Welcome to Mental GPS with Dr. Jana a self-development podcast dedicated to helping you unstick your mind, regain momentum, and build a better life. Hosted by Dr. Jana Price-Sharps, this show is built on a central philosophy: life shouldn’t just be endured it should be enjoyed. You have an absolute right to be happy, live a good life, and experience fulfilling relationships.
Think of your brain as having its own internal navigation system. Where is your GPS driving you?. If your coordinates are set to failure, depression, bitterness, or hopelessness, your mindset will drive you straight off a cliff. This podcast is designed to help you actively reprogram your navigation system, take control of your mental focus, and successfully steer your way through life's adversity.
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Mental GPS with Dr. Jana EP 10
Your mood does not just happen by accident, as it is heavily influenced by everything you do, hear, and surround yourself with. In this episode of Mental GPS, Dr. Jana breaks down how everyday choices like sleep, diet, media consumption, and your social circle shape your mind. Learn why sleep is the ultimate brain regenerator and how auditing your daily mental inputs can help you reclaim your energy, improve mental clarity, and build a happier life.
Key Takeaways
Sleep and diet form the essential foundation for your brain to regenerate and stay resilient.
Your support network and media choices directly influence your daily thoughts and motivation levels.
Sustainable life improvements succeed when they are implemented slowly rather than all at once
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Good day. This is Dr. Jana. Thank you for joining me. Today we're going to talk about what you feed your brain. That may sound a little odd, but it's really important to think about. And so it's a very broad topic, so I'm going to hit the highlights. In other podcasts, we're going to go a little bit deeper. But today we're going to hit some of the highlights. Our mood is manipulated or changed by so many things. It's changed by what we do, what we hear, who we're around, our jobs. So paying attention to what you're feeding your brain is really important if you want to feel happy, if you want to have a good life. So what are some of the bigger contributors that you have active agency over that you can actually change? Well, the first one, and you're going to hear me over and over, so I'm sorry, but sleep is probably the biggest one. You know, when people are getting four or five hours sleep a night on a regular basis, they're going to be cranky. There's that rare individual that that's what they've done all their lives and that's they just wake up and that's that. I'm talking about majority of people need about seven to eight hours. And so if you're consistently getting four to five hours sleep a night, it's going to make you cranky. And it also saps your energy, your mental clarity, you know, how much fun you're having. It just really tanks your system. Sleep is so important, and I'll have several podcasts about sleep, but sleep is where your whole body and your brain regenerate. So if that isn't happening on a regular basis, your brain and your body can't regenerate. It can't fix problems that are about ready to occur or have occurred. You know, our body and brain is really resilient, but we have to give it what it needs to be resilient. Obviously, diet, and I know everybody hears this all the time, but if you're living on caffeine, cigarettes, and high sugar, you're probably not going to be feeling great. So again, any kind of change should be done just a little bit at a time. And if you try and rework your system all at once, your system is going to push back. So, you know, start thinking about what's one thing you can add in or one thing you can diminish that is going to make life a little bit better. Do a little bit at a time. You'll find that you're much more successful doing it that way. And over time it makes a huge difference. So consider thinking about kind of walking all the way around your life and going, okay, what is contributing to how I'm feeling? Friends are another one. Do you have friends that build you up that go, you can do this? What do you need? How can I support you? Or do you have friends that put you down, make snarky comments? Oh, you're never going to be able to get that done. I don't even know why you're trying. Who are you hanging around? Because the people that you hang around are going to make a huge difference in what you're saying to yourself and how motivated you can stay. So you might really want to think about who your support network is. And if they're not a great support network, maybe you get rid of them, maybe you don't, but maybe you start adding other people in that are more positive that can support you. I'm not telling you to go just divorce people. That's not my message here. But maybe you need to add in some more positive people that can motivate you to do the things that are important to you in your life. So really thinking about building that positive support network. What are you looking at on social media? Oh my goodness, are we in crazy time in social media where everybody hates everybody and everybody's making snarky comments? Are you involved in that? Stop. Get a different, a different uh way of getting your social needs met. If you're on social media, start adding in, I don't know, pictures about mountains and birds and cats or something rather than getting involved in the politics or the hate or the dissension that is just so prevalent right now. Consider things that cool your system down, that make you feel good, that are happy, rather than things that are going to heat you up. How much time are you spending on social media? Are you spending like 30 minutes at night kind of catching up with things? Or are you spending hours and hours? The research is pretty clear now that people spend hours and hours on social media, start getting depressed, they start having anxiety issues. You know, so maybe you think about how I can rejoin life a little bit more and diminish a little bit about how much I'm on social media. What are you listening to for music? Are you listening to upbeat music? Music that is, I don't know, about having healthy relationships, or are you listening to music about hatred and hating this group or that group or this or that or the other? Really think about what you're feeding your mind. What are you reading? What are you listening to? What TV shows are you watching? What movies are you watching? All of that is going to have a direct impact on mood. What are you thinking about most of the time? One of my favorite authors is Brian Tracy, and he talks about people become what they think about most of the time. And that's a little shocking when you first hear that because you go, oh my gosh, I can see that. You know, when people think about everything sucks, and why bother? They start becoming pretty depressed and they start isolating and they start having fewer friends, and then they spend more time on social media. So really be very, very particular about what you feed your brain and include all of the things I've talked about today, because those all have a drastic impact on how you're feeling. Because you get to have a happy life. You get to feel good, you get to wake up in the morning and be happy and feel like life is worth living. Regain that purpose and be careful what you feed the brain. Thank you so much for joining me. This is Dr. Jana. I hope you have a wonderful day.
