Dr. Jemma King is a stress, sleep and recovery expert with a PhD in Human Behavior. She is a Fellow at the UQ School of Psychology and conducts research on the impact of psychophysiological factors on cognitive and behavioral performance, specifically in the areas of stress, sleep, recovery protocols, biometrics, and emotional intelligence. She works as a specialist external advisor to McKinsey & Co and has consulted with the Australian Defense Force, the Centre for Australian Army Leadership, the Australian Institute of Sport, and the Australian Olympic Swim Team.

In episode three of "Experts Unleashed," Atlassian's Dom Price chats with Jemma about the power our thoughts and habits have over our physical and mental health. They discuss the superpower of sleep consistency and dive into why we need to do our best to keep cortisol levels down. Jemma opens her bag of tricks and shares how you can create a healthier life through a few simple hacks.

They also discuss the "My User Manual" Play from Atlassian's Team Playbook. It's an exercise designed to help leaders share with their teams, and teammates to share with other teammates HOW they work. Think of it like this: when you buy a TV, it comes with a User Manual. But when you hire a human, there's no such helpful guidance. Ben takes us through his User Manual and how he finds balance and facilitates effective communication in his life.

More about Experts Unleashed

The world feels full of thought leadership and frameworks, when we’re actually hungry for lived experience, science, and pragmatic insights. Experts Unleashed seeks out amazing minds from their specialty fields and brings them to you, to unleash their wisdom in a way that will help you put it in action. Each episode aims to educate, provoke, inspire, and then activate… to give you the confidence to try someone new.

In this episode:

• Atlassian Team Playbook: https://www.atlassian.com/team-playbook/plays/my-user-manual
• Charity: https://www.zero79foundation.com/about-us

Chapters:

00:00-01:41 Introduction

01:42-03:54 Who is Jemma King

03:55-06:09 Growing up in hotels

06:10-07:54 Running a nightclub in Moscow

07:55-12:17 What is it you actually do?

12:18-16:49 Psychophysiology: the impact of your mind on your body

16:50-18:34 If you can’t look after yourself, you can’t look after others

18:35-20:17 The power of sleep consistency

20:18-23:09 Gut biome and your mental health

23:10-23:59 Move your body to change your outlook

24:00-26:49 Oxytocin fights back cortisol

26:50-28:44 Get the “teachers’ mindset”

28:45-36:42 Projecting negative thoughts and cortisol

36:43-38:26 The positive aspects of stress

38:27-40:09 Your thoughts determine your immune function

40:10-42:09 Is exercise the cure for stress?

42:10-44:59 Match your rest to your stress

45:00-49:50 Sleep is the #1 non-drug performance enhancer

49:51-53:53 Hacks for knowledge workers

53:54-56:28 Hacks for frequent travelers

56:28-58:53 Zero 79 Foundation Fund