August 27, 2025 • 18 mins
10 Effective Tips to Overcome Brain Fog | SilverDisobedience Perception Dynamics Podcast
In this episode of the Silver Disobedience© PerceptionDynamics™ Podcast, Dian Griesel, also known as @SilverDisobedience, addresses the universal issue of brain fog and shares 10 practical steps that have personally helped her clear her thinking for more productive days. From theimportance of taking walks to prioritizing sleep and organizing your space, these actionable tips aim to help viewers achieve clearer thinking and improve overall well-being. Dian also discusses the impact of sugar, caffeine, alcohol, and the significance of meeting physical needs for mental clarity. Tune in and discover how you can supercharge your brain power starting today.
Please SUBSCRIBE! I’m Dian Griesel, Ph.D. aka @SilverDisobedience to my hundreds of thousands of monthly blog readers. You can learn more about me here: https://diangriesel.com
But for starters…I am a perception analyst, counselor, hypnotherapist, author of 16 books and a Wilhelmina model. For 30 years I have helped my clients to achieve greater understanding as to how perceptions impact everything we do whether personally or professionally.
00:00 Introduction to Silver Disobedience
00:15 Understanding Brain Fog
01:36 Step 1: The Power of Walking
03:05 Step 2: Managing Sugar Intake
04:48 Step 3: Embrace an Organized Space
05:54 Step 4: Prioritize Your Sleep
07:39 Step 5: The Benefits of Meditation
09:43 Step 6: Addressing Mind Irritations
11:47 Step 7: Coffee and Alcohol Considerations
14:04 Step 8: Making Prompt Decisions
15:10 Step 9: Breathing Fresh Air
15:57 Step 10: Satisfying Physical Needs
17:45 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey there, I'm Diane Dorcell. I'm also known as Silver
Disobedience, and this is the Silver Disobedience podcast.
I'm not in the studio today. I'm in my office studio and just
wanted to say hi. And I have some things I want to
talk to you about today. I want to talk about brain fog.
A lot of people think this is exclusive to them.
(00:23):
And today I want to assure you that brain fog is universal.
And it's universal for a few reasons.
And I'm going to address what's working for me.
I'm not giving you medical advice, but I'm telling you that
these 10 steps that I'm about toshare have really helped me with
my brain fog and cleared my thinking so I can have far more
(00:44):
productive days. And of the 10 steps I'm going to
share, I recommend you try one or two, test them out, see how
they work for you. Before you know it, maybe you'll
jump in into a mall. But this is going to be quick.
We're going to cover them all in.
I don't know how long because I haven't started yet, and we'll
(01:04):
see how it goes, but he'll probably be under 20 minutes.
So if you feel like your mind gets filled with static, you're
not alone. It's that brain fog makes it
difficult to focus and you have things repeating in your
thoughts. You just feel like you can't get
started. So what if I told you you can
(01:25):
tune into clearer thinking? You can take that static and
move right over to clearer thinking.
And with the 10 friendly, easy to apply steps that I'm about to
share, you can do it. The first one.
I'm a big believer in taking walks.
I live in New York City, but youcan walk anywhere in this city,
(01:46):
but you can walk anywhere in your neighborhood too.
The important thing is just to get out and do it.
When you feel your brain is feeling foggy, you just can't
get that mojo going. Get up and take a walk.
I don't care if it's a 3 minute walk, a 30 minute walk, or a two
hour walk. It makes no difference for
(02:06):
clearing your brain. The idea is you're stepping into
a new environment, you're gathering new stimuli, your
brain is clearing, it is forced to reset to a different
environment. And when you do that, you clear
your thinking. Plus your oxygenating.
Your legs are the biggest muscles in your body, your
(02:27):
thighs and butt, and they are engaged when you are walking.
So if you are up walking or strolling, if you're in a
wheelchair, it makes no difference.
Get into a new environment and get yourself out there and
stroll. It has many benefits for
thinking as well as overall physical well-being because
those legs are big muscles and they are pumping blood through
(02:50):
your whole system when you move them.
So the benefit goes beyond clearthinking but also benefits your
heart and brain and other organs.
So get out and walk, keep comfy shoes handy and use them often.
And next one, steer clear of sugar.
Now I am not going to tell you to stop eating sugar.
I like sugar, I eat sugar. I do recommend you have sugar
(03:14):
and fat combos. Repeat wrote a lot about this
and you can search his name. He talks about sugar and fat
from a hormonal perspective. And as I am older, I focus not
just on how long I might live, but more importantly my quality
of life while I am living. And I have learned that, you
(03:36):
know, staying clear of refined sugar really helps my thinking.
I like to, if I'm going to have sugar, it's going to be combined
with fat. So it might be sugar in ice
cream because you've got the milk fat from the ice cream.
But my personal favorite, it's super sweet and it's got the fat
and it satisfies me is I take dates, I get the pit out, I
(04:00):
stuff them with peanut butter, and sometimes I roll them in
melted chocolate and throw them on a tray in the refrigerator in
the freezer so that melted dark chocolate gets hard when I get
the urge for something. I can tell you one, maximum two
of those dates does the trick for me because they're
absolutely delicious. They have the sugar kick and
(04:20):
they have the fat to keep it allbalanced so you don't get sugar
spikes because it's those sugar spikes throughout your day that
are going to fog your brain. They create the sugar Blues,
literally. So spare yourself with that.
And when you have sugar, think fruit.
Think complex carbohydrates thatwill process with sugar and
(04:44):
fiber more naturally in your body.
Another big one is embrace and organized space.
If my brain is not clear, usually my desk reflects that
state of mind. It's messy.
I have too many papers on it. I haven't picked up in a paper.
Made a decision to either act onit or throw it away or file it.
(05:09):
That's a good policy to follow. If your desk, if your
surrounding space, if you're working in your home, wherever
you work, wherever you need a clearer head, keep the place
neat. And if at the end of the day you
felt like you had an unproductive day or you felt
like you had an unproductive dayand the next morning you say, I
(05:30):
got to make today better. Start with organizing your
immediate surroundings, whether it's your closet, whether it's
your kitchen, whether it's your desk, the more organized your
immediate surroundings are, the more organized your thinking
will be and the less brain fog you have.
You won't be constantly wondering.
You know, where is that You'll know where you put it.
(05:54):
Another thing is to prioritize your sleep.
Sleep requirements vary for eachindividual and we all work
different kind of schedules. Some of us, you know, work night
shifts, some work day shifts. But the important thing is to
prioritize quality of sleep. I like to eat early in the day.
(06:15):
I like to have dinner in my stomach and digesting by 7:00.
The absolute latest 630 makes mehappier because that way I have
time to digest. I might have a piece of fruit
later in the night if I get hungry, but at least I am
getting better sleep. And what you want to do is
(06:36):
really think about things you doduring the day that can disrupt
your sleep. And we're going to get into
those a little later. But sleep definitely impacts
your performance. And there's things you can do if
you need to keep a notepad next to your bed.
So if something's waking you up in the night and you need to
write it down. If I'm not sleeping well and I
(06:57):
need to wake up because my brainis just on OverDrive from
something, either get up and write it down or I always keep a
good book next to my bed, a bookpaperback or hardcover.
I do not turn on an electronic device.
That light will wake you up. It will not help your thinking,
it will not help you get back tosleep.
(07:18):
But reading a few pages in a good old paperback or hardcover
book will help you go back to sleep.
So think about that when you can't sleep.
If you have to get up, usually within 45 minutes tops, you will
be feeling sleepy again and you'll be able to rest.
(07:39):
I like to meditate. I've practiced self hypnosis as
well and I do it all the time. And meditation can be super
simple. It can be as basic as saying I
am going to stop and breathe right now.
Yes, you're breathing all day long.
Breathing is a function of life.You're dead when you stop
breathing. It's a very simple equation.
However, conscious breathing is very different.
(07:59):
I like to say now is the time for me to stop.
Take it. I got to chill.
I got to clear my head. So I stop.
I breathe in through my nose andout through my mouth.
And just the process of consciously saying I'm breathing
in through here and out through here, that kind of reminded me
of Austin Powers. But little segue there.
(08:22):
I must have drifted in my brain fog.
No, I'll be kidding. But seriously, that little
second of stopping and breathingconsciously, if you breathe in
through your nose and out through your mouth, just the
process of breathing out throughyour mouth, you're going to
notice a difference when you stop to breathe.
(08:43):
I and I say I'm taking a breathing break.
That's when I do use my electronic device.
I set a timer. If I only have a minute, I set
it for a minute. If I only have, you know, if I
can grab 5 minutes, I set it for5 minutes, whatever the time is,
15, whatever. You could set that timer if you
need to. If you're worried you're going
to miss something, you know, a lot of not breathing.
(09:06):
A lot of the reason people don'tmeditate or take a break or do
something when they really wouldbenefit from it is because
they're afraid they're going to miss something.
So set your alarm. And if your mind starts to
wander, say I am relaxing now, this is my relaxation time.
Bring your mind back to the breath. 5 minutes of this
(09:29):
practice a day, even if it's broken down to one minute
interview voles, will really change how you start to think
and operate. It gives your brain a
significant power boost. Another one, and this is a big
one for me, is to address your mind's irritations.
Your mind gets irritated by little niggling thought things
(09:52):
that are unresolved tasks that you haven't done.
I'm a big believer in to do lists and my to do lists lists
everything I have to do. It might say wrap a present
calls. It could say call your mother,
call your friend, as well as allthe things you have to get done
(10:13):
for work. List them out.
Some people like to do this electronically.
I'm still a paper person. I tried the electronic thing.
It was a New Year's resolution one day, and I found it didn't
work for me. I buy myself beautiful notebooks
I love, and in those notebooks Iget my favorite pens.
I write it out, everything I have to do, and then I take a
(10:35):
highlighter and highlight it. I don't cross it off, I
highlight it so I can also see what I got done.
At the end of the day, it's a very rewarding process.
It works for me. Maybe you want to try it, but by
writing things down, you're identifying things that could be
mind irritations or little stressors because you're
(10:55):
thinking, I can't forget to do that.
I can't forget to do that. Make your list.
Keep your notebook, keep it handy.
Cross it off as you do it. And here's an important one.
At the end of the day, look through the list and before you
move things to the next page andcreate a new list, ask yourself,
did the things that didn't get done really need?
(11:16):
Do they really need to be moved to the next page?
Because sometimes they just don't.
They were not priorities. They the only way we can make
more time for ourselves is prioritizing our to do things,
the things on our To Do List. So we either say this was
important or it was not so important and therefore we
(11:37):
eliminate it from our To Do Listand that way we create more
time. Here's another one and it's if
you want to clear your brain fog, you have to think about
your coffee and alcohol consumption.
Now I am not going to tell you not to drink or not to drink,
drink alcohol or drink coffee. That is your own personal
(11:59):
choice. It's your body.
I believe in free will and mastering your own domain.
However, I will tell you both coffee and alcohol fall into a
life law, which is called the law of dual effects.
And what the law dual effects says that things have a
(12:21):
reaction, but then they will have an opposite and greater
reaction. So for example, if you drink
coffee, you feel stimulated. You know, most people drink it
in the morning. They try to get their brain
going, they're feeling up there.Coffee is a stimulant.
So you drink it and you feel like you're powered, you're
moving better, you're thinking clear.
However, coffee has and equal and longer lasting dual effect,
(12:48):
and the dual effect, or the opposite effect, is that coffee
makes you feel exhausted at somepoint later in the day, and
that's when you're tempted to drink that next cup.
Alcohol does the same thing, butin a different way.
Alcohol is a depressant, so whenpeople drink alcohol, they feel
(13:08):
relaxed, they feel calm, they feel a little looser.
However, if you're waking up in 2 in the morning, it's because
your body is having the oppositedual effect of alcohol and it's
now stimulated and it's trying to get that alcohol out of your
body. Your cells technically were
punched drunk when you bug the alcohol and now they're
(13:32):
stimulated trying to get out andsaying this is not good for my
body. So you're up urinating and you
can't sleep because your body's been stimulated.
So you want to pay attention to when you consume, what you
consume, how much you consume, or if you should consume at all.
So those are important things for you to think about because
they, alcohol and coffee are absolutely sleep disruptors.
(13:58):
Another one is I'm a big believer in making decisions
promptly when you can. A backlog of pending choices
really can disrupt your sleep. You know, you're just, they're
lingering and you're thinking about and they're debating them
and they hinder clear thinking. So if you can make a decision,
(14:22):
don't let it linger. Make the choice, accept it and
move on. You can always change your mind.
Most of the time you know where you can regroup and decide to go
in a different direction. If it's not a hugely momentous
decision, make a choice, move onand get on to the next thing.
Because allowing choices to linger really takes up excess
(14:45):
mental space, and your unconscious is constantly
working on those things when youcould be otherwise deep into a
restful sleep. So think about that.
Free up your mental space by making decisions as quickly as
you can when possible #9 would be breathe fresh air.
(15:05):
I live in New York City, some could argue it's not the
freshest air in the world. I think it's probably got really
good fresh air because it is an island and things are always
going from the east to the West,West to east, north to South.
The wind is constantly blowing one way or another in New York,
but taking the time to step outside and get fresh air
(15:26):
wherever your neighborhood is isa really good idea.
Plus, it floods your brain with oxygen from a different
environment, and it also mentally stimulates your brain.
So get out, breathe fresh air whenever you can.
I love to walk along the East River.
I'd love to walk along the Hudson.
Catch the breeze, catch the sight and catch the fresh air.
(15:51):
A last one for today would be tosatisfy your physical needs the
way they need to be satisfied, whatever those needs are.
Let me just take for example, for the purpose of this your
physical needs of hunger, thirstand staying warm and physically
comfortable temperature wise. You want to be sleeping in ways
(16:14):
or dressing in ways that are adequate to whatever the what
temperature is in your environment.
If it's hot, dress lightly. If it's cold, dress warmly.
That's on the most basic levels.When we talk about food.
It is far more easy to think when you are feeding yourself
properly, when you're taking in nutritious foods.
(16:37):
The crappier the food source, the crappier your sleep.
It's a guarantee your body just doesn't function the same way.
So you really want to pay attention.
Scroll on Instagram, scroll. Grab some books.
There are plenty of really good books that'll have that have
common sense advice on how you can eat.
I wrote a book called Turbocharge.
(16:58):
It addresses things very simply.Get your fruits in, get your
vegetables in, eat those salads.Don't load them up with crap.
Make sure you're having whole proteins in your diet.
Get some potatoes in. You know, simple stuff.
Go back to like 1950s way of eating.
I'm not talking about the 60s when TV dinners came into play.
(17:20):
You know, simple. Keep your meals simple and you
will sleep better guaranteed because you are satisfying
physical needs. And rotate through the food
groups. You know, make sure you're
getting a little bit of everything every day or at least
every other day. You can start thinking more
clearly starting today. You could try to implement one
(17:41):
or two, maybe more of the different tips I've said.
But I they will all help you. They will all help you think.
They will all help clear the brain fog.
And I'd love to hear your thoughts after you've given a
few a try or maybe share your favorite.
How do you clear your brain? I'd love to know more.
You can supercharge that brain power.
(18:02):
You can start doing it now. I'm Diane Grissel.
I'm also known as Silver Disobedience.
This is a monologue from the Silver Disobedience podcast.
I've been sitting in my office instead of the studios with
Manhattan Center. And I hope you enjoyed this
episode. Please sit, subscribe and share
with your friends. Thank you.
Hey there, I'm Diane Dorcell. I'm also known as Silver
Disobedience, and this is the Silver Disobedience podcast.
I'm not in the studio today. I'm in my office studio and just
wanted to say hi. And I have some things I want to
talk to you about today. I want to talk about brain fog.
A lot of people think this is exclusive to them.
(00:23):
And today I want to assure you that brain fog is universal.
And it's universal for a few reasons.
And I'm going to address what's working for me.
I'm not giving you medical advice, but I'm telling you that
these 10 steps that I'm about toshare have really helped me with
my brain fog and cleared my thinking so I can have far more
(00:44):
productive days. And of the 10 steps I'm going to
share, I recommend you try one or two, test them out, see how
they work for you. Before you know it, maybe you'll
jump in into a mall. But this is going to be quick.
We're going to cover them all in.
I don't know how long because I haven't started yet, and we'll
(01:04):
see how it goes, but he'll probably be under 20 minutes.
So if you feel like your mind gets filled with static, you're
not alone. It's that brain fog makes it
difficult to focus and you have things repeating in your
thoughts. You just feel like you can't get
started. So what if I told you you can
(01:25):
tune into clearer thinking? You can take that static and
move right over to clearer thinking.
And with the 10 friendly, easy to apply steps that I'm about to
share, you can do it. The first one.
I'm a big believer in taking walks.
I live in New York City, but youcan walk anywhere in this city,
(01:46):
but you can walk anywhere in your neighborhood too.
The important thing is just to get out and do it.
When you feel your brain is feeling foggy, you just can't
get that mojo going. Get up and take a walk.
I don't care if it's a 3 minute walk, a 30 minute walk, or a two
hour walk. It makes no difference for
(02:06):
clearing your brain. The idea is you're stepping into
a new environment, you're gathering new stimuli, your
brain is clearing, it is forced to reset to a different
environment. And when you do that, you clear
your thinking. Plus your oxygenating.
Your legs are the biggest muscles in your body, your
(02:27):
thighs and butt, and they are engaged when you are walking.
So if you are up walking or strolling, if you're in a
wheelchair, it makes no difference.
Get into a new environment and get yourself out there and
stroll. It has many benefits for
thinking as well as overall physical well-being because
those legs are big muscles and they are pumping blood through
(02:50):
your whole system when you move them.
So the benefit goes beyond clearthinking but also benefits your
heart and brain and other organs.
So get out and walk, keep comfy shoes handy and use them often.
And next one, steer clear of sugar.
Now I am not going to tell you to stop eating sugar.
I like sugar, I eat sugar. I do recommend you have sugar
(03:14):
and fat combos. Repeat wrote a lot about this
and you can search his name. He talks about sugar and fat
from a hormonal perspective. And as I am older, I focus not
just on how long I might live, but more importantly my quality
of life while I am living. And I have learned that, you
(03:36):
know, staying clear of refined sugar really helps my thinking.
I like to, if I'm going to have sugar, it's going to be combined
with fat. So it might be sugar in ice
cream because you've got the milk fat from the ice cream.
But my personal favorite, it's super sweet and it's got the fat
and it satisfies me is I take dates, I get the pit out, I
(04:00):
stuff them with peanut butter, and sometimes I roll them in
melted chocolate and throw them on a tray in the refrigerator in
the freezer so that melted dark chocolate gets hard when I get
the urge for something. I can tell you one, maximum two
of those dates does the trick for me because they're
absolutely delicious. They have the sugar kick and
(04:20):
they have the fat to keep it allbalanced so you don't get sugar
spikes because it's those sugar spikes throughout your day that
are going to fog your brain. They create the sugar Blues,
literally. So spare yourself with that.
And when you have sugar, think fruit.
Think complex carbohydrates thatwill process with sugar and
(04:44):
fiber more naturally in your body.
Another big one is embrace and organized space.
If my brain is not clear, usually my desk reflects that
state of mind. It's messy.
I have too many papers on it. I haven't picked up in a paper.
Made a decision to either act onit or throw it away or file it.
(05:09):
That's a good policy to follow. If your desk, if your
surrounding space, if you're working in your home, wherever
you work, wherever you need a clearer head, keep the place
neat. And if at the end of the day you
felt like you had an unproductive day or you felt
like you had an unproductive dayand the next morning you say, I
(05:30):
got to make today better. Start with organizing your
immediate surroundings, whether it's your closet, whether it's
your kitchen, whether it's your desk, the more organized your
immediate surroundings are, the more organized your thinking
will be and the less brain fog you have.
You won't be constantly wondering.
You know, where is that You'll know where you put it.
(05:54):
Another thing is to prioritize your sleep.
Sleep requirements vary for eachindividual and we all work
different kind of schedules. Some of us, you know, work night
shifts, some work day shifts. But the important thing is to
prioritize quality of sleep. I like to eat early in the day.
(06:15):
I like to have dinner in my stomach and digesting by 7:00.
The absolute latest 630 makes mehappier because that way I have
time to digest. I might have a piece of fruit
later in the night if I get hungry, but at least I am
getting better sleep. And what you want to do is
(06:36):
really think about things you doduring the day that can disrupt
your sleep. And we're going to get into
those a little later. But sleep definitely impacts
your performance. And there's things you can do if
you need to keep a notepad next to your bed.
So if something's waking you up in the night and you need to
write it down. If I'm not sleeping well and I
(06:57):
need to wake up because my brainis just on OverDrive from
something, either get up and write it down or I always keep a
good book next to my bed, a bookpaperback or hardcover.
I do not turn on an electronic device.
That light will wake you up. It will not help your thinking,
it will not help you get back tosleep.
(07:18):
But reading a few pages in a good old paperback or hardcover
book will help you go back to sleep.
So think about that when you can't sleep.
If you have to get up, usually within 45 minutes tops, you will
be feeling sleepy again and you'll be able to rest.
(07:39):
I like to meditate. I've practiced self hypnosis as
well and I do it all the time. And meditation can be super
simple. It can be as basic as saying I
am going to stop and breathe right now.
Yes, you're breathing all day long.
Breathing is a function of life.You're dead when you stop
breathing. It's a very simple equation.
However, conscious breathing is very different.
(07:59):
I like to say now is the time for me to stop.
Take it. I got to chill.
I got to clear my head. So I stop.
I breathe in through my nose andout through my mouth.
And just the process of consciously saying I'm breathing
in through here and out through here, that kind of reminded me
of Austin Powers. But little segue there.
(08:22):
I must have drifted in my brain fog.
No, I'll be kidding. But seriously, that little
second of stopping and breathingconsciously, if you breathe in
through your nose and out through your mouth, just the
process of breathing out throughyour mouth, you're going to
notice a difference when you stop to breathe.
(08:43):
I and I say I'm taking a breathing break.
That's when I do use my electronic device.
I set a timer. If I only have a minute, I set
it for a minute. If I only have, you know, if I
can grab 5 minutes, I set it for5 minutes, whatever the time is,
15, whatever. You could set that timer if you
need to. If you're worried you're going
to miss something, you know, a lot of not breathing.
(09:06):
A lot of the reason people don'tmeditate or take a break or do
something when they really wouldbenefit from it is because
they're afraid they're going to miss something.
So set your alarm. And if your mind starts to
wander, say I am relaxing now, this is my relaxation time.
Bring your mind back to the breath. 5 minutes of this
(09:29):
practice a day, even if it's broken down to one minute
interview voles, will really change how you start to think
and operate. It gives your brain a
significant power boost. Another one, and this is a big
one for me, is to address your mind's irritations.
Your mind gets irritated by little niggling thought things
(09:52):
that are unresolved tasks that you haven't done.
I'm a big believer in to do lists and my to do lists lists
everything I have to do. It might say wrap a present
calls. It could say call your mother,
call your friend, as well as allthe things you have to get done
(10:13):
for work. List them out.
Some people like to do this electronically.
I'm still a paper person. I tried the electronic thing.
It was a New Year's resolution one day, and I found it didn't
work for me. I buy myself beautiful notebooks
I love, and in those notebooks Iget my favorite pens.
I write it out, everything I have to do, and then I take a
(10:35):
highlighter and highlight it. I don't cross it off, I
highlight it so I can also see what I got done.
At the end of the day, it's a very rewarding process.
It works for me. Maybe you want to try it, but by
writing things down, you're identifying things that could be
mind irritations or little stressors because you're
(10:55):
thinking, I can't forget to do that.
I can't forget to do that. Make your list.
Keep your notebook, keep it handy.
Cross it off as you do it. And here's an important one.
At the end of the day, look through the list and before you
move things to the next page andcreate a new list, ask yourself,
did the things that didn't get done really need?
(11:16):
Do they really need to be moved to the next page?
Because sometimes they just don't.
They were not priorities. They the only way we can make
more time for ourselves is prioritizing our to do things,
the things on our To Do List. So we either say this was
important or it was not so important and therefore we
(11:37):
eliminate it from our To Do Listand that way we create more
time. Here's another one and it's if
you want to clear your brain fog, you have to think about
your coffee and alcohol consumption.
Now I am not going to tell you not to drink or not to drink,
drink alcohol or drink coffee. That is your own personal
(11:59):
choice. It's your body.
I believe in free will and mastering your own domain.
However, I will tell you both coffee and alcohol fall into a
life law, which is called the law of dual effects.
And what the law dual effects says that things have a
(12:21):
reaction, but then they will have an opposite and greater
reaction. So for example, if you drink
coffee, you feel stimulated. You know, most people drink it
in the morning. They try to get their brain
going, they're feeling up there.Coffee is a stimulant.
So you drink it and you feel like you're powered, you're
moving better, you're thinking clear.
However, coffee has and equal and longer lasting dual effect,
(12:48):
and the dual effect, or the opposite effect, is that coffee
makes you feel exhausted at somepoint later in the day, and
that's when you're tempted to drink that next cup.
Alcohol does the same thing, butin a different way.
Alcohol is a depressant, so whenpeople drink alcohol, they feel
(13:08):
relaxed, they feel calm, they feel a little looser.
However, if you're waking up in 2 in the morning, it's because
your body is having the oppositedual effect of alcohol and it's
now stimulated and it's trying to get that alcohol out of your
body. Your cells technically were
punched drunk when you bug the alcohol and now they're
(13:32):
stimulated trying to get out andsaying this is not good for my
body. So you're up urinating and you
can't sleep because your body's been stimulated.
So you want to pay attention to when you consume, what you
consume, how much you consume, or if you should consume at all.
So those are important things for you to think about because
they, alcohol and coffee are absolutely sleep disruptors.
(13:58):
Another one is I'm a big believer in making decisions
promptly when you can. A backlog of pending choices
really can disrupt your sleep. You know, you're just, they're
lingering and you're thinking about and they're debating them
and they hinder clear thinking. So if you can make a decision,
(14:22):
don't let it linger. Make the choice, accept it and
move on. You can always change your mind.
Most of the time you know where you can regroup and decide to go
in a different direction. If it's not a hugely momentous
decision, make a choice, move onand get on to the next thing.
Because allowing choices to linger really takes up excess
(14:45):
mental space, and your unconscious is constantly
working on those things when youcould be otherwise deep into a
restful sleep. So think about that.
Free up your mental space by making decisions as quickly as
you can when possible #9 would be breathe fresh air.
(15:05):
I live in New York City, some could argue it's not the
freshest air in the world. I think it's probably got really
good fresh air because it is an island and things are always
going from the east to the West,West to east, north to South.
The wind is constantly blowing one way or another in New York,
but taking the time to step outside and get fresh air
(15:26):
wherever your neighborhood is isa really good idea.
Plus, it floods your brain with oxygen from a different
environment, and it also mentally stimulates your brain.
So get out, breathe fresh air whenever you can.
I love to walk along the East River.
I'd love to walk along the Hudson.
Catch the breeze, catch the sight and catch the fresh air.
(15:51):
A last one for today would be tosatisfy your physical needs the
way they need to be satisfied, whatever those needs are.
Let me just take for example, for the purpose of this your
physical needs of hunger, thirstand staying warm and physically
comfortable temperature wise. You want to be sleeping in ways
(16:14):
or dressing in ways that are adequate to whatever the what
temperature is in your environment.
If it's hot, dress lightly. If it's cold, dress warmly.
That's on the most basic levels.When we talk about food.
It is far more easy to think when you are feeding yourself
properly, when you're taking in nutritious foods.
(16:37):
The crappier the food source, the crappier your sleep.
It's a guarantee your body just doesn't function the same way.
So you really want to pay attention.
Scroll on Instagram, scroll. Grab some books.
There are plenty of really good books that'll have that have
common sense advice on how you can eat.
I wrote a book called Turbocharge.
(16:58):
It addresses things very simply.Get your fruits in, get your
vegetables in, eat those salads.Don't load them up with crap.
Make sure you're having whole proteins in your diet.
Get some potatoes in. You know, simple stuff.
Go back to like 1950s way of eating.
I'm not talking about the 60s when TV dinners came into play.
(17:20):
You know, simple. Keep your meals simple and you
will sleep better guaranteed because you are satisfying
physical needs. And rotate through the food
groups. You know, make sure you're
getting a little bit of everything every day or at least
every other day. You can start thinking more
clearly starting today. You could try to implement one
(17:41):
or two, maybe more of the different tips I've said.
But I they will all help you. They will all help you think.
They will all help clear the brain fog.
And I'd love to hear your thoughts after you've given a
few a try or maybe share your favorite.
How do you clear your brain? I'd love to know more.
You can supercharge that brain power.
(18:02):
You can start doing it now. I'm Diane Grissel.
I'm also known as Silver Disobedience.
This is a monologue from the Silver Disobedience podcast.
I've been sitting in my office instead of the studios with
Manhattan Center. And I hope you enjoyed this
episode. Please sit, subscribe and share
with your friends. Thank you.
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