Try to connect the dots. Rest. Try again

TEXT BELLA TAPPER FOTO ANNA SÖDERBERG

full time studies, full time social life, health, sport, recreation, finance, apartment, food, phone, computer, family… It goes on forever, the to-do-list in whatever app is used makes the head spin and run out of battery. where’s the charger?! can I restart, please? Yes, you can. Studies show that the brain needs to be relaxed in order to focus. Scientists recommend taking daily power-naps, meditating, and avoiding multitasking.

The mind is fantastic. It can keep enormous volumes of information in order, like a supercomputer that is always available. However, there are two minor errors in how the mind and brain manage the information. Firstly, as time goes by the brain fills up, more information takes more space and it will be harder to find what you are looking for. No upgrade available. We can’t decide what we want to save and what we would like to delete from our memory. Secondly, the brain does not “rest.” It uses most of its capacity to process things over and over again, just like a never-ending while loop. This might be surprising for some of you— how can that be, when we’re so smart?! But think about it for a moment.

How many of the thoughts that you had today, did you already think about yesterday? In our daily actions we need to juggle more impressions, information and things than ever. If only we could handle every thought and every problem the first time it comes to our mind and not think about a solution over and over again, we would free enough space in the head to leave our computers at home. The time has come to stop overthinking and, like a computer, clear bad memories and replace them with new ones! Furthermore, the brain is not the only organ that requires relaxation. Nobel Prize-winning research has shown us that “the way you live may change your DNA.” If you are living a stressful life with bad habits, it actually shows into the core of your cells. Scary, huh? Not to mention this year’s prize in medicine that shows that “access to oxygen affects every cell in our bodies.” In other words, it may be time for a break and some deep breathing to help ourselves. Of course different people have different needs. Not everyone needs to take 45-minute naps every day. However you choose to relax, make sure to do it often (especially students). It is crucial concerning the development of our lives in the right direction. We may take a break from some of the fantastic things we are planning: even a fantastic trip, banquet, or training that we wouldn’t miss for the world is consuming some of our energy. It may be time to put more belief in “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs” and sort out what is really important before we run too fast and risk falling hard! How to do that is written in the stars, but it isn’t written in what other people do or share on social media. Take power of your own, reclaim your own time and decide to sometimes be lazy. You will be surprised at how much energy that will come to you. It may harm the shopping malls and travel companies and set back the GDP. But as long as we are poor students at one of the best universities in the world—we are excused.

Sources:

Sciencemag.org buffer.com/resources/10-surprising-factsabout-how-our-brain-works