We've all heard the phrase, "get your creative juices flowing."
Weird as it sounds, there may be some truth to the term, "creative juices..."
which I will stop saying right now, because it feels weird to say.
Meet BDNF, also known as Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor.
BDNF isn’t a synthetic creativity juice you can just grab at Costco.
The role of BDNF is stimulating, maintaining, and supporting neuronal growth
in your nervous system, helping make more connections in your brain.
Those increased synaptic connections can help you get out of that creative rut.
And how is it released? Exercise!
And I’m not talking Crossfit, Zumba, or Milly rocking on every block.
Lighter exercise like walking can help you get some BDNF in your system.
BDNF is integral to processes of learning and memory,
and if you need more proof that it's important, there's significant evidence that
Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s Disease patients
have less BDNF in their brains.
So getting those levels up early in life could help stave off those neurodegenerative diseases.
Write a little, walk a little.
If you get blocked, take a walk.
If the juices ain’t flowing, get up and get going.
Honestly, what am I doing here?
I should be writing science mixtapes and selling them in Times Square.
There’s so much scrutiny from so many people into our lives, increased exponentially by social media,
that it could be doing damage to our mental health, increasing psychosocial stress.
All of that in turn affects our depression and anxiety.
But, that damage isn’t irreparable.
Changing small things about your mindset and routine can affect you on a neurological level,
a.k.a. “neuroplasticity.”
Neuroplasticity is exactly what it sounds like: neuro, “brain” and plasticity, “flexible.”
In this case, it means that our brains have the ability to change and adapt
in response to our environment.
We can help alleviate these symptoms of depression, anxiety, and psychosocial stress
by changing small things in our routine.
It doesn’t have to be a reboot of your entire life - #NewYearNewMe;
it could be a small change that makes things better...
#NewYearSameMeButILikeChangedSomeStuff...?
That’s clunky, we gotta fix that in post.
Hop off social media for a while. Take a trip.
Change your work environment.
Cut that messy friend who talks all kinds of trash out of your life,
or stop being that friend.
All of these things will not only positively affect your physical health,
like your heart and immune functions, but also your psychological health.
Finally, I cannot STRESS this enough:
GO TO SLEEP.
If you gotta cut this video off now and go to sleep immediately, do it.
I’ll be here when you wake up.
Welcome back!
I realize that there’s extenuating circumstances to getting enough sleep:
work and family stuff, being a college student trying to survive in a capitalist society, et cetera.
But important things happen in your brain when you’re asleep.
First, cerebrospinal fluid is cleaning toxins out of your brain while you sleep.
The more time asleep, the more thorough that cleaning can be.
Second, it preserves and encodes our memories in our hippocampus,
in turn helping us keep track of our day, the next day’s agenda, and who owes us money
(Steve, I know you saw the Venmo charge, so text me back).
Third, it solidifies new information we’ve learned over the last day.
This especially goes out to all my people still in school – you’ve learned so much information
in your last day of classes; just go to sleep to help remember it,
stop playing FIFA, Fortnite, and 2K all night (yeah, I was you once, I know what you’re doing).
These are small tips that have science to back them up.
Try all of these for a month and track your progress.
Did you finish a project?
Did you write that supahotfiyah science mixtape that went double platinum, no features?
If so, keep at it, and let’s make #NewYearSameMeButALittleBitBetterThanBefore
trend.
One mechanism to deal with stress that I didn’t mention is mindful meditation, which, if you
which, if you have a friend who doesn't shut up in line at brunch, you've probably heard about.
But is there ANY scientific truth to that?
Check out this episode right here to find out and while you’re at it,
subscribe to Seeker for all new stories about science, all the time.
You know what you like.
You know why you're here.
Thanks for watching.