Re-train Your Brain With Self-Care | Dima Abou Chaaban | TEDxUNBSaintJohn
Summary
TLDRThis script delves into the phenomenon of burnout, recognized by the WHO as an occupational hazard. It discusses the importance of self-care in preventing burnout and enhancing resilience, motivation, and stress management. The speaker uses neuroscience to explain how self-care rewires the brain for positivity, affecting neurotransmitters responsible for our well-being. Neglecting self-care can lead to decreased energy, motivation, and even depression, while a consistent self-care routine can create a positivity pathway in the brain, helping to counteract the brain's negativity bias.
Takeaways
- 😌 Burnout is recognized by the World Health Organization as an occupational phenomenon, indicating the importance of addressing work-related exhaustion.
- 🏋️♀️ Self-care is crucial for maintaining energy levels and preventing the onset of burnout, but it is not a one-size-fits-all solution and varies from person to person.
- 🤔 The phrase 'I'm fine' often masks deeper feelings of frustration, stress, and the desire to quit, highlighting the need for genuine self-assessment and care.
- 🧠 The brain is constantly changing due to various factors like caffeine, stress, and learning, which underscores the potential for self-care to rewire and improve brain health.
- 🎓 Neuroscience helps us understand how our brain operates under stress and the importance of self-care in shaping a healthier brain through repeated practice.
- ☕ Caffeine temporarily alters brain chemistry by blocking adenosine, which normally makes us feel tired, but relying on it can lead to a cycle of needing more to maintain energy levels.
- 🔁 The process of learning and memorization involves the strengthening of neural connections, which is similar to how self-care habits can be formed and reinforced over time.
- 🚫 Neglecting self-care can lead to a decrease in neurotransmitters responsible for good feelings, such as serotonin, dopamine, endorphins, and oxytocin, contributing to negative mental states.
- 🧠 The amygdala, responsible for detecting stress, can become overactive without self-care, leading to a constant perception of stress even in non-threatening situations.
- 💪 Practicing self-care is akin to exercising; it requires time, patience, and perseverance, and can help build resilience and positivity in the brain.
- 🛠 Creating a self-care plan is about preparing a toolkit for managing stress and preventing crises, emphasizing the importance of proactive mental health care.
Q & A
What does the World Health Organization recognize burnout as?
-The World Health Organization recognizes burnout as an occupational phenomenon.
Why did the speaker's best friend stop going to the gym?
-The speaker's best friend stopped going to the gym because she was experiencing burnout, which affected her energy levels and made her seem off.
What does the speaker suggest is the common response when someone is asked 'Are you okay?'
-The common response is to either burst into tears or say 'I'm fine,' which often means the person is actually not okay and may be feeling frustrated, upset, or wanting to quit.
What are some possible reasons for people feeling tired according to the script?
-People may feel tired due to being drained from working too much, being overwhelmed with stress, or spending too much time working and not enough time doing what makes them feel good.
What is the role of self-care in preventing burnout?
-Self-care helps to increase resilience, motivation, and the ability to cope with stress, and it produces neurotransmitters that make us feel good, thus preventing burnout and compassion fatigue.
What is compassion fatigue and how is it related to self-care?
-Compassion fatigue is the psychological and physical fatigue from showing too much empathy to others and not enough for oneself. Self-care is essential to prevent this by ensuring one also takes care of their own needs.
How does the brain change due to the practice of self-care?
-Practicing self-care helps rewire the brain by stimulating neural connections, leading to a healthier brain that is better equipped to handle stress and promote well-being.
What is the role of neurotransmitters in the context of self-care?
-Neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, endorphins, and oxytocin, referred to as the 'happy chemicals,' are released when practicing self-care, contributing to feelings of happiness and well-being.
What is the function of the amygdala in relation to stress?
-The amygdala is responsible for detecting stress and acts as the 'stress radar' in the brain, becoming active during stressful situations and increasing heart rate and cortisol levels.
How can practicing self-care help balance the amygdala's response to stress?
-Practicing self-care helps manage stress levels, which in turn keeps the amygdala balanced and prevents the brain from constantly perceiving danger even when there is none.
What is the significance of creating a self-care plan when not in crisis?
-Creating a self-care plan when not in crisis is about building a toolkit that can be used in times of distress, allowing for better preparedness and prevention of making stressful situations worse.
Outlines
😩 Understanding Burnout and Self-Care
The first paragraph discusses the common experience of feeling tired due to excessive work or school hours, and the recognition of burnout as an occupational phenomenon by the World Health Organization. It uses a personal story about a friend who stopped her self-care routine of going to the gym, leading to a noticeable change in her energy levels. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of self-care to prevent burnout, which is described as a state of chronic stress leading to emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion. It also touches on the concept of compassion fatigue and how the brain changes due to various factors like caffeine consumption and stress, suggesting that self-care can help rewire the brain to a healthier state.
🧠 The Neuroscience of Self-Care
This paragraph delves into the neuroscience behind self-care, explaining how our brains are affected by stress and how self-care can help. It describes the role of adenosine, a molecule that makes us tired, and how caffeine blocks its production, leading to temporary changes in the brain. The paragraph also explains how repeated practice and neural connections help us memorize things, like song lyrics, and how self-care can be learned and practiced in a similar manner. It discusses the brain's constant change due to experiences and the importance of stimulating positive pathways to counteract the brain's negativity bias, which can be influenced by neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, endorphins, and oxytocin.
🤯 The Impact of Stress and the Role of Amygdala
The final paragraph focuses on the impact of stress and the role of the amygdala, the brain's stress radar. It explains how chronic stress can lead to the amygdala being overly active, causing a constant perception of danger even in non-threatening situations. The paragraph highlights the benefits of self-care in managing stress levels and maintaining a balanced amygdala. It concludes by emphasizing the importance of treating both physical and mental health, suggesting that self-care is essential for a healthy brain and overall well-being. The paragraph encourages creating a self-care plan to prevent and manage stress, and reminds us to be patient with ourselves as we develop these habits.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Burnout
💡Self-care
💡Neuroscience
💡Neurotransmitters
💡Adenosine
💡Amygdala
💡Negativity bias
💡Resilience
💡Compassion fatigue
💡Neuroplasticity
💡Stress
Highlights
Social media posts often reflect people's exhaustion from work or school.
The World Health Organization has recognized burnout as an occupational phenomenon.
Self-care routines, like gym visits, can change or stop due to burnout.
People often say 'I'm fine' to hide their frustration and desire to quit.
Burnout is characterized by exhaustion from chronic work involvement.
Compassion fatigue is the psychological and physical toll of excessive empathy.
Neuroscience explains how our brain changes due to experiences and habits.
Self-care can rewire the brain to a healthier state.
Caffeine consumption and stress are factors that change the brain's neural connections.
Repeated practice strengthens neural pathways, as seen with memorizing song lyrics.
Self-care habits are formed through repeated practice, similar to learning new tasks.
Negativity bias makes the brain more sensitive to negative news than positive.
Self-care can create a positivity pathway in the brain to counteract negativity bias.
Four neurotransmitters—serotonin, dopamine, endorphins, and oxytocin—are linked to feeling good.
Stress and overwhelm can deplete the 'happy chemicals' in the brain.
The amygdala is the brain's stress radar, and self-care helps balance its activity.
Practicing self-care is essential for mental well-being, just as physical health is for the body.
Creating a self-care plan in advance can serve as a toolkit for times of distress.
Postponing self-care can lead to decreased energy, motivation, and potential depression.
Self-care enhances energy, mood, resilience, and reduces stress.
Transcripts
[Music]
I see many posts on social media about
people being tired from work or from
school so let me share one of those
posts with you today your friends who
work 40 plus hours a week I'm just
avoiding you
they're just tired does this look
familiar to some of you did you know
that the World Health Organization
recently recognized burnout as an
occupational phenomenon my best friend
goes to the gym every morning as part of
her self-care routine until one day she
suddenly stopped going and she
definitely seemed off there was
something about her energy levels she
wasn't like she used to be so I asked
her are you okay we all know what
happens to somebody when you ask them
are you okay they will either burst into
tears or will they'll say I'm fine well
she said I'm fine and we all know that
when someone says I'm fine they're
really not I'm fine means I'm frustrated
I'm upset I want to quit my job I want
to drop out of school I'm tired so why
is it that we are so tired is it because
we're drained from working too much is
it because we're overwhelmed with stress
or is it because we spend too much time
working and little to no time doing what
makes us feel good we've all had our
fair share of bad days
but the most important question to ask
yourself is is it actually a bad day or
is it more than that we can prevent
burnout from exposure to chronic stress
by practicing self-care but just
remember that South care is not a
one-size-fits-all for example South care
for my husband is candles and bubble
baths for me well let's just needs not
that
it's easy to wake up everyday and show
up to work because you have to it's your
job it's mandatory yet it's just as easy
to convince ourselves that we don't need
self-care I don't have the time for it
it's ineffective or because we think
that going on vacation for a few weeks
to a nice place with enough of a
self-care that's like charging your
phone for five minutes
it reaches 20% you're like yeah I'm set
for the whole day but it's not gonna
last long so what happens when we keep
coming up with excuses to delay
self-care what happens when we postpone
South care well first of all self-care
increases resilience motivation and our
ability to cope with stress it also
produces neurotransmitters that are
responsible for making us feel good
without self-care we may experience
burnout and compassion fatigue burnout
has been described as the state of
psychological emotional mental physical
and even spiritual exhaustion from
chronic involvement in your work
compassion fatigue is simply the cost
you pay for being too caring it's
psychological and physical fatigue from
showing too much empathy to others and
not enough for yourself a Canadian
psychologist named Donald Hebb once said
neurons that fire together wire together
our brains are constantly changing
because neurons in our brain are
constantly being fired and because
certain parts of our brains are more
activated than others our brains are
constantly changing simply from caffeine
consumption to stress to practicing
meditation our brains are constantly
changing simply because of learning new
things and forming new habits and due to
the brain's ability to change we can
shape it to a healthier one by rewiring
it and we can rewire our brain
by practicing self-care so to start with
neuroscience is a study of the nervous
system so that includes the different
regions of your brain the neurons and
the neural connections throughout the
nervous system neuroscience helps us
understand human thoughts behaviors and
emotions it also helps us understand how
our brain operates under certain
circumstances what happens when we're
under stress and how the brain can
change yourself let's take a look at
what happens to our brains when we drink
coffee when you drink a cup of coffee
suddenly your surroundings are clear
your attention is at its best it
couldn't get any better than that
you drink your first type of coffee on a
Monday morning and you're like yes let's
do this Monday I'm gonna conquer the
world nothing can bring me down but
don't you realize that as the day goes
by your energy levels start to decrease
you get really tired and you find
yourself running for that second cup of
coffee or even third cup of coffee for
you coffee headaches out there well
that's because of a molecule called
adenosine Anna Nelson is a molecule that
is naturally produced by your brain
which makes you tired so when you drink
a cup of coffee the caffeine blocks
adeno sense production making you more
alert this entire process is basically
changing your brain temporarily so when
you practice self-care you're actually
wiring your brain you're making it
better
you think we have the ability to
memorize the lyrics to our favorite
songs that's because of two things first
is repeated practice and second it's the
pathway in your brain and the neurons
wiring together the brain is made up of
ampel neurons and neurons are a billion
of nerve cells the neurons consist of
axons dendrites and the cell body
the cells are very talkative and they
communicate with one another the axon
will first send a message from one
neuron onto another and then the
listening neuron known as the dendrite
receives the signal and passes it along
to the next neuron and so on so cells
will keep firing messages in our brain
and the firing of cells and its activity
is known as neural connections think of
neural connections as best friends with
a very strong bond the closer you are to
your best friend the more supported and
loved you will feel so when you're
learning the lyrics your favorite song
the cells that send and receive
information about that song become very
efficient and the more efficient they
become the less effort it takes them to
send a message to the next cell about
what's happening making it easier for
you to sing the song so when you
practice self-care to include it in your
routine it's as if you're learning
something new it becomes a habit and
this habit is the result of learning a
new task you can learn to practice
self-care the same way that you learn
anything else through repeated practice
as we now know your brain fires neurons
all the time which causes some changes
in your brain such as the pathway that
you just created to learn the lyrics to
your favorite song your brain is
constantly trying to remodel itself
based on the experiences that you go
through in life and when you stimulate
the same circuit over and over again you
strengthen it you learn to practice
self-care the same way you learn
anything else through repeated practice
you may be familiar with the saying
practice makes perfect
but just keep in mind that self-care
doesn't happen overnight
it takes time patience and perseverance
but don't give up
lots of little efforts add up over time
you have to work your brain the same way
that you would work your muscles when
you're exercising at the gym as humans
we are more prone to being affected by
negative news instead of positive ones
somehow our brain is wired to pay
attention to the bad side of things
instead of the good this is because of
something known as the negativity bias
the same way that your brain was able to
create that negativity pathway you can
create a positivity pathway and the
first step is to practice self-care the
more you practice self-care the more
neurons your brain will fire in order to
create that positivity pathway that will
help you cope with stress there are four
neurotransmitters responsible for making
us feel good according to Loretta
burning serotonin dopamine endorphins
and oxytocin she calls them the happy
chemicals when you do something that you
love when you practice something that
makes you feel good these
neurotransmitters will be released by
your brain but when you're always under
stress and you're always feeling
overwhelmed these neurotransmitters are
not present let's talk a little bit
about the role of the amygdala the
amygdala is an almond-shaped region in
your brain that is responsible for
detecting stress it's literally your
stress radar so when you're under stress
your amygdala is active your heart
starts racing your cortisol levels
increase which is a normal response to
the situation that you're in stressing
out from time to time is normal but when
your amygdala is always active you're
wiring your brain to think that you're
always in a stressful situation and that
there's always danger around you even
when there's none but practicing
self-care helps you manage your stress
levels which keeps your amygdala well
balanced
treat your brain the same way that you
retreat your body why would you take
care of your physical health but neglect
your mental well-being think of it this
way your brain is like the remote
control and your body is like a
television as long as you have charged
batteries you can flip through life's
challenges with the resilience and in
order to charge yourself practicing
self-care is essential but just remember
to be patient with yourself when you
create a self-care plan when you're not
in crisis you're creating a toolkit that
you can turn to in times of distress
nobody knows you more than you know
yourself you know how stressed out you
get use that as the guide to help you
create the best self-care plan for you
to prevent making stressful situations
even more stressful so to answer the
question I posed earlier what happens
when we postpone self-care we simply
don't feel good our energy level is
decrease we feel less motivated we don't
want to do anything we may even feel
depressed and it could be hard to get
out of self-care enhances your energy
levels boosts your mood increase its
resilience and most importantly reduces
stress because stress is inevitable a
healthy brain is a healthy you thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
you
Browse More Related Video
What Is Self-Care & Why Is It Important?
Bagaimana Seharusnya Kita Memperlakukan Diri Sendiri (Tips Self-Care untuk #HidupSeutuhnya)
How stress is killing us (and how you can stop it). | Thijs Launspach | TEDxUniversiteitVanAmsterdam
How to Deal with Burnout
Comment repérer le burn-out et y faire face
How to Deal with Burnout | Adam Borland, PsyD
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)