NFSHW23: Protecting Your Brain from Stress

Recorded On: 09/22/2023

Summary: It’s no surprise that farmers’ behavioral health is positively correlated with crop production and healthy animals. But what happens when markets swing, there’s a drought, feed prices go sky-high, and you can’t find good employees?

Stress. It’s the body’s reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response. Stress creates chemical reactions in our bodies, and cortisol is released, our blood thickens, our blood pressure increases, and more. Chronic stress can lead to your brain shrinking from the constant flow of cortisol. This clearly illustrates why we need to find ways to release cortisol to protect our brain. Science shows that ongoing stress can negatively impact: your brain size and how it functions, the way your children and grandchildren are genetically equipped to handle stressors, and your susceptibility to depression or Alzheimer’s. The solutions are not complicated but are often overlooked. Michele helps you understand tools like rest, exercise, nutrition, and the value of including stress management as a part of their business.

Intended Audience: Farmers, agribusiness, ranchers, farm/ranch families, and agricultural organizations

Objectives: At the end of this webinar, participants will be …

Empowered to assess their chronic stress risks.
Equipped with practical ideas from those in agriculture with lived experience.
Provided with SMART approach to proactively plan for stress.
Inspired to understand why agriculture must include a stress management plan in best business practices.

Michele Payn, CSP

Certified Speaking Professional

Michele Payn wrangles cattle, kids, words, and stubborn farmers. She is a lifetime Holstein breeder, an avid Spartan living on an Indiana farm with her ‘city slicker’ husband, and a mom chasing her runner daughter around the country. Michele has raised millions of dollars for FFA and 4-H, worked with farmers and ranchers in more than 25 countries and built a business to serve the people of agriculture for 22 years, earning the Certified Speaking Professional designation given to only 900 people in the world.

Michele works to help to normalize that stress is a part of agriculture. She works to help people better understand the science of how our brain naturally responds to the stress - and what we can do to better care for the people of agricuture. She is an international columnist in AgDaily and Progressive Dairy, on stress management for farmers, ranchers, and agribusinesses and created Agriculture’s Growth Calendar as a tool to help people proactively manage stress.

She grows understanding around food and farming by connecting on an emotional level, communicating science through story, and creating hope one conversation at a time. Her speaking programs, podcast, and award-winning books – Food Bullying, Food Truths from Farm to Table, and No More Food Fights! – offer a unique look at the intersection of brains, behavior, and building connections. Payn brings practical examples people can use at home and in helping others.