Welcome to the New Invigor Medical Podcast

On this inaugural episode, your hosts Chris Donovan and Derek Berkey breakdown their goal for the podcast and what you can expect from the podcast in the coming months.  

TREATMENTS MENTIONED

• Vitamin B12
• Vitamin D
• Oxytocin

TIMESTAMPS

• 00:10 – Welcome and meet your hosts.
• 02:26 – Are you a professional, or do you know a professional that should be on the show?
• 04:30 – Slideshow begins
• 09:00 – Pillars of Health
• 12:04 – Weight Loss   
• 16:12 – DIET is a 4-letter word
• 21:10 – Sexual Health
• 25:56 – Cognitive Health
• 28:20 – Anxiety and Depression. 
• 31:16 – Sunlight – B12
• 35:15 – Pillars of Health Deeper Dive
• 38:11 – social interaction
• 43:30 – 1 Percent a day

Transcript

Narrator: Welcome to the Invigor Medical Podcast, where our mission is to provide personalized medical care through scientifically backed education and wellness solutions.

Chris: Hello there and welcome to the Invigor Medical Podcast. My name is Chris Donovan, and I’m here with Derek Berkey. Derek, how are you, sir?

Derek: Good. How are you doing today, Chris?

Chris: I’m doing good, man. This is, this is our intro show.

Derek: Yeah.

Chris: So first show about the podcast that we’re launching here at Invigor.

Derek: Yeah, I’m really excited.

Chris: Yeah, I am too, because I’ve learned a lot over the last few months working to get this launch going.

Derek: Yeah.

Chris: There are a lot of things that have to do with this podcast between medicine and podcasting, and the reason I’m here is not to be a medical expert.

I am not. We’re gonna have plastic surgeons, urologists, we’re gonna have all sorts of, people that know what they’re talking about. Come on the show, like Derek, I’m here to help move the conversation in ways to help you learn about what’s going on. I’m gonna ask the questions that are simple. If they’re simple, because I don’t know the words or terminology.

Derek: Where I come in is, I just am super interested in health and wellness and, you know, medicine plays a role in that and, Invigor Medical definitely has helped a lot of people do that. And so I’ve been with the company now for about two years and it’s a really great place to be and it’s a great mission that we are, that we’re going about doing.

Chris: Yeah. And Derek is basically been my go-to for a lot of the information here while I’ve been learning. He has spreadsheets galore and information galore. We’re gonna get to some of that in a little bit. But a little background on me. I came from the world of podcasting and radio. I started in 2002.

I’ve been doing radio and TV and movies since then, with a number of places, Game Show Network, Podcast One, KISS FM, Clear Channel, iHeart, you name them. I’ve been everywhere. I really enjoy doing this job. I do have other podcasts that I do, and one of them is about breast cancer or just cancer in general.

So I’ve learned a lot from that podcast last couple years, which has helped me transition into hosting this one. So, this is gonna be a great show. We have lots of, like I said, professionals, but if you know a professional or you’re a professional, you want to come on the show. Come on out.

You have a book, we’ll talk about your book. We’ll talk about health. We want people just to learn how to be healthy and make themselves feel better. Right?

Derek: Definitely.

Chris: That’s the whole key to the podcast. That’s it. We’re gonna explain some stats. We’re gonna give you some options. We’re gonna explain the big words so, you know, it makes more sense and that’s gonna be the, the basis of our podcast, bringing you the information.

Derek: Yeah, Definitely, definitely. And you know, that’s really why we’re gonna be going to the experts, right?

Chris: Yes.

Derek: Because they can really bring in a lot of knowledge. But problem is, when you’re an expert, a lot of the times it’s just like, common knowledge, to you is dwarf somebody else’s knowledge.

And so really we’re just trying to make sure that we understand the mechanisms, but in a way that’s easily understandable, that you can easily explain to your friends, to your family so that they can benefit as well.

Chris: Exactly. And there’s a lot of topics out there that are surrounding certain things in the medical world that people are kind of afraid or a little just intimidated by bringing up, you know?

Derek: Yeah.

Chris: Ed, erectile dysfunction, low libido, losing your hair, some people don’t even want to talk about it.

Derek: Yeah. Honestly, aging in general, like, people, you know, I’m young. I’m almost 30. I’m gonna be turning 30 in about, what, two weeks now.

Chris: Nice. Happy birthday.

Derek: Yeah. Hey, thanks man. Yeah. I, but, you know, people, especially in my demographic, but as you age, you feel like, “Oh, I’m a kid.” But then you tell them, you know, your birthday rolls around again. Holy cow. And like you said, their hair starts turning gray, hair starts falling out, body start, stop working the way that they used to.

And people don’t wanna have that conversation.

Chris: No. It’s kind of embarrassing sometimes to people and it’s not, it’s just life. That’s the way the world works, your body, you grow, get to a certain age, your body stops doing things the correct way, or at least a hundred percent. Just like anything else, you know, like Tom Brady is the G.O.A.T, right?

Derek: Right.

Chris: He’s been playing for 30 years in the NFL. Eventually, he’s gonna have to stop because his body’s not gonna let him.

Derek: I mean, maybe.

Chris: Well, I mean, you know what I mean?

Derek: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chris: But yeah, like there’s a shelf life for certain things to run perfectly.

Derek: Definitely.

Chris: Do you want to get started on this slideshow here?

Derek: Yeah.

Chris: We have talked to people and we have a quiz on the website.

Derek: Yeah. We have a quiz on the website. It’s a survey that has a series of questions. And, over-the-course of time, we’ve gotten a thousand plus responses to this. And so this, these are the numbers that we’re getting, based off of that. So…

Chris: And this is what we want to bring to you because you’re filling this out, you’re gonna see these numbers and go, “Whoa, okay. At least I’m not alone.”

Derek: Yeah. Well, and to kind of touch back on something we talked about as well is like, in order to make the problem better, we have to talk about the problem.

Chris: Yes.

Derek: We have to understand it, and we have to be able to know what we need to do in order to get help. So, that being said, I’m gonna go ahead and just dive right in.

Chris: Let’s go.

Derek: One of the biggest things that we’ve heard from you guys is that energy levels are incredibly important, you know, so whether you’re young or old…

Chris: And he’s young and I’m old.

Derek: Whether your young or old, you know, energy levels are super important.

So, a big part of this is, so one of the questions that we ask is, “Do you feel exhausted no matter how much you rest?” And 60.9% of the people that took the survey answered. “Yes.”

Chris: 60%. That’s over half.

Derek: Yeah.

Chris: That, you’re just tired all the time.

Derek: Exhausted. Yeah. And like really, you don’t have to be, you know, there are solutions to this and we’re gonna talk about that a little bit more as we go along, but, yeah.

The other stat is, “How often do you feel tired by the mid-afternoon?” You know, that three o’clock slump?

Chris: Yeah. That second trip to Starbucks for a lot of people?

Derek: Yeah. Second trip to Starbucks upping the caffeine, the post lunch slump where your stomach’s digesting all that food. 76.8% of people answered that they feel that more than half the time.

Chris: That’s gnarly because you’re not even done with your day yet. You’re barely getting off lunch. You still have to get off work, and then if you have kids or a family you gotta go take care of that. Or some people have two jobs.

Derek: Yeah.

Chris: Some people have lots of other things they gotta pay for, too.

Derek: Definitely.

Chris: So, to be exhausted only about halfway through your day? Gah dang, man. That sucks.

Derek: Yeah. You know, I totally relate to when you say, coming home to your family, it’s like, especially if you have kids, you wanna be there for them, and it’s like, “Oh man, I just feel, I feel totally wiped out.”

Chris: And yeah, you don’t wanna sit there and be like, “Yeah, no, I’ll get to it in a minute.”

Derek: Right?

Chris: “I’ll get to it in a minute.” And then you just never do. And your kids stop asking you for things, you don’t want that.

Derek: Yeah.

Chris: It happens. Yeah. Yeah. That’s pretty good. That’s pretty crazy that 76.8% of the people said, “Yeah, I’m tired.”

Derek: Yeah, and I just don’t feel like I have the energy to do what I need to do.

Chris: Which then plays a role on your work, plays a role on your personal life, plays a role on other parts of your body functioning correctly.

Derek: Yeah.

Chirs: Like, the mental thought of being tired could take you out.

Derek: Well, that actually leads us into our next thing. So, working out, exercising, right?

Chirs: Yes.

Derek: If, you know, you’re just going to work and you feel exhausted, just from sitting at a desk all day, what are the chances you’re gonna go and exercise? Right?

According to the survey, “How many times do you exercise or work out per week?” 61.6% of the people that answer this say, “They get little to no exercise every week.”

Chris: I bet that’s the same 60% of people that feel exhausted all the time.

Derek: Probably.

Chris: Yeah. I mean, I just…

Derek: Well, and you can see here the stat actually runs across as well.

So, “How often do you run out of energy while you’re working out?” 61.7% of the people that in mid-workout run out of energy and they’re like, this is not worth it, you know. I’m just gonna go home and watch, binge watch something on my couch and, yeah, and not have to worry about this.

Chris: Watch Netflix and do nothing.

Derek: Right?

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, when I work out, I kind of, when I’m tired, I kind of stop. So I figured that my workout’s over, but I’m probably doing it wrong. Like, I mean, I don’t work out a lot. I need to work out more.

Derek: Yeah.

Chris: Definitely being here and this whole podcast is about health and wellness and I need to, you know, look in the mirror.

Derek: Yeah.

Chris: And do things, and be able to tell you guys about it, like currently, I don’t know if you’re on it, but we have Wegovy here, which is a weight loss supplement. I’m currently on that.

Derek: Yeah.

Chris: And I’m gonna be doing vlogs about it.

Derek: Yeah.

Chris: So it’ll be kind of cool that I’ll be experiencing it and being able to tell you guys exactly how I feel.

Derek: Yeah.

Chris: And hopefully it helps with some of this tiredness.

Derek: Definitely.

Chris: I’m not always tired, like as much people say, but I do have that afternoon, like, oh man, how many more hours till I have to go sit down in the car and then go home? You know?

Derek: It’s like that mental slump, right?

Chris: Yeah. And it stinks because you’re getting in like brain fog and stuff.

Derek: Yeah. Definitely.

Chris: All that kind of stuff. What else you got on there?

Derek: Yeah. Well, let’s see, let’s take a look. So, huge part of energy levels is quality of sleep, right? So, we’re gonna be talking about this a little bit later, I believe. You know, there’s certain pillars of health that like if you can just get these down pat and get the fundamentals down, your overall health is gonna be massively improving.

And one of the biggest ones that you’ll see a lot on social media and all over the place is getting more popular now, which I’m really happy about, is sleep.

Chris: Yes.

Derek: But of the people that we asked, “How many hours of sleep do you get a night?”

48.8% of these people say they got less than six hours of sleep a night. And of that sleep, we ask them, “How rested do you feel when you wake up?” 70.7% of people reported feeling exhausted in the morning.

So it’s like a never ending game where it’s just like, “Okay, I’m tired, I’m trying to go to sleep. I can’t sleep. And then when I wake up in the morning, I just feel exhausted. Just have to go and do it all over again.” Right?

Chris: I think that kindergarten teachers had a down nap time is something that people should do.

Derek: Yeah. Big time. I’m a big believer in the nap, man.

Chris: Me too. And it’s hard for me to nap because, once I lay down and if I fall asleep and I wake back up, I can’t go back to sleep.

Derek: Yeah.

Chris:It’s really difficult for me to fall back to sleep.

Derek: Yeah.

Chris: If I wake up, for any circumstance, even in the middle of the night.

Derek: Yeah.

Chris: It’s a pain in the butt, but that I’m working on it.

Derek: Definitely. You know, I would love to talk about tools, and things, and there’s a lot of information and a lot of resources out there specifically talking about sleep. But I would love to have that be a topic that we talk about during the podcast, cuz it’s crucial.

Chris: I remember, I mean, when growing up, I’m a little older than you, but growing up it was always like, you guys, you have to work a lot, you gotta work, you gotta work a lot, you gotta work overtime, you gotta do this, you gotta get there early.

You gotta leave late. You gotta work. You gotta work. You only need six hours sleep. You’re good enough sleep when you’re dead.

Derek: Yeah. I used to say that all the time.

Chris: Me too. Yeah. When I was in my early twenties, then I hit 30 and I was like, “No, I think I want a little more sleep.” And then I hit 40 and then I was like, “Yeah, I need to make sure that I’m taking care of that.”

That’s like one of the first two things you should do, rest yourself. If your body’s not rested, you can’t heal yourself.

Derek: Well, you’re burning the candle at both ends. Right? You’re gonna, it’s gonna run out at some point. You’re just gonna, it’s gonna catch up to you. So, yeah.

Chris: I mean, so get your sleep like, plan it, even if your kids have to sleep in the bed with you.

That’s what happens to me a lot of times with my youngest . You know they’ll help you sleep too. Yeah. But yeah, get more than six hours. It will help you with the brain fog, if anything.

Derek: Brain fog or, well, and it, there’s been a ton of studies now that sleep. It’s good for cognitive health.

It’s good for physical health. It’s good for, I mean, energy levels. It’s, there’s just so many things. In fact, What is it? I’ve heard someone describe it as like, it’s where, your brain goes to therapy. It’s where, essentially, it works out all of the emotional and mental issues that you experienced throughout the day.

So it’s, I can’t overstate how important sleep is.

Chris: It’s like when you call IT at your job and the first thing they tell you to do is restart your computer. Consider sleep like you getting restarted.

Derek: That’s it. Honestly, that is a fantastic metaphor, man. That’s absolutely amazing.

Chris: You do that and a lot of things fix themselves.

So, get sleep and a lot of other things will fall in line, but not everything. Like this study shows.

Derek: Yeah. Yeah, so actually that brings up the next thing is, and sleep can definitely help with this, but it’s not a cure-all is, a lot of people are interested in weight loss. So, we ask these questions like, okay, in terms of like your goals, and this is very common.

We’re at the beginning of the year now, obviously lots of people…

Chris: New Year’s resolutions

Derek: Setting those New Year’s resolutions. Of those goals, 72.6% of the people that answered the survey said that they wanted to lose fat, right? Which is pretty common.

Like everybody wants to lose a couple of pounds and look good and have their muscle show and all that. What I thought was interesting is, then, when the follow-up question, this is, well, what diet do you follow or are you going to follow? 54% of them said that they don’t follow any plan.

Chris: So 72% say they wanna lose weight, but then half of them go, well, but I don’t monitor what I eat.

Derek: I have no idea what I, what I’m gonna do to… Yeah. It exactly. Yeah.

Chirs: Yeah, it does. It’s not good. It’s counterproductive, honestly. Well, and if you wanna lose fat, don’t eat it.

Derek: Yeah, well, and what it boils down to, and like I, when I see this stat, I think a lot of different things.

I think that there’s so many, like, fad diets out there nowadays. That people just say, “Okay, just screw it. I’m done. I’m just gonna do, eat whatever I want to eat, and hopefully I lose weight.” But I wanna say that there’s definitely a better way to do this. There’s a better way. In fact, so I read a lot of books.

Chirs: Yes.

Derek: I listen to a lot of podcasts, right? I can’t remember who said it, but at one point in time they talked about how what diet literally means is not necessarily, like, we’ve got all these different diets like Atkins and keto and carnivore and vegan and all that. What the word actually means in Greek or Latin.

Somebody in on YouTube’s gonna tell me exactly what…

Chris: Please do tell us.

Derek: But, essentially it comes from the word “dieta”, which just means way of life. And so really, like that’s what it’s all about. It’s like how are you gonna structure your life in a way that’s going to make you the healthiest way, the healthiest version of you possible.

Chris: Right. And it’s not easy.

Derek: No.

Chris: Because you’ve, like, we’ve showed, you’ve got sleep problems, you know, you’re in the afternoon, you’re tired, so you’re gonna go have that sugar.

Derek: Right.

Chris: Or you’re gonna have that candy bar, but don’t like, get a little more sleep and try to do it that way or something.

Derek: Yeah.

Chris: You definitely have to balance diet. Balance is, that’s all it is. It’s life balance.

Derek: Exactly. Yeah. Well, and just the fact that people, I mean, and obviously people are, and animals in general, hardwired to do this when you experience increased levels of stress, your natural response is to reach out to those comfort foods. Things that are high in fat, things that are high in carbs.

Chris: Cheeseburgers, french fries…

Derek: Especially ones that are a combination of those. Ice cream.

It’s just like, it makes you feel so good at the moment. But, and honestly, you know, part of this is if you want to have a way of life that’s sustainable, you have to have room for that, right?

Chris: Yes.

Derek: And because these people that are like, no, you have to go all in or bust. I don’t think that they’re living life, you know?

Chris: I don’t think so either. I think that there’s a, like there’s that balance. You don’t have to just, “Okay, I’m gonna go on a keto diet. I’m only gonna have no carbs. Nothing.” No. Just cut back a little bit on the carbs.

Derek: Yeah.

Chris: We’re going to try to get some doctors that are, you know, a little more, versed in those…

Derek: Yes.

Chris: Ways to bring them on to talk about intermittent fasting. Cause I don’t know a lot about it and I’m curious.

Derek: Yeah. It’s an incredibly powerful protocol and, yeah, I would love to hear more about it and talk more about it later in another podcast.

Chris: No, growing up diet has always been a four letter word.

Derek: Yeah.

Chris: It’s a four letter word because everybody is so afraid of it. They’re, you think that you have to go and you have to just do everything or nothing.

Derek: Right.

Chirs: You know, it’s like, I’m gonna go in and I’m gonna stop doing this. It’s like, don’t, just pick one thing and try that for a little bit.

Derek: Yeah.

Chris: You know, let’s say instead of getting that candy bar at three o’clock, get an apple, maybe switch something up. Just little things because once you start doing the little things and you feel something, you’re gonna be just, in fine, doing that one thing over and over again no problem. You know, you’re like, okay…

Derek: Definitely.

Chris: I’m gonna try something else. So then you’ll be doing two things. Just keep kind of adding to it is kind of how I’ve learned to regulate what I eat. Like I don’t eat a lot of sugar, even though it was the holidays, my mom cooked way too many sweets, in chocolate chip. Peanut butter cups she makes.

Derek: Oh. Oh. Those things are so good. I would die for those.

Chris: I know. So I have a few, but I know that I’m only gonna have one or two.

Derek: Yeah.

Chris: I’m not gonna go in there and I’m not gonna eat the whole container. Unless I’m getting up in the middle of the night.

Derek: Yeah, exactly.

Chris: Which is also another problem.

Derek: Yeah, exactly.

Derek: You know, it’s funny that you bring up the apple example. There’s a guy, one of our treatment specialists, here at Invigor Medical. His name is Marcus. I was talking to him on one of his breaks, and he told me a rule that I really, really like, that I use on a daily basis.

Like, if you want to eat a snack or if you’re like working on something and all of a sudden you’re hungry, you gotta just ask yourself kinda the question that you just asked was like, “Ok, I want to go eat these chips, but could I, do I have the same motivation to go and eat an apple?” Right?

And then if you’re like all of a sudden like, “Ah, no.” It’s like, well then maybe you’re not really hungry. You probably just need to, you know, hunch in and, go back in and get back to work kind of a thing. So…

Chris: Ask yourself that question. Oh, cool. I’m gonna have this candy bar. Would I have a banana though? Nah

Derek: Nah.

Chris: You know, and then you eat the candy bar.

Derek: Yeah.

Chirs: Yeah. It’s just, just do small things.

Derek: Yeah. Honestly. So there was a study that was done with this. There’s a society and I’m gonna need to look it up to find out exactly what it is, but there’s a society that essentially tracks people that lose a certain amount of weight and then keep it off for, you know, 10 plus years.

Chris: Okay. Yeah.

Derek: And the number of people that are able to make it into that, that group is very, very small.

Chris: Very, it’s like a one percent type thing.

Derek: Yeah. It’s incredibly difficult to get to that. But what they did the study and they specifically talked to them, the key thing that they found that helped these people lose the weight and keep it off…

Chris: Yeah.

Derek: Is that they just make very small incremental changes to their everyday. I’ll be honest, my wife and I, we got married something like six, seven years ago. I’ll have to remember the exact year.

Chris: Uh oh. Hope she’s not watching.

Derek: But when we first started, it was just kind of like, we’re grownups.

We can go to Costco and buy as much stuff as we want, and we got big old things of soda and we’re drinking those and we just both noticed that we just did not feel good. Right?

Chris: Yeah.

Derek: So we cut out these carbonated, sugary beverages from our diet. And literally, I went from being the heaviest I ever was in my life, and I was able to cut down like 20, 30 pounds over the course of a couple of years. You know?

Chris: Liquid sugar is not good. It’s insane.

Derek: Yeah, it is insane. And really, I mean, this is a whole ‘nother rabbit hole we could dive down. But the fact that the food industry literally has scientists to make food hyper palatable is what the term is. And essentially it just means, they know the triggers and the buttons to push in your brain to say, “Do not stop eating this. Eat more, eat more, eat more.”

And it’s insane. And, you know, it’s their job to do it. And, of course, like we love Doritos. As soon as you pop them open, you can’t just eat one. Right?

Chris: Yeah. Everybody drives to McDonald’s or you know.

Derek: Yeah, exactly.

Chris: You’ve got all those fast food places, that are super convenient.

Derek: Yeah.

Chris: But, and cheaper than usual. But they’re horrible for you sometimes.

Now you don’t have to stop eating it all together. Like, just go there once a week. You know, just cut back a little bit. Or when you, you know, when you’re out with your kids, maybe make sandwiches instead of, little things.

Derek: Well, and, it’s, there’s, honestly, okay, so we’re, getting to the realm where I start geeking out cuz I love food. I love cooking. I love fitness and wellness and all that, but like, food and cooking has a special place in my heart.

Chris: Cooking, huh? I didn’t know, ok.

Derek: Yeah. I watch a lot of YouTube cooking videos, Joshua Weisman and Ethan Chlebowski.

Chris: Oh, look at you!

Derek: They’re great. They’re awesome. The content’s awesome. And they’ve been doing a lot of content lately where they are, specifically, focusing on how, like, create healthy meals. Which is great.

Chris: Yeah. But I mean, even those meal plan prep places all those, that’s some, that’s an option. Try it.

Derek: It is, totally is. And honestly, anything that you can make at home is going to be, I guarantee you, is gonna be healthier than anything you can buy at any restaurant. Because you’re able to control the portions, you’re able to control what’s going in. And it’s just so much more control. So, there’s a lot to talk about with weight loss and I’m looking forward to hearing more than we can, as the time goes on.

Chris: We could go for hours about weight loss.

Derek: Oh yeah.

Chris: Cuz everybody’s body’s different and how they lose weight and keep it off or vice versa. Just, it’s, so unique to each person.

Derek: Definitely.

Chris: So what else we got up here for weight loss?

Derek: Yeah. So, this one is definitely more on the sensitive side. People, this is one of those things where people don’t really feel comfortable talking about, out in public, or just in general.

It feels very much like, or if they talk about, they talk a very much in, like, a joking way where it’s, like, “Oh yeah, ha, ha, ha.” But really this, these two stats specifically and specifically the first one, break my heart.

So the question was, “How connected do you feel to your partner?” And 57.7% of the people that took this quiz reported feeling little to no connection to their partner, that the intimacy, essentially to their romantic partner, had essentially died.

And it’s just like, it’s so sad to be, to see that.

Chris: That’s a huge health, like, issue because if you, satisfying those things in your body, your body’s not gonna work the right way with everything else. So, that is, kind of sad. Yeah. I mean, I love my wife. I love you. And then their drive.

Derek: Yeah, there’s, so the next question was, “How would you rate your libido?” 66.8% of people report having little to no sex drive, which maybe these two things are connected, right. But…

Chris: I think diet has a lot to do with it, too.

Derek: Definitely. Diet, exercise, cardiovascular health, you know? I’m on a lot of different forms and I like to see what people have to say and I always try to avoid being that guy that’s like, “Hey, there’s some really simple solutions to this.” You know?

There’s some really, actually amazing, medications that can help with this as well. But even before you get there, there’s a lot you can do. All right, that’s very easy, that can be implemented in a simple way, and you know…

Chris: That comes back to those pillars of health.

Derek: Yeah, exactly. And so there’s, it just comes back to knowing, “Okay, what do I want?” And then creating a game plan of how to get there.

Chris: In baby steps, like I said, don’t just, okay, here are the five or six pillars of health. Or five. Right?

Derek: Yeah.

Chris: You know, don’t like overload all of them right away. You know, do like one thing for each maybe, and one thing for one might be the same thing for another, you know?

Derek: Yeah.

Chris: We’d, like, we could break that down a little bit, too.

Derek: Definitely. Well, and so, then the next part of this is, so this is a big part of this is obviously Ed or libido and intimacy.

The next thing is essentially ED, right? So this is a big one. The people that took this quiz, we asked, “Do you struggle with erectile dysfunction?” 65.9% of men answered yes.

Chris: Right, now, I’m, again, I’m no doctor. And they’re saying it on their own that they feel like they have Ed.

Derek: Yes.

Chris: But they might not.

Derek: They may not, right? They or well, so erectile dysfunction, I feel like is one of those things where it’s kind of a spectrum, right? We think of it, kinda like a light switch, whether it’s turn on, or turn off.

Chris: Time, or not time.

Derek: Right, exactly. But, you know, there’s a lot of things that take into consideration.

There’s, and this is something that a lot of our people here at Invigor can really help with, and that they are very comfortable talking with people on the phone about all the time. Right. So, essentially asking them like, “Are you able to, what is the duration? What is the hardness?”

All these things, like, those all play a factor in whether someone has ED or not. But of these men that took this quiz, they say, “Yeah, I have ED.” Of those men who have had oral ED meds, 53.9% of them report that ED meds work less than half of the time. Right?

Chris: So, and that’s the oral pills.

Derek: Yeah. So that’s like, tadalafil and Sildenafil. Those are the generic names for…

Chris: Cialis.

Derek: Cialis and Viagra, and so, you know, it’s, I can just imagine it being so disappointing or so like someone being so despondent of like, okay, I went to go get help. And these oral ED meds that I want to go get, just aren’t working. Right?

And we’re gonna hear more about that with Dr. Joshua Spendlove, right?

Chris: Yes. Yeah.

Derek: On that episode, there’s gonna be a whole episode talking about it. It’s really great. Lots of good advice.

Chris: Good advice, information. Yeah.

Derek: Yeah, but with that being said there are options for these guys that with oral ED, there are options that work 95% of the time.

Chris: Yeah. Right.

Derek: And I would love to talk a little about that, a little bit more later in the episode.

Chris: Yeah. I mean and if you don’t know about it, that’s why we’re here. We’re gonna tell you and explain to you how these things work. And there’s not gonna just be podcasts, there’ll be other videos on the YouTube channel that will be like tutorials, informative about certain types of medicines we’re gonna break down and stuff.

So there’s gonna be a lot of stuff on our YouTube channel, so stick to that. And we have a couple more stats and then we want to dive in on the pillar, of pillars of health, right?

Derek: That’s right. Yep. So, the next section is just basically talking about cognitive health. It’s somewhat related to the energy thing that we’re talking about.

So, we asked the question, “Do you experience brain fog?” 62.6% of people answered, yes. Right? The next one, “Do you have a hard time remembering things?” 53.2% of people answered, yes. So, you know, these things are, I think, are very highly related to the sleep question.

Chris: Yeah. A little bit of diet…

Derek: If you’re not getting sleep, if you’re not getting good rest, like your brain is essentially working on overdrive to try and keep up with all these things. And eventually it just like, it gives out and it says, “Hey, sorry, I know you needed, you need to remember X, Y, and Z, I can tell you that there was a Y in there, but that’s it.”

Chris: Yeah. There might have been a Z, I don’t remember.

Derek: You know, so, something that is huge, if you actually look back in history thousands of years ago, there were people that would literally memorize, hours and hours and hours of essentially oral history.

Of like, the Iliad and the Odyssey, those were both oral stories that they would just narrate to each other and like, “Hey, can you tell me about this one part?” And they would just pull it out, out of their brains, and tell it right back to you. Who is it? I’m trying to remember.

I’m gonna totally butcher this, but you had like Socrates and Aristotle, both arguing with each other of, and one of them was basically saying that reading and writing were evil cuz they were gonna make people lose their memory.

Chris: Oh. So they wouldn’t have to remember everything.

Derek: So they wouldn’t have to remember. And so they’re writing it down, they’re like, “Oh no, this is gonna make your mind weak”.

And I think that we’ve seen this progression where it went from reading and writing, which is a great thing. And obviously we wouldn’t be where we are now without it. But like, as time progresses, you have, recorded sound. You have televisions, and all of a sudden we have these iPhones and Google where literally you don’t have to stop and think about anything for any period of time.

You can immediately get the answer and it’s just provided to you.

Chris: I was having this conversation with my dad this weekend. We were like, “What was that actor’s name?” And I’m like, “Remember when you couldn’t Google it?” And I go, “Don’t!” I told him not to.

And I left and I come back. He goes, “I had to Google it. It was bugging me.” I’m like, “I wanted you to wake up at like midnight and yell his name like it was Steve or something, you know?”

Derek: Even with Google, I still do that all the time. You try to, I’m just like, “Oh my gosh, it was this dude!”

Chris: I try to push myself to remember things before I Google it, but I definitely think that this plays into those pillars, distractions.

Derek: Yeah. And well, even I would say it plays into this next slide as well. Right? So the next slide is, “How often do you feel anxious or depressed throughout the day?”

Chris: There you go.

Derek: 47.5% of people reported they feel stressed all the time. Right? Next one, “How would you rate your attention?” 60.9% of people reported that their mind drifts all the time.

Chris: What?

Derek: Huh?

Chris: Nothing.

Derek: Oh, did you?

Chris: Drifting…

Derek: I think that the phone and internet and instant access to literally anything that you could dream of, right? There’s systems in your brain, and I don’t know a ton about this. I’m not, I’m no expert, but, I know that they exist and I know that companies know that they exist as well.

And they’re constantly demanding on what’s called our dopamine centers, in our brains. Right? That’s the, it’s the molecule of motivation and drive. Right? That’s trying to always get you to go and do something to get that next hit. And, people will literally design apps and videos and these things.

To literally suck up your attention to the point where you’re trying to focus on getting something that’s done. But if it’s even slightly boring, you’re just like, “Ah, this is no fun. I’m gonna go over here and play kind Candy Crush on my phone.” Right?

Chris: Yeah. And everybody, I mean, when I say this, I mean like everybody that I know, they’re like, they’re watching a TV or a movie, they’re always on their phone at the same exact time.

Doing stuff over and over again. And they’re not, like, taking all of this in or taking all of that in. They’re not really, they’re just kind of just throwing stuff into their head that it’s just noise. And that doesn’t help with fog.

That doesn’t help with being anxious. FOMO is a big thing. That’s part of anxiety, thinking that, you know, everybody online has such a great life when really they don’t.

Derek: Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, honestly, so there’s a lot of solutions to this, and this is a very, both of these things are really hard things to deal with, right?

Anxiety and depression and attention, you know, but there’s also like, essentially going back to our pillars of health, sleep, exercise, diet. These things, even though they’re just so basic, can have a major impact on your mental health, on anxiety, on depression, on attention. In fact, I was looking up a stat about B12 deficiencies.

And, something that I found, I don’t have the stat right off the top of my head, but people that had B12 deficiencies were more likely to feel anxious and depressed.

Chris: Now, B12 comes from…

Derek: It comes from a lot of different places.

Chris: Where do we usually get it from?

Derek: Normally we get it from our meat actually.

Chris: Okay. And so, like a lot of vegans and vegetarians.

Derek: They’re gonna be suffering because, they either need to supplement it with, you know…

Chris: With soy or something.

Derek: Well, actually, really, there’s, meat is the main source of B12

Chris: Oh, B12. That’s why the B12 is a very popular supplement.

Derek: Yes, exactly. Yep. And so, but yeah, I mean, even something supplementing with B12 can help with things like anxiety and depression, right? So, it’s, there’s answers out there. They’re not always incredibly simple, but there are really good answers that people can turn to and find help.

So, this is gonna seem a little bit odd. But, this last question or these last two questions are, “How much sunlight exposure do you get each day?” And 81.2% of people say that they get next to no sunlight exposure each day. Now you’re probably thinking like, “Big whoop.”

Chris: Did you just like poll people in Seattle, or is this everywhere?

Derek: No, this is across the nation, man. And so it’s crazy.

Chris: We were having this conversation last week. There’s another room over here that we do some shooting in, but all the windows are of course blocked out just like this one.

And I have to go in there and open up the curtains and open up all the stuff every two or three days, or I feel like I’m working in a box, in sunlight. Granted, there’s not a ton of it outside cuz it’s winter. It’s still like I was fiending for it.

Derek: Well, so something that’s really interesting and there’s a ton of resources out here on the internet where you can find the benefits that sunlight has on the human body.

Something that’s really interesting in a room like this that we’re in right now. It seems like it’s very bright and there’s a lot of light coming into our eyes, comparatively, if you actually were to step outside, even if it was a completely clouded over day. There’s actually technically more photons or light particles that are bouncing around.

That can hit your eye and essentially inform your brain it’s day outside. Right? And that’s something that your brain needs. It’s something that your body needs to produce a lot of different things, different hormones in your body, different signals. To say, “Hey, the day is starting, or the day is ending.”

Chris: So back to kindergarten, recess. They had recess down, too. We should just pay attention to kindergarten. People really should nap time and recess. Get outside, get some interaction, you know, interaction, move around. I’d definitely like to go for walks when it’s not two degrees outside. You know, like on a 15-minute break or something just to get outside.

Derek: Definitely, definitely.

Chris: Breathe in some different air, you know, just, you gotta move.

Derek: Get the blood flowing, get the, flowing, all that good stuff.

Chris: This is nuts. And that’s vitamin D, the biggest thing you get.

Derek: Vitamin D is a big one. There’s actually another really important timing of getting sunlight.

You want to get sunlight, to kind of like bookend your days. So, right when you wake up, you want to, if you can, try to go outside for like five minutes. And if it’s cloudy, just look towards the sunrise. If it’s, if you can see the sunrise, obviously there’s an added benefit of seeing this beautiful sunrise, but essentially the blue on yellow contrast literally sends a signal in your brain that says like, “Hey, it’s the beginning of the day.” And it releases this cocktail of chemicals in your brain.

Sets your whole body up for the rest of the day to be successful.

Chris: That’s gnarly. I did not know that. See, I’m learning here.

Derek: Yeah, and then, you want to essentially bookend it at the end of the day if you can try to catch a sunset. It does the same thing and essentially says, “Okay, it’s time to start winding down.” The blue on yellow contrast.

It starts winding down. And actually, they did some studies on this.

Chris: That’s crazy.

Derek: Viewing the sunset can actually kind of inoculate you to the effect of screens before nighttime, before bedtime. And so, it does the screens that like, keep you awake and we, you know, we’ve all heard the sleep hygiene, right?

But if you see the sunset it doesn’t necessarily prevent you from having the negative effects of the screen. But it helps buffer it so that it’s not as bad.

Chris: That’s gnarly. I did not know that. I’m gonna have to, you know, go outside first thing. Well, I go outside in the morning, but it’s usually dark.

Derek: Yeah. Well, and that’s the thing is, if you don’t have a, if you wake up really early, like I wake up really early every morning, I’m usually up before the sunrise. So, I will intentionally just set aside about five minutes a time to go stand on my front lawn and just look at the sunrise. And, I mean, there’s so many benefits to it, man.

It’s good for your body when you see the sunset, it helps you be able to get into sleep better, which we’ve talked about that at great length. So, yeah, there’s tons of benefits, right? And one of them is that actually helps you handle stress better. So, this question here, “How well do you feel like you handle stress?”

52.9% of people reported that dealing with stress is a struggle, right? Where they just, they just can’t handle it. And so we’ve talked a lot about all these different things, and we’ll kind of dive into it now. The pillars of health, right? They’re, they are just so crucial and really what it boils down to is their, I can’t remember them off the top of my head.

That’s right. It started with sleep.

Chirs: Yep.

Derek: Activity, diet, social interactions, and then medicine. Right?

Chris: Sleep we talked about like just get sleep. I mean, it’s really, really easy.

Derek: Very easy.

Chris: It, in concept.

Derek: Although, yeah. Well, that’s what I was gonna say.

Chris: It’s not so easy.

Derek: I was gonna say is like more and more lately, it’s just like Netflix always releases that next binge worthy show.

That you just want to stay up all night and watch. You know, the screen and the blue light under your eyes and it disrupts your sleep, right?

Chris: That’s me.

Derek: You know, the mid-afternoon slump where you’re sitting at three or four o’clock of the day and you’re like, “Man, I still have so much to do.”

You have that draw to drink caffeine at that time. That caffeine is gonna disrupt your sleep for the next 12 hours and you’re gonna wake up exhausted, right? So there’s all kinds of things that can really get in the way of it, and you have to be intentional about how you’re going to sleep and there’s a ton of great resources and we hope that we’re able to bring those resources to you and really have, bring in some experts on that.

Chris: Yeah, I, that being the number one thing. If you just, it don’t even look at the rest of the pillars, just start there. It makes try to get yourself sleep. You’ll feel better when you wake up, which will make you feel better when you were going to work.

And everything will start playing in line and then you’ll look at the next one and it will be exercise. I have better sleep, I have more energy. I’m gonna go for a walk. You know, just one at a time. Cuz like you said, sleep, exercise, diet, social interaction, and then medicine. But medicine’s the last resort.

Derek: Yeah. Medicine is really nice. When any of those pillars fail, like, so, one example, diet, right? We’ve, we talked at length about diet and food and all these things of how you can get nutrition from vegetables and other whole foods. As you get older, you know, people that are in their 60’s.

They stop producing a chemical on their stomach called hydrochloric acid. And that is the component that’s needed and is necessary for them to be able to digest, and be able to utilize B12. And so you can be having the best diet ever and at some point that pillar’s gonna fail you a little bit because of other factors that you can’t control.

Chris: Yeah. Just age and growth and living.

Derek: Yeah, exactly. At that point, you might need to lean on medicine a little bit more and look for a really good B12 supplement. At Invigor Medical we have B12 injections. And we’ve, I mean, the reviews we’ve gotten back from that have been amazing. They, people say that they have more energy, that they feel more focused, and it’s absolutely incredible.

Chris: We’ve got a lot of reviews online about people, just, increasing their energy, but also their attitude with it. Because when they have more energy, they don’t, they’re not so like, they’re not gonna be a little bit grumpy. They’re not gonna be hangry.

Derek: Exactly.

Chris: So it helps. Yeah. Then you’ve got, diet like we just talked about, exercise, social interaction.

That’s kind of what I was getting to earlier about the phone. Everybody gets on their phone, starts going through and thinking that’s them being social. Oh, look cute dog. That’s me being social. No. You gotta get out a little bit.

Derek: I mean, to an extent, there’s actually a lot of interesting studies on this where like people do get like little hits of what’s called oxytocin to their brain, when they’re on their phone because they’re seeing human faces.

But, like, when you’re comparing that to like an actual interaction with another human being, I absolutely agree with you. Like yeah, they’re not the same, like, you’re gonna get way more, and this is going back, there’s this crazy science that when you’re doing something in tandem with someone that you care about, right?

Whether that’s, you’re, maybe you’re both sitting down watching a TV show together. Maybe you’re both at a concert and screaming at the top of your lungs, or just hanging out with the kids and just watching them play…

Chris: Video games or something.

Derek: Yeah. There’s actually synchronization that happens within the body between these partners.

And when you look at each other, that connection and that intimacy, feeling like you are connected with this person, that they’re experiencing these things, having a shared experience with you, is what helps release oxytocin in your brain and helps you feel bonded and make you feel good.

And what they found is people that don’t have these human interactions for long periods of time, they actually produce something called tachykinin, which is, it’s a long word, but essentially it’s a really nefarious molecule. That has a ton of really bad side effects. I encourage you to look it up.

I don’t know everything about it. I’m not an expert but if you look it up, yeah we will. If you look it up, there’s tons of negative benefits of essentially being socially isolated, including, I think, like losing weight, or not gaining weight, not being able to really get good sleep, irritability, all these things that just typified like, I just don’t feel good. Right?

Chris: So, and I think that is one of the side effects of what Covid did with a bunch of our kids not having to go to school and being masked and being, you know, just basically segregated and stuff and couldn’t go places and had to stay home and learned at home and no friends and no nothing.

It’s like I’ve seen my kids struggle a little bit with interaction and with stuff because of that. So, you know, it’s not something you can fix overnight or anything if you have those issues, but if you work on your sleep and work on your diet and maybe get out and walk a little bit, your body will feel better.

And hopefully that will help you feel better too.

Derek: Definitely, definitely.

Chris: Well, is there anything else that you wanted to show or bring up before we get outta here?

Derek: I guess the last thing is, I think we talked about medication to a little bit, but all of these categories that we talked about, we have really good medications, right?

And if there’s something that you’re needing help, if there’s something that you’re not quite sure about, feel free to come to invigormedical.com. We have a great team of patient care coordinators and treatment specialists who, their only job is to help you find what you need, whether, and really just make sure that you have an excellent experience.

Chris: Right. There’s a live chat feature.

Derek: There is a live chat feature, you can chat into them anytime. You’ll see, if you go into Google, you’ll see lots of reviews about all of our people, raving or ranting about our people and the customer service that they provide.

Chris: So, we’ve got some really good people back there that are comfortable with whatever level you’re at of talking.

You know, if you have questions and you want to straight up be blunt and type the blunt question, they’ll answer it. You know, if you want to dance around it a little bit, they’re gonna understand what you’re trying to do and they’re gonna help you out. Lots of different information up there.

There is a plethora of articles written by doctors and nurses and people up there that are, will break down anything from low libido, connected to diet, to getting no sleep or getting too much sleep. There’s a ton.

Derek: To light, to social interactions. Yeah. I mean, there’s more than, I don’t know if I’ve actually read all of our articles.

Chris: It’s impossible.

Derek: There’s so many. And the information there is just incredibly valuable.

Chris: It is and we’re gonna translate a lot of that over to the videos to help you guys get closer to this information faster.

Derek: Definitely.

Chris: Because there is a lot on there. You can get lost, but if you’re searching on a site, there’s the prompts that will get you to cognitive health, and sexual health and, you know, exercise, diet, all that stuff.

There’s a bunch of links up there. The website’s pretty intuitive.

Derek: Definitely.

Chris: Yeah. So, other than that, do me, do us a favor, rate, review, subscribe, tell your friends about this podcast. If you have questions, throw them in the comments, or, you could, like he said, Derek said, you can go to the website and you can email us, contact us there.

But honestly, we are only here to be the conduits to bring you the information to help you feel better. And we’re not gonna push drugs and supplements down your throat. We’re gonna suggest things to do to help yourself. And then, like Derek said, if one of those pillars fails you because of age, because of circumstance, then that’s when medicine and medications or supplements will help.

And that’s what we’re gonna try to, you know, figure out and talk about.

Derek: And really focus on.

Chris: Yeah. I mean, it’s not fun, not feeling well. And I guarantee a lot of people listening and watching right now, don’t feel well.

Derek: Have you ever heard of the Kaizen Method?

Chris: No.

Derek: So there’s a, this company, I believe, that was over in Japan that was making cars, and their whole philosophy was just do it 1% better every day. Right?

Just 1% better every day. And, there’s actually a graph and I would love to be able to link this in at some point, but there’s this graph that shows what happens if you make a 1% difference every day for a year. And what happens if you make a 1% decrease everyday for a year?

And it’s insane cuz the decrease graph it kind of just does a slow trend downwards. But the 1% difference everyday upwards. It’s almost exponential. It’s absolutely incredible to be able to watch that. And really that’s, you think 1% every day isn’t much, but you just gotta think about, “Okay, what can I do differently today?”

That would make me feel better than yesterday.

Chris: And it’s like you put it in sports terms, you know, take five more free throw shots. You know, if you’re in baseball, you know, take five or six more swings. That’s 1%. You know, if you are a teacher, you know, go and check on three more students, then you might not have if you were trying to get something done.

You know, if you are at a barista, you know, look at your customer and smile just for that extra second. Something small like that can help you feel better and change a lot of stuff.

Derek: Massive differences.

Chris: Yeah. Mental change is one of the hardest things to do. That’s why these pillars to physically help yourself will bring your brain back into it, too.

Help with the fogging and all that stuff. Thank you for joining us. Make sure you rate, review, subscribe. Derek, thank you. And, we’ll see you on the new show. See you on the next one I should say.

Derek: Have a good one.

Narrator: Thank you for joining the Invigor Medical Podcast.

For more information on the show, Invigor Medical, or to get ahold of Chris, Go to invigormedical.com.