How To Switch Your Brain ‘ON’ After An ‘OFF’ Year
Do you feel as if your brain isn't working optimally at present? Maybe you feel it’s harder to think clearly, make decisions and be creative? Although there are good reasons for feeling this way, directly related to 2020, there are also some solutions to this dilemma.
The newest part of our brain is also its most sensitive
The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is the newest part of our brain. It’s the part of our brain that makes us human, but is also the part that hasn't had enough time to automate its functions, and makes up less than 10% of total brain volume.
Here is a partial list of what our PFC is responsible for, which it accomplishes via assessing both abstract and concrete concepts, via external and internal input:
Abstract thinking
Consequential thinking
Creativity
Data analysis
Decision-making
Executing plans
Goal setting
Inhibiting behaviour/thoughts
Innovating
Organising data and information
Pattern detecting
Prioritising
Problem solving
Reasoning
Brilliant ideas and concepts are born within the PFC, which is the most sophisticated part of the brain due to its increased connectivity and its ability to pull together disparate ideas from across our skill set, knowledge base and life experience.
But there’s no free lunch
Although the PFC is the newest part of the brain and makes up less than 10% of total brain volume, it is the greediest part of our brain.
The brain as a whole uses 25%+ of the total glucose we generate from the carbohydrates we consume, but the PFC uses 25% of that amount.
The PFCs extraordinary cognitive capacity to generate ideas and combine them in innovative ways is therefore expensive to run.
Expecting it to generate brilliant ideas and plans all day is unfortunately not realistic – it simply runs out of energy and slows down.
Consequently, procrastination and distraction increase as PFC energy becomes depleted.
This is why it’s impossible to pay attention and learn new concepts and skills effectively for a whole day. [Pay attention anyone running day- and week-long training seminars!]
This is also why ‘decision-fatigue’ sets in. To be able to make good decisions, the PFC needs to engage memory, to access past decisions, present circumstances, and constraints, all of which require concerted effort to hold in working memory.
If you've ever felt the need to lay off making a decision late in the day, or made a poor decision by using a habitual response, you’ve experienced decision-fatigue first hand.
A tired PFC cannot harness the skills required to make complex decisions.
Stress throws a BIG spanner in the works of our sophisticated PFC
When the brain experiences a feeling of threat, extreme uncertainty or fear, it becomes focused on survival and getting rid of the stressor.
The limbic system and hippocampus become active, and the PFC isn’t required for anything other than finding a way to get away from the threat.
Chronic stress leaves the hippocampus, pituitary and adrenal glands (HPA axis) focused on the stressor versus allowing the PFC to engage in innovative or creative thinking.
The PFC is also involved in the stress response, but only in so far as it’s analysing past attempts in what may have been similar situations.
It’s certainly not coming up with much to compare 2020 with, which is why conspiracy theories have been so prolific.
When experiencing chronic stress we no longer have the resources to accommodate resourceful thinking and planning, or being creative and innovative.
Survival will always be our brains top priority – innovation can wait and its unique capabilities will lie dormant until the stressor has been dealt with.
Survival brain activity is a deterrent against calm and rational thought, as the brain, and especially the PFC, performs best when the brain is calm.
How can we switch the PFC back on?
Although we’re all likely to continue feeling uncertain for a considerable time ahead, we can still do some basic things to try to ameliorate some of the stress that we are incapable of escaping.
Although there are a number of more complex strategies we could use, these are the three easiest to implement, and support not just brain, but whole-body health too:
Firstly, ensure your diet is full of nutrient-dense, and brain supporting foods.
A growing body of evidence suggests that nutrition is directly related to brain function, mood and stress management, so your diet is important for optimal brain functioning.
Ensure these foods are delicious so that deprivation doesn't stop the formation of new habits.
Secondly, make plans and prioritise your most important tasks early in the day before the PFC slows down.
One of the hardest tasks for the brain is to perform such tasks as it needs to hold a variety of different concepts and knowledge in its working memory while it analyses them and ranks them according to importance.
So, schedule important meetings for early in the morning and leave reporting back meetings for later in the day.
Thirdly, which is a double-barrelled suggestion, and which is a challenge for many people right now, is to find a way to lessen your stress burden so that you can sleep well.
Without adequate sleep, the whole brain suffers, including the PFC, due to its sophistication and sensitivity.
One way to lower our stress levels is to be very circumspect about watching the news and engaging in SM.
Your brilliant and creative PFC will be happy to support your creative and innovative thinking if you ensure your diet is full of brain-supporting nutrient-dense foods.
They’ll also be supporting physical wellbeing.
Similarly, learning to plan and prioritise early in the day will provide you with a framework that can support improved productivity overall.
Finally, managing stress for improved sleep will lead to both mental and physical wellbeing, which supports us holistically and ensures we can think creatively and execute our plans.
When it’s given the calm required for it to perform at its best, your PFC will deliver what is required, reliably.
References
Arnsten, A. F. T. (2009). Stress signaling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and function. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10(6), 410-422.
Liston, C., Miller, M. M., Goldwater, D. S., Radley, J. J., Rocher, A. B., Hof, P. R., . . . McEwen, B. S. (2006). Stress-Induced Alterations in Prefrontal Cortical Dendritic Morphology Predict Selective Impairments in Perceptual Attentional Set-Shifting. The Journal of Neuroscience, 26(30), 7870-7874.
Lowe, C. J., Safati, A., & Hall, P. A. (2017). The neurocognitive consequences of sleep restriction: A meta-analytic review. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 80, 586-604.
McEwen, B. S., Nasca, C., & Gray, J. D. (2016). Stress Effects on Neuronal Structure: Hippocampus, Amygdala, and Prefrontal Cortex. Neuropsychopharmacology, 41(1), 3-23.
Miller, E. K., & Cohen, J. D. (2001). An integrative theory of prefrontal cortex function. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 24, 167-202.
Zamroziewicz, M. K., & Barbey, A. K. (2016). Nutritional Cognitive Neuroscience: Innovations for Healthy Brain Aging. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 10, 240.