neuroscience

by Sandra Sperber

Welcome to 2021! Is your email inbox and social media feed full of tips for New Years’ resolutions, 21 or 30 days programmes to change your diet, exercise programme, yoga practice, etc.?

Most programmes are based on the assumption that we can create a new habit in just 21 days. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Unfortunately, it is probably going to take much longer than that unless it’s a very simple habit. According to statistics, 25% of New Years’ resolutions are gone by mid January and only 8% are kept until the end of the year.

Before I share some simple tips on how you can make or break a habit with you, let me explain a bit more about the nature of habits and what happens in our brains. It’s very useful to understand the biology and why willpower and motivation are not essential to change. It’s actually your environment that matters more. Understanding how habits are formed in the brain and making a plan can help you to change without relying on our willpower alone.

Habits automated behaviours that we learned and they are hardwired in our brains. By performing certain sequences of behaviour (or thoughts) we make our brains more efficient and reducing the mental load. We perform these action in auto-pilot mode without even thinking and we can use the time to do other stuff like writing a blog or inventing electrical cars for instance. Steve Jobs is said to have perfected habits and routines like wearing black turtle neck jumpers every day to reduce the mental load of thinking about what to wear.

This becomes very useful for skills like driving a car but there are habit that we might want to get rid off. Unfortunately, our brain treats all habit equally and neutral. That’s why it can be challenging to change habits that are not so good for us. In order to stop habits we can use the same principle and disrupt our autopilot mode by practising mindfulness and meditation. Let’s have a look at the four stages of habit formation:

model: The Neuroscience Academy, Dr. Sarah McKay https://drsarahmckay

This model can help us to tackle the difficult task of change. Understanding the mechanism gives you choices to make long-lasting change. Once you are aware of your trigger (or cue), maybe try to replace the routine (habit) with a healthier choice. Create a system of change rather than focussing on short-term goals, think about rewarding yourself. Repetition is key for habit formation.

Here are my top 10 tips:

You can start small with the two-minute rule. It’s easy to stick to a habit that you can commit to. A tiny change can lead to remarkable long term benefits but patience and perseverance is key. If you want to write a book maybe you can commit to writing one page a day? If you want to meditate every day, try starting with just two minutes.
Add a desired habit to something you are already doing. It’s called habit stacking. So maybe you can go for a walk while chatting on the phone to a friend or listen to your favourite podcast.
Plan and prepare “what if” scenarios for any obstacles that might occur. For example: I’m going for a run in the morning, if it rains, I’m doing stretches instead. Be specific: I’m going to run in the morning on Monday, Wednesday and Friday before work.
Start tracking your habits with a list or journal. Ticking boxes gives you a sense of achievement and keeps you motivated. Don’t forget to reward yourself. (Sign up here to receive your free habit tracker template via email).
Your habits shape your identity and vice versa: Changing habits is really about becoming the person you want to be. Instead of saying: I’m meditating regularly, you can say, I’m a meditator. Instead of saying: I’m running my own business you can say, I’m an entrepreneur.
Habits are more effective than setting a concrete goal. Recent research shows that there are advantages of setting “open goals”. Achieving goals is a momentary change and doesn’t necessarily lead to a long-term change. Setting a specific goal can also lead to frustration.
Make your new habit irresistible by making it simple, obvious and appealing. You can reduce friction to create a new habit. If you want to go for a run in the morning, put all your gear out in the evening so you don’t have to think about it in the morning. If you keep forgetting to take your supplement or medication, put them in front of the coffee machine, for example.
Behaviour is predictable: It doesn’t take any of my willpower (anymore) to avoid that aisle in the supermarket. I just don’t go there. It’s useful to know that businesses are using the science to make us buy more. Marketing researcher found out that when they put the healthy food and veggies at the entrance you’re more likely you buy snacks and processed food once you’ve put our veggies in the trolley.
Think about your why: If you want to go to the gym five times a week- you could rephrase your goal to: I want to get stronger. If you are aiming to lose weight – maybe change your goal to: I want to be healthy. If you want to start with a meditation practice maybe change your goal to “I want to feel calm”. You get the idea.
I’ve saved the best one for last: approach your habits with gratitude. Be thankful that you can make choices. Think of the people that support you to become the best version of yourself. According to psychologist David DeSteno, making gratitude a habit is a superpower. When you just rely on habits and discipline it can actually cause a lot of stress and problems of dealing with failure. If you build a habit to cultivate gratitude it will help you to value the future more than the present and making better decisions for yourself in all areas of your life. Practising gratitude and compassion is part of many religious and spiritual practices especially in Buddhism. There are many studies about the overall benefits for our health and wellbeing.

I hope you found plenty of inspiration on how to create lasting change in your life. Many of our habits are triggered by emotions. Practicing paying attention and mindfulness can help to observe your emotions in a non-judgemental way and can help you to break the auto-pilot loop. Why not take a deep breath and decide if the habit is serving you or not.

Wishing you all the best towards a successful 2021,

Sandra

Further reading:
James Clear: Atomic Habits
Charles Duhigg: The Power of Habits

If you have any questions, or want to get in touch contact me via:
lifebalanceproject@gmail.com

Anika's Baby Shower (3)

Let’s Talk About Sleep – Part 1
The science and benefits of sleep, and 10 ways to improve your sleep
by Sandra Sperber

The following blog is my personal journey, not medical advice. If you are suffering from insomnia or restless leg syndrome, contact a health professional to rule out any other underlying health issue that may affect your sleep.

Sleep is one of my favourite topics but only a few years ago, I only slept 6 hours at night, worked long hours in the office and travelled a lot along with regular jet-lags. I only got through my day with several coffees and sugary treats in the afternoon when coffee just did not get me through the long work days. I felt depleted on the weekends and tried to catch up on sleep that I missed out on during the week. What I did not know back then was that it is not really possible to make up for sleep.

Today, I’m getting 8 hours of sleep relatively consistently every night. My journey to get more and better sleep started when I read Adriana Huffington’s book “Thrive” and how she made sleep her top priority. The book really inspired me to prioritise my own sleep by creating boundaries and taking more self-care. It also inspired me to learn more about why we sleep and how much sleep we really need.

In our busy lifestyles sleep is often undervalued, labelled as laziness or a waste of time, so hopefully I can convince you that sleep can be your super-power. But first, let’s look into the sleep science:

So, why do we sleep?
Sleep makes up approximately one third of our lives and all living organisms on the planet, no matter how small, sleep. Sleep is the foundation of our overall physical, mental and emotional health and it’s vital for our brain health.

Nothing will affect your wellbeing as quickly as missing out on just one night of sleep. The short-term effects commonly range from brain fog, slower reaction times and a difficulty in concentration. To give you more reasons to continue reading, chronic insomnia can lead to high blood pressure, diabetes, reduced function of the immune system, memory loss and depression.

During sleep our brains are not inactive or resting. On the contrary, sleep is a highly organised state coordinated by the brain, body, environment and behaviour:

When we sleep our brains are consolidating, optimising and sorting through external and internal stimuli and information from our day. Sleep is an important component of memory and learning.
Only in recent years scientists discovered the Glymphatic system in the body which removes metabolic waste such as toxic proteins from the brain. It’s like a detox that is happening when we sleep and these proteins are linked to an increased risk of developing Dementia and Alzheimers disease.
The internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle over 24 hours is called the Circadian rhythm and is triggered by light and darkness. Darkness will signal the brain to start the production of Melatonin in the pineal gland. Melatonin signals the brain that it’s time to sleep but it does not actually help with falling asleep or staying asleep. Other mechanisms in the brain and body initiate sleep. Long exposure to artificial light especially blue light waves can delay the Melatonin production.
The second body system that regulates sleep is the sleep/wake drive. The longer we are awake, we will create a need and desire to sleep. You probably can think back to a really active day in your life when you went for a long hike or did physical work and you fell asleep very easily at night.

My personal journey to better sleep

Before I delved into a more theoretical study of sleep by completing a Neuroscience study course in 2018, I tried many different approaches. I started with using a sleep tracker app that summarised my sleep pattern and apart from the apps not being very accurate, it was not helpful for me. The more information I had, the more I focused on a bad night’s sleep and stressed about it.

I had to look at my habits and my “sleep hygiene”. I reduced the number of coffees and had only decaf coffee for a few months. When I started to drink coffee again, I only had one cup early in the morning and never after midday. This small change made a big difference for me but I also had to look at some other areas of my work life balance. I signed up for painting classes to take my mind off work, I tried to walk at least 10,000 steps every day and cut back on long work days to improve my work life balance. Finding my way back to better sleep was a very personal journey. After I left my corporate job 3 years ago, I took time off to travel and study. Apart from my ongoing studies of Yoga and Meditation, I completed a course in Applied Neuroscience and Brain Health in 2018.

Here are my 10 favourite tips for better sleep:

Avoid caffeinated drinks late in the afternoon. Avoid alcohol and heavy meals before sleep. Alcohol makes us sleepy but it is a sedative that does not induce a normal sleep cycle.
Switch off screens two hours before sleep and read a book instead. Replace blue light sources with softer yellow light.
Only go to bed when you are tired and try to go to bed and wake up at the same time even on the weekends.
Remove clocks from your bedroom and avoid checking the time when waking up during the night as this can cause additional stress.
Make your bedroom a cool, calm and relaxing space. Invest in a good mattress and pillow.
Take a warm shower or bath before bedtime. Our body temperature needs to cool down to signal our brain that we are ready to sleep. If you are not allergic, try using a few drops of lavender essential oil in the bedroom or use in a shower-gel or lotion. It’s been known for its calming and soothing effects.
Often our busy brains keep us awake and we tend to “rehearse” the events of the following day. Try disrupting the stream of thought with simple techniques, e.g. thinking of unrelated words starting with a certain letter when you lie awake in bed. This technique is called “cognitive shuffle”, there are also Apps and Podcasts that can help with the task. Check out the list of resources below.
Regular exercise and a healthy diet help with overall health and sleep quality.
Practice yoga, meditation and other relaxation techniques, e.g. progressive muscle relaxation, body scan meditation, breathing techniques, restorative yoga.
Lastly, there is a lot of research and good results from CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) related to sleep. Please note that I’m not a medical expert, check with your health professional to rule out any other causes if you are suffering from insomnia.

You can probably tell that I’m really passionate about sleep and health topics! Thank you for reading this blog. Please make sure to subscribe to the Life Balance Project newsletter on the website to be the first to learn about part 2 of my sleep blog and my meditation and yoga classes. In part 2 of the blog I’ll talk more about the sleep cycles, dreaming and what you can do if you are a young parent or shift-worker.

Also I added heaps links and resources below for you to check out. Enjoy and happy snoozing 🙂
Yours, Sandra

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