There is so much happening in the world at the moment. The airwaves are filled with commentary surrounding the US election, the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, the ominous congregation of Putin and his dictator chums, the perilous tipping point of climate change, the creeping growth of autocracy, the mass migration of displaced people and so on. It’s worrying. So, I’m going to shift away from these ‘front and centre’ events for a few minutes and talk about something completely different. Something that could even help us all.
First, an aside: There have been several occasions when I have worked through the night and on into the next day when faced by a deadline. I recall once working with a team of bankers, lawyers, accountants in a skyscraper office in Boston, Massachusetts as we rushed to complete a prospectus for an IPO (initial public offering on the stock market). By 3am we were flagging and even though the deadline was 10am, I figured we’d be more productive with a little sleep. I ended up with my coat under my head, sleeping on the floor in the conference room. Thirty or forty minutes later we were back on the job, and I swear we were more productive for the break. You see, I had already figured out that you can fool yourself, thinking that long hours are all equally productive. They aren’t. Performance degrades as the hours tick by.
I was recalling this recently as my wife, who is a world-class historical doll maker, completed a porcelain Marie Antoinette doll and packed and shipped her to a collector in Holland (see www.LadyofFinavon.com if you have an interest). Helping her with the packing as best I could, my mind wandered to Félix Viq d’Azyr’s discovery of the Blue Dot in the late 18th century.
The Blue Dot
Who? What? I hear you say. Well, our Félix was Marie Antoinette’s physician and an anatomist, the originator of comparative anatomy and discoverer of the theory of homology in biology. He ‘famously’ noted a small blue stain in the mass of neural tissue joining the cerebrum to the spinal cord. You can find its location by placing a finger on the back of your skull, roughly level with the top of your ears. It’s there – deep beneath the hair, skin and bone. A blue fluid-filled cavity in the root of your brain.
Félix had no idea what he had discovered, but assuredly he was the first to do so and what it was that he had identified only began to become apparent in the 20th and 21st centuries, particularly so with advances in sophisticated brain imaging technology. This finally allowed scientists to watch the blue dot in action. This blue dot – a tiny bundle of blue-tinged neurons – is the locus coeruleus which is the primary producer of a neurotransmitter called noradrenaline. Important to know, because the amount of noradrenaline produced affects our level of alertness and more.
We now know that the locus coeruleus has four different modes of activity – each impacting differently on how we focus on and respond to our world. Think of it as a gearbox.
Stage zero – disengaged – is the state when we are sleeping. It is quiet, at rest, apart from occasional bursts of activity that apparently enhance long-term memory storage.
It switches into first gear as we wake. It is now operating with a low hum of baseline activity easing the brain into consciousness. Because first gear is a state of low activity, we lack sharp focus and are prone to ‘mind-wandering’.
Switching into second gear steps up the noradrenaline activity and communication across the brain becomes faster, smoother, easier, allowing the brain to process information more efficiently. This is essential for flexible thinking, and it also enhances our ability to hold more information in short-term memory – necessary for any complicated mental task, increasing our ability to concentrate and improving our problem-solving capabilities. Shifting to second gear also enhances the likelihood of experiencing a flash of insight – the ‘light bulb’ moment we see in comic strips. Recent research also seems to suggest that second gear facilitates that ‘flow state’ where you become so satisfied and engaged in a task that time just flies by.
However, our gearbox also has a third gear – when the baseline hum turns into a roar, when the brain is in overdrive. Now, high levels of noradrenaline flood areas in the brain associated with emotional processing. This can lead to ‘fight or flight’ responses – obviously useful in dangerous situations but because it can also be triggered by, for example, work pressure, it can also reduce our ability to think analytically or creatively. It can produce a feeling of panic, of being overwhelmed when what we really need is a calm focus.
It would seem that scientific research supports my thesis that putting yourself under relentless pressure is probably counter-productive and that what you need to do instead is aim to keep the brain in second gear rather than third gear (unless, maybe, you are facing an angry mob or suchlike!).
How can you change gears?
Scientific research suggests some ways to manage the gears.
‘Flow’ occurs when you are working on something that is just challenging enough but not overwhelming, so one way to change gears is to switch to work on something at such a level, at least for a while. Evidence also supports the use of meditation to improve focus and emotional stability. What you are doing is, in essence, training the blue dot to stay in second gear. Light exercise (e.g. a brisk early morning walk) can also shift the blue dot from first to second gear. And to shift down from third gear to second, techniques such as yoga and controlled breathing can help.
Other research advocates matching tasks to natural body rhythms. Tasks requiring creativity may be performed better at the start of the day when we are firmly in second gear. Or try 3pm to 4pm when most people are recovering from a mid-day dip in blue dot activity.
Also remember that the brain can only run in second gear for so much time before fatigue sets in. Take a break, shift down for a while. Cruise.
Conclusion
Contrary to some who push extreme time-management techniques as the route to success, the message is that to produce high-quality thinking you need to get off the treadmill at times, give your brain a rest, then return to the task. Back to the IPO experience I mentioned at the beginning.
Knowing what gear you are in, like driving a car, is the first step to better performance and more effective and efficient activity. Happy brain motoring!
Reference www.newscientist.com