Episode 62: How Your Phone & Social Media Are Tricking You with Heather Dreske, Part 1

00;00;09;06 – 00;01;57;05
Kelly Parbs
Every day we’re flooded with information, news, texts, alerts, updates, recommendations. A study by the American Psychological Association found that nearly 80% of adults feel overwhelmed by the amount of information they’re exposed to. And it’s not just mental overload. Our calendars are packed. Our phones rarely leave our hands, and we often measure our own worth by how much we can get done in one day. It’s no wonder many of us feel scattered, disconnected, and constantly on. I’m your host, Kelly Parbs. I’m a licensed clinical social worker, and I’ve spent my career helping people care for their mental and emotional well-being. My guest today is Dr. Heather Dreske, a natural, empathic doctor with expertise in family medicine, psychology and holistic wellness. She brings not only professional knowledge, but also a deeply personal perspective, living with a chronic illness herself. This experience shapes how she helps others simplify their lives, reconnect with their bodies, and find healing amid ongoing health challenges. Today, we’re talking about how to slow down and tune in, how to use your five senses to feel more grounded, more present, and more connected. Because when we take small, intentional steps towards calm, clarity and connection, life doesn’t just feel simpler. It starts to feel like our own again. Please welcome Dr. Heather Dreske! Hello, Dr. Heather! Thank you so much for being here!

00;01;57;07 – 00;02;01;01
Heather Dreske
Hi, Kelly. I really appreciate you inviting me on.

00;02;01;03 – 00;02;37;20
Kelly Parbs
So today we’re talking about simplifying our lives. And I want to start by talking about something that’s on a lot of people’s minds. And that’s how technology has changed the way we live. And how that impacts our sense of connection. Technology simplifies our lives in a lot of ways, but really, it complicates our lives in a lot of ways, too. In one of your articles, you mentioned a Harvard study that found 73% of people cite technology as a contributor to loneliness. Can you share a little bit about that?

00;02;37;23 – 00;04;49;10
Heather Dreske
Yes. Kelly, this was so interesting. I mean, I think people understood during the pandemic, we thought we were lonely, and we often turned to technology. That was a very helpful mode. And we saw how people understood that isolation. And they used technology in a very positive way. However, the Surgeon General in 2023 called loneliness an actual epidemic. And so then Harvard, their department, a graduate department of education in 2024 did a large study, kind of trying to dig into loneliness. And I think we all can understand the difference between, loneliness and being alone. There are two very different things. You can feel lonely in a room full of people, and because you don’t have a sense of connection, where- and so what they looked at is what were the main contributing factors and the highest- the highest percentage was technology. And part of that, what they believe is the lack of a true connection and also the infinite scroll and taking time and then comparing ourselves with others. But what also was interesting, the largest, the people who felt least lonely in the survey were adults age 65 and older. And when we put those things together, what does that tell us? Many adults 65 and older actually are using technology. So, yeah, it was a really interesting fact to look at. So what they, also wanted to look at is, you know, the overlap between loneliness, anxiety, depression, and it’s trying to filter these things out and see, you know, what is the chicken and what is the egg. But we do know that we all have these now many computers at our hands at any time. And sometimes we- our brain is almost baked into believing we are connected. But really what we’re doing is we’re becoming isolated in our own little cone, so to speak.

00;04;49;12 – 00;04;57;25
Kelly Parbs
Very interesting. And you mentioned the infinite scroll. I’ve heard it also called the the Doom Scroll or Doom-

00;04;57;26 – 00;05;00;02
Heather Dreske
Doom scroll! Exactly, exactly.

00;05;00;08 – 00;05;27;16
Kelly Parbs
And I think everyone listening can probably relate to that. In in reading your articles, I was struck by your reference to the person who invented the infinite scroll technology and then later expressed regret for having done so. Maybe you could tell us about that a little bit and explain the hook model and, and how these tech habits kind of form.

00;05;27;19 – 00;07;59;07
Heather Dreske
Yeah. Thank you. So like many things that are invented, and it doesn’t often happen in such real time where the inventor didn’t realize that they were creating something that they later regret. And, Aza Raskin is the one that he was the software developer for the Infinite Scroll. And what that really meant is you no longer had to click a tab to get to the next event. So we know that with our Instagram or Facebook feed or even now, or Netflix or any sort of streaming, they the the technology gives you and feeds you the next item. You don’t have to do anything. It’s just right there. And what he actually said is what it does is it doesn’t give your brain a chance to catch up to your impulse. And so you just keep scrolling. And he he compared it to social media companies are taking behavioral cocaine and sprinkling it all over your interface. And that’s the thing that keeps coming back. And I think we all know we might not want to be doing it. And we tell ourselves, oh, don’t. Or we put a timer on, but our brain just keeps wanting to to do it. It wants that immediate dopamine hit. And there’s the hook model that you talked about. And interestingly enough, Raskin combined forces with a man who was a Google design ethicist, and they created www.humanetech.com to really dive into how can we make tech more useful for the user? And what they understood is this the hook model is that you get a trigger, and then that leads to an action which produces a reward. And then you created an investment. And it’s very simple. I mean it’s just like physically making a purchase. But normally we have to get up and go to the store. Think about that purchase. So think of how many pauses happen versus getting an ad perhaps on your Instagram scroll. And you can just click, click, click, click. And all of a sudden there is almost no thought behind it.

00;07;59;09 – 00;08;23;24
Kelly Parbs
So in some ways it is so much simpler, right? Like to just click on something and then you bought it on Amazon or wherever that is. But it’s also addictive behavior. And when you think of it in that way, it really isn’t simplifying our lives. It really might be complicating our lives because we might be buying too many things because of the simplicity of that click.

00;08;23;27 – 00;12;35;17
Heather Dreske
Yes. And I take it to being one of the first things you learn as a physician is you cannot treat what you haven’t diagnosed. And anyone who has, you know, been to a doctor, especially if that’s something that they’re uncertain of, you can’t get to the end result of helping yourself get better until you know what is causing the issue. And I, for your users and what I like to do as a naturopathy doctor, is really have people interested in their own health, their own behaviors, and kind of take ownership and not a negative way not to, we have a tendency to say, oh, I shouldn’t have done this, or why did I do that? But really learn. Why am I doing that? Give yourself some grace. Understand the technology behind it. These companies are very, very smart. But, so, you know, we’re not all doing it because we can’t stop. We’re no- we’re doing it because it was designed to make us- to have us addicted in that way. And so, on www.humantech.com, he- Tristan has some wonderful videos that really explain what this concept is doing with our brain. And he put it down to five different human vulnerabilities. And the first one is bad forecasting. And he said our brains, we trick ourself and say, well that won’t take that long. I’ll just check that email. That will only take a second, or I’ll just click on Instagram for five minutes. That won’t take that long. But in fact, every click normally on average is about 20 minutes of our time. So if we start thinking of our time as our money and our currency, we can ask ourselves, is this serving me? Is this where I want to be putting my precious time? Am I- what am I gaining from that? The second part they talked about, which many people can relate to, is called the intermittent variable. And that is as simple as the slot machine that is the biggest moneymaker at the casino. And why do you keep pulling? Because you don’t know what’s next. And that has our brain searching, searching for the next thing that we want to relate to. And if I use a very simple example, we can use email for example. You know our mailbox. We know what time our mailman is coming normally. So we don’t go outside and check our mail 30 times a day waiting for a letter. And we often. Exactly. It’s also a human experience. Many of us know our mailman. I have Andy, who gives my dog a treat so she watches for him. And that’s a predictable time. We go, we get our mail, we come in, it’s the reward. We see what’s there. Or maybe it’s not a reward. It’s a then we move on where our email. We’re getting constant emails all day long. And for some individuals, or your listeners, they may be expecting a very important one. And so that leads them to keep checking or otherwise you’re looking and it’s, you know, spam, spam, spam. So that not knowing what you’re getting and having it happen all day is really a hard thing to manage. And that’s really not our fault. So for one. So one example for that you could do is make sure maybe you’re separating out your work. Important emails versus your personal and maybe your personal. You check like you check like the mailbox, like I’m going to check in the morning and I’m going to check before I go to bed and try to wean yourself from that intermittent, you know, bing of what is coming next.

00;12;35;20 – 00;13;11;26
Kelly Parbs
I love that tip. And if we think about our email like we do our mailbox, I like that visual because like you said, we’re not running out to our mailbox 25 times a day to see what’s there. We have a set time, and that would be just a really simple, practical technique that all of us could use, maybe not quite as much with work because we’re expected to be on our email. But like you said, if we separate out the the work and the personal email, that might help us simplify how often we are checking and looking at that screen.

00;13;11;29 – 00;15;47;04
Heather Dreske
Yeah, exactly. And, so the third human vulnerability is we are we are humans is the loss aversion, which as most people have heard, the term FOMO, fear of missing out. So it’s that nagging behind your head, little kind of whisper like, oh, if I go off, what am I missing out? What am I not seeing? So that’s something that tech companies are very good at of. And then what we do as humans, we find ourself comparing and that can take us down if we go back to loneliness or the isolation feeling of, oh, oh, well, why did they go out to dinner? I didn’t know they were going out to dinner or oh, look at someone is celebrating something. And so you by looking if you don’t look, you feel like you’re looking out and then missing out. And then when you look, you feel like you might not have a very great feeling about yourself afterwards. And as most of us know, that that is really not a reflection of real life. It’s it’s a cultivated it’s a cultivated look. The fourth vulnerability and this one I think was really interesting, is the fast versus slow thinking. So it’s mindless versus mindful. And once again, at Google, them being inventors of this, you know, we’ve all heard of the big Google cafeterias and they have this wonderful food options. Well, what they did is they took their food that isn’t so good for you, and they put it on the higher shelves, harder to reach, and you needed to open something to get to it. And so, you know, that’s just like our tech, where it’s hard to slow down so we can think of that is even they found even if you just move your phone next to you, that’s not good enough. That’s it’s still calling out to you. But if you maybe take a little bit of time and it doesn’t have to be a long period of time because this is these are big changes that we have to learn to live with this new technology that but we want it is to benefit us. But maybe we put it in, plug it in, in a different room and in our brains. Pretend it’s a landline just for maybe ten minutes, a half hour, and just get used to that feeling that it’s not that reach every minute.

00;15;47;07 – 00;16;14;24
Kelly Parbs
So, so really what you’re talking about is how people might start pulling themselves out of that addictive loop without feeling overwhelmed. They can take little steps at a time to start creating new habits that maybe simplify our lives and help us feel more connected to the things that are really important to us, because we are not always connected to that screen.

00;16;14;27 – 00;18;24;20
Heather Dreske
Exactly. They just looked right now at teens, and they found that on average, they sent 4000 texts in a period of time. And I’m forgetting, forgive me if it was 1 or 3 months and that was every six minutes. And, when Tristan from the Humane Tech, he talked about that. And we can be mindful on our own and of how we’re reaching out to other people. So he said, for example, let’s just use an example that, oh, I thought of something I want to tell you, Kelly and I do it right at this second. Well, you’re in the middle of your workday, but your impulse immediately is to look at that text. And then what that does is that pulls you away from what you were doing. And most likely that will put you back another 20 minutes or so and it pulls you down this rabbit hole. Where is the to the technology hasn’t doing this yet, but what they could do is put in little filters where it instead of your name, my name popping up that I messaged you saying you know, not important can be read later or urgent. So but we can do that ourselves. We can do that on our own phones of, you know, using the silent method, using the focus method, because we can put custom messages. So we kind of have to work together in communication now of, you know, being mindful when you send something to someone, knowing what their day is, maybe a little like. And can you delay that? And if you can’t delay that on the other end, if you’re an individual that feels like, oh, the second I get a message, I need to respond, use those tools that are in your phone to give yourself a pause. And that’s the big thing is giving a pause. So we’re not also always on high alert when you think about it. You know, we’re getting these texts and we’re on high alert all the time. And that’s not conscious. That’s unconscious.

00;18;24;23 – 00;19;03;11
Kelly Parbs
Sure. And we live in a world where it’s easy to be on high alert all the time. And I work with people for a living who are experiencing anxiety. And it’s it’s very anxiety producing to feel like you have to be on alert and on all the time. So what we’re talking about today really is trying to find those little daily techniques that can help you simplify your lives, be more connected to the things that really matter to you, and manage all of of the stimulation that comes to us through technology.

00;19;03;14 – 00;20;38;21
Heather Dreske
Exactly. There’s term use, which is called email apnea. What they have found is when we check our email, we actually hold our breath and we don’t even realize we are doing that. And like you said, that is adding we don’t even realize we’re adding to our anxiety. But every time we start doing proper breathing. So that’s even a simple thing. Before you check your email or your text, instead of saying breathe, which I always find is someone yelling at you and I don’t know how to breathe. Like, okay, you know, it just automatically stressful. I will say, find your breath, find my breath. In a moment of that, and before or even those little habits before you check your email, okay, find my breath and then go through them in a more calm, not hyper state. The same thing before the text comes, you know, take a minute before you respond, find your breath. And that isn’t what we and again almost use the technology to our advantage is now we can start using our breath, more often, which many of us throughout a day, whether there was technology or not, are holding our breath, aren’t doing proper diaphragmatic breathing, which can help calm us. So now use this stressor and pause for a second. Find your breath and then check your text. Check your email. And that really takes no time, no effort. And it may soon then become a habit over the time that you see a lot of benefit with.

00;20;38;24 – 00;20;55;01
Kelly Parbs
Sure. And those are the practical tips that I’m really looking for in this conversation. And Heather, I had never heard that before. I didn’t know that when you check your email, you often are holding your breath. That is new information to me.

00;20;55;04 – 00;21;13;04
Heather Dreske
Well, I learned it too. Thank you to you because I examined myself for the very first since we had started our initial talk about doing this conversation, I really took the time to notice my own habits and learn a little bit more. And like everyone else, I am a work in progress.

00;21;13;04 – 00;21;15;24
Kelly Parbs
Yep, it’s a journey. It’s a journey of-

00;21;15;26 – 00;21;17;04
Heather Dreske
self!

00;21;17;07 – 00;21;52;08
Kelly Parbs
You know, Heather, one thing you really emphasize is the power of noticing our senses to bring us back to ourselves, especially when our brains are racing or or overwhelmed. And I’m really drawn to this idea because it’s actually a technique that I use regularly with clients who are having trouble, focusing because of anxiety or maybe even having an anxiety attack. Could you guide us through how to check with the body in a simple and easy way?

00;21;52;10 – 00;23;38;07
Heather Dreske
Yes, I think like you said, and we’ve discussed the senses. They’re so important when we’re in a stress state. We almost leave our body for a second. So there are some and I and I think again, was being a natural doctor. We try really hard to look at the individual person. And so a technique that may work for one person doesn’t work as well for someone else. So part of it’s, you know, a curiosity, I think if we look at our bodies with a curious, curious state of, what am I feeling at this moment? So in that moment of stress or panic, if you can just take a second, go back to that. Okay, let’s find my breath and then do a quick body scan. Where am I feeling it? Am I- do I have these tight shoulders? Is my heart racing, and are my palms a little sweaty? Do I find my eyes darting? That’s a big one, you know. So really examine it almost from an outsider perspective. And don’t label it good or bad, but just try to kind of come back and observe and then come back into your body and think of what are some useful techniques we can use and one we know touch on our own self and we can get into specifics later. But, each of these senses a little bit more, but one is like I said, the body scan. And then what can we do with that? There’s- we can look at smell. Is a smell calming. And again, we can go into more detail with each of these, which how would you like to start?

00;23;38;09 – 00;24;22;12
Kelly Parbs
Well, first I just wanted to say I recently did a training with about 120 people, and I started the session with a guided imagery exercise where we checked in with our bodies from head to toe. While at the same time noticing our breathing, not necessarily changing it, but noticing it. And people at the end of that gave very, very positive feedback. They appreciated that experience, to kind of just ground themselves before the training began began. And it was only about five minutes, but it changed how people felt and got them in a good place to start listening to the training. So I-

00;24;22;14 – 00;25;20;05
Heather Dreske
That is a great, technique. It’s often called yoga nidra, and I am a big encourager of YouTube. There are so many wonderful techniques that we can use for free. You know, we don’t have to sign up. We’re constantly being barraged with signing up for different apps. And, the yoga nidra is exactly that. And it walks you through that visualization of the body. So if you can’t do it yourself, if you find someone, if you just type yoga nidra into YouTube and you’ll find and sometimes there’s someone’s voice that’s really comforting and get into the practice of using that. And then when you’re away from that, you know, if you’ve practiced listening to someone when you’re away from that, then you can more easily do it on your own. And and it reminds you, you know, it’s becomes a more ingrained memory, a muscle, almost like a muscle memory then.

00;25;20;06 – 00;25;50;19
Kelly Parbs
Sure, it’s it’s kind of surprising how powerful it it is to just pause and notice, even if you’re not making changes, just being in tune to where your body is at and what it’s doing. So when life is busy, how can our listeners fit that kind of sensory awareness into their day? Let’s talk about that, and then maybe we can dig in a little bit into those five senses.

00;25;50;22 – 00;29;10;06
Heather Dreske
That sounds great. I think the biggest thing is a lot of these can be done with no one noticing, you know, so you’re at maybe you’re in a meeting or and you can do what’s called a butterfly hug, which is, you know, our arms are crossed and on opposite shoulders you could lean over and you could just place your arms or your hands on either shoulder and just kind of take that deep breath. No one’s going to notice if that’s what you’re concerned about. And it gives, it kind of gives that touch to touch on your own self. It gives a sense of calm. I’m here. I’m present. Another technique is often just excusing yourself to use the restroom and to look in the mirror and, and look at that eye to eye contact. That’s something that’s used in, in a stress situation that someone will look at you and connect with the eyes. But if you need a moment, that’s a very easy way to kind of just exit for a moment. No one’s going to ask any questions. And really what you’re doing is just taking a moment to yourself, staring, and you see I’m okay. And really, those positive words just, I’m okay to remind your brain you are because we are not our thoughts. Our thoughts go a million miles an hour. We are not them. So. But sometimes we have to remind ourselves, okay, that’s just a reaction. And I am okay. Also, again, grounding with just your feet, noticing your feet touching the floor. In a stressful situation and focusing on that connection, you know, there’s just a lot of little simple things that we can do and incorporate in our day to day life that, again, no one would even no one else is noticing. Even like, our vagus nerve, which we people probably hear a lot about vagus nerve techniques, that’s our largest cranial nerve, and it’s called the rest and digest one. I’m sure everyone knows of fight and flight. And then there’s our vagus nerve, which is rest and digest and it controls are breathing our heart rate, our digestion. So we can use techniques that stimulate that nerve. And they can be as simple as humming, yawning, or even just a slight massage behind the ear or in the inner ear. And we do these little things every little, every day. Again, it’s often a good thing to learn them ahead of time. Practice them for a few minutes a day, and then when you’re out in the world and you’re feeling that, you’re like, okay, that’s right. I can just take this pressure point behind my ear, rub it slightly, and you get that moment and you get you. Are you often when you’re doing the vagus nerve exercises, you’ll start to yawn. You might even feel your stomach rumble because it’s just kind of waking up that relaxation state.

00;29;10;09 – 00;29;28;10
Kelly Parbs
Sure! Interesting tip! The- another one I had never heard! And like you said, we have to start with being intentional about it. Some of these things don’t necessarily come easily, but if we learn them and practice them over time, they will become more of a habit.

00;29;28;13 – 00;32;15;29
Heather Dreske
And again, we can get back to where tech is useful. So something for free is on YouTube. There’s a wonderful app, for IBS actually, and it’s a hypnotherapy app that because so many of that, those nerves go into our gut and they’re learning more and more about IBS. Of course, some is, you know, we could get into the whole medical area, but part of some of it is that some people’s bodies are just wired to go faster. And that can be an advantage in many, many ways. And I think there has to be often a cultural shift. I think, you know, for so long someone that with quote, anxiety, you know, they always had in the stories those kids that they were kind of a wreck, you know, you know, you were you know, how they were put on sitcoms and but what we I think even what the Big Bang did, that show showed how these how these techniques are people who are ultrasensitive. They have a lot of insight. But so instead of being upset that you’re like that, learning these techniques that like, my nervous system just runs a little, little fast. So I just want to be curious about my body. Look at what are some tools I can use. Nerva is the one for IBS that I have have had people use and I’ve actually used myself and I was shocked. And it’s just a simple hypnotherapy that walks you through how to calm that, that connection between the brain and the gut. So again, I think I always come back to a curiosity of our own situation. And then the wonderful thing about technology is the double edged sword is we can get so much information. But, you know, if you if you’re finding yourself maybe find someone that can help narrow it down for you. Sure. And see what? How can I use this to my advantage or what? Where is my Achilles that I can check into so that my day isn’t as uncomfortable? And that’s really what it is. We’re not. We’re not robots. We’re not supposed to have one emotion throughout the day, but if it is affecting your life in a negative way, I think the biggest thing is to take some ownership and not in a negative way. And wow, this is just how my body is wired as noticing. Yeah, just notice and I’d like to learn about this and know that I do have tools and techniques to help me make it a little bit easier.

00;32;16;01 – 00;33;14;27
Kelly Parbs
I love that idea, and I love that it gives us a sense of control when life feels like it’s just spinning and spinning out of control, that we can take that step back and say, let’s, let’s just take a look at ourselves and how we are responding to the current situation. And even that idea can be pretty overwhelming. But I like how you framed it in just being aware of ourselves through our five senses. And I want to dig into that a little bit more. Sure. And maybe we can start with talking about sight- our eyes. They really take a beating with all the screens that we use right? Yes they are. What are some easy habits people can start today to protect their vision and help their nervous system? And simplify their lives by being aware of that sense of sight.

00;33;15;00 – 00;37;02;10
Heather Dreske
Something that’s been around even before screens was is the 20- 20/20 rule. And that was even when I was in medical school. And dating myself using old books. And they actually told us this in school, make sure for every 20 minutes you look 20ft away for 20s. So it’s really changing that slow up looking to something in the distance. And that’s just a practice that again, even if you know young children, often when they first learn to read and bless their hearts that they get so excited, they often find themselves with eyestrain and you almost have to remind them, oh, okay. You know, you’ve got to take a little break and just look far away into the distance, 20ft. And then, you know, take that time and then come back to it. So it’s really that can become a habit. And so now we add so if we know that that was a strain before screens, imagine how much it’s magnified looking at screens for sure. So then we can for some people you might want to incorporate the blue light glasses to help. And the research is still a little bit fuzzy on that, I think. But most people feel better when they feel less eyestrain when they are blocking that constant blue light. That’s just too much. Or making sure if you are looking at a screen, maybe turn it to night mode again, which we have on our phones so it is not so bright. I know that, there’s people with ADHD that have found, light dimming glasses. Very helpful. So that’s a very easy thing we can do just without any much effort. And then using light to our advantage. We are learning- we’re learning more and more the benefits of light therapy, whether it be green light. There’s been some wonderful research, about how green light aka people may have heard of it as forest bathing. Being surrounded by that light is very calming. It can help decrease pain in both fibromyalgia and also migraine. They looked at it for they was migraines. They had people wearing green light glasses and they found wearing it for 2 to 3 hours a day helped decrease, medication use. So I think light is something, you know, the pendulum always swings. You know what? I will admit, when I went to naturopathy school way back in 1998, everyone thought it was very woowoo. And then I was personally shocked when I got there and it was not woowoo at all. And it was very medical. And now as we all see, the trend is kind of back where people want more holistic options. And I’m a real modernist. I’m like, I like the the best of both, both worlds. So but light now is something that people are really looking at. You can see that with red light also. I would say look at look to the athletes. What are the athletes doing? They’ve been using red light for muscle aches and pains, and the elite athletes are always a little ahead of the curve. And when you kind of get like, oh, what are they doing? Think, oh, there’s probably a lot of science and money that went behind that. So maybe I should know better!

00;37;02;12 – 00;37;04;00
Kelly Parbs
Yeah! They’re just a little ahead of the curve.

00;37;04;07 – 00;38;06;19
Heather Dreske
Yeah. Their bodies are their livelihood. And so and then and we can even see in the beauty industry obviously red light, you see the, the fancy masks to put to help with collagen boosting. There’s also wonderful retainers out there with red and blue light that can help with gums if you have, issues with your gums that can help regenerate. And putting those if you do it on the, more cosmetic side. I like people to not look at that is almost a luxury. It’s just it’s more and again, a way to get away from technology into your body and self care and if it’s something that you enjoy adding that instead of going to a spa, maybe doing that investment, that then you do that ritual at home that takes away from time that you might be scrolling and instead do something that’s more beneficial to yourself.

00;38;06;22 – 00;38;32;22
Kelly Parbs
Right? I love that tip and probably the most practical one that you mentioned that I’m going to start implementing today is, is that idea of looking 20ft away. I don’t do that. And I have a window right in my office that I work in. So all of that screen time to just look away and find a beautiful tree, or find a bird or a squirrel in that tree to look at for a little while to reset.

00;38;32;25 – 00;39;10;25
Heather Dreske
Yes, that’s a perfect example because it’s doing almost two things at once. I mean, you’re helping with your eye strain, and then you’re also kind of promoting a sense of well-being. We know nature. I took a class years ago at Harvard, and it was so interesting about the symmetry in nature. And symmetry brings our brain calmness. So that’s one other reason why they believe that being in nature is calming. We look for symmetry, and that’s everywhere in nature. So, yeah, you’re helping your eyes and then you’re helping your brain to relax at the exact same time.

00;39;10;28 – 00;39;11;10
Kelly Parbs
Bonus!

00;39;11;16 – 00;39;44;18
Heather Dreske
And again, it’s a habit that if you start doing all of a sudden, you hope that you’ll be doing it without consciously telling yourself to take in those little steps that become the first few times you do something like, oh, this is such, this is such a little thing. It’s not going to make that big of a difference. And that’s correct if you do it once throughout the day. But if you start incorporating it more and more, hopefully, then it becomes an ingrained habit that you have. Doesn’t even take up any brain space. It’s just what your body gets used to doing.

00;39;44;18 – 00;40;14;17
Kelly Parbs
Right, right! Stay tuned for part two of my conversation with Dr. Heather Dreske on the topic of simplifying your life. To hear that episode and other episodes of OnTopic with Empathia, visit our website, www.Empathia.com. Follow us on social media @Empathia, and subscribe to OnTopic with Empathia to hear new episodes as soon as they go live. I’m Kelly Parbs – thanks for listening to OnTopic with Empathia!