Mind Your Mind

A Love Letter To the Brain Injury Community

taylercorcoran — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 00:41:42 +0000

March is Brain Injury Awareness Month!

I love love talking about my job working with individuals with brain injuries. I love getting the chance to break stigmas and reflect on the amazing moments I witness in people’s recoveries. But I also strive to bring awareness to an invisible yet highly prevalent condition.

The Brain Injury Association of America reports that 1 in every 60 people are currently living with a permanent brain injury-related disability. And “at least 3.6 million people in the U.S. sustain a brain injury each year.”

I’ve found that there’s a lot of misinformation about brain injury, especially in Hollywood. Considering we all probably know someone that has been affected in some capacity, here are a few things I think everyone should know about brain injuries:

No brain injury presents the same way. You can't assume you know what is going to be impacted by the injury. If you're unsure of what a loved one might need or want from you, respectfully take the time to find that out rather than making assumptions.
There's a spectrum of injuries, from mild (this includes concussions) to severe.
Recovery from brain injury relies on neuroplasticity (that ability of our brains to make new connections and re-wire) and learning to compensate for new impairments.
Brain injuries are caused by a number of events including trauma/physical accidents, stroke, oxygen deprivation, substance abuse/overdose, infectious disease, and more.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Brain injuries come with a complex constellation of challenges, not just for the individual, but for their families, friends, community, and greater support system. The next time you’re watching a movie where someone wakes up from a coma without missing a beat, take that as a reminder to go learn a little more about what someone in your circle may have actually gone through with their brain injury experience.

Dear You,

To the person navigating life after a brain injury. You are courageous. You are showing up for yourself every day, knowing there will be challenges and unexpected bumps. It might look to the general public that your battle was won once you left the hospital or therapies. As a warrior, you know better than anyone the battles that come with an often invisible disease. You mourn life before your accident and constantly dig deep to rebuild and grow. Working with individuals with brain injuries has shown me the full spectrum of the human spirit. You encapsulate what it means to persevere. You are courageous.

To the family member or friend of someone who’s experiencing a brain injury. You are selfless. You didn’t bat an eye when your loved one needed your help to start putting the pieces back together. You volunteered to take on the big and the small- managing big decisions, the hopeless waiting, taking time off work, learning to be an honorary nurse and therapist, while still filling your role as your loved one’s rock. You may not have known the extent of what you were signing up for and you may be exhausted. But you are what’s beautiful about human beings. You are selfless.

To my fellow brain injury healthcare workers. You are resilient. Your job can run the gamut from thankless, exhausting, and heart-breaking to rewarding, rejuvenating, and heart-warming. Sometimes you experience what feels like endless challenges and poor prognoses. You wonder if what you’re doing is really making an ounce of difference. But you hold space for both your patients and their families when they are at their most vulnerable. You see the tragedies and beauties of life, sometimes within the same hour. And especially this past year, when the outside world made your work world that much heavier, you showed up and you gave your heart. You are resilient.

Learn More

The Brain Injury Association of America: https://www.biausa.org/
Craig Hospital Brain Injury Resource Library: https://craighospital.org/brain-injury-resource-library
International Brain Injury Association: http://www.internationalbrain.org/
Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center: https://msktc.org/tbi/tbi-resources
The Brain Injury Recovery Network: https://tbirecovery.org/

The post A Love Letter To the Brain Injury Community appeared first on Mind Your Mind.

Practicing Daily Gratitude Boosts Happiness

taylercorcoran — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 04:44:52 +0000

For those of you who have been following along, I completed a meditation challenge to kick off 2021. I can begin this post on gratitude by saying I am so grateful to have done the challenge and to have had so many friends and family join me. If you’re new here or missed the challenge, check out the full 4-week list here!

During the challenge, I sprinkled a few gratitude meditations into my practice. Each time, I thought about my gratitude journal gathering dust on my nightstand. I’ve always loved the idea of the practice but, just like meditation, fizzled out after the initial novelty of it wore off. More on how to avoid that novelty extinction at the end of this post.

Being Mindful of Your Mindset

Along with the nagging feeling that I was neglecting an important practice, the meditation challenge did something big for me in particular. It helped me to be more aware of the patterns of my thoughts and the general state of my mood and mindset. Working an emotionally heavy job… during a global pandemic… has really forced me to flex some mental muscles at times to search for positivity. I’m sure you can relate! So, after my challenge, I sought out ways to train my brain to see the positives more consistently. Re-enter: my gratitude journal.

I’ve bought into the idea of gratitude lists and journals for a while now, but I can admit, I never looked for any scientific or anecdotal rationale for using them. This time around, I wanted to know more in hopes that it would help increase my consistency with the practice. I’ve typically played with the practice because it felt like a good thing to do. So now I wanted to know…

Is there any proof that gratitude practices are actually helpful to my overall well-being? Does it carry over into life outside of those 5 minutes I spend writing in my journal?

Can a Consistent Practice Make You Happier?

YES! There are several super cool studies that have found significant increases in measures of happiness after completing gratitude practices. One study from American Psychologist compared 5 “positive psychology” practices and 1 placebo practice. In one of the practices, participants were guided to write down 3 good things that happened in their days, and the causes of those good things. They did this consistently each night for one week. Ultimately, this intervention was found to increase reported levels of happiness and decrease depressive symptoms steadily for as long as 6 months after the study.

Another intervention in the study required participants to write and deliver a letter expressing gratitude to someone they had not yet thanked for a kindness. This intervention demonstrated the largest positive change in the whole study. The positive results were significant for 1 month after the study. However, participants returned to their baseline levels of happiness or depression by 3 months post-letter writing.

Both of these interventions were done within a 1-week period of time. Of course, there were some participants who continued the exercises after the 1-week period. The researchers found that those who adhered to their exercises past the required week experienced the greatest happiness levels at the follow-up intervals.

Gratitude's Relationship with Negative Self-Expression

Oh, and get this! Another study out of UC Berkley gathered participants from a group of college students who were seeking counseling services for anxiety and/or depression. Participants were assigned to 1 of 3 intervention groups: 1) write a letter of gratitude to a different person each week, 2) write down detailed feelings about a negative experience, or 3) no writing activity. Those that wrote gratitude letters had significantly better mental health outcomes 1 month and 3 months later compared to the other groups. BUT, the coolest part (in my opinion) was what the researchers noticed in the participants’ writing during the experiment. They found a link between better mental health outcomes and the lack of negative emotion words in their writing, as opposed to the presence of more positive emotion words.

Being consciously grateful takes your focus away from the negative happenings of life, and rather, bathes your mind in positive emotions and perspectives. This is why I’ve noticed the combination of meditation followed by gratitude journaling is so powerful in my own life. First, you bring non-judging awareness to your thoughts and current experiences of life. Meditation helps you to be present to all that’s coming up for you. Then, you use gratitude practices to focus your energy on what you can feel appreciation for. There isn’t a lot of room for negative talk when you’re filling your mental space with feelings of connectedness, peace, contentment, and admiration.

How Could Gratitude Influence Happiness?

Hold up now. Just try for a second to define “happiness.”

It’s not easy, right?

That’s why I love this take on happiness by Martin Seligman, Director of the Penn Positive Psychology Center. He suggests there are “3 happy lives”:

The pleasant life: having a life of positive emotion and pleasure
The good life: using your personal strengths to support your virtues and goals
The meaningful life: using your personal strengths to contribute to something bigger than you are

So how can gratitude influence these levels of happiness?

A pleasant life with gratitude: Appreciating aspects of your own life and experiences can make you more aware of the positives and thus bring you pleasure.
A good life with gratitude: Practicing gratitude can bring awareness to your personal strengths. You can then harness these strengths to achieve your long-term goals.
A meaningful life with gratitude: Being grateful for what’s happening in your own life can allow you to recognize your privilege. You may become more aware of your capability to influence life beyond your personal circle.

Where Do I Start?

First off, I share a lot of positive habits on this blog. And forming new habits requires some hard work. I know I haven’t been shy about the fact that I often have trouble finding consistency with new habits.

On that note, I recently came across some highly relevant advice from Sarah Wilson’s book, First We Make the Beast Beautiful (side note: I HIGHLY recommend this book for any anxious people, or people who love an anxious person). Sarah shares a quote by artist, Andy Warhol. He said, “Either once only, or every day. If you do something once, it’s exciting. And if you do it every day, it’s exciting. But if you do it, say, twice or just almost every day, it’s not good anymore.”

In most cases, when you choose to do something inconsistently, you force yourself into a constant need to make a choice. “Should I do my gratitude journal today?” is a lot harder on your mental faculties as compared to “It’s time to do my gratitude journal for today.”

So that’s step one: make it a daily habit.

Gratitude Practices to Try

Write a Letter: Like in the research studies, think of someone that has done something nice to you or to others. Write a letter to them expressing your appreciation for them and their actions. It’s totally up to you if you want to actually give the letter to the intended person. The research shows you get the benefits either way!

Keep a Gratitude Journal: You can purchase a physical journal that provides daily prompts (I use the Five Minute Journal, which also has a really convenient phone app), or you can just use a blank notebook. There are lots of options for what you can write. You could start your day with 3-5 things you’re grateful for in your life. You might end the day with 3 good things and their causes. Play around with it and check in with what practice feels most fulfilling, and easiest to stick with. You could write something as routine as, “I’m grateful for the beautiful sunrise this morning,” or as specific as, “I’m grateful that my hard work in the gym paid off in sending that difficult climbing route today.”

Use Signs or Cues: Choose something you come across often- that street sign you always pass on the way to work, the “Little Library” on your neighborhood walk… Even better if you can use something that doesn’t always put you in the best mood- dirty dishes left in the sink, laundry that needs folding, an empty dog bowl that needs filled. Take those cues as a reminder to reflect on something you’re grateful for. “I’m grateful for that healthy, spunky dog I get to love on.”

Put it in Your Pocket: Choose a small object (a pebble, personal trinket, photo). Keep it in your pocket and take it out whenever you get to a new destination. Every time you look at the trinket or touch it in your pocket, take a moment to reflect on something that you’re grateful for.

Practice a Gratitude Meditation: Try finding a guided meditation focused on gratitude, or select a gratitude-themed mantra to meditate on. You can start with “Gratitude Meditation” by Dr. Lauren Tober on Insight Timer.

Before You Leave...

I just want to say, I’m grateful that you’re here!

The post Practicing Daily Gratitude Boosts Happiness appeared first on Mind Your Mind.

4-Week Meditation Challenge

taylercorcoran — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 02:59:02 +0000

Welcome to my 4-week meditation challenge! I created this challenge as a personal experiment and shared it on social media to keep myself (and anyone who wanted to join) accountable. I chose to do this challenge after learning about the amazing benefits of consistent meditation practices, including actual physical changes to the brain! You can learn more about those benefits here.

Most of the studies I read about had their participants meditating for 20-40 minutes per day for 8 weeks. I set out on this 4-week experiment with the goal of learning about myself and what I could be doing to promote a more consistent meditation. I wanted to play with the amount of time spent meditating per day and with the types of meditation I participated in. It turns out, switching up my practices really helped me with staying motivated and engaged. I highly recommend it!

You can check out my weekly reflections from the challenge on my instagram.

Here, I’ve included all of the “prompts” I gave myself and my followers throughout the 4 weeks. I’ve included suggested guided meditations from the Insight Timer app (free) to eliminate the need for any searching and decision making during the challenge. I hope you enjoy! Please leave me a comment or send a message to let me know if you’re doing the challenge and how it’s going for you.

Happy meditating!

Week 1: 10 Minute Practices

Day 1: Mindfulness Breath Meditation- “Mindful Awareness Meditation” by by Kate James

Day 2: Loving Kindness Meditation- “Loving Kindness” by Cassandra Carlopio

Day 3: Body Scan Meditation- “Mindful Body Scan” by Wendy Chan

Day 4: Visualization Meditation- “Sunrise Visualization” by Jay Foster

Day 5: Mantra Meditation- “All Is Well Mantra Meditation” by Ali Katz

Day 6: Focused Gazing Meditation- “Candle Light Guided Meditation and Relaxation to Help Ease Tension and Tress” by “Relax For a While” on Youtube

Day 7: Movement Meditation- “10-Minute Walking Meditation by Jennifer Innes

Week 2: 20 Minute Practices

Day 8: Breath Meditation- “Breath Awareness Meditation” by Bradley T Morris

Day 9: Mantra Meditation- “Create Your Own Mantra for Daily Affirmation” by Nathaniel Allenby

Day 10: Visualization Meditation- “Forest Visualization” by Linda M Kandle

Day 11: Body Scan Meditation- “Body Scan” by Nicole Chumsky

Day 12: Breath Meditation- “Aligning With Your Breath” by Breathe & Ground

Day 13: Movement Meditation- “Walking Meditation: Being Mindful With Your Senses” by Monica Alfing

Day 14: Chakra Meditation- “Chakra Meditation” by Sandeep Khurana

Week 3: 30 Minute Practices

Day 15: Breath Meditation- “Detach From Overthinking: Healing & Cleansing Negative Energy” by Kenneth Soares

Day 16: Mantra Meditation- “I Am Affirmations: Manifesting Abundance, Prosperity & Success” by Kenneth Soares

Day 17: Visualization Meditation- “Power Visualization to Ground Energy” by Laura Aitken

Day 18: Body Scan Meditation- “Body Scan” by Andy Hix

Day 19: Breath Meditation- “Build Self Belief & Self Confidence” by Linda Hall

Day 20: Gratitude Meditation- “Gratitude Meditation” by Cathy McDonald

Day 21: Loving Kindness Meditation- “15 Minute Lovingkindness Meditation” by Bodhipaksa

Week 4: 10-Minute Morning Mantra and 20-Minute Evening Guided Practices

Day 22: 10 minute morning mantra + Evening Breath Meditation- “Awareness of Breath Meditation” by Rochelle Calvert

Day 23: 10 minute morning mantra + Body Scan Meditation- “Restorative Body Scan” by Jean O Hanlon

Day 24: 10 minute morning mantra + Visualization Meditation- “Lucid Dreaming Visualization” by Sarah Bisceglie

Day 25: 10 minute morning mantra + Loving Kindness Meditation- “Loving Kindness Meditation” by Anna Maria Müller

Day 26: 10 minute morning mantra + Chakra Meditation- “Guided Chakra Healing Meditation” by Healing Haus

Day 27: 10 minute morning mantra + Movement Meditation- “Walking Meditation” by Gary Heads

Day 28: 10 minute morning mantra + Breath Meditation- “Breath Awareness Meditation” by Unseen Buds

The post 4-Week Meditation Challenge appeared first on Mind Your Mind.

The Mindful Mind: How Meditation Influences Your Brain

taylercorcoran — Sun, 20 Dec 2020 22:44:32 +0000

2020 has pushed every single one of us. We’ve been carrying our own unique burdens this year through a public health crisis, natural disasters, political conflict, racial injustices, and a complete revision of life as we know it… Whatever those events have done to influence your own life, you’ve had to do an incredible amount of adjusting, coping, and persisting. Having to substantially pare down in-person interactions and non-essential activities has meant that we’ve not only seen a shift in our social activity, but we’ve also experienced a change in the way we manage our mental health.

Now that we’ve hit 9 months in the US spent in quarantine, I’ve consciously adjusted my focus to trying to find the positives that came out of such a challenging year. For me, one of the biggest takeaways I’ll leave this year with is the reminder that I have a powerful practice at my fingertips. One that requires absolutely no resources and that has a treasure trove of benefits.

A Free (And Freeing) Practice

That practice is mindful meditation. When I found myself stuck in the same negative thought spirals throughout the year, I pulled meditation back into the picture. I’ve been a fair- well, actually a poor-weather meditator for years. I struggled to keep a consistent practice. However, this practice became hard to ignore once I started looking into the research.

My first true exploration of meditation was a college course called “Introduction to Buddhist Meditation.” I took it on a whim with my sister to fulfill an anthropology requirement, but I ended up taking away from it far more than I expected. I initially felt really silly thinking about myself meditating. I didn’t take it seriously and I didn’t have a clue the benefits it could provide. It took several weeks of experiential lab classes before I finally started to notice in particular a shift in my resilience within my academic life. I changed my tune and began to crave the feeling that came from a good meditation session.

My professor highlighted the work of Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, author of the book, Full Catastrophe Living, and founder of the Meditation Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program at UMass. Kabat-Zinn teaches mindfulness from a scientific lens. He has helped his students to use mindfulness to manage pain, anxiety, and other brain functions.

When I realized I was in desperate need of some more focused meditation work earlier this year, I was on a dual mission to find out why meditation makes me feel so good and if it’s actually doing anything significant to my brain. I started by finally finishing Kabat-Zinn’s book (sorry to my professor, I skimmed for the class). And then I delved into the more recent research.

What Happens In Your Brain While You Meditate?

The Basics

There’s a variety of meditative and mindfulness practices. For simplicity’s sake, I’m going to focus on the general principles that most practices have in common (follow along on Instagram for some deeper exploration and practice).

Mindful meditation is the practice of bringing awareness to the present moment. This awareness is often guided by a focus on the breath or a “home base.” Meditation is often mistaken for a means to an end and a practice with a strict purpose of non-thinking. As in, you’re supposed to discipline yourself every time you lose focus and you fail the meditation if your thoughts stray.

That is actually counter to the purpose of mindful meditation. The true goal is to be aware without making judgments when you inevitably need a nudge back to that awareness. You’re bringing awareness to your thought patterns and to your present state. In my opinion, meditation helps you to know yourself better and to strengthen important cognitive skills.

Stream of Consciousness or Consciousness of Thought?

Often, as we carry on throughout the day, we have a constant stream of thoughts swirling around. We rarely turn our focus onto those thoughts and where they’re coming from. We don’t tend to put in any conscious efforts to slow the stream. Sometimes we don’t even realize it’s flowing at all.

Picture all the thoughts that run through your head as you rush to get ready in the morning, move through a busy day at work, complete your commute home, prepare dinner, get ready for the next day… it’s overwhelming to think of all that is swirling through your head on any given day.

And, it’s even more overwhelming to think about how those thoughts are streaming by and we are so unaware of them. Have you ever gotten home from a drive and realized you don’t actually remember what happened along the way?

On the flip side, have you ever calmed your mind and fully immersed yourself in the bodily and mental sensations of breathing? Sitting? Walking? Eating?

Sometimes I meditate just for the sole purpose of tempering the rapids of my mind. For just one moment in the day. To center and ground myself. To check in, take notice, and maybe plan my day according to what I observe to be brewing in my mind. That alone is powerful. But, there are also scientifically studied benefits of this practice that I hope will tempt you to give it a try.

Flex Your Attention

With all that the 21st century has brought us, technological advances and social-cultural changes have not been kind to our attention spans. We experience near-constant distractions on a routine basis, which puts stress on our concentration. When you’re consistently interrupted, or trying to multitask, your brain is bouncing between stimuli to try to focus on.

In meditation, you are actively working the networks in your brain that support concentration and sustained attention. When you recognize your mind wandering during meditation, and subsequently return your attention to your breath or home base, you are flexing those connections. The more you work specific circuitry in the brain, the better the connections become.

Meditation Physically Changes Your Brain

Our brains are not static organs. Instead, they are constantly creating new networks and pruning unused networks. Learning a new skill or exercise can build new networks, as can putting in a more concentrated effort on a minimally used skill.

One neuroscientist and researcher from Harvard, Dr. Sara Lazar, has conducted several studies looking at actual structural changes to the brain. Amongst her studies, she has used MRI scans to quantify and visualize the impact of meditation practice on the brain. One of her studies compared non-meditators to meditators and found that the meditator’s brain had more grey matter (neurons) in their brains, particularly in the frontal cortex. This is the part of the brain responsible for attention and executive functions.

Another study took participants who had never meditated before and sent them to an 8-week MBSR program. The participants’ brain scans from before and after the program were then compared, and resulted in some seriously cool findings.

First, there was growth in the hippocampus (responsible for memory, learning, and emotional control) and the temporoparietal junction (important for functions of perspective-taking, empathy, and compassion). Even more interesting, the “after” scans showed a decrease in the size of the participants’ amygdalas. The amygdala is responsible for our fight or flight response and processing of negative emotions. The shrinking of the amygdala actually correlated with participant report of decreased feelings of stress.

All this physical change was a result of just 8 weeks of meditating 30-45 minutes per day.

Check out this interview with Dr. Lazar from the early days of covid-19 quarantine for more!

Are You Holding Tension Right Now?

What’s going on in your body as you read this? Are your teeth clenched? Your shoulders tensed? Are you holding in your stomach? Hands in a fist?

Have you ever taken notice of what your body feels like in the middle of a meeting at work or as you’re trying to get to sleep?

In the practice of body scan meditation, one systematically brings attention to different areas of the body and the associated sensations. Again, this is a non-judging practice. A practice of increasing awareness.

Body scan meditation has been linked in research to a decrease in stress hormones.

Personally, I do a quick version of a body scan pretty much any time I can remember to while I’m at work. A quick check-in usually tells me I’m holding tension somewhere in my body, especially during stressful situations. Because of the awareness I can bring to my bodily stress, I am able to tune in and make adjustments. Often, when I can consciously relax those areas of my body, I can feel a relief in my perceived stress.

How To Get Started

So by now, you’ve got a taste of just some of the benefits awaiting you with consistent meditation practice… But how do you get started?

First off, like everything else I talk about in this blog, start slowly. One thing at a time. Head over to my Instagram or sign up here if you’re interested in diving in with a community.

The post The Mindful Mind: How Meditation Influences Your Brain appeared first on Mind Your Mind.

So Much More Than Weight Loss: Exercise Changes Your Brain, Immediately

taylercorcoran — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 00:13:00 +0000

You know that frustrating pattern where you stop exercising for a while because life is busy? And after enough time passes you can feel a shift in your mood? That’s because your brain (not just your body) thrives on movement. And once you get started, exercise changes your brain for the better. Immediately!

It happens for me like clockwork. If I hit the 2-week mark without a heart-pumping workout, I feel my anxiety increasing disproportionately to life around me and my mood takes a plunge. Not only do I notice a shift in my psyche, but I also feel less sharp and more easily distractible. It usually takes a very brief, “Why am I struggling so much right now?” before it smacks me in the face. My brain is craving exercise!

Exercise Is So Much More Than Weight Loss

The diet and weight loss industry has done a solid job of reminding us that we should be getting regular exercise to remain fit and healthy. But those companies aren’t even getting to the meat of why exercise is SO good for us!

As humans, we have complex brains for the purpose of performing complex motor and cognitive tasks. The brain and exercise create a self-feeding cycle. The more you exercise, the better your brain performs, which in turn causes you to move better….

Getting your heart pumping and your body moving creates a massive cascade of events while you’re working out. It impacts your mood, your thinking skills, and even the size of your brain.

Get The Happy Juices Flowin'

Maybe most immediately noticeable to us is the way exercise influences the chemical balance of our brains, and subsequently our moods.

During exercise, you experience an increase in the production of many neurotransmitters, to include serotonin, dopamine, endorphins, and a protein known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). You probably know what most of these do.

Serotonin is known as the "feel-good" neurotransmitter. An increase in this good stuff leaves you feeling better than when you started the workout. Serotonin also plays a role in our sleep.
We've talked about how crucial sleep is to the brain!
Dopamine regulates our motivation, attention, and experience of pleasure. Dopamine also plays an important role in our motor functions and is a key factor in several disorders of the aging brain, including Alzheimer's Disease.
Endorphins reduce our perception of pain and create a pleasure response. They're commonly known as natural painkillers. Everyone knows these are linked to exercise, thanks to Legally Blonde. Exercise stimulates the production of endorphins, resulting in a "runner's high" and other pleasurable feelings after a workout.
BDNF is a well-studied protein in the brain that we'll talk more about in a minute. It's been found to have an antidepressant effect as it increases during exercise.

Picture this rush of happy chemicals running through your brain the next time you run through the park! Just knowing all of that is happening in my brain makes me happier from the minute I finally commit to hitting the pavement.

Fertilize Your Brain

We talked about how BDNF is found to have antidepressant effects, but that’s not all it does. An increase in BDNF in the brain has amazing implications beyond the boost in one’s mood.

Did you know your brain can make its own fertilizer? BDNF is a powerful protein that’s responsible for nurturing and strengthening our existing neurons and also for supporting new neuronal growth in the brain. Meaning, brain growth!

As we age and experience high levels of stress, we actually begin to lose neurons. You know the saying, use it or lose it? That applies to our neurons, too, unfortunately. The less we stimulate certain networks in our brains, the weaker the connections become.

Plus, when you’re chronically stressed, your body produces cortisol. Cortisol has been found to have a depleting effect on the hippocampus. This is the area of the brain that’s responsible for memory and new learning. Our magical elixir and brain enhancer, BDNF, however, is actually known to directly influence growth in the hippocampus! This, in turn, supports new learning and memory.

Boost Your Focus and Complex Thinking

It doesn’t just stop with memory and new learning. Aerobic exercise also impacts the functioning of the prefrontal cortex in the brain. This is the area of the brain responsible for some of the most complex cognitive skills we possess as humans. Studies have found that exercise acutely impacts our attentional skills and our executive functioning (a group of skills related to accomplishing high-level, goal-directed behaviors).

It’s even been reported that these acute changes to our cognitive abilities can last up to 2 hours after a bout of exercise. It may be worth taking that into consideration as you plan out your daily workouts.

The Burning Question

Finally, what you’re probably dying to hear about. The dose. How much exercise and what kind of exercise do I need to be doing to reap these benefits? Most of the research on the cognitive benefits of exercise suggests participating in 150 minutes per week of “moderate-intensity aerobic exercise.” Let’s break that down.

150 Minutes

150 minutes comes out to 30 minutes of exercise 5 days per week, or less days per week of a few longer workouts. Though this is the standard, that doesn’t mean you have to or even should go from 0 to 150 right away. And it also doesn’t mean you should stay at 0 because 150 is daunting.

You can’t continue to experience the amazing benefits to your brain if you injure yourself by pushing it too hard or too quickly. It’s best to ease in to exercise and listen to your body and mind. If you’re feeling hard-pressed to meet the standards, remind yourself that just getting started is doing amazing things for your health. You do not need to break records- you just need to get moving!

And now for the time commitment. I totally hear you. Life is so busy. Where are we supposed to unearth almost 3 hours from our busy weeks? Remember my post about productivity? Consider what a happier mood, a more focused mind, and a better memory will mean for your productivity in a day. Your brain is being rewarded with immediate boosts in mood, focus, and complex thinking skills after a heart-pumping workout! If you can find a way to get 30 minutes of exercise in before a big task, you may find yourself finishing that task way faster and more efficiently than you could have planned for otherwise.

Moderate Intensity

Moderate-intensity means working somewhere between 50-70% of your max effort. The Mayo Clinic suggests you’re performing a moderate intensity workout when “1. Your breathing quickens, but you’re not out of breath, 2. You develop a light sweat after 10 minutes of activity, and 3. You can carry on a conversation, but you can’t sing.”

That seems a lot less daunting once you consider what exercises can fall into that category, right? It also shows that this intensity-level is very personal. If you’re starting from little to no exercise at all, you’re not expected to run a 5k in order to glean all of these amazing health benefits.

Aerobic Exercise

So what does count as an aerobic exercise? Aerobic exercise consists of what most of us call “cardio.” This type of exercise gets your heart pumping and oxygen flowing through the body. This can include, walking, running, dancing, swimming, hiking, cycling, rowing, skiing and snowboarding.

Trying Something New Grows Your Brain, Too!

Some of us (me!) really struggle to find consistency with typical cardio exercises, however. There’s good news for us, too!

You don’t just have to rely on classic aerobic exercise pumping up the BDNF in your brain to help it grow. There’s another way. Your brain also creates new neurons and new connections (neuroplasticity) when you learn something new. So, think about learning a new sport or exercise. You have to learn the actual movements, the strategies, and the rules and nuances required to prepare for the exercise.

Take picking up rock climbing, for example. When I first began climbing, I had to not only learn how to move my body in a way that would keep me on the wall, but also how to preserve energy, how to read the route, and how to ensure I had all the necessary equipment with me based on the type of climbing I was doing. I’m almost 2 years in to the practice and I’m still learning about the best protective gear and strategies to be using while I climb. That’s a lot of new connections being made in my brain while also participating in something extremely fun and social!

Use It So You Don't Lose It

Picking up a new form of exercise, or frequently switching it up, gives you the greatest chance of diversely strengthening the connections in your brain. Many forms of exercise also require specific cognitive skills that you may not be flexing so often during your typical day. For example:

Dancing uses high-level memory and attention skills. How else are you going to follow along with the new choreography?
Tennis challenges your reaction speed and visuospatial skills.
Cycling outdoors requires constant divided attention to your route, obstacles around you, and your own performance.
Rock climbing taps into your problem solving, visuospatial skills, and response to the fear centers of your brain.

The list could go on and on. The next time you head to a new workout class or agree to try a new sport, take it as an opportunity to flex a potentially neglected area of your brain!

Make Your Move

I haven’t even gotten to the protective powers exercise has on our aging brains (you know I will!). But you’re getting the point. We shouldn’t just be making time for exercise because it helps us keep healthy bodies. It helps us keep our brains sharp, happy, attentive, and growing!

Knowing all of this about the powers of exercise doesn’t mean it’s that simple. I can relate to many of the classic excuses we make to get out of working out. Here are some tips and tricks I’ve picked up that help me to better harness the magical brain boosting powers of exercise:

“I don’t have enough time to work out.” We discussed this earlier. Working out will likely improve your productivity and efficiency in a day. Try changing up when you decide to work out. Carving out some time before work for a 30 minute walk or hike could mean you perform better at work and feel better throughout the day.

“I can’t get myself started.” Most of the time, the first steps are the hardest. Try setting out the items you need for your workout in a convenient place. For example, if you’re planning to go for a hike in the morning, set your hiking clothes by the door the night before. Also, try making plans that are harder to cancel. Commit to doing the workout with a friend or sign up for a class. Finally, try switching it up. Sometimes you drag your feet because you’ve lost the intrigue. Learning something new boosts motivation and feelings of accomplishment. And getting outside has amazing added benefits.

“I do great for about 2 weeks then revert to old ways.” Create a routine you can’t stray from. Set reminders, sticky notes for motivation, tell those close to you about your goals. Again, consider switching things up. Stick to the same daily routine, but change which exercise you do during that time. Set specific workout goals to keep engaged. You can even try some habit tracking apps.

“I have every intention to work out, but I don’t feel physically up for it when the time comes.” This could be a sign that you’re really needing the mood boosting effects of exercise. It could also mean you’re feeling an imbalance in your circadian rhythm or possibly being blocked by your diet. Do you tend to experience a sugar crash around the time you’re usually available for a workout? Consider changing up what you’re eating before a workout. Or use my circadian rhythm tracker to figure out when the best time of day is for your body.

“I have an injury that’s preventing me from working out.” You don’t want to continue to aggravate an injury. But, we’ve just discovered how incredibly beneficial regular exercise is for your brain. If you’ve been on the fence or are waiting to see a physical therapist or doctor about your injury, here’s your push.

The post So Much More Than Weight Loss: Exercise Changes Your Brain, Immediately appeared first on Mind Your Mind.

Why You Feel So Good After Spending Time Outside

taylercorcoran — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 04:24:13 +0000

I love being outside. Since moving from Washington, D.C. to Colorado, I’ve grown a serious adoration for the mountains and a passion for pushing myself to new heights. Literally, heights. I got into rock climbing within the first few months of my move, and have been hooked ever since. And hiking gained a new meaning for me once I summited my first 14er (a mountain whose highest point is above 14,000 ft in elevation).

I drink up the beautiful views first and foremost. I feel a sense of accomplishment and power in the physical exertion of being outside. And I am refreshed by crisp mountain air. I always feel SO good when I come back from a weekend of outdoor adventures, or even just a morning run outside.

But, I don’t think I’m the only person that also drags her feet when the opportunity to get outside arises after a long day or week of work. If you’re like me, you may be thrilled at the idea of getting out for an adventure. But then you feel the pull of your massive to-do list back at home. It becomes hard to keep the excitement and commit to the adventure. Just before making my way outside, I often feel the leash of my responsibilities and the heat of my work burner at it’s highest setting!

And Yet...

The thing is, I ALWAYS feel infinitely better after getting outside. And that to-do list always shrinks back to its appropriate size and priority level.

Tell Your To-Do List It's For Your Health!

Once I successfully make it out the door, I’m forever grateful. Because being in nature is like getting an instant injection of serotonin and dopamine. All the good stuff shrinks that to-do list back to its rational size.

There’s a reason (actually many) why we feel so good after spending time outside. Let’s lay out ALL the reasons, so you can run through them in your head the next time your to-do list is trying to overshadow your awesome plans. We’re not letting the to-do list win again!

Nature is SENSE-ational

Being in nature stimulates just about all of our senses (taste included if you’re fully au natural). The way we see, hear, smell, and touch nature has a profound impact on our stress levels, attentional abilities, general sense of well-being, and so much more.

See Yourself Happier

There’s great variability in what natural scenery you may have access to. Whether it’s the trees lining your street, a neighborhood park, or the top of a mountain, your brain is benefitting from the images of nature. One study found that, just by moving to greener areas, people will experience lasting benefits to their mental health compared with those who move to less green areas.

And, if you ever experience “awe” when looking at the views around you, that’s even better for you!

A set of studies out of California found that experiencing awe has a direct relationship with increased feelings of general well-being and reduced levels of stress. The coolest part of this research was that it ran the spectrum of outdoor experiences. One study followed individuals who went on epic white-water rafting trips. The other followed college students through everyday experiences of being outside on campus, like seeing the sunset or reading a book under a tree. Both groups reported a boost in well-being in correlation with the awe they experienced.

Being in awe causes you to step outside of yourself. It’s humbling and puts life into perspective.

Hearing Like Cavemen

Not only does seeing nature reduce stress. Hearing does it, too!

Hearing pleasant bird songs and chirping is actually known to lower blood pressure and stress hormones. Deep in the primitive areas of our brains, we know that pleasant bird songs are a sign that all is well. If birds are chirping, there are no dangerous predators. No looming storms.

Smell Is Underrated

The sense of smell is actually so much cooler than it gets credit for. In the brain, most senses are first processed through the thalamus (the sensory switchboard). Smell, on the other hand, goes straight to the hypothalamus, which is responsible for our stress responses. After being processed, the signal is then sent to the amygdala, which houses our emotions and knowledge of threats. And to the hippocampus, which is responsible for our memories.

Therefore, the sense of smell is processed by our brain regions for detecting danger faster than all the other senses. So, when we smell smoke, our brains immediately sense that there’s a threat even before we see or hear signs of fire. Cue stress reaction.

In contrast, pleasant nature smells have a calming effect and have been found to lower markers of stress. One study administered an electric shock to participants followed by a range of nature smells vs. city smells. Participants given pleasant nature smells during shock experienced lower levels of stress at onset and quicker recovery after the shock.

You don’t have to shock yourself to reap the benefits of nature’s odors. Just know that those stress-reducing whiffs of grass, trees, and sea breeze are going straight to your hypothalamus.

How Often Do You Touch The Earth?

Have you heard of grounding? It’s the practice of standing or walking barefoot in the grass.

Why would you do this when you have perfectly good shoes to walk in?

There are a few theories, and they’re fascinating!

One theory suggests that, because the earth has a negative electrical charge, having contact with the ground helps us fight off free radicals. In this sense, walking barefoot could be providing us with the same benefits as antioxidants.

Another theory involves the good ole circadian rhythm. Grounding has been linked to reductions in inflammation and heart rate variability, and improved blood flow. These benefits assist with the regulation of our internal clocks, fighting off chronic disease and improving our sleep.

Whether you’re getting outside without your shoes or not, making time for physical connection with the earth appears to be a great way to feel good. Just writing about it makes me want to run outside barefoot right now!

Attention Restoration

What we hear, see, smell, and feel in nature typically creates a pleasant environment for us. This pleasant environment causes us to experience “attention restoration” in a way that we can’t typically access in our day to day life inside.

Indoors, our brains are constantly processing a barrage of competing stimuli. We’re hearing, seeing, smelling, and feeling so much that our “thinking brain” is in high gear.

This can go on pretty much nonstop every day until our heads hit our pillows.

When in nature, though, most of that stimulation disappears. We’re left with a pleasant level of sights, sounds, and smells that give our thinking brains a much needed break. Switching off the executive and highly attentive areas of our brains allows the default mode network (DMN) to take over. Researchers believe allowing the DMN to take over while outside is what helps to restore attentional abilities, and also to improve levels of creativity. Lower brain connections to the DMN have also been linked to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease.

Your Brain, Body, and Soul Will Thank You

Spending time outside is SO good for you!

When you feel the yank of your daily stresses pulling you away from your time in nature, you’re probably in serious need of a dose of the outdoors.

Research has supported that spending as little as 5 hours per month outdoors can have a significant positive impact on your mental well-being.

Now More Than Ever

With coronavirus still keeping our world on high alert, we’re experiencing heightened levels of anxiety and stress. Especially now, when social interaction is limited and negativity in the news is rampant, we need all the positive boosts we can get.

Prioritize your well-being by prioritizing getting time outside. Make sure to do so with respect. Bring a face covering, and leave no trace.

I’d love to hear how you get outside! In the comments below, share how you’re getting creative with your nature time during this wild year.

The post Why You Feel So Good After Spending Time Outside appeared first on Mind Your Mind.

How Overworking Is Hurting Your Health: A Workaholic’s Labor Day

taylercorcoran — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 04:25:47 +0000

Labor Day in America has become the “last hurrah” of summer. The first Monday in September is a day to relax… for those of us lucky enough to have the day off. Oh, and sales! Seems pretty random and lovely.

Though that’s not how the holiday started out, let’s allow ourselves some relaxation, and some reflection. You deserve to know how overworking might be hurting your health. And how to stop the damage in its tracks.

How We Got Here

Originally, Labor Day came out of a movement spurred by the changes to American working life during the Industrial Revolution. Once industry began thriving on mechanization and automatization, workers’ rights took a hit.

Labor workers began advocating for better conditions and benefits. On September 5, 1882 they rallied for an 8 hour work day in New York City. Gradually, annual parades centered around better working conditions took off across the country. Labor Day didn’t become a federally recognized holiday until 1894, however. Still, this early September day continued to be a day of rallying for change for the working class.

We're Not Done Yet!

America has come a long way towards fairer, safer, and more equal labor laws (though we continue to have work to do on the equality front). I personally haven’t given Labor Day much thought beyond a much appreciated day off… until this year.

This year, I got to thinking. We may not be petitioning for fair hours, reasonable benefits, and adequate working conditions. But, maybe we should take this day to give our work habits some thought. I wouldn’t say our modern working culture is one that prioritizes health and well-being, but why shouldn’t it?

Workaholics Are Mainstream

How many of you reading this are self-proclaimed workaholics? Side note: being a workaholic is so mainstream that the word is not flagged as a misspelling or non-word in a word processing application. That surprised me, but maybe it shouldn’t.

I hesitate to use the word “workaholic” because I think it puts people on the defensive. There’s a negative connotation to it that makes people think, “This is someone who consciously chooses work over family.” Let’s not go there.

For the remainder of this post, we’re defining a workaholic as someone who has difficulty leaving work at work. Someone who finds that work is limiting his or her ability to enjoy other meaningful aspects of life. A workaholic can’t help checking her emails late into the day or volunteering his time beyond the job’s designated hours. This overworking can have serious consequences.

Service of the Heart

When you maintain an overworked lifestyle, the negative influences on your well-being can snowball into serious health problems.

For example, one study looked at the impact of working overtime on your heart. It turns out, working 3 extra hours per day puts someone at a 1.6-fold increased risk of developing heart disease.

The lifestyle habits that arise from such a rigorous work schedule might be to blame for these heart problems. Think: eating convenient, less healthy foods, losing out on restoring sleep, indulging in substances that quick-fix your energy, skipping exercise, etc. But these problems can also be due to chronic stress levels that overwork your heart.

Heart & Brain Work Together

Stress to your heart in itself results in stress to your brain function. High blood pressure, for example, can eventually cause reductions in blood flow to the brain and subsequent cognitive decline over time.

Physical and Mental Overtime

Overworking, both in rigor and in time devoted, can directly influence the brain’s functioning.

Another fascinating study out of Australia looked at the number of hours we typically work in a week and how those hours impact our brains. For someone 40+ years old, working 25 hours per week supported positive cognitive growth. However, once work exceeded 25 hours per week, it was linked with declines in cognition (in this study: processing speed, memory, and attention skills).

Chronic Stress and Your Brain

It’s not just the hours you work though! Another study compared health markers in employees who had workaholic tendencies vs. those that did not, regardless of hours worked. They found that even employees who worked longer hours than their workaholic counterparts had lower reports of health problems and less objective measures of poor health.

When you’re stressed, your body reacts by increasing levels of cortisol, immune responses, and blood pressure. When you’re engaging in workaholic tendencies, you’re likely more chronically stressed as long as there’s work to be done. And I think we all know that in this day and age, work
never seems to be done.

So your body and mind are chronically stressed! Cortisol levels remain high. Blood pressure stays high. And your organs suffer due to this new normal.

You may be able to manage the more mild symptoms of chronic stress in the early years of workaholism. Unfortunately, though, it can catch up to you over time, resulting in more serious diagnoses.

Good News for Satisfied Workers!

There was a super cool positive finding from this study, though! The authors concluded that workaholics who enjoyed their jobs (“engaged workaholics”) had lower biological markers for health decline than their non-engaged counterparts. The engaged group also reported greater overall satisfaction and job performance.

Both groups had greater health problems than the participants who were able to leave work at work. However, the study found that being fulfilled in your role, receiving steady positive feedback, and being intrinsically motivated creates a buffer that slows the impact of chronic stress, if just slightly.

The Four Burners Theory

Most of us have to work and plenty of us enjoy work. We just have to be mindful of its impact on our lives. I came across “The Four Burners Theory” recently, and I can’t get it off my mind. This theory suggests that, like a traditional stove top, we have 4 burners of life:

As the theory goes, you have to choose the 2 most important burners to turn on, and cut the other 2 off. I understand that we can’t do everything at full force. But, I don’t fully agree that 2 whole burners need to be turned completely off.

I think you can make a few compromises and modifications that can allow you to use all of your burners, just at different intensities.

This visual of a stove burner can be really helpful when thinking about your work habits. If you have your work burner turned all the way up to “high,” you’re likely taking the fuel from your other burners.

Modern Day Labor Day: Time to Take Action

Instead of waiting until you start experiencing the eventual symptoms of overworking (cognitive fatigue and decline, high blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems, insomnia), take this weekend’s holiday as a time to reflect and check in. I suggest picking 1 small change to start with to help you stay committed and recognize progress.

Consider implementing a break every hour at work to help with productivity. Visit my post on time management at work to get started and find other productivity-boosting ideas

Put it in a box: when I first started out in my career, I had a really unhealthy work-life balance. I’d have dreams about my patients and ruminate on their experiences and on what I could do for them. My awesome therapist suggested I write down what I felt was “unfinished business” or whatever was still on my mind at the end of the day. She then told me to put the note in a box on my desk. That helped me to both physically and mentally leave work until I returned the next day.

Set time limit applications to stop yourself from checking emails outside of your work day. It may be hard at first and make you feel guilty. But once you start respecting your own boundaries, your colleagues will recognize and respect your boundaries and maybe even make changes for themselves.

Delegate tasks to turn the burner lower. Write a list of all the tasks you take on that cause your heart to race or your blood pressure to rise. Add the tasks that you tend to take on once the work day is over. Can any of these tasks be automated? Are all of them productive? When you can be efficient with your tasks and support your own health, you are showing up to work a better employee and also giving back to your other burners.

It Starts With One Change

Most of us have the best intentions of working hard and bettering our futures.

I look around at my friends and family and feel so inspired by their dedication and passion.

But, I also see many making sacrifices with their own health and well-being in order to continue getting ahead at work or just because they’re that dedicated. It starts out slow but can progress to a point of no return for your health. I don’t want that for anyone.

Taking small steps to check in with yourself and make a few adjustments will help you to feel more effective in your work and give more fuel to the other burners in your life. And, as we’ve discussed before, making changes is easier when you have the tools to evaluate your commitment.

Happy Labor Day!

The post How Overworking Is Hurting Your Health: A Workaholic’s Labor Day appeared first on Mind Your Mind.

Am I Ready to Change? How I’m Using Motivational Interviewing to Find Out

taylercorcoran — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 13:18:46 +0000

In my previous post, I laid out some important reasons why sleep should be your number 1 priority when it comes to your health. But I’ve got a dirty secret. I continued to make edits and work on that post well into midnight, and subsequently woke up the next morning feeling 1 part exhausted and 2 parts a hypocrite.

I KNOW how important sleep is. And, I even know what helps me to sleep better. Yet, I continue to sacrifice my own sleep, frequently. Clearly, I haven’t been ready to change.

Are You Ready?

Being in a career field where I help people to solve problems and work towards change, I know what commitment to change looks like, and I know what resistance to change looks like.

In psychology, there’s an approach to supporting individuals through making behavioral changes in their lives, known as Motivational Interviewing (MI). I’ve learned to incorporate principles of this approach into my own work with my patients.

MI is so helpful in clinical work because it reminds us to step back and think about where our patients are at in their awareness of the need for change, the limitations they’re concerned about, and their desires to move forward. There will be nothing but friction if someone is not ready to change.

Change Talk

One of the pillars of Motivational Interviewing is to identify “change talk.” This comes in several forms, which are conveniently arranged in the acronym DARN CATS. I’ve spent the past several years learning to listen for DARN CATS in my patients in order to support their goal setting and recognize when they’re ready for the next steps towards change. It just recently hit me that I could be using these principles for myself.

I say over and over “I want to do better with my sleep,” but then continue to have nights where I’ve let hours of sleep go to waste in substitution for something less important. So, I’m going to publicly explore where I’m at on the continuum of readiness to change, and motivational interview myself to change my own behaviors. This may get weird…

Hiking and Leveling Up

Let’s use a hiking analogy. The end goal of motivational interviewing is to help someone to change their behavior. We can think of summiting a mountain as the change in behavior. Summiting a mountain, your elevation has changed, your view has changed, your mood has probably changed… You’ve leveled up.

Unless you’re constantly training and hiking, you don’t usually go from thinking about a hike to summiting it in the same day. You have to prepare thoroughly for the hike and turn it into a mental reality. Then you have to actually commit, get yourself to the trailhead, and begin the upward journey.

You’re not guaranteed to make it to the summit just because you’ve started the hike, either. You could bail at any point or you could run into unexpected elements or events that alter your plan. It takes commitment and flexibility to arrive at your ultimate goal, even if that means changing the planned path.

DARN CATS: That Darn Prep Work

DARN is made up of “preparatory change talk,” meaning someone is getting ready to, and expresses interest in changing, but they’re still just getting started. Think of it like the decision-making, planning, packing and equipment gathering before a big hike. DARN is made up of desire, ability, reasoning, and need. You don’t have to be thinking or saying something that fits into each category to be ready to change.

Desire

SLEEP: “I WANT to get better at sleeping.”
HIKE: “I’d like to go on a hike.”

Ability

SLEEP: “I COULD sleep better, because I already know a lot of the strategies to improve my sleep.”
HIKE: “I think I’ve found a hike that I could probably successfully summit.”

Reasoning

SLEEP: “I SHOULD sleep better, because sleep deprivation hurts my productivity and health.”
HIKE: “I should be able to do this hike on x day at x time in x hours.”

Need

SLEEP: “I NEED to start winding down before bed with an enjoyable routine.”
HIKE: “I need to buy the proper shoes, poles, etc. and pack enough water.”

DARN CATS: CAT-apulting You To the Summit

Now that you’ve fully prepared, the next step towards change is to actually commit. CATS is characterized by “mobilizing change talk.” You are committed and taking actions to prove you’re ready to move forward with change. Think of this like actually putting your plan into action and making steps towards the summit! CATS is made up of commitment, activation, and taking steps.

Commitment

SLEEP: “I’m tired of feeling fuzzy and I’m ready to make sleeping well a priority. I’ve told someone close to me about my goals so they can help me to stay committed and accountable.”
HIKE: “I’ve locked in my hiking partner!”

Activation

SLEEP: “I’ve showered, done a relaxing skincare regimen, meditated, and drank a cup of tea in bed as part of my enjoyable bedtime routine.”
HIKE: “I’ve driven to the trailhead and met up with my hiking partner.”

Taking Steps

SLEEP: “I’m getting to sleep by 10pm for the first day!”
HIKE: “I start up the mountain. I can see the summit in the distance!”

Turning Change Talk Into Action

If I’m taking an honest look inside, I know I’ve been hovering just before commitment. I may say some committing things, but my actions haven’t been fooling anyone. I’ve been stuck at the prep phase of my hike where I could bail without any real consequences. Where I’m at, I never lined up a hiking partner to potentially disappoint, and I definitely haven’t yet driven to the trailhead just to drive back home.

In doing this exercise to evaluate my own thoughts and actions has helped me. If you’re feeling frustrated, in a constant loop of wanting change but not being able to commit, ask yourself a few of these questions:

Challenge Accepted

I’m personally feeling really committed. I have a plan, a first step, and a way to be held accountable. Just like a hard hike, I know it probably won’t be pretty, but every step upward is a step in the right direction! Let’s see how it goes.

I’d love to hear if you give this a try with habits in your own life. Tell us how you’re asking yourself, “Am I ready to change?”

The post Am I Ready to Change? How I’m Using Motivational Interviewing to Find Out appeared first on Mind Your Mind.

All Your Brain Wants Is Sleep!

taylercorcoran — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 04:32:16 +0000

Yesterday, I fumbled over my words, missed important conversational cues, and felt slow in all my reaction times. Memories were foggier and I had to stall while I tried to sift through my thoughts. I sat down to try to write this post, and words wouldn’t flow. I felt like I was moving through water all day. You might think I had started drinking by 7:00am. Frustratingly, this was actually the result of not getting a full night of sleep.

If you’re nodding along thinking, “Been there…,” I’m not surprised! And if you’ve ever had an “off” day and hadn’t stopped to think about why, consider the high likelihood that it was due to the sleep (or lack thereof) you had the night before.

More Than Just “Rest”

Sleep doesn’t just affect your general energy. When you go to sleep, you’re not just turning off the tv for the night and turning it back on when you wake up. Sleep influences just about every element of your brain, and subsequently, your day to day functioning. While your body is inactive, your brain is buzzing with activity.

Sleep is broken into stages. Stages 1-4 are classified as non-rapid eye movement sleep, or slow wave sleep (SWS). These stages are followed by rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Depending on the stage of sleep you’re in, your brain is doing everything from sending a relay of signals to get you to sleep, producing or halting various neurotransmitters, replaying and processing memories and emotions, or choreographing the “washing” of the fluid surrounding your brain.

Zzz’s For Memories

While you sleep, the hippocampus (brain region crucial for memory) interacts with the cortex and the visual area of the brain. In fact, studies have found that memories from the day are replayed during sleep, resulting in significantly more effective memory consolidation compared with daytime learning. When subjects of one study were deprived of certain types of sleep, they demonstrated significantly worsened learning of a novel task from the previous day compared with those who were allowed a full night’s rest.

Less Slow Waves = More Slow Days

So, you may not remember so well after a poor night of sleep, but wait there’s more! Sleep-deprived brains actually show slowed activity and sleep-like waves in some parts of the brain during wakefulness. This results in slower processing of information and subsequently slower reactions in everyday activities. Just take a second to think about all the tasks you do in a day that require speedy reaction times. I’m cringing thinking about driving under the influence (of a slowed brain). This slowing also interferes with in the moment encoding and memory. We now know that memory is impacted by your sleep the night before and the night after an event!

Brain Washing… But In a Good Way

Your brain is bathed in a fluid called cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). As it turns out, the CSF moves in waves while you sleep in order to rid the brain of toxic proteins and waste. Once the brain’s neuronal actions start to change in response to sleep, blood flow in the brain is altered, and it is thought that this change causes the wave of CSF to come in and clean things up. Less sleep means less waste management!

Prioritize Shut Eyes

When your brain is missing out on a full night’s sleep, the consequences are significant. New memories may not be successfully stored. Your reaction time slows. Your brain may be holding on to waste and losing out on daily refreshment.

I promise we’ll talk about how to improve your sleep (trust me, I’m nerding out on it!). For now though, I just want to yell from the mountain tops that SLEEP IS SO IMPORTANT. Take a look at your priorities. If sleep is anything below 1st, we’ve got some work to do.

Let’s be honest, sleep tends to take the back seat a lot. For social events, study sessions/work projects, just because (are you a bedtime procrastinator?)… A good place to start with all of this information is to figure out how to set boundaries around and prioritize your sleep. Let’s try to rationalize picking sleep over our usual priorities:

1. I have to get this paper/report done!

THE BAD NEWS: Based on what we’ve explored of your circadian rhythm, and your attention, you now know that when you push your brain past its attention limit and its normal cycle, you’re fighting an uphill battle. If you’re on day 2 of sleep deprivation, your brain is also less primed for new learning, so you’ll be working on overdrive to try to encode new information while you work

THE COMPROMISE: Make a plan for finishing your task based on what you’ve learned about your own attentional abilities. Utilize times in your day when you’re more productive and avoid letting productive time leak into bed time.

2. I have to keep studying for this test tomorrow!

THE BAD NEWS: See above. Then also consider that sleep actually does a huge part of the work of memory consolidation. While you’re trying to cram information into your memory, you’re hurting your chances of it effectively staying there by sacrificing your sleep.

THE COMPROMISE: Prioritize getting enough deep sleep (usually more highly concentrated in the beginning hours of sleep) to allow yourself the chance to encode what you’ve already studied, then set an earlier alarm to continue your studying.

3. I want to stay out late with my friends.

THE BAD NEWS: Staying out late means you’re going to lose out on the washing of toxins from your brain. And, socializing late at night tends to come with other decisions that introduce more toxins and sleep-depriving elements including alcohol, sugary foods, and other stimulants.

THE COMPROMISE: Try planning ahead to give yourself a later wake up on the days you know you’ll be out later. Or, suggest an earlier alternative: appetizers, happy hour, a walk in the park, exercise class, early movie…

4. I’m a bedtime procrastinator.

THE BAD NEWS: You’re not only hurting your memory, attention, processing speed, and washing of brain toxins, but you’re probably also doing this many days in a row, or habitually. This doesn’t allow your brain a chance to catch up and continues to compound the effects.

THE COMPROMISE: Set concrete goals. Tell someone close to you about your goals to keep yourself accountable. Create an enjoyable bedtime routine that you look forward to.

The post All Your Brain Wants Is Sleep! appeared first on Mind Your Mind.

Stop Fighting an Uphill Battle with Your Circadian Rhythm

taylercorcoran — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 01:04:01 +0000

In last week’s post, we explored ways we can use our brain’s attentional and working memory capacities to find more time throughout the day and be more efficient with our precious waking hours. This week, I want to explore how your brain manages time with its own internal clock and how your sleep-wake cycle plays just as significant (if not more significant) a role in your daily productivity.

If you’re anything like me, you tend to go about your day based on convenience. You fit your responsibilities and leisure activities around your work schedule. If we have that in common, you may also be able to relate with the yo-yoing of energy and fatigue throughout the day. If you sit and think about it for a second, it’s actually very predictable. Let’s take a look at a typical day based around a typical 8 hour work day for a self proclaimed “very much not a morning person”:

UNLOCK THE CODE

Ok, I might be a little dramatic and have some things to work out with my own sleep… But, think about the patterns in your typical day. Do you generally choose to do tasks knowing your own patterns, or do you do them based on a general schema of “wake up, work, responsibilities and fun, bed.”

The reason we can so easily see patterns is because there’s actually a system creating those patterns. That’s the circadian rhythm. You’ve heard of the circadian rhythm, but you probably associate it with sleep. It actually encompasses your body’s full daily cycle of physical, mental, and behavioral functioning. Your circadian rhythm governs your sleep-wake cycle, but it also influences your body temperature, energy levels, attention, mood, heart functions, and more.

YOUR UNIQUE CIRCADIAN RHYTHM

Let me just say, the brain is so cool. Light gets picked up by your eyes and sent to the “master clock” in your brain’s hypothalamus, along with other inputs like sugar, caffeine, hormones, etc. Your master clock interacts with your organ and tissue biological clocks, speeding them up or slowing them down, depending on the input. Your biological clocks and their speeds influence your daily cycle, or circadian rhythm. We won’t spend time trying to decode that more than we need to, but the gist is, there’s so much influencing our daily cycles.

Your circadian rhythm is not identical to that of the person next to you, nor is it the same for you every day of your life. Because it’s influenced by so many factors, you can expect that it becomes interrupted or disrupted. A great common example of this is jet lag after traveling to different time zones. Your circadian rhythm becomes disrupted and your body has to take some time to adjust its rhythm to the shift. Other decisions can shake up your rhythm, including excess sleep, alcohol, and prolonged screen time.

MORE THAN EARLY BIRDS AND NIGHT OWLS

You may be thinking, “Well, I’m a morning person, but my partner is a night owl. How does that hold up?” There are actually profiles of different circadian rhythms, known as chronotypes. Dr. Michael Breus defines 4 different chronotypes, and you can check yours out here. To give a brief overview, your personal circadian rhythm indicates at what times of day you have the most energy and clarity. You might be a lion that gets up early and is most productive in the morning, a wolf that thrives in the evenings, a bear that does best mid-day, or a dolphin that struggles with sleeping difficulties. Your chronotype can change within your lifetime, but you can’t spend your life fighting your personal circadian rhythm. Instead, you can learn from it and synchronize your daily schedule to better take advantage of all the clocks and regulations your brain is constantly orchestrating for you.

SO HOW DO WE HACK IT?

FIND OUT WHAT YOUR PATTERNS ARE:
Learn about your chronotype. Then take inventory of your energy levels in a typical week. Try using my checklist at the bottom of this page.
DECIDE WHERE EDITS CAN BE MADE TO YOUR SCHEDULE:
Use what you learned to make some changes. Make 1 change at a time so you can be confident the adjustments are responsible for the improvements in your productivity. If you change too many things at once, you won’t know which change made the impact and you’ll probably lose momentum before any real changes happen.

START HERE:

PRIORITIZE YOUR EVENING:
Consider the actions you take before and at bedtime. Your day really starts the night before.

CONSCIOUSLY CONSIDER YOUR MEAL & DRINK SCHEDULE:
Think about how you feel after meals. Are you finding yourself more energized or craving a nap after you eat? Are you eating right before bed and having trouble falling or staying asleep? Research suggests it may be beneficial to your sleep and metabolism to stop eating 3 hours before bed.

SCHEDULE IMPORTANT CHALLENGING OR STRESSFUL TASKS FOR MID-MORNING:
Experts suggest taking advantage of your body’s production of cortisol after a stressful morning activity. Cortisol helps your body to regulate during a flight-or-fight response. Your body doesn’t have the same reaction with stressful tasks in the evening.

CAPITALIZE ON A TIRED MIND FOR CREATIVE TASKS:
Research shows that we are actually able to accomplish more creative thinking tasks when our brains are at less optimal phases, because our minds tend to wander more when we’re tired.
BE MINDFUL OF THE LIGHT YOU’RE EXPOSED TO THROUGHOUT THE DAY:
Wake your brain up more naturally by starting the day with the morning sun. As the sun sets, avoid as much unnatural light as possible. Stay tuned and I’ll tell you about some cool ways to block out the artificial light.
COMBINE YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF YOUR BRAIN’S ATTENTIONAL CAPACITIES WITH YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR CIRCADIAN RHYTHM:
If you know you’re a morning person and that you need an environment void of distractions to get a complex task completed, maybe you’ll consider getting up a few hours earlier than the rest of the people in your house in order to capitalize on your best time of day. If you’re an evening person, you’ll stay up a little later than the rest of the house. But you’ll have to make compromises to ensure adequate sleep.

SIMPLE CHANGES, BIG RESULTS

Downloadable Circadian Rhythm Tracker

Use my tracker to learn about your patterns and find out where you can make small modifications to get big results!

Free Tracker

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