logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2022
49m 43s

How to Treat Body-Based Anxiety – Dr. El...

Dave Asprey
About this episode

WE APPRECIATE OUR PARTNERS. CHECK THEM OUT!

Business Growth With SEO: https://www.stephanspencer.com, get a FREE consultation

Probiotic Eases Stress: https://www.omnibioticlife.com/DAVE/, use code DAVE20 to get 20% off

Control Blood Glucose: https://pendulumlife.com, sign up for membership to get monthly supply delivery, use code DAVE20 to save $20 on your first shipment

IN THIS EPISODE OF THE HUMAN UPGRADE...

 … Ellen Vora, M.D., takes a functional medicine approach to mental health that considers the whole person and addresses imbalance at the root. 

She’s a Yale and Columbia University educated holistic psychiatrist board-certified in psychiatry and integrative holistic medicine. She’s also an acupuncturist and yoga teacher.

In her new book, “The Anatomy of Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming the Body's Fear Response,” she takes on anxiety, which hits more than 40 million people in any given year. The pandemic drove that number up even more. Even if math isn’t your strong suit, you can understand these numbers:

  • An estimated one out of every nine people, or 800 million people, suffer from a mental health disorder, the most common of which is anxiety. 
  • Up to 33.7 percent of Americans are affected by an anxiety disorder in their lifetime. 


Conventional medicine tends to view anxiety as a “neck up” problem of brain chemistry and psychology. Dr. Vora disagrees. She suggests that various physiologic inputs influence anxiety symptoms. 

“What we've been indoctrinated with is this idea that our mental health is genetically determined chemical imbalance,” Dr. Vora says. “There's some validity to that, although I think, for the most part, any chemical imbalance is often a downstream effect of a state of imbalance happening elsewhere in the physical body.”

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • the difference between avoidable, purposeful, false and true anxiety;
  • simple strategies for tuning into “true” anxiety and using its benefits;
  • how your body may be physiologically out of balance (immunity, gut health, inflammation);
  • how “hanxiety” means that blood sugar is affecting your anxiety; 
  • actionable lifestyle factors to bring yourself back into balance; 
  • how to manage medication withdrawl; and 
  • how to reframe your understanding of, and relationship with, anxiety.


Dr. Vora also confronts what she calls techxiety. This can include a boundaryless workplace, how the posture of screen use signals your body for anxiety, and, of course, social media. Research shows social media is associated with higher rates of anxiety and depression. Just 20 minutes of Facebook can impact mood.

So much of how you live your life as an adult profoundly impacts how your mental health manifests, and that's the part you can control.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Up next
May 22
Ayurveda Meets Biohacking: 5000-Year-Old Medicine Secrets for Modern Stress | Mona Sharma : 1284
This episode reveals the ancient health protocols Western medicine forgot, and how they are now being used to heal stress, rewire the nervous system, and radically improve human performance. Watch this episode on YouTube for the full video experience: https://www.youtube.com/@Dav ... Show More
59m 11s
May 20
The Biohacker’s Guide to CIA Mind Control & Brainwashing : 1283
You’re being programmed, and it’s more subtle and pervasive than you think. From invisible influence to psychological manipulation, this episode shows you how to recognize when your thoughts aren’t really yours. Host Dave Asprey uncovers the hidden science of mind control with Ha ... Show More
1h 3m
May 16
Military Tech Goes Public: Think 30% Faster with This Brain Hack | Geoffrey Woo : 1282
Your brain runs slow when it’s running on the wrong fuel. In this episode of The Human Upgrade, Dave Asprey sits down with Geoffrey Woo, Stanford-trained computer scientist and founder of Ketone-IQ, to reveal the high-performance brain fuel once reserved for Special Forces and el ... Show More
1h 26m
Recommended Episodes
Mar 2022
How To Turn Your Anxiety Into Your Superpower w/Ellen Vora EP 1240
Dr. Ellen Vora is a holistic psychiatrist, acupuncturist, and yoga teacher. She takes a functional medicine approach to mental health—considering the whole person and addressing imbalance at the root. Dr. Vora received her B.A. from Yale University and her M.D. from Columbia Univ ... Show More
1h 28m
Jun 2022
3 Things You Can Do Right Now to Beat Anxiety with Dr. Ellen Vora
This episode is brought to you by Thrive Market and InsideTracker. Blood sugar is starting to get more of the attention it deserves in terms of optimizing metabolic health, but there’s one issue that often gets left out of the equation—anxiety. The way our blood sugar, insulin, a ... Show More
1h 37m
Sep 2023
Harnessing the Power of Stress & Anxiety | Dr. Wendy Suzuki
Do you recall the feeling of fear, dread, or uneasiness, often accompanied by sweating, restlessness, and a rapid heartbeat? If your brain said, “yes” to that, then you, my friend, have been a victim of anxiety.Dr. Wendy Suzuki is an award-winning professor of neuroscience and ps ... Show More
1h 41m
Mar 2022
Calm Your ANXIETY, Stop Feeling Triggered & Let Go of STRESS | Ellen Vora on Women of Impact
With anxiety affecting more than 40 million Americans and 264 million people worldwide, chances are anxiety and stress have been affecting you too. Anxiety is more common in women, as we are twice as likely to be diagnosed than men. What’s the best solution for anxiety and is it ... Show More
1h 6m
Jan 2022
Dr. Judson Brewer | Unwinding Anxiety
In today’s episode, we cover anxiety with Dr. Judson Brewer. Jud is the Director of Research and Innovation at the Mindfulness Center and associate professor in Behavioral and Social Sciences at the School of Public Health and Psychiatry at the School of Medicine at Brown Univers ... Show More
1h 7m
Oct 2021
Dr. Wendy Suzuki | Take Charge of Your Anxiety Today Using These 5 Time-tested Tactics
In today’s episode, we cover anxiety with Dr Wendy Suzuki. Dr Suzuki is a professor of neural science and psychology at the New York University’s Center for Neural Science, and the author of “Healthy Brain, Happy Life: A Personal Program to to Activate Your Brain and Do Everythin ... Show More
54m 10s
Mar 2024
What to do with Anxiety in Your Body - Day 24 Break the Anxiety Cycle
Break the Anxiety Cycle in 30 Days: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/anxietyskills It’s common that when you feel anxiety, you have uncomfortable sensations in your body. An upset stomach, tight muscles, cold or sweaty palms, a headache, or fast breathing or heart rate. Our ... Show More
8m 25s
Jul 2023
Teach Me How To Manage Anxiety, Challenge My Fears, And Heal The Gut-Brain Connection, with Dr. Lauren Cook
If you experience feelings of overwhelming anxiety, existential dread, panic sweats and heart palpitations… welcome to the anxious girlies club. But seriously, we’re finally learning that while occasional stress and worry is normal, if those feelings start to impact our day-to-da ... Show More
53m 57s
Jan 2024
Understanding Anxiety in the Nervous System: Day 20 Break the Anxiety Cycle
Break the Anxiety Cycle in 30 Days- Online Course- https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/anxietyskills Anxiety is essentially a state of your nervous system. In this video we’ll explore anxiety, trauma and burnout in your nervous system. There’s two ways that your nervous system ... Show More
16m 13s
Oct 2023
10 Medical Conditions that Mimic Anxiety: Anxiety Course Day 10
Break the Anxiety Cycle in 30 Days- Online Course- https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/anxietyskills In this video we’re going to talk about 10 physical conditions that mimic Anxiety. Sometimes anxiety is not “All in your head” there’s a dramatic interplay between your body an ... Show More
15m 8s