Clear and stay current
Staying clear is sometimes incredibly difficult in everyday life. Your family wants something from you, your work wants something from you and now you also have one of those irritating smartphones that keep notifying you all day long of apps that also want something from you (yes, thanks for the shoe offer, but I have enough). It can drive you crazy and it can make you lose focus. Focus? Especially after checking your mail it is gone for many people. Therefore this blog about clear and stay tuned
What do you need to stay clear and up to date?
To stay clear-headed and up to date, you might say you need good focus. That’s true, but it doesn’t just happen on its own. There’s a substance in your body that helps with this: it’s a protein called BDNF. This protein is incredibly important for brain function and for maintaining good mental health[1]
Protein BDNF
The protein BDNF is very important for the functioning of your brain and especially for brain plasticity. Brain plasticity refers to the degree to which the brain can adapt, the degree to which new connections can be made. This is important for solving (new) problems and for good learning. So very useful if you like lifelong learning.
This protein is important for the functioning of glutamatergic neurons. These neurons—and particularly their receptors—are important for the formation of GABA transmitters (which are often affected in people with sleep problems), and this transmitter plays a key role in learning, memory formation, and the regulation of all neurotransmitters in the brain.
As a result, this substance actually stimulates all kinds of good feelings. In fact, it improves your memory. Which is good because being forgetful is incredibly annoying.
It also promotes positive feelings. People with healthy levels of BDNF in their bodies are less likely to suffer from depression. It has antidepressant effects.
Do you often feel rushed and tense? Then this substance is also recommended, as it makes you calm and quiet. It really helps tremendously against stress.
How do you get more of this substance?
Now, of course, you immediately want to know how to get this substance. What supplement should you buy to get more BDNF in your body. Well, tough luck, it's not that simple. There are only 2 ways to get this substance, namely:
- Taking antidepressants
- Doing strength training
Since I try to do everything I can here at the Hypnosis Institute to help people in the most natural way possible, I want to advise you to go for strength training. The scientists who researched this also recommend strength training, especially since some antidepressants take a while to kick in. So why wait when doing push-ups and squats can already help tremendously to release this substance.
You do have to be persistent, after 2 weeks you really notice the effects, but with antidepressants it can take just as long.
So how does strength training provide this substance?
Movement activates the ventral tegmentum in the brain. These are neurons that therefore eventually produce the BDNF. The best way to accomplish this is to do 20 minutes of strength training. For me, crossfit works really well, but if something else works better for you you can definitely do that. There are also many workouts on YouTube and Pinterest that only take 20 minutes and you can just do them at home with your own body weight.
Also watch this video where I explain more about this amazing substance and how it helps you.
But I don't feel like/time to exercise
Do you have all sorts of excuses for not exercising and not reaping the benefits this chemical has to offer? Then it’s time to examine the beliefs you hold about the importance of physical activity and earning happiness in your life. Finding peace and consistency.
If you’re not completely motivated to start taking natural antidepressants, something’s not right. Maybe you’re too busy, but why?
Maybe you want to, but feel you can't. In that case, you might want to talk to a hypnosis expert. Why couldn't you do strength training?
Especially when you're down and don't feel like exercising, it's important to boost BDNF. Hypnosis can help you be less down and increase your motivation.
As mentioned, you’ll first have a conversation with a hypnosis expert about your beliefs and the reasons why you feel you can’t do something. The hypnosis expert can then help you with various techniques to encourage you to start exercising.
For example, if you’re afraid you won’t be able to do strength training or that it won’t make you happy at all, the hypnosis expert can help you with a guided visualization. Maybe the first time you try to do a push-up, it’ll only be a slight bend in your elbow, but over time, you’ll definitely succeed. This imagination is then stimulated by the hypnosis expert, who guides you into the world of strength training.
A guided visualization can then take the following form:
"For this strength training, you only need your body weight. You have your workout outfit picked out in advance and you feel good in it. It's comfortable and you feel fresh. In addition, you also have a nice water bottle for refreshment during the workout. You have a personal trainer who helps you through the exercises for 20 minutes. You start with easy exercises, like squat and plank. You feel the muscles you are using and it feels good. You feel the weight of your body helping to tone your muscles and after the push-ups and squats you take another refreshing sip from the water bottle. You sweat a little, but you know it's toxins leaving your body. It feels good. After the workout you stretch your muscles which relaxes you and continues the rest of the day with more energy and rest."
This is just an example of a guided visualization. Depending on your beliefs, you may get a different visualization.
Removing blockage
In addition, you may also have another mental block that makes it difficult for you to do strength training. For example, some women feel that strength training isn’t feminine because they’ re afraid they’ll turn into some kind of bodybuilder—something they have absolutely no interest in. In that case, those misconceptions need to be corrected. Women actually have very different muscles than men, and it takes them much more effort to look that way. Especially if you do strength training using your own body weight or light weights, you won’t end up looking like a bodybuilder.
In that case, repeating hypnotic suggestions during self-hypnosis can already do an awful lot to remove blockages against strength training. For example, you may then receive the following suggestions:
"Strength training is not only good for your brain, it's also good for your bones."
"Strength training makes you look slimmer at the same weight."
"Custom strength training will help you get long lean muscles or become a bodybuilder."
"I can do strength training at home."
"Strength training using only my body weight is also strength training."
These are just examples of hypnotic suggestions. Depending on your beliefs about strength training and blocks to starting it, you may be given other suggestions to listen to at home during self-hypnosis.
Clear and stay current
You might have expected to have to do a lot of sudoku to stay clear and up to date, but fortunately it's a lot simpler than that. You'll find that after 2 weeks you'll be better at sudoku than you were before.
So to stay clear and up to date, it is important that your brain produces enough BDNF. This can be done in 2 ways, with antidepressants or with strength training. I would like to recommend the strength training. If you find it difficult to start this, hypnosis can help you increase your motivation for exercise and remove blockages.
Would you like to learn more about useful techniques and tips to improve your life and the lives of others? Then come to a hypnosis workshop or sign up for one of our training courses. These are available both in person and online.
[1] Handbook of Sport Psychology, Gershon Tenenbaum, Robert C. Eklund, 2007, page: 479.