Understand that the actual rewiring of your brain (neuroplasticity) occurs during sleep and non-sleep deep rest (NSDR), not during the active learning phase. Therefore, prioritize sufficient and quality sleep and NSDR sessions to consolidate learning and changes.
Actively seek out and embrace the feelings of agitation and strain when attempting to learn or change, as these are the necessary entry points that trigger neuroplasticity. This means pushing through discomfort is essential for brain rewiring.
Ensure you are well-rested, as your ability to deliberately direct and control your attention is significantly enhanced when rested. This deliberate control is crucial for improving your nervous system.
Focus on mastering the transitions between wakefulness and sleep, and vice-versa, as both are critical for optimizing your nervous system, accessing neuroplasticity, and improving overall health.
Actively work on improving the process of falling asleep, staying asleep, and accessing deep, restorative sleep states. This involves more than just sleep duration, focusing on quality and timing.
Incorporate non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) into your routine, as this state, where you are neither asleep nor awake, can help recover neuromodulators and restore processes involved in sensation, perception, feeling, thought, and action.
Structure your focused work and learning sessions around 90-minute ultradian rhythms, understanding that your brain’s ability to attend and focus fluctuates within these cycles throughout the day.
When starting a focused learning session, expect the first 5-10 minutes of a 90-minute ultradian cycle to be challenging, but persist as your ability to focus, engage in deliberate processing (DPO), and direct neuroplasticity will increase as you drop deeper into the cycle.
After engaging in very hard and intense learning, take 20 minutes of deep rest immediately afterward, deliberately turning off focused thinking. This practice has been shown to accelerate neuroplasticity.
Understand that focusing your attention and behavior deliberately will always feel like it requires effort and strain, as this ‘mental friction’ is a natural part of top-down processing. This effort is necessary for specific actions and learning.
When learning new things or practicing self-control, recognize that the feeling of agitation or mental friction is a natural and necessary part of the process, triggered by chemicals like norepinephrine. This agitation is the entry point to neuroplasticity.
Actively control your attention by focusing it on specific sensations, splitting it between two locations, or dilating/concentrating it. This is important for improving your nervous system because perception is under the control of your attention, especially when rested.
Actively decide to direct your thought processes, rather than letting them occur reflexively, similar to writing something on paper. Controlling thought patterns is possible and can be done in a deliberate way.
Deliberately push yourself beyond your comfort threshold in thoughts or behaviors, as this engagement of brain circuits signals to your nervous system that something significant is happening. This feeling of challenge is a key indicator of potential change.
Regularly self-assess your daily rhythms by asking when you feel most focused, least anxious, and most/least motivated. This self-awareness provides a window into optimizing your ability to focus or engage in creative thinking at different times.
Dedicate time to understanding sleep and non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) to leverage their benefits for learning and resetting emotional capacity. This knowledge will help you get better at sleeping and access better sleep even when timing or duration is compromised.
Dissolve one packet of an electrolyte drink (like Element, which has sodium, magnesium, potassium, but no sugar) in 16-32 ounces of water and drink it first thing in the morning and during physical exercise. Proper hydration and electrolytes are critical for optimal brain and body function, as even slight dehydration diminishes performance.
Consider taking an all-in-one vitamin, mineral, and probiotic drink like Athletic Greens once or twice a day to cover basic nutritional needs, make up for deficiencies, and support microbiome health. The gut microbiome interacts with your immune system and brain to regulate mood and overall health.
Supplement with Vitamin D3K2, as D3 is essential for brain and body health (many are deficient even with sunshine), and K2 regulates cardiovascular function and calcium in the body.
Use a meditation app like Waking Up to access various meditation programs, mindfulness trainings, yoga nidra, and non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) protocols. Yoga nidra and NSDR can greatly restore cognitive and physical energy even with short sessions.
When learning a new skill, incorporate a specific auditory tone or cue during the waking learning phase, and then play that same cue during deep sleep. This can significantly accelerate learning and retention by signaling importance to the sleeping brain.