The Charlene Gisele Show

What does your gut have to do with how well your brain performs? More than you might think. And if your stomach acts up before a big meeting, your gut may be responding to the same stress that is affecting your brain!

Kiran Krishnan, research microbiologist with over 20 years of experience in health and nutrition, has conducted more than 50 human clinical trials on digestive health and the microbiome. He co-founded Microbiome Labs and now co-founds five other health and wellness companies, and has published in peer-reviewed journals and written chapters for global medical textbooks.

In this episode, we explore the gut-brain axis and why the relationship between your gut and brain goes both ways. Kiran explains what stress can do to digestion, why chronic stress can contribute to leaky gut, and how poor sleep, stress, diet and other lifestyle factors can affect the health of your gut microbiome. We also unpack the five practical pillars he recommends for improving gut health, including fiber, polyphenols, stress management, sleep, exposure and supplementation, with simple strategies that can actually fit into a busy professional life.

 

Timestamp

00:00 Intro

02:41 Why brain performance depends on gut health

05:12 How the gut repairs the brain during sleep

08:02 The gut brain axis as a two way superhighway

11:39 How stress physically disrupts digestion

16:45 Stress, inflammation and leaky gut

19:10 What exactly is leaky gut?

30:32 Common signs and symptoms of leaky gut

34:20 Why you can assume you have leaky gut

36:28 The habits that make leaky gut worse

38:43 The five pillars for improving gut health

1:00:25 How to get deeper into Kiran's work

 

What We Cover

Why the brain needs a healthy gut to repair itself overnight

How the gut brain axis works as a two-way communication highway

Why stress can trigger bloating, constipation, diarrhoea and other digestive symptoms

What leaky gut actually means

Why leaky gut is linked to anxiety, depression, joint pain, and blood sugar issues

The everyday habits that quietly worsen leaky gut, from alcohol to poor sleep

The five pillars of gut health

Why fiber and polyphenols are the most powerful tools for gut repair

How movement, even in small bursts, lowers stress and supports the gut

Why sleep quality matters more than sleep quantity for gut and brain repair

The gut-brain connection and cognitive performance

Practical strategies for high performers who do not have time for a complete lifestyle overhaul

 

Key Takeaways

Your gut and brain are in constant communication. What happens in one can influence the other.

Stress physically damages your gut. Chronic stress is a major driver of leaky gut and the inflammation that follows.

Leaky gut has a real name. Metabolic endotoxemia is the clinical term, and it is linked to conditions far beyond digestion.

Stress does not stay in your head. It can directly affect how your digestive system functions.

You don't need to overhaul your life. Small, consistent changes to diet, movement, stress and sleep can make a meaningful difference.

Fiber and polyphenols matter. They help support the bacteria and compounds involved in maintaining the gut barrier.

You cannot supplement your way out of poor lifestyle habits. Supplements come last, after the foundations are in place.

 

Guest Resources

Learn more about Kiran Krishnan: https://www.sivcare.com

 

Connect With Me
🌍 Website: https://charlenegisele.com
📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/charlenegisele
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlène-gisèle-bourliout/
✉️ Subscribe to my Life Less Burnt Out Newsletter: https://charlenegisele.com/newsletter/

What if the biggest difference between a great performance and a poor one isn’t your ability, but the mindset you bring into the moment?

Dan Abrahams, sport and performance psychologist, has spent the last 20 years working with some of the best sports competitors in the world, including as consultant psychologist for Aston Martin F1, Lead Psychologist for England Golf and England Rugby, and psychologist at six Premier League clubs. He is the author of four bestselling books, including Soccer Tough, which Gareth Bale credits with changing his life.

In this episode, we explore why the psychology of elite sport has so much to teach us about performance in the corporate world, why elite performers are often the ones most at risk of burnout, the three pillars Dan uses to build sustainable high performance, and why you cannot force a great performance no matter how much pressure you put on yourself. Dan breaks down his game face technique for building instant confidence under pressure, explains why establishing meaning beyond your career is essential before a major transition, and shows how the exact same mental frameworks used by elite athletes apply directly to boardrooms, client meetings, and high-stakes negotiations.

This episode is about performance psychology, burnout, confidence, identity, and why the pressure to perform perfectly is often what stops you from performing well.

 

Timestamp

00:00 Intro

04:14 Why the greatest performers are most at risk of burnout

09:55 How to balance ambition with rest and recovery

10:48 The three Ms: mindset, mastery, and management

16:19 Navigating identity transitions and retirement

23:06 Using purpose to build a deeper sense of meaning

25:54 Managing performance anxiety and sleep before a big day

38:00 Overcoming imposter syndrome and confidence erosion

39:01 The game face technique for instant confidence

53:58 Why visualisation can feel uncomfortable and how to use it anyway

 

What We Cover

How to build a high-performance mindset without becoming consumed by outcomes

The role of rest and recovery in sustainable performance

How to create your own Game Face for high-pressure situations

Using visualization and mental rehearsal without making it feel “woo-woo”

What elite sports psychology can teach lawyers, executives, investors and other high performers

What sports psychology actually involves, beyond just mindset

Why the hardest workers and most intense competitors are often the most burnout-prone

The difference between practising and performing, and why corporate life is performance-heavy

The three Ms framework

 

Key Takeaways

You cannot force performance and you cannot control outcomes. You can only control your mindset going in.

Quality beats quantity. Mastery comes from purposeful, deliberate practice, not simply doing more.

Recovery is part of performance. Rest and recuperation are essential to sustaining high performance.

Build multiple sources of meaning. Your profession can be central to your identity without becoming your entire identity.

Create a Game Face. Define the qualities you want to embody under pressure, then use them as a practical performance blueprint.

Your psychology is embodied. Confidence and mindset show up in how you move, communicate, decide and execute.

 

Guest Resources

Check Dan’s website: https://danabrahams.com

Listen to The Sport Psych Show podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Pf4uOIQJhbel1kYNzz39z

Get Dan’s new book, Compete: https://hawksmoorpublishing.com/book/compete-developing-a-mental-playbook-for-performance-under-pressure-in-sport-dan-abraham

 

Connect With Me
🌍 Website: https://charlenegisele.com
📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/charlenegisele
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlène-gisèle-bourliout/
✉️ Subscribe to my Life Less Burnt Out Newsletter: https://charlenegisele.com/newsletter/

What if your pursuit of better health, performance, and longevity could actually become another form of stress?

In this episode, Salim Najjar, founder of The HRV Guy, brings the lens of an engineer to the human nervous system, guiding CEOs, founders, and elite performers toward nervous system sovereignty using heart rate variability as the compass. After raising his own HRV from 32 to over 100, he created the A.R.T. of the Heart framework, a path to turning stress into an ally rather than an enemy.

After years of pushing his body through intense biohacking, minimal sleep, endurance training, fasting, and relentless optimisation, Salim experienced burnout and discovered HRV as a completely different way of understanding his body. What began as an obsession with optimising a number on a wearable eventually became a practice of listening to his nervous system rather than trying to control it.

This episode is about HRV, burnout, biohacking, nervous system health, and why your body's wisdom is the only guru you will ever need.

 

Timestamp

00:00 Intro

04:06 Salim's transition from corporate to nervous system work

05:27 Losing his father and the roots of his type A drive

07:48 Launching a beverage company and discovering biohacking

10:04 Finding HRV and the science of cellular inflammation

17:50 What HRV actually measures and why it matters

25:11 The five pathways and Salim's HRV journey from 30 to 170

39:44 Pathway one: sleep as the foundation

43:14 Pathway three: reframing and the shoulder dislocation story

47:38 Pathway four: intentionality and purpose

52:36 How to apply the five pathways as a busy executive

58:06 How long to track HRV and which device to use

 

What We Cover

The hidden downside of extreme biohacking

Why high achievers can become addicted to optimisation

How burnout can happen even when you're “doing everything for your health”

What HRV is and why it can be useful

How to use HRV as a language rather than a performance metric

The five pathways of nervous system sovereignty

How hormetic stress can build nervous system capacity

The power of reframing difficult experiences

How community and relationships influence nervous system health

How to use wearables without becoming obsessed with the data

 

Key Takeaways

Chronic stress is the leading cause of cellular inflammation, which drives most aging and disease.

HRV is a language your nervous system speaks to you, not a score to compare against anyone else.

Your relationship to a stressful event can change your physiology as much as the event itself.

A minimum of three months of consistent tracking is needed before HRV data becomes genuinely useful.

The best HRV device is the one you will actually wear consistently, not the most accurate one.

Sleep creates the foundation. Hormetic stress builds capacity. Reframing changes your relationship with reality. Intention creates alignment. Community amplifies it.

 

Guest Resources

Take Salim's free HRV archetype quiz: https://thathrvguy.com/hrv-quiz

Explore Salim's courses and coaching: https://thathrvguy.com/offerings

 

Connect With Me
🌍 Website: https://charlenegisele.com
📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/charlenegisele
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlène-gisèle-bourliout/
✉️ Subscribe to my Life Less Burnt Out Newsletter: https://charlenegisele.com/newsletter/

You built the career, the title, and the financial independence you always wanted. But did anyone ever tell you what that timeline was costing you biologically?

Dr. Sasha Hakman, double board-certified OB-GYN and Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility specialist, helps driven, career-focused women understand their fertility before it is too late to act on it.

We explore why so many ambitious women delay motherhood without understanding the trade-off, why female age remains the single biggest predictor of reproductive success, and what it means to plan your fertility the same way you plan your career. Dr. Hakman breaks down egg freezing versus embryo freezing, shares her own fertility journey as a career-driven physician, and explains the regret she hears most often in her practice.

This episode is about fertility, career and motherhood, egg freezing, and why understanding your own biology is one of the most powerful things a high-achieving woman can do for her future.

 

Timestamp

00:00 Intro

03:07 Sasha's mission and who she helps

04:04 What infertility actually means

06:13 The main causes of infertility and how they have evolved

11:43 Why women are trying to conceive later than ever

17:25 Why female age matters and why that is not anti-feminist

22:27 Egg freezing versus embryo freezing explained

28:36 The right age to consider egg freezing

33:29 The most common regrets Sasha hears from patients

36:43 How to get a fertility evaluation

37:31 The biggest lesson from Sasha's own fertility journey

 

What We Cover

What infertility means medically and how the definition has recently changed

The most common physiological causes of infertility, including PMOS (formerly known as PCOS) and endometriosis

Why the rate of infertility has increased significantly in just a few years

The real physiological trade-offs in delaying motherhood for career reasons

The biological reason egg quality and quantity decline with age

The real difference between freezing eggs and freezing embryos

Who is and is not a good candidate for egg freezing at different ages

The regrets a fertility doctor hears most often from patients in her practice

Why a fertility evaluation before trying to conceive can save time and heartbreak

How to stay emotionally grounded while going through fertility treatment

 

Key Takeaways

Female age is the single biggest predictor of reproductive success.

You are born with all the eggs you will ever have, and egg quality declines well before quantity runs out.

Freezing your eggs gives you full autonomy over your future fertility, regardless of what happens in a relationship.

At 43, it typically takes around 50 eggs to produce one chromosomally normal embryo.

Unexplained infertility affects 15 to 20 percent of couples, and around 40 percent of those cases trace back to endometriosis.

Guest Resources

Learn more about Dr. Sasha Hakman: https://www.sashahakmanmd.com/

Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sashahakmanmd/

 

Connect With Me
🌍 Website: https://charlenegisele.com
📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/charlenegisele
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlène-gisèle-bourliout/
✉️ Subscribe to my Life Less Burnt Out Newsletter: https://charlenegisele.com/newsletter/

When did you last feel truly rested, not just physically, but in every part of who you are?

Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, board-certified internal medicine physician, speaker, and bestselling author of Sacred Rest, shares the framework that has helped over 500,000 people identify and recover from the specific types of rest their body and mind are missing.

We explore why sleep alone cannot solve the kind of exhaustion most high performers carry, how rest deficits show up differently depending on who you are and the work you do, and why so many driven professionals are producing at a high level while running dangerously close to empty. Dr. Dalton-Smith breaks down all seven types of rest, from physical and mental to emotional, social, creative, sensory, and spiritual, and explains what depletion in each area actually looks and feels like.

This episode is about rest, burnout, performance, recovery, and why learning to restore yourself is one of the most strategic things a high achiever can do.

 

Timestamp

00:00 Intro

03:10 Why rest is not the same as sleep

04:43 The seven types of rest and why they matter

08:51 Rest deficits, anxiety, and burnout

15:29 How to identify your personal rest deficit

19:06 Rest needs in relationships and couples

27:07 Breaking down each type of rest: where to start

27:31 Physical rest: signs, symptoms, and how to recover

32:12 Mental rest deficit and how to quiet a busy brain

46:09 Emotional rest and the cost of professional emotional labour

49:35 The difference between trauma dumping and emotional rest

50:28 Creative rest and why it matters for leaders

55:19 Spiritual rest and reconnecting with purpose

57:33 Sensory rest and digital overload

 

What We Cover

Why sleeping and resting are not the same thing, and why that distinction matters

The seven types of rest and what depletion in each area looks like in real life

What physical rest actually involves beyond sleep, including body ergonomics and movement

Why mental rest is often the area where high achievers are most depleted

How emotional labour at work creates a hidden rest debt that follows you home

The difference between trauma dumping and true emotional rest

Why creative rest is relevant for leaders even if they do not consider themselves creative

What spiritual rest means for people without a religious practice

How sensory overload compounds burnout, especially for neurodivergent high performers

 

Key Takeaways

Sleep cannot fix a creative, emotional, or social rest deficit. You need the right type of rest, not just more rest.

Lying down is physical rest. But if your brain is still running, you are not mentally resting.

Your area of daily struggle is often a direct signal of where your rest deficit is.

Identifying your partner's rest needs is as important as knowing their love language.

You can be visible without posting anything yourself. Engagement matters as much as output.

True self-care is not pampering. It is knowing yourself well enough to protect what you need.

 

Guest Resources

Take the free rest deficit quiz: https://RestQuiz.com

Get the Sacred Rest book by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith: https://amzn.to/4jwa8xN

Visit Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith’s website: https://DrDaltonSmith.com

 

Connect With Me

🌍 Website: https://charlenegisele.com

📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/charlenegisele

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlène-gisèle-bourliout/

✉️ Subscribe to my Life Less Burnt Out Newsletter: https://charlenegisele.com/newsletter/