Mindfulness, Medicine & the Biology of Stress explores how meditation can change our relationship to stress, support the body's natural healing systems, and help us live with more presence, compassion, and ease.
In this episode of The FitMind Podcast, we sit down with Craig Hassed, MD, physician, educator, and mindfulness expert, to examine the science and practice of mind-body medicine. Drawing from decades of clinical work, teaching, and contemplative practice, Craig explains how chronic stress creates physiological wear and tear in the body, known as allostatic load, and why learning to return to the present moment can have effects far beyond feeling calmer.
The conversation explores how mindfulness may influence inflammation, immune function, gene expression, and biological aging, including research on telomeres and the body's stress circuitry. Craig also discusses why informal mindfulness in daily life may be just as important as formal meditation practice, especially when we are caught in worry, pressure, or mental projections about the future.
Topics include:
- How mindfulness became part of the medical curriculum at Monash University
- Why chronic stress creates wear and tear on the body
- What allostatic load means for health and aging
- How meditation may affect inflammation, immunity, and gene expression
- The relationship between mindfulness and telomeres
- Why presence can improve focus, performance, and flow
- The difference between empathy, empathic distress, and compassion
- Why compassion may protect against burnout
- How mindfulness can support doctors, patients, students, and everyday life
- The question of consciousness and whether it may be more fundamental than matter
A practical and wide-ranging conversation for anyone interested in the medical science of mindfulness, the biology of stress, or how contemplative practice can support resilience, compassion, and human flourishing.
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Show Notes
0:00 | Introduction to Dr. Craig Hassed
3:23 | Discovering meditation without a teacher
9:18 | Bringing mindfulness into clinical medicine
10:21 | Teaching mindfulness to medical students
15:10 | How chronic stress affects the body
15:56 | Understanding allostatic load
20:57 | Epigenetics, inflammation, and immune function
22:42 | Meditation, telomeres, and biological aging
26:17 | How much meditation is enough?
29:18 | Formal practice vs. mindfulness in daily life
31:17 | The growth of mindfulness research
36:54 | The ESSENCE model of health
38:56 | Choosing the right meditation practice
41:47 | How the mind creates unnecessary stress
45:21 | Mindfulness, performance, and flow states
51:21 | Mindfulness education and human flourishing
52:40 | Technology, isolation, and genuine connection
1:00:43 | Empathy, empathic distress, and compassion
1:01:42 | Why compassion may protect against burnout
1:06:16 | Is consciousness more fundamental than matter?
1:07:10 | Can consciousness be scientifically measured?
1:08:33 | Craig's daily practice and rapid-fire questions
1:09:15 | Final thoughts
