May 2017

If you just started working out you may be tempted to push your body to the limits. The problem isn’t how hard your training. It’s that you’re still partaking in unhealthy habits, like poor diet and not getting enough sleep, as well as not giving yourself enough recovery time.

Like any other muscle in your body, the same can be said about our brains.

We work our tails off for 10, 12, or more hours every day. Then we come home and do some additional work. We then respond to email and social messages on our smartphone or tablet right before bed. We are not over-worked, right?

Next, we watch the news or an episode of our favorite show. We get a couple of hours of sleep, rinse, and repeat.

This is what living is like in the information age. In fact, we now receive five times as much information every day as we did in 1990.

No wonder we suffer from anxiety and stress! It’s even been estimated that 40 million adults in the U.S. alone are affected by an anxiety disorder.

Anxiety is also the most common mental illness in the country.

It’s Evolution, Baby

Here’s the thing. The human brain wasn’t meant to run a marathon. It’s not designed to be alert and stimulated for a majority of the day.

Think about how humans lived millions of years ago. We moved at a slower pace that pretty much only involved hunting and gathering. This slower lifestyle left a lot of time for the brain and body to relax and recharge.

Those earlier people were also in rhythm with the sun and nature – this probably helped them follow their circadian rhythm.

Today, we’re hustling almost 24/7. Between work and family obligations and being plugged in constantly, it’s no wonder there’s a sleep epidemic here in the states.

Give Your Brain a Break

Getting enough sleep helps keep us focused, productive, and healthy. But, that’s only the tip of the iceberg. researchers have found that the space between brain cells increased by 60% in mice. This allowed the cerebrospinal fluid in the animals’ brains to flow ten times faster than when awake.

On top of getting enough sleep at night, you need to unplug throughout the day because the brain can only focus for 90 to 120 minutes.

It’s all thank to the ultradian rhythm, which is a cycle that is present in our sleeping and waking lives.

There’s even a well-known study of the world’s most prodigious violinists. The study that found similar characteristics to the Nedergaard mice study were present when it comes to music practice.

These violinists practiced in three sessions, each was 90 minutes, and there was a break built into each session.

Taking the traditional 8-hour workday and infusing it with more flexible working hours and encouraging employees to switch tasks every 90 minutes or so. Time will tell the outcome.

If you want to increase how to think creatively and strategically so that you handle more complex problems, then you need to take a break.

It also reduces stress, which is good for both your brain’s performance and overall health.

Incorporating Brain Breaks

I know what you’re thinking. You don’t have the time to take a brain break. For the sake of your career, and more importantly your well-being, you need to start giving your brain a break.

Thankfully, there are several simple hacks that you can implement into your daily routine that can accomplish just that.

• Go outside. Research has found that various regions of the brain are activated when exposed to the outdoors. Also, soaking in the sunshine increases your production of Vitamin D and serotonin – both of which make you feel good.

• Do something that you love. Whether it’s swimming, reading a book, writing, or starting a club can improve your mood, contributes to your overall well-being, and gives your brain a chance to re-energize.

• Move around. Exercise isn’t just to improve the body, it also improves your brain. Best of all, just going for a walk, taking the stairs, or doing 5-10 minutes of yoga, push-ups, or jumping jacks is just enough to be sufficient.

• Meditate. Meditation can increase activity in the brain’s frontal lobes, the rational brain, as well as reduce activity in the amygdala, aka the fear center.

• Take a nap. A brief nap can reduce sleepiness, strengthen cognitive function, and enhance short-term memory and mood.

• Zone out. You read that correctly. It’s alright to give yourself a couple of minutes to do nothing and let your mind wander. Zoning may help increase productivity and problem-solving.

• Book a mental holiday. If you don’t want to let your mind completely wander, visualize images that relaxing and happy to you. Believe it or not, within your brain, there’s no difference between relaxing on a sandy beach and visualizing it.

• Unplug. Find times throughout the day to unplug. Even 10 minutes of silence from your phone can do wonders. At night, make a habit of putting your phone on silent and turning off your computer and TV before you go to sleep. Try and unplug during the weekends by not responding to any work-related emails, text, or phone calls.