Digital Overload Rewires Brains, But Neuroplasticity Offers Recovery

Key Quotes

"You know I always like to take it back to ancient times to explain things that aren't necessarily obviously explainable now so when we had to be resilient in a way that was geared around physical survival like when we lived in the cave for a start by the age that you and I are now we'd be dead so we didn't have to live for as long we had to be resilient more physically to the elements to the predators to the risk of disease and things like that so then you fast forward to now and today compared to 100 years ago not cave times we would read if we read a full newspaper from cover to cover we would receive as much information as someone received in their entire lifetime 100 years ago so the demands on us psychologically and emotionally you know and then add in this ability to be switched on 24 7 work across time zones be constantly you know disturbed and disrupted and your thinking has led to this need to be really mentally resilient and actually what it's led to is tipping over into being like chronically stressed so we have this amazing adaptive stress response which means that we can meet a challenge but we do need to rest afterwards but we're not really allowed to rest now you know we're constantly stimulated so that i think is the answer to your question"

Dr. Tara Swart explains that the demands on our psychological and emotional resilience have drastically increased compared to ancient times. She highlights that while our stress response is adaptive for challenges, modern lifestyles, characterized by constant stimulation and being "switched on" 24/7, prevent necessary rest, leading to chronic stress.

"I read a lot about this constant sort of level of stress that I feel and a lot of other people are walking around with I read often oh that stress is making you fat right I still don't understand this conversation about stress I understand stress on the brain as you look at my stomach with my hedge fund clients you know I would see monthly or less if they were in new york they would just lift their t shirts up when I walked into the room and just and say like now you know how the last month's trading's been honestly yeah why on earth is what's going on stress wise affecting the amount of fat we're carrying then the way that we were wired from cave times is that if we were chronically stressed so basically our adrenal glands which are back here above our kidneys they release this hormone called cortisol and that correlates 100 with stress so if you're releasing a lot of cortisol you will be feeling things like fear or anger or you know sadness if you are feeling stressed mentally your adrenal glands will produce the appropriate amount of cortisol to match that"

Dr. Tara Swart addresses the connection between stress and weight gain by explaining the role of cortisol. She details how chronically stressed individuals experience elevated cortisol levels, which, from an evolutionary perspective, signals the body to store fat, particularly around the abdomen, as a survival mechanism against perceived threats like starvation.

"So by doing all of the practices that I've mentioned you're pushing your brain into the bonding or attachment emotions which are love trust joy and excitement and with joy and excitement there needs to be a balance because there are some industries where there are high levels of excitement but not much joy and that's actually quite corrosive and then there are industries where there are quite high levels of joy but not enough excitement to keep you motivated so you get a bit like it all becomes a bit mundane so oxytocin and cortisol are like on a seesaw so if you express gratitude you immediately get like a burst of oxytocin and that means that the cortisol has to go down in relation to that so you're moving yourself from a fear state to a trust state so I actually start my morning as soon as I realize that I'm awake before I even think of anything like what's the time or what do I have to do today I do my gratitude practice straight away because then it's like almost like washing your brain with like the love and the trust before the fear can creep in"

Dr. Tara Swart explains that engaging in practices like gratitude shifts the brain from a fear state (driven by cortisol) to one of bonding and attachment emotions (like love, trust, joy, and excitement), mediated by oxytocin. She emphasizes that starting the day with gratitude can proactively flood the brain with these positive hormones, counteracting the potential creep of fear and stress.

"And then from about 65 70 some forms of memory so things like the sequence in which certain events happened they become harder for people to recall but their like wisdom and judgment actually become like super pathways so there's no the only bad part to neuroplasticity is if you constantly obsess over something negative like if you have a breakup and you just keep thinking about everything that you did wrong and you know then you're going to embed that into your brain but the opportunity to you know i say neuroplasticity is hope the opportunity to improve your brain to change the way that you think to have lifelong learning it's all there"

Dr. Tara Swart highlights that neuroplasticity, the brain's ability to change, continues throughout life, with wisdom and judgment potentially strengthening in later years. She notes that while negative rumination can embed harmful patterns, the core principle of neuroplasticity offers hope for continuous learning and personal improvement at any age.

"Your brain is so very much more amazing than you think it is and you have so much potential and you know there are tiny things that you can do that can really unleash that potential"

Dr. Tara Swart concludes by emphasizing the immense, often underestimated, potential of the human brain. She suggests that small, actionable steps can be instrumental in unlocking this vast capacity for growth and achievement.