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Welcome to the Executive Connect podcast, a show for the new generation of leaders.

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Join Melissa R. Skog as she speaks to a wide variety of guests that bring new insights into

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leadership, prosperity, and personal growth.

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While now it has all the answers, by building a community of open-minded and

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gauge leaders, we hope to give you the tools you need to help you find your own path to success.

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[MUSIC]

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Hello and welcome today to Executive Connect podcast.

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I'm excited to have my friend Becca Yanelo here with me today.

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Thank you so much for being here today Becca.

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I'm so excited to have you with me today.

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And I love talking about health and what we can do to better our children and

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other leaders in our organization.

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So just kicking it off with the first question I'm curious about your perspective on is

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can you explain the difference between public health and traditional health care today?

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Yeah, so this is a really great question.

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I think a lot of folks out there have heard the term public health and they're very familiar

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with health care and how it's delivered in the United States.

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But the difference between public health and health care can sometimes get lost.

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So public health is a field of science that essentially looks at what makes people healthy

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and what makes people sick, what keeps people healthy and uses that information to guide

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policies and laws and services to support the health of populations and groups of people.

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So traditional health care, particularly in the United States, really focuses on responsive

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medical care and what doctors and nurses and hospitals do in treating people once they

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get sick.

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Now, there is a component of preventive medicine which is like preventing long-term

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chronic conditions and things like that.

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But public health looks at not just how do we prevent disease and health issues and injuries,

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but also what keeps people healthy and really trying to do more of that and removing the risks

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to our health, like a community level, at a policy level, at a national level.

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So while doctors and nurses treat one patient at a time, public health looks at groups

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of people, looks at everything from communities to cities to states to the entire nation.

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And how do we do our best to give everyone the chance to be healthy and give everyone

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what they need to be their healthiest?

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That's fantastic.

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What are included under the umbrella of public health?

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So public health is a really big umbrella and it covers everything from policies, regulations

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and laws to health education, science, communication, services and programs.

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So it's a really, and research as well.

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So it's a really, really broad field.

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And what I love about public health is it really looks at the context for what we typically

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think of as our health.

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So it can get include everything from our social relationships to what's in our environment,

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how we relate to each other, the information that we have and how we make our choices.

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And also, you know, what we know about the field of medicine and what we know about what

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is going to keep people healthy and trying to make that accessible to everyone.

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So while we know for example that going to your doctor is important and doctors need to,

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you know, need to be able to provide that medical care that they do, public health looks

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at, how do we make sure that everyone has access to those doctors and access to the hospitals,

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access to emergency care?

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So you know, it's kind of taking medicine and trying to like contextualize it at a broad

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level.

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Yeah, I, I didn't really pay too much attention or realize the difference personally.

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I just grew up focusing on my health and what I could do to be healthier and eat my vegetables

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my parents used to say.

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And then I got older and realized that most people, that wasn't, it's not common to focus

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on eating well and, you know, taking care of yourself is, it's a learned skill and I feel

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like it's also a taught skill.

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And most times people don't realize they need to take care of themselves until they go

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to the doctor and realize something is really wrong.

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So I love, you know, and I know you wrote a book about this, but as it pertains to public

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health, like why is it so important to the world today?

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You know, I think the pandemic really brought public health to the public eye because a lot

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of public health work goes on in the shadows essentially.

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And, you know, so I think that we all realized the importance of taking care of like everybody

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and everybody doing their part to try to promote health.

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I think that, you know, right now, there are so many things in our society that contribute

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to whether or not we're healthy and whether people are healthy.

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And it also, you know, there's disparities in health as well.

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So we know that, you know, poor areas have worse health outcomes than more affluent areas.

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You know, they even say, which is, you know, there's a lot of research on this that your zip

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code is actually more influential than your genetic code in, you know, your life expectancy

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and your health outcomes.

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And so I think it really is important for us all to be educated on about what it is that

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keeps us healthy and, you know, all of the things that go into public health.

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And public health doesn't only focus on, you know, viruses and bacteria and, you know, diseases,

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but public health also looks at social influences, environmental influences, and how those things

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also shape our health and wellbeing.

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And thinking about health as more than just, you know, your blood pressure, but thinking

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about it as your overall state of wellbeing, like how you feel mentally, how you feel physically,

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are you thriving, are you under a lot of stress, and what that does to your health and how it

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all plays together.

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So I think it's important for everyone to kind of understand these influences and then be

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able to make more informed decisions about how to promote their own health and how to

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support other people in being healthy too.

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You know, I wrote a book, a kid's book about public health to also kind of bring awareness

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to the fact that this affects people across their lifespan, you know, for children, babies,

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you know, pregnant women, all the way through end of life, you know, there are so many things

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that impact our health and things that we don't necessarily think about, right?

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So being able to have clean air, there's a recent study that came out of the University

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of Chicago, indicating that air quality is actually one of the biggest public health issues

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in our generation because of, you know, air pollution, because of wildfires, because of lots

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of different things that are impacting air quality.

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And they're really finding out that air quality has a significant impact on our health and

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on disease processes, on, you know, different disease states, not just asthma, for example,

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but also like more other chronic conditions as well that go into adulthood.

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So there are lots of things that we can open our eyes to, you know, in general and learn

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about.

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And I think that that can also really influence how we live our lives and how we, how we look

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at health and how we keep ourselves healthy.

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So there's, there's a lot of substance there, right?

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I mean, and also the world is changing as we know.

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I mean, even if you think about everything from the, you know, like homelessness or technology

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and using our cell phones so much and you know, what that's doing to us, I mean, there's

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literally, there are so many different things going on in society that are constantly changing

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and evolving and, you know, public health looks at how all of those things are influenced

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and all those things are influencing our health.

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So it's a constantly changing field.

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Yeah, I, you know, I was just thinking about myself personally at, you know, in Texas, it's

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like a hundred and six degrees and it's heavily influencing my health and, you know, my energy

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levels and I know here in Texas, we've had a ton of people that have never had allergies

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that now all of a sudden have allergies.

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Myself included, I've never had a day of allergies and now I'm like, am I getting sick and it's

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not that I'm getting sick, it's just allergies because it's like you mentioned, the air quality

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here's changed.

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The, you know, there's, there's a lot of changes from just the weather alone that's affecting

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people's energy levels.

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You know, what can I do or what can we do as a community to support public health?

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I think it starts with, with learning about, about public health and I mean, not, not necessarily

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becoming an expert, right?

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But just kind of broadening our perspective about what health means, right?

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I mean, like you said, it could be everything from how your environment impacts your ability

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to exercise or, you know, go outside and, or, you know, relieve your stress through your

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normal, like going for a walk or, you know, going for hike or whatever that may look like,

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just really starting to kind of open our eyes to all of the different things that impact,

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impact our health.

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I think that's a starting place.

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And then also, you know, I think that public health is really in some ways, it's like, like

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this grassroots, like, slash social justice, slash, you know, like just context for life,

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I mean, thinking about what could be better?

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What is, what is going on in our environment?

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What is going on in our lives?

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What is going on in our communities in our offices, in our, you know, professional lives?

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How are all of these things impacting people and what could be better?

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I mean, I think that that's, that's the challenge of public health, right?

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I mean, there's, they're just like in medicine, they're constantly evolving, you know, diseases,

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like COVID, for example, came out of nowhere.

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And, you know, the research, there's always more research coming out that's helping us learn

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about how, what we can do to prevent disease or what we can do to help, in fact, influence

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that or medicines that come out in public health, it's kind of, you know, it's, it's similar,

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right?

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It's like always understanding what's going on around us and how that's influencing us.

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You know, even things like, I was having a conversation the other day with, with a woman

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who's an ophthalmologist and she was telling me that children now are having more myopia

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because they're looking at screens so much and that the, like, the remedy for it is being

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outside because when you're outside, your vision has to change between looking in the distance

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and looking up close and your eyes are constantly, and your brain is constantly, you know, like

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accounting for that and, and it's challenging your eyes a little bit.

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But when you don't have a lot of that and you're only looking at two-dimensional screens

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for, like, the majority of the time, it can actually influence the way your eyes develop

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as a child.

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I mean, these are things that, like, who would have thought, but this is another way that

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technology is influencing us?

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So true.

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I'm so glad you said that because, you know, personally, you know, I go from call to called,

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call every day, like, so many people that work, you know, from their home these days or even

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in an office, where all in Zoom calls and Teams calls and I have to remind myself to look,

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my eyes to look away from my computer because, you know, I'm not sure I believed in the Zoom

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fatigue, but I will tell you now, I definitely believe in the Zoom fatigue for my eyes and

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my body and the way I sit and, so it is, it's so true, but I always tell my kids at the

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end of the night, I'm like, give me your phone or your iPad, I'm going to take it away so

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your eyes can readjust before you go to bed and it's, I think it's something you're right.

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We don't even think about it.

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It's just, you know, our kids today are, I know my kids have laptops that they get, they

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do their homework on and they, they're on screens all day at school and so I love that

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you said, they go outside because it makes me feel like I'm, you know, doing the right

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thing. I'm like, go outside, talk to somebody, talk to somebody else about the computer because

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it's true.

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We don't think of those things.

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We think we're doing the right thing and so it's, I think it's, it's being mindful too,

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right?

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And, and reading some of these things, I know every year I set my goals at the end of the

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year and one of those always, every year is health.

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Like, what can I be doing better for my health or, and one of the things that you mentioned

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is cell phones, like I'm around multiple computers a day.

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I've, you know, a personal phone and a work phone and just putting my electronic device

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in the TV and all the things down and walking away from it and stepping outside.

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So that is a huge win.

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I've noticed just for my own mental health and wellbeing that I've had to force in my

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life and so just with that, you know, with that, like what can we do, you know,

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adults, kids, people in other countries, everybody?

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What can we do and where can we go from here from your perspective?

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Yeah, that's a great question.

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You know, I think there's, there's so much work to do.

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Um, again, I think it starts with learning and, and just being mindful and aware, like you

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said, um, and kind of shape shifting how we think about health and our mental health and,

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you know, how all of these things play together.

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Um, and then, you know, I think from, from my personal perspective and my, my focus in

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public health and population health, I, you know, my biases, I think, like understanding

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the disparities, understanding why some people have more health issues than others and

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what's behind that and how can we help mitigate that?

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How can we, you know, reduce those risks?

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You know, I think so there's, there's a, a parable that's like really commonly told in

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public health.

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Um, that's, I don't know if you've ever heard it.

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It's like called the, like, it's like this river story where there are these two, there

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are these two people who are, you know, walking along a river.

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That's like a rushing river and they notice that somebody is in the, is in the water and

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they're crying for help.

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And so one of the people with jumps in the water swims over to them and, you know, gets

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them and saves them, brings them back to shore.

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And then they hear another cry and the person, you know, runs, jumps back in the water, swims

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back out to them, grabs them, brings them to shore and saves them and they hear another

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cry and another and another and he keeps running, you know, going back in the water and swimming

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and saving these people.

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He finally turns to his friend and says, why aren't you helping?

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Aren't you going to come help, like, come swim out and help me save these people?

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And he says, I'm going to go upstream and figuring figure out why all these people are falling

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into the water.

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And that's what public health is, right?

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So it's like thinking about things differently, not just how do we, how do we remedy, like,

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sickness, but like, how do we just live our lives in a way that prevents it to begin with?

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Right?

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What can we do to give everybody the chance to be healthy and be their healthiest?

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And I think part of that is opening our eyes and part of it is understanding the disparities,

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like, why, you know, women have certain health outcomes that men don't and why are some

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groups of people, like some, you know, some women have worse, like, pregnancy and birth

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outcomes than others?

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What's behind that?

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Why is that?

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Like, that's clearly not fair.

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What can we do as a society just support that and make the playing feels a little bit more

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level?

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So, you know, I think there's, there are so many different things we can do, right?

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But it's just, I think, generally, it's just about kind of opening our eyes and learning

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about that.

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You know, and I think that there is a push right now, particularly for adults, like, in

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the workplace, thinking about work wellness and about people's mental health that work,

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and, you know, how can we be mindful of that work like balance and understanding that,

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you know, the way that we are balancing our lives will impact our health or even just,

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like, like you said, even ergonomically, like, how are you sitting at your desk or how your

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teams are feeling, you know, or, you know, whether you're inside all day, every day, and,

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you know, all of those things too.

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So, there are so many different places to go.

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And for kids, I would say just learning, you know, there's, I think kids are so, they're

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so smart, you know, they're so creative and so smart and they pay attention and they notice

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things.

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You know, my kids are almost two and three and a half and I'm always shocked at what they

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notice and what they see and what they remember, you know, and I think kids can, can connect

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dots that we as adults can't because we've always lived, you know, we've grown up to think

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a certain way about problems, about what we see in our environment, about, you know, how

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people react and relate to each other.

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And I think kids bring such a fresh perspective and I think even just giving them information

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and talking about things can really help kids, you know, become really, you know, a stooot

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observers about what's going on around them and also kind of come up with creative solutions.

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Yeah, I love that.

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I know I have like five health buckets that I focus on.

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It's, you know, one of my, what am I putting in my body, you know, my exercise, you know,

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expending, you know, my any kind of activity.

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So I do different, you know, yoga and I do kit workouts and walking and all those things.

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But then, you know, the third part that I pay attention to, you nailed it is like, I always

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say, is there such thing as balance and you know, I always shoot for a balanced meal and

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a balanced life and everything's got to be in balance, but mindfulness on your emotional

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health, you know, a lot of times people say, are you okay?

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And I'm like, oh, yeah, I'm okay.

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I'm great.

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Everything's great.

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And I'm saying that, but I'm not looking like it, you know, I forget who I think is maybe

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my husband that so does to me.

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You should tell your face to your okay.

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I'm like, okay, base, we're okay, right?

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So I think, you know, the emotional, the emotional style, like we talked a little bit about.

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And then just, you know, I always say like one of my favorite saying is carpe diem and season

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the day and really, you know, enjoy life having that, you know, don't live to work, work

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to live and that kind of those two approaches to life and getting out and enjoying, you know,

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your hobbies and your family and your friends and so that side of it and so there's kind

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of different buckets.

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I, I, I, self-assess and make sure I'm doing the right thing.

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Any like top five things or maybe let's call on life hacks that people can do to, you know,

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that maybe weren't raised with a mom that told them to eat their vegetables.

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Any like areas that you can suggest to people like quick and easy ways that they can gain

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some personal wins?

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Gosh, that's a tough one.

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You know, it's like everybody's in such a different place, but I do think, I mean, you,

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you clearly are on to something.

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I think the things that come to mind are, you know, when you think about like they have

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these, this new Netflix show about blue zones, right?

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Are these like, they're these places in the world where people live to be over 100 more than

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like the rest of the world and like thinking about what it is that they have in common.

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I think can teach us a lot, right?

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So your question.

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Yeah.

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So part of it is social connections.

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I'm like you were saying just really also focusing not just on our work, but also on our

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families, on our friends and friendships and or just, you know, practicing gratitude or

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just, you know, like having some kind of social connection can actually take a lot of stress

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away from people's lives.

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I can really enrich people's lives more than, you know, specific accomplishments.

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And I think that one of the things that they say is like common in these communities where

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people like are really healthier and live a long time is their social connection.

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So obviously like eating well and exercising.

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I mean, I think exercise is so important for so many different reasons.

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I mean, you know, we live in a society that's like very vain, right?

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So like there's, there's the exercise, you know, there's this like association with exercise

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and like the way that we look, but it's also very functional, right?

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To be able to grow older and be able to be independent and do things independently in

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like lift objects and like reach for things and, you know, not fall easily.

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I mean, there's so many things that exercise does for us in our longevity.

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Obviously, you know, trying to eat well.

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I mean, I think that not stressing too much, but, you know, like trying to be healthy in those

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ways.

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And I think honestly spending time outside and that kind of ties into managing stress.

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I think managing stress is such a, it's so hard for so many of us.

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Yep.

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Particularly, you know, professionals and professionals with families.

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It's very hard to balance it all with people with demanding jobs.

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But I think that managing stress is critical.

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I mean, stress is so toxic for us as human beings.

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Like stress is associated with all kinds of bad things that can happen to our health.

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Raises are blood pressure.

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It can, you know, increase our risk for heart disease.

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It can lead to, you know, weight gain, which has its own issues, you know, associated with

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obesity.

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So, I mean, there are just so many things that stress as it also ages us faster, like on a genetic

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level.

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So, not to stress out about it, but like reducing our stresses is, I think, a huge one,

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though it's probably a list.

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And it looks different for everyone, right?

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I mean, everybody has different outlets.

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Yep.

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So true.

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So that, I'll be adding that to my list now, back at Purdue stress, live longer.

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Because, you know, we don't even realize it sometimes.

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Like the stress is going, you mentioned it earlier with the weather, the season, how that

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impacts our body or not sleeping and all of it's tied together.

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Yeah.

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It makes me think I need to add stress and that, that, what's my scale from one to 10?

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And so, I love it.

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Do you want to do a quick plug for your book and tell our listeners a little bit about

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your book and how we can find it and the name of it?

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00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:09,960
Yes, definitely.

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So I wrote a book called, a Kids Book about Public Health.

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It's published by a Kids Co, which is a publishing company that publishes books for kids about

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a lot of different topics that adults sometimes don't necessarily have the shared language to

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talk about with kids.

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My book is, it's, you know, it's short, it's easy to, to read with kids and discuss it's for

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a just five and a half.

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And it really is just an introduction to what we've talked about today.

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What is public health?

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Why does it matter?

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The fact that it's all around us and we don't even realize it.

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And it's available on Amazon, Target, Barnes and Noble and Walmart online.

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You can also find it through the a Kids Co, publishing website.

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Yeah.

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Thank you so much for that.

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I, you make me think I need to make some changes first and I love the information.

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I've shared it with my kids.

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They love it.

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It's a really good dialogue about it.

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For kids is always a challenge, right?

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Less sugar, more moving, less electronic time.

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So I know I'm using it with my kids.

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It's been very helpful.

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00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:29,000
So thank you so much for writing that book.

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Thank you so much for being here today.

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I love everything about what you're doing.

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I'm so excited to have you on again.

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And buyer books, follow back.

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She's got a world of information to take from.

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And thank you so much for being here today on the Executive Connect podcast.

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Have a great day.

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Thank you so much for having me as a public.

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You've been listening to the Executive Connect podcast.

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If you have questions or ideas on how to bring leadership to your next level, email us at

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Executive Connect podcast at gmail.com.

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And don't forget to subscribe so you can catch every new episode.

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Until next time.

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