#211 Stronger by Stress - The Roger Snipes Show

Siim Land (0:00)

Welcome to the Siim Land Podcast. My name is Siim Land. Today, I'm playing you an episode of me on my friend Roger Snipes' podcast, The Roger Snipes Show. Roger is a bodybuild and fitness coach from the UK.

We talk about my book, Stronger by Stress, that you can get on Amazon.

Roger Snipes (0:16)

So Siim, my good friend, how are you doing?

Siim Land (0:20)

I'm doing pretty good, and enjoying the autumn as it is. How about you?

Roger Snipes (0:25)

Yeah, good, very well. In fact, I'm really embracing the autumn, you know. As the weather starts to dip in temperature, I feel as though that is when my most vibrance comes out. I actually enjoy when the weather is cold. I don't know if it's something to do with me being born during a cold time, but yeah. I'm waking up at like four o'clock every day now, quite easily.

Whereas in the summer, when you'd expect people, you know, no winter blues and all that sort of thing, just waking up super early.

Now I find it more natural. How do you find it waking up during the darker months?

Siim Land (1:08)

Yeah, I think it's pretty interesting. I usually would sleep slightly longer during the winters because there's not that much sunlight.

And during the summer, just the sun itself is going to wake me up sooner. But yeah, I usually still get up slightly early. But yeah, like the timing may be slightly different. Yeah, yeah.

Roger Snipes (1:31)

Why do you think I'm weird that way?

Siim Land (1:34)

Well, it might have to do with some other factors. Like maybe you have just more energy during this time for some reason. Or maybe you have, let's say, less stress or less physical exertion. Something like I also find that if I'm like super physically active, then I'll just need more sleep and if I'm like less active, then I'll, if I'm like more indoors, then I'll just have less demand for sleep as well.

Roger Snipes (2:02)

Yeah, yeah.

That's really interesting. But cold itself gives a kind of, there is some kind of energy from it. I remember when I was doing cryotherapy for a while, when I'd leave the chamber, I'd have this massive surge of energy.

And it's pretty similar. As the cold arrives and I go out, I don't put on a hat, I wear minimal clothes. And then when I'm done for that jog or cycle in the cold and I go back home, I feel incredible. Whereas I don't feel that in the summer. If I go on a jog in the summer, I'll sweat like much sooner and I'll feel more tired afterwards. And I don't feel as good afterwards. I mean, you know, I enjoy the fact of being out, but it doesn't feel as great. So that's quite interesting.

Siim Land (3:02)

Yeah, it is like the cold does increase your alertness and focus. So kind of the heat itself can make you like slightly drowsy.

And it is true that, you know, like, I also find, you know, easier to kind of work out in a slightly cooler environment rather if it's like too hot. And recovery is also slightly better if you're like cool down. That's like the cryotherapy and cold showers also help with that, like reducing the inflammation and soreness. So that can also be like a factor.

Roger Snipes (3:33)

Interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the topic of today I'd like to cover is based on your new amazing book, I know you've actually you're actually working on another one as well. But before we get to that, let's talk about your book, which is called Stronger by Stress.

Now, a lot of people are doing their very best to try and avoid any kind of stress whatsoever, you know.

But you're saying that it's actually good to have a bit of stress in your life. Could you give us a general synopsis of what your book is about? And then we'll start to dissect and go into little parts of the book.

Siim Land (4:18)

Yeah, absolutely. So it is true, like no stress can be harm if it's a chronic and if it's in excess. But like moderate amounts of stress is actually very beneficial. And like you wouldn't really want to live like a completely stress free life either. And because like, for example, like people who are sedentary, they don't experience any like physical stress from exercise, then they are like more more likely to get like some disease or they just have a poor metabolic health as a result of that. So like, you know, exercise is a good example of this positive beneficial stress that is good for you in the right amounts. And likewise, like stress, like mental stress, work stress, those things, they can also be beneficial because they kind of stretch our boundaries. They force us to get out of our comfort zone and kind of force us to do things that we normally wouldn't do. And there the kind of principle of the moderation is also applicable. So of course, chronic stress can be leading to you into some diseases. But if you're like if you're like never exposed to deadlines or you're never exposed to some outside stress, like you're you're living in a, let's say in a forest in a cave and you don't experience like screaming other people or traffic jams or something, then you're very vulnerable to those things as well. Like if you're kind of used to those things on a regular basis, then you can adapt to them to a certain extent and they have less of an effect on you. So that's why we shouldn't want to avoid stress all the time. We should want to know how to deal with it better.