This article explores practical solutions for managing depression and anxiety. It covers strategies such as exercise, therapy, nutritional support, and mindfulness techniques like breathing exercises and gratitude. The discussion also touches upon the potential role of psychedelics in therapy and emphasizes holistic approaches to improving mental well-being

Highlights of the Podcast

00:40 – Importance of Talking to Someone
02:08 – Exercise and Mental Health
04:25 – Breathing Exercises
05:39 – Supplements and Genetic Testing
07:26 – Psychedelics and Mental Health
10:07 – Gut Health and Mental Health
12:10 – Mindset and Gratitude
16:06 – Community and Support Systems
18:16 – The importance of a holistic approach to treating depression

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:04] So. Take a break from some of the southern stuff. I’ve been talking to some people. We’ve been seeing lots more. I’ve been seeing more depression questions and see more people who are having struggles with depression, stuff like that. And I think we’re going to see a lot. More of that as the year goes on. So. I want to kind of stop and talk about some of the things that we. Do. That I find important and very, very helpful for depression, anxiety and stuff like that. So. First of all, no matter what you’re going to do, no matter what you’re going to do, psychedelics, you’re going to do supplementation, you’re going to be doing exercise. And whenever you need to. Talk to somebody. All things in the head. That need to. Be worked through, they need to be talked through with somebody else to mentor the coach for the therapist, somebody. Because if you sit and you dwell, you can only see one perspective of your problem. And so you need other people who are more experienced, like. Well, I’ve. Talked about 50 people. I’ve read of research. I understand this issue you’re going through. You need to look at it from multiple different angles, like I’ve seen it from this angle. And this is a solution to that. I’ve seen from this angle. This is the solution to that a senator from this angle, this is the solution to that.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:11] The problem, like I said, is you get very, very, very myopic. You can only see one off. One option, one. Path, one thing. And a lot of times with your issue. You’re. Overly clouded with the emotional function of it that you can’t see clearly no. Matter what. So you’ve got to talk to us. And that’s the primary function. Find a mentor. Find a coach. Find somebody to talk to, a therapist, whatever. You get it knocked out. So. So some of the stuff we do, that’s pretty easy that you can all do. I. Always will check your testosterone levels. It’s a very big player. That’s not hard. You know, bloodwork done, injections. You know, as long as you’re men. 800 to 1200. Women. 100 to 300. Somewhere in there you’re going to. Find where your spot is. Now, the next thing with the massive. Massive, tremendous research. In fact. There’s never been research that said. The opposite. That exercise is the. Number one way. To clear ourselves from anxiety, depression, things. Like that.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:08] Now, the. Reason this works, I’m gonna save you a. Lot of the neuro because I like it. I’m a nerd, but you probably don’t. What ends up happening when you move your body? All the joints, all the muscles, all the ligaments, all the tendons, all the organs, all the skin, all the tissue. Every single thing in your body since. Information up to the brain. And. It sends it to the nervous system, the spinal cord, spinal. Cord up to the. Brainstem. And. It goes to your cerebellum. And your cerebellum can make kind of like, oh, we’re moving. This is what we do. The cerebellum who charge your movement. Well, to make sense of that, it sends it to your frontal lobe. As it. Bounces around the brain. I’m going to skip all the PTO function gets the frontal lobe, fires up the frontal lobe to make sense of it, and make sure you’re coordinated, you’re functioning, that you’re you have executive control over this motion. It’s it’s. Good motion. When that happens. It suppresses temporal function. So the temporal piece is back here to more hind brain. Inside the temporal lobe is something called the amygdala. The amygdala houses. All the bad things about men and women. Men in general. Humans fear, hate, anger, terror, stress. All that stuff.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:14] So exercising. Moving your body. Is one of the primary key functions. For eliminating and reducing. Depression, anxiety, things like that. This is one of the reasons. Why. Covid was so. Unbelievably. Damaging. They’re going to shut down the gym like that was the big thing, right? So V5, if you’re in Frisco, I have a gym called five five. And the. Whole concept is, you know, feel better, like it’s not we’re not trying to lose 10 pounds. We’re not trying to get stronger. The goal is. Improve your quality of. Life. Do you feel better when you got done than when you started? And yeah, we’ve got. Special farm here where we. Get the whole day off. Specifically to do that. That’s the part of exercise that everybody needs. It’s focus on. Do you feel better when you got done. Than when you started? And the. Vaccine might be. Tired? That’s fine. But at the end of the day. Do you feel better? Emotional. And the vast majority of times, if you’re honest, you’re like. Yeah, that’s I do. This. The whole concept of walk it off. Why do you think. Walking it off, I go take a break and walk. Around. If you just sat there, you. Just do it and you just get more and more pissed. But if you go and you walk around and you breathe, you feel better.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:25] But that’s another thing. Breathing exercises into the nose. Out to the mouth. And when you do this, it’s not just breathing. I want you to inhale what you’re trying to pop your lungs as much air as you can get in. Full. Expansion. Like sit up, stand up straight. Big air in. Back out. In and out. Like massive. Breath. Do you know 10 or 15 of these? Give yourself a break. You know, 20 30s. Do another 10 or 15. The more air in, the more air out, the more. You’re going to feel better. This is, you know, just sit and take a breath. We tell people. Hey, spit. Take a breath, come back to this thing. That’s what we’re talking about. Breathing exercises. You have two sets of ten to the. To the. 25. You know, do 2 or 3 sets of those and the last one, hold it for a second or. Two and then blow it out real slow. But breathing exercises are a giant piece. They are very, very, very helpful. So, that’s a big one. So make sure you guys are doing those as well. The. You know, the methylated B vitamins that are giant one. You know, if your body’s not mentally properly, if you have or if you have CMT, if you haven’t, if you’ve got apathy issues, all the genetic tests, if you haven’t had your genetic test done,.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:39] I highly recommend you should genetic test somebody somewhere that only knows how to do the test, but then incorporate that into your plan. Those are gonna be a massive, massive, massive. Part of it. So that’s. A big piece. Now, when we. Talk about. Psychedelics. I’m a giant fan of psychedelics. What psychedelics do neurologically. Is they lift. They they make a massive flood of all. Your neurotransmitters open serotonin sort. Of things. And so as. They start. Flooding everything in, you kind of think. Of it like this way, it just kind of lifts this up the sheet, shakes it out, and it kind of comes back down. Now, here’s the. Thing about that. You’re working with your. Mind. Psychedelics. The psyche is, you know, that your soul or internal person galaxies is Delia’s is to add light to. So you’re shining light on your soul, right? That’s basically the. Idea. Now here’s the thing. You can look at it and go. Oh, that’s messed up. Because the easiest way to think about it is it breaks down the bridge between the wall, between your conscious and your subconscious.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:37] So now your. Conscious mind is going to work. And all. The crazy crap that your subconscious, your subconscious holds, all the stuff you. Haven’t dealt with yet. That, that that. Insult that you’ve been seeing, you’re. Letting gnaw. And turn into a bigger. Bigger problem. The thing your mom did. Your car wreck you were. In when your dad died, when your mom died, when you got your. Divorce, when you’re a kid, when you had your miscarriage, when you had your abortion, when you had something. Traumatic or. That you perceived as. Traumatic happened. To you. It’s still in there and it’s rattling around. And so psychedelics allow you to break. That wall to go in. And see that stuff. That’s all they do now. Sometimes you see it, you know, that’s messed up. And it pictures itself that that’s a thing. So sometimes they do kind of fix themselves. That’s all you need to do. However. The way that you make psychedelics really work and this is the ketamine suicide and ayahuasca, all. Of it.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:26] As you do, it’s called the set, the setting, the intention. The setting is where you are. Do you feel safe? Do you feel comfortable? Do you. Are you ready. To do this mental. Work? Right. So that’s the setting. And there’s specific things that. You know everybody. Can do. There’s things that are very specific to you. So if you. Work with somebody who understands this will help you. Super Sonic Your set is your mindset. Where are you? You know, are. You angry or you pass, are you this or you. That. We’ve got to go through and figure out, okay, here’s what’s going on. Here’s how you know, you need to approach this from a mindset issue. Here’s how I want you to kind of think about things as you’re going in. And then the. Most important is after you’ve seen. That, you. Go talk to your coach and. You’re like, or. Your therapist or whatever, calling this person. You’re like. This is. What happened. And then that person starts kind of. Unraveling it for you mean like, well, you know, could. It be this could mean that this is the path to take that how do you think about this? You know, move in this direction?

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:21] So that’s the mindset piece super duper important. And then the intention is. What is what are you. Wanting as you go into this. Right. So as you step into this, what’s the underlying subconscious thought? Do you want. Healing. Do you want forgiveness? Do you want to forgive someone? Do you want, you know. Just relaxations? Like what is it that you’re trying to achieve? What is your overall goal? And if you go into these things where. I’m. In, I’m in a comfortable, safe environment. I have the. Intention. Of relieving the pain that is dealt with from. Something I did, like an abortion or miscarriage. Or something. Car wreck. Whatever it is like. I have the. Intention of relieving this problem. And getting. Over these issues and allowing myself to move forward. Right? That’s a divorce, whatever. Like that’s. The intention that, you know, so you settle that set up and afterwards you go through it, you have. Unpack it as. You go through your series, it’s much more easier for your body to overcome that.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:16] So the. Reason if you. Do it like that. The analogy is it’s like ten years of therapy. In one hour. And so. That’s a. Really, really good way of doing it. Again, this isn’t just go take drugs, have fun. You’ll be fine. There’s a very specific when I talk about, you know, in a clinical setting, this is what I’m talking about, working with somebody to do these things. You can take the meds in your house. As long as. You’ve done the mind work. Ahead of. Time, you’re going to. Be much better off. Now. The other thing, which takes a lot longer but is extremely important, is. It got work. So the. Vast majority of serotonin. Is made in your gut. If you’re if you’ve got a parasitic infection, if you have a low probiotic, if you have a trashy diet, like there’s all sorts of things that are going to inhibit. Your body’s ability to make. The chemicals you need to function. So, for instance, like. A.D.D.. ADHD issues, there’s a Nora epinephrine issue, which is an. Adrenal problem.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:07] So if your gut screwed up, you’re not going to make the serotonin you need. You’re also not going to be able to feed. The to the body. Properly, so you’re not gonna be able to fill your adrenals. And so because you have stress, your body’s going to be using a lot to kick out cortisol, which is a fantastic hormone. Don’t let people. Lie to you about it. And it should. Be protecting you. But. It’s not going able to produce tons of cortisol and tons of epinephrine epinephrine the same time. And so you get lesser of those things. And then when. You’re in that stressed out state, a sympathetic state, it’s gonna shut down your digestive function. And so you’re gonna produce less serotonin and less fuel for your adrenals for this constantly stressed state. Keeps us in a sympathetic state, keeps her digestion shut off. We have heartburn. We have. Gerd. It decreases our body’s ability to produce serotonin. So we start getting depression. Anxiety, that type of stuff. Or, you know, not like. I hate myself. Just like. Quality of. Life just starts kind of doing. That. Then you start noticing that. You know. Your brain’s kind of foggy. You can’t like, can’t concentrate, can’t. Think you have more. Symptoms. And if it gets worse, you understand it of getting dizzy. You get pots. That’s an adrenal fatigue issue as well.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:09] So that’s kind of how that system works. So there’s a lot of work of getting all these things put back together. And getting them to work. Right. But they. Always start with talking to. Somebody. So if you’ve. Got depression, he’s got anxiety. If you’ve got these things you’re not talk to anybody. You haven’t. Found somebody who knows all these pieces, who knows all the pieces to to work. With. You haven’t found. A therapist or a coach or whatever. That’s how you like. You got to do some of the work, like. So here’s the thing I’ll tell you about the way at least this is speaking. For me when I’m in the gym and I see. You guys doing something that’s gonna hurt you, it just it bothers the. Piss out of me, because I won’t say anything. Because I don’t want to be that guy. In the gym who actually, like, oh, let me show you how to do. This. Like, you’ve got to have, like, when my friends. Like, people I. Hang out with, are. Having problems I can fix. I won’t say. Anything. Because it’s like. They know what you do. They want your opinion, they. Will ask for it. So that’s. The thing I tell a lot of us are, especially nowadays, especially guys. Like if you if women.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:12:10] If you’re having problems. You, you. 100% have to go talk to them. Like we’ve been. Told over and over and. Over again. Don’t look at me in the gym. Don’t talk. To me. Don’t like, like, no, I don’t need a man. So you guys are in that position now. Whether you did it or not. The cultures move that. That way, if you have a problem and you. Think one of the guys has a solution. You’re going to flat ask him. There is no this. Well, he’ll see I’m having a problem to help. No we won’t. We will see the problem. We will analyze the problem, know exactly how to fix it. We won’t say a damn thing. You guys need to come up, ask. That’s. That’s on you. That’s on guys and girls. If you. Guys have a. Problem and you don’t ask 100% on you. If you ask the wrong person. Fine, but. Keep asking people until you find somebody who can help. You. And not just. Throw it out like I am. I’m depressed. Life is terrible.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:13:00] On the internet. Like, if you’re if you’re in a specific group, like. A, like a. Like a business group or something where you like, you can trust the group, the family of choice in there. Yes. Throw it out there and be like, guys, I need some help. But like. Somebody come help it. But once you find somebody you got go in like that therapist and coach, whoever it is. And go. Get help because it’s not going to fix itself. These things don’t fix themselves. They can get suppressed and you can like. You know. Oh, this park’s really good for me to focus on this part, but. That’s, you know, not. Going to solve the problem is still there. But that brings up another piece. Your mindset. Wildly important. So if you start waking up. And doing things like gratitude, like. Legit gratitude. It’s not like, oh, I’m happy because the sun’s up legit. Like I’m happy because my kids are smart. Are happy because, you know, I’m breathing and my. Best friend.You know, and. One of my friends just had a heart. Attack. Happy for my health. Like legit. Go into it. Don’t just mention it. Mention it. Go into it and explain to yourself. Why you’re. Grateful for that thing. The more you. You can always pick 2 or 3 things, but actually talk to yourself. I was grateful for this and here’s why. The why part is usually mentioned.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:14:08] And that’s the most important part. So tell yourself why. You’re excited, why you’re grateful, why you’re. Happy for those things. And what. You’re going to. Do that morning and night. Spend five minutes. You said five minutes twice a day. So ten total. Minutes on your mental health. As important as we all say, it is as important as we all know it is. Ten, ten minutes. Five minutes, twice a day on your mental health and see what it does for you every day. Do it for 2 or 3 weeks and see what it does, because just focusing on those gratitude things will start to change your world. It changes your opinion. All of a sudden you’re content. All of a sudden you don’t need more things. You’re not as obsessed with materialism as, oh, I need this new thing that’ll. Make me happy. I think this thing that’ll make me happy. I need this much money that’ll. Make me happy. I need this person that’ll make me happy. Focus on the things you already got. Focus on the things that are already. Making you happy. Stop focusing on the things that you need to. Make you happy. And all of a. Sudden, you’re gonna start realizing. Oh, I’ve got a. Lot of stuff. And I am happy. Like, I. Can choose to be. Happy. That’s what the gratitude thing is.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:15:09] There’s a lot of little mental things you can do. And there’s a lot of great. Coaches and stuff out there that we can help you with. That. That’s the thing. But that’s the. Piece. So when we talk about depression, there’s so many things that we can do. And a lot of people aren’t doing any of them because they don’t know. And it’s not their. Fault, but it. Is their fault if they don’t start acting. So if you. Guys have people who are great coaches, mentors. Therapists, you know, clinical psychologists, whatever. Go talk to those guys and be. Like, hey, I need some help. The problem we get into with some of these people is that if you only. Have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. So if you can find guys who have your when I. When I say guys, I’m trying to be as multi-sector. As I can. So there’s a lot of phenomenal women who do this. There’s a lot of our guys who do this. You know. And sometimes you need one of each. You need a guy and a girl because you need both perspectives. But that’s kind of that’s kind of where that’s at. So if you guys haven’t found somebody to that, find somebody.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:16:06] Now, if you’re trying to figure out who to go with. You know, you’re just out of the blue. The guys who have specific training. Are going to be able to better the. You NLP guys are. Great. They will know what they they’re able to do lots. Of great. Stuff. Some. Of the nutrition people, the hormone people are going to be beneficial. But the. Guys who are really set in the mindset. That, like, I’m a big stock guy, I. Like stoicism. The, you know. Nietzsche, Frederick Nietzsche, some of that stuff. Marcus Aurelius. You know. That sort of philosophy function. Peterson young. But find those people. And kind of have. Them help you focus your life in that direction or just start reading it yourself. But. That’s that’s where we’re starting to see some of this is as the economy gets worse. As and. Politics get worse as we apparently are working in multiple different world wars. As things start to get crazy, you can enter yourself. Just make sure that you’ve got the right circle around. You get the right team around you. There’s lots and lots and lots of things that you can do. But it’s all work. You’ve got to do. That’s the downside.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:17:10] Having somebody to help walk. You down the road and be like, look, go from A to B to C, like, I know you want to get to D, but. D is multiple steps down the road. A-b-c then we’re at D, then we can. Take you the rest of the way. Just make sure that you’re working. People who understand. Who don’t. Themselves. And who have. The path that you want. So that’s going to be what the my kind of the thing that we do or I do. In my $0.02 on depression. It. Is definitely fixable. You don’t have to jump on a drug. And. Hope that the drugs can get you there. Community is a big, big piece. Evaluating and trimming out your circle. The people who are around you, people you let have influence on your. Mind and your body and your life are. Very important. So learning how to evaluate that and. Trim and prune back is. Important. But there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of stuff that you can. Do. To easily turn your profession around, easily turn your life around. It’s not just. You. Know, well, this pill didn’t work in. That pill didn’t work. So I guess you’re screwed. Or you need 17 different medications. Do all the other stuff first. Do all the other side. That has massive years and years of research on. That. Proves that it helps the.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:18:16] Body biochemically and biomechanically and then neurologically, and then work in your mind, but do more than. One set. And you’ve. Got to talk to somebody about it sooner or. Later. So that’s kind of. The work where we see, we have phenomenal success when people do those things. When they do all of them, they have even better success. But it just kind of depends on how much you’re willing to lean into it and what you’re willing to do. So if you guys have any questions. Please. Questions at Chalmers on the second drop in the comments. DM. If you guys. Need anything, we’ve. Got lots of guys I work with who do this. This is a big, big play, a part we. Do. Pillars of wellness. The. The they’re all. Working in this direction is a neuro. Guy. This has been my thing for a long time. Making sure that. The. Biochemical biomechanical support and set. Up the. The psychological and the spiritual. So the psychological is how you think, and the spiritual is more of the importance of what you think, how it applies to better. You and mankind. So that’s kind. Of how the was set. Up, but that’s. That’s how it all works together.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:19:18] And there’s a giant amount of stuff that works to your mind.Building your purpose. Building who. You are. There’s a. Giant on set in. That that really. Really helps. And I like there’s a lot of. Guys I work with who I talk. To, who have had a lot of success, and now they’re kind of feel lost is because they haven’t figured out how their how what they’re doing fits into purpose and how they’re better mankind within themselves. And once they figure that out, they’re like, oh, this whole lives in. This whole field. So that’s. That’s that last piece, that psychological. Spiritual piece. But. Those. Are some of the stuff if you. Guys, you know. Need help with that, ask questions. If. That’s something you. Guys like. I don’t know what you don’t know. I don’t know what you need help with. No one else does. So if you. Have somebody who can help you, go ask. Them because. It’s up to you to. Get. Find the person to ask for. The help before you can get it. So, wait. Long on this one. This one is important, so hopefully this is beneficial to you guys. If you. Have any questions. Asked. Thanks for your time. I’ll talk to you later.

As always if you have any questions, please send them to [email protected]

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