Interview with Dr. Robert Carter III & Dr. Kirte Salwe Carter, Authors of 'The Morning Mind'

Dr. Rob Carter III, PhD, MPH, is a native of Lake Charles, LA, an US Army officer, an adjunct professor of emergency medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center, and an expert on human physiology and performance. Dr. Carter has a doctorate in biomedical sciences and medical physiology, and a master of public health in chronic disease epidemiology. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, abstracts, and technical reports, and his research has been covered in news outlets such as The Washington Post, Fox News and USA Today.

Kirti Salwe Carter, MBBS, MPH, received her medical education in India, where she practiced as an intensive-care physician before moving to Texas to complete postgraduate training in public health. In 2010, she received her master of public health in occupational health from The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth. She also has done graduate studies in integrative physiology. Dr. Carter has more than 18 years of experience in meditation and breathing techniques and leads popular wellness seminars.

Dr. Robert Carter III, FACSM, FAIS was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He is a US Army officer, an expert in integrative human physiology and performance and has academic appointments in emergency medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, in public health and health sciences at Los Angeles Pacific University, and in nutrition at the University of Maryland, University College. Dr. Carter completed military assignments in Germany, France, Afghanistan, Washington, DC, and the White House as a military social aide for the Obama administration.

He holds a doctorate in biomedical sciences and medical physiology, and a master of public health in chronic disease epidemiology. Selected as a Yerby Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr. Carter received his postgraduate training in environmental epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts. He serves on several scientific editorial boards, is a reviewer for 14 scientific and medical journals, and is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (FACSM) and the American Institute of Stress (FAIS). Carter is also Thermal Councilor for the Exercise and Environmental Committee of the American Physiological Society.

He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, abstracts and technical reports on human performance, breath-based meditation, nutrition, human water needs, trauma, and environmental medicine in noted publications such as The New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of the American Medical Association, Nutrition Reviews and the Journal of Applied Physiology.

Dr. Kirti Salwe Carter, FAIS, was born in Pune, India, and received her medical education in India, where she practiced as an intensive-care physician before moving to Texas to complete postgraduate training in public health. In 2010, she received her master of public health in occupational health from The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth. She also has done graduate studies in integrative physiology.

Carter is a Fellow of the American Institute of Stress (FAIS). She has more than 18 years of experience in meditation and breathing techniques, and has been facilitating wellness seminars for the past decade. Her work has been instrumental in bringing stress-management and resilience programs not only to the general population but also to corporate employees, educators, middle school and university students, and to special populations such as refugees in violence-prone areas and victims of military sexual trauma.

She is passionate about researching the effectiveness of breathing and meditation techniques to improve human performance. Dr. Carter has published her research on human performance, ergonomics, and breath-based meditation in periodicals such as the World Journal of Clinical Cases, the Journal of Visual Experiments and the Journal of Environmental and Public Health.

Website Address: http://www.themorningmind.com

Twitter Address: https://twitter.com/mind_morning

Facebook Address: https://www.facebook.com/MorningMindByCarters/

Q: Welcome to The Writer's Life! Now that your book has been published, we’d love to find out more about the process. Can we begin by having you take us at the beginning? When did you come up with the idea to write your book?

We had been thinking about writing this book, The Morning Mind: Use Your Brain to Master Your Day and Supercharge Your Life, for quite a long time. Based on the idea that productive early mornings are imperative and that “building a solid foundation for beginning your day will help you achieve success in every area of your life.

As a couple with years of expertise and personal experience in human performance, medicine, and wellness, we figured there was a prime opportunity for us to publish something in this space. To our knowledge there were none, and the idea surfaced. We decided that day to try our hand at sharing our years of expertise with the world, and this is the result of that work. When writing this book, we wanted to provide an accessible guide that anyone could use to optimize the most critical time of the day. Every time the sun rises, so do new opportunities to grow, develop and improve. We want readers to feel confident in establishing a routine that will help them master their mornings and lead to the life they desire.

Q: Who is your publisher and how did you find them or did you self-publish?

Harper Collins Leadership is our publisher today. However, we originally signed a contract with American Management Association International Communications (AMACOM). HarperCollins Publishers acquired the trade book assets of AMACOM from the American Management Association International (AMA). HarperCollins take over all front list, which included our book, The Morning Mind. AMACOM focused on personal and professional growth and business leadership, our book supported the vision of Harper Collins Leadership.

Q: What’s one fact about your book that would surprise people?

In our preparation for writing this book, we recognized that books on this topic lacked scientific rogue and often told an incomplete story of how to make each morning better and more productive with the simple, scientifically based brain hacks. The one thing that we found lacking though was the bottom-up approach of helping the reader understand how the human brain functions in the morning and throughout the day. Instead of taking the time to describe how all of the pieces fit together, everyone seemed more interested in writing a quick solution to getting people prepared for life challenges.

Q: Finally, what message are you trying to get across with your book?

We genuinely think that, once you get a glimpse of the big picture, you’ll change the way you look at your body systems. The Morning Mind simplifies living better from sunup to sundown, helping sleepyheads silence the fear-driven reptile brain, “the Lizard,” and wake up “the Wizard, the part linked to thinking and imagination. The Morning Mind is a guidebook to achieving better mornings through solid routines.

Q: Thank you again for this interview! Do you have any final words?

In The Morning Mind, you provide practices and routines that anyone can adopt to empower the start of their day. We offer solutions to challenges people experience in establishing a journey to better mornings. We believe that self-discipline is a skill that everyone can learn and the self-discipline principles and techniques that we outline will help most people establish better mornings. Additionally, we stress the importance of a good night’s sleep for a person’s health, both mentally and physically.

About the Book:

Title: THE MORNING MIND: USE YOUR BRAIN TO MASTER YOUR DAY AND SUPERCHARGE YOUR LIFE
Authors: Dr. Kirti Salwe Carter and Dr. Robert Carter III
Publisher: Harper Collins Leadership
Pages: 197
Genre: Self-Help

BOOK BLURB:

Unleash positive thinking and productive imagination, and flip negative thoughts and behaviors into a lifetime to improve every aspect of your life—each morning, one day at a time.
Bad habits. Bad feelings. Bad mornings that turn into regrettable days.
Banish them all with simple brain hacks that flip negative thoughts and behaviors into positive, productive ones. Instead of dragging through your day, learn to wake up refreshed, recharge regularly, and live better than ever.
The Morning Mind makes it easy. Based on findings from neuroscience and medicine, the book helps you tamp down on the fear-driven reptile brain and tap into the part linked to thinking and imagination.
With topics ranging from diet and hydration to exercise and meditation, you’ll find ideas for activating your brain—and improving every aspect of your life: