Advice For Workaholic Adrenaline Junkies…

If your workload or career is pushing your stress levels through the roof, then what follows is a simple guide to how your brain works. I know because, being a borderline adrenaline junkie, I’ve had to learn some of
these strategies myself to stay balanced. Believe me,  beating stress is more about being a big kid…here’s why.

Do you remember when you were a child and the summer holidays seemed to last forever? You invented games to play from the most innocuous and mundane objects, which became holy shrines or magic keys. Drinks turned
you into a superhero. Up until the age of 10, that is.
That’s because before the age of 10, children primarily use the right hemisphere of their brain – the creative side. The creative right side of the brain produces Alpha waves, and when you meditate, your brain produces more Alpha waves. In Alpha we naturally have a better command of life, our health and our moods. We are able to think more clearly, can consider responses and perhaps make more creative decisions, with better longterm results. Alpha thought waves help us to access that part of the brain responsible for more enlightened, sophisticated thinking.

John Levine composes Alpha Music to help people relax and is used by Complementary Therapists to help their clients easily produce Alpha waves and therefore enter a deep state of relaxation very quickly. I was introduced to this music by a therapist friend, and regularly listen to
this when I am brainstorming, writing when relaxing or meditating. It’s extraordinarily serene. According to Levine research shows that when we’re in Alpha through to Theta (as we prepare to go to sleep), the brain also produces a number of chemical hormones which affect our mood, productivity and general health. Delta waves then take over as we fall into slow wave (deep sleep). However, after the age of 10 different brain waves take over – Beta waves. Beta waves vibrate at a higher frequency and are linked with the left logical side of the brain. Coincidentally this is when children move on to secondary school, where everything gets really ‘serious’. Gone are the lazy days spent fishing for newts and making mud pies (by the way if you didn’t made mud pies when you were a kid – you haven’t lived!). Now it’s all homework, course modules, mock exams, routines and remembering loads of facts – fun, eh? Leaving  precious little time for imaginative thinking, talking or creative pastimes, which could lead to stress.

Levine also discovered that although Beta waves are important, if this is the dominant thought wave, we remain hyped-up and stressed. So being in this state is not good long term. We are less likely to make rational choices and our responses are more primitive as higher thinking begins to shut down. However, some people appear to be born with a gift for increased Alpha wave production. Scientists have established that creative people operate in Alpha and Theta states far more frequently than the rest of us.

Eventually we leave school to start a career, with the accompanying train timetables, spreadsheets, passwords e-mails and compliance, etc. All logical left brain stuff and yet more Beta brain activity. In fact bringing your creative streak out in a work environment (in some organisations) is positively frowned upon and discouraged. Until, that is, you wake
up one morning and wonder why you haven’t a single scrap of innovation left in you. You can’t switch off because you’re so stressed-out having to reach all your ‘targets’. As Daniel Goleman in his book “Emotional
Intelligence” puts it “Stress Makes You Stupid”. With all that Beta brain activity going on, there’s just no inspiration or fun in your life any more. Using ‘Beta’ thought waves too often is like driving your car everywhere in first gear. Being grown up and serious has  actually become really stressful. All the routine, discipline and targets haven’t actually made you anymore effective or indeed any happier. Need I say more?

This is where you may become even less effective, shut off from the ‘source’ – the source being the pipeline leading directly to all new ideas and innovation: your creative right brain. Although it is important to point out that you need a good balance between the left and right sides.

“Experiments show that most children rank highly creative (right brain) before entering school. Because our educational systems place a higher value on left brain skills such as mathematics, logic and language than it does on drawing or using our imagination, only ten percent of these same children will rank highly creative by age 7. By the time we are adults,
high creativity remains in only 2 percent of the population.”
Dan Eden, Editor, Viewzone.com

Early signs of stress include being a bit tetchy, food cravings, mood swings, feeling extremely tired or hypedup leading to sleep problems caused by too much Beta brainwave activity and stress hormones racing around your bloodstream.

Long-term stress will have disastrous consequences for your health. As you get older, your body will find it harder and harder to cope and could be the reason why some people are struck down with chronic conditions
such as arthritis, chronic fatigue, IBS, High Pressure, and raised levels of cholesterol. The short-term solution is treatment with conventional drugs, when in fact the long term and ultimately the best solution is to
give your lifestyle a complete overhaul.

Not paying attention to your stress levels and lifestyle, affects your body, your energy levels, and your resistance to stress. Ultimately, your ability to rationalise and memorise, and your performance at work will suffer.