How to Train Your Brain to Keep You Healthy in Times of Stress

How to Train Yur Brain to Keep You Healthy in Times of StressA recent study in the Jurnal of Personal and Social Psychology found that your habits good and badcome out in full force during times of stress.Thatmeans if youre in the practice ofmindlessly eating junk, youll revert to a diet full of Doritos and Frappuccinos when youre in the middle of a big project if yourealready in the habit of amore virtuous morning oatmeal, youll reach for that during busy times. Your body keeps up what its used to and what it knows. googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.display(div-gpt-ad-1467144145037-0) ) What can you do? Sculpt your habits carefullyfrom sleep patterns to gym routines. They just might turn out to be the rock your brain turns to in times of doubt.German researchers hypothesized in 2012 that this phenomenon is due to stress hormones in the brain, which cause it to revert to normalroutines in stressful scenarios, even if that means abandoning its goals. When stressed, the brainfav ors the routine and reduces activity in the decision-making part of the brain.The best way to keep our heads in times of stress, then, is to make sure we cultivate the best habits in our downtime. You never know what you can train your brain to doso start making better choices while you have the conscious chance.It turns out that our behavior is much more important than we realized. It can form the basic building blocks to build our own way out of stress.