Firefighter Craftsmanship Podcast

Nitric Oxide (NO) is a super power gas that we actually produce on our own through normal respiration. This cool gas was initially though of as a toxin but in 1998 won a Nobel Prize for its role in cardiovascular health.

This week on the Firefighter Craftsmanship Podcast we dive into how nitric oxide can calm you down, help you do more work on the emergency scene, help you reintegrate into your off-job life easier and even help you to eliminate a runny nose!

In this episode we cover:

• What is nitric oxide and why do we want to harness its positive benefits?
• How nitric oxide is positively correlated with humming breath practices
• How to use the vasodilator properties of NO to help you rid yourself of rhinitis or a stuffed up nose and help you get to sleep quicker!

References mentioned in this episode (Some of these might be affiliate links)

Breathe How You Want to Feel Matteo Pistono

​Presilience For the Emergency Scene: Firefighter Craftsmanship​

Episode 43 Firefighter Craftsmanship Podcast Humming

Episode 33 Firefighter Craftsmanship Podcast Mouth Taping At Night

Episode 14 Firefighter Craftsmanship Podcast Trait & State Anxiety

Shampo, Marc A. et al. Ferid Murad—1998 Nobel Laureate for Nitric Oxide Research. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Volume 79, Issue 10, 1230 https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(11)62653-0/fulltext#:~:text=American%20scientist%20Ferid%20Murad%20shared,molecule%20in%20the%20cardiovascular%20system.

Maniscalco, M., Sofia, M., Weitzberg, E., De Laurentiis, G., Stanziola, A., Rossillo, V. and Lundberg, J.O. (2004), Humming-induced release of nasal nitric oxide for assessment of sinus obstruction in allergic rhinitis: pilot study. European Journal of Clinical Investigation, 34: 555-560. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2362.2004.01384.x

Weitzberg, E., & Lundberg, J. O. (2002). Humming greatly increases nasal nitric oxide. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 166(2), 144–145. https://doi.org/10.1164/rccm.200202-138BC

Did you know you can actually get tougher by humming a song? It's true and hilariously enough there's actually quite a bit of research to support my claim.

This week on the Firefighter Craftsmanship Podcast we dive into how humming can increase your vagal tone (aka make you tougher), help you have higher quality days off with your family, and how this technique is commonly taught in fire academies across the country.

In this episode we cover:

• What is vagal tone and why do we want to increase it?
• How humming can increase your stress resilience and can be integrated into your routines
• How the Reilly Emergency Breathing Technique was founded based on a conversation with Kevin Reilly himself!

References mentioned in this episode (Some of these might be affiliate links)

Breathe How You Want to Feel Matteo Pistono

Reilly Emergency Breathing Technique- Video

Rethinking Emergency Air Management: The Reilly Emergency Breathing Technique

​Presilience For the Emergency Scene: Firefighter Craftsmanship​

Bernardi F, Bordino M, Bianchi L, Bernardi L. Acute fall and long-term rise in oxygen saturation in response to meditation. Psychophysiology. 2017; 54: 1951–1966. ​https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.12972​

Gunjan, T., Sharma, K., Banshi, S., Soundappan, K., Ashwati, K., Vatsal, Z., Shah, S. (2023). Humming (simple bhramari pranayama) as a stress buster: A holter-based study to analyze heart rate variability (HRV) parameters during bhramari, physical activity, emotional stress, and sleep. Cureus, 15(4) doi:https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.37527

Today marks the 23rd anniversary since the attacks on the United States of America on 9/11. It also marks the greatest rescue in the history of emergency service with over 20,000 people saved. For some of us this event was the catalyst to get into emergency services. For others of us we might have been too young to remember that fateful day.

This week on the Firefighter Craftsmanship Podcast we pause to reflect on the sacrifice and the lives lost on 9/11/2001 and to pay homage to them and celebrate the post traumatic growth that has occurred.

Get involved, honor those who have gone before us and most importantly; Never Forget.

Terry Farrell Firefighters Fund of Colorado

Most of us got into emergency services for a reason. Do you remember what your's was? If I was to guess it was probably grounded in some version of "I want to help people" as the foundational element. Do you still feel this way? Has the purpose for you changed over time? Has it gotten stronger or maybe morphed into some other version?

This week on the Firefighter Craftsmanship we dive into a psychological concept of high performers that looks at how can we sustain the "passion" and build helathy, happy, and strong teams of people that can deliver on that initial promise of helping. I hope it spurs some internal reflection and gives you some tools to take your impact to the next level.

In this episode we cover:

• The difference between Performance Based Systems and Purpose Based Systems
• How most of us were brought into emergency services through purpose but now we're measured on performance metrics
• Why we must define the words within our Mission Statements and be as clear as possible
• Why organizations need to be involved and intentional about designing cultures including at the end of a members' career

References mentioned in this episode (Some of these are Affiliate Links):

​FFC Podcast Episode 4 Athletic Identity What is it? and How Do we Build a Healthy One?​

​FFC Podcast Episode 37 Self Efficacy & How it Increases Your Mental Toughness​

​Finding Mastery Podcast with Dr. Michael Gervais How Do You Balance Success AND Wellbeing? | AMA Vol. 22 ​

First Rule of Mastery Dr. Michael Gervais Book

​Presilience For the Emergency Scene: Firefighter Craftsmanship​

Creating relevant training in emergency services is paramount to success on an actual call. But are we actually doing a good job of replicating the real world environment? How do we balance safety standards with prepping ourselves and our people to actually be ready? Are we overloading ourselves and our students and therefore missing the mark when it comes to training?

This week on the Firefighter Craftsmanship we speak with Captain Ian Bennett of Seattle Fire Department & West Coast Fire Training who has not only been successful designing and implementing acquired structure live fire training but also has accounted for the role that humans play in the training environment & tactical operation environment.

In this episode we cover:

• How you can establish learning cultures both personally and on a larger scale
• Why human performance psychology needs to be a foundational consideration when designing training programs
• Why support systems off of work are so important & how they lead to longterm success
• How patience and relationships lead to massive wins when you play the long game

References mentioned in this episode (Some of these are Affiliate Links):

FFC Podcast Episode 37 Self Efficacy & How it Increases Your Mental Toughness

FFC Podcast Episode 38 A conversation with Dr. Barb Thompson Operational Psychologist

Weekly Scrap 242 Ian Bennett

Presilience for the Emergency Scene

Please follow, leave us a review and send your questions in as we plan to do some Ask Me Anything episodes along the way. We're always open for guest ideas and have no problem if you nominate yourself! Hit us up at [email protected]

Is Wellness the new buzzword that sounds cool but is so watered down its losing its punch? We all know it's important but what are the actual parts and pieces that make up wellness and how do we work towards them both personally and organizationally?

This week on the Firefighter Craftsmanship we speak with Captain Jesse Clark of Boise Fire Department who has worked through some significant challenges and has chosen to thrive vs just survive with a career in emergency services and off the job.

In this episode we cover:

• It's not all Doom & Gloom!
• Why mentorship is so important and how it makes a huge impact
• What is the Forging Wellness Conference and Why is it so unique?

References mentioned in this episode (Some of these are Affiliate Links):

IAFF Wellness Fitness Initiative​

Fire Nuggets

Emergency Responders Health Center- Dr. Hilvers

Ready Rebound

FFC Podcast Episode 38 A conversation with Dr. Barb Thompson Operational Psychologist

Presilience for the Emergency Scene

Please follow, leave us a review and send your questions in as we plan to do some Ask Me Anything episodes along the way. We're always open for guest ideas and have no problem if you nominate yourself! Hit us up at [email protected]

Operations is a term that all of us in emergency services are very familiar with. But have you ever heard of an operational psychologist? This special group of highly trained individuals might be the key for you personally and for your organization to take all aspects of what you do to a whole new level.

This week on the Firefighter Craftsmanship we speak with Dr. Barb Thompson and dive into some really important parts and pieces as we all try and get a little bit better every single day.

In this episode we cover:

• What is an Operational Psychologist and how can we use them both at work and at home
• The role of an organization in all of this and how do we actually care and look out for our people?
• How do we integrate outside consultants like a psychologist into our organizations for the most success?
• How to practice the concept of "service without self destruction"

References mentioned in this episode (Some of these are Affiliate Links):

​The Emergency Mind Podcast featuring Dr. Thompson​

​The Mission Critical Team Institute​

​Firefighter Craftsmanship Podcast Episode 37 Self Efficacy and How to Increase Your Mental Toughness​

​Presilience For the Emergency Scene: Firefighter Craftsmanship​

​Dr. Barb Thompson on LinkedIn​

​In the Name of Service Podcast​

Mental toughness is always a focus for emergency responders. How do you build more of it? How can you be more resilient in response to the demands of the job? What are the principles that lead to healthy, happy and strong people both on and off the job?

This week's Firefighter Craftsmanship podcast dives into the psychological theory of self efficacy and how you can use it to catapult not only your mental resilience but also build high performing teams using its frameworks.

In this episode we cover:

• What is Self efficacy and why does it matter
• The 5 components of self efficacy and how to use them as a framework
• How you can empower yourself through self efficacy and reap the benefits at work and at home

References:

Lambert, J. E., Benight, C. C., Harrison, E., & Cieslak, R. (2012). The Firefighter Coping Self-Efficacy Scale: measure development and validation. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 25(1), 79–91. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2011.567328

Lyons, P., & Bandura, R. (2019). Self-efficacy: core of employee success. Development and Learning in Organizations, 33(3), 9–12. https://doi.org/10.1108/DLO-04-2018-0045

Regehr, C., Hill, J., Knott, T., & Sault, B. (2003). Social support, self-efficacy and trauma in new recruits and experienced firefighters. Stress and Health, 19(4), 189–193. https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.974

Other resources (some of these are affiliate links!):

XTI is offering all of you a 15% off discount for any of their products! Just enter Firefighter15 at checkout for the discount!

XTI.US Homepage

There's a lot of information out there about sleep! As an emergency responder it is tough to figure out how it all applies to you and your specific situation. Especially if you work shifts.

This week's Firefighter Craftsmanship podcast features Dr. Mark Petrun a longtime pulmonologist with a specialty in sleep medicine who's been involved in the sleep conversation since the early 1980's! Along with having many shift working emergency responder patients over the years, Dr. Petrun's son is an engineer for a career fire department so he personally understands the impact of the occupation, the shift schedule impact and the importance of sleep for emergency response.

In this episode we cover:

• Why naps are so important and the cultures that prevent them from occuring
• The impact of sleep deprivation on cardiac disease, chroninc disease, and cancer
• How you can empower yourself and use simple routines to maximize your sleep efficiency and effectiveness

XTI is offering all of you a 15% off discount for any of their products! Just enter Firefighter15 at checkout for the discount!

Other resources we speak about in this episode (Some of these are affiliate Links):

XTI.US Homepage

Hansen, J., & Stevens, R. G. (2012). Case–control study of shift-work and breast cancer risk in Danish nurses: Impact of shift systems. European Journal of Cancer (1990), 48(11), 1722–1729. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejca.2011.07.005

Paksarian, D., Rudolph, K. E., He, J.-P., & Merikangas, K. R. (2015). School Start Time and Adolescent Sleep Patterns: Results From the U.S. National Comorbidity Survey--Adolescent Supplement. American Journal of Public Health (1971), 105(7), 1351–1357. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302619

We hear a lot about how technology negatively impacts our performance and sleep. Especially blue light from screens before bedtime. Is there a way that we can we use technology to tap into our biology, physiology and psychology to help us become ultimate performers?

This week's Firefighter Craftsmanship podcast features Jason Suntych from XTI and he and his team are doing some tremendous work using PAWS (Pulse Alternating Wavelength System) technology to help you as a first responder get healthy, stay healthy and be healthy for the longterm.

In this episode we cover:

• How most of us are light malnourished and why this findings is extremely important for you
• Why inflammatory and neurological disease might be tied to light exposure in our homes and places of work
• How XTI is bridging the gap between technology and human biology to help you become and stay an ultimate performer both at work and at home

XTI is offering all of you a 15% off discount for any of their products! Just enter Firefighter15 at checkout for the discount!

Other resources we speak about in this episode (Some of these are affiliate Links):

XTI.US Homepage

Firefighter Craftsmanship Podcast Episode 6: How to Empower Your People to Be Mentally Tough and Mentally Fit- Featuring Fire Chief Mike West