Brain & Mental Health: Part 1

This episode focuses on how sleep quality, modern screen time habits, and background noise affect brain & mental health and overall well-being. We discuss actionable strategies for improving sleep routines and minimizing distractions to enhance mental clarity and calmness.

• Importance of the vagus nerve for health
• Sleep's vital role in brain function
• Strategies for establishing a better sleep routine
• Negative impacts of screen time before bed
• Reducing noise as a method to alleviate stress
• Suggestions for finding moments of quiet throughout the day 
• Encouragement to implement one change for better wellness

Chapters

• 0:00 Understanding the Brain and Vagus Nerve
• 9:52 Improving Sleep Quality by Reducing Stimuli

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to. It Starts at Vegas, the podcast where holistic health meets modern living. I'm Emily, your guide to unlocking the power of the vagus nerve, which is your body's ultimate key to calm, connection and overall well-being. Together, we'll explore simple ways to nourish your mind and body with natural remedies, actionable tips and empowering stories. Whether you're here to reduce stress, restore balance or take charge of your health, you're in the right place, because wellness doesn't just happen. It starts at vegas. Let's dive in.

Speaker 1: 0:36

Brain is a command hub for our body. It's our thoughts, our decision maker, coordinator, and it determines the health of our mind and body. But the brain is only limited to the influences that we give it. The input that it needs to determine where it wants to go, send all the cells, the hormones. It needs that insight to know what to do. And that's where the vagus nerve comes in. It's, the vagus nerve has that connection. It's the messenger. It relays that message to the brain and to the rest of the body, whether it's our heart, lungs, our digestive tract. It gives the brain the input so the brain can determine what to do. And in today's episode we're going to be talking about ways that we can help our brain and how the vagus nerve kind of plays into that. Today is part one of part two. We're kind of going to break it into two segments today, and today we'll talk about sleep, screen time and noise and the effect that it has on our brain. So if you want to be notified for part two, go ahead and subscribe to the podcast and it'll give you an alert the next time the next episode comes out.

Speaker 1: 1:59

Okay, so sleep, sleep is a struggle for so, and yet it is something that we can all look forward to. We notice when it's not there. We notice if we had a hard time sleeping. It's an enjoyable activity but yet it is so hard to do when we get in that anxiety cycle, to do when we get in that anxiety cycle, that sometimes either we like fall asleep right away without even thinking, just our head hits like a couch pillow and boom, you're asleep, or without even making it to bed, or it takes you forever and you get that insomnia and you can't turn off the thoughts and you don't know what to do because their mind just keeps racing. So both of them are anxiety influenced and how that connects to sleep.

Speaker 1: 2:52

Now, sleep is obviously a vital part for brain function because it helps us recall our memories and our memories help determine how we see the world, how we experience the world. It also helps us on how to focus. Without sleep, your brain gets kind of foggy and doesn't know what to do and what to work on, and because of that, then our emotions it goes down to that next cycle of like okay, well, now I can't really think clearly, I can't focus. Now your emotions are like well, what are we doing? Are we happy, are we nervous? Like which direction are we going? And so it's kind of scattered. It's kind of like when you throw balls up in the air and you just try to catch one and the brain kind of does that with our emotions and then it goes to our default, which goes back to recalling what happened in our past and it just all kind of connects in that way. So without that sleep piece of the puzzle, your brain can't even determine what route to go. It has a hard time regulating, well, what needs priority and what doesn't. And because it's trying to do all the multiple things, then you get that brain fog, you get that mental load and all because you just want to sleep.

Speaker 1: 4:19

And again, sleep can be really enjoyable when you first wake up in the morning and you get a good night's sleep. You don't wake up with that anxiety, you typically can breathe and wake up feeling refreshed. That is one of the top great feelings, in my opinion, in practically the world, because your body knows that it's safe and that it recovered and that nothing is pressing. And I think that's why we like to go on vacations, because we kind of take ourselves out of our stressful environment and put it in a new location. So it kind of shakes things up. But you still need to be able to sleep and when you get that full sleep, whether you're on vacation or in your home bed, once you wake up feeling refreshed, it sets the whole day better.

Speaker 1: 5:15

Now, sleep routines we've kind of talked about some of those routines that can help for a better sleep. That is also in evening routines for tomorrow's calm, which is episode number seven, and that helps describe what to do to get a good night's sleep so you can have a better tomorrow. And that's where it all needs to start. Without that sleep piece, everything else is going to be a struggle. So if you're determining what should I do first, everything else is going to be a struggle. So if you're determining what should I do first, sleep is on the top of the list. You have to get a good sleep, which brings us into the next spot screen time.

Speaker 1: 5:55

We all hear like, oh, don't do screens at night, and we hear it. But when you think of actually what it does to your body, it really does put an impact of like, oh, my goodness. Maybe that is a piece we often forget. When we're in an anxious mode, we turn to TV or social media so that we can get that mind-numbing scrolling or watching something without having to think, and it redirects our mind. But just because it's redirecting our mind doesn't mean it's gone. And so once you turn that TV off or stop your scrolling, the brain comes right back and says, hey, how about this idea?

Speaker 1: 6:48

And it's still there. It still wants to fix what you're anxious about. It wants to take care of it, because your body's like, hey, there's bells going off over here, what are we going to do about the bells? And if you kind of mute it with that screen time, what are we going to do about the bells? And if you kind of mute it with that screen time, it'll pause, for it's just like putting the pause or a snooze button on your body. It's still going to be there.

Speaker 1: 7:17

You're not going to get away from it, and that's where that sleep comes in, where you're not going to be able to have a better night's sleep or, if you do, maybe you're going to have weird dreams or nightmares because your body's still trying to process it. It needs to do it. It needs to take time to figure out what happened in your day. And if we just switch over to screens at night, it just redirects its focus. It's not actually taking care of it and the body wants to. It wants to clear that up. And then it goes back to the evening routines where, if you want to journal, slow that mind down and just settle things calmly, you're going to address what happened in the day. You can set goals for tomorrow and be prepared. That's a lot, because it's just a lot of redirecting and we want to address what is going on in our mind. We want to address how can I help my thoughts? Do I need self-reflection? Do I need to adjust anything through my day? What is the key that's missing, to where my brain keeps saying you got to address this. You better address it.

Speaker 1: 8:32

So, when it comes to screens, yes, we all hear, oh, we have I don't know seven hours every day of screen time, whether it's computer, phone, tv, what have you. They can be essential for work and communication. We have to address like, yeah, I've realized that that's part of life, but you don't have to end the day, you can take off that eye strain. End the day, you can take off that eye strain. And when we talk about eye strain, it is hard on your eye muscles and it interferes with that. The different colors of light that we see they often say the blue light for screens and that's what hinders the ability to fall asleep again goes back to that sleep part but also what your mind sees, it believes. So if you're watching, you know a horror movie at night, guess what you're going to sleep at. You're going to go to bed thinking that that horror movie happened and you can logically think, oh no, my brain just watched it and it's fine. It knows it's just a movie, it's still going to take that in. It's still saying, hey, record this, this could happen. And it's hard to do. It really is hard to do.

Speaker 1: 9:52

I know, I used to be. I used to love Law and Order. It was just a movie or a show that I liked to watch. But once I became a mom, something clicked in me and I couldn't handle it anymore and I had to take myself away from that show because it kept reminding me of all the terrible things that can happen in the world. Because that's what the show is it's just very interesting show of all the weird things that can happen in the world. Because that's what the show is it's just very interesting show of all the weird things that can happen in life. And I recognize it wasn't good for me mentally. It increased my anxiety so I knew I had to take that away. Did I miss it? Yeah, because I enjoyed the show, but it wasn't good for me and I had to take it away. So that is just one reason why screen time is harmful at night.

Speaker 1: 10:41

I don't think a lot of people talk about a lot of people talk about the physical side, and there's truth to that. There's a lot of truth to that. There are lots of studies out there. But it's also what are we putting in our mind at night? Also, what are we putting in our mind at night If you can't get away and you're like I, just I want that crutch at night, because that's a real thing too. At least start watching something that makes you laugh.

Speaker 1: 11:08

End the day on a positive note. It will set your sleep better, and that's what we want. We want that to be better. If you're like you know what, I'm ready to give up screens at night. I am ready to put the phone down, turn the TV off. I'm ready for that Great. Now it's time to prepare, because our habits are going to determine what we want to do, and if we don't have a plan, it's not going to happen.

Speaker 1: 11:34

So make a list of your favorite screen-free activities. Whether it's journaling, it's a little art, it's reading a book, all of those things will open up your mind in a peaceful, calm way. Again, if it's a book, make it not a horror story. Determine if it's going to be healthy for you. If you didn't know you, if somebody just said, hey, this is a book genre, would this be helpful at night to sleep and then determine yes or no? That's kind of how I step back and determine if something's healthy for me, because if somebody else can determine overall in general this is a good or bad thing, then it's going to be a good or bad thing for you, because we're usually not exceptions and that's kind of an oxymoron that we're usually not, but there's truth to it. We just can't say I'm the exception for all the things I want. Well, most likely not Most likely you're trying to justify so when you're ready to say I want to be done with screen times, pick healthy habits so that your mind can go to bed happy or peaceful and calm. That's what we need.

Speaker 1: 12:58

The last thing that we're going to talk about today is noise. Noise is a hidden brain stressor and it takes a lot of mental energy to drown out noise, to figure out what's a noise that I need to know and recognize and respond to, versus noise that's just in the background. And all of that's going to add stress Not necessarily a bad stress, not all stresses are bad. It's kind of a muscle but we don't need to overload it. And having chronic exposure to noise, like traffic and having a loud environment, always having that tv on for noise, it's just more input that your brain has to sift through to determine if it's safe or not. If it has, if your TV's on and you're cooking and you're not really paying attention, you're just kind of having that background, noise of a toy, the TV going, and now you know, uh, police officers are not alarm. Uh, yeah, alarm, I guess. Or you hear a fire truck on the TV. Well, now you're like, ooh, is there? Like where's that fire truck coming from? And now your body's like is this here, do we have to respond to it? And so, whether or not you're aware that your brain's taking that in, it has to take it in. That's what your body's always scanning to make sure you are in a safe environment for you to be in. And so having that chronic noise will increase that mental load.

Speaker 1: 14:53

So, to take off that noise and to turn everything down sometimes it feels really weird because we have a lot of noise in our society. One, for example, when I'm home. There are times where I like to turn everything off, and when I say everything, I mean music, tv fans, even our house fan that circulates all the air. I turn it off and it sounds as if the electricity went off and that we don't have any power. But my kids notice it, even without me telling them. They'll be like they'll hear that noise. Lift off, and it just instantly it draws your attention first, and then it calms everything down and you just hear the silence and that's a weird lack of noise when you're not used to it. But eventually your body starts craving it. It likes less input, so it doesn't have to filter out what is important and why it's not so to have that quiet time, which is where a lot of people bring in, like journaling and meditation and things like that, because it's quiet, because they focus more.

Speaker 1: 16:23

But if you don't have time for that, you don't have time to just sit and be, take time, just to take a few seconds, look around and what can you turn off? Can you turn off the TV? Can you turn off the music? I love music and music is very helpful to the vagus nerve when you're singing or humming. But having it constant, going all the time, that's like a marathon for your body. It needs to rest. So turn it down, turn it off and make it less wherever you are and maybe that's not possible Maybe you live with a bunch of other people and they want to watch their show.

Speaker 1: 17:05

Well, you can get some noise canceling headphones and just settle it down and you can also create just little, tiny moments of silence, whether it's two minutes, and you're like oh Emily, I don't know if I can do that. I don't know if I can sit in my head by myself with no noise. It might be hard at the beginning but it is so worth it. You start realizing what helps you settle down, you start realizing what makes you calm, you start hearing what you do and don't like and it's addicting. Once you start calming everything, quiet, it really is addicting.

Speaker 1: 17:46

I know in my massage therapy practice I always have the nice noise and the sounds and all that to create a relaxing environment. But my favorite is when there's no music, there's nothing going on in that massage room and it just creates a different, peaceful setting and it's one that we usually aren't in. And so at the beginning it does feel a little odd because it's not comfortable, it's not known. Comfort usually comes from things that we have known. Again, going back to the habits and memory recall, that's where it comes from. So to create a new habit of sitting in silence, it takes a moment, and that's okay, because just know that it is very, very healthy for your brain to be able to just sit in silence.

Speaker 1: 18:40

Or, if you need a stepping stone, try to go outside and listen to the birds and focus on just listening to the birds and the bird sounds, and is that the same bird calling as that bird, or are they same? Are they different? You start realizing what's going on around you and it's really fun. It's really fun to discover all the little nature noises, because they have a different frequency and they're helpful and they are calming in themselves. So if you're like I don't know if I can sit by myself in silence, then start outside. Nature is a wonderful healer and you're never going to outdo that. It's something that you are not going to. What's the word overdose on? You cannot overdose in nature and it will just help refresh you and then you can go back into real life. And that's why they say if something's overwhelming, you just take a moment, step back, because it removes all that pressure on your head, all those mind thoughts, and it just eases it up a little bit.

Speaker 1: 19:59

So those are the three ways that we're going to talk about today the sleep, the screen time and removing noise. Try to incorporate one of those habits. Like I said, prepare, make a list, and that will help you determine which one you want to try to implement today. So write that list down, pick one breathe and I look forward to talking to you more about part two next week. Thanks for listening to. It Starts at Vegas. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next. And if you're ready to take the next step toward calm, grab my free Vegas Nerve Reset video in the show notes. It's quick and easy way to start feeling better today. And until next time, remember, wellness starts at Vegas.