167: The Sports Doctor Radio Show with Dr Robert Weil - Episode 167167: The Sports Doctor Radio Show with Dr Robert Weil - Episode 167
UK Health Radio Podcast
Dr Nicole Rakowski and Nathan Crane share how lifestyle, mindset and complementary medicine intersect with sport, chronic illness and mental health. Their conversation focuses on resilience, prevention and the hidden emotional patterns that can shape both performance and long-term wellbeing.
39:02•9 Aug 2026
High Performance, Deep Healing and the "New Medicine" of Sport and Life
Episode Overview
- Complementary medicine is framed as working alongside conventional care to improve resilience, prevention and quality of life rather than replacing medical treatment.
- Simple lifestyle pillars such as eating smarter, moving regularly, reducing stress, sleeping better and building community are described as the foundations of performance and longevity.
- Resilience is highlighted through personal stories, including recovery from severe burns and from homelessness, addiction and depression.
- Both guests point to social media as a "wild west" that increases anxiety, comparison and misinformation, especially for young people.
- Somatic emotional healing is presented as addressing childhood patterns and the "nocebo effect" where beliefs and thoughts can contribute to chronic stress, illness and performance problems.
“"Complementary medicine asks a different question. What can we add around that to improve health?"”
How do people cope with the challenges of staying sober, healthy, and mentally balanced in a high-pressure world? This instalment of The Sports Doctor Radio Show on UK Health Radio brings together two very different specialists with a shared focus on long-term wellbeing: Dr Nicole Rakowski and Nathan Crane. Dr Rakowski, a sports medicine writer, IFBB pro bodybuilder and TEDx speaker, talks about what she calls the “new medicine” of performance and longevity.
She breaks it down into simple pillars: “Number one, eat smarter… Number two is keep moving… Number three is a big one, which is reduce stress.” She explains why complementary medicine shouldn’t be seen as replacing conventional care, but as asking, “What can we add around that to improve health,” especially for people struggling with obesity, type 2 diabetes and chronic lifestyle-related conditions.
Her own story of resilience includes recovering from second and third degree burns after a freak accident in Iceland, and using that experience to frame her TEDx talks around how people rebuild after trauma. She also flags the impact of social media, calling it “the wild west” where people are sold quick fixes instead of solid education on basics like sleep, movement and community. Later, somatic emotional healing coach Nathan Crane brings a raw, personal angle.
He shares his history of “homelessness and addiction and depression and anger” and how he was “almost dead by 18 years old” before turning his life around. Crane explains the idea that many destructive patterns in adulthood trace back to childhood experiences, and introduces the concept of the “nocebo effect” – thinking yourself into illness and limitation – as the dark twin of the placebo effect.
Together, they keep circling back to resilience, mental health, prevention and the crucial role of the “mental game” in sport, health and recovery. If you’re curious how mindset, lifestyle and medicine can work together, this one might get you thinking about your own foundations.
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.