The Impact of Lifestyle on Mental Health

This episode is brought to you by Cozy Earth and Pique Life.

As we head into the New Year, many of us may focus on improving our lifestyles, diet, and movement habits. No matter your goals for 2024, we know that having a deeper understanding of how our brain works and what we can do to optimize our ability to achieve those goals is critical. 

Unfortunately, our modern lifestyles are full of distractions and we are often bombarded with information and access to choices, which often make us anxious and make it difficult to focus on what we truly need. How do we empower ourselves to focus on what truly matters, achieve our goals, and protect our brains from being hijacked in the process?

Today on The Dhru Purohit Podcast, Dhru sits down with psychiatrist, speaker, and author Dr. Anders Hansen to discuss key lifestyle practices that can protect our brain and focus. Dr. Hansen shows us how our brain has not evolved to cope with the constant stimuli from our modern world and often reacts to these distractions through basic survival instincts even though our lives are not at risk. Dr. Hansen shares the importance of preventing information and access overload to prevent anxiety, depression, and operating in a constant state of comparison. He also shares practical tips we can implement to bring awareness to our defense mechanisms and thrive in our current world. 

Dr. Anders Hansen is a psychiatrist, speaker, award-winning author, and TV host.  His books, The Attention Fix, The Happiness Cure, and The Mind-Body Method, have sold several million copies and topped bestseller lists worldwide. 

In this episode, Dhru and Dr. Hansen dive into (audio version / Apple Subscriber version):

• How our modern world hijacks our brain and interferes with our longevity goals (2:57 / 2:57)
• The distractions that we love but don’t love us back (9:40 / 6:39 )
• How we experience stress versus our ancestors and what can help you thrive (12:37 / 9:51)
• Protecting your focus and thriving (17:50 / 14:50) 
• The role of movement, the natural tendency to be lazy, and the defense mechanism against starvation (21:02 / 17:50)
• The overabundance of sugar in our diets  (26:11/ 23:11) 
• Misconceptions about our brain with our modern lifestyles (30:31 / 27:29)
• Inadequate sleep and how it impacts our brain and creativity (36:07 / 33:02)
• The impact of smartphones on our brain (40:51 / 37:45) 
• Dr. Hansen’s experience with a hunter-gatherer tribe in Kenya (42:37 / 39:37)
• Spending time with your community and the effect on our brain (55:26 / 52:20) 
• Why is connection so critical, and how loneliness impacts your health (1:03:00 / 1:00:49)
• Simple actions to help us step into true fulfillment and protect our brains (1:10:30 / 1:07:36)

Also mentioned in this episode:

• The Happiness Cure
• The Attention Fix

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