all of us to recognize that wellbeing is not just physical. It’s psychological as well, and spiritual. Yes. And it’s when you have the synergy of all of this together that a person is really whole. And this is supported by research.
So what does PERMA represent? P is positive emotion.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Dr Oluwakemi: How do I cultivate that? I cultivate it with cultivating gratitude. I journal what are three ways God’s grace showed up for me today? What are thing, three things that made me smile? And that cultivates gratitude, and joy, and hope, and optimism.
That’s positive emotion. E means engagement. What is it? What are some activities that, where do I catch myself that I’m in flow, that I’m fully immersed in that activity that I really enjoy? It may be a hobby, it may be work, but something that I’m deeply involved in and it’s meaningful to me, so engagement.
The R, [00:26:00] we’re back to relationships again. Yeah. The R, and this is a psychological model. When we have supportive, loving, meaningful social connection, we thrive.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Dr Oluwakemi: The M stands for meaning, and so every one of us needs, we, we need a sense of belonging, and when we belong to our, or, or, and we serve something larger than ourselves, it gives us a sense of meaning, a sense of purpose.
And then the A represents accomplishment. It’s so good when we pursue mastery in something for the sake of it. There’s a sense of fulfillment. If I want to grow as a person in any area, my character, um, um, I sing. I want to really improve my, my skill in singing. My husband plays the keyboard. Aw. He pursues [00:27:00] mastery in that.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Dr Oluwakemi: A sense of accomplishment when we have all of that, and we combine that with the pillars, mm, it works beautiful. Oh. And the person flourishes.
Paula: All right. I’m just looking at it. I love it. I love it. It almost, when I look at it permanently, almost what comes to my mind is, like, permanence. Like permanent peace, permanent joy, permanence as a person being, you know?
Dr Oluwakemi: Yes.
Paula: And this represent that the positive emotion, engagement, whether it’s work or hobby, relationships. We all need it, because God made us to be social. Remember when He made man, He said, “It’s not good for man to be alone,” so He brought, created the woman. Our meaning. You know? There must be a purpose.
Everyone needs a purpose. And when you find your purpose, I see it in, like, so many of my guests. That’s why they come on, because they wanna … they have a purpose, and that purpose lights them up like what you are doing. I can see [00:28:00] how your … Look at that smile. You know? It lights you up. That’s right. Yeah. And then accomplishment.
You have that … I, I’ve heard you sing and, uh, I wouldn’t sing because that’s not my strength. Some of us make a joyful noise unto the Lord. I wouldn’t call it.
Dr Oluwakemi: Amen to that. Amen. Amen.
Paula: Ah.
Dr Oluwakemi: He does love to hear our voices.
Paula: Yes. Yes. Yes. This resonates so much with me, as well as those other, the six pillars plus the unofficial one, the seventh one that you outlined earlier on. But then you still came back again, we are seeing, you said something earlier on, relationships are the secret glue.
Dr Oluwakemi: Yes. They are the secret glue. Remember I mentioned accountability?
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Dr Oluwakemi: It’s not only accountability. Relationships, and when I was talking about when you’re [00:29:00] exercising and you have accountability with someone.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Dr Oluwakemi: So all the lifestyle habits, when we have, uh, for example the sleep, if I have emotional safety, if I’m in relationship and I have a supportive environment, it’s much easier for me, even if I’m post-menopausal, to develop the sleep hygiene habits that would help me develop restorative sleep.
Relationships regulate our nervous system. We’re biologically designed to co-regulate each other. So if I’m with someone who is a supportive friend, a supportive partner, I have a supportive presence, a calm voice, it just, it helps shift my physiology from the sympathetic fight-flight I was talking about.
Paula: Mm-hmm, yeah.
Dr Oluwakemi: To the parasympathetic, just calm. It lowers my cortisol. This is just having someone that we, we’re there together. We meet [00:30:00] regularly. We may meet for coffee. We may meet to actually serve together, volunteer together, but we bond well, and we have a supportive relationship. So relationships shape our habits really.
We imitate the people around us. So imagine if I’m meeting someone who already is really good with exercise or someone who’s already really good, they’re very good with stress management, I begin to imitate them. I begin to imitate what they’re doing whenever they feel stressed, ’cause we rise to the level of the community that we belong to.
Paula: That’s true.
Dr Oluwakemi: If I’m with people who have healthy relationships, it’ll create an environment where good habits will feel normal. I wanna talk about blue zones here, and particularly something called a Moai. In In Okinawa, Japan. Now, there are areas of the world that are known as Blue Zones, and many people have heard about it.
You probably have heard about it as well. Mm-hmm. In this area, we have the healthiest [00:31:00] centenarians in the world, and they found that they naturally practice these six pillars of lifestyle medicine. It just comes to them naturally in those areas. And the Moai is a group of five, of four or five children that the parents bring together when they’re from the age of five.
They bring them together that they’re going to share and do life together until they pass this life. And these women, there’s a, um, the person who popularized the Blue Zones, who actually brought that concept, um, Dan Buettner, he met a moai of centenarians, women who had been together for almost, well, for some of them, 100 years, ’cause some of them were over 100.
And he talks about how at this time they’re not working, of course, they’re over 100, but if one of them doesn’t show up, they all gather. Now, I wanna talk about these relationships, because [00:32:00] they didn’t need to borrow money from banks. They would put money together to help each other. If one of them had a husband who was not doing well, was not shaping up, or who was treating his wife properly, the other four would go and address it with him that you need to shape up.
This is not good.
Paula: Wow.
Dr Oluwakemi: They supported each other. No wonder they were living that long, and they really could thrive this way, and they really were healthy. So relationships are really the pillar. We imitate people around, as I mentioned. Then relationships protect against stress. Loneliness is physically inflammatory, and connection is medicinal.
So if we have supportive relationships, that’s going to buffer stress. It’s going to reduce the emotional overload that we have, and it helps us… you know, we all have, um, human beings have different coping mechanisms. Mm-hmm. Some people go and eat junk-
Paula: Mm-hmm …
Dr Oluwakemi: when they’re stressed. Some people turn to [00:33:00] tobacco when they’re stressed.
Paula: Yeah.
Dr Oluwakemi: But if we have healthy relationships, we’re more likely to choose healthy coping mechanisms. Go for a walk, do the breathing exercises, unburden to someone, to share to a friend. This is how relationships helps us with the stress management pillar. So relationships also give meaning and motivation.
We would care better for our bodies when we have good relationships, when we feel connected, when we feel valued, when we feel that we’re, we’re worth something, that, or we feel seen, then we begin to take good care of ourselves. So healing grows in belonging.
Paula: So as I listen to this, I’m just thinking about the audience, and I’m sure that we can expand a lot more with them.
They’re probably waiting to hear so many, or ask you so many more questions about all of this because, um, like you mentioned that, um, in Japan, [00:34:00] the, how do you spell that with the group of women? Mo- Mo- Moa? M-O-I?
Dr Oluwakemi: M-O-A-I. A- Moai …
Paula: Moa. M-O- Moai … Moa. Yeah. I’m sure they’d love to ask you a lot more about this. So why don’t we do this?
Let’s pause. No, well, not pause, because we’re gonna open up the floor. And, um, so let’s end for those of you who couldn’t join us in the audience, you’ll have to just watch this, and possibly we’ll have to do another, an additional episode with Dr. Ogunsan where she can elaborate more. But for those in the audience, they will have an opportunity to ask you a lot more of those question because they will be in the room.
So for those listening in on Spotify or Apple Podcast, and those who are also viewing this on YouTube, if they would like to get in touch with you, tell them more about that.
Dr Oluwakemi: I would love that. So I’m on [00:35:00] LinkedIn as Oluwakemi Ogunsan, MD, FACP, DP, DIP, ABLM, just to show the difference if there’s someone else who’s Oluwakemi Ogunsan.
I’m also, I also have a website, newvibrancecoaching.com, and you can get in touch with me through that website. Um, just click the, um, book a consultation button. And I’m also on social media, and I would love to connect with people.
Paula: Okay. I’ll drop all of that in the chat, and we’ll also have that in our, our show notes on the website.
Dr Oluwakemi: Thank you.
Paula: And for those of you who would love to be a guest on the show, just like Dr. Ogunsan has been, please reach out to me on my website, which is Chatting With the Experts. You can also get in touch with me on LinkedIn. My profile there is Paula Okonneh, or better still, reach out to me on my business page on LinkedIn, which is Chatting With the Experts.
I’m on Instagram and my handle there is [00:36:00] @chat_experts_podcast. I have a Facebook page, business page, which is Chatting With the Experts. And last but not least, this episode is running live right now on YouTube on our live stream. But if you’d like to see all the other episodes of just all the other phenomenal women, just like Dr. Kemi Ogunsan, subscribe to our YouTube channel, which is Chatting With the Experts, and there you’ll be able to watch the numerous episodes we’ve had with women who- Share my mission, which as I said is to educate, encourage and empower women globally. Doctor Kemi, thank you so much for being a guest. We have planned on you being a guest for such a long time, but this is the appointed time, so I’m grateful.
Thank you so much for being a guest on Chatting With The Experts.
Dr Oluwakemi: Thank you so much for having me. It really is an honor. [00:37:00] Thank you.
Paula: Thank you. Now we open up the floor for all the questions to be asked.