Cognitive Optimal Performance
COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE
The demands of modern society put a lot of wear and tear on the brain. The more stress we experience and the older we get, the more we start to feel the effects of that battering. We may start to struggle with focus, experience brain fog, feel like we’re thinking slower. Over time, this begins to affect our self-confidence and makes daily tasks harder and harder to complete. Thankfully, the brain is incredibly adaptable and can recover, rewire, and relearn how to operate in a more effective way. Skills like concentration, decision-making, and stress management are essentially the products of specific cortical activity, and thus can be modulated through neurotherapies, like neurofeedback and neurostimulation. We’re also able to teach the brain how to think clearly, get into “flow states,” and cope with stress better for Optimal Performance in sports, education, business, and the arts. Just about everyone has something they wish they could improve in their brain. Executives, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and the “aging well” population can especially benefit from these kinds of services to address the cognitive impairments caused by chronic stress and getting older. Not only can we help the brain, recover, but we can also train it to work in a way that allows you to perform at your peak. In fact, some successful businesses are now providing neurotherapy services to their employees in order to optimize productivity and employee wellness.
RELATED BRAIN ACTIVITY
Stress is tough on both the brain and the body. It messes with our immune systems, meaning we’re more susceptible to illnesses and infections. People may develop high blood pressure, sleep issues, muscle and nerve pain. Stress also alters important neural circuits, meaning things like cognitive performance and memory are affected. The brain’s stress response system, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, is especially thrown out of whack by prolonged, repeated exposure to stress. The hypothalamus is a gland of the limbic system and the master control switch of the autonomic nervous system, activating both the sympathetic and parasympathetic responses. It releases a chemical messenger that signals the pituitary gland to secrete a hormone that then travels to the adrenal glands, where stress hormones (e.g. cortisol and adrenaline) are released. The job of these stress hormones is to prepare the body for fight, flight, or freeze. However, in the case of chronic stress, the HPA axis is overstimulated and the body secretes too many stress hormones. Such overexposure can cause brain cells to age more rapidly, contribute to mood disturbances, and cause cognitive impairment.
Anyone who works in a fast-paced, high-pressure job knows the effects of chronic stress all too well. And the more stress you experience, the harder it is to be at the top of your game. There are unique skill sets that entrepreneurs, business owners, and executives must possess to be successful. Decades of brain imaging has taught us the specific neurological activity that must be present in order to execute these skills. For example, the frontal lobes are largely responsible for high-level executive functioning, like decision-making, attention, planning, memory, and problem-solving.
They also communicate with other brain regions to share information required for quick reactions, emotional regulation, and auditory/visual processing. Through neurofeedback and neurostimulation, we can train the brain to initiate the activity and communication necessary for optimal cognitive performance.