How Loss of Brain Integration affects Mental Performance

Three Problem-Solving Scenarios:

In a sense we can think of three scenarios relating to how 'Stress' affects our problem-solving and decision-making abilities:

1. Frontal Lobes are 'turned on' and your Executive Functions are fully intact permitting rapid decision-making and effective, creative problem solving. At the same time, the Limbic emotional centers controlling Fight or Flight remain balanced. In a sense they are 'on standby', creating little resistance to Frontal Lobe function.

2. Frontal Lobes are 'turned on' and your Executive Functions are fully intact, but the Limbic Fight or Flight emotional centres are also in a sense 'turned on'. They are now actively engaged in processing survival emotions, like fear, anxiety or anger. This diverts part of your Frontal Lobe resources to regulating and modulating these Limbic survival emotions. While this still allows you to operate out of your solution-oriented Frontal Lobes, it may greatly reduce the speed of your analytical thinking and effectiveness of your decision-making.

3. Frontal Lobes are 'turned off' so that you have little access to your Executive Functions and have largely lost your problem-solving skills. At the same time the Limbic survival emotions are fully'turned on' and are almost completely control your thinking. You now shift to reactive thinking that is driven by your survival emotions like fear and anger. Seeing only the 'problem' and few options, you now make your decisions from a short-term crisis perspective.

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Frontal Lobes 'Turned On', Limbic System'On Standby' Mode.

Since the raison d'etre of our Executive Functions is to provide us with efficient, creative solution-oriented thinking to rapidly resolve problems, the Frontal Lobes 'turned on' mode can be considered the'full-speed ahead' mental operating mode designed to produce rapid high-quality decision-making. An analogy might be your foot on the gas pedal, accelerating rapidly down the road.

If there is little activation of the Limbic survival emotions, the Limbic'on standby' mode, there is no Frontal Lobe energy expended in over-coming Limbic resistance, and hence nothing to prevent optimum problem-solving and decision-making. In this state, you are in optimum problem-solving mode where solution-oriented thinking dominates and decisions are made quickly with minimum effort. This then creates a relatively stress free state of function.

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Frontal Lobes 'Turned On', Limbic System 'Turned On'Mode.

In contrast, in the presence of active Limbic survival emotions (i.e. the Limbic 'turned on' mode) some of the Frontal Lobe resources have to be diverted to modulating these Limbic emotions. In a sense creating Limbic resistance to Frontal Lobe activity. In this Frontal Lobe 'turned on' and Limbic 'turned on' mode, this competition for the Frontal Lobe resources may reduce availability of the Executive Functions needed for effective problem-solving and rapid decision-making.

To continue the car analogy, you now have one foot on the gas pedal and the handbrake pulled on. While you may still retain a good deal of your problem-solving skills, and make reasonable decisions, there is now much more resistance requiring more mental effort, and hence higher levels of stress.

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Frontal Lobes 'Turned Off', Limbic System 'Turned On' Mode.

If the Limbic survival emotions become too active (i.e. the Limbic 'full on' mode) the Frontal Lobes become totally inhibited by these strong survival emotions, and the brain goes into Frontal Lobe 'shut down', so that thinking does not interfere with your survival reactions. In this Limbic 'full on' and Frontal Lobe 'shut down'. This ensures that thinking does not interfere with your survival reactions. As there are no longer any creative, solution-oriented functions available, you now react out of the Limbic survival emotions of fear, anxiety or anger.

To continue the car analogy further, it is like now having one foot on the gas pedal, while the other foot is jammed on the brake pedal, causing you to grind to a standstill as the engine 'fights' with the brakes for control. While this diverts all of your energy to deal with the perceived 'problem', it is bought at the cost of increased levels of stress, release of hormones like cortisol and adrenalin and increased sympathetic nervous activity. In addition, there is now considerable conscious effort required. Taking all of these factors together, this constitutes overt physiological, emotional and mental stress.

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In Pursuit of 'Full-Speed Ahead' - Optimum Mental Performance.

How much of the time do you think you are in 'full-speed ahead' mode? From my experience of over twenty years of clinical practice, only a small percent of people 'live' in this optimal mode of mental processing, and it is not surprising that these people are generally at the very top of their respective professions. For the great majority of us this 'full-speed ahead' mode represents only our'peak' experiences, not our daily mode of operation.

By far, most of us operate in the Frontal Lobe 'turned on' and Limbic 'turned on' mode on a day-to-day basis, and squander much of our Frontal Lobe resources on modulating our Limbic survival emotions. When peak stress then come on line, most of us drop into the Limbic 'full on' and Frontal Lobe 'shut down' mode - a state of loss of brain integration in which few problem-solving skills remain and stress may overwhelm us.

But how can we stay in Frontal Lobe 'turned on' and Limbic 'balanced' mode on a daily basis? One approach is to'feed' your brain the proper nutrients to allow you to maintain brain integration, even when highly stressed!

But how can just nutrition alone keep us in optimum mental performance mode? The answers lie in optimal nutrition for the brain.

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