One thing that I have had a vested interest in over the last few years is self-help and healthy behaviors whether that be mental, physical, spiritual, relational, etc. One area that I happen to find super exciting right now is the current health and state of your brain. It’s the most complicated organ in your body and controls so many aspects of your life. I am by no means a doctor of any sort, but I can speak from experience, content I’ve seen and read, and other professionals that have talked with me in this field. Some of the areas I’ll be addressing today include activating various chemicals in your brain, treating anxiety, focusing on what you want, and some “what not to-do’s.”
As you know, we have so many different chemicals and endorphins in our brains that are controlling and being controlled in almost everything we do. Most of the positive and feel-good things in life are reinforced with dopamine and or serotonin. Our general sense of well being and happiness in life is due to serotonin, so saying it is an essential chemical in your brain is an understatement. We also get hits of dopamine when we accomplish or achieve certain things. For example, sometimes during the day when we achieve a project or finish a workout, we may get a rush of dopamine, primarily if it was exciting and interesting.
You may have heard of various software companies using dopamine to reinforce your decisions on their app. This can lead to being addicted to specific apps like snapchat, facebook, twitter, multiple games, etc. because every time we send a snapshot or complete a level we feel a little sensation of goodness. This may make us want to repeat the action. Many people believe that this addiction is leading to more physical isolation which lowers serotonin and oxytocin and is the chemical in our brains in control of bonding and human interaction. This isolation is an argument some use to reason with the high rates of depression in adolescence. I agree with various parts of this argument but personally, have found that social interaction is essential. Being on your phone is okay as long as it’s not over long periods of time and you keep active socially in my opinion.
Next, anxiety. A chemical called cortisol (AKA the stress hormone) is released when you have stress and anxiety. It provides us with that “Oh crap” feeling when something is wrong, and the amygdala (emotional part of your brain) starts worrying. Famous self-help guru Mel Robbins says in these situations to try to switch your thinking to the prefrontal cortex (part of the brain responsible for logical thinking) to make more logical assumptions and reasoning. Prolonged cortisol in our system (bodies/brains) leads to depression and lots of anxiety, but luckily there are things we can do to combat it. Here are just a few ideas:
1. Work out often. Working out and sweating releases various cell and protein rebuilding chemicals. This also may increase dopamine and gets us in a pattern of doing something.
2. Meditation – Whether you have a time of day where you say affirmations where you repeat great things to yourself, or you have a time of free, peaceful thinking, meditation has proven to have been helpful for people. Mindful awareness in meditation is essentially observing and letting your anxiety, stress, and pain be existent which has also been proven to help reduce some anxiety.
3. Anti-Anxiety Pill – First and foremost, I am not a doctor. This being said I do think anti-anxiety pills can help people settle down and decrease cortisol levels.
4. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) – I won’t go into this a ton, but basically, this type of treatment tries to decrease anxiety and other things people are dealing with by changing your actions and emotions of things. Loops of thinking in our head can also cause stress which can be helped by CBT.
5. Socialize – Socialize with people to try to get your mind off whatever is causing your anxiety and stress.
6. Eat healthier – So many individuals have an intense amount of mental health issue solely on the way they eat. For example, the following circle of thinking is shared: I need to eat because it comforts me about my problems. I now feel terrible, have less money, gained weight, and hate that I broke down and ate junk. To console myself, I am going to eat. Etc. My advice in this situation would be to set a schedule and diet which will help to break the loop.
The next area of mind improvement is what we are thinking. One common idea among almost all prophets, geniuses, and philosophers agree on is that we become what we think about. What input we have into your mind is what we slowly start to grow. Earl Nightingale has a famous recording where he talks about how we need to start thinking positive thoughts about our future and where we want to be later in life. I was not holistically convinced of some of this “law of attraction talk,” but then I realized that what we focus on can become more important to us. Earl Nightingale said “We will reap what we sow. If we think about nothing, we become nothing”. This is an incredibly powerful though and I believe it can shape futures.
This brings our final section about what “not-to-do” or the bad stuff for your mental health. A few obvious ones stand out like don’t eat bad stuff and don’t do drugs. I want to provide some more depth however on the “do not” list. Here are some of my thoughts on the don’ts for improving mental care:
1. Do not isolate yourself – I know I had mentioned the adverse side effects of isolation before but seriously, don’t separate yourself from the world. Humans are social creatures and need human interaction. Staying on our phones or only watching Netflix all weekend and not talking to anyone for prolonged periods of time is terrible for us. Physically, our bodies won’t release the amount of oxytocin and another chemical we need to be happy. Whether it’s picking up a new public hobby or going out with some friends a couple of nights a week, we need to be social. If we aren’t not only can it lead to anxiety and depression, but a variety of other issues can start to make their way into our lives. Also, being social brings us more skills, connections, fun, etc.
2. Don’t listen or read all of the same content – If we start only to watch, listen, and read to the same material all the time we begin to idolize individuals and just have the same ideas. By switching up whom we listen to or watch every once in a while, we get new ideas, more inspiration, differentiated input for maximum information, and more.
3. Don’t put yourself in adverse environments – Our brains will reap what we sow remember. Adverse environments only put negative energy and ideas into our consciousness. Ideally, a great atmosphere will have the ability to reinforce subconscious thoughts positively. A peaceful place will help provide more peaceful views and vice versa.
Overall, I hope this provided some value to how you perceive your brain and consciousness works. As incredibly complex as the brain, we can have a profound effect on how we think and how the brain functions.