Biohacking and self-development

2021-11-25 23:59:04 A Glass of Water on Your Desk is to Help You Think Faster

Surely you have heard many times about the need to drink water. However, we tend to ignore maintaining the necessary drinking regimen for the body.

Yet in vain, as without drinking enough water the human brain reacts to external stimuli 14% slower.

That’s pretty logical. The human body consists of 50-75% water. When tissues become dehydrated, the brain has to work and produce the same results as when it is normal. So to keep a clear mind, be sure to keep track of how much water you drink in a day. Open / Comment

2021-11-24 22:59:35 Dopamine Fasting

Offer for your consideration a technique for managing daily addictions.

In order to implement it, you need to give up any but useless dopamine stimuli and limit yourself to things that cause excitement, euphoria, and fear.

That is, limit the use of the Internet, video games, online shopping, junk food, thrill seeking and consumption of recreational substances (alcohol, nicotine, caffeine).

You can start with an hour of this diet and then gradually increase the intervals to four hours a day, one day a week, two days in a row and a week a year.

What for?
These habits will no longer control you and you will begin to control them. As a result, this has a positive effect on efficiency, mood, and health. Open / Comment

2021-11-23 23:55:41 If you swap dinner and breakfast, you'll lose weight twice as fast and efficiently.

An old truth in a new study now.

Obese women on a highly strict diet of 1400 kcal (it's hard not to lose weight on it) were divided into two groups. One group ate 200 kcal for breakfast, 500 kcal for lunch, and 700 kcal for dinner. Agree, that's how many people eat in daily life. In the other group breakfast and dinner were swapped: foods that were eaten in the morning in the first group were eaten in the evening, and vice versa.

The women were even allowed dessert — cookies, small chocolate cake, etc. After 12 weeks with such breakfast the women lost more than 8 kg, while in the other group — only 3.2 kg. Judging by waist thinning, there was also more than a 2-fold difference.

At the same time, the women who ate a good breakfast had lower levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin in their blood, and they didn't suffer from craving for something to eat. Open / Comment

2021-11-21 23:43:07 Look at the World "Upside Down"

Why?
If you have a familiar object in front of you in its normal position, the left ("verbal") side of the brain quickly recognizes it and turns its attention to something else. Yet, if you turn the object upside down, the right side of the brain goes to work recognizing the unfamiliar image.

This simple exercise develops creativity and helps generate ideas.

Turn "upside down" pictures of loved ones, written words, a calendar, a clock, and look closely, thereby developing your brain Open / Comment

2021-11-20 14:02:10 Reducing Stress by Looking at Fractals

When we look at or listen to something, we do not just passively perceive sounds and images, as they also affect our brain.

When we glance at different objects, our eyes make many search movements, scanning the objects. The natural course of our eyes' searching movements is fractal.

So when there is a coincidence in the dimensional trajectory of the eye and object movements, it leads to a decrease in stress and a state of flow that is highly beneficial for health — "physiological resonance". Add more fractals to your life and it will help your prefrontal cortex cope better with stress.

Pictured are examples of fractals Open / Comment

2021-11-19 23:09:00 Unhealthy Motivation

What kind of motivation is that?

For instance, half an hour of watching "motivational bodies" noticeably lowers self-esteem, decreases mood, enhances dissatisfaction with own body and strengthens thoughts about the need to lose weight.

There was even a study where participants in a weight loss program were given food diaries: 1 were neutral and 2 had slim models on the cover and pages.

Those who filled out food diaries with pictures of models considered their goals unrealistic, were more likely to break the weight loss program, to binge eat and almost no weight loss

So what to do?

Do not get overly motivated by fitness motivation, it's more likely to hurt you. Look for more effective, though more complicated ways of motivation: through your personal goals and values, motivation through pleasure, social stimulation, health and longevity motivation Open / Comment

2021-11-17 21:38:25 Bad News — the Gym Won't Help

Even if you work out at the gym every day after 8 hours of sedentary work, you're still at risk for diabetes and heart troubles.

The good news is that this can be avoided by tweaking your workday.

How? If possible, dilute sitting at your desk with at least some activity. For instance, stand up from your seat for one to three minutes every half hour. In a perfect world, of course, it would be better to reduce sitting time to 2-3 hours a day altogether. Open / Comment

2021-11-17 11:00:16 Neural Training with Scents

Yesterday, we talked about the effects of different smells on the brain, but also in general, more smells in life is a great idea!

Why?

The brain needs quality "food" to be productive.
So pleasant sounds, landscapes, hugs or variety of movement, different smells are good for the brain and these are all food for it.

As you walk, you can pick a plant leaf at a time, rub it and study how it smells. That way you'll add olfactory training to your regular walk!

Not only does olfactory training improve your ability to distinguish odors, but it also stimulates global neuroplasticity processes (making neural connections).

Studies show that olfactory training improves verbal abilities even more than sudoku solving. Open / Comment