The Modern World Is Hijacking Your Brain (Here's How to Take It Back) | Dan Oig

Dan, why is stress regulation so important?

Because when we don't come down from a stressed out state, when our nervous system stays in this stressed out state, and we don't come down back to a state of regulation and rest and reset, it is horrible for our health.

And obviously, what we want to do is have tools to be able to, to come down from the stress because if we don't, it has very negative effects on our sleep, on our emotional state, on our mental state in terms of the monkey mind, just having this mind that doesn't shut off and not really having tools to be able to shut it off.

So that's really why it's so important because obviously in life, we want to, we want to be happy.

We want to enjoy our lives.

We want to feel joy and, and happiness and gratitude.

And, and if we're constantly in this stressed out state, it's really hard to access those things, to access joy and, and happiness.

Um, we just end up constantly feeling frustrated and stressed and, and unhappy and depressed and full of anxiety.

So, and anxiety, I know anxiety and depression are Very, very common these days, and it's becoming even more common.

Um, so that's why it's so important is to, um, yeah, so we can learn how to, how to combat those things because those things are becoming more and more prevalent with, with, uh, this modern world we're in.

So I s- I see the same thing with the people around me and, you know, with, with the people that I connect with online and everything.

What, what would you say are the, like, the major signs that we need to look out for? Because we're just so used to being busy, doing a million things, having our mind overstimulated constantly with our phones, computer, all the endless noise that's around us, but what are the signs that we need to look for as far as our health? Like, what's...

You s- you mentioned depression, anxiety.

Are there more things that we need to be paying attention to?

Definitely.

I would say, uh, sleep is a pretty good indicator.

So when you go to sleep at night, if you find yourself laying in bed for, you know, half an hour or an hour or longer not being able to shut your mind off, that's a pretty good sign that your nervous system is in this, this, um, heightened stress state that is not...

It doesn't know how or it's not being regulated to calm down.

So if you're going to bed at night and you just can't turn off your mind, that's a sign that you need to learn some, some of these practices to be able to, to calm yourself down, to re- reduce the anxiety and, and the stress.

Um, so sleep is a big one.

The quality of sleep as well.

I know a lot of people these days wear Fitbits or Oura Rings, and if your, if your sleep scores aren't where you want them to be or they're not that great, that's, uh, a pretty big indicator.

I would also say little things, like for example, um, how many times do you pick up your phone in a day to check your notifications? Like, obviously we know these notifications are kind of dopamine hits, uh, every time we, we get a notification.

So I think I saw some stat, the average, the average phone pickup in a day is, like, 70 something times, maybe more.

So if you're constantly reaching for your phone, as an example, this is, um, an indicator that there's something your nervous system is searching for to fill a void or to, to feel okay or to calm down.