Master Stress with Dr. S

The episode asks why, despite 30 years of peer-reviewed evidence linking spiritual practice to longer lifespan, better health span, improved immune function, and reduced mental health issues, spiritual health is absent from clinical guidelines, arguing the reason dates back to Descartes. After Galileo’s 1633 condemnation, Descartes suppressed a heliocentric manuscript and later proposed separating...

Dr. S revisits spirituality as a clinical intervention, acknowledging that the term can trigger memories of shame, coercion, or abuse within religious settings, and clarifying that harmful delivery by people and institutions is not the same as spirituality itself. She names religious trauma as a recognized clinical phenomenon, citing Dr. Marlene Winell’s Religious Trauma Syndrome (2011) and report...

In this episode of 'Master Stress with Dr. S,' Dr. Safia Debar, despite battling pharyngitis, dives deep into the transformative potential of breath work. She shares a personal experience that revolutionized her understanding of stress and healing, connecting it to the science of brainwaves. Dr. Debar explains how different brainwave patterns—beta, alpha, theta, delta, and gamma—correlat...

A medical doctor introduces episode one of “When Science Met Soul,” arguing that ancient medical systems treated body, mind, and soul as inseparable, while modern Western medicine adopted a body–soul split rooted in Descartes’ 1641 dualism deal with the Church. Drawing on research, she cites associations between religious/spiritual involvement and lower depression, longer lifespan (about 4–7 years...

In the final episode of a conversation with Six Senses wellness pioneer Anna Bjurstam, she and the host discuss stepping out of the “hamster wheel” through intentional pauses and choosing accessible practices such as calming music, walking, breathwork, somatic therapy, and Sanctum classes that offer emotional, physical, and social release. Anna argues that societal wellbeing should start with cult...

Dr. Safia Debar continues her conversation with Anna Bjurstam of Six Senses about integrating scientific and spiritual approaches to health, challenging the separation between clinician and soul. They discuss how practices like prayer, meditation, breathwork, and time in nature connect people with the heart, and how Eastern systems (especially Ayurveda and Panchakarma, alongside TCM and Tibetan me...

Dr. Safia Debar introduces a podcast series on spirituality as a free, evidence-backed intervention linked in peer-reviewed research to improved heart rate variability, lower blood pressure, reduced cardiovascular and stroke risk, lower inflammatory markers, reduced depression and suicide risk, better sleep and pain outcomes, enhanced T-cell activation, improved cancer survival, gene-expression ch...

Dr. S continues a multi-episode exploration of addiction and rescuer dynamics, following episode 58 and subsequent conversations about loving someone with addiction, why people stay in these patterns, and how to care without losing oneself. This episode shares anonymized client stories showing how support can shift into responsibility, with partners and parents becoming hypervigilant “monitors” wh...

Dr. S continues the addiction series by focusing on loved ones and the central question of how to love someone with addiction without losing yourself, staying compassionate without becoming responsible, and stepping out of the rescuer role. The episode describes a turning point where the rescuer recognizes the cost of living in someone else’s “storm,” shifts from action to awareness, and adopts pr...

Dr. S continues a series on addiction by exploring why empathic, responsible people stay in rescuer dynamics and why leaving can feel so hard, framing it through attachment patterns, nervous-system regulation, and behavioral psychology. She explains how helping can trigger bonding and reward chemicals (oxytocin, dopamine, endorphins), conditioning a cycle where purpose becomes tied to managing ano...

Dr. S introduces a 3–4 episode series sparked by a conversation with Charlie Engle, focusing not on demonizing “the addict” but on what happens to those who love someone with addiction. She describes how a partner, parent, or friend can become a rescuer/fixer whose life reorganizes around monitoring, preventing crises, and managing the other person’s mood, creating a shared nervous-system dynamic...

In this episode of 'Master Stress with Dr. S,' Dr. Safia Debar delves into the critical importance of gut health and its fundamental role in overall wellness. She begins by stressing the interconnected nature of gut health with various body systems, emphasizing that ignoring gut issues can impact hormones, the neuroendocrine system, and the immune system, among others. Dr. Debar lists sy...

Dr. S continues the podcast’s addiction theme by reframing “why can’t they just stop?” through a medical lens, emphasizing addiction as stress, attachment, and reward dysregulation rather than a simple substance problem. She explains how addictive substances and behaviors alter dopamine-based reinforcement, downregulate receptors, activate stress systems, and weaken impulse control, making addicti...

Reflecting on episode 58 with Charlie Engle—who moved from crack and alcohol addiction to endurance running—the host focuses on the process of moving from despair to thriving by understanding dopamine, addiction, and stress physiology. Dopamine is framed as anticipation and motivation, not just pleasure, and repeated high “spikes” (from substances, social media, achievement, or validation) desensi...

Dr. S continues a conversation with ultra-runner Charlie Engel about addiction as part of human evolution, the loss of identity and belonging that can come with quitting substances, and the need to develop skills for grief, transition, and loneliness rather than numbing out. Engel describes getting sober on July 23, 1992 by committing to an AA meeting and a run every day, taking sobriety one day a...

Dr. S interviews ultrarunner and author Charlie Engle about addiction, wellness, and the choices people make in response to hardship. Engle recounts his years of crack cocaine and alcohol addiction, prison time, and later extreme endurance running, and discusses how “healthy” addictions can still be criticized due to others’ fear of losing belonging. He traces contributing factors to insecurity, l...

In the final episode of a three-part series on gut health, Dr. S and guest Hayley Paul discuss preferred gut tests, how to choose them based on clinical needs and budget, and principles of supplementation. Hayley compares tests including GI 360 Complete (noting add-ons like H. pylori), GI-MAP as a more cost-effective but less replicable option that includes markers such as calprotectin, secretory...

Part two of Dr. S’s three-part gut health series with guest Hayley Paul focuses on common digestive issues and practical, individualized approaches. They discuss constipation and why it’s not always just a lack of fiber or water, emphasizing experimenting with different fibers (ground flaxseed, soaked chia seeds, stewed apples for apple pectin, beetroot, and careful low-dose psyllium with plenty o...

Dr. S introduces a three-part gut health series on the Master Stress podcast with guest Hayley Paul, a nutrition and functional medicine practitioner trained in root-cause analysis. Hayley shares her background, including her own gut health struggles during a high-stress marketing career, and explains why gut health is foundational and interconnected with the brain, immune function, inflammation,...

In this episode of Master Stress with Dr. S, the focus is on where to begin with gut healing and why a personalized approach matters because there is no universal gut, immune system, or nervous system. Dr. S explains that common symptoms are not always normal, and that widespread gut advice, supplements, and competing diet trends can be confusing and sometimes harmful if followed blindly or withou...

In this episode of 'Master Stress with Dr. S,' we delve into the profound connection between gut health and mental health. Dr. S explains why digestion, mood, anxiety, and burnout are biologically inseparable, emphasizing the bi-directional communication between the gut and brain. The discussion covers various communication modalities such as the vagus nerve, immune signaling, and microb...

In this episode of 'Master Stress with Dr. S,' we dive into the importance of gut health and its foundational role in overall well-being. Dr. S discusses the common yet often misunderstood symptoms such as bloating, constipation, and fatigue after meals, highlighting that while these may be common, they are not necessarily normal. The episode covers essential aspects of healthy digestion...

In this episode of 'Master Stress with Dr. S,' the focus is on understanding gut health through the lens of both conventional and integrative medicine. Dr. S discusses the limitations of conventional medicine, which often take a symptom-driven approach, and contrasts it with the integrative approach that seeks to identify and treat root causes. The episode touches on the importance of lo...

In this episode of 'Master Stress with Dr. S,' Dr. Safia Debar delves into the critical importance of gut health and its fundamental role in overall wellness. She begins by stressing the interconnected nature of gut health with various body systems, emphasizing that ignoring gut issues can impact hormones, the neuroendocrine system, and the immune system, among others. Dr. Debar lists sy...

The Power of Breath Work: Science, Benefits, and Practices In this episode of 'Master Stress with Dr. S,' Dr. Safia Debar delves into the transformative power of breath work, despite battling pharyngitis. She highlights the significant role breathing plays in affecting one's emotional and physical state, showing how it can lead to feelings of anxiety, calmness, and even peak perform...