70: The Miracle Within You with Dr. Howard Rankin and guest Dr. Jay Wiles70: The Miracle Within You with Dr. Howard Rankin and guest Dr. Jay Wiles
UK Health Radio Podcast
Dr. Howard Rankin talks with Dr. Jay Wiles about how breathing, heart rate variability and sleep can build nervous system resilience and support healing. The discussion covers stress, high performance, chronic pain and practical tools anyone can use daily.
48:33•19 Jun 2026
Breath, Brain and Resilience: Dr. Jay Wiles on Training Your Nervous System
Episode Overview
- Stress is not the enemy; it is a signal, and most everyday stressors are acute or imagined future threats rather than true danger.
- Slow, paced breathing at around six breaths per minute is a simple, free way to calm the nervous system in moments of high anxiety or stress.
- Heart rate variability biofeedback lets people see in real time how breathing and other practices shift their nervous system, making change easier to sustain.
- Consistent nervous system training and quality sleep support each other, and poor sleep cannot be compensated for by other health behaviours.
- Regular HRV biofeedback sessions have been shown to significantly reduce perceived chronic pain, improving day-to-day functioning.
“The strongest and most direct lever that you can utilise in order to manage your nervous system response is breathing.”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This conversation on UK Health Radio’s **The Miracle Within You** zooms in on something that affects everyone in recovery and beyond: the state of your nervous system. Psychologist and host **Dr. Howard Rankin** talks with **Dr. Jay Wiles**, a specialist in stress physiology, heart rate variability (HRV) and nervous system regulation.
Jay shares how a childhood fascination with human behaviour led him through years of clinical training, work in veteran pain clinics, and eventually into the cutting edge of psychophysiology and biofeedback.
You’ll hear why mindset and resilience matter so much for healing, with Howard noting that people who outlive dire medical forecasts tend to share “a mindset and a resilience that did not allow them to get pulled into the negativity of the diagnosis.” Jay then explains what separates high performers from those who stay stuck in stress, and why nervous system patterns, not just willpower, make such a difference. A big highlight is Jay’s incredibly practical breakdown of breathwork.
As he puts it, “the strongest and most direct lever that you can utilise in order to manage your nervous system response is breathing.” He explains how simple paced breathing (around six breaths per minute) can calm an overactive stress response, and how HRV biofeedback lets you actually see those changes onscreen, making the habit more “sticky”. The discussion also tackles chronic pain and sleep.
Jay describes research showing that brief but regular HRV biofeedback can reduce perceived pain levels, and he is blunt about sleep: you “can never think that you can outwork and outperform poor sleep.” For anyone dealing with stress, health worries or long-term recovery, this episode offers practical, everyday tools to support emotional stability and physical healing. If you’re trying to build a calmer, steadier life, how might training your nervous system change the way you face cravings, stress and setbacks?
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