Prevention is better than the cure

A new way of looking at wellbeing and performance

I was having a ponder about how popular the term ‘biohacks’ is and a quick search led to over 8 million suggestions.

I am not a fan of there being suggestions that there are quick and easy ways to hack the body.

Most people who are in need of help or those who want to push their optimial state to the next level need to realise that there is no quick win or magic pill.

If there was let me tell you (again) I would let you know as I would want to have it too!

There is also the interesting dopamine phenomena that when we work hard to achieve something we get dopamine released into the part of the brain that associated with motivation and reward. When we opt for the easy route then dopamine is released into the anterior insula which is associated with emotion and risk perception, this leaves people rejecting hard work.

Another interesting fact about the insula is that along with the amygdala it has increased sensitivity to negative social stimuli which can then result in social anxiety symptoms.

So this leads to my suggestion for today.

If everything feels a little overwhelming or you are just looking for that ‘biohack’ ask yourself the following questions when you are going about your daily routine -

Is this preventing my unwellness, illness or poor performance?

Is this enhancing my wellness, health or optimal performance?

Two really simple questions that will give you conscious accountability.

They will make you think about what you are doing. If you then choose to continue with a behaviour, habit or action then you will have a mindful understanding that you are either preventing and enhancing or enabling and deminishing.

To take it a step further you could analyse a day, a week or a month to see what you are doing that is not preventing and enhancing.

For those of you who had been instigating changes or who just wants to analyse what has been going on in the past year then this is an absolute must!

By utilising our prefrontal cortex in really thinking about what we are doing then we are going to be more consistent, more conscious and more accountable. We will be able to make the choice to work harder at what we want to achieve.

This will have the extra benefit of producing dopamine in the part of the brain that will then reinforce the behaviours that will support us in achieving the goals that we want.

A bonus of this as well is that it will help to reduce our social anxiety levels which will be particularly useful for those of us who are struggling with being in the public domain, dealing with people or simply just having to relate to something outside of yourself.

So a very simple, useful tip for today.

And whilst it may not be as high octane as cryotherapy or as invasive as the implanting of microchips, it is a game changer if you are not as motivated as you would like to be, are on a plateau that you want to get off or simply want to function as the best human being you can be.

“We’re all running from pain. Some of us take pills. Some of us couch surf while binge-watching Netflix. Some of us read romance novels. We’ll do almost anything to distract ourselves from ourselves. Yet all this trying to insulate ourselves from pain seems only to have made our pain worse.”