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Understanding the Neuroscience of Mental Fatigue - Why You Lack Motivation (it is not 'Lazy') · Do You F*cking Mind?

• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Hello, beautiful beans, and welcome to the podcast episode of Today. Today,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: we're going to be talking about the neuroscience. Look, I'm
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: sure you've obviously read the episode title. I'm not sure
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: exactly how I'm going to title it, but it's basically
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: the neuroscience of fatigue, cognitive fatigue, mental fatigue, just fatigue
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: in general. I'm going to talk about the difference between
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: being tired and being fatigued, Okay, and it's going to
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: be a really really good explanation for a lot of
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: people as to why they seem to lack motivation chronically
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: and drive and why it's not necessarily about being lazy. Okay,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna we're going to talk about the difference here,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: and then there's going to be things that you can
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: actually do to combat this fatigue. And I'm going to
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: be comparing brain rot and fatigue because they go hand
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: in hand. And then there will be a part two
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: of this episode, because this is going to be quite
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: fleshed out. And then in part two, I'm actually going
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: to give you a whole bunch of like I'll come
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: up with as many as possible, but a whole bunch
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: of things you can do to undo this brain rot
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: kind of mental fatigue thing. So let's talk about it.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: I just want to get straight into the podcast episode.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: By the way, no life update. Life is great, I
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: think fabulous. So what I want to talk about is
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: brain rot number one. So brain rot is another term
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: used to describe mental fatigue. That's why I mean where
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: they go hand in hand, also used to describe cognitive burnout.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: This comes so brain rot specifically, and obviously it's not
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: an official medical term, but when people refer to brain
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: rot and from all the you know, the cases of
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: where people talk about brain rot and what it actually means.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: It comes from overstimulation, doom scrolling, and too much screen
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: time and then you're getting this, you know, feeling of
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: no motivation, no drive, a shortened attention span, all these
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: other things. So, like I said, it's not a formal
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: medical diagnosis. The brain isn't actually rotting, but it is
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: a real phenomenon and it's caused by information overload, dope
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: mean fatigue, disrupted attention span. So we're not able to
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: you know, hold our attention for prolonged periods of time.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: And like I said, the symptoms are shortened attention span, difficulty,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: focusing on complex offline tasks. So you might find oh, no,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: but I can focus on whatever when you're online or
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: when you're doing certain things whereas maybe on your phone
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: on screen time. But the moment you're pulled away from
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: that and you've got to focus on something for a
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: prolonged period of time, you're going to really struggle poor
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: sleep quality and then low motivation and emotional numbness. Fatigue
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: is not just I'm tired, Okay, So it actually and
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: I'm going to go through exactly why. And I pulled
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: a lot of information from a really really good paper.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: It's called The Neurobiological Studies of Fatigue Harrington published in
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: twenty twelve. I think this is also published in pub med.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: But it's a biological response that is generated by the brain. Okay,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: So it's not just like, oh, it's not like when
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: your body is tired. Let's say you physically exert yourself
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: and you're physically tired, you just lack energy. The difference
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: between what seems to be happening with the brain is
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: the brain actually is deciding how much energy am I
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: going to let you spend based on a variety of factors.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: So it's almost like a response is to make you fatigued,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: because then you've got some reserves left. So it's triggered
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: by inflammation, immune activity, disrupted cicadian rhythms, and also changes
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: in neurotransmitter systems. So go check out this paper. It's
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: a review paper looking at fatigue from a neuroscience perspective
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: and why it also appears across so many illnesses. It's
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: a really interesting paper. So, like I said, number one,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: fatigue is not the same as sleepiness. So someone can
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: be fatigued without feeling like they're sleepy. Yes, their circadian
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: rhythm is disrupted, and yes they might have poor sleep quality,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: but they might be like, no, no, I don't feel
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: like I need to fall asleep. I'm just fatigued in general. Okay,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: it's more described as a reduction in energy, motivation, and
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: willingness to exert effort. That's how you want to look
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: at it, which is kind of the same as brain rot.
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  Speaker 1: It's also one of the most common symptoms across illnesses.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: This reported fatigue with that description of reduction motivation, energy,
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  Speaker 1: and willingness to exert effort. So cancer, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, depression,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: autoimmune disorders, infections, and many other chronic illnesses. Fatigue is
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: one of the main most common symptoms across all of
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: these and that kind of points to this idea that
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: there's shared biological mechanisms behind fatigue regardless of the disease.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: So inflammation is going to be a big key driver
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: of fatigue. So when the immune system is activated, it's
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: going to release these inflammatory molecules called cytokines, and cytokines
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: kind of call like they act as signals in the brain,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: and you know, like when these cytokines are activated, they'll
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: send off all these different signals and the brain will
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: respond accordingly, and it's going to do it. A whole
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: cascade of events is going to occur. But one of
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: the things is what researchers are calling sickness behavior, which
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: almost purposely will lower your motivation, your drive, make you
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: socially withdrawal. It's going to reduce your activity levels almost
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: as an adaptive survival response. So when and that's why
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: it also appears in a lot of these illnesses because
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: it's almost like this is how I'm going to preserve energy.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: So it's the chances of you surviving is going to
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: be higher. So from an evolutionary perspective, it might have
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: helped sick animals and humans conserve energy. So instead of
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: spending this energy competing, exploring, doing all this stuff, your
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: body is directing all its resources to healing, to recovery,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: to your immune function. So that's one of the kind
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: of theories behind why fatigue is one of the the
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: responses to inflammation and the inflammatory molecules. The certo kinds
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: disruptive circadian rhythm can also contribute to fatigue. You want
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: to look at it as like your brain's master clock,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: and it has to do with a whole array of things.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: But one of the things is light entering the brain
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: at the appropriate time. Less light in the evening, your
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: energy expenditure. Different neurochemicals are involved in that, as well
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: as chemicals that are going to keep you alert versus
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: the chemicals that make you slow down and tired, and
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: all these things are contributing factors to a healthy cicadian rhythm.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Then you're going to have other things that impact your
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: circadian rhythm. For example, people with ADHD are more likely
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: to have a disrupted circadian rhythm than those without. And
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: not to say that it can't be fixed. It can,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: but they're just more likely to have that disrupted cicadian rhythm.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: People that don't or that expose themselves to screens really
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: late at night or even just in the lead up
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: to falling asleep, when the sun's already gone down, and
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: they're always exposing the selves to this blue light. It's
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: kind of encouraging the brain to stay alert, and you're
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: less likely to produce the neurochemicals that it's going to
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: help you fall asleep. These things all contribute to a
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: disrupted circadian rhythm, so that can increase feelings of fatigue.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Even when you look at someone's sleep duration. Even if
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: someone's like, well I still get my seven hours asleep
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: and I still get my eight hour sleep, doesn't matter.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: That can still if it's disrupted, it could contribute to
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: fatigue as well. Dopamine also plays a really important role,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: and the reason behind this is when we're when you
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: have a healthy release of dopamine, such as earned dopamine,
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: like I talk about things that require effort to achieve
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: that dopamine, then it's fine. Then you can have these big,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: you know, waves of dopamine. Everything's well and good. The
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: issue is when you're getting these instant gratification rewards constantly
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: because the spike is really high and there's no effort,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: and therefore you can get these repeated spikes quite often.
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  Speaker 1: The problem is you're getting all these repeated spikes quite often,
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  Speaker 1: the brain needs to respond and it downregulates. Okay, it's
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: this thing called down regulating. It's like, I'm getting too
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: much of this thing, so therefore I am going to
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  Speaker 1: produce less receptors, so I'm not going to get as
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  Speaker 1: big a hit of dopamine. And if I need a
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: bigger hit, we need a much bigger dose of dopamine.
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  Speaker 1: This is kind of what happens, without getting into the weeds,
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  Speaker 1: it's kind of what happens when people have a drug addiction.
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  Speaker 1: They need more and more and more of that dose
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  Speaker 1: to elicit a similar response because you start getting this
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  Speaker 1: down regulation. When someone is addicted to a drug, they're
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  Speaker 1: going to keep taking a drug and then they're not
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  Speaker 1: going to be getting that response that they used to
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  Speaker 1: get initially, so they're going for a bigger and bigger
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  Speaker 1: and bigger high and they're probably able to take much
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: bigger dose of that drug and survive. But if someone
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  Speaker 1: else who had never really done that drug took as
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: bigger dose, it would be an overdose big enough to
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  Speaker 1: kill them. So it's a similar thing here. You're getting
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  Speaker 1: this down regulation. The brain's kind of adapting, it's kind
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: of a response to the like how it's adapting this adaptation. Okay,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: so because of this, the brain is downregulating, it's deciding,
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  Speaker 1: I need to kind of even out what's going on
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: here with all these spikes of dopamine. So especially if
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: you're someone that's always on your phone, you're always doom scrolling,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: You're very addicted to these behaviors. You feel like you
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: don't have much control over how much you use your
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: phone because you just keep automatically doing that. Then you're
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: likely to have a little bit, if not a lot,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: of this going on in your brain, where your brain
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  Speaker 1: is trying to respond to all these spikes of dopamine
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  Speaker 1: and trying to like find that homeostasis. The brain is
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: always trying to find that homeo stasis. So in response
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  Speaker 1: to that, it's going to have a smaller response to dopamine.
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  Speaker 1: So even when you do something that requires, if it
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: full dopamine, it's still not going to feel as great
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: until eventually you can. Basically you need to almost do
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: a little bit of a quote unquote detox off these
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  Speaker 1: addictive behaviors. So then your brain switches back into that
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: nice homeostasis and then you do get a nice feeling
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: of reward with a smaller dose of dopamine, but it
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: does take time to return back to that kind of
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: baseline that you were at before. And so because of that, initially,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: when your brain is down regulating, you're disrupting your dopamine systems,
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  Speaker 1: and therefore you will have reduced drive, reduced initiative, reduced
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: energy because dopamine is a key factor in motivation. The
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: same we're seeing similar biological site involved in depression also
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: contribute to fatigue. So there's a really big overlap between
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: these inflammatory pathways linked to depression and fatigue. So, but
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: fatigue can exist independently of depression. It doesn't mean that
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: one causes the other. We just see a big overlap
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: and we see that a lot of people that have
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: depression do have fatigue, but it doesn't have to go
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: the other way. And interestingly, m chronic fatigue often persists
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: even after the original trigger disappears, not forever, but for
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: a while and like I said, this probably comes down
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: to the brain trying to find that homeostasis. So it's
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: done all this work to try and find a little
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: bit of balance in the chaos. Then you remove the
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: chaos and the brains try to adapt to that chaotic thing.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: So it can't just instantly switch back to normal. It
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: has to take time to find what this new reality
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: is and eventually recalibrate back to that new reality. Okay,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: which is the healthier reality hopefully so. But they suspect that,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: like researchers suspect that there's long lasting changes in brain
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: signaling have to do with like communication between brain readions
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: and how it takes a while to get back to
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: it's like you know where it was before. Now let's
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: talk specifically about phone addiction contributing to mental fatigue or
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: digital burnout is another term that you might have heard.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: So the first one is cognitive overload. This is really
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: really huge, and it's always going to if you're someone
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: who's always cognitively overloaded, this is going to contribute to
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: brain rot, mental fatigue, all of that. So this is
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: where you're constantly switching between apps or social media things,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: you're responding to texts, emails. You're reading rapid bits of information,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: and you're seeing you're taking in quick bits of information,
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: whether it's a video or quick text, or a message
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: or this or opinion, a notification, all over the place, constantly,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: all day long. This is very, very tax on your
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: working memory, and it's extremely exhausting for your brain's executive
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: control center. So executive control we're thinking about, you know,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: making good decisions, healthy decisions for ourselves, forward planning, you know,
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: it's all you're thinking prefrontal cortex. It's that kind of
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: higher functioning part of the brain on a cognitive level.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: So you're really depleting that ability in your brain. And therefore,
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: when your executive control goes down, when your executive function
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: goes down, you feel like you are not really in
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: control of what you're doing. It's easy for you to
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: slip into addictive behaviors. It's also really easy for you
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: to kind of feel like life is happening to you
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: and you don't really have control over your day and
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: over your life. It's like, oh, like I can't really
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: get myself out of but I can't unless you actually
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: have to do that thing. You only have the energy
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: to drag yourself to work because you literally have to
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: go to work or you would be fired if you didn't.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: You like anything apart from that, that requires just that
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: internal drive to do it, with no other factor forcing
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: you to do it. You just is the bottom of
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: the barrel. At that point, then you've got sleep disruption.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: Like I said earlier, that blue light if you're on
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: your phone just before bed is emitting. It's basically suppressing
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: the release of melatonin. Blue light is fabulous in the morning.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: The sun is the biggest source of blue light, so
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: it is a good thing. It's not like, don't ever
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: you know when people have those blue light blocking glasses
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: and they would wear them during the days fucking pointless
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: because the sun is a source of blue light and anyway,
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: but in the evening it's probably good and better than
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: wearing blue light blockers is just not exposing yourself to screens,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: especially in your bed, but kind of in the last
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: hour going before bed, especially if you're someone that has
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: cognitive fatigue. If you're someone that actually has fatigue and
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: you're really trying to turn it around, you want a
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: book that's backlit. You don't want a light shining up
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: into your face. And if you're like, yeah, but I
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: need TV to fall asleep, it's because you've created some
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: bad patterns and some bad habits so you feel like
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: it's the only way you can fall asleep. You need
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: to undo these bad patterns and these bad habits if
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: you want to have a healthier, more restorative sleep, and
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: that's how you're going to do it. So this blue
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: light when you're trying to go to bed is really
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: really bad because you're suppressing melatonin and that hormone is
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: needed during sleep and to help you fall into a
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: decent sleep. And then it causes this daytime sleepiness and
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: cognitive deficits. So you might still, like I said, have
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: a proper full night sleep, but then you're like, uh,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: like that like fogginess the next day because you didn't
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: get that nice, strong release of melotonin. Then we've got
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: this dopamine burnout, which I already did mention, and where
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: we're getting that down regulation. You're reducing your number of
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: dopamine receptors, you're lowering your sensitivity to dopamine, and then
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: this leads to something called blunting. It's a blunting effect,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: and this is where everyday things are going to feel
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: dull and uninteresting. That is a key symptom of mental
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: fatigue and brain rot and this brain fog, this dulling,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: I feel like everyday things just aren't that exciting for
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: me anymore. If that is something that you report, Check
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: your phone usage and how much time you're on social
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: media and what is this doing to your dopamine depletion
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: and down regulation, because I've had listeners write in about
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: this very thing. They don't reference their phone use, but
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: they will talk about I just feel like it's kind
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: of like this anadonia. This you know, you don't have
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: this excitement for things, You don't really feel like doing
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: anything okay, And that is one of the key symptoms
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: that can then lead to depression, So very important to
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: note and to pay attention. If that's you. Then there's
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: stress and hyper arousal, This fomo fear of missing out,
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: this constant connected to all your devices is elevating your
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: stress hormones as well. And then of course when you're
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: highly stress, you are further draining your mental reserves, and
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: then we've got something called the brain drain effect. There's
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: actually a meta analysis if you want some further light
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: reading and by light reading. It's a meta analysis, so
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: it's not light reading, but it's called does the brain
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: drain effect really exist? A meta analysis? So look that
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: up and it's in PubMed so if you type that
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: in you can read this whole meta analysis. But it's
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: basically really interesting. But the brain drain effect is where
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: just having your phone next to you, even if the
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: screen is off, but just knowing that it's next to you,
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: is drawing your cognitive resources just to ignore it. So
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: you are draining your resources just to be like, don't
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: check your phone, don't check your phone, don't check your phone,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: even if you're doing it at a subconscious level, and
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: that is draining you. It is actually causing you to
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: be more tired. It's more exhausting to do a task
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: you're focusing on when your phone's right there. Okay, so
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: move your phone away from eyesight. Ideally. I did stumble
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: across an article called the Psychopathology of Problematic Smartphone Use,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: which is also known as PSU Problematic Smartphone Use a
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: narrative review of burden mediating factors and prevention. So if
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: you want to check that out, go check that study out.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: But this term, and this is I've taken this exactly
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: from the article, so I'm quoting this from the article.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: The term problematic smartphone use describes the inability to control
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: or regulate smartphone use, which has detrimental effects on daily living.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: PSU is different from normal usage due to its severe
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: cravings and withdrawal symptoms that interfere with daily functioning. PSU
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: is known for its excessive use, where people spend an
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: excessive amount of time on their smartphones. Furthermore, poor usage
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: habits are indicated by withdrawal symptoms such as anger, restlessness,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: or anxiety where the device is not available. And the
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: innability to self regulate smartphone use. I think more of
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: us have this, then we give out than we note,
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: and then we'd give it credit for, especially this part
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: where it says the inability to self regulate smartphone use.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: I would say most of the population has on some
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: scale a bit of an inability to regulate their smartphone use.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: How many times have you said, you know what, tomorrow,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to go on Instagram, And before you
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: know what, you spent two hours on Instagram. Right, Like,
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: it's so common that we'll set ourselves these goals or
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: these guidelines or these you know, restrictions for ourself, or
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: we'll set those apps that block you out of for
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: social media and you've got to punch in a code
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: to then reopen it, and they do not much like
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: you know. So it's like, if that's the case, then
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: you literally are having a bit of a withdrawal symptom
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: or restlessness and you are not able to self regulate.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: If you're telling yourself, oh, just quickly now, if you're
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: coming up with all these excuses that seem valid at
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: the time, but then upon reflection you look back and say,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: why was I on my phone for two two hours?
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: That was actually pointless? Like why was I scre doom
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: scrolling for two hours? Then the excuses weren't good enough.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: If you can't look back in hindsight and say, no,
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: I'm really glad I spent two hours on that phone,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: then the excuses in that moment were not worth it.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: They weren't good enough. But if you fall for those
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: weak excuses, it's because you have an inability to self regulate.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: And this is something that you need to look into
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: if you want to maximize your energy levels, your mood,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: if you want to reduce your anxiety, reduce your depression,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: improve your sleep, get rid of brain frog, get rid
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: of get rid of mental fatigue. Then that's something that
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: you really, really really want to look at. And I
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: also am constantly on a quest to get better and
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: better and better. I did an episode not that long
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: ago about the Slow Life, and I have significantly reduced
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: my time on Instagram, but in the last week or so,
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: it's kind of crept back up again. So it's something
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: that I also have to continuously check and then reduce
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: it back down. It's something that if we have social
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: media on our phones, then you always have to be
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: checking your usage. It's not like I'll do a one
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: month detoks and then I'll be cured. No, the one
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: month is great, but then if I return to it,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: it is an addictive thing at the end of the day.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: And when you're dealing with an addictive behavior, you have
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: to constantly stay on top of it and constantly pay
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: attention to your behavior. To remember, we're talking about three
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: separate things when we talk about being tied. It's three
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: separate things. Sleepiness is I need to I could fall
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: asleep right now. Physical exhaustion is my muscles are fucked,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: they're cooked okay, and fatigue is I have no drive
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: or energy to do anything. You can have fatigue and
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: your muscles feel fine and you don't need to go
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: to sleep right now, it's just this like, ugh, I
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: cannot be bothered, Like I literally cannot be bothered. But
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: that feeling across the board. You sit down to do
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: work and you're like, oh my god, I just can't
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: summon the energy or the creativity. I can't do anything.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: So now I want to talk about some key things
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: that you can start doing. Definitely stay tuned for part
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: two of this episode, where I'm going to be giving
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: you a bunch of things that you can do in
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: your life. It's more add on activities that you can
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: do to kind of reverse this brain rot that you've
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: been doing. Firstly, I did have a listener question, and
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: I'll put that listener question at the start of my
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: part two of this episode. But this idea of a
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: brain rot, is it reversible? Absolutely? It is reversible, because
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: when we talk about brain rock, your brain's not rotting.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: What's happening is you're getting a diversion of where your
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: resources need to go, and they're going somewhere else. If
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: we're not getting proper rest, if we're not getting adequate sleep,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: if we've got higher levels of stress, if we've got
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: more inflammation, then the brain is going to operate very,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: very differently than if those things aren't happening. It's reversible,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: but it's not necessarily you're not reversing, you're just heading
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: back on track. So the brain is always moving forward
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: in a sense. It's not like I've got to undo
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: what was done. I just need to redirect what's happening,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: and then the brain will adapt accordingly. So if I
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: start changing my behaviors, if I have better sleep, if
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: I'm healthier, if I reduced inflammation, all of that, then
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: it just heals on track and then you're good to go.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: So I don't want you to look at it as
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: this like necessarily irreversible damage. It's only irreversible if you
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: get to a point where you have zero control over
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: yourself and you can't change anymore, which I don't know
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: what that would take. But you don't want to get
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: to a point where your relationships and your job and
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: your life is really suffering. You also don't want to
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: get to a point where you're bringing on other disorders
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: such as depression and anxiety. You're bringing it on because
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: you're not looking after your brain either. So Number one
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: of course things that you can start doing really pay
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: attention to your phone addiction and do something about that.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: I've got episodes on that, so please check that out.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Go check out my episode on the Return to the
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Slow Life, which is not that long ago, looking at
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: your cognitive overload. So this is too much multitasking, too
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: much surface level things. That's not good. It's never good.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: The only time you should ever be multitasking is when
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: it's low focused tasks. For example, I can be listening
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: to a podcast while I'm cleaning the kitchen because they're
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: both low very low focused tasks. But I shouldn't be
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: trying to pay attention to my children while being on
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: my phone. If I'm going to actually play with my children,
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: my phone's not going to be there. If I'm actually
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: going to be on my phone, I don't want to
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: be mindless with scrolling. I want to be replying to
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: the dams that I got, looking at my best friend's stories,
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: and then putting my phone away. So you can still
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: be on social media with focus and make it intentional
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: and not waste time. So there's things that you can
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: be doing. Also, when we talk about multitasking, this idea
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: of like, oh, I'm trying to write this email, but
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: I'm also trying to drop this thing down heat no
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: one fucking thing at a time, get it done, have
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: it finished, send it off, and then I'm onto the
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: next task. This multitasking doesn't actually work for high focus tasks.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: But this cognitive overload also happens when you're doing a
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: lot of this surface level stuff but you're never actually
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: diving deep. You never spend enough time on a topic
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: to get deep into it and be able to analyze
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: that thing well, or get really creative or come up
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: with new ideas, or get into a bit of a
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: flow state. So that frantic surface level juggling is something
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: that you need to pay attention to. Sleep disruptions, So
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: of course the phone before bed. What are your behaviors
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: before bed? And it really depends on because I always say,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: you know, if you shouldn't be scrolling on social media,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: you shouldn't be doing all of that stuff before bed.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: But if you're like I don't have fatigue, I'm super happy,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: I'm super child, and I just want to be on
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: my phone at night, like, do you do what you want?
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: But my thing is if you are trying to turn
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: around this cognitive fatigue, if you are really fatigued and
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: you have no mode version or drive in your life,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: and you're like, is it me being lazy or is
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: it actually something that's happening in my brain? Then you
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: need to be doing this stuff. You need to be
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: putting this stuff into practice. It's important also when we
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: talk about sleep disruption. Also when we talk about sleep disruption,
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: if you're really serious about doing something about your mental fatigue,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: coffee and alcohol before bed is a big no. No
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: coffee after kind of two pm is going to impact
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: your sleep negatively. Even if you still fall asleep and
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: have a good night's sleep. Well you think you've had
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: a good night sleep. Even if you're like, I fell
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: asleep and I slept for eight hours, it is still
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: going to impact your sleep versus if you never had
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: that coffee after two pm. Now, mind you do I
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: have coffee occasionally at nighttime here and there, Yes, I do,
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: but I and that's because I love the test of
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: coffee if I can love it. But overall I try
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: not to have coffee after early afternoon. That's kind of
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: a rule that I've tried to set for myself. Alcohol again,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: you are not getting that proper release of neurochemicals that
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: helps you fall into a nice deep sleep. You're kind
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: of more sedating yourself. And when you sedate yourself, that's
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: not restorative rest You're just sedated. Restorative rest happens from
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: this cascade of events within the brain that actually helps
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: you fall asleep and has all this stuff go on
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: in your sleep that the brain has to do. The
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: brain is working almost harder in your sleep than when
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: you're not asleep, and you know, it's flushing out all
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: the toxins through your you know, cerebral spinal fluid. It's
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: doing all this memory consolidation, all this information consolidation when
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: you are sleeping. That is why it is so important
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: to have this actual restorative sleep and not sedating yourself.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: If you're someone that needs to take an opioid or
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: have a drink to fall asleep, that is the number
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: one thing I want you to address, because that is
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: a big problem. Not only because you shouldn't be having
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: alcohol and opioids every night to be able to fall asleep,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: but also because if you're not getting this restorative sleep.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: Sleep issues are one of the key predictors for cognitive
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: decline and neurological conditions later on in life. So this
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: is something you want to get sorted asap. And then
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: this is a huge one. And I've told you guys before,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: but I'll tell I will tell you every episode if
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: I need to tell you. Lack of restorative downline. Wait,
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: and a huge one is lack of restorative downtime. So
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: this is where you are blurring the line between oh,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: I'm just switching off versus I'm actually having restorative downtime.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: So it's not about falling asleep, it's about just rest
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: resting while you're awake. We think that when we take
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: our mind for stressful task, that's enough. That's why we
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: use our phones to quote unquote switch off. We've been
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: working all day. I just want to I just want
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: to lie on the couch and scroll on my phone.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: It's so relaxing. At the time, you feel like, oh,
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: just everyone, fuck off, fuck off, fuck off. I just
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: want to have my scroll time, Like, don't judge made,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: I'm run right, okay. Cool. So we've done that and
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: we have distracted ourselves from maybe something that's been causing
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: us stress or anxiety, whatever. But you are not having
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: any restorative downtime while you're doing that. Just don't kid yourself.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying don't doom, scroll on the couch, I'm
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: not saying don't like, but don't factor that in as
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: having rested, because it's not rest when you are trying
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: to actually recharge, you need low stimulation in order to
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: do so. Look at a battery, it's recharging you. Don't
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: go and do something that's going to really drain that
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: bad as a recharge. The same is for your brain.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: This stuff is draining you. It's depleting your dove mean
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: this that it's intense, intense, intense, and your brain's trying
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: to do that down regulation this and that. That's not restorative.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: You need something that's very low stimulation. Go outside, go
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: for a walk, listen to some calming music, read a book.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: There's all these things that you can be doing that's
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: actually entertaining, and you've got to find what that thing
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: is for you where it is restorative downtime. Okay, but
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: don't blow that line. If you're going to be on
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: your phone on social media, go for it, but don't
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: use that as this is my downtime. Don't lie to yourself.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: So if you're going to use your phone, great, but
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: then please have separate to that actual downtime that is restorative.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: So that is the episode of today. That's kind of
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: what I wanted to cover. It's a lot of random
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: information all about what's going on in the brain. But
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: hopefully I wanted to do this episode before my part
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: two episode about brain rotten. Things you can do so
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: you understand the neurological basis of the inflammation and what's
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: happen with DOPA men and your circadian rhythm and your
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: disrupted sleep and how that actually impacts your willingness to
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: do things, your overall drive and motivation, and that blunting
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: effect that we experience emotionally where things just are boring
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: and they're not that exciting. So if you're someone that's like, oh,
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: just the normal thing that I'm bored, They're just I'm bored. Now,
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: it's this, It's that pay attention to your lifestyle choices.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: Could it be that could your lifestyle choices be influencing
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: why you are feeling the way you are feeling? Ask
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: yourself these questions because it is a very simple fix.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: It's not easy because we're breaking addictive patterns, but the
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: solution could be a simple fix. I'm not saying that
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: for sure. If you feel that way, then just doing
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: these things is going to fix it. But it's worth
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: trying because for a lot of people it is going
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: to be the answer. For some other people it might
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: be linked to anxiety and depression. It's going to be
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: a lot deeper than that. It's going to be more
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: things that you're going to need to do. But either way,
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: look into it. Please, amazing. That is all for today's episode.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: I'm glad we got to cover these things and you
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: have a better understanding of cognitive fatigue or this mental
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: fatigue and brain rots and that problematic smartphone use term.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: And if you want to read all the papers that
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: I referenced as well today, then definitely do so because
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: it's some interesting papers out there to give you more
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: insight into it. But anyway, stay tuned for part two
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: of this episode, where we're going to talk about hopefully
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: I can come up with twenty things, but at least
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: ten things to reverse your brain rot. Very exciting anyway,
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: that's all for today. Love you guys so much. As always,
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: please remember be kind to yourself, be kind to your brain,
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: don't take shit from anyone, and especially don't take shit
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: from yourself. Dunker