Optimised, still depleted with Camilla Thompson

Layne Beachley AO (0:02)

You're tuning in to A Wake Up Call, which is your weekly dose of purpose packed with science-backed tools to beat burnout and boost happiness.

Tess Brouwer (0:09)

Hosted by us, Tess Brouwer and seven-time world champion Layne Beachley, we're the founders of Awake Academy.

Layne Beachley AO (0:16)

This podcast mixes raw life lessons, expert wisdom and practical tips to help you stop sleepwalking through life and start living it on your terms. You ready to wake up and thrive? Let's go.

Season 3 is proudly brought to you by AIA, a leading life, health and well-being insurer, supporting healthier, longer, better lives. Protect what matters most and AIA will help you to do it for life.

Tess Brouwer (0:42)

Welcome back, Dream Team, to another episode of A Wake Up Call. Today, we are stripping back one of the most over-complicated words in health, biohacking.

Layne Beachley AO (0:54)

It's so complicated, we can't even say it.

Tess Brouwer (0:57)

When you hear biohacking, you probably think of cold plungers, expensive wearables, red lights, supplements and people with very elaborate morning routines. Cue Layne Beachley. Oh, come on.

Layne Beachley AO (1:07)

My morning routine is not that elaborate. It doesn't need a spreadsheet.

Tess Brouwer (1:10)

No, it doesn't. But what if the most powerful biohacks are actually the boring things you can do for free?

Layne Beachley AO (1:16)

They're not boring.

Tess Brouwer (1:17)

Yeah, they're beautiful. Camilla Thompson is a nationally recognized nutritionist, executive ICF coach, founder of Biohack Me, and author of Biohack Me. Her interest in this field became deeply personal after burnout, sepsis, and years of chronic illness that she has connected to living in a mold-affected home.

Layne Beachley AO (1:35)

Is that where the sepsis came from?

Camilla Thompson (1:37)

No.

Tess Brouwer (1:37)

We will dig into that.

Camilla Thompson (1:38)

That was after.

Layne Beachley AO (1:39)

Okay.

Tess Brouwer (1:40)

God, you had the full remit, didn't you? Today, her work is about making biohacking accessible, affordable, and achievable. Three A's. We love it at Awake Academy. So we are asking what works, what is hype, what is worth your money, and what can you do to start doing today for free? Camilla, welcome to A Wake Up Call.

Camilla Thompson (1:59)

Thank you.

Tess Brouwer (2:00)

So good to be here. Okay. So we are going to start with a rapid fire of a different sort today.

It's called Keep, Skip, or Depends.

Camilla Thompson (2:08)

Okay.

Layne Beachley AO (2:09)

We're not even going into a wake up call. No, we're skipping that too.

Tess Brouwer (2:14)

Skip, Depends.

Okay. Morning sunlight soon after waking.

Camilla Thompson (2:20)

Yes.

Tess Brouwer (2:21)

Keep. Coffee straight after waking.

Camilla Thompson (2:25)

Skip. Oh, mouth tape.

Depends.

Tess Brouwer (2:29)

Electrolytes.

Camilla Thompson (2:31)

Keep.

Tess Brouwer (2:32)

Cold shower or cold plunge?

Camilla Thompson (2:34)

Cold shower.

Tess Brouwer (2:36)

Sauna.

Camilla Thompson (2:37)

Sauna. Yes.

Layne Beachley AO (2:38)

Keep. Keep.

Tess Brouwer (2:39)

Traditional or infrared?

Camilla Thompson (2:40)

Either.

Layne Beachley AO (2:41)

Keep. Okay.

Tess Brouwer (2:42)

Red light therapy.

Camilla Thompson (2:44)

Keep.

Tess Brouwer (2:45)

Intermittent fasting or long fasts?

Camilla Thompson (2:48)

I think intermittent fasting.

Layne Beachley AO (2:50)

Keep.

Tess Brouwer (2:51)

Yeah. Creatine.

Camilla Thompson (2:52)

Keep. Keep.

Layne Beachley AO (2:53)

Keep.

Tess Brouwer (2:53)

10,000 steps a day.

Camilla Thompson (2:55)

Keep.

Layne Beachley AO (2:56)

These are easy.

Tess Brouwer (2:58)

Wearables.

Camilla Thompson (3:00)

Look, I think we'll talk about this a bit more detail later on, but kind of depends. Depends. Okay. Yeah.

Tess Brouwer (3:06)

We've got to come back to that. Biological age testing. Keep.

Alcohol.

Camilla Thompson (3:12)

Skip.

Tess Brouwer (3:14)

Oh, all right.

Camilla Thompson (3:16)

Party, please.

Tess Brouwer (3:19)

Camilla, we love to start every episode with A Wake Up Call. What was the moment that changed your life?

Camilla Thompson (3:27)

Well, yeah, I think we just sort of mentioned it, but sepsis was the moment that changed my life. I woke up in hospital at St. Vinny's here in Sydney, and the doctor told me that if I had gone to bed the night before, I would have slipped into a coma and possibly not woken up, and my organs would have slowly started shutting down. I had sepsis, and I had no idea how serious sepsis was.

Layne Beachley AO (3:50)

No symptoms, no signs?

Camilla Thompson (3:52)

Well, I did, but I ignored them.

The feather. I blamed it on the full moon and mercury bring in retrograde. I was like, I feel really weird. I feel heavy.

I had an infection, so I had a kidney infection. And I just kept pushing on through. I was still working. I'd been at work two days prior to ending up in hospital. And I was just pushing. I was in survival mode. I was a mom of two young kids, perfectionist, was working in a media job and was just pushing myself way too hard, disconnected with my body, thought I was doing all the right things because I was eating healthy and going to the gym, but I was working out like a maniac as well. And that was my wake up call. And I just went, what the hell have I done to myself? Like, what have I been doing? And it was like this bubble burst. And I read a book in hospital called The Rushing Woman by Dr. Luby Weaver, which changed my life. And I read the book and I was like, oh my God, what have I been doing to myself? I thought she'd written it for me. I was like, this is me, this is me. And I had no understanding of what I was doing to my nervous system, my immune system, and how I was operating. And yeah, and it was a real moment of like, why am I doing this? You know, and it was, it was self-worth issues. It was trying to prove something. It was survival, you know. Yeah.