878 Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Melinda Wittstock:

Coming up on Wings of Inspired Business:

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Busy brain means we’ve been under chronic stress, and that there’s a specific pattern of neuroinflammation going on the brain. That’s now causing these three symptoms that are preventing us from doing the self-care and the time management technique, or we’re trying to meditate, and something still feels off. Those three symptoms are adult-onset ADHD. Difficulty focusing, lowered attention span, ruminating, anxiety, and insomnia. Either difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep at night, waking up in the middle of the night and your thoughts turning. The Shift Protocol stands for resetting, S, your sleep or circadian rhythm. H. Looking at a woman’s hormone, specifically thyroid, I, other markers of inflammation, like vitamin D. Three, F is how we use food to fuel ourselves without going on another diet or cleanse. And T is the role of technology, we can get your focus back and get you to that place of peak performance so women can continue to break barriers.

Melinda Wittstock:

Entrepreneurship is stressful. It challenges us with things we can’t control, demands constant learning, and can take a toll on our health and wellbeing if we don’t find ways to get out of what neurologist Dr. Romie Mushtaq calls “busy brain”.  Today we dig into the pernicious effects of chronic stress on female founders and C-suite leaders, how to think differently about your health, avoid burnout and grow your capacity to innovate and lead.

Melinda Wittstock:

Hi, I’m Melinda Wittstock and welcome to Wings of Inspired Business, where we share the inspiring entrepreneurial journeys, epiphanies, and practical advice from successful female founders … so you have everything you need at your fingertips to build the business and life of your dreams. I’m all about paying it forward as a five-time serial entrepreneur, so this podcast is all about catalyzing an ecosystem where women entrepreneurs mentor, promote, buy from, and invest in each other …Because together we’re stronger, and we all soar higher when we fly together.

Melinda Wittstock:

The trials and tribulations that challenge us in life often provide the entrepreneurial impetus to solve those same challenges for others. Today we meet an inspiring entrepreneur, neurologist, and board-certified physician whose near-death experience led her on a mission to combat stress and burnout. Awakening in a Seattle hospital after life-saving surgery, Dr. Romie Mushtaq realized traditional medicine was not the answer.

Melinda Wittstock:

Creator of the BrainSHIFT Protocol, Dr. Romie blends her expertise as a neurologist with holistic, integrative, and mindful approaches to combat the debilitating impact of stress and what she calls “busy brain” in the workplace, particularly for entrepreneurs and C-suite executives navigating the complexities of balancing health with demanding work environments. Dr. Romie is the Chief Wellness Officer for Evolution Hospitality and Great Wolf Resorts, and today she shares why every company needs a wellness strategy with personalized medical assessments. Today she unveils her eight-week program that addresses everything from sleep and diet to hormones, inflammation, and the impact of technology on our brain health. We also dive deep into why integrating AI into health monitoring can enhance workplace wellness.

Dr. Romie will be here in a moment, and first:

[PROMO CREDIT]

What if you had an app that magically surfaced your ideal podcast listens around what interests and inspires you – without having to lift a finger?  Podopolo is your perfect podcast matchmaker – AI powered recommendations and clip sharing make Podopolo different from all the other podcast apps out there. Podopolo is free in both app stores – and if you have a podcast, take advantage of time-saving ways to easily find new listeners and grow revenue. That’s Podopolo.

Melinda Wittstock:

It’s easy to confuse having a busy brain with productivity. Usually, the opposite is true. We’re all suffering from what I like to call “infobesity”, stressed out by too much information, too many competing tasks, and the pressure to “do it all”. It’s easy to get tricked into thinking we can achieve more by grinding through the day, an illusion of productivity that often leads to chronic burnout, health problems, and sub optimal performance.

Melinda Wittstock:

Today we talk about why it’s vital, especially for women entrepreneurs, to prioritize health and wellness, and why finding the right balance is your secret to your ability to innovate and lead. Dr. Romie Mushtaq, neurologist and author of “The Busy Brain Cure”, takes us through her BrainSHIFT Protocol with a lot of game-changing practical advice.

Let’s put on our wings with the inspiring Dr. Romie Mushtaq and be sure to download the podcast app Podopolo so we can keep the conversation going after the episode.

[INTERVIEW]

Melinda Wittstock:

Doctor Romie. Welcome to Wings.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Melinda. Thank you. I’ve been looking forward to chatting with you for quite some time. I only wish we were together with a cup of chai or whatever you prefer, drinking in between us.

Melinda Wittstock:

Oh, well, that’s nice. Yeah. A little bit less stressful being in person than being in zoom. And speaking about stress, I mean, this is your whole area of combating stress. So, tell me about BrainSHIFT and what was its inspiration?

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Thank you. You know, stress is a toss away word these days, or one that can make someone’s shoulders cringe, and they’re going to turn away from that podcast. So, I really want to redirect this conversation to say, I’m here with a discovery that I call busy brain in Layperson’s terms. And it started when I had just finished all my training after medical school and joined academic medicine as a neurologist at a time where less than 5% of women in this country were brain doctors. Not only was I seeing patients; I was doing cutting edge research in the fields of epilepsy and migraine and teaching medical students. And there were just days that I felt like somebody had an on off switch to my brain or my brain cells were on fire. I would lose the ability to focus. Just chronically sleep deprived.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

I wouldn’t even dare say the words. I was feeling anxious because, you know, we’re in a society there at when you’re any high achieving professional, not just in medicine, where you’re kind of not allowed to fall apart, and especially for a woman, right? Especially for a woman leader. And I’m the only one in the department and suffering. And I learned the hard way that when you’re under chronic stress, it can cause physical disease, and that chronic stress can kill you. And it nearly killed me, and I should have known better. I’m a brain doctor. 2010, I ended up in life saving surgery, and I woke up in Seattle in the hospital, knowing that nothing I had learned in medical school thus far was going to help me. And where was I going to turn next? And you fast forward to today, early 2024, you and I doing this interview. I’m here on a mission to transform the way we take care of brain and mental health and the workplace.

Melinda Wittstock:

It’s so important, especially now. There are so many facets to this. I want to focus it on the female founder entrepreneur, who, by definition, is setting herself up, whether she knows it or not, for stress because of the inherent uncertainty of what it takes to build something from whole cloth or disrupt an industry or whatever, raise money, do all the things with all the sort of. Some of them are self-imposed, I guess, pressures that we think we have to be everything to everyone. So, when you add that kind of entrepreneurial uncertainty, all the things we have to be, all the rules we have to play, not only in the business, but also in our lives, it’s a lot.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Yeah. Thank you for laying it out there. I think, thank goodness that we live in a world today that you and I are able to say that. It’s a lot. I’m just laughing. I call it Tequila Tom. And no offense to anyone in anyone’s life that’s named Tom, but Tequila Tom is the straight cisgender white male that walks into a corporate setting or VC fund meeting and throws back a tequila and on a napkin has a half-baked, slurred idea and is thrown that funding or the promotion into the C suite. Right.

Melinda Wittstock:

No, I mean, that is. You just basically describe Silicon Valley and as a woman in tech…

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

Serial entrepreneur with…

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Well, this is for women in STEM. I now serve at a C Suite level as a chief wellness officer for a large company. I watch this, that you, whether you’re a female founder or a female in corporate America in the C Suite, it’s the same story. So, the one thing I want to say is there are real external pressures that we don’t need another confidence class or healing imposter syndrome or mindset. Those things are critical. But, you know, your listeners and my listeners didn’t get here by not mastering those things. They’re inherent issues with the ability as female founders to get funded, a seat at the table, all of that. But I’m here to say you don’t need those time management techniques or productivity tool or confidence class. I want you to take care of the state of your brain. And that’s why I wanted to talk to you today, Melinda.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right. So, tell me about the state of our brain. Say we’ve mastered mindset. We do meditation, all these things. We’re positive thinkers. You know that whole paradigm of personal growth? Maybe we set intentions. Maybe we try to be grateful and in abundance, mindset. We do all these things, and then there’s our brain.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

There’s our brain. Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

Active brains. They’re always on.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Absolutely. And multitasking with multiple screens in front of us right now, with multiple messenger channels going off on multiple digital devices. A task that needs to take you three minutes to do. Like me sending you a thank you email for this interview. 37 minutes later, I still can’t focus. To compose the email, let me get more caffeine. And if it’s not caffeine, a doctor gave you, maybe one of the listeners, a stimulant medication like Vyvanse or Adderall to get through the day. And then you’re anxious and you don’t know what’s going on.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

You want to go home and focus on your life and stand on the self-care and all the rituals that you’ve been taught to do. And you need a glass of wine or four to take the edge off. Or if not that, the doctor gave you a sedative like a benzodiazepine and Xanax to relax you. Put your head down on the pillow because, you know, sleep is essential. There are 72 boring conversations going on in your brain, and the loudest one is the one saying, oh, thank God Melinda didn’t have the camera on today because I’m in Florida, and despite using every serum, my hair is frizzy. Sound familiar? That’s a busy brain, right?

Melinda Wittstock:

That’s a very, very busy brain.

Melinda Wittstock:

We have to really focus on our own self-care and put ourselves first, because I’ve learned in my entrepreneurial career, if I’m not in a good place, it takes just like you said, it takes longer to get things done. And those days when I’m fortunately a lot more consistent in this, where I really focus on the one thing that needs to be done and, like, quiet all the devices and just focus and just get it done. And then take breaks.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

Often things happen when I’m not working.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Yes. Yes. You’re in that state of flow. You take the breaks. And we know from the Microsoft Human Lab that for every hour you’re on a computer, you need a five to ten minutes away and a break. So, you just eloquently describe productivity and time management. But what if. If I said, someone’s really trying this method, Melinda, and they’re still feeling anxious, and they can’t focus.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Busy brain means we’ve been under chronic stress, which is really the state of men and women’s brains in a post pandemic world, and that there’s a specific pattern of neuroinflammation going on in the brain. You and I will break this down in a second. That’s now causing these three symptoms that are preventing us from doing the self-care and the time management technique, or we’re trying to meditate, and something still feels off. Those three symptoms are adult-onset ADHD. Difficulty focusing, lowered attention span, ruminating, anxiety, and insomnia. Either difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep at night, waking up in the middle of the night and your thoughts turning. That’s actually a clinical problem in the brain. And the best part is the brain shift you were asking me about is the solution to heal it.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

And we’re living in this chronic stress place, and we go into burnout. So many female founders and female C Suite leaders. I meet Melinda, I don’t know about. You are living on the edge of burnout, saying, I’m just going to push myself before I burn out. Like that place. No, no, because then physical structural changes start happening in your brain and your body, and we need to fix that. That’s why I’m here today, and that’s why I felt so strongly about reaching out to you and, and the women you serve in your audience.

Melinda Wittstock:

Well, this is such an important conversation. I don’t know a female entrepreneur or executive that doesn’t hasn’t experienced this, at least in their life or currently experiencing it. And so, you know because we’re ambitious, we want our companies to succeed. There are so many things to do. We have this perfectionism thing that we have to. Well, and so tell me about the brain shift protocol and what it is and what sets it apart.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

What sets brain shift apart was we know from decades of research in psychology and a few best-selling books like tiny habits and atomic habits that micro habits work. But what if I picked the micro habits for you based on research? Put them in a sequential eight-week order that would actually help you heal the brain and the body from burnout and busy brain. So that’s the crux of it. 17,000 people took the busy brain test. We’ll give your listeners a link to do it. It’s for free on my website, on social media. We’re no longer in the research phase. It’s a neuropsychology battery that actually gives your brain a score.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Melinda, so this isn’t just theory you and I are talking about. This is being pragmatic. You have a brain doctor on what’s your brain score? Let’s work on it. So that’s step one. The other eight weeks, and you and I will break it down in the podcast, really cover the five key areas in the brain shift. And the Shift Protocol stands for resetting S, your sleep or circadian rhythm. H. Looking at a woman’s hormone, specifically thyroid, I, other markers of inflammation, like vitamin D.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Three, F is how we use food to fuel ourselves without going on another diet or cleanse. And T is the role of technology, which you already started to allude to some of your techniques. So, there’s five key areas that if we heal that and get to the root cause, which, by the way, includes getting some laboratory evaluation, I know in testing this protocol and over a thousand executives, we can get your focus back and get you to that place of peak performance so women can continue to break barriers.

Melinda Wittstock:

Well, let’s talk about the thyroid and the deficiency and such. I remember at a certain point, I was turning 50, and I found this great integrative, um, medicine specialist, who is also a gynecologist, who did really deep, precise blood work on me. And my thyroid was normal, you know, if you went to a normal doctor. But with her, no, it was off.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

And there were certain hormones, like, I’d run out of testosterone.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Yes. You get it. You’ve lived it.

Melinda Wittstock:

And so, you know, we worked on that, and the difference was just phenomenal.  Not having any menopause symptoms at all as I. As I went through that, but just feeling, like, years younger and more focused and such just from that tweak alone. And so, they’re not necessarily a lot of specialists out there, and they’re expensive, and they’re not necessarily covered by insurance.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Right, right.

Melinda Wittstock:

But I just chose to invest in that.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Yes. Well, thank you for your honesty, for everyone to hear your story. And in chapter four of my book, busy brain cure, you start to read my journey in chapter four, five, six. The same thing, Melinda. I literally am a high-level faculty, and a male colleague stops me and says, thank God you work like a man. You’re not thinking of getting pregnant, are you, Doctor Romie? Because the last time we had a female faculty member and she got pregnant, she was out for six months, and the department lost over a million dollars in revenue.

Melinda Wittstock:

Oh, gosh.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

And the worst part there, Melinda, was I was struggling with infertility. I had never had a regular menstrual cycle in my life. My hair was falling out in chunks. I’m literally studying the thyroid as a part of my, like, research. And I, like you went to the doctors and said, really, something’s wrong. And the labs you’re alluding to that primary care doctors or even traditional endocrinologists do is tsh, t three and t four. And they showed up abnormal. And I knew, and it wasn’t until I got sick and, like you, paid a lot of money to see integrative medicine doctors and then did the board certification myself that I realized at 39 that I had autoimmune thyroid disease.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

And we healed it with medications, with the supplements, with lifestyle nutrition changes, and it was at age 39, I had my first regular menstrual cycle. And I can’t tell you how many women go through our protocol. The research shows. Melinda, just please, everyone, listen to this. One in eight of you listening right now has subclinical thyroid disease. If you’re like your sister Romie here, and we’re blessed with melanin in our skin, we’re one to four. One in four of us has a thyroid problem that is being missed. But, Melinda, I wanted to hack the system.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Not everybody has the ability to pay thousands of dollars to go to these concierge medicine doctors. In chapter 16 of the book and in the appendix, we have the lab slip to take to your primary care doctor. I figured out what labs are covered by traditional insurance in the United States, and it’s all laid out for you there in the book.

Melinda Wittstock:

Amazing. Oh, my goodness. Oh, wow.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

It’s all there. Yeah, absolutely. Because I knew, and as a female founder, you’ll appreciate this was what are the impediments to scale this system of healing? That we can no longer keep it with the top 1% of the top 1%. And that because most of my clients are in corporate America. And as you said, insurance isn’t going to cover a doctor like me. And even if you could afford to pay the doctor’s fees, it’s another thousands of dollars for those labs. And so, I figured out 90% of the labs like, you know, my integrated functional medicine colleagues will look at it going, you’re missing this and that. But I still figured out what will help 90% of the population, and these are all covered by traditional insurance.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

And so that was one of the things I’m most joyful about, that we figured out in this book that has helped the most people, like you said, and its men and women, but women especially every single person, the vitamin d three, the thyroid is off, and then they’re being mislabeled as polycystic ovarian disease, adrenal fatigue, or perimenopause. But the thyroid also needs to be corrected just like you said. And you correct the thyroid, and the downstream hormones are all doing fine.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right. Do you think it’s because if we look back at kind of women’s entry kind of into the workforce where we had to fit ourselves into male systems that weren’t necessarily designed for us, I think even from just the symbolism of the power suits and the shoulder pads of the eighties…

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Lord, no. No. Melinda, can I tell you what was the worst one of it that I think was the patriarchy? The pantyhose. I had to wear pantyhose all through residency and like 16 hours days as an attending physician. Pantyhose. We tortured ourselves.

Melinda Wittstock:

When we fit ourselves into a system that wasn’t designed for us, it doesn’t work. I think for a lot of women, there’s a powerlessness there because how can we remake systems? And this is where entrepreneurship is so great, because as an entrepreneur, you have the power to create your own structure. So, there’s an area of innovation of, you know, women. We can create businesses that run on the same kind of paradigm.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

As men’s businesses, or we can create businesses for ourselves. And so, what does that look like? Because I think women are going to be. And it will help men ultimately as well.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Agreed. Because. Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

On the whole person.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Yes. Yes. Oh, this is so good. Can I get a little spiritual ‘woo woo’ with you, Melinda?

Melinda Wittstock:

Yes, of course.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

So, my heritage, South Asian descent, being a Sufi, we talk about divine feminine and divine masculine energy. A lot of the paradigms you’re discussing in entrepreneurship or corporate America were founded on, you know, profane masculinity or toxic masculinity.

Melinda Wittstock:

Oh, my God. Yes.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

And so, in that toxic masculinity, we women have a voice. The throat chakra. We weren’t allowed to use it, or we were labeled as aggressive or witchy or even a worse word than that. And that voice chakra is also the seat of our thyroid. Think about that. And so, we know in eastern healing and spirituality and ayurveda and the healing system of chakras and traditional Chinese medicine that when we as a woman, spiritually, mentally, feel like we can’t use our God given voice, speak our truth, it creates illness in the thyroid and vice versa. Are thyroids out of imbalance? All of a sudden, you’re like, wait, I used to have a voice. Why am I struggling to, like, articulate it? It’s fascinating.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah. This is where all of a sudden, and this is where I feel really hopeful. Well, there’s a lot of reaction against women in our society at the moment, politics, and such. There’s also, I think it’s because women are starting to find that voice and are starting to really, and through a lot of it, through entrepreneurship, because it forces you into personal growth curve. You’re not going to succeed unless you master this. So recently I’ve seen an acceleration of women who are increasingly conscious of this and also conscious that when women are really working together and talking openly and authentically about these things, there is a shift taking place about just reclaiming that power or reclaiming ourselves as individuals, but also as a, as a collective and how we can use business, improve our society over.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Absolutely right. So, when, you know, you just think of my small microcosm that I’m in, Melinda, I’m healing busy brain and burnout. And if I’m healing women’s brains, they’re going and healing their families, the decision makers of the family for healthcare, schooling, marketing, all of that. They’re succeeding in the corporate space for as entrepreneurs. And it lifts up all of society. We know when a woman is educated, when a woman can make money for herself or is financially independent, there is a greater good for all of society and children. So, you just think of that if everyone had their individual purpose, that you never know what that web of being or the impact can be. We have to heal our own brains first and allow it to heal our minds and our spirit and our bodies.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

And then it’s a divine feminine uprising. So, I lived a long time in toxic feminine energy or toxic masculinity. Right? Toxic masculinity was that we had to pretend to be men and use that same aggressive battle energy. Toxic femininity was I am the victim. But when we come into a balance of our divine feminine and divine masculine, it’s, you know, my divine masculine, Melinda, you and I use it as women in STEM, you, woman in tech and woman in medicine. We use those analytical skills, we use our theory, we use our abilities to organize. And the divine feminine is that nurturing side that, what am I doing for the greater good of the collective? And I’m saying it in a spiritual way of everything you just said technically.

[PROMO CREDIT]

Wings of Inspired Business is brought to you by the new podcast, Zero Limits Business Growth Secrets. Join me together with Steve Little – serial entrepreneur, investor and mergers & acquisitions maestro – as we explore the little-known 24 value drivers that spell the difference between a $5m business, and a $50mm even $500 mm business. That’s Zero Limits Business Growth Secrets, produced by Podopolo Brand Studio at zerolimitsradio.com – that’s zerolimitsradio.com and available wherever you get your podcasts.

Melinda Wittstock:

And we’re back with Dr. Romie Mushtaq, neurologist, chief wellness officer and creator of the BrainSHIFT Protocol.

[INTERVIEW CONTINUES]

Melinda Wittstock:

I’ll tell you another little story about me. I had this profound realization, oddly enough, in the middle of the Amazon jungle, where I came to really understand that if you look at that Amazon forest and whatnot, and beyond it works when it’s in balance, in the context of the balance of the archetypal or the divine, masculine and feminine, when we’re in balance. And this has been an intent, a personal intention of mine to find a way to balance those things. So as entrepreneurs, especially in tech, and I’m in the field of AI and blockchain and whatnot, applied to podcasting, and all my innovations have really been in tech, at the intersection of tech and media. So, and innovating in that space. I have a very active analytic mind through much of my career, sort of overshadowed the more intuitive, empathetic aspects of being in the divine feminine. So how can we come into that balance? And what does that mean, not only personally, but just for our organizational structures of our business? How we treat employees or how we treat our customers? Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Yes. Because that caring and that empathy that comes from divine feminine, which both, whether you identify as men or woman, we all have. That’s what’s needed in today’s culture. When you. When you look at the studies, you know, I’m a chief wellness officer in an organization, over 12,000 employees. When you look at what impacts wellness and engagement, it’s. It’s empathy, it is caring, and that is a need of divine feminine to come into the workplace. And that if people feel cared for and they have empathetic listening skills and communication skills, well, then everything else just follows on productivity and client outcomes and all of that.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

It can happen. And it is happening even both in innovative companies like yours and your previous companies, and also inside corporate America. I think you see the companies that are succeeding now are embracing these models.

Melinda Wittstock:

Well, it’s important. It’s just now, too, when you think of Gen Z and Gen Alpha, very soon, more than almost 50% of the entire workforce, they have a completely different value system. It’s actually more aligned with this. Like, they only really want to work for companies where they share their values. So even competitive standpoint, if you want really great talent, this is going to be really important, because there’s a big shift going on there, too, in terms of getting the best talent. So, tell me about this role of chief wellness, and what do you do in that role? And we can talk a little bit about why companies should prioritize even having that role.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Agreed. Whether you’re a startup or traditional corporate America, this is not the role of the future chief wellness officer. It is the role that is demanded now in the C suite and back in 2018, Melinda, I was one of the first physicians in the country to be named into this role in corporate America at a company called Evolution Hospitality. In the book, in chapter nine, you read about the study I did on digital detox with them that kind of informed the first four weeks of the protocol, but started to transform happiness and reduce stress in our culture. And now the CEO, John Murphy, is at great Wolf Resorts, and I just joined them three months ago. My job is to use data driven solutions for over 12,000 employees, which we call our PAC members, which are largely Gen Z and younger millennials, to create a culture of wellness that is literally our focus. I’m, you know, three months plus into the job and have just finished data discovery and an initial strategic plan, and the focus will be mental wellbeing and mental health and everything that comes into that and creating programs that drive this from the c suite down and at a grassroots level up. And that is my job in addition to speaking and all of that.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

But this is my primary role. Role. And it’s really exciting, and it may sound a little out there, but when I go to conferences, there’s about two to 300 companies right now in America and growing that have chief wellness, chief wellbeing officers. I’d say 90% of the companies, they’re senior HR execs, 10% of us are MDs, PhDs in organizational psychology. So, fun fact. In my previous role at Evolution hospitality, at its peak, we had what we would call 125 job sites, 125 hotels. We had an over 70% engagement rate. In our power of pause mindfulness program, Melinda, that you could go into our hotels and that before a stand-up meeting, before a shift, before a virtual call, we would practice mindfulness and a power of pause and intention setting, and that continues to this day.

Melinda Wittstock:

That is so exciting. It’s so needed.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

Startup perspective, right where you’re, oh, gosh, there’s so many people you have to hire. You don’t necessarily have the resources at early stage, say, of a business where you want to do this, but you don’t have the, you don’t have the funding or the financial where would position yet.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

What’s your thinking on how that can be handled? Is there maybe a role for a fractional person or somebody?

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Yes, absolutely. That’s something. That’s something folks like me do as a fractional chief wellness officer. You know, let me break it down into the three steps that I go through in one of my leadership keynotes. Quickly here, Melinda, and you can ask me to dive deeper in any area. The first one we covered already, you as a founder, as a leader, and your leadership team must take care of the state of their brain energy transfer. So even if I was, you know, you were my, my team member and my colleague in the c suite, Melinda, and I said, I care about you. Take time off, but I’m not taking care of my brain.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

That energy transfers, and it creates high stress or anxiety or whatever the energy is amongst everyone that surrounds you and up and down your entire vertical. So, number one, we must take care of our own health. The number two thing is, don’t do activities-based solutions. Activity based solution is according to your budget. You’re just going to keep throwing wellness programs, whether it’s a new cleanse, a yoga class for the company, some type of app that doesn’t drive a culture of wellness, you need to do a data driven approach, like I’ve learned to do with both of these organizations and results based. So, there are frameworks out there where you actually use health insurance data, your engagement data. You take a survey of your team members and see what area really needs attention. Now, the obvious thing in most of teams these days is mental and well-being and mental health.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

But really, in a lot of industries, we see such a manufacturing, it may be physical and safety. So, then you build a program from there, listen to the needs of your people. But if I could say it’s one thing, it’s, I drive back to take care of the state of your brain first and then take care of your team.

Melinda Wittstock:

So, this is interesting. This is an interesting application for AI.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Oh, I’ve thought of it often, Melinda, that I was another reason to geek out with you. Tell me more what you’re thinking.

Melinda Wittstock:

Well, I think increasingly you see people in different parts of different industries applying models and AI assistance that leverage that data to be basically personal concierges for people. If you think of, you know, having the data or just being able to, to do it in a way that’s ethical and private, but allow these AI assistants to help people, monitor and help them. And I, I had a woman on my podcast recently: She’s been innovating in AI since 2010, like a long, long time. And she’s just created these whole AI models for herself. And one of them tells her when she’s getting into stress.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

I love that. I can’t wait to hear that episode.

Melinda Wittstock:

AI says, know, go walk on the beach, like, right now.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Yes. I love that. Oh, my gosh. I want her app. I mean, you know, Melinda, I. When I think of my protocol and how we built it just for busy brain, and there’s so many other applications of mental health and well-being. Like, my dream is, how do I take this into an application using AI? But then there needs to be a human connection because employees won’t just log on to an app if it’s AI. We know the data literally just.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

I think in the last six months from Oxford University came out that these apps for workplace wellness and health don’t work because people don’t want to.

Melinda Wittstock:

It’s another thing to do.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

It’s another thing to log into. And there’s a low trust value. You’re more likely to trust TikTok or YouTube or Instagram, where there’s a human that you know, like and trust, even if you’ve never met them. And so, I think the companies that are winning are using AI. I’m going to use my field, mental and brain health, to do an initial screening and then a. Immediately. You can be connected to a real human, whether it’s a coach or a therapist or a doctor.

Melinda Wittstock:

I mean, this. This is the real. This is the real thing about AI is that there’s a lot of fear that AI is going to replace us. It’s not.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

No.

Melinda Wittstock:

If used correctly, it’s going to enhance. It’s going to enhance humanity where it’s going to allow us to get rid of all the busy work, all that kind of stuff, so we can really focus on our true creativity and our true genius. And this should be of assistance to humankind. Now, it’s important that women have a seat and our voice at the table in the…

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Agreed.

Melinda Wittstock:

…In the design of the AI and the intentions behind it. And that’s something that’s a little bit out of whack, but, like, vitally important for humanity.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

It’s why I’m thankful for the work you’re doing. Melinda, I really, and as I get further into my role as chief wellness officer, trust me, I’m thinking of AI data models that we can really prove that if we put in the program we’re proposing, could we look at employee absenteeism, engagement absenteeism, and the financial models? But you and I come from that place of using AI with that divine feminine energy for the greater good of humanity, promoting empathy and caring. And that’s the secret.

Melinda Wittstock:

It’s so important. It’s so important. My goodness. I could talk to you for, like, so much longer. I have a saying that you’ll have to come on this podcast again, Romie, because there’s so many things to cover. I want to make sure that we’ve gone through the five key areas that we talked a lot about, thyroid. And I know in that, in the shift part of the brain shift, there’s a few more things I want to make sure we cover them all.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Yes. Let me go through them quickly. They’re in chapters ten through 17 of the book. If people want to go straight there when I speak, I tell them, go straight there. Take the busy brain test. Open to chapter ten. The first four weeks cover s sleep and restoring your circadian rhythm. That’s key.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Your thyroid and other markers of inflammation will not get better without doing that. So, you’re putting yourself on a sleep sabbatical for at least 14 days. Right. So that’s number one. We covered h and hormones, the eye markers of inflammation. You alluded to, and I wanted to cover. There was vitamin d. Three is a key one.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

We also test for methylation disorders. Here was something I wanted to quickly cover as we close out, Melinda, is F. The role of food.  I want the vegans and the paleos and the carb lovers and the chocoholics to all sit at one table and feel like they’re cared for and they belong, and nobody is being judged. We’re not judging each other’s plates. So, what was the brain shift around food to heal burnout and prevent a busy brain and stay in that divine feminine energy as you and I were talking about, this one’s interesting. You pick one, either caffeine or a high glycemic carbohydrate, not both.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

So, if you’re sitting at breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack time, and you choose caffeine, no white sugar, white flour, white rice, white potatoes, white bread, you get the idea. If you’re going to choose pasta or rice or a potato, whatever it may be, then no caffeine for the hour before or after that. And the reason is, is caffeine is a great stimulant to the mind, unless it’s done in excess, but it also will stimulate insulin receptors. And that insulin receptor is not only key for type two diabetes and preventing that, but also for type three diabetes in your brain. The brain fog, the inflammation. Now, if you add sugar on top of it, you’re getting a glucose spike, and then a drop with the insulin, and that’s actually furthering the inflammation and bottom line, your inability to focus and feeling anxious. So, when we’re running the eight-week protocol, most high achievers like you and I are like, I’ll take the caffeine. Thank you.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

And I’m eating my healthy fat thinking that caffeine all the way and the brain bloating, and the belly bloating goes down. And in the eight weeks, they’re like dropping pant and dress sizes, but more importantly, focusing again. But we celebrate comfort food in this protocol. And comfort food is this, is that when you cure your busy brain and you brain shift, you’re no longer stress eating, opening a bag of potato chips or cookies and finishing the whole bag instead. It’s thoughtful of Melinda, I’m coming out to visit you in California. You know, you’re going to take me to a life changing sushi or ramen noodle place. I’m going to eat in comfort, enjoying your company, or if you come here, I’m going to take you to a great dosa place, south Indian food, if you like that.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

And that we’re enjoying the company and the food and the experience. That’s comfort food. So, we schedule that once or twice a week, and it’s transformative. So, I really wanted to bring that joy back into eating. Being on a strict cleanse or counting macros or calories and depriving yourself is actually making our busy brains even worse.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

Well, you get into the whole thing of just sort of denial and self-punishment and judgment and all those things, right? And so, like, you know, there’s something just so delightful of a people together enjoying good food that it’s so much part of how humans are wired. I mean, it’s. It’s, it’s a joy. It’s a delight. Like, so finding those things that, that, that light you up and that’s. That makes a lot of sense.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

And food is a universal love language amongst all cultures. And as a chief wellness officer, I’ll tell you, is most of the nutrition plans that are pushed in the west, including for my integrative functional medicine colleagues. To your point, don’t honor glory, global religions, and cultures. And I want to bring all that back.

Melinda Wittstock:

Oh, that’s so beautiful. So, I’m going to make sure that everybody knows how to find your book in the show notes, and you also have a brain test that they can take. Tell me a little bit about that.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Yes. This is the brain score we were talking about. Do you have a busy brain or not? What stage of burnout are you in? And you can go to drromi.com, my website or social media and click and take it there for free. It’s a four-minute test. Gives you a brain score if you’re above a 30, signals that you have chronic inflammation. Busy brain and open up the book to chapter ten and get started with the protocol. And I’ll share this with you, Melinda, to give power to women’s voices who are thought leaders like you and I. The book came out this past January and in that same month broke the USA Today bestseller list in the world of medicine.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

It’s a 500 to one ratio of a male author, MD or PhD getting a book contract compared to a woman. So, thank you for having me because you’re not only empowering my voice, but other women to read this book and heal well.

Melinda Wittstock:

It’s so important. Your message is vital. Doctor Romie, thank you so much for putting on your wings and flying with us today.

Dr. Romie Mushtaq:

Amen. Thank you.

[INTERVIEW ENDS]

Melinda Wittstock:

Dr. Romie Mushtaq is the creator of the BrainSHIFT Protocol, author of The Busy Brain Cure, and Chief Wellness Officer for Evolution Hospitality, where she scaled a mindfulness & wellness program to over 7,000 employees.

Melinda Wittstock:

Make sure you download Podopolo, follow Wings of Inspired Business there, create and share your favorite moments with our viral episode clip feature, and join us in the episode comments section so we can all take the conversation further with your questions and comments.

Melinda Wittstock:

That’s it for today’s episode… Head on over to WingsPodcast.com – and subscribe to the show. When you subscribe, you’ll instantly get my special gift, the WINGS Success Formula. Women … Innovating … Networking … Growing …Scaling … IS the WINGS of Inspired Business Formula …for daily success in your business and life. Miss a Wings episode? We’ve got hundreds in the vault, all with actionable advice and epiphanies. Check them out at MelindaWittstock.com or wingspodcast.com. You can also catch me on LinkedIn or Instagram @MelindaAnneWittstock.

We also love it when you share your feedback with a 5-star rating and review on Apple, Spotify or wherever else you listen, including Podopolo where you can interact with me and share your favorite clips.