BRAIN RULES Principles for Surviving and Thriving

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BRAIN RULESPrinciples for Surviving and Thriving

• Debbie Crouch
• Seattle Pacific University

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Brain Rules Principles for Surviving and
Thriving at Work, Home, and Schoolby John
Medina, Pear Press, March 2008

• Dr. John Medina is a developmental molecular
  biologist and research consultant. He is an
  affiliate Professor of Bioengineering at the
  University of Washington School of Medicine. He
  is also the director of the Brain Center for
  Applied Learning Research at Seattle Pacific
  University.

www.brainrules.net
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The Full Menu of 12 Rules

• Exercise
• Survival
• Wiring
• Attention
• Short-term Memory
• Long-term Memory

• Sleep
• Stress
• Sensory Integration
• Vision
• Gender
• Exploration

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Survival in a Hostile Environment
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Our Complex Blender Brain

• Y_ _ r d _ g ch _ s _ d th _ c _ t.
• Much of what we know about brain function has
  been learned from abnormal or injured brains.

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Three Brains in One

• Lizard brain
• Basic functions such as breathing, heartbeat,
  sleep
• Mammalian brain
• Animal survival the four Fs
• Fighting
• Feeding
• Fleeing
• Reproductive behavior
• Cortex or Human Brain
• Executive functions
• Specialized functions

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ATTENTIONWe Dont Pay Attention to Boring Things
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What Captures Our Attention?

• Messages that grab your attention are connected
  to
• -Memory
• -Awareness
• -Interest
• Advertisers know this!

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Principles of Attention

• Meaning before detail gist
• Familiarity and patterns
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Advice for Educators, Supervisors, and Parents

• Capture attention by triggering emotion
• Convey general ideas before details
• Make sure examples are relevant
• Teach complex information and processes in small
  segments
• Repeat information at discrete intervalsrepeat
  to remember remember to repeat!

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Limitations of Attention

• Attention cant be maintained indefinitelythe
  brain needs a break to digest information.
• We can only pay attention to one thing at a time.

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Multi-tasking is a Myth

• Comparison of cell phone users to drunk drivers
• 4 x higher
• The increased rate of collisions among drivers
  who use cell phones.
• 19 slower
• The amount of time slower cell phone users were
  to resume their normal speed after braking.
• 24 more variable
• The following distance of a driver using a cell
  phone, as his or her attentional states shifted
  between driving and talking.

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Effects of Multitasking
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STRESSWhat is Stress?

• For stress to exist
• There must be an aroused physiological response
  to the stressor, and it must be measurable by an
  outside party.
• The stressor must be perceived as aversive.
• The person must not feel in control of the
  stressor.

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Chronic Stress and Health

• Chronic stress
• Dangerously deregulates a system built only to
  deal with short-term responses.
• Creates too much adrenaline, leading to high
  blood pressure, and elevating the risk for heart
  attack and stroke
• Ravages parts of the immune system involved in
  producing antibodies.

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Stress and Learning

• In almost every way it can be tested, chronic
  stress hurts our ability to learn.
• Specifically affected are the skills needed to
  excel in school and business.

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Enter the Hero to Battle Stress

• BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor)
• Keeps neurons alive and growing in the presence
  of hostile action
• However, BDNF can be overwhelmed

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The Secret

• Want to know how to . . .

• And also . . .

• Increase your
• BDNF levels
• Attention span
• Reasoning
• Long-term memory
• Problem-solving abilities
• ?

• Combat
• Anxiety
• Stress
• Depression
• Decrease your chance of
• Alzheimers by 60
• General dementia by 50
• ?

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EXERCISEExercise Boosts Brain Power

• Jack LaLanne The man who gave us the jumping
  jack.
• Strength of mind is directly related to strength
  of muscle.
• Strength of mind and body is also related to
  quality of nutrition.

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EXERCISEExercise Boosts Brain Power

• Building an intricate delivery system.
• How much exercise is enough?
• 30 minutes of cardio
• 2-3 times a week.

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Stretch Break!
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To the Tune ofTake Me Out to the Ballgame

• Take me out to the sidewalk.
• Take me out to the track.
• Buy me a treadmill and trampoline.
• Staying active will be my routine.
• I will build an oxygen highway,
• Then stressors wont be a drain.
• For just 30 minutes three times a week
• Makes a healthy brain!

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SLEEPThe Brain Doesnt Sleep to Rest

• The brain sleeps to learn
• Learning involving procedures and processes,
  particularly, is enhanced by sufficient sleep.
• Loss of sleep hurts attention, executive
  function, immediate memory, mood, quantitative
  skills, logical reasoning, general math knowledge
  and even motor dexterity.

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Sleep Chronotypes

• Larks Early Chronotype (10)
• Most alert around noon and feel most productive
  in morning
• Owls Late Chronotype (20)
• Most alert around 600 p.m. and feel most
  productive in late evening
• Hummingbirds The Rest of Us (70)
• Somewhere in between larks and owls
• BEWARE THE DREADED NAP ZONE!

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How Much Sleep Do We Need?

• Most adults need 7 9 hours of sleep per night
  to function optimally
• Study of soldiers found
• One nights sleep deprivation resulted in a 30
  loss in overall cognitive skill and drop in
  performance
• Two nights sleep loss resulted in a 60 drop in
  performance
• Five consecutive nights with 6 hours of sleep or
  less resulted in performance equal to that of
  someone deprived of sleep for 48 hours.
• Continue to work on this slide

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EXPLORATIONWe are Powerful and Natural Explorers

• Babies model how we learn by actively testing
  through observation, hypothesis, experiment and
  conclusion
• What if . . . ?
• How could I . . . ?
• I wonder . . . ?

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Exploration Time

• Google lets employees spend 20 of their time
  going where their minds ask them to go.

• 50 of new products came from 20 percent time.

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C H A L L E N G E

• Focus on what you can control
• Notice when you are stressed
• Exerciseeven a little bitmost days of the week
• Feed your body with the right amount of quality
  fuel
• Get sufficient sleep
• Use your natural curiosity and imagination to
  envision positive outcomes
• Direct your attention to things that bring you
  joy and peace