How to Keep a Clear Head in Everyday Life

Remembering, reacting, switching, brooding, learning, forgetting, sorting: our brain is at work around the clock. Twelve everyday situations – and how you can think better about them.

7 am: The coffee is ready!

Make breakfast: Putting coffee powder into the machine, turning on the toaster, pouring juice – learned automatisms that do not require great mental effort. And in our thoughts we are somewhere else.

It is the nerve cells that allow this simultaneity, and how they do it exactly is the subject of intense research. After all, evolution took more than 650 million years to create its masterpiece from simple jellyfish nerve structures: the human brain.

The transmission of information in the skull is carried out by electrical and chemical means. Consciousness needs 300 milliseconds to form a thought. That is relatively long. The procedural memory, the part of us that knows how to turn on the tap, ride a bicycle, cook pasta and lift a cup, works in a fraction of a millisecond. That’s why routine, like making coffee, consumes little mental energy.

What helps? Daily routine work, during which we are physically active, ensures that our brain is well supplied with blood, but only has little demand. It seeks out new tasks for itself – and that’s when we often get the best ideas. But if you find the routine rather boring and want to train your brain: Prepare the coffee with your unfamiliar hand, for right-handed women with your left. This is difficult because the fingers of the other hand do not automatically master these movements; coordination requires a lot of attention and creates new circuitry in the brain.

8:30 am: Crap, where do I have the wallet?

Suddenly your head is completely empty: you want to close the door behind you, reach into your jacket pocket again – no wallet. And thus no money, no driver’s license, no credit card. Why do we keep forgetting where we put it?

A clear case of interference. Or also: interference. Interference. And this is what happens: New, similar information affects the old one, interferes with the memory. We forget what was at the top a moment ago, it has slipped down one floor. The brain is not a hard disk from which all data can be accessed at will. The human being stores subjectively. Emotionally. The same applies to the wallet: the memory of where it is is gone, but it is still somewhere in the head. Only we cannot reach it. If we brood violently, maybe even panic, stress hormones are released – and they find a particularly large number of receptors in the brain areas that charge information with emotions. This blocks the memory.

What helps? Don’t build up even more inner pressure – even if it’s hard because you’re already too late. More promising: Switch off for a moment, concentrate on a poem or song lyrics, that lowers the stress level. Often the sparking thought then comes automatically.

9:30 am: Pick up the new cell phone

It looks good, and the operation is very easy – the salesman promises. A new cell phone may be a certain imposition for a busy mind, but a good head training is always its exploration and handling.

Our brain craves for new things, it is, researchers believe, equipped to strive for happiness all the time. That is why it loves easy effort, puzzles and surprises. When we solve tricky tasks, thought cells are activated and linked up that previously tended to hang around in waiting loops. This is fun, and the brain’s internal reward system provides feel-good substances for this.

What helps? Functions that you really need on your cell phone can be easily mastered within a week. Before you go to the store, think about what’s important to you: large memory, e-mail access, the camera function for photos or short films? Let the salesperson explain how to use it to you in detail. After all, communication promotes the learning process – just like repeated use in the evening and over the next few days. Memorize your PIN code, for example, using mnemonic technology. You can confidently forget everything else.

10 am: Decisions on the job

A surprising offer: Do you want to lead the new project? Lead a team, with your own budget? Take the risk to fail? A decision is pending.

In such situations, we often pull out pencils and paper, make a table: pros and cons. Meanwhile, our thinking apparatus checks the request to the head office at lightning speed and unconsciously: Is the task understandable, feasible, meaningful? Only if all three points are answered with “yes” is there enough energy available for the new task. The whole thing is called a sense of coherence or mental competence. All our experiences, sensations and information are now mixed in. Whether it is ambition, courage or caution: we are only partially aware of the motives that guide us. If we were to consult them systematically, we would need years. The gut, i.e. intuition and the unconscious, is much faster.

What helps? Let us lean back calmly and let the decision come. This is what happens when we say, “I’ll sleep on it.” The day’s deliberations sink into your subconscious at night, continue to work. We wake up and think: Now I know what I want. The more complex a decision is, the more we can trust the so-called gut feeling.

12 noon: Thuringian or Asian?

As you walk to the canteen, you can smell the sausage smell – the aroma of the vegetarian rice pan simply cannot prevail against the sizzling meat.

Clearly: Brain needs food. Brain cells consist partly of proteins. When memory content is stored, the production of certain proteins increases in the nerve cells. The thrust of polyunsaturated fatty acids is part of the message transmission. Vitamins and minerals have an influence on mental fitness. Memory and information processing are dependent on the supply of glucose. Our mothers already suspected that fish strengthens the performance of the brain; research proves this with new results. Tests with Norwegian women and men between 70 and 74 years of age showed: Those who eat an average of ten grams of fish per day can master certain brain tasks better than others. From 75 grams of fish a day, the best thinking results were achieved. And Canadian first-graders learned to read and write better if they were given plenty of fruit and vegetables and only a little saturated fat.

What helps? Eat properly. And that means: eat healthy. The fitter meal at lunchtime includes fish or poultry, also low-fat cheese, plus vegetables, salad and herbs. It should be something light and at the same time nutritious, a protein portion with the activating effect of amino acid building blocks. They have a double effect: they sweep aside even the classic midday lull. Protein-rich food strengthens reaction speed, alertness and the ability to concentrate. Foods that are rich in fiber and little processed, such as wholemeal rye bread and fresh fruit, keep the blood sugar curve and thus the brain’s performance stable. Long-term energy strengthens legumes, apples, berries and citrus fruits.

1 pm: Slight drop in performance

Back at our desks we often do not feel really recovered. Instead we feel tired and exhausted. Want to take a short office nap now? Not a bad idea.

The power plants of our nerve cells are the so-called mitochondria. To be able to work, they need glucose and oxygen. If they can’t get enough of these two substances, energy production stops. A sumptuous canteen meal increases the blood sugar level, but at the same time produces insulin, which quickly reduces the blood sugar level. Result: the concentration drops significantly.

What helps? If you can’t take a minute’s sleep or take a walk around the block, you can get your brain going again with a little exercise: Hold a finger about 50 centimeters in front of your face, then look alternately at the fingertip and at the horizon. Important: keep your eyes in focus when changing; pause for a few seconds. If you repeat this exercise a good ten times, your brain will ask for new challenging tasks.

3 pm: Brainstorming

The conference room fills up. You see many colleagues for the first time in days, the boss is also there. Have a brainstorm now! Can it be done on order?

Unfortunately, a sudden brilliant inspiration cannot be demanded. The great idea that comes up spontaneously arises from a new combination of old content. A current impulse loosens up the creative layers hidden from us. And then there it is, the thought: This is how we do it! This is not possible on order. Rather, convulsive brooding closes off access to the emotionally charged catacombs of knowledge. So is brainstorming then pointless? Not entirely, because the thoughts of others can also set something in motion, tap a memory, which in turn leads to a new thought.

What helps? In order for good ideas to emerge from brainstorming, the climate of discussion is crucial. And everyone involved can contribute to this: the most important thing is to respect the opinions of others. Everyone has their say and is allowed to say something “stupid” from time to time. We filter later. Because fear suppresses good ideas. Those who fear to embarrass themselves in front of their colleagues or superiors can hardly produce good ideas.

4 pm: Fitness studio

Exercise today? After a hard day? It is worth the effort. Brain has to be moved.

Neanderthals walked a good 40 kilometers a day to get food. Today we walk an average of one and a half kilometers a day. Brain research is now providing ever more evidence that regular exercise promotes mental work: The blood supply to the brain is good, and new blood vessels are even formed, as has been demonstrated, for example, in the cerebellum, cortex and hippocampus. Sport is something like fertilizer for the brain, it makes proteins grow, which in turn strengthen neurogenesis, i.e. the growth of new nerve cells. It has now also been proven that the brain’s natural loss of size in old age can be halted with sufficient exercise – and, if it has already started, can even be reversed.

What helps? All endurance sports, such as running, swimming or cycling, are ideal for training mental fitness – older people can thus reduce their risk of dementia. And children are proven to learn better if they move around a lot. However, sport is only beneficial as long as it is practiced consistently, because after just one month of training break the additional brain mass shrinks again. Consistency is therefore indispensable. Additional positive effects are achieved by sports where coordination and reaction speed are practiced, such as ball and martial arts. And if you want to do something else to improve your memory, you can try a dance course: Tango, for example, improves the memory for numbers.

5:30 pm: Crash in the rush hour

Traffic jam, detour, accident. What happens in the head now? How do we quickly switch from routine to plan B?

If the traffic flows with us in the middle of our way home, we can start planning dinner or talking to our loved ones about our future together. But if we drive stop and go, pass an accident or ask for a blue light to pass, all our senses are suddenly focused on the new. The thought jumps away from mushroom ravioli and marriage desires to the Chaussee, on which one must make decisions. As fast as lightning. With the power of experience, from the gut and with the help of the signals that penetrate now, right now: Danger? Escape? Help? And so we act spontaneously while the consciousness checks if we are going to be late home and has the cell phone at hand to let us know.

What helps? Hectic and stress can quickly escalate into excessive excitement. Breathing exercises can help: inhale, count slowly to five, hold your breath, count to five and exhale. The whole thing three to eight times.

6 pm: Buying children’s shoes

Sarah needs new boots, and they should be red. She has already found the right ones in the store. Her mother still has to buy bread, and later write a letter to the landlord. The conference in the office goes through her mind. The car is parked in a no parking zone, the cell phone rings. How to keep calm now?

After all, our consciousness can keep seven simple pieces of information present simultaneously. Shoe price, size, time… Memories are provided and everything is linked to each other. We do this like automats, without conscious action. To think about it would be far too time-consuming. Multitasking, i.e. the ability to do several things at once, becomes more difficult the more unusual the tasks are. Sarah’s mother will probably forget about the car in the no-parking zone, put off thinking about the letter, repress the job conflict, push the caller away and maneuver Sarah into the children’s department. When the money card has been swipe and the child happily carries the bag, the neuron coalitions dissolve, fire again in disarray or even rest occasionally. A few tired thoughts turn to the parking ticket under the windshield wiper. But only briefly.

What helps? It takes the pressure off when you know that multitasking is more of a pipe dream than human reality. Scientific studies prove that we perform tasks more effectively one after the other than in parallel – especially in our stimulus-flooded times. Anyway, the brain automatically filters all information that comes our way and reduces it to the amount it can process. And it can certainly use support in this – by consciously and decisively pushing away what we cannot do immediately.

9:30 pm: Closing time

Time for relaxation. Time for everything that is fun. For example making love. With music, a sip of wine and beautiful thoughts, the mood for it also comes.

Get away from the world a little, listen to music, sew, do handicrafts, meditate or write a diary: This frees our memory from ballast and stimulates the creativity of the brain. We need this in turn for sexual pleasure. It is now known that sex involves many areas of the brain. It is quite impossible for us to be sexually aroused when we are thinking about something threatening or boring. Or if we fear to embarrass ourselves. That’s why men can’t when they think they’re failing, and women when they’re ashamed of their bodies, for example.

What helps? Many people relax in front of the television. Isn’t that harmful? Here too, the dose makes the poison. Quantity and quality are decisive. In any case, media consumption prevents us from processing and storing everything we have experienced during the day – by constantly offering our brain cells new food. In other words: Enjoy in moderation what you enjoy – no matter whether it’s a crime thriller, series, love movie or even zapping. The television as a sleep aid, on the other hand, clearly scores poorly: the flickering images and varying sounds cause irritation in the transition between day and dream. Even if the set is not directly in front of the bed! Because whoever is half asleep and wanders from the sofa to the bed, it is then harder to fall asleep or to sleep through.

Midnight: Deep sleep

The brain never sleeps. Only consciousness is differently active, and in sleep it is switched off.

When we sleep, the neurons oscillate more slowly, form less clearly ordered patterns and do not penetrate consciousness. This does not mean, however, that the brain is now in a break. On the contrary: it is very active because it is now regenerating itself. Sleep also plays an important role in memory performance, because it consolidates all the things we have absorbed during the day. And 24 sleepless hours cause the same damage to the brain as 0.8 per thousand alcohol, by the way.

What helps? Sleep can be used not only for relaxation but also for better learning. If you read a text only once in the evening and then study it intensively in the morning, you will understand and remember it more quickly. Important: Learn for a maximum of 90 minutes at a time, the brain needs a break to store.