Neuro Athletes,

Human beings have an amazing capacity to analyze, process information and solve problems. Your brain is the ultimate tool for productivity. On the other hand, it can just as easily work against you, sabotaging your plans and pulling you further from what you truly want.

Many of your know that I speak at large hedge funds on how to train your brain through our 3 step process, one of the reasons I am booked each month is because more and more people are starting to understand that you simply cannot be a great leader or produce wealth without sharpening the most underrated tool in your box- your brain. 

The brain is Commander-in-Chief of all your actions. So, if you fail to control its inner workings, your entire being will feel the impact. Some of the most difficult times in your life will have been a result of your brain resisting your true intent. In this email I am going to outline practices that will help you stay on track by taking full control of how your brain works.

But first…..

Did you see my latest episode of The Neuro Experience podcast?

Here’s a sneak peak.

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Minimise Stress, Maximise Productivity

Before we talk about stress, let’s talk about productivity. Productivity is about managing your time, energy, and focus—so you can get work done, get money, and still have time to, well, get a life. Though you might use an eight-hour workday to benchmark your productivity, research suggests workers are only productive for about three hours during that time frame. Stress doesn’t just affect performance; it hurts engagement and passion — it’s hard to enjoy your job if you are not present in any form, ruins your productivity.

Research has uncovered that chronic stress damages a person’s brain. Since your brain is vital to all the work you do, it is unwise to endanger it. However, many would agree that it is impossible to completely eliminate stress from a person’s system.

You don’t have to run away from stress — just stay on top of it. Take precautionary measures so that your health and work performance don’t suffer from stress. Find an activity that will calm your mind and relax you, even for a short while.

Scientists have learned that animals that experience prolonged stress have less activity in the parts of their brain that handle higher-order tasks — for example, the prefrontal cortex — and more activity in the primitive parts of their brain that are focused on survival, such as the amygdala.

It's much like what would happen if you exercised one part of your body and not another. The part that was activated more often would become stronger, and the part that got less attention would get weaker. This is what appears to happen in the brain when it is under continuous stress: it essentially builds up the part of the brain designed to handle threats, and the part of the brain tasked with more complex thought takes a back seat.

Protect yourself from damaging stress

To better cope with stress, consider how you might minimize factors that make it worse. Here are some tips that can help you better manage stress and hopefully prevent some of the damaging effects it could have on your brain.

• Optimise your gut health: A recent study found that high levels of stress can affect gut bacteria to a similar degree as a high-fat diet; while other studies have shown that reducing the number of bacteria in the gut can produce stress-induced activity in mice.So, it seems that the road runs both ways: stress can alter gut bacteria, and gut bacteria can influence stress levels. It is a complicated web.A recent piece of research, published in The Journal of PhysiologyTrusted Source, takes a fresh look at how gut bacteria are involved in gut health problems induced by stress.

• Optimise your sleep: A lack of sleep can cause the body to react as if it’s in distress, releasing more of the stress hormone, cortisol. Cortisol is responsible for your fight or flight reaction to danger, increasing your heart rate in anticipation of a fight. Too much cortisol, however, can lead to weight gain and cardiovascular issues over time. This often occurs when poor sleeping habits prevent the body from regulating its hormone levels overnight. In fact, getting less than five hours of sleep a night has been linked to cortisol-related issues, like high blood pressure. 

Nutrition Will Change Your Brain

One of the best things you can do to sharpen your tool (your brain) is consume high dose EPA and DHAs. This is actually the first thing I tell my high performing clients to do and it scares me to see so many people who aren’t taking advantage of this.

An imbalance of omega-3s in your diet can lead to not only impaired brain performance but also disease. These essential fatty acids have been shown to prevent and improve several neurological conditions, including depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, ADHD, Alzheimer’s disease, and dementia.

As we age, our brain goes through many physical and biological changes including shrinkage in volume, a loss of plasticity, and a decrease in omega-3 levels, which could contribute to overall cognitive decline. Omega-3s reduce neuroinflammation and oxidative damage which reduce the production of amyloid-β plaques in the brain. Omega-3s also increase levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, also known as BDNF, and improve insulin signaling. All of these positive effects are linked to decreased risk for both the development and progression of dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease.

Adequate levels of omega-3s support proper blood flow in the brain. Brain imaging studies show that higher blood flow in certain parts of the brain are associated with better performance for various cognitive tasks. Proper blood flow also supports memory and decreases the risk of developing dementia.

Recap

We tend to overuse our brains and believe that it is for our own good, while remaining unaware of the brain’s pitfalls and limitations. If you don’t understand how to take care of your brain and work around its tendencies, it will remain an obstacle between you and your fullest potential.

More Information on Optimising Your Brain