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Tag Archive for: Dr Tara Swart

Power up your health by powering down your phone on weekends

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By Dr Tara Swart

In today’s extremely frenetic work environment, some reports say that we check our phones up to 85 times or more a day. This means our brains have to process a vast amount of information on an hourly basis. How can we ensure that we look after our brain health in this demanding context? People should look after their brain’s health to enhance their performance. Our brains aren’t programmed to be ”switched on” all the time, so a digital detox can be a good way of giving your brain a rest and reducing stress levels. A digital detox can boost creativity and ensure quality time with family and friends.

A digital detox helps…

IMPROVE SLEEP AND REST FOR THE BRAIN

Using a phone or device in bed or just before sleep affects the quality of sleep.

Melatonin – the hormone that helps regulate sleep – is released by the pineal gland into the bloodstream. The blue light that phone and laptop screens emit confuses the gland because darkness is what triggers it to start working.

Long-term lack of sleep also increases chances of developing diseases such as Alzheimer’s, because our brain’s glymphatic system removes toxins from the brain while we sleep.

SOCIAL BONDING/SPENDING TIME WITH FAMILY

Oxytocin, the “bonding hormone” – released into the blood via the pituitary gland during times of trust and bonding – is likely to be more in abundance when people can communicate and interact freely over a shared experience and through physical contact. Putting down devices and spending time interacting with family can help to increase levels of oxytocin, which improves communication and trust.

COMBATING STRESS

We generally feel under constant pressure to respond to e-mails and messages immediately. Being aware of e-mails coming into your inbox can cause stress and an increase in levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. Some studies have even suggested that knowledge of unread e-mails in your inbox can reduce your effective IQ. Our brains aren’t good at multitasking, so having to constantly overlap work and leisure by, for example, responding to e-mails at the weekend, can tire us out mentally. It’s important that we use our weekends and holidays to give our brains time and space to recharge and relax.

A digital detox at the weekend can be the first step towards achieving this.

 

Dr Tara Swart, is a renowned neuroscientist, leadership coach and medical doctor. 

This article was originally published in the Times.

 

Good Leader v bad – it’s all to do with how the brain is used

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By Timothy Maurice Webster

If you took the brain of a good leader versus a poor leader out their heads and put them on a table, would there be a difference?

This is the question neuroscientist Dr Tara Swart, author of Neuroscience for Leadership, answers in her research. A brain operating in a compromised state due to poor nutrition, sleep deprivation and extended exposure to stress, weakens a leader’s capacity to lead. Leaders attempting to steer their teams through complexity while operating with a brain that didn’t get enough sleep are doing so with less than their full IQ.

Swart’s work at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) marrying neuroscience and increased leadership capacity endeavours to challenge and offer leaders practical ways to get more out of their brains. Advances in the tools that study the brain enable the scientific community to measure cognitive function and offer insights into how to get the most out of our brains. While science still has a long way to go to fully unpack the full extent of the brain’s potential, we have enough evidence to prove many in leadership positions are not operating near their full potential. The consequences of a leader trying to lead without understanding the principles of optimal brain power are many.

Have you walked into a meeting and your boss snapped at the team without being provoked? Maybe you’re a leader and your tolerance levels for employee engagement have dropped below acceptable levels and you aren’t sure why? Ever made decisions that in retrospect could have been avoided if your mind were sharper when making the decision?

In Neuroscience for Leadership, Swart explores how a stressed-out leader can impact stress levels of colleagues through chemical transfer without saying a word – just by being in their presence.

We live in an era where the brain is taxed at unprecedented levels. From the increased flood of stimuli via the combination of social media and the 24-hour news cycle, information overload is a very real issue for those trying to lead with a clear head. The tools and techniques Swart speaks of in her book to empower the brain with more structural capacity or to increase what’s termed neuroplasticity (the ability for the brain to make more connections) are at our disposal.

As the world continues to right the wrongs of the past and more women are integrated at leadership levels, neuroscience tackles the issue of understanding the leadership abilities of male versus female brains. Swart and other neuroscientists are in agreement that the gender bias against women in leadership is not a function of women’s ability to lead but a patriarchal system that were designed to keep women from leading. Now that science has proven women have equal capacity to lead, are there any differences in their instinctual leadership styles?

Female leadership traits: Group problem-solver. Participative. Vocally encouraging. Help others express emotion. Inductive in problem solving.

Male traits: Personally problem solver. Hierarchical. Encourages less feeling and more action. Deductive in problem-solving.

What if all our leaders operated with a clear understanding of how to get the most out of their brains? Anyone who considers themselves a leader should open up to the advances of neuroscience to gain a firmer grasp on the power and potential of their brain.

Swart will be in Johannesburg on May 25, hosted by the Business Results Group. Find out more at www.brg.co.za

Webster is the author of brand leadership books and a columnist who consults and speaks on the science of human and brand behaviour. He studied at the Image Institute, Brookstone College, US and has a Certificate in Neuroscience for Leadership from MIT.

Dr Tara Swart is a renowned neuroscientist, leadership coach, medical doctor and award-winning author.

This article originally featured in Sunday Independent 14 May 2017.