WEBVTT - Wisdom Wednesdays: This is what burnout looks like in the brain - and what you can do about it

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, everybody, welcome to another edition of Wisdom Wednesdays. Today

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<v Speaker 1>we're going to dive into the neuroscience of burnout, and

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<v Speaker 1>I think it's pretty topical because recent research shows that

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<v Speaker 1>around half of all people in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore

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<v Speaker 1>and countries like that are experiencing some feelings of burnout.

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<v Speaker 1>And so we're going to explain what it does to

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<v Speaker 1>your brain, why it's more than just feeling tired, and

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<v Speaker 1>most importantly, what we can do about it. So I

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<v Speaker 1>actually did a pretty deep dive into burnout in my PhD.

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<v Speaker 1>And it's known as a psychological syndrome that emerges in

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<v Speaker 1>response to chronic job stress. And it's actually recognized as

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<v Speaker 1>an occupational hazard in a wide range of workplace settings

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<v Speaker 1>including first responders, police, military, and also corporations as well.

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<v Speaker 1>And it's associated with mood disturbances, and it's associated with

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<v Speaker 1>mood disturbances and also significant deficits in cognitive function including

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<v Speaker 1>memory and attention, which ends up in impowered work performance

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<v Speaker 1>and obviously sustainability in terms of work and has a

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<v Speaker 1>significant impact on individuals. And it's actually recognized now by

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<v Speaker 1>the World Health Organization as a syndrome, and researchers talk

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<v Speaker 1>about both clinical and non clinical burnout. So non clinical

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<v Speaker 1>burnout tends to be measured by things like the mas

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<v Speaker 1>LAC Burnout Inventory, which looks at three different elements. It

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<v Speaker 1>looks at the first one it looks at is emotional exhaustion,

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<v Speaker 1>then it's professional efficacy. So if you're high on exhaustion,

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<v Speaker 1>low on efficacy, and high on the third one, which

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<v Speaker 1>is cynicism, you're said to have burnout. But also there

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<v Speaker 1>are other researchers who look at what's called clinical burnout,

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<v Speaker 1>and this is where they can actually measure things in

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<v Speaker 1>the brain and measure brain changes. And I have read

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<v Speaker 1>a number of research papers that show that people with

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<v Speaker 1>clinical burnout have significant functional and structural changes in their brain.

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<v Speaker 1>And today I want to talk about a new research

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<v Speaker 1>paper that has just been released that was published in

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<v Speaker 1>the Frontiers and Human Neuroscience, and it looked at EG

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<v Speaker 1>resting states. So just when you're still EG so EG

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<v Speaker 1>for those who don't know, they put little electrodes on

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<v Speaker 1>your head and they're able to measure the electrical signals

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<v Speaker 1>created by your neurons and they can tell what parts

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<v Speaker 1>of the brain they're coming from so we get a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of information about the function of the brain from EEG.

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<v Speaker 1>And what they did was they comper data from forty

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<v Speaker 1>nine people with burnout compared to forty nine control healthy controls.

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<v Speaker 1>They were matched in age, gender, and occupation. And what

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<v Speaker 1>these guys find is that Bernard doesn't just impact how

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<v Speaker 1>we feel, it also alters how our brain communicates with itself.

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<v Speaker 1>And specifically, what they found was that the Bernard group

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<v Speaker 1>showed decreased functional connectivity in the frontal and midline areas

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<v Speaker 1>of the brain, and particularly in what was called the

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<v Speaker 1>Alpha three band, which is strongly linked to attention, emotion

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<v Speaker 1>regulation and also cognitive control. And this drop in connectivity

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<v Speaker 1>was most prominent in the right frontal region, the right

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<v Speaker 1>frontal lobes, when subjects were in an eyes open, resting state,

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<v Speaker 1>basically they're just sitting there quietly, not even doing a task,

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<v Speaker 1>and their brain signature was different to people who didn't

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<v Speaker 1>have Bernard. Now why is this important, Well, the frontal lobes,

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<v Speaker 1>especially area called this it's just described where it is,

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<v Speaker 1>the dorso lateral prefrontal cortex, and also an area called

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<v Speaker 1>the anterior singular cortex. They're really your executive control centers.

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<v Speaker 1>They're really important for managing your emotions, making decisions, forecasting

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<v Speaker 1>into the future, exercising judgment, and also staying focused. So

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<v Speaker 1>the really important in attention as well. And when the

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<v Speaker 1>connections in these areas weaken, as they do from this paper,

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<v Speaker 1>in burnout, your ability to self regulate drops, your emotional

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<v Speaker 1>resilience takes a hammering, and your risk for depression increases.

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<v Speaker 1>In fact, what they find were that these neural signatures

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<v Speaker 1>look a lot like what we see in depression. And

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<v Speaker 1>now I finally we're actually starting to look in the

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<v Speaker 1>brains of people with depression and seeing as they're a

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<v Speaker 1>biological signature. And this is one of the things I've

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<v Speaker 1>been critical about about a lot of mood disorders. A

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<v Speaker 1>lot of them don't have a clear, consistent biological signature.

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<v Speaker 1>But we're starting to see this in depression. And it's

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<v Speaker 1>not surprising given that there is a significant overlap between

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<v Speaker 1>burnout and depressive symptoms in the research. But here's the clincher.

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<v Speaker 1>Burnout in this study showed unique connectivity patterns, meaning that

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<v Speaker 1>it's not just a mild form of depression, it's actually

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<v Speaker 1>a distinct syndrome with its own brand based markers that

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<v Speaker 1>some of them happen to overlap with depression. So what

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<v Speaker 1>do we do with this? Well, this is where we

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<v Speaker 1>need to get practical. I have actually delivered as part

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<v Speaker 1>of my PhD to what's called multimodal intervensions. I did

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<v Speaker 1>one in a bunch of military aviators and another in

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<v Speaker 1>a couple of corporate environments. And these multimodal interventions were

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<v Speaker 1>designed specifically to counteract the effects of chronic stress and

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<v Speaker 1>burnout and help people with performs under pressure in a

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<v Speaker 1>sustainable manner. And it's part of my PhD supervisor Eugeneedman's

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<v Speaker 1>Overall Wider Cognitive Fitness Project, and this is really about

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<v Speaker 1>how do we help people perform under pressure in a

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<v Speaker 1>sustainable manner so that they don't burn themselves out. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>the interventions that we did were multi modal in nature,

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<v Speaker 1>so this just wasn't a couple of breathing exercises, are a

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<v Speaker 1>bit of meditation or a power point on well being.

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<v Speaker 1>There were pretty deep structured programs that targeted physical, cognitive,

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<v Speaker 1>and emotional resilience and hardiness. And the first study that

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<v Speaker 1>involved serving military aviators, we did a four week combined

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<v Speaker 1>cognitive and physical training program, So it was all about

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<v Speaker 1>doing lots of physical exercise, getting good sleep hygiene, and

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<v Speaker 1>we did psycho education around dealing with stress and their emotions.

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<v Speaker 1>Also talked about neutral as well. And there was also

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<v Speaker 1>that paper that they had all across the board statistical

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<v Speaker 1>significant improvements in resilience, They had improvements in mood, and

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<v Speaker 1>they improved in all of the three core markers of

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<v Speaker 1>burnout that referred to earlier, the emotional exhaustion, the job cynicism,

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<v Speaker 1>and the professional efficacy. And then we took that same

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<v Speaker 1>approach and actually adapted it for high pressure corporate workplaces.

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<v Speaker 1>Did a randomized control trial this time, and it was

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<v Speaker 1>a longer intervention, it was eight weeks. Not only do

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<v Speaker 1>we look at mood and resilience, but we really zeroed

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<v Speaker 1>in on hardiness. And you've heard me talk about that before.

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<v Speaker 1>That's the three things of commitment orientation, control orientation, and

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<v Speaker 1>challenge orientation. So these are a group of psychological orientations

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<v Speaker 1>that help people to thrive under pressure and to grow

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<v Speaker 1>from stress. And what we find again with this multi

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<v Speaker 1>mode intervention was that people's resilience improved, their mood improved,

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<v Speaker 1>to their perceptions of stress in their life improved, their

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<v Speaker 1>gratitude improved, all three components of hardiness improved, and we

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<v Speaker 1>also improved what was called cognitive control. We improved and

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<v Speaker 1>their ability to sustain attention and the inhibition. And this

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<v Speaker 1>is one of the important things for cognitive control, which

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<v Speaker 1>was an area that in the people with burnout in

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<v Speaker 1>that study that I mentioned that that was starting to

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<v Speaker 1>drop off with them. And it's probably a good time

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<v Speaker 1>to do a shameless plug for my book The Hardiness Effect,

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<v Speaker 1>because it really goes in deep detail into the multimodal

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<v Speaker 1>interventions that we were doing with these corporates and these

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<v Speaker 1>naval aviators, so to kind of summarizing and connect the dots,

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<v Speaker 1>and burnout is clearly associated now with weakened connectivity in

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<v Speaker 1>the very brillin regions that are responsible for regulating stress,

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<v Speaker 1>regulating our emotions, and performing executive functions. And our intervention

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<v Speaker 1>is the multi modal ones combining all of the physical

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<v Speaker 1>lifestyle stuff that we talk about with psycho education and

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<v Speaker 1>particularly focused around hardiness and psychological flexibility. They appear to

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<v Speaker 1>reverse or at least buffer some of these in facts

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<v Speaker 1>by proving cognitive fitness, resilience, and hardiness which are qualities

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<v Speaker 1>that depend heavily on those same frontal systems. And although

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<v Speaker 1>we didn't directly measure that connectivity, there is such an

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<v Speaker 1>overlap in the stuff that we did and with the

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<v Speaker 1>burnout surveys that I think we could draw reasonable conclusions

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<v Speaker 1>around that. And the main thing here, I think the

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<v Speaker 1>big TAKEO for people like working long hours should not

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<v Speaker 1>be a badge of honor. Burnard is not a badge

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<v Speaker 1>of honor. Being highly stressed is not a badge of honor.

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<v Speaker 1>It is a sad that your brain's communication systems are faltering,

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<v Speaker 1>and if you don't do something about it, you can

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<v Speaker 1>end up with significant structural and functional changes in the

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<v Speaker 1>brain that seem to be longer lasting with people with

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<v Speaker 1>this clinical burnout that I talked about at the start.

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<v Speaker 1>But the good news is there are tools and training

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<v Speaker 1>programs that you can do about it. And it really

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<v Speaker 1>is this cognitive fitness framework where there's a multimodal intervention

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<v Speaker 1>of all the good physical stuff that we know that

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<v Speaker 1>we need to do plus training in heartiness. For me,

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<v Speaker 1>that is the perfect combination. That's it for this week's folks.

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<v Speaker 1>Catch you next time.