BSB 96
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Speaker: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Bite-Sized Brilliance Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. April Darley, and I wanna talk to you about something that I experienced recently that was so simple, but so profound. Over the Halloween weekend, one of my very good friends got married. And she decided to make it a camping weekend. She's a very lovely, free spirit, and at first I thought, "oh my gosh, I do not wanna do this".
It's like I love my friend, but I'm not a camper and I already live in the country, so it's not like I am hurting for nature, and I had to fight some discomfort because I knew that a camping weekend with basically, a bunch of strangers was way out of my comfort zone, but I love my friend. So, I sucked it up buttercup and went to this [00:01:00] destination wedding camping Halloween weekend, boho themed.
And you know what? I had one of the best times of my life and one of the most profound experiences that I want to share with you today. This is such a great example of how when you work through your discomfort and really embrace something new with a growth mindset, how it can really turn out to be one of the best things in your life.
And one of my very favorite things about the entire experience is there were probably about 20 to 30 people there that would come and go at any given time. And most of the people were in their thirties to 50. Just say 30 to 50 was the dominant age range, but there were people there from 21 at the youngest to probably early seventies at the oldest, but [00:02:00] because the bulk of the attendees were Gen X or Millennials, the thing I loved most is that they weren't glued to their phones.
We actually sat around in nature, enjoying beverages, the sunshine, bonfires at night, and actually talked to each other. Amazing right? Incredible. And imagine doing that for three days. I didn't think I would love it, but it was exactly what I needed to remind me about the power of connection. When we step away from electronics, when we don't distract ourselves with a cheap quick dopamine burst and we sit down and share stories with one another. We as humans are hardwired for tribal living, and that was just a great example of tribal living and I loved it. [00:03:00] I wanted to talk to you about it today because I recently saw social media posts from Jim Kwik. If you're not familiar with Jim Quick, he's an expert in the field of memorization and cognitive improvement and performance.
And this social media post really caught my interest because it tied into this profound experience that I have with face-to-face human connection. So here's the post, _"Two weeks without Internet reversed 10 years of brain aging. What this study reveals about your attention and how to reclaim it." _Now, of course, it's social media and I'm sure Jim has some major social media managers running his account and it's a carousel, so bear with me here. _"A study published by the PNAS Nexus showed that removing mobile internet access for just two weeks, no apps, no social media, and no web browsing led to measurable improvements in focus _[00:04:00] _and cognitive performance._
_Calls and texts were still allowed. Brain scans and performance tests revealed that improved, sustained attention without lifestyle overhauls or wellness routines." _Just that one thing, getting off your phone for two solid weeks took 10 years off of cognitive decline, improved your mental performance. And I can see that now, sadly, he did not provide a link for the study, which I would've loved to have dived deeper into that and verified some of these things on my own.
But when you go back to the slower, the lower, that tribal, that simple type of living where you have nature, you have bonfires, you have people sharing stories and getting to know each other. That is so powerful. And it's only recently that we moved away from [00:05:00] that. I wanted to share this story with you just in case you're feeling that absence of connection in your life where you're feeling overstimulated, your social skills, you just feel they're not where they used to be. Then maybe it's time to schedule a little camping weekend with your besties because the beautiful part about nature. Many studies have shown that nature does not overstimulate or overwhelm your senses because nature, think of it like a soft focus.
There's no one thing that screams and jumps out to the brain, which makes it give those short, quick dopamine bursts that cause us to have this scattered attention and focus. Nature has that sustained softness to where we can take in multiple stimuli at once and it doesn't make us feel scattered or overwhelmed.
Quite the opposite, where it actually grounds [00:06:00] us. In Japan they have this beautiful ritual. It's forest bathing and it's the scents, the sights, the sounds, and even some of the chemical compounds that the trees and the plants give off. We need that. It feeds us and calms us down. From an evolutionary perspective, hearing the sound of bird song t eaches your unconscious, your survival brain, that you are in a safe state. That's a little tip, trick or hack my friend, that we are wired from back in our caveman tribal days that when we hear bird song and nature sounds. It's this big sign of safety to our brains. But when things go eerily quiet in nature, that's when you need to worry.
So right now, if you're struggling with overwhelm, but you feel anxious in quiet, then you may wanna put some birdsong on, and it gives that safety cue to your brain so that you can regulate with your breathing and get rid of that [00:07:00] anxious mood and those thoughts using other techniques that I can teach you in my *bespoke Brain System*, but if you are like me and semi bougie and camping sounds like your worst nightmare, don't be afraid to try it.
Working through that discomfort, b eing brave and courageous actually gives you a dopamine hit as well. You can get so much pleasure from doing uncomfortable things because it is a growth mindset. You are experiencing discomfort with the purpose of growth rather than making you feel unsafe and shrinking.
It will require you to get outta your comfort zone. It will require you to be courageous. Most of all, be yourself. That genuine human connection is so healing to your mind, your body, and your spirit. I hope this inspires you to either get out in nature a little bit more often, whether [00:08:00] it's taking lunch breaks, or walks or hikes on the weekend.
If you are truly adventurous, go camping with some friends. Put the phone down, let your brain, and body and spirit recalibrate to what was our natural state of living. All right, my friends. I hope you enjoyed these little tips, tricks, and hacks, and if you would like to talk about some neuroscience techniques with a splash of Woo and how you can bring more balance, peace, and safety in your world, then go to april darley.com and schedule a free consultation with me Until next week, goodbye.
