Rebirth

Neurohacker Notes

Based on blue zone observations where large amounts of foot travel, largely plant-based diets, plentiful sleep, and tight knit communities are usually the norm. All human beings have a finite amount of energy to exert towards their wellbeing. Exerting your energy in equal balance within the four quadrants’ Foundational regions will slowly expand the net capacity of your overall energy and bandwidth. That will then allow those focuses in the Advanced regions to acquire even greater optimization in your overall strategy. 

Mind Care

Upgrade mental wellness via practices like meditation, gratitude practices, writing, playing an instrument, neurolinguistic programming etc. 

• Gratitude Practices
• Internal Reflection
• Creative Expression
• CBT
• Neurolinguistic Programming
• Visualization  

Body Care

Priming physical conditions for optimal mental experience via proper sleep, reasonable and consistent nutrition, exercise and movement practices. Also, cutting-edge advanced methods such as nootropics, transcranial stimulation devices, and biofeedback. 

• Sleep
• Nutrition
• Movement
• Transcranial Stimulation
• Biofeedback
• Nootropics

Relationships

From the microbiome cloud we share, which affects everything from our genetics to our immune system, to the effect of social interaction literally changing our neural networks in order to find resonance with the people around us, we share literal inexorable links to the people in our lives.

• Company you keep
• Company you give
• Time without company
• Communication training
• Studying human behavior sciences
• Attachment theory education

Environment

This quadrant accounts for all of the aspects in our daily experience beyond care of body, mind, and direct sentient relationships. These examples include: our air quality, our sleeping conditions, the lighting in our homes, our attention to the aesthetics of our home’s interior design, and how commonly or uncommonly we engross ourselves in appealing landscapes and wilderness.
Technologies in this category include high quality natural bedding, water and air filters, full spectrum lighting, and both EMF and RF mitigation to name a few.

• Lighting
• Air quality
• Sleeping conditions
• High quality bedding
• EMF shield
• Restorative travel

12 Foundational Neurohacks

Gratitude

Greater Good Science Center: Expanding Gratitude Project

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_trick_your_brain_for_happiness

Internal Reflection

University of Southern California neuroscience professor Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang led a comprehensive survey of existing research on the brain “at rest” or in “default mode”, meaning brain activity when an individual is not actively engaging external tasks or duties. The findings published by the Association for Psychological Science, indicate brain activity during these states are correlated with socioemotional functioning, such as self-awareness and moral judgment, as well as aspects of learning and memory.

Journaling/Memorializing

Setting clear goals is crucial to orchestrating an effective neurohacking plan. In fact, it turns out that merely setting goals, is a neurohack in and of itself, even prior to accomplishing them. Research
Gate published a fascinating deep-dive into the power of goal-setting led by Dr. Elliott Berman of the University of Oregon, in which the mere instituting
of goals in one’s life correlated with significant increases in motivation, planning aptitude, effective socialization (motivated by shared goals),
and self-control.

Sleep

Glymphatic system: Research has shown that cerebrospinal fluid passes through channels in the brain during sleep which act to flush debris out of the brain such as beta-amyloid, a protein whose buildup is associated with Alzheimer’s Disease, as well as many other toxins which contribute to neurodegenerative disease. Dr. Harvey B. Simon drew an additional corollary between adequate sleep and our ability to learn and remember in Harvard Health Publications.

Nutrition

Neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin, which control mood and thought, are made from amino acids found in proteins. The hormones that regulate total body function, are made from healthy fats and cholesterol, as is the structure of our brain itself. All the chemical transformations that take place in our body and brain, are mediated by vitamins and minerals found in a healthy diet. Alternately, many processed foods contain chemicals that deplete key nutrients and can contribute to neuroinflammation and energy imbalances.

Movement

The more dynamically we move, the more alive we are, and the more adaptive and capable our body and brain are. Exercise is inversely correlated with every chronic disease known including Alzheimer’s, dementia, depression, and anxiety. It’s positively correlated with longevity, increased productivity, increased cognitive capacity, and better mood. From regulating hormones and neurotransmitters, to increasing neurogenesis, to positively modulating genetic expression, there is no medicine or groups of medicines that comes close to touching the physiologic and cognitive benefits of movement and exercise.

Company you keep

Always try to create psychological environments that appreciate and respect honesty from others, so the company you keep associates you with a place for their truth to thrive. There is notable research to suggest that employee happiness depends more on conditions which promote trust and honesty, than income. The importance of trust for your mental wellbeing amplifies further still with friends, family, and romantic partnerships. These relationships form the bedrock of your social identity and security. Factor these aspects of employment heavily when deciding on an employer, or on the people forming the largest exertions of your time and energy.

Company you give

When thinking of the company you give, it is important to realize that your behavior towards friends and loved ones which prioritizes help and generosity not only cultivates greater goodwill from others, but it also is an act of generosity towards your own cognitive health. Multiple studies have indicated that altruistic behavior (such as volunteering) has a strong correlation in the sense of meaning derived from life. This is to say that merely having a social life doesn’t have the same qualitative sense of fulfillment as taking on aspects of giving in relationships around you. Giving is not just about benefitting the life of those you help. It is fundamentally linked to benefitting your own sense of wellbeing.

Time without company

While some constructive criticism can help us grow, the majority of our self-negativity does the opposite, both psychologically and physically. Self-criticism can cause the brain’s amygdala, which assists in fight-or flight response, to trigger an increase in blood pressure and a release of cortisol. To be a true creator and innovator requires trusting your own imagination and sensibilities enough to follow them. It also requires doing things that others do not yet know how to do. The more difficult the accomplishment, the more likely many failures will come before eventual success. This means interpreting failure as learning, rather than defeat. Your love of what you want to create has be a stronger force in you than any limiting ideas you might have about yourself.

Lighting

Until the very recent past of our evolutionary history, we spent almost all of our time outdoors. We all know sunlight exposure effects tanning and vitamin D, but that is just the tip of the iceberg of the physiologic dynamics that result from our relationship to light. The cycles of light and dark control our circadian rhythms and the quality of our energy and sleep. The infrared spectrum of sunlight directly stimulates the mitochondria which produces the energy on which our body runs. Indoor lighting is generally shifted towards the blue end of the spectrum and deficient in red and infrared, which causes deficits of mitochondrial frequencies and negative effects on sleep patterns. Seasonal affect disorder is the result of not getting enough light, causing depression severe enough to induce relocation for many. The three simplest steps one can take to improve their lightning are: avoid blue and bright light at night, get more sunlight, and learn about healthier interior lighting options.

Air & water quality

Prolonged exposure to low air quality can trigger diseases of the lungs and also trigger neurological disease. The Hindawi Journal of Toxicology released a comprehensive study on the subject, finding that various forms of particulate and air toxins can trigger the neuroinflammation, oxidative stress injury, and mitochondrial dysfunction that are common condition sets for the development of many neurodegenerative diseases. You can upgrade the interior air quality of your home with steps as simple as opening windows, running air filters, and diligently responding to mold or other obvious air quality concerns.

Sleeping conditions

Blocking light in our sleep environment, minimizing disturbing sounds, having a white noise generator, and high-quality bed and bedding not only affects the quality of one-third of your life, but more importantly, that period of time plays an enormous factor in the health and quality of the remaining two-thirds.

Neurohacking tools & technologies

Some of these tools and technologies affect mental wellbeing such as light therapies and bioelectrical interventions, while other tools and technologies physiologically assess you to provide better knowledge of which affective neurohacks would be of most benefit. Examples of assessment tools and techniques include quantified self-devices such as a sleep tracker, to a medical test such as a Walsh metabolic profile. In the graphic link below, they have included an infographic that provides 16 general categories of neurohacking tools & technologies, along with many examples within each category.

https://neurohacker.com/technology-for-neurohackers