In Case You’re in a Hurry
- Transitioned from creative director to data science due to burnout and seeking new passions.
- Experienced mental health struggles exacerbated by poor diet and gut health.
- Discovered the significant link between gut health and mental well-being.
- Made lifestyle changes to improve gut health, resulting in enhanced mental clarity and focus.
- Advocates for a balanced approach to health, incorporating both traditional and functional medicine perspectives.
From Creative Director to Data Scientist
Some of you might be wondering why I left the world of being a creative director and ended up in the world of data science. How did that happen? Well, this article is a very honest confession, and perhaps you’re in the same boat of previous burnout looking for your new passion, so I hope it helps you out. Just a word of caution for the sake of common sense: talk to your doctor before you do anything.
Debunking Brain Myths
So back to how I ended up moving on from being a creative director to now staring at numbers. Isn’t there such a thing as a left brain, right brain type of thing? Isn’t it that we can only be analytical and not creative, or vice versa? Well, there are a lot of myths regarding the brain that a lot of folks still believe in. I think a great example of this is the myth that we only use 10% of our brain when in truth, we actually use 100% of it all the time.
Burnout and the Need for Change
Around 2016 or so, I was getting a little burned out. Not because I hated being a creative—I actually love that part. I just didn’t feel like I was making the world a better place like I once felt when I was teaching students journalism or when I was a combat journalist in the military. On top of all of this, I was attracting a lot of narcissistic egos, folks who could only think about vanity and materialism, and it was slowly wearing on me.
Finding Joy in Data and Strategy
Something I did find joy in was looking at marketing data, analytics, metrics, and that ranged from websites to SEO plans, marketing, to hell, even me creating World of Warcraft raid strategies by analyzing all the specs of our players, their armor, damage, healing abilities, and what the bosses’ data consisted of. Strategy has always been a part of my DNA, and it was critical when I was working on Wall Street restructuring companies for private equity.
The Pandemic and Mental Health Struggles
When the pandemic came around, I really was not in my best frame of mind. Anxiety took hold, especially the loneliness from it all. My brain was looking for a dopamine hit, and of course, being a skinny, somewhat athletic build, I thought I could get away with eating anything. Truth be told, I have always been one of those folks who could eat junk food all the time and not gain a pound, and in my brain, I thought, “Hey, I’m an exception to the eat-healthy rule; my weight = healthy, right?” How wrong I was. We really are what we eat.
The Car Analogy: Being Hard-Headed with Health
So imagine if you have a car—it’s a good car, let’s say a Volvo XC70. You should put Castrol GTX 10w30 in it along with premium 93 gasoline; that’s what the owner’s manual says to do. But you decide to cheap out and use the cheap gas and random oil. A year passes, then two years, and you shrug your shoulders without a care in the world. Your friend one day points out, “Hey, you know you shouldn’t be putting that cheap gas in your Volvo.” You reply, “Meh, it’s never caused me any problems before.” Three years down the road, your Volvo is clinking and clacking, sounding like Pete Davidson and Timothée Chalamet on SNL rapping about that YEET! Then you’re sitting on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck, scratching your head like an idiot, wondering what the hell is wrong with your car. Ladies and gentlemen, this is what we like to call “Being Hard-Headed.”
Well, being hard-headed with our health is something I am willing to bet the majority of us, especially here in America, do. Even if you consider yourself athletic, I bet you shrug your shoulders and wave off the suggestions from health experts and say, “Whatever.” This was totally me.
The Importance of Gut Health
What I failed to realize is our gut health plays a major role in how our brain works. You’ve probably heard the phrase “trust your gut,” but did you know that your gut instinct might be more literal than you think? There is a lot of new research that suggests a connection between the health of your gut microbiome—the trillions of bacteria residing in your digestive system—and your mental well-being and cognitive function.
The Gut-Brain Axis
It turns out that the gut and the brain are in constant communication through what’s known as the gut-brain axis. This intricate network involves various pathways, including the vagus nerve, hormones, and neurotransmitters. The gut microbiome seems to play a role in this dialogue, producing and regulating neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and GABA, which influence mood, motivation, and cognitive processes.
Gut Health and Mental Well-being
several other studies suggest that imbalances in gut bacteria composition, often caused by poor diet, stress, or antibiotic use, could be associated with an increased risk of mood disorders like depression and anxiety. Additionally, some research suggests that gut imbalances may be a contributing factor to cognitive decline. (Anecdotal, and my personal experience. Note: Scientific research on this topic is ongoing and not fully conclusive.) In my case, my anxiety and some ADHD were running rampant. Even with marathon running, I was still mentally a hot mess.
Supporting Gut Health
While more research is needed to fully understand this connection, taking care of your gut microbiome might be a step towards better overall well-being. This could mean incorporating a diet rich in fiber, fermented foods (hello kimchi), and prebiotics to nourish beneficial bacteria. Managing stress levels, getting regular exercise, and prioritizing quality sleep also contribute to gut health.
Influences and Inspirations
I read several books, especially some by Dr. Amen, who is sadly shunned by many of his peers for his functional medicine approach. From my understanding, he has said some quacky things before, and I’m personally not a fan of the Amen Clinics as I tried reaching out to them and they are rather pricey, but I think his books and most of what he is preaching are pretty top-notch. (totally anecdotal and my personal opinion) I would suggest reading his book Change your brain, Change your Life before you decide to dish out of pocket money going to an Amen Clinic for a SPECT image of your brain.
The other guy I have been following, who is really quite weird, especially when he gets into talking about his erections and taking nudes of himself (great reason why all rich, powerful men need a strong woman to tell them HELL NO, YOU ARE NOT DOING THAT), is Bryan Johnson, who created the Blueprint protocol. Bryan’s protocol is actually top-notch, and if you can get past the really, really, really weird photos he puts out there and the terrible click-bait titles he uses on YouTube, he does have a lot of valuable information to share.
Balancing Traditional and Functional Medicine
So health and information about health are going to have a lot of status quo and unorthodox approaches. We must use logic to understand that both have errors in their own ways, and both have correct information. Traditional Western medicine has issues, especially with opioids, the extreme cost of health care (looking at you, America), and basically treating the symptom and not the cause. I believe someone like Bryan Johnson and his Blueprint protocol are a step in the future, toward a better direction, something many newer doctors are calling functional medicine. (Anecdotal, and my personal opinion based on personal experience)
The Impact of Lifestyle Changes
Basically, Bryan inspired me to look at all of my labs, which I started putting together in a spreadsheet, and I also started logging my moods, logging what I ate, when I drank water, and so on. Long story short, I found out from all of this data that something was seriously wrong in my gut. So I quit drinking, stopped consuming sugar, and stopped consuming starches. I had to learn how to eat keto and introduce a lot of fiber into my diet, along with kimchi and probiotic supplements.
The Turning Point
Now, this is where I need to err on the side of caution. I was taking an antidepressant for a few months, and it made me feel like a zombie. For a long time, I was dealing with anhedonia, where I felt no joy and no urge to socialize or do any of the things I used to love. Nothing was fixing it, not even running. That is, until I cleaned up my diet, stopped consuming sugar and starches, and really focused on getting good bacteria to repopulate in my gut. (Anecdotal, so please exercise caution as this was my personal experience)
Antibiotics and Gut Health
Tracing the data back to when I started feeling like this, it came when I had a bad infection once and was on a long stint of strong antibiotics. Antibiotics, sadly, can disrupt things in your gut and will kill a lot of the lovely bacteria that produce serotonin. For some, it can allow Candida, which is a fungus—not to be confused with a virus or bacteria—to run rampant in the gut. (Note: Just want to say Candida overgrowth is a complex issue and may require medical attention. Consult with a healthcare professional for diagnosis and treatment.)
Achieving Mental Clarity
Eventually, I got my gut cleaned out, and I started to feel this insane amount of clarity in my brain I never felt before. Not even as a teenager had I had this amount of clarity, which I suspect was because I was drinking about five Mountain Dew cans a day and surviving off of Pop-Tarts and sugary cereal.
As time went on, my brain fog, which I’d had for years, and anxiety started to diminish. Finally, I could sit down and read a book on statistical analysis and not have the urge to do a million other things. It’s as if my brain had a bunch of clogged pipes, and suddenly they were all unclogged and my mental health shot up 10x. (Anecdotal, and my personal experience)
Embracing Change and Finding Happiness
Clarity gave me the courage to realize I was burned out, needed a change, and recognized where my talents lay. It also gave me the courage to realize that yes, I am also an analytical thinker, and I can do just as well in the world of big data as I did when I was a creative.
So to sum things up, prioritizing my gut health gave me mental clarity, mental clarity gave me vision, and vision gave me a path toward happiness.