Heidi Hanna - The Sharp Solution: A Brain-Based Approach for Optimal Performance

Cover images: Brain Baris Simsek/istockphoto; Background Jenny Horne/istockphoto

Cover design: Wiley

Copyright 2013 by Heidi Hanna. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Hanna, Heidi, 1974

The sharp solution: a brain-based approach for optimal performance/Heidi Hanna.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-118-45739-9 (pbk.); ISBN 978-1-118-50669-1 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-50668-4 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-50661-5 (ebk)

1. Achievement motivation. 2. Brain. I. Title.

BF503.H366 2013

158dc23

2012030193

SHARP: Having an edge; precise, extremely clever or astute; keen, intelligent, sensitive, alert; having a penetrating quality; observant, incisive, vigorous, active.

In memory of Amy.

Foreword

The SHARP Solution is a well-written, science-based approach to incorporating sustainable behavior change to reduce stress and increase overall wellbeing. Dr. Hanna guides you through designing a personal action plan to decrease your daily stress and live a longer, healthier life. The book provides an inside-out perspective of how the body functions on a physiological and psychological level when under stress. The focus is on building resilience through mindfulness, meditation, balanced nutrition, and dedicated relaxation time.

The book is organized into five phases: brain, heart, mind, body, and community. The focus is not on what you should be doing to relieve your stress and be healthier, but how to take the knowledge that most of us have heard repeated throughout our lives, and actually make small sustainable changes to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Dr. Hanna emphasizes nutrition, physical activity, rest, and most importantly cognitive fitness. The book guides you through various aspects of brain training through her SHARP Brain Recharge technique.

The process is simple by design. It offers a variety of short, effective methods to help you shift out of a stress response into the relaxation response in just a few moments. Dr. Hanna provides a toolbox of simple techniques that you can practice and incorporate into your busy life without adding more stress and strain as you struggle to find time to relax. Through this book, Dr. Hanna represents the essence of our mission at The American Institute of Stressto provide evidence-based information and simple-to-follow techniques to reduce stress and improve your quality of life.

Dr. Daniel L. Kirsch, President,
The American Institute of Stress

Introduction

For most of my life, I thought I had a broken brain. By the age of 12, I had already been diagnosed with my first stress ulcer and experienced my first panic attack. It was well understood by scientists and doctors at the time that the brain was hardwired from an early age-that our mental maps had been secured soon after adolescence and could not be changed. So I accepted the fact that I would need to learn to manage my broken brain and try to control the symptoms, without any hope of fully healing.

A few years ago while writing my dissertation on stress and weight management, I began to learn a great deal about how the brain works. (I also learned that stress leads to weight gain, as I put on 10 pounds without changing my diet or exercise habitsbut that's fodder for another book). I was burning out, completely exhausted from traveling across the globe for work. After being hospitalized with severe fatigue and crippling panic attacks, I was unsure of how I would ever return to a normal life. My greatest fearsthose that cause the biggest spikes in my anxietyare flying and public speaking; so I definitely didn't make the best choice for a career path if I wanted to live conservatively. I had pushed myself to the limit and wasn't taking care of my personal energy the way I knew I shouldand my brain let me know it.

Around this time I also found out that a third grandparent of mine had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. This prompted me to begin a deep dive into research to see if there was any way to try to prevent such a fate for myself or my other family membersand what I discovered changed my life. I found out that not only were there things we could do to possibly delay the development of symptoms caused by Alzheimer's disease and natural cognitive decline, but also that they were the same things that were being recommended to reshape and rewire the brain for optimal functioning. Simply put, the things that can help you have a better brain today will help you have a better brain tomorrow. Of course, it made perfect sense, but why hadn't I heard about this before?

Thanks to advances in technology that took place about two decades ago, scientists have discovered that the brain isn't actually hardwired after all. Pioneering neuroscientists demonstrated that through the right type of training, people could relearn abilities they'd lost through severe brain damage, with different parts of the brain taking on new roles in the operation of the body. This discovery, known as neuroplasticity, means that the brain is radically adaptable when given the right stimulus, and allotted an adequate amount of recovery.

The existence of neuroplasticity doesn't just mean that we can heal the brain. It also means that we can potentially rewire existing mental mapswhich are the connections between brain cellsso that they function in a way that best serves us, thereby leading to optimal health, happiness, and performance. I have undertaken this process myself, and implemented strategies in my own routine to make sure that my brain and body support me in the midst of challenging circumstances so that I can continue doing the work I love without burning out or breaking down. While I won't introduce any new or particularly groundbreaking concepts, we will walk through them in a systematic way that is designed to give you maximum benefit with minimum investment. This will help you build a toolbox of strategies to boost your brainpowerstrategies that won't require a great deal of your time or energy.