Comfort Zone to Brain Performance Zone

What can you do? Your brain favours challenges that are personally relevant so that is a good place to start.   There is no end to the list of brain specific exercises and activities that will keep your synapses firing fast and furiously.  Activities and exercises do not have to be dramatic to be effective at exercising your brain.    We tend to forget that many practical activities such as cooking, socializing, reading, playing board games, staying curious, even dancing are all good for stimulating brain activity.  Of course, all learning takes place outside your zone of comfort.  Learning is new territory, but it does not have to be a totally foreign place.    No matter what age you are your brain thrives on learning anything new, different, or difficult.  

Peak Performance Requires Balanced Brain Activity

Your brain is energized when its many parts can work at the same time in activities or learning that involves several senses, different parts of your body, and higher functions such as speech, reasoning, emotions, and fine control of movement.  Vary learning or activities to stimulate both sides of your brain.  Your right and left brain hemispheres experience the world very differently. Both sides of your brain are necessary to perform most tasks; each side might use different mental skills to do it. When combined, these mental skills enable you to be rational and spontaneous, analytical and creative.  Of course, you want both sides of the brain to be sharp and coordinated.

Give your Brain Notice

Your brain is very rule-based or procedure based.  Before learning or trying something different familiarize yourself with the process.   It is how you notify your brain that you will be exploring unfamiliar territory and this helps it to feel more prepared and secure. 

Remember what it was like the first time you learned to ride a bike.  It seemed difficult.   People encounter similar feelings the first time they play the guitar or use all fingers on the keyboard.  You may feel awkward indulging in a new kind of exercise, learning or practicing a new skill.  You may feel out of your comfort zone.    So many activities may seem unusual or uncomfortable in the beginning.  Yet, after some repetition or practice they become much easier and more enjoyable.  Soon people are doing tricks on a bike, playing difficult guitar pieces or typing at ninety words a minute. 

The Stress Response is a Good Thing

When you are out of your comfort zone trying something new or challenging, your brain’s generates a stress response.  That is a good thing.  In fact, a great thing!  It means you have entered an enhanced level of concentration and focus which can create an ideal brain "performance zone".   In the performance zone you experience a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.  You can become so absorbed in what you are doing that you lose your sense of space and time.  You are in the flow.  You have expanded your brain’s comfort zone to its performance zone.

Recharge your Brain to Sustain Performance 

However, a brain under constant stimulation or running on overdrive becomes stressed and suffers from reduced cognitive ability.  if you undertake a difficult challenge that causes significant anxiety, there is no optimal performance zone.  Just because studying something new is fun or presents a tough challenge doesn't mean you should stay up all night to do it. You should be mindful of whether stress levels are helping or hindering your execution of the challenge.  When your brain produces a stress response that hinders focus, your thinking performance deteriorates and you are more apt to resort to more familiar but less challenging thinking strategies, even if they are not helpful anymore. When that happens, it is time to stop and recharge before undertaking the challenge more slowly or possibly in baby steps.

To keep your brain sharp and at its peak performance level you need to balance intense brain performance with planned periods of moderate brain activity which means pushing pause for frequent rest and relaxation breaks, even if they are only one to five minutes long.     

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Have you put learning on the back burner? Unsure where to start?  Your brain favours challenges that are personally relevant so that is a good place to start.  What has piqued your curiosity?  You do not have to make a huge plunge to start exploring a new skill.  Start by expanding some of your more familiar practical activities to stimulate your brain differently and ease into a learning mode.  Once you get into motion your brain will respond favorably and you will feel re-energized.  Build from that beginning and keep the momentum going in whatever direction, interests you. 

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