Show Notes
Are you baffled by conflicting advice about 'bad habits'?
Do you really want to live a longer, healthier and more meaningful life?
Dr Paddy Barrett, Consultant Cardiologist at Dublin’s Blackrock Clinic, is one of Ireland’s leading experts in lifestyle medicine, online and clinically, with particular emphasis on exercise and ‘aggressive management’ of cardiovascular risks factors, from lipid and blood pressure levels to irregular sleep patterns. He is also a veteran of - and expert in - burnout among medics. In this wisdom-peppered episode, Paddy recalls career-changing moments, like a near-drowning while surfing off the Donegal coast, when his only thought was ‘if I die now, my boss will kill me’, and his pivot away from a training programme in interventional cardiology in New York, after the suicides of several colleagues. He reflects on a career that has taken him from flying lessons and developing wearable health technology in San Diego to working in emergency medicine in Sydney, from an interest in burnout and subsequent collaboration with experts including Deepak Chopra and the founder of the Headspace meditation app, to daily application of Socrates’ famous but often disregarded dictum: ‘The unexamined life is not worth living’. Paddy quips that offering burned-out medics a free mindfulness app is more likely to make them quit their jobs than promoting genuine reflection, that focuses on identifying personal core values and allows people to ‘design’ – and ‘course correct’ - their own lives.
This episode will be especially useful for those who are unfamiliar with lifespan, healthspan and soulspan, and who’d like to enjoy a longer life, ‘packed with meaning and human connection’. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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