to corporate requests to address
employees and talks to various business associations. And she frequently
does radio and television interviews and
conducts webinars on her lunch breaks,
before-hours and after-hours.
“At this point, I’m transitioning the
majority of my time into education over
patient care,” Worden says. “It’s how
I can help the most people. I can help
people become advocates for them-
selves. And that excites me.”
That’s the point of her new PBS
show, Dr. Worden’s Health Hot
Seat, which will begin shooting this
summer. She’ll sit down with experts
in traditional and alternative medicine,
discussing various health topics and the
treatment options available in a debate
format. She advocates that patients
educate themselves on what makes
sense—and ultimately what works—for
them as individuals.
“In the end, no doctor is going to
save you,” she says. “You’re your own
health advocate. And you need to
make choices based on education and
your intuition.”
With as busy as Worden is—did we
mention she’s also writing a book?—
you might think she must be exhausted.
Through healthy habits for mind, body
and soul, Worden keeps her energy
levels high and her mind at peace. And
you can, too. Here’s how.
DECLARE YOUR INTENTION
Regardless of the lecture topic or
audience, Worden says there is a
common thread in her talks, and
that’s intention.
“There are studies that show that
when I’m treating a patient, if I’m
thinking about something else, there’s
a decreased effect in the treatment,”
she explains. Patients, too, should be
focused on what they want to experience as a result of treatment.
Speakers, she notes, can benefit from
practiced intention.
“You need to set your intention for
that day, for that moment, for that
speech before you walk out on the
stage,” she says.
Here’s a hint. “It’s not to get another
speech, not that you get paid and get
asked back,” she says. “But what is your
true intention with that audience?”
It also helps to reflect on your inten-
tion for two minutes every morning.
“This is not the list of things you
want to do today, but what you want to
be today,” she says.
UNDERSTAND AND COPE WITH STRESS
Speakers need their energy levels, but
they also need calm.
“You can have high energy and still
be in a good peaceful state,” Worden
advises.
But a lot of speakers are burning the
candle at both ends, she says. The stress
of running your business, preparing for
speeches, traveling and caring for your
family can add up.
Speakers can
benefit from
"practiced
intention,"
Worden
says.
Here’s what’s happening in the body,
she explains. The autonomic nervous
system (ANS) controls things like your
heartbeat, libido, digestion and breathing—the things that happen without
you thinking about it. One element of
the ANS is the parasympathetic nervous
system, which is responsible for the
body’s activities while at rest, such as
DNA repair.
In opposition to the parasympathetic nervous system is the sympathetic
nervous system, which was essentially
for survival, Worden says. Simply put,
this system controls our fight-or-flight
response to help us survive, say, a bear
chasing us. These days, we don’t typically need to run from bears. But the
problem, Worden says, is that rather
than the occasional bear, we have
constant stress.
“With our lifestyles, we’re running
from the bear all day long,” Worden
says. “Then, you lie down at night,
and you have a busy mind. You can’t
get to sleep and/or stay asleep. You’re
still running from the bear even in
your sleep.”
This constant
stress wreaks havoc
on the body. The
stress hormones
adrenaline and
cortisol help you
pack on unwanted
pounds (particularly
belly fat), plus they
disrupt your diges-
tive system and
even your libido.
OK, but adren-
aline pushes you
while you’re on the
platform, right?
And you like it!
“It’s fine if the
body is making
adrenaline while
