Have you tried every trick in the book to change your habits and are still failing? We tell the reason and how brain training can help.
Are you stuck in the rut of old habits? Have you tried your level best to quit drinking, smoking, lazing around, etc., and are still failing? If you are wondering why you are constantly being unsuccessful, here’s something no one has told you before. It’s not you, it’s your rigid brainwave patterns. Before we get to the why of the way our brain acts when stuck in a loop, let’s get to how it develops habits in the first place.
How does the brain develop patterns?
When the neurons in our brain fire together, they get wired together through a process called long-term potentiation. (LTP). As a result, habits and responses become an integral part of our life. This process occurs everytime our brain learns something new – good or bad- and causes our network of cells to make new connections.
In the beginning, the connections are weak in nature. But as we keep repeating the habit, they become stronger, therefore making our behaviour more automatic, and reflexive. At this point, the networks become “potentiated,” meaning, more powerful in nature.
What causes the brain to get stuck into patterns?
In order to understand how our brain can get out of stuck patterns, it is first important to learn the process which causes the same. There are two regions in the brain responsible for habit formation- cingulate gyrus (ACG) and the basal ganglia.
ACG
This region of the brain is located deep in the frontal lobes. It allows us to shift our attention, switch from one thought to another, adjust to changing scenarios, cooperate, and more. When the ACG is functioning properly, we are able to adapt, be flexible, and take setbacks as learnings.
However if this region of the brain is imbalanced and overactive, we tend to get stuck in negative thoughts/behaviours and become uncooperative. Low levels of serotonin in the ACG are responsible for its poor functioning.
Basal ganglia
Located deep in the brain, this region is responsible for emotions, movement, thoughts, etc., Studies have shown that the basal ganglia may be involved in habit formation. When this region of the brain is overactive, people experience anxiety, are extremely uncomfortable with uncertainty, and avoid conflict in general.
The emotions manifest in physical form such as ticks, nail-biting, teeth grinding, checking locks, hand washing, and more.
How brain training can help you come out of your stuck patterns
Until you get to the root cause of the problem, getting rid of harmful habits is like an uphill climb. This is where brain training comes in. Neurofeedback tackles the imbalances in your brainwaves and restores them, therefore making your brain function at its optimal, desirable level.
It is a US, FDA-approved and NASA-inspired brain training technology that gets rid of rigid neural pathways, thus rescuing your brain from the loop it has been stuck in. By creating new and wanted neural pathways, this technology trains your brain to operate at its best level. This in turn reduces the anxiety you have been experiencing and helps you become more calm, flexible, happy, etc.
To learn more about how this technology work, visit here.
