Transcripts

Pierce J. Howard, PhD:
Exercise, diet, sleep and education- these are the big four.

Piece Howard, author of the book, The Owner's Manual For The Brain…

Continue to get aerobic exercise on a regular basis, get a varied diet, a sensible diet. Continue to get a good night's sleep and continue learning.

Keeping stress out of your life and keeping happiness in your life are both important to brain function. But Piece has a different way of looking at personal happiness…

I would suggest that happiness is not the goal that total engagement is the goal; mental engagement. A California researcher, Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi calls it flow-the feeling that you're so absorbed in what you're doing that you lose all sense of time, place, temperature and hunger- and that's a pretty nice place to be.

But what's fascinating at how the brain works is: in order to experience that sense of flow, the activity must present a challenge- but not too big a challenge.

For example if I go play tennis with Andre Agassi, I am not going to be in flow, I'm going to be frustrated. On the other hand, Andre Agassi, if he plays me, is going to be bored with me because it's too easy. So, if you've got a 90% chance of winning or a 10% chance of winning, it's hard to be in flow.

At somethingyoushouldknow.net I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.