Hi, I'm Dr. Tracey Marks,
a psychiatrist, and I make mental health education videos.
Random unintentional thinking
like what you do when your mind wanders
happens in a different part of the brain
than intentional thoughts,
and too much mind wandering is bad for you
and it makes you more anxious and unhappy.
Here's how that works.
The part of the brain that is responsible for mind wandering
is called the default mode network.
It's actually several brain structures
in the lower part of your brain
that all communicate with each other to form a network.
It's kind of like they're in a group chat.
When you're not actively thinking about something,
your brain's default state
is to think about things from the past
and some things from the present.
Letting your mind wander in this way
is called stimulus independent thought.
It's like having the television on
or a video running in the background
that you're not really paying attention to,
but it still fills your mental space.
When you turn your attention to something,
the default mode turns off
while your mind processes the intentional thoughts.
And this is a process that goes back and forth
throughout the day.
If you have anxiety,
you are someone who has an overactive default mode.
The kinds of things that you think about
are not nice, creative productions or problem-solving.
It tends to be more self critical and judgmental.
And this is the mechanism behind rumination
and intrusive thoughts.
Some rumination is intentional
and you can purposely run things over and over in your mind,
but rumination is usually negative.
And where do you get the negative material from?
From your default mode.
It's like you can be busy doing something.
And then the moment that you're not mentally occupied,
your mind says, "Hey, what about that time
your brother cheated you out of money, wasn't that awful?"
"Yeah, it sure was.
I can't stand him now."
Then your phone rings and interrupts that thinking.
When you get off the phone, your mind says,
"Yeah, that was really wrong, wasn't it?"
"It sure was."
And there you are back on it again.
Intrusive thoughts work a little differently.
They can still be triggered by the default mode,
but they have more of a quality of being forced upon you.
With the ruminations,
it's like you have this person over here saying,
"Hey, hey, hey, hey, your brother,
your brother was wrong, right?"
But the intrusive thoughts are like,
"Your brother stole from you, what you going to do?"
Not everyone gets intrusive thoughts.
We tend to see them triggered by traumatic memories
or obsessive compulsive disorder.
One research study on the default mode network
estimated that 47% of people spend their waking hours
thinking about something other than what they're doing.
And this mind wandering typically makes them unhappy.
As I mentioned, some people are more predisposed
to having this active default mode network,
whether it be in the form of negative ruminations
or intrusive thoughts.
But the good news is your default mode
responds to neuroplasticity changes.
So you can change your hard wiring
to improve your mental experiences.
Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain
to remodel itself in response to new experiences.
Think of the nerves in your brain
as a complex electrical circuit
where the wires or nerves all link together.
In an electrical circuit,
you need the wires to connect securely to each other
in order to pass the signal along the path.
Anxiety, depression, and inflammation
weaken these nerve connections in the parts of the brain
that override the default mode.
So what improves neuroplasticity in the parts of the brain
that can keep your default mode in check?
Antidepressant medications
if you have depression or anxiety and your diet.
I talk in other videos about how magnesium,
curcumin and intermittent fasting
all improve neuroplasticity.
Meditation is also a powerful way
to get control over your thoughts
and keep the default mode turned off.
If you think about it,
drifting off into default mode thinking
is the opposite of being mindful and present.
Meditation is like engaging in a fitness program
for your brain.
Learning to control what you're thinking about
builds up a mental muscle that protects you
against anxiety and depressive ruminations.
It takes work to keep your mind
focused on something in the present.
And if you're not in the habit of meditation,
a simple exercise that you can do
to get you started with this is called the body scan.
All you have to do
is systematically focus on different parts of your body.
You could start with your feet and move up to your head
and down your arms to your hands.
When you do it,
engage all of your senses in the observation.
For example,
if you start with your feet,
you would take notice of how they feel.
Is any material touching them?
Are they pressing against the floor?
Are they warm or cold?
Can you smell anything emanating from them?
Then you move to your lower legs.
If you're not practiced with this, your mind will wander.
When it does, you simply bring your attention back
to the body part that you're on.
You don't want to fly through this,
but it could be as basic as a 10-minute exercise.
The exercise builds attentional control,
which helps you focus on
and appreciate your present experience.
And we know from research
that people who spend more time in the present experience
have less anxiety and more life satisfaction.
One other thing that reduces default mode activity,
and that is the psychedelics.
♪ I know it's all good ♪
♪ Good ♪
♪ Know it's all ♪
Psychedelics are a class of drugs
that generate altered mental states
and hallucinogenic experiences.
Some of them were used back in the '60s and '70s
to assist with psychotherapy
before they were eventually banned from legal use.
Currently, only ketamine is FDA approved for medical use.
In psychiatry, ketamine is used
for treatment resistant depression.
But the race is on
on studying others like MDMA, also known as ecstasy,
psilocybin or mushrooms,
mescalin, which is the active ingredient in peyote cactus,
LSD, which is a synthetic compound,
and DMT, which is the active ingredient
in a drink called Ayahuasca.
MDMA and psilocybin are the closest to coming to market
as FDA approved drugs.
And I've seen estimates as early as 2023 for MDMA.
You just got to hold on one more year.
MDMA is in the final trials for use in therapy
for post-traumatic stress disorder.
But here's why the psychedelics are all the rage now.
Clinical trials have shown that these substances
treat mental disorders fast,
and usually with one or two doses.
But also, many people in the studies reported
that the drugs change their life perspective
and help them feel more connected to others.
Their internal negativity was purged
and stayed that way for months after the doses.
Where does this magic come from?
Researchers believe that it has to do with psychedelics
changing your default mode and decreasing ruminations.
It's like the negative script just gets deleted.
We still have a few years to get there,
but if you don't want to take something mind altering,
you can alter it yourself with meditation and diet.
It will take longer,
but they are interventions that are within your control.
Take a look at this video
comparing the effects of meditation to relaxation exercises
and this one on intermittent fasting.
Thanks for watching.
See you next time.