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Good morning and welcome to Episode 007 of the Train Your Brain Podcast with Dr. Michael Trayford. This is a shorter, five-minute episode where Dr. Trayford brings you a tip for improving the function of your brain.

In Episode 007, Dr. Trayford gives us a brain tip to actively watch out for stress. Monitor your stress levels throughout the day as you are working, driving or interacting with others. Practice cognitive willpower over external stresses. Don’t let them get to you!

If you have any concerns regarding the information and applications discussed in this podcast, please consult your physician and a doctor who is experienced in functional neurology. Michael Trayford DC, DACNB is available for consultation by calling (828) 708-5274. Thanks for listening.

This falls under one of our larger categories. I’ll let you guess in a moment Jason what that is. But this topic is called Don’t let them Get to you.
What does that mean? This is the everyday nuisances that we deal with. From people cutting us off on the road to rude people in the store, to whatever the case may be. The factors that plague us on a daily basis, and what does that category, do you think Jason, fall under?

Jason: I bet this has something to do with Anger and flooding our bodies with epinephrine or something like that.

You’re on the right track, absolutely so excellent, excellent work there. The overarching category here would be stress management. And that can manifest itself in many different ways, it could be anger it could be anxiety, fear, or worry.

You know you hear about all these emotions, you know that you can describe based on somebody’s subjective feelings. But really it comes down to stress, we’re adding elevations of certain hormones in our body that cause our body to work a certain way. You know this fight or flight response right?

Somebody cuts us off on the road and our blood pressure goes up and our breathing changes and our emotions change very, very rapidly. So there’s all these consequences and cascade of events that occurs simply because somebody decided they wanted to get in front of you.

Now some people let that go pretty easily but most people do get caught up in it. Obviously something like road rage which we’ll use as an example in this episode, is a big problem! I see it out there almost every single day, on the road. We’re in a small town that’s getting bigger by the moment and these roads are filled with people that are trying to get somewhere fast. So if you get in their way they get kind of angry with you.

So the topic here again is, Don’t let Them Get to You. But it’s easier said than done. It takes practice. Now for all the things we deal with on a daily basis that get from potentially a rude cashier or somebody cutting us off on the road or to a boss that’s yelling at us or something like that.

Even a child that is driving us to stress. I have two young girls, and I love them to death, but they’re at the age right now where they’re testing us every step of the way. So I have to constantly remind myself that this is where they’re at and what they do. To not let them get to me and I’m the one who’s teaching them and showing them the way. If I over react and let them get to me that’s what they’re going to perpetuate in their daily lives as they move through life.
So we’re trying to break some cycles here as many people are. It’s easier said than done because stressors are now greater than they ever were before. In future episodes we’ll talk about things like meditation, exercise and other forms of stress management that can really help us deal with the feeling of stress and fear and worry that has gotten too far out of hand. Especially anger that has gotten too far out of hand.

Neurofeedback is another great tool that can help people deal with this. So there are ways to manage this, but it does take practice and the first step is awareness. Simply being aware of your reactions to situations is enough to get your started and we’ll talk more about this in future episodes.

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