185. Dr. Neha Sangwan: The 5 Questions That Predict a Health Crisis Before It Happens

I have operated on patients whose bodies had been sending them warning signals for years before a crisis ever put them in front of me. Stress alone causes or worsens more than 80 percent of the illness I see, and most of it traces back to one skill almost nobody was ever taught: how to actually listen to their own body.

We dive deeper into this in the Extend Podcast with Dr. Neha Sangwan. We also chat about the five questions she asks every patient before sending them home, why your boss has more influence on your health than your doctor does, and the five levels of connection that determine whether a relationship heals you or drains you.

Dr. Neha Sangwan is an internal medicine physician and former hospitalist who also trained as a mechanical and biomedical engineer. She is the founder and CEO of Intuitive Intelligence, where she works as an executive health and performance coach for corporate leaders and their teams. She is the author of TalkRx: Five Steps to Honest Conversations that Create Connection, Health, and Happiness, and Powered by Me: From Burned Out to Fully Charged at Work and in Life.

What We Discuss:

• (1:09) Why training as both a mechanical engineer and a physician led straight to burnout at 34.

• (2:29) The Awareness Prescription: the five questions she asks every patient the night before discharge.

• (9:59) The Body Map: how physical signals are data your doctor never sees.

• (16:54) Why your leader has more influence on your health than your doctor does.

• (22:48) The five-step framework for walking into any hard conversation clearly and calmly.

• (30:34) The five-hour shift and the question from a nurse that first told her she was burning out.

• (34:13) Net gain versus net drain: mapping where your energy leaks and where it grows.

• (40:07) The five levels of exchange, from broken to sacred.

Thank You to Our Sponsors:

Next Health Longevity Summit: Head to next-health.com/summit to secure your spot at the first ever Next Health Longevity Summit in Nashville on 9/12.

Function Health: Learn more and join using my link. Visit www.functionhealth.com/drshah and use gift code DRSHAH25 for a $25 credit toward your membership.

Learn more about Dr. Shah:

Website: drshah.com

Clinic: next-health.com

Instagram: @darshanshahmd

Learn more about Dr. Neha Sangwan:

Website: intuitiveintelligenceinc.com/

Instagram: @doctorneha

LinkedIn: drnehasangwan

Book: intuitiveintelligenceinc.com/powered-by-me/