Maximise Your Brain With Neuroscience

Neuroscience research has made real progress in identifying what helps the brain perform at its best, and most of it is surprisingly accessible. In this piece, leading neuroscientist Marc Milstein, one of PepTalk's scientist speakers, shares key ideas backed by the latest studies on how to maximise brain power. If you're a leader, you'll also find practical ways to help your team build these habits into their day.

Get Out In Nature

It's no secret that nature makes us feel better. But does it impact our stress levels? According to recent research, yes. Marc highlighted how studies over the past couple of years, where arguably there were the most widespread feelings of stress worldwide, corroborated this fact, showing that those who lived close to nature or spent periods during their day in nature showed decreased symptoms of stress.

How to incorporate nature into your everyday

• Take a nature break: pop out to your local park, even for 10 minutes. This outdoor break can help you step away from stress.
• Get a plant: yes, you read that right. "A study that came out in Japan found that just simply staring at a plant on your desk for two minutes, stress levels dropped…it's a little bit of nature on your desk. Something quick and easy to do," says Marc.

Eat Brainy Foods

Eat oily fish, blueberries, turmeric and dark chocolate. Perhaps not in the same dish, but these are just some of the 'brain fit' foods we're encouraged to eat. And whilst they do have brain-boosting capabilities, eating for your brain can be much simpler than that. For more on the link between diet and mental performance, see our guide to nutrition for leaders.

Marc talks about this in a study on the effects of the amount of fruit & vegetables consumed by a mixed group: "The food that we eat ends up in our gut and can cause the release of chemicals that can impact our brain. Some foods release chemicals that can calm our brain down, and others release chemicals that increase stress and the risk of things like anxiety and depression. It's related to inflammation. If the chemicals released by our gut are inflammatory, they can attack our brains. And attacking the brain increases the risk of a long list of conditions including memory loss, depression and anxiety."

How to up your fruits and vegetables

• Add a handful to each meal: you're aiming for around 400g (a little under a pound) of fruit and vegetables a day. Adding a handful to each meal or snack makes it much more manageable.
• Focus on veggies: often, people find it easier to eat fruits than vegetables. Incorporate vegetables in hidden places, such as smoothies, soups or sauces.
• Eat the rainbow: When buying fruit and vegetables, look to pick up a range of colours, not all greens, for example. Each colour holds its own brain-protecting properties and different additional nutrients.

Find Some Mental Space

An often less focused sub-section of brain health is idle time, the in-between moments many of us have so little of now in a world of overstimulation. Our moments are filled with scrolling, social media and checking our emails. No longer would we just stand in line at a shop; we're filling the space. But it's this brain downtime that can be powerful, says Marc: "If you let your brain wander and have some idle time, the studies suggest that you focus better when it's time to focus".

But there is a flip side to this. Marc talks about a recent study that gave the group time to record their thoughts. Some wandered into negative thought patterns, a group researchers called the ruminators, and their stress levels increased with idle time, affecting their brain functioning for the rest of the day. This rumination often comes from a lack of awareness of our negative thoughts, plus our constant need to fill our minds with distractions. We don't allow ourselves to become aware of our thoughts or find ways of attending to them. For more ways to manage this, read our tips on maintaining calm and focus.

How to wander positively

• Set aside time each day to be alone in your thoughts, whether walking, meditating or journaling, with no phones or devices.
• Record where you wander to: catch where you think without judgment and record it in a journal. Over time, you'll build up the skills to detect the negative thought patterns earlier.
• Create antidotes to regular negative thought patterns: retorts to your mind that can help snap you out of the cycle.

Move Your Body

"Walking is one of the simplest but most powerful things we can do to protect our brain. Studies have shown that people who walk for about 30 minutes a day lower their risk of memory loss by 60%," says Marc.

Some research suggests that as we walk, each footstep creates a small "pressure wave" that travels toward the heart and may, in turn, support blood flow to the brain. Since every brain cell relies on a steady oxygen supply, keeping that supply topped up matters for clear thinking, productivity and managing our emotions.

Marc also talked about the positive effects of different types of exercise on brain health and stress levels. A recent study found that those who either solely focused on resistance training or mixed it in with their cardio workouts saw the most improvements.

Make walking work for you

• Break it into smaller walks: if you don't have time for one or two longer walks, just fit it in where you can. Three 10-minute walks. Six 5-minute walks. Whatever works for you.
• Don't necessarily focus on 10,000 steps: Marc highlights how this number was created by a company that wanted to sell pedometers. Recent studies suggest the sweet spot is closer to 6,000–8,000 steps for over-60s and 8,000–10,000 for anyone under 60, with little extra benefit for overall health beyond that.
• Add in some resistance training: we're not saying you have to hit the weights, but incorporating some resistance movement (body weight or weighted) will help your mind and overall health.

Helping Your Team Boost Their Brain Health With Neuroscience

So you've incorporated some of these brain-boosting concepts into your day, but how do you encourage your team to do the same? Marc posits that it's all about creating time and space for people to engage in these activities. It's also worth building this into a wider approach to team wellbeing, alongside habits like those covered in The Five Pillars Of True Self-Care.

If you would like a session that shows a team how their own attention and bias work rather than just describing it, Alex Moffat uses live cognitive illusions alongside neuroscience to make the invisible parts visible. He is a certified brain-based coach and NeuroLeadership Institute facilitator, as well as an award-winning magician.

Tips for team brain building

• Set time aside as a team to go for a walk if they wish, and refrain from back-to-back meetings all day.
• Create boundaries on times when sending emails is acceptable and reduce the pressure to respond out of hours.
• Offer up places to go to engage with nature.
• Foster community in the office by grouping people with similar schedules, so they feel less isolated.
• Allow your team to do the 'little things' daily that help them recharge.

🧠 Want to bring neuroscience to life for your team? Book Marc Milstein for a session packed with research-backed strategies your people can put into practice straight away. Send us a message via the chat and we'll take it from there. Remember, it's always a good time to get a PepTalk!

Frequently Asked Questions

Does spending time in nature actually reduce stress?

Yes, spending time in nature does reduce stress. Recent studies show that people who live near green spaces or spend even short periods outdoors during the day report lower stress levels. Research from Japan found that looking at a desk plant for just two minutes measurably reduced stress in office workers.

What foods are best for brain health?

The best foods for brain health start with fruit and vegetables. Eating a wide variety of colours gives your brain a range of protective nutrients, and aiming for around 400g a day has been linked to lower inflammation and reduced risk of memory loss, depression and anxiety. Oily fish, blueberries, turmeric and dark chocolate also support brain function.

How many steps a day do I really need?

The number of steps you need a day depends on your age: current research suggests 6,000 to 8,000 steps a day for people over 60, and 8,000 to 10,000 for those under 60, with diminishing health returns beyond that range. The commonly cited 10,000-step target was originally a marketing figure.

Is idle time good or bad for the brain?

Idle time can be good or bad for the brain, depending on how you use it. Allowing your mind to wander without distraction can improve focus and creativity. However, unstructured idle time can tip into rumination for some people, which increases stress. Building awareness of negative thought patterns, through journaling or meditation, helps keep idle time productive.