The  SHARP  Brain  Recharge      

 By  Heidi  Hanna,  PhD  Author,  SHARP:  Simple  Strategies  to  Boost  Your  Brainpower  www.synergyprograms.com  

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 The  SHARP  Brain  Recharge              TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    Introduction:    Beyond  System  Overload         pg.  3                  The  SHARP  Brain  Recharge  Process       pg.  6    Resources:    For  More  Information         pg.  9  

 

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Introduction

Beyond System Overload ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There is much talk in the American workplace about new brain-exercise programs that promise to raise mental performance to higher and higher levels. Most of these “revolutionary” programs encourage people to set aside time to push themselves through challenging mental programs designed to sharpen various aspects of brain activity. However, much has happened during the last few years, especially in medical and psychological understandings of how the brain works, and what the brain needs in order to perform at peak levels, day in and day out.

• With so much mental pressure and stress continually pressing in on you at work, the truth is you don’t need to do more things in order to be sharper mentally – you need to do things smarter.

Cognitive fitness is in many ways very similar to physical fitness and you need to know how to exercise your ‘brain muscle’ properly if you want to keep sharp.

The New Vision of Fitness

Even in physical fitness, it’s now clear that non-stop strenuous exercise is not the best approach to being strong, coordinated and healthy. Regular periods of muscular rest, rebalance and recovery are required at all levels of biological dynamics, in order for your muscles to develop and function optimally. And when it comes to your mind, this regular conscious oscillation between exercise and rest is especially important – both as something to understand, and to regularly practice. In other words, science has now documented that it’s critical not to over-train your brain; instead, you need to train strategically in ways that will actively reduce stress, encourage neural expansion, and help your brain regularly recover and express its full mental potential. It’s important to remember that fitness, both physical and mental, isn’t just about brute strength. Yes, you do need to keep your brain fit for bouts of long hours dealing with a mass of detail, that’s part of work. But there are three dimensions to mental fitness: strength, flexibility and endurance.

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To nurture these three intertwined brain qualities, sometimes you need to actively engage your mind in cognitive workouts – but often you also need to turn off the detail-mode activity altogether, and shift into innovative mode for creative insight. You also need to be able to instantly shift into interpersonal empathy mode, so that you relate with your team or clients at highly successful levels.

Recover, Rebalance, and Recharge Your Brain

The actual process will appear quite simple, and that’s just how we want it. The intent isn’t to make your brain do more stressful work – that’s most likely the problem in the first place. Just the opposite is needed – a short effective method that enables you to temporarily shift out of think-mode altogether for just two to three minutes.

Why do this? Your brain absolutely needs cognitive down time in order to function optimally. But as you know, just taking a few minutes to catch your breath usually doesn’t get the brain recovery job done, because your mind is so habituated to going non-stop that it doesn’t know how to turn off.

Cognitive research has recently come up with a powerful way to shift the mind out of think-gear. I’ll be teaching you my version of this cognitive-shifting procedure in this short e-book. I can confidently guarantee you that this Brain Recharge Process will become one of the core assets in your brain bank. Why? Because it gets the job done fast, providing you a significant energy return on your time investment.

• A three-minute Brain Recharge can give you approximately two hours of fully engaged, high-performance action in its wake; that’s pure gold in our workplace where you’re not usually evaluated just on your data punching, but on your higher mental performance, social verve, innovative insight and overall brightness of mind.

You will find that the SHARP Brain Recharge not only quiets your busy stressed-out mind, it also directly allows you to feel good in your physical body in the present moment, which in turn raises your over-all mood, and boosts positive endorphins – so that when you return your focus to the work at hand your overall stress is down and your health profile raised up.

Remember: The underlying idea here is not to train harder, but to train smarter. Similar to a muscle, the brain needs to be used and exercised in order to keep up its conditioning. But also similar to a muscle, if you’re not strategic about how you train, you can find yourself breaking down instead of building up.

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Mental over-training leads to over-usage ‘injuries’ such as fatigue, distraction, slow processing, cellular atrophy, and subtle but chronic brain damage. When you are able to give yourself moments of mental recovery, you directly reduce the symptoms of overuse, and also begin to treat the core cause of stress and mental malfunction.

Consciously Feeding Your Brain

Studies consistently show that when chronic stress, worry or anxiety generates an imbalance in your system, your brain is unable to operate efficiently. Shifting your attention temporarily toward present-moment positive feelings enables the internal balance to be regained, not only at respiratory and biological levels, but equally at emotional levels as you feel more collaborative, creative, and hopeful.

Your personal energy is not a limitless resource. In order to keep your brain functioning at its best over time, you must strategically invest energy back into it. You can do this purposefully by focusing your attention regularly toward demonstrating more wisdom, compassion, and support for your own health and satisfaction in life.

When your brain is in a positive, balanced state, you can perform at your best and keep your operating system flexible.

• The Brain Recharge Process is the first step toward creating a new positive habit of maintaining top condition mentally, emotionally and physically. By practicing this method three short times a day at work, you will boost your entire situation into more satisfying realms.

The same principles that will keep you mentally sharp in the present moment are also recommended for keeping you healthy later in life, especially to reduce the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s. The fundamentals described SHARP: Simple Strategies to Boost Your Brainpower (available at www.synergyprograms.com/sharp) will support your genetic makeup, giving you the best opportunity to stay bright and healthy. You can’t change your genes, but you can alter how they are expressed, and therefore positively impact your longevity outcome.

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Cognitive Fitness Training

The SHARP Brain Recharge Process ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In order to be SHARP, it’s important that we train our brain strategically so that we can bring our best mental energy, focus and attention to the people and things that matter most to us. To build in adequate recovery to your SHARP training program, I’ve created this recharge process...and it’s super simple: spend 3 minutes, 3 times a day turning your brain off, and just relax. Schedule appointments to recharge and make them a priority. Set an alarm to make sure that the busyness of your day doesn’t cause you to forget to take a break. After all, our energy is not an unlimited resource; therefore taking care of yourself is not an option. We must invest in ourselves if we want to have anything to give to others.

Just Relax

Plenty of quality studies have shown that simple meditation can quiet the mind and calm the body. But most people struggle to get started with a meditation practice because they lack the structure or guidelines necessary to begin. Meditation has been portrayed in the media as being something for only gurus and masters, when in reality anyone can use meditation as a tool quite easily, if they understand the key principles.

In order for a focusing meditation to be effective, it should include the following:

• A comfortable position (whatever feels most relaxing to you) • A quiet environment (free from distractions) • A mental device (a sound, word or phrase that is repeated) • A passive attitude (non judgmental, non critical)

Use a Focus Phrase

For most people, beginning a focusing meditation is difficult because our mind has been trained to wander. We spend about 50% of our time thinking about, or worrying about, the future and about 40% of the time reliving the past. For survival reasons this may be a good plan; learn from the past and prepare for the future. But for peak performance, paying attention and giving our best energy and engagement, it just doesn’t work. In order to train our brain to be in the moment, we have to practice.

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Rather than just hoping to quiet your mind by letting it senselessly drift, I encourage you to come up with some sort of focus phrase that you can concentrate on. This gives your mind a focal point, and as your mind starts to wander you can just kindly bring your attention back to the focus phrase and back into the present moment. If you’d rather focus on just one word, that will work too – just make sure that whatever you choose it’s something that brings about a sense of peace, calm and relaxation.

Examples of focus phrases include:

“Be here, now” “One” “I am clear and present” “Calm” “I feel light and energized” “Recharging” “I am fully engaged in my breath” “I am investing in myself”

Step-by-Step Recharge Process

1 – Sit in a comfortable position

2 – Close your eyes and bring your focus to the present moment

3 – If it’s helpful, visualize something, someone, or some place that brings you a sense of calm.

4 – Scan your body, noticing any areas of tension…and relax.

5 – Breathe in through your nose, and as you exhale say your focus word or phrase silently to yourself. Find a natural breathing rhythm and continue this process for 3 (or more) minutes. Set a timer to keep track so you’re not worried about keeping an eye on the clock, or use a guided meditation track set to end within the right time frame. (Samples available at www.synergyrprograms.com/braingym)

Reasons to Recharge

The SHARP Brain Recharge process has three key intentions:

1. Recover. Most of us do not need to do more, we need to do less. Another item for the to-do list is not going to help us recharge our brain. To be stronger we need to create a stimulus that causes us to adapt. However, when it comes to working out our brain, most people are overtraining – which can cause us to keep breaking down, and breaking down, without building back up again. When we are able to get mental recovery, we reduce symptoms of overuse and keep our operating system strong.

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2. Rebalance. By getting in tune with our natural breathing process and stimulating the relaxation response in the body and the brain, our system can once again find a state of harmony, or homeostasis. Studies consistently show that when we are out of balance, experiencing chronic stress, worry or anxiety, our brain is unable to operate efficiently. Shifting our attention to what is positive in life opens our mind to be more collaborative, creative, and hopeful. When our brain is in a positive, balanced state of mind, we can perform at our best and keep our operating system flexible.

3. Recharge. Our energy is not a limitless resource. In order to keep our brain functioning at its best over time, we must strategically invest energy back into it. We do this by focusing our attention towards showing love and support for ourselves, and committing to this practice consistently to create a habit. By recharging throughout the day, we increase our energy holistically – physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually – so that we’re running on a full tank and able to be our best self. A brain that is energized is one that supports our health, happiness, and performance - keeping our operating system functioning optimally over time for maximum endurance.

I realize that ask anyone to spend 3 minutes of their day focusing on something other than work is a lot to ask. However, you are your most valuable resource. If you don't take care of yourself, you can't possibly take care of anyone or anything else. As the flight attendant says before every flight, "please put your oxygen mask on 1st before assisting other passengers". I'm not sure if everyone realizes the importance of the statement. It's not just about being good to yourself. If you run out of oxygen, you can't save anyone else.

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Resources

For More Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Recharge Tools and Strategies

Because it is so difficult to get a busy brain to slow down, you may find it helpful to use tools such as audio tracks or videos to help focus your attention and minimize distracting thoughts.

We have several samples available for free at www.synergyprograms.com/braingym.

You may also want to consider other ways to provide environmental support for yourself such as soft or inspirational music, photographs of calming places or friends and family, light dimmers, a desk top waterfall, or aromatherapy. Just lighting a candle or heating up some oil in a burner can instantly bring you to a more calm state of mind. Good scents for relaxing are vanilla and lavender, and if you’re looking to boost your energy you might try citrus or cinnamon.

Recommended Reading

SHARP: Simple Strategies to Boost Your Brainpower – Heidi Hanna

The Power of Full Engagement – Jim Loehr

SPARK: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain – John Ratey

Younger Next Year – Chris Crowley & Henry S Lodge

Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain – Sharon Begley

For More Information…

Please visit www.synergyprograms.com

Email us at coach@synergyprograms.com

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