New Year, New You: Brain Breakthroughs

Brain Breakthroughs for a Better You

Have you ever found yourself coming home from a stressful day at work and mindlessly eating an entire bag of chips? How about cracking a beer immediately after work to “come down” from the happenings of the day? Whatever coping method you’re using to solve your problems, they’re likely doing nothing more than numbing your emotions; you may even be preventing yourself from feeling your ultimate joy. Brene Brown described this behavior well when she said:

“We go numb… The problem is, that you cannot selectively numb emotion… You cannot say, here is the bad stuff…here’s grief, here’s shame, here’s fear, here’s vulnerability, here’s disappointment-I don’t want to feel these… I’m going to have a couple of beers and muffin.”

Numbing is not a long term solution for your problems; it is a temporary “band-aid” that actually prevents you from reaching your ultimate joy and your best life. Considering that stress is the #1 epidemic worldwide and the root cause of 80% of health problems and most suffering, we need to find better ways of dealing with our stress and the emotions attached to it. Instead of numbing our emotions with food, alcohol or “fill in the blank,” we need to figure out how to take control of them and use them for good in our lives.

Luckily, new science in brain health has revealed powerful information about the circuitry of the brain specifically related to emotions. It is this new science that has led Dr. Laurel Mellin (health psychologist, professor and author) to develop Emotional Brain Training (EBT). EBT is an easy-to-learn and proven method, rooted in science, that helps people solve some of their biggest problems. EBT provides the skills to switch the brain to the optimal state of well-being – where problems fade and joy is felt. With EBT skills people have the power to rapidly, confidentially and remotely solve problems like overeating, anxiety, depression, sleep problems, body pain, social anxiety and emotional issues.

Instead of resolving to eat healthy or be more active this year, try instead rewiring your brain with EBT. Once you have control of your emotions, good habits are bound to follow, allowing you to take charge of your health for good. The first step in EBT is to know your Emotional Number, or E-Number. This number provides direct insight into the performance of your entire brain and body, because it reads your emotional brain, our silent but powerful controller. Get started with the following tips from Dr. Mellin.

Make it your priority to know your E-number.

In short, your E-number is the state of your emotional brain, the brain that controls mood, behavior, rewards, metabolism, productivity and 80% of health problems. It coordinates all this information so you have an instant brain-based glimpse of your functioning.

Your E-number vacillates much like your heart rate and ranges from E-number 1 (top performance) to E-number 5 (lowest performance). When we are in each number, we have different characteristics and a different brain area is in charge.

Use your E-number to adjust your expectations and reduce your stress.

Once you know your E-number, you can be kinder to yourself. If you are at E-number 5 and going to a party, you’ll expect less of yourself, stick to safe topics of conversation, steer clear of the bar and be kind to yourself.

What if you check and you’re at E-number 1? You can feel confident in your judgments and conversations, and you’ll notice that you can take a bite of fudge cake and leave the rest behind. You’re that connected! By matching your E-number to your expectations of yourself, you will ease your stress.

Check in with yourself to Identify your E-number throughout the day.

The emotional brain is constantly changing, so it’s essential to identify your E-number 5 to 10 times throughout the day. It takes about 30 seconds to identify your E-number. You can integrate it into daily tasks, like before and after seeing a client, before and after meals, and upon rising and going to bed.

Once you know your number, you can learn tools to change your number. There is one technique for optimal resilience for each E-number. These techniques are emotional, and emotions are faster than thoughts, as they are survival-based. Using the emotional tools takes about 1 to 4 minutes. Relying on thinking or awareness typically takes 15 to 30 minutes.

The first brain breakthrough for a better life for the New Year is to update your approach to emotions. They are not feelings, but states of the powerhouse of the emotional brain. As you become fluent in E-numbers, you will notice your stress levels plummet and more joy in your daily life!

Did you enjoy this article? Are you interested in bringing these tips to your employees? Now you can easily share expert tips with your employees with WELCOA’s employee facing Life On the Move wellness portal. Not only will your employees easily track their physical activity using devices, they can also access expert written wellbeing modules, compete with others, assess their current health habits and support their coworkers.

About Dr. Mellin:

Laurel Mellin, Ph.D. is the founder of Emotional Brain Training (EBT) and the creator of the Joy Method for brain-based natural weight loss and EBT Connect for real-time stress relief, both based on EBT. She is an Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine and Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, a health psychologist, nutritionist and researcher who has spearheaded a new paradigm in health – raise the brain’s emotional set point to most powerfully improve health and happiness and prevent disease. Dr. Mellin is a New York Times bestselling author, presented at the 2017 WELCOA Summit and has appeared on Oprah! three times. She trains coaches and health professionals in certification in EBT and is a mother of three children. She lives in Marin County, California.

Web addresses:

Weight Loss: www.joymethod.net
EBT Method: www.ebt.org