#209 Fixing Problems with Cortisol and Fatigue - Marek Doyle

Marek Doyle (0:00)

We suddenly start to get a better idea of what happens if the cortisol response is lacking in any way.

In that instance, we cannot switch off the stress response so effectively. And so just on a hormonal basis, we're often locked into this ongoing sympathetic activation.

Siim Land (0:23)

Welcome to the Siim Land Podcast. My name is Siim Land, and our guest today is Marek Doyle. Marek is a nutritional therapist from the UK. He has 13 years of experience with thousands of patients and uses personalized nutrition.

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Marek, welcome to the show.

Marek Doyle (1:05)

Thanks, Siim. Thanks for having me.

Siim Land (1:07)

Yeah, we've spoken together at many events and your information is really good.

So I feel like it definitely cuts through this dogmatic medical standard of care and like focuses on identifying like the individual's own needs. So it's very contradicting to the mainstream medicine.

Marek Doyle (1:30)

Don't I know it?

Siim Land (1:31)

Yeah. So how did you become a nutritional therapist?

Marek Doyle (1:36)

So back in 2005, that's when I, well, 2005 is when I began working as a nutritional therapist. And it simply came about mainly because I'd worked in the real world very briefly, hadn't necessarily enjoyed it that much. And so I decided I wanted to do something that I had some sort of passion in and the application of science that was actually useful, that was always what got me. And so, obviously, what could be more useful than tending to the metabolism?

What could be more useful than doing that in a way that changed people's day-to-day lives? So that's what brought me in. And then the problems that I came across sculpted everything that happened thereafter.

Siim Land (2:38)

Yeah, definitely.

So, I would imagine that it's like taking the high road because personal nutrition is definitely much more difficult and nuanced than mainstream medicine. You need more time, you need more resources, you have to actually develop a relationship with the person that you're working with and there is no cheap quick solution like take his pill and everything's going to be fixed.

Marek Doyle (3:06)

No, it's so true and there's huge rewards but as you say there are difficulties and part of that is the communicating of my message. It's not an easy message to sell when there are countless ideas which are generally good ideas, but they ultimately are sold in a way that says this particular pill will solve the following problems, fatigue, sleep issues, performance, brain function and you think hang on, that sounds amazing, oh those mechanisms make sense, oh those signs and symptoms tie in with me, cool, you sign up, you take the pill, I mean it doesn't work, but of course it will capture our imagination, meanwhile I'm well aware that from the get-go I'm saying well let's actually take a look under the hood, let's invest your emotional resources in finding out what the issue is. Investigations don't have the same payoff as the outcome, but unfortunately are a necessary component of getting that outcome reliably, rather than simply rolling the dice and hoping we're now undertaking a comprehensive, systematic, mathematically driven investigation into well what is stopping this individual from getting the results they need.

And so yeah, that is, it's been a challenge for me to actually engage with people because the human brain isn't designed to get excited about these slow drawn out processes. We get excited about the dessert, not eating our vegetables beforehand.

And then equally, on top of that, there is a cost in terms of testing. There's a cost in terms of time invested in gathering the data when they ask people for heart rate variability, blood pressure, resting heart rate, temperatures, all basic stuff. But yeah, it does require commitment in that sense for them to deliver what we need to make things clear. And so, yeah, as you said, it is, it requires a lot more investment into it, even though I think the concept is something that most people can get on board with very easily.

Siim Land (5:53)

Yeah, definitely. Like, I'm curious to know, like, over the course of your 13 years of experience, like, what are the biggest problems people deal with?