A 2 Minute Neuroscience Hack to Change Your Brain
As a neuroscience nerd, I’m always on the look out for those little hacks that can make a big improvement when followed consistently over time.
Nobody has time for big commitments anymore. Sitting in silent meditation feels like an impossible goal when our world moves so fast. We are literally on high alert from our first waking moments each day.
The trouble with being on high alert, from a neuroscience perspective, is that it keeps us in our fight or flight (sympathetic nervous system) mode constantly.
While this mode might be great for doing the basics of keeping us alive – we work hard and pay our bills – it can also keep us locked out of our creative mind.
In order to be creative and live beyond our basic fight or flight responses, we need to look after the parasympathetic side our our brain.
Creativity, joy and big picture thinking comes to us when we are in the rest and digest (parasympathetic) state.
If we want to enjoy life, despite all the trials of our current economy and society, then we need to balance our sympathetic and parasympathetic responses a little better.
The 2 minute hack
I got this tip listening to Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman discussing it on a podcast. If you don’t know him, check out this article about his work in Scientific American.
His tip is all about the eyes…
When we look down at our desks, our computer screen, or our phone, we are narrowing our view. Our mind is fully absorbed by the work on the screen, or the ‘mental chewing gum’ on our TikTok account.
Neuroscience has shown that looking up, out a window if you can, activates your panoramic view.
This in turn allows a calmer state where our mental resources can be used for more creative thinking. It also just takes us out of our stressful, anxiety-fuelled mode that so many of us operate in.
Andrew Humberman talked about lifting his gaze from his desk and engaging panoramic mode several times a day. Going outside and looking at the sky is best. Looking out a window is pretty good. But if you are stuck indoors away from a window, even just looking at the room and taking in the “indoor panorama” is worth it.
I now do this first thing in the morning for 2 minutes, as a replacement for my old habit of immediately checking my inbox.
In a world full of fluffy tips and hacks – you might be wondering if this is just more fluff?
Well, let me leave you with this nugget.
Involving your eyes/vision in your mental wellness routine is a good hack because your eyes are actually part of your brain.
That’s right. They are the only part of you brain material that can be seen from outside of your skull. So think of the eyes as a fast track to hacking your neural network.
But you don’t have to take my word for it. Check out Andrew Huberman’s research for yourself.
