As modern humans, we often have lots going on in our minds and have difficulty switching off. We are continually fed information, whether it’s from tv, smartphones or the people and environment around us. All of this information goes in and is assessed by our amygdala, in the primitive part of our brain, for potential threat or danger. The more information going in, the more likely we are to detect some threat amongst it. When we feel threatened, we become anxious, and when we feel anxious, we are more likely to perceive threat in the things around us. It becomes a vicious cycle.
Anxiety and survival
As we become more anxious, we become hyper-alert and more of our energy goes into assessing our surroundings for danger and keeping ourselves safe – it is all about survival. Of course, when we are diverting our energy into survival instincts, that means that there is less energy for innovation, learning and developing – our progress in life can be much slower.
For us to be able to embed memories and process them, to work things out, and to consolidate learning, we need to be able to relax. Many people find that their minds are so busy, continually, that they are unable to relax, and this impacts their wellbeing and their ability to think clearly.
Nature vs city
Psychologist Marc Berman conducted an experiment where two groups of people were asked to memorise sequences of numbers. After memorising the numbers, one group went for a walk through a busy city, while the second group went for a same-length walk through trees. After the walks, those who had been among the trees showed significantly better recall of the sequences of numbers that they had memorised. They had been able to have some downtime, in a natural environment, to rest their brains and to connect back with nature. Those in the city had been walking amongst noise, lots of other people, vehicles, pollution, and were bombarded with information coming in from all sides, all of which they had to assess for danger. Their brains didn’t have a chance to relax and set down the memories and the learning of the sequences of numbers.
The active brain
All kinds of downtime are valuable: meditation, time spent in nature (including urban parks and gardens), napping, unwinding while awake, and even blinking, can help to sharpen the mind. The brain requires 20% of all the energy that we consume and this is because it is in a constant state of activity. We already know that our minds are very busy when we are asleep: dreaming and processing events and memories. But did you know that, when we are awake but resting, our minds are very active, making sense of the world around us, replaying what has happened and planning how to do it differently next time, sifting through our mental to-do list and prioritising, searching for solutions to problems that we are facing, and reviewing our own behaviour – whether it matches our values and, if not, what we need to do to change.
Have you ever struggled to remember something and then a few minutes, hours or even days later, the answer has popped into your brain, while doing something totally unconnected. This is an example of how your brain sifts through questions and dilemmas while you are at rest. Brain scans even show that when a person is focussed on thinking hard and trying to solve a mathematical question, their brains are actually less active than when in downtime, and at the moment of revelation, that point when the solution comes, the brain momentarily switches into a state of relaxation away from the task.
Give your brain a break
With all this in mind it is clear that giving yourself time off from the information assault, taking a nap, having a quiet walk, or meditating, is essential for the health of your brain, for your ability to function well, and for your wellbeing.
Rebecca Bartholomew, 21 December 2021
