The brain holds great secrets to improve our daily lives. This is what Sara Teller, a physicist and PhD in neuroscience from the University of Barcelona, ??co-author of The brain of happy people, researches and disseminates.
He is now publishing Neurocuídate (Aguilar), a volume in which he talks about what happens to our most complex organ when we love, when we are afraid, when we exercise, when we sleep or when we consult social networks, to name a few examples.
What is neurocare?
We know very well how to take care of our bodies, but we know very little about how to take care of our brains. Neurocare is about practicing habits and ways of thinking that promote a healthy brain, which is not the same as having a healthy body. The type and duration of physical exercise we need to do to take care of our brain is not the same as what is needed for a healthy body. To take care of our mental health doing 15 minutes a day of light exercise is enough, while to take care of your cardiovascular health you need more and more intense activity.
Neuroscience explains what happens in the brain during falling in love, for example… Can we really only be in love for a few months?
Studies by Dr. Helen Fisher have shown that falling in love lasts a maximum of 15 months. The brain, in falling in love, is under conditions that better end soon! It is a very addictive brain, with a lot of dopamine, we have a lot of motivation and euphoria and high levels of noradrenaline, which make you pay close attention to what the other person says or does, to their interests. In falling in love, the part of the brain dedicated to reason is more turned off. This cannot last forever, because having the reason zone turned off could be dangerous in the long run.
Dopamine has a dark side, he says. Which one?
Dopamine pushes you to fulfill your desires, to pursue pleasures. On an evolutionary scale, this has worked out very well for us, because many pleasures are related to vital functions such as eating, drinking, sex… Dopamine helps us move to fulfill these functions and survive. The dark side is that it causes a lot of addiction, we always want more, and this places happiness in the future and prevents us from enjoying the present. In addition, dopamine is behind addictions, for example, to drugs.
What happens to the brain when we have anxiety?
It is an emotion that is an anticipation of every possible threat. Stress is real, instant, present fear, while anxiety is about the future, a prediction made by the brain. It is a very evolutionary adaptive mechanism, but the problem is when it gets out of hand and we feel a lot of worry and rumination.
Why do so many people today suffer from anxiety?
The first reason is that we have a brain that has not yet adapted to the new changes we are experiencing, such as being surrounded by screens all day, which greatly overstimulate the brain. Secondly, it is the way we think, the pressure, the demand, the self-criticism. Also when we know we don’t have the resources to face something, like the lack of time these days. There is no time, and the feeling that we lack it, makes us feel anxious.
Social networks represent maximum overstimulation. How does the brain react?
Behind social networks there is dopamine again. Every time we get a like, our brain likes it and a lot of dopamine is released, you want more, and it creates an addiction. The trick of the networks is that these rewards are random, today I have many likes, tomorrow I have none. This gets me hooked. In addition, dopamine is behind surprises, the unexpected. Notifications are always surprises. This makes our brain dependent and addicted.
What do you recommend for taking care of yourself with social networks?
Digital dieting in the short term can help, but in the long term you can’t get it. First you need to know what they cause in the brain. With networks we are constantly multitasking, and this raises cortisol levels. We have to keep this in mind, and especially realize how the networks test us. Some lonely people come into contact with others through the networks and feel very happy. Some end up leaving other aspects of life for the immediate rewards and end up feeling empty.
Breathing is important for neurocare, but it seems to us something as natural as living, we don’t give it importance.
Yes, it’s something we do naturally, but depending on how we breathe, it can change our mental and emotional state. Our brain is interconnected with breathing. That’s why it’s so important to know how to breathe. Most people hyperventilate, breathe short and fast, and this deregulates the nervous system, it is very harmful to our brain. People who breathe well gain in longevity.
What is good breathing?
It’s breathing long and deep. When taking in and releasing the air we must take at least three or four seconds for each action. If you can stretch it further, so much the better. The air should not stay only in the upper part, in the collarbones, but should reach the ribs and the abdomen. It can be learned, but it is a habit that we have very integrated in an unconscious way, so it is necessary to practice every day for a few minutes at home.
What is neuroinflammation and how is it avoided?
It is mental dullness, when we feel mentally dense our brain is probably neuroinflamed, and this comes from the microbiota. 70% of the immune system is in our gut, you need to watch what you eat so as not to inflame the brain. The inflammatory ones are the excesses of salt, sugar, unhealthy trans fats… With a varied diet, fermented foods and fiber, the microbiota is taken care of to avoid neuroinflammation.
