Ellen Vora MD

It's an honor to be featured on today's episode of @gateways_to_awakening. We talk about: 1. Holistic psychiatry, why considering the whole person in healing, and not just one part is needed... 2. Tips for insomnia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, and other emotional ailments 3. Why the mind-body connection is so important 4. Dominant themes in health and wellness, and how to turn your health around for wellness 5. How to stay emotionally balanced Listen to the episode here: https://hakawati.com/mQE0UhlB6bb #ellenvora #ellenvoramd #rebelhealth #podcast

The phone is negatively impacting our immunity. It’s important to understand that cortisol (our stress hormone) suppresses immunity, melatonin promotes immunity (and we only release it in response to darkness, so screens suppress melatonin), and much of our immune activity happens while we sleep, so losing an hour or two of sleep to TikTok or IG means losing critical hours for a healthy immune response. Give me a if you’re ready to shut it down at night and set your body up... for a healthy immune response. . . . . . #ellenvora #ellenvoramd #rebelhealth #phone #doomscrolling #insomnia #immunity #immuneresponse #terraintheory #melatonin See more

We tend to stress when we wake up in the middle of the night-- watching the clock and panicking about being tired the next day. But in many instances, waking up in the middle of the night is actually a normal physiologic occurrence called middle sleep. This is a break between two segments of sleep, our first and second sleep. It’s a time to pee, read, journal, reflect on our dreams, and have sex. The only critical thing is that we do all this by candlelight, in the dark, ...or wearing blue blocking glasses. Middle sleep is normal, but exposing the brain to artificial blue spectrum light in the middle of the night can confuse our circadian rhythm. So next time you wake up in the middle of the night, consider if this may be the break between two ~4-hour blocks of sleep. Rather than stressing, simply protect yourself from blue light (i.e., don’t look at the phone), and enjoy the hour without pressure to fall back asleep. Most of the time, you’ll get naturally sleepy after about 45-60 minutes. #ellenvora #ellenvoramd #rebelhealth #middlesleep #industrialrevolution #shiftlabor #consolidatedsleep #insomnia #middleinsomnia #middleofthenight #whycantisleep #icantsleep

Take a few steps to strengthen your immunity. Get your vitamin D from sunshine or supplement, get your vitamin C from fruits & veggies or a lemon squeeze in water, and get your zinc from meat, legumes, shellfish or supplementation. I love elderberry thyme syrup by Tru Botanica (not an ad, just a fan). And our immune system relies on darkness at night, sufficient quantity and quality of sleep, and a state of relaxation to function optimally. Just by leaving your phone outside ...the bedroom at night, you achieve more darkness, less doom scrolling and stress, and better sleep. . Everybody stay safe out there. Give me a or to let me know which one you’re going to work on this weekend. . . . . #ellenvora #ellenvoramd #rebelhealth #immunity #terraintheory #elderberry #vitamind #vitaminc #zinc #doomscrolling #stress #doomscroll See more

I know I don’t make any friends with this one but my goal is to offer helpful information. Caffeine is an anxiogenic drug--i.e., it causes anxiety. Some of us are slow metabolizers, meaning it can have an even stronger impact. If you suspect caffeine impacts your anxiety (if you’re anxious and you consume caffeine, it probably does), I recommend gradually decreasing your caffeine consumption to see if your anxiety improves. For anybody drinking coffee and taking meds for a...nxiety or insomnia, recognize that you’re taking an anxiogenic drug in the morning to wake up, and then another drug to treat the anxiety caused by the anxiogenic drug, and perhaps still another drug to treat the insomnia exacerbated by caffeine. Ideally you would avoid the drug that’s causing anxiety and insomnia in the first place. I know caffeine is our favorite ritual and sometimes feels like our one true friend in the world. Just remember that caffeine feels so good because it’s the antidote to its own withdrawal. Remember to make any and all changes GRADUALLY. Caffeine is a real drug with a real withdrawal. #ellenvora #ellenvoramd #rebelhealth #caffeine #coffee #anxiety #insomnia #rootcause

These days, we encounter a lot of aggressive boundary-setting (you’re toxic, I’m ending this conversation, because boundaries). I think we may have missed the spirit of boundaries. To me, boundaries are not just about recognizing our needs & protecting our energy. There’s a subtlety around intention-- that the goal is to promote connection, not separation--but a connection that honors our needs. Not: I’m setting this boundary because you’re a toxic bitch & I want you to kn...ow that & feel bad about it. Or: I’m denying access to me as a punishment for your bad behavior, I hope you suffer. Instead: I want our relationship to work, but the way we’re showing up for each other is not working for me & it’s damaging our relationship. I’m setting this boundary in an effort to protect our relationship & set us up for success. Here you’re ROOTING for the relationship to work, for the other person to get it & successfully respect your needs. Btw, when we’re mad at someone, we love it when their bad behavior goes from bad to worse. We love feeling even more justified in our anger & resentment. Argh, we think to ourselves, can you believe how awful some people are (and by comparison, how virtuous we are)? From this state, we unconsciously set unrealistic boundaries, designed to fail. Then we think: Ugg, I even set a boundary (how woke and amazing am I?) & she STILL did the thing. We’re done. I’m writing her off as a person. Try instead: hey friend, I want our relationship to work. When you comment on my weight/use the incorrect pronoun/ask me if I’m having kids, I feel uncomfortable. I really want our relationship to work so I’m asking you to not comment on my body/use my correct pronoun/not bring up family planning, so our relationships can feel good for both of us. In this case, we’re rooting for them rather than trying to catch them in bad behavior. Our intention is for the other person to get it, to succeed, for us to be treated in the way we need to be treated, AND for the relationship to work. This is hard and humbling work, but it really comes down to whether we want more connection or more separation in our lives. Boundaries can achieve both. #boundaries #thanksgiving