Neuroscientists tell us that “Brain Rot” is becoming a trend that can dampen a smart, “thinking” brain. After all, your brain is your best friend. It’s with you 24/7, and never leaves your side (or I should say your head). So don’t be a Christmas Scrooge and ignore your neurological sidekick. If you do, you could be at risk for “Brain Rot.”
What Is ‘Brain Rot’?
The Oxford University Press, publishers of the Oxford English Dictionary, has dubbed “Brain Rot” the official Word of the Year for 2024. As the result of people mindlessly scrolling through Internet memes and sludge, it defines “Brain Rot” as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state,” resulting from the “over-consumption” of trivial material—especially in regard to information on the Internet and other virtual excesses. Modern neuroscience has developed imaging techniques to advance our understanding of how to prevent “Brain Rot” and nurture it for happiness and career success.
How To Prevent ‘Brain Rot’ And Create A Happy Brain
If your brain could speak, it would tell you what it needs to be happy and perform at its best. You can’t have joy or success without your cerebral sidekick, so you want to make sure it’s happy, not rotting. Consider the following science-backed habits as tools that inoculate you from “Brain Rot” and provide fodder for happiness and optimal career performance.
-1. Psychological Safety. Your brain requires psychological safety to be smart so you can focus on work tasks. Under fear—such as a cut-throat boss—your brain focuses on how to avoid the threat, distracting you from engaging and producing work tasks. Fear and uncertainty have undermined well-being, engagement and workplace performance for as long as workplaces have existed. Work cultures of psychological safety prevent “Brain Rot,” enhance brain engagement and yield greater long-term company profits.
-2. Mood-Boosting Foods. Junk foods, “food noise” and gobble-gulp-and-go can lead to “Brain Rot.” Healthy brain foods boost your mood, health and endurance. Check out the food on your plate and ask if it promotes overall brain health. Proteins—such as meats, poultry dairy, cheese and eggs—stabilize blood sugar and give your brain the amino acids it needs to create neurotransmitter pathways. Omega-3 fatty acids such as salmon, mackerel, tuna and sardines put your brain in a good mood. Vitamin B is essential for brain wellness and can be found in eggs, whole grains, fish, avocados and citrus fruits. And vitamin D is an important mood stabilizer.
-3. Blood Flow. “Brain Rot” can stem from sedentary activity and lack of exercise, so don’t be a desk potato. Blood flow is good medicine to remain happy, viable and creative. Regular exercise and movement amp up blood flow to the brain and even slow the onset of memory loss and dementia. You can feed your brain the excess blood it needs through aerobics, walking and stretching and toning your body to keep it crisp, engaging and in tip-top shape.
-4. Ample Sleep. Your brain gets mad without the rest it needs. Sleep deprivation fosters “Brain Rot,” hampering your ability to deal with job stress and often unleashing anger during your workday. Lack of sleep causes slower brain activity, cloudy thinking and forgetfulness. It interferes with memory and learning and short-circuits attention. Fragmented sleep hampers your ability to see the positive aspects of your career, making you reactive to job stressors. But ample sleep restores clarity and performance, actively refining cortical plasticity so you can manage job stress and set the foundation for a smart brain.
-5. Broad Perspective. A broad perspective allows your brain to build on the positive aspects of your career and see future possibilities. Think of a camera. You can replace your myopic “zoom lens”—which focuses on stressors and can lead to “brain rot”—by putting on a “wide-angle lens”—which showcases the big picture and life possibilities. Avoid blowing disappointments out of perspective; look for the upside of a downside situation; focus on work solutions instead of problems; pinpoint opportunity in a challenge. The big-picture expands your constrictive “zoom lens” into a “wide-angle lens,” enlarging your perspective and serving as an antidote to “Brain Rot.”
-6. Mindfulness. Mindfulness techniques are powerful antidotes to mindless virtual excesses like immersive gaming, Internet surfing or streaming the vast television wasteland. Mindfulness meditation and conscious deep breathing keep your brain from wandering and your focus sharp. Meditation reduces cortisol levels by 25% and alters brain activity, so you’re less error prone and make fewer mistakes after just 20 minutes of practice. Over time, your brain stays calm even under turbulent circumstances. In four simple steps, you can harness the social circuitry of your brain and sidestep “Brain Rot,” attuning to your life with a clear mind:
- Keep your focus in the present moment.
- Move at a steady, calm pace.
- Stay attuned to yourself and your surroundings.
- Accept without judgment whatever you’re aware of that arises in each moment.
-7. Brain Fitness and Novelty. “Brain Rot” interferes with your brain’s ability to adapt to novel situations essential for career happiness and creativity. To sidestep “Brain Rot,” keep your brain fit. The brain’s exposure to new experiences dampens established thought patterns in order to consolidate new information. Novelty promotes adaptive learning by resetting key brain circuits and enhances your ability to update new ideas into existing neurological frameworks. Challenges like puzzles, reading or learning a new skill slow cognitive decline and prevent degenerative disorders as does sticking your neck out, trying new things and having new experiences.
-8. Outdoors. Green time offsets screen time. Brain scans of people who spend time in nature show that their prefrontal cortex has more gray matter and a stronger ability to think clearly and self-regulate. Your brain loves spending a minimum of two hours a week in parks, woodlands or beaches. People who spend 120 minutes per week in nature have better health and higher psychological well-being than the ones who don’t engage with nature or those who spend less than two hours per week.
-9. Order, Not Chaos. The best gift you can give your brain this holiday season is order instead of chaos. You can find tips on how to mitigate holiday stress here. At some point, you probably will have to perform several activities at once. But don’t allow multitasking to become a pattern. When you bounce between several job tasks at once, you’re forcing your brain to keep refocusing with each rebound and reducing productivity by up to 40%. Multitasking neutralizes efficiency, overwhelms your brain and causes fractured thinking and brain fatigue.
-10. Social Support. Isolation can foster “Brain Rot.” Having someone around—empathetic manager, coworker or someone in HR—whom you know you can talk to and will listen is tied to brain health and resilience. People who volunteer, attend classes or get together with friends at least once a week have healthier brains in the form of more robust gray matter and less cognitive decline. The key is to cultivate safe ways to maintain social interactions in order to enhance the brain’s gray matter and amp up career creativity and stamina.
A Final Wrap: Present Moments Dampen ‘Brain Rot’
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, anxious or frustrated, consider giving your brain a well-deserved gift and bring it into the present moment with you. That keeps your brain from flipping its lid, mitigates “Brain Rot” and creates a smart, happy brain during the Holidays.
Use your breath as a focal point to link your brain and body together. Deep breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth and focusing on each inhalation and exhalation—following your breath through to a full cycle from the beginning when the lungs are full back down to when they’re empty—keeps you stress-free, in the here and now and free from “Brain Rot.” Your brain will be glad you did, and you will, too. Happy Holidays to you and your brain!