Who’s Writing YOUR Stories?
Wake up! Our prefrontal cortex regulates attention and thoughts with vast amounts of neural connections and a system of arousal and neurotransmitters. If we take no action, our default system can favor excessive stress response and disease. Science is indicating that focused attention and a perceived sense of control manipulates these connections and overrides stress […]
Beauty…where does it live?
In studies done at the University College London, it was shown that when people experienced looking at things they rated beautiful, or listened to beautiful music a consistent part of the brain, the orbito medial prefrontal cortex, became very active. If the main activity of experiencing beauty resides in the prefrontal cortex, how are you […]
Couch Potato Syndrome
When we’re doing “nothing” fMRIs show the brain is active in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex (MPFC), Dorsal Medial PFC, and Lateral Temporal lobe — these are the areas correlated to thinking about oneself, and analyzing others’ intentions and actions. Our mind wanders easily to these thoughts, and concerns of the past and future. Simple tasks, […]
Dreaming Ourselves Awake
“The function of the mind is to dream twenty-four hours a day. The waking dream has a material structure. In sleep, the dream also seems to have a structure. While awake, our mind is affected by cycles of energy through the day as the light changes, and this rhythm gives the mind a notion of […]
You in Control of Your Stories
Our prefrontal cortex regulates attention and thoughts with vast amounts of neural connections and a system of arousal and neurotransmitters. If we take no action, our default system may favor excessive stress response and disease. Science proved that focused attention and a perceived sense of control manipulates these connections and overrides stress and disease. Each […]
A Little Novelty and Humor Goes a Long Way
In order for our brains to learn, encode, and stamp experiences into lasting memories, we must engage in a delicate balance or dance between chemical and neurological activity. One sensitive coupling is the relationship between dopamine and norepinephrine in the prefrontal cortex. When these two neurotransmitters are at their perfect levels with respect to each […]
Creativity and Open Mindedness are Just One Song Away.
In studies done in 2010 at North Dakota State University it was shown that individuals who were more creative were better able to down or up-regulate their cognitive control system based on the situation. This is called cognitive flexibility. To add to this, in 2011 neuroscientist Allan Snyder of the Center for Mind in Sydney […]
Cultivating Compassion, Navigating Crisis
Professor Kristin Neff of the University of Texas is considered a leading researcher in the field of self-compassion. Her research is showing that those who cultivate self-compassion by exercising gentle and non-judgmental self-talk bounce back more quickly during crisis. The growing evidence is indicating that you can “you can cultivate your self-compassion through meditation and […]
Starving Your Brain and Over-eating Because of Your Sleep Patterns?
Your sleep patterns could be contributing to an exhaustion in your prefrontal cortex and a strong propensity to over eat. When your prefrontal cortex is exhausted it’s much more difficult to regulate emotions, behaviors, and thoughts. In recent studies published in March in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism and the American Journal of […]
Can Multi-tasking Impair You?
This is a controversial subject with some science noting that multi-tasking improves cognitive abilities, and other science saying it impairs it. Mindfulness practices note that by paying focused attention and being in the present moment, we can be at peace and be our best. From the mindfulness model I equate a focus on multi-tasking as […]
