We Weren’t Built for This: The Neuroscience of Surviving Our Election Season
Photo Credit: Johannes Plenio from Pexels
It’s easy to lose track of the toll this election season is taking on us. We are living in an intensely emotional and complex period, filled with divisive and negative political exchanges and commentary. The levels of social incivility in the omnipresent news and social media realms seem unprecedented.
Neuroscientist and executive coach Dr. Tara Swart, MD, PhD, notes that the massive amount of information processing required of us today is unlike anything our ancestors faced. We are constantly bombarded by random phone, text, email and instant messaging alerts. Our nervous systems are chronically “switched on,” at risk of exceeding our capacity. All this bodes poorly for our long-term mental and physical health.
What’s the remedy?
Dr. Swart looks to high-performance individuals in our culture for insights and identifies their requisite strength as “mental resilience” — “The ability to bounce back from or not tip over into physical, mental, or emotional stress on the mind-body-skin system” (Swart, 2023).
Higher levels of mental resilience allow for higher performance — enabling us to feel and do our best, whether we’re athletes, executives, singers, parents, or anyone else. Listening to Dr. Swart’s recent YouTube talk, I was struck by how crucial this “super power” is as we navigate toward November and beyond. We all need high levels of mental resilience right now.
We must take the time for our mind, body, and overall health to balance the burden of this stimulus overload. Some gentle reminders for the weeks to come:
· Eat well
· Unplug regularly from news and social media
· Connect with family and friends
· Cultivate positive perspectives
· Avoid chronically negative and resentful people
· Get regular exercise
Managing life, much less working to make the world a better place, starts with taking care of ourselves. Listen to Dr. Swart’s recent podcast here and be sure to check out her book, The Source: The Secrets of the Universe, the Science of the Brain.
One last thing: If you feel addicted to your phone or social media accounts, like you just can’t live with them or without them, be sure to reach out to me. Phone addiction or “nomophobia” is a real disorder and one I enjoy helping clients address.
Thanks editors K. Foran & G. Wilson
