Between the pandemic, the election, and economic turbulence, the year 2020 has offered up ideal conditions for unhealthy brain chemistry. Resolve to detox your brain in 2021. With a little help, your brain can cleanse itself and bounce back. You will sleep better, smile more, and look better on your Zoom meetings! And you will finish 2021 in a better place than where you started it.
STRESS HORMONES CLOG THE BRAIN
The human brain is a powerful system. Some 84 billion neurons consume resources (oxygen, water, nutrition) and create “exhaust” while they work. The exhaust is chemical garbage that is taken out every night while you sleep, unless there’s more garbage than the brain can handle.
Negative emotions such as anger, anxiety, fear, grief, guilt, hatred, jealousy, and resentment generate extra garbage in the brain. When chronic negative emotions frequently bathe brain tissue in stress hormones, the brain may not be able to take out the garbage every night.
If the brain gets clogged with toxic waste, mental performance of routine tasks will suffer. Disruptions in sleep, digestion, and mood can occur. Self-medication with food, substances, and sedentary behavior can reinforce a vicious cycle.
5 EASY WAYS TO DETOX THE BRAIN
If you hope to stay healthy and thrive amidst challenges, you want to detox your brain right now. How do you do this? You clear toxic blockages in the five major brain hubs that organize the mind. Here are five easy ways to get started:
1. Engage all six senses.
Sitting and looking at screens for hours dulls the brain’s place cells, which contributes to anxiety. Perk up your place cells by observing and writing down sensory details about the place where you live, indoors and outdoors. Use all your senses, especially hearing, smell, touch, and proprioception.
2. Keep a journal.
The brain’s time cells track a linear progression of time to record and retrieve memories. Strengthen your time cells by writing the day of the week and date in a journal every morning, along with a few notes about what you learned and accomplished yesterday and hope to learn and accomplish today. Other ways to strengthen this hub include maintaining and using a calendar every day, wearing a wristwatch that you look at frequently, reminiscing about events and dates with friends and family, and arranging pictures from your past in chronological order.
3. Take a deep breath.
Stress can produce a pattern of shallow breathing. A build-up of carbon dioxide in the brain and body and contribute to feeling anxious. Deep breathing helps to rebalance the oxygen level, improving mental clarity and physical energy. Square breathing is a quick-and-easy technique developed by the Navy Seals to achieve this affect and calm the mind. Yoga and tai chi, which can be done by video at home, also include breathing exercises. Walking is always a good way to reboot mind and body.
4. Maintain social ties.
Loneliness and social isolation are often the major culprit behind anxiety. Maintain close ties with friends and family using technology and small, safe gatherings. Put extra fun, humor, and kindness into personal relationships for the fastest results in detoxing the brain.
5. Eat a plant-based diet.
Knock off the junk food and eat an apple. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains help the brain cleanse itself. Legumes such as lentils and beans provide easy-to-digest plant protein with plenty of fiber. Remember to get at least 25 grams of dietary fiber every day.
Get 2021 off to a fast start by whipping up a vegetarian version of Senate navy bean soup, with about 15 grams of fiber per serving.
Happy New Year!
