The Most Complex Thing in The Universe
What is the most complex thing in the universe? Is it something compact and powerful like an iPhone? Is it a huge subway system or a nuclear power plant? It has to be something crazy, right? The answer is surprising. It is the human brain. To date, the human brain is the most complex thing ever observed. Your brain. The things between your ears. The thing that most of us take for granted every single day.
The brain is such an interesting machine. It is extremely powerful. Your brain is capable of running a pretty complex operation with very little power. But, on the other hand, it is sensitive. If you get too hot of a fever it could be permanently damaged. The fragility of the brain has always scared me. It is so sensitive that in the blink of an eye everything can change, most of the time irreversibly.
Over the last 2 years, one of my core focuses has been on prioritizing longevity. I want to be just as sharp (or sharper) as I am now when I am 80. As I’ve gone down this rabbit hole of learning about brain longevity I’ve become more aware of how big of an impact what we consume has on us. I’ve become particularly interested in the effects of social media on the brain. Social media algorithms are designed to short-circuit the brain. They are optimized for you to be as immersed as possible and trick your brain into loving it. Studies have shown that increased social media usage can be harmful to the brain and can negatively impact your memory, decision-making, and logic. How many BILLIONS of hours of human brain power have been wasted scrolling on social media? Hours that could have gone towards productive work instead are evaporated to nothingness. The human brain has been evolving for millions of years only to get duped by a computer algorithm. It just blows my mind. You have one brain. One. You don’t get to replace it. Why choose to feed it useless information?
Your brain is the most complex thing in the universe. And the best part is that it is a muscle and it can be improved.
Here is what I do for my brain
Limit Social Media (I try and spend less than 3-5 minutes per day)
Eat healthy, unprocessed foods
Exercise frequently
Read books
Meditate
Avoid listening to music (this is more of a focus thing for me, I’ll write more on this later)
Sleep at least 8 hours
Avoid stress
Drink around a gallon of water per day