Search for tag: "caring"

This content was originally created for audio. Some elements such as tone, sound effects, and music can be hard to translate to text. As such, the following is a summary of the episode and has been edited for clarity. For the full experience, we encourage you to subscribe and listen— it's more fun that way.

Scot S: Today's episode of "Who Cares About Men's Health" is for guys who are doing pretty well with their health but maybe would like to do a little bit better and have been struggling to make progress. Who do you go see? Who can help you accomplish your goal? Is it a primary care physician? A nutritionist? A fitness bro with a YouTube channel?

This is "Who Cares About Men's Health," providing information, inspiration, and a different interpretation about men's health. We've got a great cast here today. First of all, he is the man that brings the MD. It's my co-host from the emergency, Dr. Troy Madsen.

Troy: I'm trying to think of something that rhymes with "C," but I don't have anything, Scot. But yeah, it's me.

Scot S: All right, and I'm Scot Singpiel. I bring the BS and ask the dumb questions so you don't have to. Producer Mitch is in the mix. Hey, Producer Mitch.

Mitch: Hey there.

Scot S: All right. Then we've got our all-around baller shot-caller with a PhD in eatology. It's Thunder Jalili.

Thunder: Hey, guys.

Scot S: And our guest today is a listener. He sent in a listener email and had some questions, so we're going to try to answer them as good as we can. It's an interesting situation that Scot has. Scot, how are you doing so far? Doing all right?

Scot: I'm doing all right. Glad to be here.

Scot S: Scot, tell us a little bit about what your situation was so we can set the stage for the conversation.

Scot: So my situation is I'm a mid-30s male. I'm in pretty decent health. I'm able to go running once or twice a week. I can run five kilometers at a time. They're not terribly fast, but they're not terribly slow. I do some biking. Back in the before times, I would go swimming. Two years ago, I did a sprint triathlon and I finished it, which was my goal. So things are going pretty well.

But I have a knee that doesn't really behave much beyond five kilometers. I weigh a little too much. Just kind of a lot of things that are a little bit off. My blood pressure is always up a little bit, no matter how much I exercise it seems. So just kind of everything is a little bit off.

And when I went and talked to my primary care physician about it, he pretty much just said, "If I bothered every person that came in here with a BMI of 26, that's all I would do every day," and kind of pushed me out the door. And so I sent in the question wondering, "Well, if it's not my primary care physician, who should I go see? Is it a physical therapist or whatever?" And now I'm here.

Scot S: All right. Fantastic. Hey, Troy, do you want to give the synopsis à la medical style like you would?

Troy: That's right. This is like residents when they see a patient that they come and present to me, and I would basically present Scot's case as a male in his mid-30s. He has a BMI of 26.6, which is a little overweight, with a BMI of 25 being that overweight category. Reports a blood pressure of 128 over 75, which that top number maybe a little on the high side by NIH standards. It's a little bit above 120, so maybe a little bit elevated. He sounds like he exercises fairly regularly, runs a 5k once or twice a week. He bikes. He says he can do five pull-ups.

Scot S: That's pretty impressive actually. Maybe we spend the rest of the episode talking about that.

Troy: Seriously. Yeah, five pull-ups.

Mitch: When I first read the email, I'm like, "Scot, it is the same story with me." Even down to the little bit of BMI, the running, whatever. But when it said five pull-ups, I'm like, "That's not me."

Troy: That's right. Mitch, similar to you, he does report some knee pain if he tries to run a little bit farther than 7k. So I know you've had some knee pain. You've had some ankle issues as well.

Well, I guess, Scot, is there . . . I think the first question is for you. Was there something that prompted you to really say, "Hey, okay, this is all right, but I want things to be better"? What was it that made you think this and start asking these questions?

Scot: I guess it's just kind of been over 10 to 15 years of adult life nothing has really changed. My weight has stayed at about 180. Sometimes it goes down a little, sometimes it goes up a little, but it kind of tends towards the mean.

Some thoughts of, "I'm getting older, and if I could get this under control now it might make life easier in the future instead of trying to be 55 or 60 and like, 'Oh, no, retirement is coming up and I'm going to be on the beach every day. I'd better start working on that.'" I don't think it would work. So it was really just a "nothing really seems to be working."

I guess I should state that as far as diets and exercise and stuff goes, I haven't tried anything extreme. So I haven't tried any of the "cut out all of the carbs" or "cut out all of the meat" or "only eat smoothies." I haven't done any crazy exercise regimes just because . . . It's important, but I don't want it to become my personality.

Scot S: Thunder, what's your take on that?

Thunder: Actually, I had just a couple of questions about the diet/exercise component of what you were doing. I have a general sense of it kind of in broad strokes, but could you give me a little bit of color? When you exercise . . . so it sounds like you run a couple of times a week. Is that the main thing you do? Or what else do you do to kind of burn calories, so to speak?

Scot: So that really is the main thing. I'm an office worker, so I do a lot of sitting, like exclusively sitting. So there's playing with kids and exercise. Before the pandemic, before I was working at home, I would walk to work, which was about a kilometer there and a kilometer back, which was nice.

That's pretty much it as far as . . . The exercise is the real thing. Other than that, it's just kind of walking around if we happen to go for a walk or do some yard work or whatever. It's just kind of incidental caloric burn.

Scot S: So are you going to put him on some extreme exercise program now and diet, Thunder?

Thunder: Yeah, we're going to start with the weighted vest for 24 hours a day.

Troy: But I think . . . yeah, go ahead, Thunder.

Thunder: Thank you for sharing that. One thing you mentioned that I think is great is you said you try to play with kids and walk around and do some of this kind of ancillary exercise. People don't consider that exercise, but actually, it is activity, and all that stuff counts.

So my other question is about the diet side of things. You mentioned you haven't tried anything extreme, but how would you characterize your diet in terms of variety of foods? Do you kind eat like a little everything, or are there things you don't like? And how do you feel about it? How much processed foods or fast foods do you typically have in your diet?

Scot: So I feel like we do pretty well. We generally don't have any sodas, just kind of as a matter of course. Throughout the day, it's pretty varied. However, we do lean much more towards the pasta and carbohydrate side of the spectrum than meat-heavy, but that's not to say . . . We usually end up getting a serving of meat in per day. We like eggs, so there's a decent amount of eggs involved.

Breakfasts are probably an . . . well, it's a guilty pleasure essentially because I don't really like waking up, so it's just "get up, get a bowl of sugary cereal, and be done." But that's more out of convenience than anything else.

Thunder: And are you a snacker?

Scot: So throughout the day, no, but it's not uncommon for me to have a snack with my young kids in the morning or the afternoon, but generally not both. It's apples and the goldfish crackers and a little bit of that.

Troy: What about sodas? I know, Thunder, you've talked about this before. Do you drink a lot of sodas or how does that factor into your diet?

Scot: Essentially next to none. Sometimes for birthdays or whatever it's nice to grab a ginger beer or something like that, some sort of fancy soda. So it's like a bottle or two a year.

Troy: You're doing great there.

Thunder: Yeah, great.

Scot S: And that was one of Scot's frustrations, is that he feels like he's kind of done those easy things. Not to say that you shouldn't ask about those easy things, but cutting out soda, that sort of stuff, and still not seeing . . .

Troy: Yeah, the obvious stuff is . . . he's really taken care of it.

Thunder Before we get into it, just as a little encouragement, it sounds like you eat fairly well. You try to exercise. You're really not that overweight. So don't get too down on yourself, right?

Now, having said that, a couple of things that I would think about if I were you. One is maybe some different kinds of exercise. It doesn't necessarily have to take more time out of your day, but it could be perhaps more efficient and maybe more targeted towards building strength and burning calories.

If you have any interest at all in ever going to a gym, and some people don't and that's totally fine, it'd be a great idea to hire a personal trainer for a couple of sessions. They're really good about giving you ideas of what kinds of exercises to do, how to use certain machinery, and just doing things that are maybe different, instead of just going to the gym like most guys and bench pressing and doing arm curls or something. But resistance exercise actually is good for your whole body. So that's one thought.

If you don't like that, then there are other ways to incorporate more exercise into what you do. Recognizing your knee limitation, I don't know if you can run more than twice a week, but that would be one option. Biking is actually a great alternative to that because, obviously, it's low impact and it can take about the same amount of time as running.

Scot S: How many minutes of exercise do you think you get a week?

Scot: Somewhere between 90 and 120, so an hour and a half to two hours.

Scot S: That's kind of in the ballpark, isn't it, Thunder?

Thunder: I think . . .

Scot S: A little higher?

Thunder: I think if it would be higher, it would be better just in terms of what I've learned about your weight goals and your health goals. I think if you did a little more, it'd be better.

Scot S: And that would be maybe just short-term to kind of get the extra weight off and then you could go back to a maintenance? I know time is important. He doesn't really want to invest a ton more time.

Thunder: I know. See, this is the tough part. I'll be honest with you, Scot. The way human beings are built . . . you look at the human being of 10,000 years ago, even 5,000 years ago, even now, primitive cultures, they spend a lot of physical activity, a lot of calorie expenditure, in the effort to procure and prepare food. That may take hours, right? And so they don't exercise per se, but just the act of getting food is a tremendous amount of exercise.

Now you fast forward to a modern society where we don't have to do that. We can just go to a store or go to a restaurant and we're just handed something. We cut out all that other stuff.

So when you try to incorporate exercise kind of in the modern sense, you've got to try to make up a little bit for all that lost calorie expenditure that we had in the past that we don't have to do anymore.

So having said that, probably you want to shoot for more than that 90 minutes or two hours a week. If you don't, it's just going to be harder to maintain your body weight.

Scot S: What's the number you're looking at? 210? Is it 30 minutes a day?

Thunder: Yeah, I would say 30 minutes a day is what I would recommend, just the baseline. It doesn't have to be every day. You could take a couple of days off and maybe do an hour five days a week, something like that. But the reality is you have to just have a little bit more of that activity in there, because we're just not built to maintain body weight on just a little bit of activity.

Scot: So when you're talking about activity, what are we really looking at? So when I was giving you the minutes, I was meaning . . . not really counting in the warm up, cool down, get done running and now walk for 10 minutes to cool down.

And when you're talking about other exercises, what should I really be looking for? Is it really just the fact that I am exercising? Or if we're talking about a pulse, are we wanting to get the pulse up above a certain level? Because my pulse is a lot higher when I'm running versus when I'm biking, but is a minute of running and a minute of biking comparable?

Troy: Scot, I'm going to give the quote that I know everyone loves. This is the Matthew McConaughey rule. I've quoted Matthew McConaughey before. His rule of thumb, which I love, is he says just do something every day that makes you sweat. And he doesn't . . . obviously, I'm sure he has a personal trainer and all kinds of other things, but there's something to be said for that, about not worrying about metrics and pulse and this and that.

I think if you can do something every day for 30 minutes, whether it's biking or running or a vigorous walk, or maybe it's, like Thunder said, doing some resistance training. Maybe you don't like going to the gym. So maybe if there's a way you can stand and do just some free weights or something while you're working. I think anything you can do just once a day that's incorporating it to get your heart rate up a bit, I think that makes a huge difference.

Scot S: Let me also throw in there too. So I have two or three kettlebells in my office, and every 50 minutes . . . Do you try to stand up every hour? I mean, I try to stand up every 50 minutes, every 55 minutes. But I take that 5 or 10 minutes and I'll do some push-ups or I'll grab those kettlebells, and it's called the rack position and I'll do some squats or something, some of those big muscle exercises.

Troy, you can tell me if I'm making this up, but I thought that there was some research out there that said exercise doesn't have to be the continual 30 minutes. You can do little exercise snacks. You could have a little five-minute session where you do some squats and deadlifts, some overhead presses with those kettlebells, and then go back to work. I find it gets my brain going again. It wakes me up and I'm better equipped to take that next hour or so.

Thunder: Can I add a couple of other perhaps easy things?

Scot: Sure.

Thunder: Scot, you like to go on after-dinner walks? That's an easy thing to do.

Scot: I do like to do that. Sometimes it's difficult with the little kids because we're all kind of getting tired and grumpy, but yes, we do like doing that.

Thunder: Yeah, so that's an easy one. I always encourage people to maybe do some of their own chores around the house. I mean, I know in my neighborhood everybody hires someone to do their lawn. I'm like the only one in a five-mile area that actually does his own lawn, but it makes me sweat, getting to Troy's point. So things like that, because it does add up.

Troy: And I think a great thing too . . . A couple of points here. Thunder, you talked about be sure and give yourself credit. You really are doing a good job. Obviously, you want to optimize things, but you're doing very well. You're doing a lot of exercise. It sounds like you've really focused on some of the big things on diet.

But I think it's really important . . . you mentioned, "I haven't done any crazy diets. I'm not doing any super extreme exercise stuff." And I worry sometimes that we feel like we have to do those things to really get healthy. But I think if you can just say, "Hey, this is where I am. What can I do to just do something every day?" Right now, you're doing stuff a few times a week. Is there a way you can incorporate stuff into just your daily routine, anything just to get 20 to 30 minutes of getting your heart rate up a bit just once a day every day? I'm sure after a month of doing that you'll start to see some returns from that.

Scot: Okay, that sounds good. I mean, while we were talking about it, I was worrying like, "Okay, this kind of sounds like, 'Do a little bit more and you'll see essentially more of the same.'" But I hope that there can be differences after a month or two of more consistent activity through the day.

Troy: Yeah, and I think that's important too, because a lot of times we jump in and we want to do something and we want to see results fairly quickly. But I think if you just say, "Hey, I'm going to do this, and I'm going to do something now every day where I've been doing something a few times a week, and I'm going to give it four weeks, and then I'm going to reevaluate and see where things are," I think it's important to do that just to make that commitment, that four-week commitment.

And again, just looking at where you are now, looking at how successful you've been to this point, and then just thinking adding that little more. You figure if you can do something every day you're going to increase your . . . at least those times your heart rate is up, you're going to increase that by at least 50% a week in terms of total time. I'm sure you're going to see some results with that.

Scot S: So I feel like we've talked about the physical part of the equation. Thunder, is there a nutritional part that you would like to explore a little bit further? And then I want both of you gentlemen to think about if there's anything else.

Thunder: Thanks, Scot. So yeah, there are a couple of things with nutrition that come to mind. One thing that I ask people to evaluate in their own diet, and I haven't obviously seen your diet in detail. I just kind of know the broad strokes. But what are your portion sizes? Think about that. Are they just right? Are they a little much? Are they chronically too low? That actually can be a bad thing, because if you're always kind of semi-starving yourself you're actually reducing your metabolic rate and it'll make it easier to gain weight and harder to lose weight. So portion size is one thing to consider.

And the other thing to consider is how much meat and animal products you eat. Now, I'm not telling you that you have to be a complete vegan or anything, but people who eat less meat also tend to have a little easier time maintaining their body weight.

And actually, I know Troy has had some personal experiences with this, so he can perhaps share a personal story. But I know when I went to a lower meat diet, I think I lost like a couple of pounds, which doesn't sound like a lot, but on me a couple of pounds is a lot, and right away. And it never really came back as I kind of kept that vegetarian or semi-vegetarian approach. So that's another thing to think about as you look at your own diet.

Then the last thing is think about visiting a dietitian. And I'm saying this because one of the things you were kind of a little disgruntled with is, "I don't have any time to talk to my physician. I don't know where to go for some of this information." If you talk with a dietician, if you book an appointment with a dietitian, they will give you half an hour or an hour as part of your appointment and you can just talk. You can ask them questions. You can tell them about your diet. You can get their opinion. That time is there for you.

I think that's something that you just don't find in the modern medical system, because a doctor may only have 10 or 15 minutes or whatever to see you, or 20 minutes, and then he has to move on to the next patient who perhaps is much sicker than you and actually needs the attention. So I would consider the dietitian.

Scot: I have a question about the first point that you brought up as far as portion sizes. I haven't done calorie counting or anything like that, because it's kind of hard when you're preparing your own food. I mean, if it comes from a box, it's pretty easy to look on the box and say, "I ate this much." So as far as portion sizes, I just try and make it so that I stop eating before I'm full, and that's kind of just been how I've been doing it. But I do recognize I could probably eat a little bit less without starving myself, which is probably something that needs to happen.

Thunder: That's a very intelligent way of going about it, stopping to eat before you're completely full. And another trick is perhaps try to eat a little slower. Again, I have no idea if you're a slow eater or a fast eater, but that's another approach that I know people have used.

Scot S: And smaller plates too. I use a smaller plate. You get those big dinner plates. I take the next size down and I find that . . . Because you see the big plate, and you want to fill that plate with food. Otherwise, it doesn't look right. So that might be another thing.

I know that some of the stuff we're talking about kind of . . . What's your honest opinion of it, Scot? Do you just kind of feel like it's more of the same? Or do you feel like, "Oh, these are dumb. These things won't work. They're too easy"? Where are you at?

Scot: I was expecting a little bit more of like a cheerleader type thing of, "Yeah, you can totally do it." Whereas I feel like we've touched several times about, "Yeah, you should just be chill. You should be happy for where you're at right now."

But it is nice to sit here and talk and have people say, "Hey, when you get up from your chair while you're working, if you just do some push-ups, grab some weights, do something, get your heart rate up for a couple of minutes, you might actually see some changes." That is something that I have not really tried. And so I'm excited to try that out.

Troy: Yeah, I guarantee you'll see differences here, Scot. And it doesn't have to be a dramatic effort. Thunder kind of alluded to this a little bit, and I've talked a little bit about my experience previously. My big issue was my cholesterol. My cholesterol levels were surprisingly high when I got them checked. And so I tried a vegetarian diet, which I've continued now for many years, and that definitely helped.

And then I got to a point where I just started . . . you said you're doing a 5k a few times a week. I just said, "I'm going to try and run just two miles a day." So just two miles a day every day. And I said, "I'm going to do that every day because then I don't have an excuse not to do it," because I'm like, "Well, I do it every day." And I found that just made such a big difference doing that and just trying to incorporate that. Then it allowed me to look and say, "Well, this is where I am. Can I increase this?" and then kind of build from there.

But I think these small changes . . . again, looking where you are now and just making a small change to increase that to every day, something to get your heart rate up, something to make you sweat, get working out a little bit, I definitely think you're going to see a difference with that.

Like Thunder talked about, maybe some things with your diet as well you can look at there and maybe portion size, maybe not eating until you're completely full, things like that.

And again, in your situation, we're kind of talking about fine-tuning things. Again, I know your primary care physician said you're doing well, and I think you are doing really well, but I also see exactly where you're coming from and I think this will help you get more to optimizing things.

Thunder: Hey, Scot. In full honesty, I actually exercise every day like Troy. Six to seven days a week I'll do something. So like I said, there's sometimes no substitute for volume because our bodies are kind of meant for a lot more activity. It's just that our context of our modern society makes it kind of tough. So that's something to consider.

But really talking with a dietitian, you'll get a lot more of what we're doing here and really a chance to explore the nuances of your diet that I don't think we could do on a show, because I'm not looking at your five-day food diary or anything to have specifics to kind of jump on.

Scot S: Hey, Troy. I got a question for you. So if Scot tries to amp the activity up to 30 minutes a day and then goes to a dietician and finds a few little small changes in the diet, is that going to help the blood pressure? I mean, I think we all can agree those types of changes could eventually help the BMI and the cholesterol, as Thunder said, but what about the blood pressure?

Thunder: Before Troy answers that, let me just say one thing. Blood pressure taken in a doctor's office, as Troy can probably attest to, is not always the most accurate because there's . . . some people are nervous and their pressure is a little high. So I would say if you had your blood pressure checked a lot and it's always around there, then it's legit. If that's just one measurement you've done and that's what it happened to be, I wouldn't put too much stock in it.

Troy: Agreed. Yeah, I always tell people that, especially in the ER. I say, "Do not base anything on what your blood pressure is here." You really need readings over months and months, and usually at home while you're relaxed, home blood pressure cuff. And if there's any concern, usually your doctor will do that.

So honestly, as I see your blood pressure, I'm not really concerned. I can see you're concerned with BMI being a little high, cholesterol being a little bit high.

But I think the answer to your question, Scot, is absolutely. I think you're going to see differences across the board. As your weight comes down a little bit, maybe you lose 5 to 10 pounds, I think you'll probably see your blood pressure come down a bit as well probably as a response also to just the regular exercise. I think that's going to make a big difference there.

And before you get your cholesterol checked, I'd give it six months in a new routine and see these other things come down, and I think at the six-month mark you'll get your cholesterol checked and I think you'll see improvements there as well.

Scot: How important is it to have variety in your exercise life? I can't remember who it was. It was probably Troy that said that he went running two miles every day. Is it better just "variety and the spice of life" sort of way? Or does our body really care that much? Thirty minutes of sweating is 30 minutes of sweating.

Troy: The big thing I'd encourage is try to bring in some resistance training. I think just from what you're telling us, that's one thing you could really do right now, and just bring that into your routine while you're working with some free weights, just some dumbbells or kettlebells or whatever you like, and do that along with what you're doing with the running. Then maybe throw in some biking or, like Thunder mentioned, maybe an evening walk, things like that that are easy enough to add on.

Scot S: Hey, Troy. Do physical therapists, physical therapy places you go for that, do they teach any strength training, like resistant-band training if that's what Scot wanted to try, or anything like that?

Troy: I think a physical therapist . . . I think, Scot, if you went to someone for your knee specifically, and some of the joint issues you've had, that might be helpful. Typically, I think most physical therapists are going to focus on weak areas and pain that you're having. So I'm sure they could talk to you about that.

And if that's a limitation in terms of what you're able to do cardiovascular-wise, whether it's running or whatever else you're trying to do at this point, that may be a consideration. I think if you just went in there and generally said, "Well, I want resistance training, etc.," I don't know that they would be the best person for that. But for some of these chronic issues, I think they could be helpful.

Thunder: And one other kind of plug for the personal trainer. If you find a good trainer, the other thing that they'll do, Scot, is they'll kind of try to evaluate where you're at with your current condition.

I'll tell you right now most men in their 30s and beyond have weak hamstrings. They have weak low back muscles. They have kind of weak core muscles. So those types of areas can be augmented with resistance training, right? So that's another reason to seek out other kinds of help.

Now, a physical therapist would be a great trainer. It's just you'd have to go through the medical route to get that, and as Troy said, it would be kind of targeted towards maybe an area that's injured that needs to be rehabilitated. And I think part of what we're trying to get you to think about is not just dealing with your injury, but going forward, increasing your whole-body resistance training not only to burn calories, but to also keep you strong as you go forward in years.

Troy: Scot, originally when we got your email and we talked about this, we thought, "Wow, that is certainly a common dilemma of really trying to optimize where do you really go in the healthcare system to get that." And yeah, you can try on self-education and reading and all that, but there are different health systems that will have certain programs set up that incorporate so many of these different factors.

The University of Utah has PEAK Fitness that has different things, like Thunder talked about, a dietitian. They do the BOD POD testing. They have other specialists you can consult with, personal trainers, all those sorts of things. Intermountain Health also has a similar thing through their LiVe Well centers. So depending on your insurance, that may be something to look into.

Usually with these, there is an out-of-pocket fee, but they can also offer a lot of these people who can help really look at where you are and help give you this advice. And like Thunder said, you can really pick their brain and try and learn from them.

Thunder: I think this is why we have so many people now who market themselves as health coaches and nutritionists and trainers and wellness coaches and so on and so forth, because they're trying to address the gap that's existing now in the healthcare system.

Scot S: Going to try to wrap this episode up. So through the process of communication, we are trying to kind of come up with solutions and solve problems. Unfortunately, sometimes that can get a little overwhelming. I'm overwhelmed for you, Scot, and I have a fairly decent understanding of all the issues here.

So I want to ask you . . . Now, I've been taking notes so I'm prepared to give a summary, but I want to ask you what you think your steps forward might be, keeping in mind that it doesn't need to be a wholesale change. It's just those small little things. Are there a couple of small things you think you could do now consistently that you heard today? What do you think?

Scot: I think that some of the low-hanging fruit would be having some sort of weights, some sort of resistance training that when I stand up periodically, do something. I mean, there's bodyweight training, like push-ups and sit-ups, whatever. So I think that that's something that I could definitely do.

Maybe eating a little bit less. I am planning on contacting a dietitian. That seems like something that I would be able to do pretty easily. It wouldn't require much face-to-face stuff, or only once or twice, versus a personal trainer-type situation.

But I am very interested in getting a personal trainer. I think that if I tried to get more minutes of exercise in the week and then go and meet with a personal trainer once a week for a month, and then see where I can go from there.

I feel like there are a lot of directions to go. And I feel like this has been a very helpful conversation, I guess, to wrap it all up.

Scot S: And you don't feel overwhelmed right now?

Scot: Oh, yeah, definitely.

Troy: Well, let me just wrap it up then, Scot, because I think the big point I want you to understand is you're doing great. I mean, that's the bottom line. You really are doing well. Your numbers are, it sounds like, just a little bit off. Certainly give yourself credit for everything you've done. Again, it sounds like you've got some very specific things you can do. I think it's important to implement those things. Give it a month. Commit, give it a month, and then reevaluate. But it sounds like you're on the right track.

Scot S: You're talking about small changes, right? Because like Troy said, you're close to where you want to be. So just the fact you want a small change, that just requires small change. It's not like you're completely in terrible health and it's going to be a complete lifestyle overhaul. So I think those small changes would really make a difference. Consistency, we hear time and time again, is cool. And don't do anything crazy. You don't have to do anything crazy with your diet.

Scot: I'm so glad to hear that.

Scot S: Hey, Scot, we would like to check back in with you maybe in four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks, and see where you're at.

Scot: I'm okay checking back in, in a couple of weeks. Honestly, the pressure of needing to come back onto a podcast and tell them, "Hey, there's been progress," is probably one of the most effective tools that . . .

Troy: Yeah, the accountability. It really does make a difference. Well, let's do it. Let's have you back on. And like I said, you want to give it enough time to really get a chance to do it. So maybe six weeks.

Thunder: I think that six weeks would probably be a decent indicator that there should be some movement on one of these dials by then.

Scot S: And I think you hit at the very end of the conversation another component that we could've talked about, and that is having somebody that you're accountable to, have an accountability partner. When I used to work out with a partner, there were days I didn't want to go but I would go for that partner. We're kind of your accountability partners right now.

So that might be something else somebody is listening might find benefit. If you've got a couple of people you got running with and you're accountable to them, then that can make a huge difference.

Scot, we look forward to talking to you in six weeks. Send us any emails along the way. If you have questions, feel free to let us know. If you just even want to check in via email if you have any questions, that would be awesome. And thanks for caring about men's health, Scot.

Scot: Oh, thank you for caring about men's health. I really appreciate it.

Scot S: I wanted to thank Dr. Madsen and Thunder coming with some great advice today. Hopefully Scot got a little something out of that conversation. Hopefully you did too.

So if you're kind of in a similar situation, maybe a couple of your tests from the doctor came back a little high, whether it's cholesterol or blood sugar, or blood pressure, a couple small changes, if otherwise you're doing pretty good, can make a big huge difference. It certainly worked for Troy. So hopefully you picked something out that you could work on as well.

If you did, or if you'd like to give some advice to Scot, you can hit us up on our Facebook page. It's facebook.com/whocaresmenshealth. Go ahead and DM us there or put a post up on the wall. You can also email us hello@thescoperadio.com. And you can leave a voicemail message too if you call 601-55-SCOPE.

And the most important thing, I should've put this first but I put it last, is if you found value in this podcast and you know somebody else in your life that would find this episode useful, sharing it goes a long way to help us get word out about our podcast.

Thanks for listening. Thanks for caring about men's health.

Scot S: Mitch, Scot, Troy, can you hear me?

Scot: Yes.

Troy: I can hear you.

Scot S: All right. Great. All right. Hey, Scot, I just need to get this recorded too. I just want to confirm that that was your signature on the release form that you emailed me.

Scot: That is correct. That is my signature.

Scot S: Okay, great. And I also need to run this disclaimer. This conversation does not constitute a physician-patient relationship. It's for informational purposes only, to be more informed, and then we encourage you to seek out a provider for advice specific to your situation.

Scot: I understand.

Scot S: Great. Cool. Here we go.

When you are expecting a baby, you have so many hopes for the future of your child. What if you learn that your child will have physical or developmental disabilities? I'll discuss your pediatrician's role in your child's care on today's Scope.

Often parents will ask me if I'm able to take care of a future sibling of one of my patients. The answer always is of course. Some parents will then get a little more quiet and say, "But my baby isn't normal." And I'm like, "Are any of us normal?" Seriously, if you've ever studied embryology and seen all the things that can go wrong during development, it's amazing any of us come out okay. When it comes to seeing new babies who may have some physical or developmental challenges, I honestly tell them I would be honored to be their new child's pediatrician.

When I was five, we moved to a house where the neighbors behind us had a son my age. His older sister had Down syndrome. In the five years that we lived at that house, his sister became one of my best friends. We would play school together, go to the pool together. She actually became a swimmer on the Special Olympics team. We did all sorts of things that friends do. Our families have kept in contact this whole time. And I've been so proud to see all she's accomplished.

I learned early on that just because someone has an extra chromosome and has some differences as a result, they're still an amazing person. They still have so much to offer. I mean, I was the asthmatic kid, allergic to everything. And I was in the school nurse's office all the time. So I also felt like I was a bit defective. We all are a little off in our own ways.

Parents are often overwhelmed when they have a new baby with special needs. And as their pediatrician, I serve as sort of a gatekeeper for all the specialists. My job is to take care of the well child visits, the usual colds and ear infections, and help manage some straightforward issues that most pediatricians are comfortable doing.

When a child needs a specialist, I know exactly who to refer them to. And the specialists and I coordinate together to make sure the child has all their healthcare needs addressed. It's called the medical home model. It's basically a community of doctors all working together, like a wheel with all the spokes of the wheel being the specialists, and the hubcap being the pediatrician. Depending on the needs of the child, the pediatrician also gets home health nursing involved or speech or physical therapists. Often we're the ones that fill out a lot of the paperwork for the insurance companies too and refill prescriptions for supplies if a child has a feeding tube or needs diapers long term.

Often one of the specialists is a pediatrician who has had additional training and certification in complex care management. That is someone I routinely refer my patients to, because they are an amazing resource and also help coordinate the specialists. They often try to make sure that a patient, if they are coming for a visit, have all of the specialists in the visit at once, so it's easier to make sure everyone is on the same page and can get extra help from dieticians, care manager nurses, and social workers if needed. Again, all part of the community of doctors caring for special needs kids.

Trust me, we as pediatricians love your kids as much as you do. And when they make certain milestones, we celebrate with you. I get so excited when I see my cerebral palsy kids walk into a clinic on their own. And I know that every child I see with Down syndrome means I'm guaranteed extra hugs that day. Special needs doesn't always mean limited, negative quality of life. Although their care will be certainly filled with challenges, it's our job as pediatricians to help you along your child's journey to reach their full potential.

Suicide is one of those topics no one wants to talk about, but something that needs to be discussed. This is our topic today on The Scope.

Recently, a longtime family friend's daughter, who my kids have grown up with since they were really little, whom we have known since before our 12 year old was even born, acted on an impulse and took her own life. This podcast is dedicated to her. Her parents know I'm doing this podcast in her honor. During her services, her parents spoke about how important it is to bring awareness to the reality of suicide in teens, to talk about it, to talk to your kids about how they can come to you if they're having thoughts of self-harm, that there might not always be the warning signs that people tell you to look for.

With teens, their brains are not yet fully developed in terms of executive function skills. So they often can't see that while things may be bad right now, there is hope. And often, in time, things will improve. This is true so much this year with the pandemic. Our teens are not able to do normal teenager things like school functions, dances, hanging out with friends, having their first boyfriend or girlfriend. They have been cut off from interactions outside their families. Teens can only see what is happening here and now. And in their minds, it feels like things will never be the same again.

Unfortunately, they're probably right. Things will most likely never go back to the way that they had been. However, there is hope, hope that we are better able to understand COVID and hope that we will be able to bring an end to the pandemic. Hope that within the next year, people can start returning to what we consider normal life.

Knowing someone who has completed suicide will rock you to your core. Sometimes there are signs like sadness, wanting to sleep more, or stay away from others more than teens normally do, grades falling and your teen not really caring about school. Sometimes there is a history of mental illness or self-harm, and it gets the better of them. And sometimes, a teen will struggle in silence. They will appear happy and social on the outside, but be suffering within, until one day that wave of suffering overpowers them, and they act on their immediate feelings with fatal results.

The more I have spoken to teens and parents of teens, the more the subject of negative thoughts seems to come up. More and more teens are having these thoughts. More and more teens are doing self-harm, like cutting or attempting overdoses. I have about a patient a week lately, where I am having this conversation with them. It's real, it's serious. Teens need to know that we are there for them and that they can come to us, that they have options for help. No, we can't make everything go back to the way it was. No, we can't take their feelings away from them. But we can help them work through their feelings, give them options that are safe, and help them to understand that they aren't alone.

We see you, we hear you. You are beautiful and special, and you are loved.

This content was originally created for audio. Some elements such as tone, sound effects, and music can be hard to translate to text. As such, the following is a summary of the episode and has been edited for clarity. For the full experience, we encourage you to subscribe and listen— it's more fun that way.

Scot: Troy. Hi, Troy.

Troy: Hi.

Scot: What's going on, Troy? Are you my bro', Troy?

Troy: Yeah.

Scot: Seem to have some sort of an accent all of a sudden. What's up, Troy? Bro.

Troy: I don't know what that accent is.

Scot: I don't either. Not anybody I'd want to meet. "Who Cares About Men's Health?" providing information, inspiration, and motivation to better understand and engage in your health. So you feel better today and in the future. You know what we're looking for around here? Troy knows what we're looking for around here. We're looking for guys who are proud to say they care about their health and they don't care who hears about it. My name is Scot. I am the manager of thescoperadio.com, and I care about men's health. And I don't care, I'm proud to say that.

Troy: You're proud. I love it. I'm Dr. Troy Madsen. I am an emergency physician at the University of Utah, and I also care about men's health.

Mitch: I'm Mitch Sears. I am a producer at The Scope Radio, and I also care about my health and I'm proud about it.

Scot: How many episodes into this are we and we still haven't convinced Mitch?

Troy: Convinced Mitch. Mitch is back with us though. That's the best part of this, even though Mitch isn't convinced that he cares about his health yet. He's back with us on the show. We've missed you, Mitch.

Mitch: Oh, I'm glad to be back. I've missed you guys.

Scot: Now that he's back, we can have some influence. Maybe that's what it is. It's like prescription medication. He's been off of it for a while and he hasn't been, you know, now that he's back on, maybe he'll start caring again.

Mitch: Sure.

Troy: Yeah, exactly. We got to get this ramped back up again. We'll start low dose with you, Mitch, and then we'll get you excited by the end of this episode.

Scot: All right. On today's episode, we're going to talk about gifts for better fitness, not GIFs like the animated GIFs you see on Facebook and Twitter, but gifts.

Troy: Is it "giff" or is it "jiff"?

Scot: Yeah, that's a different debate for a different time, my friend. Anyway, gifts for better fitness. Each one of us have come up with three things that we think would be good for somebody who is interested in fitness or wellness in your life, or even you, you know, this might be something that you would like. I just want to share this with you guys though, first of all, and I think this kind of highlights a problem. And one of the problems that we face getting other men to care about their health or men caring about their health is because there are two camps it looks like that have been developed. There's not a lot of room for just kind of regular guys.

So I Googled gifts for better fitness. So when I Googled gifts for better fitness, here's what came up, 40 wellness gift ideas for health fanatics. Another one, fitness lovers, gym lovers, and fitness fanatics, health nuts for the person who never skips a workout.

Mitch: Oh my God.

Scot: Five best fitness gifts for anyone who loves working out. Right? So like, as I'm looking at this, I'm like this is not what I want this particular episode to be. You know, it seems like there's a lot of just . . . it's like it's reserved for only certain people. If you're not a fanatic, then there's, you know, no need for you to want to get in your wellness. It's not for a regular person. It's just for a fanatic or a nut. Did anybody else get that or is that just me?

Troy: Oh, I've felt that forever, Scot. It's like we're such a polarized society in so many ways. And it's the same thing in fitness. It's like there are more health spas and fitness centers than there have ever been, yet we have the highest obesity rate in this country that we have ever had. It's like you're either all in or you're not at all. And it drives me crazy that there's that yeah, it's like, okay, you're a fitness nut. Or it's like I can't do that. You know, it's so frustrating, but I totally agree.

Mitch: Well, one of the things that I notice all the time, either doing research for this podcast or when I was working on the 5k and I do care about my health, I'm doing that, but it's the pictures, right? You see these pictures, and it's like you're a fanatic and it's just this huge muscly dude. And it's like, "Oh my God, I'm nowhere near that." You know, it's like it's these beasts of people that over and over again, it's like, this is not for me. It doesn't look like for me. Or it's a super lean runner. It's never, I don't know, a regular guy. You know?

Troy: Yeah, agreed.

Scot: It's like there is no in between ground. Like there just is no middle ground, right? So I think that's lesson number one. We're, I don't know, just minutes into this podcast and already boom, knowledge bomb.

Troy: Knowledge bomb.

Mitch: That's why people tune in.

Troy: That is why, hey, we have over 800,000 listeners.

Scot: Just let off in your ears and knowledge bomb. There is a middle ground. Fitness is for everybody, and that's why we came up with, you know, the core four plus one more. We're not only trying to make it simple, but we're trying to make it accessible for everybody because it should be. Time and time again it has been proven that if you focus on sweating for 30 minutes a day or getting some sort of activity 30 minutes a day, focus on what you eat and try to eat more better food for you than, you know, not as good food, you work on your sleep and your mental health, that that will have benefits today and in the future.

So anyway, that is lesson number one. Let's get to the main part here. We have each picked three things for individuals that are interested in perhaps investing in one of the core four. So whether that's nutrition, exercise, sleep, or stress management, that's either worked for us or that we like. So Troy, do you want to start?

Troy: Yes. Do I just present one or do you want me to present all three of my ideas?

Scot: I think do one at a time, and if there's a reason to discuss, we can discuss. If not, we'll just move on to the next one.

Troy: It's going to be like opening gifts on Christmas morning. Each person gets to open one of their gifts, and then we'll go to the next person. So I'm not going to open all my gifts at once.

Scot: All right. Yeah, I like your idea. You open one, I open one, Mitch opens one. Okay.

Troy: Exactly. But I have tried to spread mine out over the core four. Granted they're only three gifts, but they kind of spread out over the core four. So my first gift, and I've tried to have these all gifts under $30. So pretty reasonably priced if you want to buy one or, you know, recommend or ask for one or buy one for someone else. But my first gift is a hard foam roller. This is a great gift. I think I use a foam roller every day. It's one of those things if someone is just getting into running or working out or biking or whatever it is, it seems like the biggest thing that always stops them from moving forward, as I talk to people, is the aches and pain in their legs. They get hip pain. They get knee pain. They get these super tight IT bands.

I think a hard foam roller is a great thing to do. You can give them a little bit of information about how to use it, you know, how to roll the IT band. And I think it's one of those things that's going to help people get through those initial first couple months of really starting to work out more and, you know, working through a lot of the aches and pains that come with it. I think we work out, and we forget about the stretching. We forget about the foam rolling piece. I think that's great for sustainability.

Scot: Let me jump in with the foam roller. So we have one, and not only does it help when you roll over those sore muscles and you want it to, you want to roll over those sore muscles. It should hurt. It's called sustained compression and it helps out muscle release and it helps kind of, I don't know. What else is it doing in there, Troy? Do you know?

Troy: You know, it's just breaking down a lot of those fibers that just tighten up. That's really it. It's helping with that muscle release. It's helping, you know, with the IT band, which has connective tissue to loosen it up so it's not pulling so hard on the knee and the hips.

Scot: And then the other thing you can use it for too is you can lay on it. So lay on your back on it and then get a couple of light dumbbells or something. And put your arms out at your side with your elbows bent and just it gives you this nice chest stretch, which for me is great because I'm constantly shoulders forward, over my keyboard, over my device. You know? So that really kind of stretches that out and loosens that up and makes you feel better. Good gift. What do you think, Mitch?

Mitch: I like it. I mean, I have it and when I was doing the 5k stuff, I used it almost every day after Troy talked about it all the time.

Scot: All right, Mitch, go ahead. What's your gift? Gift number one for Mitch.

Mitch: So gift number one under $30, it is a fun lunch box. So hear me out. So a lot of times . . .

Troy: I was just going to shut you up, Mitch, and say let's move on. Okay, go on. Explain.

Mitch: So whether it be a bento box or like a cool, like one that has, you know, a roll-out mat or whatever, I think that one of the big things for me, at least, especially a couple of years ago when I was working for my own business at the start is that I ate out all the time. All the time. I would go and you just get busy and you're buzzing around. And what changed for me from eating out to preparing the food and making myself a good, healthy lunch, as kind of dumb as it sounds, was looking forward to stuffing that meal, that lunchbox, right?

It's not just a brown sack. It's not just a Tupperware or a meal prep container that you just throw in a bag and whatever. But it's part of a ritual, right? It's something that you look forward to. You know your food is going to be safe. It's not going to be mush. It's going to be the right temperature, blah, blah, blah. There was something very exciting and, you know, pleasing about finding a really cool lunchbox that worked for me, and it made me excited to make myself healthy lunches.

Scot: And then as a result, you're not eating out as much. So I love that. That was a really good idea. Make it into a ritual. Yeah. You know, one of the things I've realized just off to the side for a moment is with all of these things in the core four, whether it's exercise, nutrition, sleep, what's the other one, mental health, you know, different things work for different people, right? So that lunchbox idea might not work for me, but it worked for Mitch and it might work for you. You know, for me a different way might work to get me to want to take my lunch to work if, you know, you're still going into work. So super good.

All right. There's always one of these guys at the Christmas party. I wasn't aware there was a $30 one.

Mitch: Oh no.

Troy: So you're like the $200 gift, like the GPS watch, the Fitbit.

Scot: Yeah, you bet everybody else feels terrible about it. I also don't have much of a memory apparently, because I, my number one is a kettlebell. I'm still on kettlebells. I love kettlebells.

Troy: So your gift is seriously a kettlebell?

Scot: Yeah, sure.

Troy: Just to be clear, we've now talked about kettlebells on at least six episodes. That's all right. That's all right, Scot.

Scot: So on episode 58, we had Caleb on. He talked about, you know, kettlebells and what weights to get and so forth and so on. And I went to the Bountiful, you know, the parking lot on Walgreens in Bountiful and did the deal that I found in the classified ads, because you can't find kettlebells anywhere else, except for on the used market. It's like a drug deal, except for it's for pounds of cast iron. I have a 10 pound one, and then I have a . . . hold on, about that heavy of a one apparently.

Troy: The grunting, yeah. Was that your 35 pounder?

Scot: It's not the poo. That's a 17 and a half pound.

Troy: That's a half poo.

Scot: I have the heavier ones out in the garage, but I have these two lighter ones in my office. And every hour I get up for five minutes and I do some. It might be a goblet squat. It might be an overhead press. It might be some sort of a one-arm deadlift, could be a back row. And I love it. It forces me to get up. It forces me to get the blood pumping a little bit. Sometimes if I'm working on a work problem and I'm stumped, just getting up for that 5 or 10 minutes and doing a couple exercises with the kettlebell is enough to kind of break me from, you know, getting stuck and getting back into whatever it is that I'm working on. So that is my suggestion is get a lighter kettlebell.

Now Caleb talked about the 35-pound ones for, you know, doing some heavier stuff, but like a 10-pound or a 17-pound, just to do some of those little exercises in your office.

Troy: I like it. Yeah, multitasking especially during Zoom meetings, boring Zoom meetings, pull out the dumbbell. Just keep your arms down.

Scot: Yeah. And be sure you turn the camera off because nobody wants to see you working out with your kettlebell. Although a lot worse has happened on Zoom, but we won't go there.

Troy: Much worse has happened.

Scot: Troy, gift number two.

Troy: Gift number two is a sun lamp. So these are these little sun lamps you can get that sort of simulate sunlight. I always struggle with this transition to winter. Like every year I'm like, ah, I love being outside. I love the sun. I love summertime. And there's this transition just seems to hit November where everything's dark. So now I have a sun lamp I recently purchased and I have it in my office. So it serves multiple purposes. Number one for Zoom meetings, it's good. It gives you some nice light from your sun lamp that actually looks like you've got sunlight coming in through your window instead of just sitting in a dark room.

And number two, there are proven mental health benefits of having that sort of that simulated sunlight. So this gets at the sort of the mental health piece of the core four, but it's something you can get again under 30 bucks and it's something where, you know, you can just say, hey, it's not for depression. Or, you know, I don't think you have seasonal affective disorder or anything like that. It's just great Zoom light and adds a little more light to your day as you're working in the office, going through Zoom meetings.

Scot: Just talking with my wife the other day about how our energy levels have just drastically dropped now, you know, after 5:30 when it's dark. Like we used to be able to work later at night, now not so much. So I think a sun lamp is a great idea because especially in these short, you know, the short day months that we're in. Mitch, unwrap gift number two.

Mitch: Number two, it's like the opposite of what Troy just suggested. It is . . .

Troy: Blackout blinds?

Mitch: It's a really nice sleep mask. So Troy turned me on to sleep . . .

Troy: What happens, Scot, if someone steals our gift? I'll find a new one, Mitch. Go on. It's all right. I'll find a new one.

Mitch: Because, Troy, it was last year. I don't remember if it was on air or not, but you were like, I swear you swore by sleep masks. I'm like, you know, who like my grandma, wears a sleep mask? Like I as a 30-year-old man will not ever wear a sleep mask. I got one.

Troy: I hear that a lot. Don't worry.

Mitch: I got a good one.

Troy: You did? Yeah.

Mitch: And with the $30 budget, you can get some really nice ones. I can't say any like names or anything, but there are some that they look like a brassiere and they keep up off your eyeballs. They're amazing.

Troy: They're great. That's as exactly mine.

Mitch: Right?

Troy: In my eye brassiere.

Mitch: You look like a bug, but like night and day. You know, I have a little Fitbit. I track my sleep, and it just changed everything. I have a dark apartment. It's not like it's, you know, particularly the bed, but just 100% blackout, completely changed the way I slept.

Troy: That's so great to hear, Mitch. I love it. And it's a great gift too. Let's say someone doesn't want to use it every night. Just tell them, "Hey, it's for travel." Like so often when you travel, you know, you just need something else. Just, you know, you don't have great blackout blinds or whatever. It may be wherever you're staying. It's just nice to have on hand. So it's great to hear that. I agree. I think a sleep mask is a great gift.

Scot: That's awesome that you noticed a difference in your Fitbit sleep activity.

Mitch: I did. And then on top of that, like the reason I really like it as a gift is that like it's not something like a guy is going to get themselves. I think that there is a like activation energy for getting involved in like that kind of purchase. And just to be like, here, it's a good one. It's comfortable. Try it. I think that that's really great for something that you can give to someone.

Scot: Yeah, and certain families you might want to somehow figure out how to back channel like your mom or your sister to gift that to you, because then when you open it up, you can look at all the other guys in the family go, "I don't know what this is."

Troy: "I'll never use this."

Scot: "All right. Thanks, mom, I guess."

Troy: Yeah, once you get over that initial embarrassment, it's just like, hey, whatever, I'm using it. This works. That is the point that I am at now.

Scot: All right. My gift number two is a fitness tracker. Here's my advice on this though. If you're getting it for yourself or even somebody else, buy it used. You don't need to go out and buy the fancy, super expensive ones. I feel that steps and sleep are the only two things that this fitness tracker needs to do. Well, I can't use brand names because we can't endorse anything here, but you know what they are. You probably will only be using it for a few months. My fitness tracker that I had I used, I think, for six months, eight months, and then I kind of lost interest in it, but what it did for me was it was a good reality check.

It it's kind of like, you know, weighing your food. You do that for a while and you start getting a better understanding of portion sizes, and then you don't have to do it anymore because you can just eyeball it better. So I used to think I went to bed at 10:00 religiously, my sleep tracker, my fitness tracker told me a totally different story. It told me that I was going to bed at 10:30, 11:00, 11:15. So that was useful information that helped me then put routines then to make sure that I was actually going to bed at 10:00 and not just thinking that I was.

And then it also helped me with my activity. I realized I wasn't up and moving as much as I thought I was. So again, it kind of just dialed in my perception to the reality so I was able to make adjustments. So that's why I would say a fitness tracker. I would say buy it used because, you know, you're probably going to get about six months out of it anyway, or get one and then pass it to another family member for six months. That might be another option.

Mitch: Oh, that's actually interesting because I use my fitness tracker all the time, and when I was quitting smoking, the thing I noticed was my resting heart rate. It dropped by 20, 30 points over the entire experience.

Troy: That's cool. Wow.

Mitch: So being able to see that number really changed, like how I was, you know, my recommitment to the quitting and things like that. It was something very quantitative for, you know, my experience.

Scot: All right, Troy, are you on gift number three?

Troy: I am. So unfortunately the other gift I purchased was already gifted. So I have a new gift I'm going to give, and this is more relevant to those of us who live in colder climates. But this is something I cannot say a brand name, but it's something that attaches, you strap it to the bottom of your shoe. It's kind of like tire chains for your shoe, a little something you just strap on there. It's like this rubberized thing, has these little coils on the bottom of it. It's named after an animal called a yak.

These are super useful. I absolutely love these. And I'll tell you it's multipurpose. Number one, you know, we want to be getting outside every day. Maybe you don't have a treadmill or maybe just don't like treadmills. You just want to be outside, get some fresh air, but with icy roads, snow on the ground, you're just like, hey, it's just like I can't get out there and try and walk in this stuff. Just throw these things on. They give you a great traction. This is what I run in on the winter. If we don't have too much snow and I'm just running on icy roads, they work beautifully.

Number two, it keeps you out of the ER. You know, one of the biggest thing we see so many slips and falls this time of year, especially as we start to get snowstorms, we get ice on the road and on sidewalks, people slip, they fall, they get forearm injuries, hip injuries. So it's multipurpose for your health. It's great to help keep your routine up. So you're getting out, walking every day. Great gift for people just to, you know, like I say, keep them sustaining their routine they already have in place and then keep them safe while they're out there. Scot: We have those as well, Troy. We use them when we got dogs. We'd walk our dogs in the morning and then in the evening and in the wintertime. It doesn't happen a lot here in the Valley, in Salt Lake City. But you know, you'll get packed snow or ice and it is slippery out there. And I fell one time, pretty substantially and it hurt my knee for a good four or five months after that. That was the day I went out and bought some of those. And there are different kinds. You know, there're the kinds that you alluded to, but there are a little bit more heavy dutier ones that might work for you. But they're a game changer like you say it.

Troy: Yeah, they are a game changer. You go from just slipping on roads to just great traction on sidewalks, roads, paths, whatever you're on.

Scot: All right, Mitch, gift number three. I'm so excited. I can't see what you brought to the Christmas party.

Mitch: So the last thing that I brought is, again, a really cool journal. So again, stay with me. So a journal, right, is something that is really hard for people to get into at the beginning, right? Whether it be keeping it as a planner, right? Whether it be using it to write your gratitude, whether it be whatever, it's really hard to get into it. And if someone just hands you like a spiral bound notebook, it's like I don't know if I like this. Scot, you've seen me in all my meetings. I have my little journal that I carry around. That journal is my planner. That journal is my gratitude journal. That journal is where I write my notes in meetings. It's my one thing that has everything in it.

And for me, I occasionally have anxiety. And so being able to write everything down and get it out of my head, I'm not keeping my schedule in my . . . I'm not relying on technology. I'm not looking at a screen. I'm actually writing everything down. It it's like a load off, right. It gets the ideas out of my head. And then it's really easy to start incorporating other things into a literal journal, right? Whether it be leather-bound, get yourself something nice. You know, for 30 bucks you can find yourself a really nice journal. Some of them even come pre-made, whether there are certain systems, you know, they're not a name brand, but there are certain strategies called bullet journaling. There's the five minute journaling. It's these different techniques on how to not only check in with yourself mentally, but also to check in with how your day is doing, time management, gratitude.

And, you know, it's really easy to try these systems out if you have a really cool journal that you pull out all the time, you interact with, it's yours. Again, it helps make the act of checking in with yourself, getting things out of your head, practicing gratitude, easier for me. And that's been a huge help with my mental health over the last year.

Troy: I love it. Yeah, we've made fun of it before, but I have my little planner. So it sounds like, Mitch, you kind of use your journal both as a journal and as a planner and sort of a task list. Yeah, I'm a huge believer in just being able to write stuff down, tasks, write those down so I can just put it out of my mind. I write it down. A week from now I'm going to think about this again. For now I'm not going to worry about it. But, you know, we just had the episode with Dr. Chan as well, where Scot and I talked about journaling and, you know, Dr. Chan talked a lot more about how it's a lot about gratitude and reaching out and expressing that directly to others, but certainly there's value in that act of writing down the things we're grateful for.

And Mitch, I think, as you mentioned as well, just that process of just trying to work through stuff that's on our mind and just being able to write it down and think about it I think really does a lot to relieve anxiety and get a lot of those things off our minds. So love the idea of having a really nice journal. And I think once you get that from someone you think, hey, I really should use this. Why don't I try just jotting a few things down in this?

Scot: And if you want to start journaling yourself. So one of the most valuable things I think you said right there, Mitch, is go out and find out like some sort of a system to journal, what to journal about because where do you start is difficult. I do something called the daily pages, which basically is just a free form. You write for, well, I think it's supposed to be 30 minutes, but I do it for 10. You're supposed to write for 30 minutes and you're not supposed to edit yourself. Think about it. It's not anything in particular. It's just whatever's in your head. It just gives you a chance to dump, you know, any of the toxic-ness out.

Sometimes I get sick and tired of hearing myself with the toxic-ness. So then I go, well, what else can I do? You know, what else can I ponder? And the only rule is you can't stop writing. If you stop writing, then you just start writing, "I don't know what to write," over and over again, until something comes to you.

I'm going to go ahead and give a different kind of take on that. A really nice journal might be, for some people, the thing that really motivates them to do it. For me, that's too much pressure. I would rather have like a cheap composition book that I don't go, "Oh boy, I can only put like golden thoughts in here because this is my $30 beautiful leather bound journal," right?

Mitch: I feel good. I feel good. It's like this is me time. I guess I can say that.

Scot: So, I mean, I totally get it. Like, it goes back. You like the nicer things in life. I understand that. You like nice lunchboxes. You like writing journals.

Troy: Scot, you're writing yours on like paper towels.

Mitch: This is my roll of paper towels.

Troy: Here I go.

Scot: Bar napkins. That might be an indication you've got a problem.

Troy: There's an issue there.

Scot: But yeah, find out, you know, even if it's just writing down gratitude or just getting thoughts external to yourself. I can also vouch, Mitch. I do it a little bit differently. I do it in Evernote, in my computer. They do say that there is a benefit to actually free handwriting, that there is actually an added benefit to that. I don't feel comfortable having a journal out in the world that can be floating around. So that's why I choose to use Evernote, but I can definitely vouch for the process of getting things external out of your head. I agree with you, Mitch. It makes a huge difference. It can reduce anxiety, it can make you feel better about situations, and sometimes it helps you come up with solutions that you didn't see before. So I love it.

All right. Is it my turn for number three?

Troy: This is it. This is the final gift, Scot? I hope it's a good one. I do know it's going to be an expensive one. So go on.

Scot: You're right. It is. So number three for me is something that I'll refer to as bone conduction headphones, bone conduction headphones.

Troy: So this conducts the sound through the bones in your skull.

Scot: Yeah. So instead of putting them in your ears or over your ears, there are these headphones that kind of go on the side of your head. And that way you can hear what's going on outside of your environment. So again, when I walk the dogs or run, I can listen to music or a podcast, but I can also very clearly hear cars and anything else that's out there. So not only it makes me feel safer, but the other thing is I used to have the kind that you put in your ears and every time I'd take a step, they'd make some weird noise in my ear, just from them moving around in my ears. And these bone conduction headphones don't do that. So it's not annoying to me like it used to be when I listened through regular headphones.

I think you can find them for less than a hundred bucks, but yeah.

Troy: Less than a hundred. Like they sit behind your ear or where exactly do they sit?

Scot: Oh, geez. I can't even really tell you. Let's see. So I put them on . . .

Troy: I'm going to guess behind the ear, because this is like the old tuning fork. You know, we use these tuning forks in the ER, like I don't use them. I should not say we use them in the ER. Neurologists use tuning forks, and you'll actually stick it on the forehead. Like you hit a tuning fork, you stick it on this middle of someone's forehead and you stick it behind their ear, and it measures different forms of conductive hearing loss. So I'm guessing these bone conduction headphones use that same sort of pattern where it's just conducting through the bone. As long as you don't have bone conduction hearing loss you're okay. That's cool.

Scot: The other great thing is like, even if you're out hiking and you want to have your music or your podcasts, again, you're able to hear the thing you want to hear, but you can also hear nature as well, which is nice. So they're great because they don't just shut your ears completely off.

Troy: They're wireless, I assume?

Scot: Yeah, they're Bluetooth. Yep, absolutely.

Troy: They have Bluetooth, yeah. Cool.

Scot: Wow. What a great Christmas. I'm looking around at all these gifts. And again, it's just like every Christmas I look around and I just think, oh man, just got too much, but these are all good things to tie into our core four. So I'm a little bit more okay with it.

Troy: Yeah, and who would have thought three guys could be so thoughtful? I mean, look at these very thoughtful gifts. I hope everyone appreciates what we've offered today.

Scot: Hopefully, we gave you an idea, something for yourself or something for somebody in your life that is interested, not necessarily a nut or a fanatic or a freak in, you know, just being healthier.

Time for just going to leave this here, could be something about health, could be just a random observation or thought from our lives. I'm just going to leave this here. We have a brand-new dog. He's a seven-month-old Australian shepherd puppy. And when I say puppy, I mean a 50-pound puppy. He's a big dog already. And we're working really hard with training Murphy. And he responds really well to treats, and amazingly he loves his own dog food. So that's what we use for training treats.

My just going to leave this here is every pocket of every piece of clothing now has either two or three pieces of dog food in it or dog food crumbs. So every time I reach into a pocket, now that's what I'm greeted with and I'm strangely okay with it. So there's my just going to leave this here.

Troy: Sounds like my life. Yeah, all my running shorts, running sweats, everything I reach in, there's some like a piece of a dog treat in there. I always take dog treats when I run just to reward Charlotte when she does a good job and keep her motivated. So I can understand that.

I'm just going to leave this here, Scot. You know, I had an experience recently. Laura and I were back East and were at Virginia Beach, cool place, a fun place to visit. And on Virginia Beach, they have this set-up there. So Virginia Beach, you know, it's near Norfolk. You know, it's got kind of the Navy military piece there. So the Navy, the military set up this kind of workout area there where they have all these things you can climb and different fitness challenges.

Well, there was this 20-foot tall rope there. And I was like, "I've got to climb this rope." I have not climbed a rope in probably 20 years. So I just thought I'm going to jump on and do this. And I just started climbing the rope, and as I got higher, I realized that an audience was gathering. People were actually there to watch me, watching me climb the rope. And at that point I realized I have to go all the way up the rope and I have a fear of heights. So I told myself, I am not looking down. I kept climbing and I made it and I actually made it to the top of the rope, hit the bar at the top, slid back down, got a rope burn on my ankle that lasted for two weeks after that, but it was worth it. It was worth the pride and the accomplishment of climbing a rope on Virginia Beach in front of an audience that had gathered to watch me climb the rope.

Scot: That's outstanding. Congratulations.

Troy: Thank you. That was my fitness accomplishment over the last month, so very proud of it.

Scot: Like you, we used to have a rope in grade school.

Troy: Oh yeah, we too.

Scot: We would climb that rope every once in a while. A lot of kids couldn't do it and that was one thing I was able to do, but I don't know that I could do it now anymore. I'm a little bit of a different build.

Troy: It's so funny. I know, because that's . . . as I thought about it, I thought, I don't know if I've actually climbed a rope since grade school. And it was that exact thought as I started as well. I thought, you know, I'm a different person than I was when I was 10 years old. I don't know if I can do this, but I made it up. So I was excited about that.

Scot: All right, time to say the things that you say at the end of podcasts, because we are at the end of ours. First of all, thank you very much for listening, do appreciate it. Reach out, lots of ways to do that. You can go to facebook.com/WhoCaresMensHealth. You can email us at hello@thescoperadio.com. What else can you do? You can call us at . . .

Troy: Call us at 601-55SCOPE.

Scot: 601-55SCOPE, yeah.

Troy: Remember it's not 801. It's 601 . . .

Mitch: 55SCOPE.

Troy: Yeah. So be sure and subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts. If you like us, give us five stars and thanks for listening and thanks for caring about men's health.