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Join Tobias Silberzahn, a Partner at McKinsey's Berlin office and a leader in the global Health Tech Network, as he delves into the crucial role of lifestyle habits in maintaining mental health and well-being.
In this enlightening talk, Tobias discusses the importance of sleep, nutrition, mobility, fitness, and purpose, providing practical advice that viewers can apply in their daily lives. He also explores the biochemical processes involved and the effects of sleep deprivation and lack of movement on anxiety levels.
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Are you an entrepreneur or investor seeking to understand the role of lifestyle habits in maintaining mental health and well-being? Are you looking for practical advice from a leading expert in the field? If so, this clip is for you. Meet Tobias Silverzaan, a trained biochemist and a partner in McKinsey's Berlin office. He's a member of the Healthcare and Innovation Practice focusing on healthcare innovation, health tech business building, and digital transformation. Within McKinsey, Tobias also leads the health and well-being program for employees, focusing on sleep, nutrition, stress management, and fitness. In the following clip, Tobias devs into the importance of sleep, nutrition, mobility, fitness, and purpose in maintaining mental health and well-being. Let's dive in.
SPEAKER_00
Then when we when we now, you know, being originally biochemist looking at sort of the foundation, right, it makes sense because at the end of the day, in our daily lives, right, there are there are there are four or five things that are really impacting health and well-being, and uh and the person, and and that is sleep, that is nutrition, that is mobility and fitness, that is stress management. Um, and and you know, for many people also then the team the topic of purpose, um uh underlying motivation, um, social connections, of course, plays a big role, right? And um, and if we just quickly look at uh the the impact that sleep has on mental health and then the impact that movement has on mental health, right? So if if we do a little thought experiment and and would say I sleep too little and I walk too little, right, both of those things just biochemically have a negative impact on my mental health and well-being. So therefore, right, uh mental health and and mental well-being, right, um, and and those factors that we just talked about is is actually something for everyone.
Christian Soschner
That's a great point. I would like to dig a little bit deeper and use your expertise as a biochemist. Um, it was in the 90s when I started getting interested in uh what does it need to stay healthy? So back in the 90s, every time when I talked with uh my doctor or with other doctors or physicians in Europe, they mostly focused on uh treating diseases. And most of the questions I had were around how can I stay healthy? How uh what do I have to do to not get sick at all? And I didn't get answers. Uh, where I got answers was in martial arts, but unfortunately, um the the ways of the martial arts are great, they work, and there are many great masters, for example, in the Shaolin Temple. In 2014, I was in the Shaolin Temple, uh, or also in Japan, but it's not very scientifically, or it has not been very scientifically proven. Um, the points they brought up back in the 90s were similar to the points that you mentioned a couple of minutes ago, that in order to stay healthy, people need uh to sleep, need to exercise, uh, need to take care of their nutrition and also social connection and purpose. Can we talk a little bit further about these four topics? Why they are so important from uh the McKinsey and the biochemist point of view? Let's start with sleep. Why does sleep play such a crucial role in staying healthy?
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, yeah, and uh thank you for the the question. It's uh it's it's a wonderful topic and it's um it's fascinating research uh behind it from a biochemical, and then also sort of how then the biochemistry of our body then um affects our feeling and mental health and well-being, right? Um so if we start with sleep, then there are sort of two topics, right? There is the topic of duration, and then there is the topic of um do I get the the deep sleep, um, etc. Right? Why does deep sleep matter? Um during deep sleep, which is usually the sleep that happens in the first half of the night, um, right? We we sleep in 90-minute cycles, and then in the the early 90-minute cycles, then um ideally deep sleep uh takes place, right? This is really where the body restores and where growth hormone is secreted, right? And the key thing is if there is no deep sleep, then there is um the the secretion of growth hormone, which is then helping us regenerate, um, is uh is diminished or let's see um reduced, um, which then means right that that sometimes sleep doctors they deal with people who then say, Well, I sleep nine hours, but I still feel terrible in the morning, I still feel tired in the morning, right? And then when they they they do the the diagnosis, etc., then sometimes they find that yes, this person slept nine hours, but there were only five minutes of deep sleep. And if there is five minutes of deep sleep, right, and one while you know the literature usually uh talks more about ideally, you know, 90 minutes of deep sleep, right? Then you can imagine, right? Um if there is only five minutes of deep sleep versus 90 minutes of deep sleep, but that is then of course a reason why people then uh feel tired in the morning, right? And if that continues over many, many days, weeks, months, and sometimes even years, right, that then has very detrimental effects uh for the body, right? But since you started out with mental health, right, this has then um also a link towards the mental health and and well-being, right? And um, and I think uh one of the uh politicians once said that after they had negotiated in Europe in Brussels through the whole night, right? They said, well, if if I'm massively sleep deprived, right, I'm I'm not a very inspirational person anymore the next day, right? But it it pretty much means if we if we sort of are severely sleep deprived or have these sometimes even medical problems, that we don't get enough deep sleep, that then means that um, you know, at the end of the day, we are increasing our level of anxiety via bad sleep, right?
Christian Soschner
That was Tobias Silverzan sharing his expert insights on the importance of lifestyle habits in maintaining mental health and well-being. If you found this information valuable, don't keep it to yourself. Please share this episode with others who could benefit from it. Your engagement makes a difference. By liking, commenting, sharing, and subscribing, you're helping to attract more expert speakers like Tobias, which means more valuable content for you. So don't forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe. Thank you for your support and for being a part of this journey.
