The Mel Robbins Podcast

#1 Stress Doctor: 5 Tools to Protect Your Brain From Stress & Feel Calmer Now

Order my new book, The Let Them Theory 👉 https://bit.ly/let-them 👈 It will forever change the way you think about relationships, control, and personal power. It all begins with two simple words: Let Them. 🔥 — After today, you will never think about stress the same way again. You’ll learn exactly what to do to take control of your stress, stay calm under pressure, and find instant relief. Harvard’s Dr. Aditi Nerurkar is here today to explain stress and how it relates to your body and brain. Dr. Aditi is a medical doctor, researcher, and world-renowned expert in stress and public health. She's a lecturer at Harvard Medical School and was the medical director of Harvard's Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital's integrative medicine program, where she developed an enormous clinical practice in stress management using evidence-based integrative approaches to help her patients feel better. Today, she is going to give you a reimagined approach to overcoming your stress and burnout using five small but mighty mindset shifts. These mindset shifts are free, backed by science, and can be applied to your life starting today. By the time you finish listening, you will feel uplifted, empowered, and inspired to rest your stress, rewire your brain, move out of survival mode, and start thriving again. Dr. Aditi's website: https://www.draditi.com/ Follow Dr. Aditi on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/draditinerurkar/ For more resources, including links to Dr. Aditi’s book, website, and social media platforms, click here for the podcast episode page: www.melrobbins.com/podcasts/episode-176 Follow The Mel Robbins Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themelrobbinspodcast In this episode: 00:02:08: Do you want to feel physically, emotionally, and mentally better? 00:04:45: Scientifically speaking, what is stress, and how does it affect our bodies? 00:06:19: Can stress ever be healthy for you? 00:10:56: 70% of people are feeling burned out, here’s why. 00:13:28: Do this one exercise if you want to understand stress better. 00:15:20: Your brain and your body need a reset, and it doesn’t happen automatically. 00:20:03: What happens to your inner critic when you feel stressed. 00:21:30: Why do we doom scroll when feeling stressed. 00:25:50: What revenge bedtime procrastination is, and how you can stop. 00:29:20: How Dr. Aditi assesses stress with her patients. 00:32:10: How to physically and mentally get out of survival mode. 00:34:11: How to find a reason to feel less stressed. 00:37:09: Do you feel angry when stressed out? 00:40:12: It’s time to start creating boundaries with our phones. 00:41:20: What is the best hack for getting off your phone? 00:45:12: What to do starting tonight to get a better night of sleep. 00:48:25: Dr. Aditi’s rule of 2 when trying to lower stress levels. 00:50:32: The scientific reason you need to know about the mind-body connection. 00:54:09: Finally understanding the brain-gut connection and how it impacts mood. 00:57:11: What the #1 stress doctor does for daily movement. 01:01:45: The alarming statistics around sitting for long periods of time. 01:08:20: The only breathing technique you need in your life. 01:12:50: Gratitude journaling actually works, but it doesn’t need to feel hard. 01:16:34: What is the most important thing you need to take from this conversation? #Stress #StressRelief #BetterSleep #ManagingStress — Follow Mel: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melrobbins/ TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@melrobbins Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melrobbins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melrobbins Website: http://melrobbins.com — Sign up for Mel’s newsletter: https://melrob.co/sign-up-newsletter A note from Mel to you, twice a week, sharing simple, practical ways to build the life you want. — Subscribe to Mel’s channel here: https://www.youtube.com/melrobbins?sub_confirmation=1 — Listen to The Mel Robbins Podcast 🎧 New episodes drop every Monday & Thursday! https://melrob.co/spotify https://melrob.co/applepodcasts https://melrob.co/amazonmusic — Looking for Mel’s books on Amazon? Find them here: The Let Them Theory: https://amzn.to/3IQ21Oe The Let Them Theory Audiobook: https://amzn.to/413SObp The High 5 Habit: https://amzn.to/3fMvfPQ The 5 Second Rule: https://amzn.to/4l54fah #lifeadvice #selfdevelopment #habits

Dr. Aditi NerurkarguestMel Robbinshost

May 22, 20241h 18mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Harvard Stress Doctor Shares Five Science-Backed Resets To Rewire Stress

Dr. Aditi Nerurkar, a Harvard physician and stress researcher, explains that not all stress is bad: healthy stress drives growth, while chronic, maladaptive stress keeps the brain stuck in survival mode via the amygdala.
She introduces her "Five Resets" framework to move from burnout back to manageable, productive stress by shifting control from the amygdala to the prefrontal cortex.
The conversation covers practical, zero-cost tools around clarifying what matters, creating digital boundaries, using breath and movement, honoring real breaks, and taming the inner critic with practices like gratitude.
Throughout, she emphasizes tiny, consistent changes (the "rule of two") and self‑compassion as the most realistic and effective way to build resilience and protect long‑term brain and body health.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Differentiate healthy and unhealthy stress to respond more intelligently.

Healthy stress (excitement, challenge) is adaptive and fuels growth, while chronic unhealthy stress keeps the amygdala in constant fight‑or‑flight; the goal isn’t zero stress, but returning to healthy, manageable levels.

Use the Five Resets, starting with a clear, realistic ‘why’.

Reset #1 is to get clear on what matters MOST (Motivating, Objective, Small, Timely) so you have a concrete, near‑term reason to change—like sleeping through the night or feeling less on edge—rather than vague ambitions.

Create firm digital boundaries to calm your brain and reduce doomscrolling.

Phenomena like popcorn brain and brain drain show that constant phone presence overstimulates the amygdala; simple boundaries such as keeping the phone off the nightstand, putting it out of sight at work, and using grayscale make it easier to break compulsive scrolling and improve focus and sleep.

Leverage the mind–body connection with breath and movement ‘micro‑doses’.

Slow, deep breathing can flip you from sympathetic (fight‑or‑flight) to parasympathetic (rest‑and‑digest) mode, and very short daily walks or ‘ultra‑short bursts’ of activity (stairs, parking farther away) measurably reduce stress and long‑term health risks.

Treat breaks as biological necessities, not optional luxuries.

Human productivity follows a bell curve, not a straight line; to stay in the ‘Goldilocks’ zone of optimal stress, you must honor real breaks—stepping away from screens, doing a few breaths or stretches—instead of using every pause to re‑stimulate your amygdala with your phone.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

The goal of life is not to live a life with zero stress. It is in fact biologically impossible.

— Dr. Aditi Nerurkar

Stress and burnout currently are not the exception. They are the rule.

— Dr. Aditi Nerurkar

It’s not that behaviors change because you know better. Behaviors only change when you do better.

— Dr. Aditi Nerurkar

Sitting is the new smoking… it’s not just that exercise is good for you, it’s that sitting is actually bad for you.

— Dr. Aditi Nerurkar

You are the sky. Everything else is just the weather.

— Dr. Aditi Nerurkar (quoting a favorite saying)

Healthy vs. unhealthy (maladaptive) stress and the role of the amygdalaThe Five Resets framework for managing stress and burnoutDigital overload, doomscrolling, popcorn brain, and digital boundariesMind–body and gut–brain connection, breathing techniques, and movementSleep, revenge bedtime procrastination, and simple sleep hygieneThe myth of linear productivity and how to take real, restorative breaksThe inner critic, gratitude practice, and self‑compassion as stress tools

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