Curate your Lifestyle for better Brain Plasticity.

Active Prevention Strategies

Curate your daily activities and lifestyle!

(“Chaos in Brainland” A Guide for Creating a Stress and Anxiety-Free Zone!)

Curating is different from planning or setting goals; curating is about what to put into your day and what to leave out. 

Anything not needed or recognised as destructive can be removed by “unlearning that particular habit”.

Create a list of positive things to do, and select what is appropriate for your daily list.

Please take note of your unwanted habits and de-select them from your daily curated list.

The Science of Brainplasticity or Neuroplasticity has been a game changer.

Let’s examine the overall implications of habits, focusing on preventing brain, body, and mind degeneration and ill health.

Think of human life as one “huge bunch of habits”. 

Everything you do repeatedly is a habit. A list of everything would be too long; let’s concentrate on a few major ones and accept that “We are our Habits.”

Getting up in the morning: Are you still tired, not getting enough sleep, going to bed too late, sleeping too long, room too warm - room too light - closed windows - taking your work into the bedroom? Change into positive sleep habits for a positive outcome.

Diet - the food you eat: Are you eating junk food - refined food - eating in a hurry - getting up too late and having no breakfast - always in a hurry, stressed, no time to eat - eating while watching TV or working on the computer?

Your taste is a habit: Taste is acquired; you don’t need the extra sweets, alcohol, coffee, or soft drinks. Not liking healthy food can also be a habit. The whole diet industry is built upon people’s vulnerability and being slaves to their taste, emotional instant gratification, and addictive habits. 

Work: Most work-associated behaviour falls into the category of habits; one terrible habit for office people is sitting all day long. Yes, it’s a habit, but we know it better. 

Stress: We experience different types of stress. Stress is partly born out of habits and carries the excuse, “it’s not my fault”, ... but it usually is. Money stresses are at the forefront, but no one admits to overspending or not having a budget. Most people know they probably have the wrong money or work-associated habits, but that’s what they know best; therefore, they carry on as “business as usual”.

And yet another form of stress is health-related: allergies and inflammation are body stresses, and again, we often have a choice to choose “health” habits instead of burning the candle at both ends.

Exercise: The habit of no exercise, never getting around to exercise, having no time, and being too busy.

Attitudes: How you think about something can significantly impact your brain and physical health.

What does that all mean? 

Your habits, thoughts, diet and lifestyle choices control your brain’s plasticity.

Unlearning bad habits. 

Acknowledging bad habits is the first step to unlearning them; it’s like being an alcoholic. First, you must admit that you are an alcoholic, or as in our topic, a “creature of habit”.

Let’s reflect on the positive points of better Brain Plasticity.

Brains with multiple pathways have more effective plasticity. 

Each time you embark on or confront a new experience, your brain enriches its neurons and neural pathways.
Tip: embrace new experiences.

Every time you learn something new, your brain creates neural passages to sustain that knowledge or skill.
Tip: Learn a new skill or language.

Under-stimulated brains lose plasticity because neural pathways are underused and underdeveloped.
Tip: Use it or lose it.

Brain-specific exercises can increase brain plasticity. 
Tip: Create your exercise or subscribe to a brain training website.

Known Body/Brain-specific exercises are Feldenkrais - Tai Chi - Yoga.

Brain Plasticity Facts:

You can change your genetic destiny. 

Your brain’s memory centre regenerates. 

You are constantly growing new brain cells into your 50s, 60s, 80s, and 90s – throughout your lifetime – through a process called neurogenesis.

You can turn on your genes through lifestyle choices that enhance neurogenesis, re-growth of cells and expand your brain’s memory centre.

For Brain Health, you need Physical AND Mental Exercise.

Recent science has shown that physical exercise is as important as mental exercise to keep one’s mind fit; it improves IQ scores and helps prevent brain deterioration as one ages.

Engaging in challenging new activities throughout your life, staying socially active, and practising “mindfulness” are other ways to boost your brain function.

You must be genuinely interested in your chosen activities; it’s all about intention and intensity. 

Protect Your Brain with Wise Lifestyle Choices:

First, “Change a Habit” or break a routine to stimulate and create new neural pathways with new experiences. 

Adopt good sleeping habits. 

Diet—Good Nutrition: I recommend intermittent fasting; it works well and breaks habits. Two days of less food is a good habit-breaker. Make those two days grain-free. As a general diet, I recommend the Mediterranean Diet.

Conscious Breathing: A few times a day, concentrate on your breathing pattern, slow it down and breathe deeply.

Appropriate sun exposure for your Vit. D and other health benefits (Heliotherapy). Make your sun exposure time a time to meditate. - Sun, air and light form the basis from which all life springs; you better get yourself some of that. 

Digestive Health: Aim for Good Nutrition. Your gut is your “second brain;” beneficial bacteria - probiotics - transmit information from your GI tract to your brain via your vagus nerve. Reduce overall calorie consumption.

Stress will diminish brain activity. - Eliminate stress.
Permanent stress will increase the risk for mental disorders, especially later in life, with symptoms of anxiety and depression. 

Stress Busters: Lifestyle change - Daily Habit changes - Relaxation - Meditation - exercises and techniques such as Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), yoga - feldenkrais.

Emotional Release. Research has shown that EFT (or “tapping”) significantly increases positive emotions, such as hope and enjoyment, and decreases negative emotional states, such as anger and shame.

Mental and Visual Exercises: Learn something new and start a creative pursuit, like art classes. Creativity needs to be expressed; find your way of doing that. Creating and appreciating art are powerful ways to develop a healthy brain.

Switching hands to do an activity builds and strengthens neural pathways, forcing the brain to adapt by forming new neural connections.

Strengthen your Senses by closing your eyes, getting dressed, switching off the lights, and walking in the dark. This will strengthen underused neural pathways. 

Learn a new language, study actively, and pronounce word sounds for at least 10 to 30 minutes daily. Plan your learning and take it seriously.

Learn or re-learn a musical instrument.

Exercise: From walking to yoga, include high-intensity interval training and balance exercises. 

Learn to juggle. It requires visual tracking and leads to fast and flexible motor responses, which are great for the brain and body. 

Dance or learn to dance, or join a class in Feldenkrais - Tai Chi - Yoga -

Relaxation - Meditation - Visualisation. Include some emotional reframing ( NLP) or emotional freedom training EFT. Prayers and Mantras are a form of meditation.

Do self-hypnosis: You can change your thought process and learn to switch your focus by self-hypnosis. Research shows that with self-hypnosis, a person gets to experience reduced stress, increased tolerance to pain, and sharper thinking.

Think deep - Analyse: Thinking is good, so philosophise and learn something new. Expand neural pathways by re-evaluating your attitudes.

Use your “Hand” writing, and even improve it; writing by hand helps a person develop a kinesthetic sense by allowing the brain to process information more effectively.

Get organised, and clean up your house or room. If in doubt - chuck it out. Less mess creates a clearer mind.

Find out more »> The book >“Chaos in Brainland” - Stress and Anxiety-Free Zone!)

From Brainland News - Cheers, Dieter Luske - www.dieterluske.com

Additional Info: useNature.com - Creative Lifestyle News Portal

PS And to add value, buy one of my books, email me and receive a link for free alpha relaxation music downloads :-) .. it’s true :-)

“Chaos in Brainland” A Guide for Creating a Stress and Anxiety-Free Zone!
Available on Amazon > www.amazon.com.au/dp/0645652334