It Only Takes 3 Days to Reboot Your Brain

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Happy Sunday everyone. Did you know that, on average, we check our phones 58 times per day and spend 4 hours and 37 minutes using them.

Our attention spans in 2004 clocked in at 150 seconds, but this has fallen to a median of 40 seconds in 2024.

You may not be surprised to learn that, in your brain, smartphone usage looks comparable to taking a drag of a cigarette.

In today’s email:

1. A New Study Shows Your Brain Rewires In 3 Days & how we can use this to improve our lives.

2. How I Quit My Phone In 72 Hours & how you can too.

3. The Poverty Industrial Complex & how companies profit from poverty.

POWER SURGE

It Takes 3 Days to Start Your New Life

I stumbled upon a Reddit post the other night that caused a change in my life.

The post talked about a new Heidelberg University study that showed evidence your brain begins to rewire itself after just three days of reduced smartphone usage.

Just three days?

They took a group of young adults and limited their phone use strictly to essential tasks for 72 hours, and ran brain scans before and after.

After the three days, their brains showed clear shifts in neural activity linked to dopamine and serotonin.

Now, after seeing 1000s of posts online talking about “30 Day Detoxes” and “Monk Mode”, I assumed these are more realistic timelines. I stand corrected.

It got me thinking about how much of our screen time is beneficial.

Do we genuinely feel good after doomscrolling TikTok or mindlessly refreshing LinkedIn? I doubt it.

Instead, we end up feeling scattered and weirdly detached, all while developing a strange low-level anxiety.

We are chronically distracted in the modern world.

Answer this honestly: When was the last time you watched a full movie or episode without checking your phone?

I catch myself doing it constantly.

When I was a kid, I’d sit and watch movies for 2 hours, but now I catch myself “checking in” on the movie instead of actively watching it.

Intrigued by my new discovery, I decided to test the three-day challenge myself first and report back.

Three days, easy enough, right?

How I Rewired My Brain In Three Days

I opened Screen Time on my phone and identified the low-quality worst offenders (Instagram, Tiktok, Reddit, etc), and allowed myself only 30 minutes per day (I used the Roots app on IOS - no affiliation).

I also went a step further and turned off all my notifications.

On day 1, I got back from my morning run, and, instead of sitting on my phone like usual, I got up and played with my dog.

Later that evening, I’d already started to forget about my phone and found myself wanting to reach for the book collecting dust on my bedside table.

The phone stayed in another room at bedtime.

On day two, I played chess - a hobby I loved but had abandoned - and that evening, I spontaneously invited a friend over.

You get the picture.

Surprisingly quickly, something had clicked. I’d gained a couple of hours back in my day, but more beneficial was the additional thinking space in my head.

The low-level anxiety faded, my sleep improved, and my mind felt clearer than it had in months.

I began to think again. I forgot all about the tariffs and the stock market, and I stopped thinking about brain-rot and how many men it takes to take down a Gorilla.

Not once did I feel overwhelmed or challenged.

The best part is that anyone can just commit to three days of reduced screen time.

Once your brain feels these small successes, it craves more, naturally reinforcing the behaviours you want.

In the words of Socrates, to find yourself, you must think for yourself.

You need a lot of thinking to finally connect with the version of you that is at peace, and that’s the real win here for me.

You don’t need a radical life overhaul, you just need three days.

As someone 72 hours ahead of you, I implore you to give this a go.

Block your compulsive apps, ditch the midnight doomscroll, and see what your mind naturally reaches for instead.

LOOK INTO THE LIGHT

Here Are 3 Great Things You Missed:

#1. WHO Outlines 5 Policies to Improve Public Health in Five Years

• The WHO released 25 actionable policies to address chronic diseases in Europe.

• Implementing these measures could yield health improvements within a single political cycle.

• The initiative emphasises preventive care and policy-driven health interventions.

#2 SpaceX Launches Groundbreaking Polar Orbit Flight

• In April, SpaceX's Fram2 mission became the first private crewed flight to enter a polar retrograde orbit.

• The mission marks a significant achievement in commercial space exploration.

• It opens new possibilities for polar research and satellite deployment.

#3 MetaVision3D Enhances Understanding of Brain Metabolome

• Scientists developed MetaVision3D, an AI-driven atlas mapping the brain's metabolome.

• The tool offers insights into brain function and potential neurological disorders.

• It represents a significant step forward in neuroscience research.

PLUGGED IN

The Poverty Industrial Complex

Johnny Harris, an excellent investigative journalist, does a deep dive into the shady industries making billions off poor Americans.

Shot in his usual captivating style, Harris uncovers the shadowy industries, filled with companies you’ve never heard of, that specialise in getting rich off of America’s impoverished people.

Even if you don’t belong to the poorest 25% of Americans, it’s important to educate yourself on this practice.

Wisdom or Wires / Genius or Generated

Which Quote Is AI-generated?

Thank you for reading!

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