chapter twelveOur Brain and Lifestyle
‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.’
ARISTOTLEPhilosopher and scientist (384–322 BC)
ABOUT THIS CHAPTER
The beginning of this book refers to the fact that we are hampered by our own biology, and many of us struggle with the pressures of keeping up with constant change and disruption.
As the digital world has sped up around us, we now spend most of our days sitting down!
The problems associated with our sedentary lifestyle are exacerbated by a lack of sleep and a poor diet. Many of us are compromising our long-term health, the negative effects of which are receiving increasing attention from scientists, researchers and business executives.
This final chapter explores our modern lifestyle and suggests ways in which we can maintain well-functioning brains and bodies. The three areas of lifestyle covered are sleep, physical exercise and nutrition.
Part 1: The science explained
Our brain and sleep
Why do we need to sleep?
We spend a third of our life asleep. Sleep plays a vital role in maintaining our health and wellbeing. During sleep, our brain is very active and works hard to maintain our physical and mental health.
Together with his research team, the neuroscientist and sleep expert Dr Matthew Walker has studied the impact of sleep on people’s brains using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure neural blood-flow activity, and electroencephalogram (EEG) tests to monitor neural ...
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