The Peak Performance Expert

How to relieve that brain traffic jam

Does your brain feel jammed?

Do you ever wish you could push a delete button and get rid of all the junk in your noggin?

Today a client reported feeling overwhelmed and tense because of the  immense amount of work she had to complete within a short period of time.  Sound familiar?

Paying attention to the barrage of information coming at us is costly.  Most of us aren’t aware that there are different kinds of attention; we spend most of our time engaged in “narrow-objective-focus,” zeroing in on one or a few things in the foreground and ignoring the background.

In a book called, The Open-Focus Brain by Les Fehmi and Jim Robbins, Fehmi, relying on decades of research, says that the way we pay attention has a measurable impact on our brain waves. 

When engaged in narrow focus (where busy people spend most of their time), the brain, being the master control panel for our mind and body, can induce changes in muscle tension, respiratory rate, and the flow of neurotransmitters and hormones.

It turns out that everything is influenced by how we pay attention!

One of the reasons we feel better sitting on a beach is that we stop narrowly focusing our attention and instead broaden our focus to take in the beauty of the ocean or the vastness of the sky and the briny fragrance of the sea.

Narrow focus isn’t all bad.  It allows us to see and deal with urgent or important situations.  It is effective in helping us, in the short run, to accomplish a lot.

It was, however, designed to be an emergency mode of paying attention and, as such, it revs up our brain and body which, over time, can result in chronic stress problems such as anxiety, headaches, gastro-intestinal disorders, heart disease and insomnia.

So what can you do?

You can take mini vacations or “focus breaks” periodically throughout the day to offset the negative impact of too much time spent in narrow-objective focus.

When toiling away at your computer (narrow focus), occasionally sit back and allow your eyes to gaze at the space behind your computer.  If you’re lucky enough to have an office with a window, take a moment to look out and take in the largeness of the space outside.

If you’re stuck in a cubicle, sift your eyes away from the task at hand and look at the far wall or the ceiling.

The trick is not to zero in on any one object but to soften your gaze as you take in a sense of background or space.  Exhale slowly three times while doing this.

You brain will respond by changing its electrical activity to “synchronous alpha.”  This is good for you.  Alpha brain waves are associated with feelings of relaxation and time spent in alpha produces positive changes in mood, energy, creativity, thinking and memory.

Not bad for a few moments spent gazing out a window!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 11th, 2011 at 5:24 pm and is filed under Relaxation techniques, Stress reduction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.