Brain Power with Dr. Eko

Ep. 15 | Harnessing Brain Health for Professional Success: Strategies for Joy and Vitality with Dr. Mary Rensel

March 25, 2024 • Dr. Hokehe Eko • Season 1 • Episode 15

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Unlock the secrets to a thriving work life with neuro-immunologist Dr. Mary Rensel, who joins us to illuminate the path to professional well-being entrenched in joy and vitality. Dr. Rensel, with her profound expertise, shares neuroscience-backed strategies that go beyond the norm, showcasing how fun can powerfully rejuvenate our neurological state. We delve into the intricacies of brain health, revealing how it plays a pivotal role in our everyday professional success and fulfillment. The discussion opens up a treasure trove of cost-free tips for integrating relaxation into our schedules, balancing work efficiency with necessary downtime, as we navigate the fascinating phenomena of emotional contagion and its profound influence on our mental space.

As Dr. Rensel and I explore the art of intentionality, I lay out the groundwork for parents and professionals alike to set a positive morning cadence, one that can transform our entire day. We talk about harnessing our 'neuro powers' to align tasks with our innate strengths, leading to increased productivity and job satisfaction. For the parent juggling a career and family, I share insights into leading by example and the courage it takes to reach out for guidance when needed. With a nod to the insightful resource "Design Your Work Life," we discuss the importance of continuous personal growth—not just for ourselves but as a legacy for our children, reinforcing the message that living intentionally and investing in our development is a gift that keeps on giving.

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Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Welcome to another episode of Brain Power with Dr Eko. I have a wonderful guest for us today, dr Mary Renssel, you are in for a treat, so I'm gonna now introduce herself. And so, Dr Rensel, welcome to Brain Power.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

Thanks for having me. I love your mission because my business is brain fresh. So your brain power, I'm like I'm all over it.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Yes, I'm.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

Dr Mary Rensel. I'm a neuro-immunologist and I'm also a business owner. I have two businesses. I like to support professionals to help them find professional joy and vitality through neuroscience strategies.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Wonderful Welcome to the show. So let's dive right in. You mentioned your neuro-immunologist, and that's love to help professionals find joy and vitality. So tell us what's that word? What does that word really mean to you? Vitality.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

Well, I really love it. It's kind of my new favorite word, so I think you know what it means to me. If I boil it down is that it's living how we live our lives and then growing. And that's sometimes where when I'm frustrated is when I typically don't feel like I'm growing. If I'm just doing the same tasks over and over, I get a little antsy and I want to grow and develop, and so that's where I like that word vitality, because it's living and growing. Yes, absolutely.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

I love it. So what are some strategies that you give? How can we help our parents at work find joy?

Dr. Mary Rensel:

Well, first I like to talk about aligning with what the brain needs. I mean, it's like the brain is stuck up there between our ears and it can't get out and take care of itself. And so we are really, you know, we have this amazing organ between our ears that helps us truly be us and help our communities and change the world, and it needs attention, right, and it needs support. And so I think, as professionals, we need to know that the only reason I can still go to work is my brain is still working. So we need to acknowledge and almost like a reciprocity right. Like if I want to go to work and, do you know, get through my work and do a good job, I need to get my brain something to be able to do that, right, so I like to call it brain priming. Like, how do we prime the brain for a good day? And the good thing is, a lot of this is good news.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

Like fun really is important for the brain.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

Like to make sure you have fun throughout your week because it's a great neural state.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

You know it's usually we're with other humans, it's a lighthearted, happy mood and you know, physiologically, the rest of our body really likes to have fun too, right, it's all very positive, which is good, yeah, and then yeah, and then we have to. You know there's little tools and tricks throughout our day to kind of rebalance. Most of the days we're trying to get our work done head down, get our work done. But we have to kind of step away and take a deep breath and acknowledge that we have different neurologic systems. We have the focus sympathetic. We have the parasympathetic, relax, chill, more wider perspective side of us. So we need to kind of intentionally put that throughout our days a couple like 10 minutes a couple of times throughout the day and that could look like looking at a picture of your family or looking outside the window or taking a little walk, take a deep breath, because that will actually help you get your work done faster. So I like to like connect people to resources to help the brain work faster.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

I love it and you know, that's all. Everything you mentioned is like simple things, right.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

Yeah, you can do it Very good, doable, no money. It doesn't take money, it just takes intention. I mean, I think the other thing. These days and like any day, but especially these days I'd like to think of it almost like the front of a house and just close all the windows, like, don't open your brain to everything. If you want to get your work done, sometimes you have to close some windows so that everybody's not invited in. It's almost like having your front door open of your home and just letting anyone in and thinking that you have control of your day.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

So of course, we have so many screens and people who are after us and asking us questions. I think as a working doc I counted one time I have about 12 ways that people can find me throughout the day, like multiple emails, you know, epic Pagers phones, so many, and then Epic now has these instant messages you way to get to. So I have like 12 ways that people can get to me and I really want to just focus on the patient I'm with, right, so you know. So there's like you know I have to be careful of who I'm letting in, so that's. The other thing to know is like we are letting people in, and I think the other thing to know about that is, as humans we link to other people. Great, so that if we are just open we're catching kind of all those emotions and they're like neural level like are they active, are they anxious, are they or they relax? You're we're letting we loop with people.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

Yeah so we have to acknowledge that our emotional wellness is linked to the people around us. Contagious contagious Synchrony is a word maybe to use to is that we synchronize with other people, whether you like it or not.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

I mean, if you know something, something simple, like I've noticed, if I yawn and the person around me starts to yawn, or vice versa, that's funny. It's funny. You actually did a study on that. Yeah, together. Yeah, it's really funny.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

They talk about those mirror neurons. You know things that we, you can't help it. It's like if you ever had a roommate, like in college. You live with someone for a while, then you, you start acting like each other or your periods.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

That's a yes, right, you're all right. That's linking off. That's like so amazing. So back to that word, in being intentional, because I think that that's absolutely critical For us to sit down and see who is it. I mean, I work. Yes, you may not have the the pleasure of Deciding who you interact with or not, but, yes, maybe deciding how you will respond to whatever interaction comes Right right.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

Sometimes I think like, okay, imagine you have ten coins of attention for the day and if you wake up and you're on, I have two phones. It's great, you know multiple computers. So maybe I already gave away like three of my coins for the day because I already have screens Around me as soon as, like, people wake up, they open their eyes in the morning and they're on their email, like before they get out of bed. Yep, and so you already gave away a couple coins of your focus and your intention. So you're just letting anyone in, you just open the door again, you know so, and you're just sharing everything with that, whoever's on the other end of that. So I agree with your intentionality is really important.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

Like, I want to get my work done, especially as a busy parent. I want to get my work done. I want to get home and relax and have fun. So I want to make sure my brain is really able to focus and that's the way I can. I can grab the reins and say, yeah, I'm gonna get my work done. I'm not gonna waste all my energy and focus before I even leave the bed. You know, hey, meant to that so what are?

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

some strategies you would be parents for. What are some morning routines that will power up your prime, your brain? Yeah, that's not email.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

So be careful. The first time you hope you look at a screen in the morning, try just challenge yourself To get out of bed. Set your intention what do I want of this day, what do I want for my family of this day? And and you know, kids mimic us, so if they see us doing that, you know they will Late. You know, do something similar and you might say, oh my gosh, this is hard because usually I looked at my phone when I'm still in bed. So you might say, okay, I'm gonna wait five minutes this week, do that a little bit, and then, okay, I'm gonna wait ten minutes before I look at any screens.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

Right and you have to acknowledge that. You're just sharing yourself with all of these screens and, if that's okay with you, you're decreasing your ability to focus. You know, throughout work, if that's what you want, that's not what I want, because I want to be able to really be there for my patients and my family. Right and and not just share it with strangers that have emailed me or are on the screens.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

I'm still looking. I love that, that analogy so powerful opening your front door right, Having anybody just walk while it's into your house and do whatever you want to do. That should stop all of us in that track right?

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Yes, we don't want all the emails and all the stuff in. So thank you for those practical Advises. And I've also read and I've practiced in myself that when you empty your brain of the thoughts, like journaling, so like just put your thoughts down and Instead of scrolling on the phone or something like write down your thoughts, what do you want for your day? Actually, what do you really want? Because there's some, there's a connection between us writing and Our brain taking notice of it, like there's that connection there which is.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

I think it is powerful. I agree with you, and if I take time to do that, I kind of have like my Friday's usually my journal day and just get up and just write, see what comes out. But you're right, I mean, there's a different kind of, that's a different kind of release for the brain when we write something down and sometimes it makes something really clear. That we feel, have some feelings about something that makes it clear why, when we actually write it down.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Wonderful, we've talked about the morning routine, so now what would you tell this busy professional parent? Or this busy parent Even if you're staying at home, it's still busy. I know, I know how would they. What should they do to guard their houses, their front doors when they go to work? How can they approach that better?

Dr. Mary Rensel:

Yeah, I think the other thing is to know, like we know, what your brain is really good at, and live in your strengths, and so they I like to call that just kind of aligning with your special brain powers, your neuro powers, you know. So some things come very easy to us, and that's because our brain is wired and connected a certain way. I like to think of it like a subway system. You know what's connected to what and how easily it is to get to something. For me to answer a question about neurology, I love that. Like I can see it as just, it's just easy for me.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

But I'm not good at a lot of things, and so that's what I'm good at, and so I also like art, I like, you know, connecting with people. So there's things that are just easy for me, but certain things very hard. You know I'm not patient, like to fix a computer system and go in the details of that. I can. Don't ask me please.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

So there's, so it's good to know, and there's easy ways to kind of figure out what your strengths are, because it's way more exciting to try to build on your strengths than to think of your gaps. So exciting to think like, what am I not good at. I need to get better at that. Right Exciting to build off your strengths. It actually turns on different kind of brain areas when we think of our strengths and we learn how to grow those strengths. And it also helps us know, like, how can we live in our zone of genius? Like, how can I in my day, in my weeks, how can I do more of what I'm really good at? Because I feel like the world would be better if everyone could really live optimally at their gifts.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Yes, and I was just listening to a book yesterday and I said we use 10% of our brain potential. Like, can you imagine? I mean there would be no stopping off. We actually do the 90%, not a 90% Right.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

And it may not be. It may be socially acceptable. So your gift is X and maybe the society says, oh, you should really be an X, y or Z, you know, but maybe you're just really good at these couple things and put more of that in your weeks, you know. So, if you're, you know I love art and I love to learn about art and I like to talk to artists, and so I I I wasn't doing that as a doc, I really wasn't doing that very much, and I thought, okay, I can do that more. I can talk to artists more and see what they're doing. I can try some things myself, you know. So I don't have to be 100% all full-time artists, but I can add more art into my life.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Yes, which which expands, which helps your neurons fire even more right, because now you're using different areas of brain, yeah, new perspective, yes, and I think it's going to be a lot more happy.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

Like all the brain use things Right. I think. Another what like lazy way to do it or intentional way to do it is some weeks, just think of like the five to 10 people you see the most throughout your weeks. Let's say adults, you know, for those you know, stay at home folks. But you know, just think about who is around you and is there somebody that really prioritizes healthy nutrition? Is there somebody that prioritizes exercise? Is there somebody that's really good at a professional film? Is there somebody who's really good at supporting the community? Because if you keep those people close to you, you will do those activities more often, and so it's a lazy quote, unquote way of of keeping yourself healthy. So the people we keep around us will dictate our future?

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Absolutely the five people around you, who you really are Right.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

Yeah, I love it. That's another way to be intentional is just kind of do a check and sometimes you think like, ooh, I need to. I don't have anyone around me that's volunteering right now. Like I need to find some people that volunteer. So like you just ask your neighbors or your friends, like who do you know that volunteers? And just have a coffee chat Like could I get a? Could we jump on zoom for 10 minutes? Could you just tell me how you get volunteering in your life?

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Right.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

You know. So that's just just have to build. If there are gaps and like I don't really hang out with anyone that eats well, Okay, well, think about it Is there someone at work that you see that you're not really close with or you can ask them like, how did you start eating healthy? Or ask your doc, you know, ask your medical team. But there's ways to kind of be around people that prioritize things that maybe are harder for you and that's a lazy, cold, cold, wait or intentional way of building that team, that support team, around you.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Right, and that goes back to the heart of who we are as humans. We are built for support. We can't do anything on our own really as much as we would like, right, that's a thing. Yeah, lots of people like to think we can. Yeah, I like that. And still the undercurrent of intentionality, like who are those people? Let me go say hi to them and create this new additional leg of support, which definitely helps. And so how can parents so we've talked about work so how can parents model this at home, like, say, for the children too, because we know children are sponges and they really look at what we're, what we do, more than what we say.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

Yeah, I think again, it's just start with the end assessment. So there's probably like ideal us and then real us. You know, and we're not as humans, we're not very good Always at seeing the real us right now we think of like, ideally I wanna do this, but the day to day reality is we're busy, the kids are hungry, I'm tired.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

I'm home, coming home from work, you know you know the kids have to get to X, y and Z. Like I was just talking to someone who she's like all those. She just saw a funny thing online that all the 40 year old moms are just in their cars because they're just driving their kids constantly. And I'm out of that zone as a mom. But yeah, that's what you think about. I mean, you're in the thick of it. So I would say, yeah, I would say, like, what's your ideal self? Like, as a mom, my priorities were, you know, to show my kids that they have agency right, Like they can do things themselves, and I wanted to show them a healthy relationship with my husband. I wanted to show that healthy relationship with community and neighbors because, like you said, like as humans, our support system is really the key to our health. We know that through so many medical literature. That's in manuscripts, that's a given. The Surgeon General is talking about it 80 pages about how people are lonely.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

And that's just something we have to address. Yeah, so I just like what's important to me as a mom, what did I want to make sure they modeled for my kids? And there's times I was kind of off track, right, like I wasn't always really strong in certain areas, and I think like, okay, I need to work on this and again, I would usually try to find someone who was good at it so that I could learn from them, because people like to talk about themselves, right. So if you invite them for tea or coffee, you say how do you do it? People usually will talk about themselves. You know, drill the tea, how do you do it? And I would get these ideas that I never thought of. Like I remember I talked to a pharmaceutical rep who was my neighbor and she had bus stop hours and I was like, what's that? So she started her day at 9.30 or something, so she can get the kids on the bus get home by the time they're getting off the bus.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

I had never heard of that and I was like that is a great idea.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Yeah.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

I went to my boss like can I work part-time and work these hours? So I just thought that would be really important for me to be sitting there at home when they get off the bus.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Right.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

So I did that for some years. I didn't do that always, but that was really great for some years when the kids, when I wanted to be there, when they got off the bus. So it just depends what's important to you, but I would always reach out to people who seem to be doing well in certain area. Get some tips.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Yes, absolutely. There's nothing like I think one of the most valuable things we can do for ourselves is to invest in ourselves and see ourselves as valuable enough to do that.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

Yes, yes, yes.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

That definitely spills around to everything we do Right. When we see ourselves as valuable and that we can pour into ourselves and that we deserve it, because, honestly, you can't even love or teach or do any of that for anyone else if you haven't done it for yourself.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

So, I agree, the kids pick up on that Absolutely and it's okay to know that a certain season of life it looks like this and this is what I've decided to do at this season, because I've had different seasons of being a mom or a doc. I mean, I've been working as a doc for 30 years and my youngest kid is 19 and my oldest is 28.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

So I you know I've had different it's from you. Yes, I found someone to get to strong. I find that funny. So I have. Yeah, I'm not like at certain season, when they were babies, I wanted one thing. When they were in school, I wanted one thing. When they, when I didn't have a nanny or anyone in the house, I wanted some support, you know. So there's, you know, different seasons.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

I was looking for different support and I would just go to people like, how do you do it? What has worked for you? And generally they say, like, go to people that are about two steps ahead of you and some goal you're after, just like, how did you do it at the beginning? You don't have to solve all the problems. You just have to find someone who looks like they or has achieved at least a couple steps ahead of you where you want to be. I think there's a great book called Design your Work Life Design your Work Life, and it's. It gives these tips and it's from two Stanford professors. They have a course that because so many college students were like I don't know what to do with my life, so they made a course about it and then they wrote a book about it and it's great. It's very instructive.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Yeah.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

But they recommend, like those copy chats.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Okay, we will put. We'll put a link to the book in the.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

Yeah, it's a good one. Yeah, design your Work Life. Yeah, thank you for that recommendation.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Yeah, absolutely, I'm just going to read it myself. Yeah, it's nice.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

Yeah, we're always designing which is nice, and I think the reason why you're so good at it is because you're here today. It doesn't mean you're not happy about X, y or Z part of your life. It's okay to think about it a little bit. Yeah, read a book like that. Or there's great books, you know. I just there's one called Primal Leadership by reading, by Dan Goldman, and it's an old one. It's like well, like 10, 15 years old. It's very instructive again about like here's your ideal self, here's where you are, how do you build a team to help you get closer to your ideal self? And they talk a lot about the emotions and that and I think that's something else to acknowledge as brain, as brainlovers as we are is that emotions are driving a lot of our behaviors and it's okay to know that and to say it and to learn our emotions and have some emotional intelligence.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Right.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

And that needs to be built. And the other thing this book, primal Leadership, says is we can all learn. We can keep growing and developing.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

You are not stuck with the brain. You have Right, that is a wonderful thing, right, right? Our brains can regenerate and we can pivot. We're not stuck. If you don't like this particular thing, you can always make a shift.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

Right, right, right Back to the vitality is living and growing. Exactly yeah, living and growing Wonderful.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

So we started with vitality and we're ending with it. Yes, I love it. So what's one last tip you have for parents? Oh, parents.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

Hang in there. Yeah, it's tough. I mean I love those quotes like you're the bow and you're just there to kind of support their growth. And you know Khalil Jabra, these beautiful quotes, but sometimes the days are long. They say like the days are long and the years are short. That was a good quote too. It seemed like that is hard, just some knowledge.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

It's hard and sometimes you just have to say what are the basics that I can do today? Can I get good nutrition in myself and my family and we have a good night's sleep? It doesn't matter, the house is perfect.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

That's you know what the neighbors think you know. It's just like what's? What are the basics today? As far as brain health, I mean, I think what we know and brain support for busy people is like connections or everything. So it's really fun to get to know you and it's it's good to build your tribe and keep your tribe refreshed, because sometimes people move away and so connections have to be a priority. I used to think like I have four kids and I was busy and I was working and I don't have time to call them. I don't have, but but make the time for connections. That's everything Sleep, movement, nutrition and all matters. Go back to the basics, I think you know back to the basic.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

I agree I want to, but I'm going to add that just popped in my head yes Good. Before you put your feet on the ground, have your bottle of vitamins, which is to boost your nutrition by your, on your nightstand and just take your vitamin before you step out and before you don't Kick yeah. Let's meet our brains first. Yes, so wonderful. Where can parents or professionals or whoever's listening to this? Where can they find out about their amazing?

Dr. Mary Rensel:

You can find me on YouTube, dr Mary Rensel. You can find me online in brainfresh. org LinkedIn Mary Rensel Yep.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

I'd love to connect yes, please connect with Dr Rensel. She's simply amazing. So thank you again for coming on here. Such an honor to interview you today, my pleasure. Yes, and I hope you're more to more connecting. Yes, yes, let's do it. Yes, and so, parents, I hope you learned as much as I did and I hope you had a great time listening to this episode. Please share it with friends and family that you think need to hear this. Leave us a review. Thank you until next episode. Have a wonderful day.