Brain Surgery
Lifehacker.org recently posed a link to SharpBrains, a mental health blog that I just might have to subscribe to, with a caveat: they’re a bit silly, verging on new-age philosophy about meditation and being in “The Zone”, but it’s countered with a significant retail presence that besmirches any spiritual inclination to the point of absurdity. Nevertheless, they have some good junk too. The post in question, The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Brains, gives food for thought (ha, ha) on the care of what lies within your cranium. Two of them in particular are key, in my opinion, but I believe they missed one.
#2 on the list is Take Care of Your Nutrition. You are what you eat. That’s so passé, but you know it’s true, even if it sounds a bit dorky. Right eating habits make such an incredible difference in so many areas that this one factor alone probably accounts for most of the problems encountered by us overfed and undernourished Americans.
#4 is Positive Thinking. Stress is like a brain cell antibiotic… it kills neurons, prevents the creation of new ones. So eventually you’re not just depressed, you’re depressed and stupid.
They ramble on about metal exercise, in fact, #5-#8 are variations on that theme, but I think that sort of follows with the other two above, just like it does with physical exercise. If you’re eating properly and in a good mood it’s easy to be active. Conversely, if you eat at McDonalds and dwell on negative junk, you don’t feel like doing much more than practicing your potato imitation on the living room sofa. Incidentally, physical exercise made the list too, at #3.
What I think they’re missing is sleep. Getting the right sleep is so important I’m not convinced it shouldn’t be first on the list. Just like physical activity requires a rest period, the brain needs one as well, maybe more so. When you’re tired, NOTHING works right, and all the rest is just harder to adhere to.
It all comes down to habits in the end, I think. Unlearning the bad ones. Developing new ones. They’re also not just “fad diets”, they’re life changes, which is what makes them so hard. You don’t do start something, stick to it for a week, and go “hey, I’m smrt!” You change your whole approach, make it your mantra, stay on it, and the changes develop gradually.
This is probably a solid global philosophy as well. All improvements are life changes. All require forcing out bad habits. All take time. Oh heavens, and patience too. It’s no wonder this stuff is so hard, and why things like the emWave Personal Stress Reliever actually sells…