Health Hacktivators With Dr Alka Patel – Scott Mitchell On Age, Alcohol And Alzheimers

You're listening to Health Hacktivators with me, Dr. Alka Patel, on the Woman's Radio Station. Before we get into today's conversation, please do support today's show sponsor, Youth and Earth. Youth and Earth have a range of products that I love to use myself to supercharge my metabolism, to support my health, and to slow down cellular aging. So just be sure you click the link in the show notes for exclusive offers which Youth and Earth are so generously giving only for for listeners of this show. Welcome to Health Hacktivators with lifestyle medicine doctor, GP, and longevity expert Dr. Alok Patel. This show will help you to discover a hidden health hacking code that unlocks your phenomenal potential for an outstanding healthspan, lifespan, and wealthspan. The show features candid conversations with celebrities, influencers, and industry icons, real-life stories, and cutting-edge health hacktivating advice that other doctors might not tell you. Discover why now is the time to join the strategic self-care revolution and experience the profound effects this will have on your personal and professional success. Now, here is your host, Dr. Alka Patel. Hi, hey, and hello, Health Activators. On today's show, I have with me Scott Mitchell. Scott is the other half of the very much loved Dame Barbara Windsor, who arguably is one of Britain's favorite icons of both the stage and the screen. And of course, she sadly did pass away in 2020. On the show, Scott and I are talking about his relationship with Dame Barbara and all the love and support that they had for each other, despite really strong criticism and trolling that Scott received, all down to people's perceptions about age and about money as well. And then due to all these pressures and Scott's own addiction to alcohol and drugs, well, it got worse quite early on in their marriage. But then, with Barbara's love, with her devotion, with her support, and with his very own promise to himself, Scott talks about how he managed to kick his addiction, and he's now been sober for 21 years. 21 years of sobriety. We're talking about addiction in the show today. Staying sober, please welcome Scott Mitchell. So welcome to the show, Scott. I am so, so delighted to be chatting with you today. Thank you so much, Dr. Patel-Eizen. It's a real, real privilege to be here on the show with you. Thank you. Wonderful. I know we've got lots and lots to talk about, but I want to start at a point in time. So I want to take you back in time. So let's go back 21 years. Let's go back to the 2nd of January, 2002, and you wake up and you're smiling. But tell us about this day. I'm not too sure whether I was actually smiling on that morning. I think the look was most likely more terror on my face on that morning. And the reason that that day is so significant to me is because it's the day I got sober. Which is 21 years ago, and it's the last time, you know, the day before was the last time that I had any alcohol in my system or any drugs in my system. And that was a massive turning point in my life. And, you know, I was 38 and a half years of age by then, and I feel like my real life began at that turning point when I finally had the courage to walk into a self-help meeting and say the words, "Please, can you help me? My name's Scott, I'm an alcoholic." And from then on, things started to change slowly, but you know, but you have to go through the early part to get the benefits later on, which, you know, I feel I've done. Wow. And there's so much about that moment in time, isn't it? There's a— it's a date that everyone remembers when they are talking about sobriety and a moment in time and reflecting back on that. But you talked about terror. I think, yeah, because I think that's what alcohol and drugs bring with them. Yeah. You know, in the moment, that moment when we're all out. And I think I have to say, it's very important for me to say, this doesn't apply to everyone. That there are certain people that can quite happily drink, they know when they've had enough, it doesn't affect their life in any way, and they can do it. There are others like myself who can't do that. They use alcohol or drugs for different purposes, to make themselves feel stronger or more confident. So for me, it's something that I only talk about from a personal experience. And for me, it brought a lot of anxiety. The day after I'd had a heavy session drinking, or whether it had been, you know, over a period of time where I was drinking maybe, you know, quite a few times during the week, I'd wake up with the most terrible anxiety, the most terrible fear. Uh, you know those things when you wake up and you think, oh no, what did I say? You know, what did I do? Oh God, that's not me. Why was I like that? And I think, you know, you carry that hangover with you much more than just a pounding head. You know, it affects your mental well-being as well. So for me, it was learning to live life without, let's say, a crutch. Which it had become to me, most certainly. And when I say that, that's because that would be feelings of self-doubt, that would be feelings of low self-worth that I always had, feelings of fear that I'd always carried, maybe from a child. Yeah. All these things, as an adult, I was trying to cover up and feel on par with everyone else. Hmm. So when you go back to when you first started drinking, because nobody first starts that first sip of alcohol that first time you have a drink thinking this is going to be a problem? No, absolutely no. My first drink, I thought I'd found the solution. It was totally the opposite for me. So I didn't start drinking till I was 18, which is quite interesting. So a lot of people do start a lot younger. Yeah, I've heard. Um, it's actually the official age when you may have a drink legally in this country, in the UK, would you believe, is the age of 5. Yeah, and it doesn't make sense, does it? Absolutely. So I was actually 18, and I do remember the first night that I did drink, I felt like— if we can imagine that this anxiety and worry that I used to carry around, which I think so many of us do, you know, that voice in our head continually telling us things, you know, that, oh, you're not quite as good as that person, or you don't fit in quite as well here or there. And I had a lot of that. But when I had my first sips of alcohol and it started to take effect, it was almost like I felt like I'd had a straitjacket on all my life, and suddenly I could breathe. And this alcohol made me relax. It made me feel totally on level with everyone else. I really felt that I fitted in, and it gave me this confidence that I'd never had. And so I thought, you know, that was it. I'd found the— I'd found the remedy for the rest of my life, this, this friend called alcohol for me. Yeah, yeah. And why wouldn't you want that to continue, right? When you've got that sense of this is the confidence, I can step into a room, I can, I can get to the dizzy heights of feeling good about myself. Of course you want that. And at that point, of course, you know, when you go back to what's fueling that, that's partly that's our kind of survival mechanism. We're designed to find pleasure. Yes. Because it gives us so much. We're designed to move away from pain. And of course, the society that we're living in now, alcohol can feel like a quick fix, can't it? So when did you know for you that this was a problem? I would say the problem started quite a few years later, but I never, I never drank normally even from that first time, because I can remember that I was physically ill about 3 or 4 times that night. So that became a habit for me. It's what I look back on. I kind of look at it as a liquid bulimia, to be quite honest with you. Psychologically, if I would throw up, if I would vomit, no one would know. I'd be well prepared. I'd have my chewing gum, my mouth spray, everything else. No one would be aware of what was happening to me, but I would disappear. 3 or 4 times during a night, this would happen to me, but psychologically I would be saying to myself, "Great, there's more room to drink now," and that's how I would look at it. So there was an abnormality for me straight away, as far as I'm concerned. As we progressed, as my drinking kind of continued, I realized that I had quite a capacity for drinking. I didn't drink normally, and I didn't have an off button. That was the other thing. Some people have it— you hear people, they will always say to me, "Oh no, this little bell goes off in my head," and I think, "Right, you need to stop now. You need to either go home or start drinking water." I didn't have that. I just— the more oblivion that was coming my way, the better it felt. So there was a problem, I'd say, that I realized within a couple of years, but you just continue, you just do it. It was when I guess blackouts started happening that I really started to think to myself, whoa, you are not a normal drinker. You don't drink like a normal person, Scott. Because I always felt when people used to say, I can't remember what happened last night, I always used to think, oh, that's very convenient, isn't it? That means that you've obviously got up to something you don't want to remember. I don't want to admit. Yeah. And yeah, and so you say, oh no, I don't remember, where was I? When it actually started happening to me, I thought it was the most terrifying feeling in the world to open your eyes, look around, have no recollection of actually where you had been, sometimes not even recognizing your own room. And that's when we— that's when it turns into a much different aspect, and it's no longer an enjoyment, it's no longer an asset to you, and it's now becoming a destructive part of your life that you're also relying on. And I'm so glad that you're, you're raising this, Scott, because I, I know there's going to be listeners here who are really going to resonate with some of your words as well. Although you say it's an individual experience, there is also some commonality in this sense of denial. So all those telltale signs will have been there for quite some time before that big Beast arrived and resulted in blackouts. But even people who are blacking out, or I can't remember anything that went on last night, there's two ways of looking at that. There'll be some who'll be listening and thinking, well, that was a fun night and I blacked out and ha ha ha. And there's another group who'll be thinking, that's awful. I've lost those hours in my life that I can't gain back. And so, it's about perspective-taking as well, so that you're really honest with yourself, because there is something about a need to be honest with yourself when it comes to alcohol, because it's ingrained in everything, isn't it? It's ingrained in, in celebration, it's ingrained in commiseration, it's just ingrained in the world that we're living in. Yeah, totally. And, and also, you know, I think, Dr. Clare, you're quite right about honesty. And I, I think one of the things that I learned about getting sober— and I got sober twice— I, the first time I got sober was for 18 months And then I relapsed for another 3 years. And when I relapsed, believe me, the boundaries just expanded. You know, if I thought the first time was bad, then it got really scary the second 3 years. The honesty comes with talking about how you feel. And I think that so many people find that difficult to do. And I guess, you know, there's that sense that maybe for men it can feel a little bit harder because, you know, to me, what man wants to kind of sit down and say, "Actually, I feel scared a lot of the time." I mean, that's not really what you want to hear your man say, is it? So you hide it, so you hide behind it. And I think there's a real strength when you can embrace all of those things about yourself that you may not be proud of. I am proud now of who I am. I, I, I love the fact that I can be a very sensitive man. I, I can cry very easily. Uh, I can laugh deep down from within me, um, because I genuinely find things funny. And of course, I can still feel on various times and days incredibly scared about something, and that's okay as well. You know, I'm nearly 60, but there are days when I feel like a little boy, and I do feel scared, but it's okay. That's just part of being human. That's what I've learned, and to not punish myself for that, but to be a bit more compassionate with myself. Oh, you're making me sort of pause and almost want you to say all of that again, because those are words that really do need to be heard out loud. And I want to bring in here then, if I may, Scott, is your Lovely Barbara. Yeah. My life. Yes. And there's something I've heard you say as well about, about her and that's about her honesty. And I've heard you say that she always said that she had to be very honest herself because she was a very honest person because she had to look in the mirror at herself and had to have that ownership of herself. Yeah, and I think that, you know, Barbara is the person who's had the biggest impact on my life, and in so many ways. I mean, certainly, you know, when she said that to me, of course, that was, that was kind of a bit later in our relationship, but I always knew that's who she was. You know, I'd read two of her autobiographies, of which one I was included in, but I, you know, that's what made first made me say, why do you feel you have to be so honest? And, and she's right, you know, we can pretend to be whoever we want to other people, but at some point you have to look in that mirror at yourself and say, am I being true to myself? And I, and I think, you know, you're the person that you have to be true to, because you're the person that you go through life with. There's no doubt about that. And she taught me So many different things. She taught me about unconditional love, um, which maybe I, I didn't really have a good idea about before I met Barbara. And, you know, all those life lessons that she had. She was a, she was a very, very lovely human being. She really, she really was. She wasn't without her faults like any of us, and she was the first to admit to those. And I kind of loved her even more for that because she wasn't this perfect woman, and she'd be the first to admit where she'd kind of gone astray. Or, you know, when I say gone astray, I mean the mistakes in her life. Or, you know, she would really be the first one to fess up to that and say, look, this is who I am. It may not be perfect, but I'm not a bad person. And, and, and, you know, and I, I learned a lot about myself through her. Wow, a beautiful person. And, and this comes through in your book as well, My Life Loving Barbara Windsor, which is such a gorgeous account of your relationship and your journey. But I am curious, why, why did you write the book? Why did I write it? That also stemmed from a conversation that Barbara and I had. And this was kind of— she always used to say it, but she said it just after her diagnosis of Alzheimer's. And she said to me, said, listen, love, one day when I'm not here, she said, they're gonna ask you to write a book about us. She said, and Scott, do it. She said, I know you'll do a good book, but you must promise me that you'll be honest when you do it. And that, that is what I've done with this book. I think, you know, maybe some people who read it thought, oh goodness, he's been really candid about himself, about their relationship and everything else. That was very important to me. And she also said, because if you don't do our story, someone else will. Yeah. And then that will be put out there in someone else's version, which will be picked up from a bit of gossip here and a bit of hearsay there. Just do our story, you know. We— and we do have had a beautiful, beautiful story against all odds. Our relationship was— we had the 26-year age gap, you know. We had, we had a lot of kind of people commenting on us, and me especially when we first met. There was, there was a lot of things said, uh, and, you know, and I found that really hard to deal with as well. Hence, you know, That's where my alcohol intake really took off again, was dealing with, you know, just walking in somewhere knowing that a lot of people were going to turn around and stare and snigger or whisper, which is what we faced quite a lot of. I mean, you know, thank goodness towards the end we did have a 27-year relationship together, and towards the end, of course, people got used to the fact that we were together and genuinely loved each other, and that's why we were together. So, so yeah, I wanted to set the record straight myself, and, and didn't— I didn't want to do a complete fairy tale because it wasn't always a complete fairy tale. And most people who read it say to me, oh, thank you, you know, it's not just us that goes through all those things in our relationship and our, and our life. So, so yeah, I'm I did it. I found it very cathartic. I found it painful at times to go over because I've always kept diaries as well. So I had a lot of detail and a lot of kind of sense memory came back to me recalling some of the stories that I was doing. But I think in the long run, I'm really pleased that I've done it now. And that's it. It's done. Yes. And so are lots of other people because through that, back to ownership, you and Barbara both saying we're taking ownership of sharing our journey the way we experienced it, not the way anyone else chose to see it. And, and there was a lot of trolling through your relationship, wasn't there? And the hardships that, that happened as a result of that. But how old were you when you met? You were 29 at the time. Take us back to that moment. I, I was 29. I'd been out of drama school for a year. I was living in London, but my family— I grew up down in Hove in Sussex. I went to see Mum and Dad. They were old friends of Barbara's. My mum and Barbara went to dancing school together when they were 11. Over the years, they'd kept in touch. Mum had invited Barbara over to dinner on her night off from her pantomime in Brighton. She said, "Why don't you join us?" which I didn't really want to do. I'm really honest. I said, well, yeah, it's all very nice, but I'd rather not. Anyway, I did stay. You know, that was the sliding doors moment. I did stay, and we just really hit it off, and over the next few months got to know each other. But I was 29. I looked younger at the time, and when Barbara answered the door, she kind of said, oh, I'm not ready, you'll have to come in. But she was ready. Yeah, she was complete— she was completely ready. And she told me after she wanted to get a better look at me because she wasn't sure how old I was. She thought I was about 19. Um, but of course, when I said I was 29, I think she kind of went, oh well, okay, it's not as bad as I thought. Yeah, so it was an amazing thing. And Barbara was very, very young at heart. I mean, she was 56 when we met, but she certainly didn't look it. She certainly didn't behave it. She had this incredibly young way about her. I mean, anyone who's worked with her, younger people will all say she was like one of them. You know, she was this, I don't know, just vibrant and ageless person that was fun to be around, but, you know, good to talk to, really good to talk to. Oh, I love that you've called her ageless because we talk about that a lot on this show as well, and that sense of vitality and vibrancy and energy and connection that, uh, that you have when you, when you are that, when you have that vitality of your youth, which Barbara certainly, certainly had as well, didn't she? Was, was she a drinker, Scott? Did she— did you drink together? We drank together, yeah. Barbara was, um, Barbara always enjoyed a drink, you know, there's no doubt about it. I think from her late teens, let's say, into her early cabaret days and everything, you know, she was the life and soul of the party, and she could knock them back with the best of them. Um, you know, certainly we would keep up with each other, especially during those early years. And but we had— we did have a lot of fun, you know. I can't look back and say that every time I had a night out drinking it was a nightmare, because no, it wasn't always a nightmare. I mean, when we first met, there was not enough bars for us to go out to and we never wanted the night to end. And we did, we had a real giggle when we met really, like, fun, interesting people, and things were really good. But in actual fact, Barbara herself had to get sober, not because she had a problem, but a year after I got sober this time, Barbara had a virus called the Epstein-Barr virus, and she had to come out of EastEnders for a year. And that was the first time I really had to care for her because she literally for 6 months could not get out of bed. Her body just gave in. It's very much like an ME-related illness. And after that, she suddenly had an aversion to drink. And it was really strange. And I said to her, "Look, please don't do this because of me." I said, "I don't expect you or anyone else to have to stop drinking." just because I can't drink anymore. And she said, Scott, I swear to you, she said, I put it— I put the glass to my mouth, I can't bear the smell and I can't bear the taste. So something happened within her. So she most likely— Barbara spent the last, let's say, 19, 20 years of her own life without drinking, which wasn't a bad thing. Not at all. And that's so interesting because Epstein-Barr virus also interestingly has an impact on the liver. And when you try and again piece together those signals, you know, she was noticing something and chose to take note rather than push through and drink again. But I think that's the important thing is that something did change because of that very experience. And look, you know, thank goodness you were in a sober period in your life to be able to care for her at that time. Yeah, definitely. And I can remember asking myself a question at that point. Because I really was, you know, having to care for her night and day, do everything, do all the cooking, which eventually would happen again later in life. But I remember saying to myself at one point, "Is this what I got sober for, to be doing all this?" And then I remember kind of saying to myself, "Actually, yeah, that's exactly so that you're present, so that you're responsible, so that you can be here to to do this for someone you love, and it's not about you and your life falling to pieces with all your little dramas that are going on. And of course, later on, when Barbara's Alzheimer's started taking hold, caring became, of course, another very big part of me. I think none of us are prepared to be carers. To that extent, unless we're trained to be, and most of us are not. I think caring for a loved one, whatever the illness may be, is possibly one of the most difficult things that we can do, because you have that emotional involvement which is hurting you to see them go through whatever it is they're going through, and you also have your own inner battle going on of, "Can I do this?" 'Am I doing this right?' And of course there is no right or wrong. I think the common thing I hear with carers is kind of exactly the same thing that I would do at first, was really beat myself up. And if I got things wrong, I'd say, 'Oh God, what is wrong with you?' You know, she couldn't help the fact that she's repeated that 15 times in a night. Why did you have to get irritable? Well, eventually I realized I got irritable because I'm human as well, and it's a very difficult thing, a very challenging thing, especially with dementia. Yeah, you know, you are going to face things that are not rational anymore, of course, and your loved ones saying things. And you also find— I found anyway, personally— you, you find a real strength within yourself things that you didn't know you were capable of, uh, in a way, to care for someone. You— and it comes from love, of course, it comes from love. Yeah. I mean, I want to come back to all of this 100%, but I just— let me just close that piece on sobriety because you said something so, so important, and I don't want that to get lost, is at the time it's easy to think, why am I doing this? Why am I putting myself through all of this and all the pain? And it's difficult. You started off this conversation about terror. It's terrifying, and you understand, why do I even have to get sober? Why is this an essential thing? And that answer isn't always there immediately, is it? But it came for you. It came 6 months later. You realized why. Yes. And I think that's an important message for people listening, is don't look for the why straight away. No, no. Because the answer may come later. Yeah, I, I do think it takes a little while for your head to clear if you've got yourself into a place where you have got yourself into difficulties with alcohol or substances or anything else, when you do first get sober and clean, you know, there is— it's normally because you've hit such a bad place that you are in such a mess that you think, I can't do this anymore, I, I don't want to feel like this anymore. So of course, that's not going to be an overnight remedy, you know. We wish it was, but you will find that if you just get through each day abstaining from whatever your chosen chemical was, things will become easier. Your head will clear. You know, just physically keep plodding on. Eventually, your head will catch up with you, and I think that that's what happens to so many people I know. That have been on this journey before me, ahead of me, and are still on that journey. And, you know, now I still get— I still find wonderful benefits. I still wake up and think to myself, thank God I'm sober. Thank God my life changed the way it did. So what, what can you do now that you couldn't do before? What can you even do now that you couldn't even think was possible back then? I can face difficult challenges in life. I always would kind of find the first excuse to run from anything that was difficult, to hide from anything that was difficult, to not want to face things. I think that's the greatest gift that sobriety has given me, is that I can look at life in the face and challenge it and know that I'm capable capable of taking on really difficult things, where once upon a time my belief system and pattern was that I'm not capable, you know, I'm pretty useless. And I think unfortunately so many people, we get into that pattern of thinking for whatever reason, you know. I couldn't— I can't even really trace it back to where it set in, you know. I didn't have parents who were constantly telling me I was useless. Or, you know, it didn't come from that. I came from a loving family. My own little mind was telling me that I wasn't as good, maybe, let's say, as my dad, who in my eyes was a big strong man who could take care of himself and could really have a fight. And I wasn't like that. So my young mind told me that I was kind of weak, and I thought I was always trying to live up to him. And when one day I did eventually say to Dad, I asked him about a certain instance I remembered as a child where I felt he was disappointed in me, that I'd let him down. And I eventually asked him this. I must have been nearly 40, and he didn't have a clue what I was talking about. He couldn't remember what I was talking about. Built it up in your mind, right? Carried it for all those years, and actually it wasn't even real, you know. And he just looked to me and said, "Son, I've never been ashamed of you. I've loved you and been proud of you all your life." And, you know, so we have to keep a check on that head of ours as well, because it can tell us really, really destructive things that are no way true about us that we believe. Oh yes, oh yes. And you mentioned running away from pain and running, but you are now running, right? Tell us about your running and how you're doing that. Well, you know, this is incredible, and that's very interesting, just picking up on what you said about running away from pain, because now I kind of look at running into pain to face it. Actually, it's a really good remedy for me. That's what I learned. What happened was, after Barbara's diagnosis, when we went public, we were asked if some of Barbara's ex-castmates would form a team for the London Marathon and run in it. Don't ask me how I somehow got roped into it, because I wasn't a runner. You know, you've got to think, I was 55, and they were saying, oh, you can do it, Scott. I said, are you joking? I said, I can't run to the end of the road. Long story short, I started training, um, I started to really enjoy it. I think it got me through that very difficult time when I was caring Barbara. I, I think mentally it helped me so much to process. And you kind of get into this place when you're running. I know not everyone can run for whatever reasons, you know, you might have physically, you can't do it. But, but for me, I learned that I could actually do it. And you get to this place where I found I could suddenly hear myself think, I could kind of talk to myself, I could see things clearly. And it was just me, and it was a great way of coping with different things. So this year, although I said I would never do it again, I'm doing my third and last marathon in 4 years. It really has to be. 5 days later I turn 60. There can be no more of this. Um, so yeah, and it's with another team of Barbara's, you know, ex-colleagues, our friends people Barbara had worked with in the show, um, and we're going to take on that challenge again. So I'm training again, I'm up to 10 miles again, uh, which after a break that I had last year, I, I didn't think I'd get back into double digits, but you do. But you know, on a serious side, the health benefits for me are incredible because I never feel as well as I do when I've just finished a run. I may always dread going, and I may always look for an excuse not to go, but I always come back feeling so much better. It's so much better for my whole health generally, whether that's the heart, whether it's my well-being. It's just a great thing to do. And even though it's going to be my last marathon, I hope I will still continue to run as just as pleasure. I'm doing it this time for the charity. I'm an ambassador for Alzheimer's Research UK. I do, I do a lot of work with them, um, and we've, you know, and we've done some amazing things. And, and Barbara's legacy is truly in place, which she started off because both Barbara and myself started campaigning in 2019. Um, I'm very proud to say that last year, before the outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson left office, he committed to doubling dementia research to £160 million. And also with an initiative from Alzheimer's Research UK, which was to form a national dementia mission like we had for the COVID task force. Yeah, we— I, I've rallied for that as well. And they have now confirmed that, and they've named it the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission. So I'm so proud of everything that Barbara started, that I've helped continue in her name, that ARUK have done, and other charities. So, you know, I know that her legacy— I know I can step away from the marathon side of things and think, okay, You know, we, we got somewhere. We made a little bit of difference there. So, so that's a good— that, that makes me feel good as well. Oh gosh, I can feel all your energy even through this screen, Scott. It's, uh, it's incredible. And, um, well, I guess I'll be seeing you at the start-up line because— I know. Yes, yes, yes, yes. I also made that decision this year to run the marathon, and like you, it's like, am I a runner? Really? Yeah, you are. So, uh, yeah, it'll be, uh, it'll be amazing. But I love what you've just said there, you know, that sense of the opposite of addiction is connection. Yes. And I think that's so important to remember because you've talked about connection as you're running, but connection with yourself. Yeah, right. Connect with yourself. You get that space to do that whilst you're running, and you're doing it also with, with a team and people around you and people going to be on the sidelines, and that's connection with other people and also, you're doing this for a reason bigger than you. Yes. Right. So that's connecting with something that's so vital and so important. So again, for anyone listening who's got that sense of addiction to alcohol, find the opposite. Find the connection with yourself, with others, and with that bigger, bigger purpose. And you, Scott, I'm just so joyous. You've just done all of that through, through what was a painful experience. And now what you've turned into a real legacy— it's the Barbara Windsor effect, isn't it. Yes, yeah, that's what they called it when she first went public about dementia, because everyone thought— people with dementia suddenly thought it was okay to talk about it when they didn't want to beforehand. And they all said, oh God, Barbara, Barbara's got that thing I've got. And that's what they called it, the Barbara Windsor effect. You know, it made it okay to talk about once again another thing, dementia. People are a bit ashamed to talk about it. We're much better at it now because it's, you know, it's so much more out there, thank God. But, you know, it's, it's something that affects many, many families. As we know, it's, it is now the biggest killer out there, and, and that's a very worrying, worrying thing to think about. But all this research we're doing, there are breakthroughs happening. We're not there yet,, but we need to keep with the research. Um, if anyone's listening to this and they want to follow our little marathon journey, please follow @BabsArmy and, um, all the info. We put all fun training videos up and, uh, and there's our link to our fundraising page in there. As little as anyone can give, it all goes towards dementia research. I love that. I'll put those links in, in the show notes as well. But, um, I think we've created another effect on show with this conversation as well, Scott. I think we've created the Scott Mitchell effect, and that is about raising the profile of addiction and alcohol, right? Because if you're talking about it here, people are going to say, Scott Mitchell, look what he did, and they're going to talk about it and start to make changes. So I'm so grateful that you've had this conversation, and it's here. It's the Scott Mitchell effect, everybody. And good luck with your marathon. Is this your first? It is indeed, yeah. Oh, fantastic. It will be the— it will be one of the best days of your life, I promise you. Anyone who's thought about doing a marathon— and look, no one's expecting us to be elite athletes finishing in 2 and a half hours, you know. The majority of the 40,000 people who run will all do it in different times, you know. You'll just run at your own ability and speed and pace. That's okay, just complete it. It's a long way, but you will feel the biggest sense of self-achievement ever. So I'll look out for you. Amazing. Yeah, well, we'll high-five each other en route, I'm sure. So, um, fabulous. Look, thank you so much, but leave us with a final message. What's your final message for listeners about prioritizing health? Uh, prioritizing health, I really would say You must. It's not something we can neglect. I wish I would have learned to have done it at a younger age. Took me a bit longer to realize that. But however we look at it, you know, as we get older, we do need our health, and things do become a little bit more difficult with it, with the aches and pains. Try not to fill your body with things that are obviously really bad for it. That doesn't mean, say, don't have a good time. I'm not like an ex-smoker. I mean, you know, go out, have a fantastic time, have a few drinks, do whatever it is you do. But, you know, know that there's a limit to what you can put inside your body before you start doing some damage. And I think for me, the message that I've learned about everything that held me back in my life is that I am enough. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Scott. And you've given us more than enough in this conversation to, to take away. So thank you so much for your openness, for your honesty, for sharing. And I know this conversation is going to make a difference to a lot of people. So I hope so. Thank you. Thank you for having me on. It's a pleasure. We're going to take a short break now for some music, and we'll be back shortly with even more health hacktivation. Second floor living without a yard. It may be years until the day my dreams will match up with my pay. Oh, dirt road, me in deep snow, watching the fire as we grow. Oh! Oh— I got a man to stick it out and make a home from rented house. Oh, and we'll collect the moments one by one. I guess that's how the future's done. Oh, how many acres, how much Tucked in the woods and out of sight. Talk to the neighbors and tip my cap on Little Rug Belly on my— under the roof. Knee-deep snow. Watching the fire as we grow. Drinking in the morning sun, blinking in the morning sun, shaking off the heavy water. I have you like a load of your gun. What made me behave that way? You say words I never say. I can only think it must be love. Oh, anyway, it's looking like a beautiful day. Holy cow, you rock! And only now I see the light. Yeah, I'm right with you halfway. Oh, anyway, it's looking like it lightly up repeats. Yeah, kiss me when my lips are thin, 'cause holy cow, I'm moving on. And only now I see the light. Yeah, I'm meeting you halfway. I don't even know what to say, but anyway, it's looking like a beautiful day. So throw those catches wide. One day like this a year would see me ride. Throw those curtains wide. One day like this a year would see me ride. Throw those curtains wide. One One day like this again, you'll see me ride for life. No, no, no scratches, why? One day like this again, you'll see me ride for life. Hold it down, my baby. And hold it down, she's Well, that was indeed a sobering conversation, wasn't it? What an incredible man Scott is to, to share so openly, which is, to be fair, exactly what he does in his book as well. The book's a portrayal of honesty. So if you haven't already, then I really would encourage you to take a read. By Your Side by life-loving Barbara Windsor. And what an incredible legacy for Dame Barbara Windsor as well to leave, the Barbara Windsor effect. I love that, getting people talking about Alzheimer's, feeling connected, taking action. And I am going to be talking a lot more about Alzheimer's and dementia and memory a lot more in future episodes. But you know what, today, today I think we created something new, something new here on this show. We created The Scott Mitchell effect. Oh yes, getting people talking about addiction, feeling connected, taking action. And I do want to say here that if there is something so far in this conversation that has resonated with you, that's touched you, affected you, then you know, as always, please do talk about it. Reach out and talk to me. You know how to reach me, my website, dralcapatel.com, or my socials @dralcapatelUK. Because I believe that addiction to alcohol is not talked about enough. So why is this? Well, here's why. It's because alcohol is associated with fun, and it's everywhere, and it's legal. Legal from the age of 5. Now you hear me saying this when I'm chatting to Scott. Yes, from the age of 5 in the UK, you can have a drink with your parents. I mean, what completely nonsensical law is that. So if there's any lawyers listening, please, please, can you shed some light on this nonsense? Do you know, do you know, for example, how much mirroring goes on between the ages of 5 and 15? How associations in the brain are formed? All that exposure to the frivolity of alcohol in your young years, it will show up in your later years. So when does a fun night out drinking at a party become an addiction? When does a glass of wine with dinner become an addiction? When do you say, "I'm an addict," or do you? Because there are a lot of words, aren't there? There's a lot of words that we hear connected with alcohol: getting buzzed, tipsy, wrecked, lashed, waved. That's what my kids say, waved. And then there's alcoholism, alcohol abuse, alcohol addiction, alcohol misuse, alcohol dependence. And no matter what the Chief Medical Officers say, there is no safe level of alcohol. None. And you may think I'm saying this because I don't drink, but I do. I'm not saying this because I don't drink alcohol. Sometimes I'm all in, I'm drinking on a night out wondering how did that night out become that morning after. And sometimes I'm all out, I am alcohol-free, still having as much fun as the next person because you can get a buzz without the booze. But you need to know, you need to know that there is no safe level. Now the Chief Medical Officer, the CMO, the CMO has set in the UK 14 units a week as a safe level, but it isn't because it can quickly become a hazardous level. There's this, there's this great quote from The Great Gatsby, from the novel The Great Gatsby, and this is what it says. It says, first you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you. And I think that that sums up just how quickly casual drinking can become a full-blown addiction. So here's some sobering statistics as well. Listen to these. Alcohol, at any level, it's a factor in causing over 60 medical conditions. 60. And in the UK, every year, 9,000 deaths a year are alcohol-related. Now remember, these are preventable. So I'm talking about 9,000 preventable deaths a year, which makes alcohol the third leading preventable cause of death in the UK. So it comes in after smoking and after obesity-related diseases. Alcohol is right up there. And did you know this? Did you know that nearly 40% of violent crimes and sexual offenses in the UK, in 40% of these crimes, the offender is under the influence of alcohol? Which takes me back to the question, how is alcohol even legal? And right now in the UK, there's over 7.5 million people that are showing signs of alcohol addiction. Now you might be wondering, why do I talk about alcohol addiction as opposed to the plethora of other words that I've just shared? Well, alcohol addiction is my preferred word when it comes to problem drinking. I prefer it to misuse and I prefer it to abuse for a reason. And the reason is because there are very specific biochemical, physiological, and psychological addiction pathways that are involved. It's in your wiring. There's an addictive pathway that's going on. So in the next episode, what I'm going to do is give you very specific addiction hacks that you can then use to break these pathways, break these patterns, and instead create more what I call neuroadaptive responses in your brain that are going to work for you, all related to your motivation and memory systems. So we'll do that next week, but before then, Think about this. Think about how these 4 behaviours that I'm gonna share with you, 4 behaviours of addiction, might apply to you. They are the 4 C's: craving, compulsion, consequence, and control. So what does this mean? Well, think of it in these simple terms. Craving involves a desire to drink, and then that's followed by a compulsion, an urge that you cannot overcome. Then when you're drinking, you then face the consequences. Now you might think of these as positive consequences because they satisfy that craving, or they might be negative consequences which you just don't feel strong enough to turn over. These negative consequences aren't strong enough to overturn that strong craving. And then what follows is control or loss of control as the spiral continues. Could that be you? So remember what I said in the conversation with Scott is that addiction is all about connection, and there are connections in your brain that you can hack so that this doesn't have to be you. So I'll share with you how to do this in more detail next week, and please, please remember If today's conversation has resonated with you, or if you feel you need more help and support, then please do connect with me. In the meantime, I wish you a health activating day. Thank you for listening to Health Activators. If you have enjoyed this episode, then please support the show by leaving us a 5-star review wherever you get your podcasts and by sharing this episode with a friend. Don't forget Don't forget to click the link in the show notes right now to find out more details about what was covered in this episode and to connect with Dr. Alka Patel in order to take your strategic self-care to the next level. Please do support today's show partner, Youth and Earth. Youth and Earth have a range of products that I love to use myself to supercharge my metabolism, to support my health, and to slow down cellular aging. Just be sure you click the link in the show notes for exclusive offers which Youth and Earth are so generously giving for listeners of this show. Thank you for listening to Health Activators with me, Dr. Alka Patel, on the Woman's Radio Station. I'd love you to stay connected through the socials. You can find me @DrAlkaPatelUK, and to learn more about the Woman's Radio Station, do give them a follow too on their socials @Woman'sRadioStn.