The Q-Kids - Slow Down

By John R. Nocero and Andrea Bordonaro

JRN: I read an article today about “busy brain” – I don’t know if you have heard of it or not, but getting to the root of it has amazing benefits. Dr. Romie Mushtaq, Chief Wellness Officer at Great Wolf Resorts, has been studying chronic stress and burnout in the workplace for more than six years. She coined the term “busy brain”?as a description of the negative impact of chronic stress creating a specific pattern of neuroinflammation in the brain that leads to this triad of symptoms: difficulty focusing, ruminating anxiety, and insomnia. When we look at the overall mental health data from The World Health Organization and the American Psychological Association, we see that more and more people report chronic stress and burnout in the workplace.

Our data collection of 17,000 adults taking the “Busy Brain Test” measured the effects of stress on mental, cognitive, and physical health. Our results were consistent with other data, showing over 82% of participants were suffering from a “busy brain.”? We must examine factors in all workplaces such as inability to disconnect from digital devices, a lack of boundaries between work and personal life, and toxic cultures in the workplace.?The article is here if you’d like to read it:?Getting to the Root of the ‘Busy Brain’ Challenge Can Lead to Better Research Conduct - ACRP (acrpnet.org)

?And this goes back to a discussion we had recently. Specifically, both of us feel like we should be doing, I don’t know, something. Working out, reading, running, doing lesson plans, playing with dogs, anything. In this rush-rush-rush culture of ours, we almost have to give ourselves permission to slow down. Breathe. Think. Mediate. Walk. Do nothing. We aren’t machines and there comes to a point when you just can’t go through it or tough it out anymore. You need rest. I had a busy week recently, and on a Saturday, I just was like, nope, excuse me miss, I’m not having it. And went and took a nap. It was marvelous. I woke up refreshed. Like I had recharged my synapses. And felt glorious. We should not punish ourselves for resting and recharging. Rest and self-care are so important. When you do, you can recharge others from your surplus.

?A couple questions for you:

1. Do you ever get “busy brain” and if so, how do you calm it?

2. Do you ever see your students exhibit signs of “busy brain” and how do you combat it in the classroom, when they just can’t focus or worse, they are distracting to the other kids?

Thanks - JRN

ALB: I find this aspect of life so interesting because it's something that I've personally always struggled with at every age and stage of life. It's like I almost "need permission" or feel the need to "earn" the right to slow down, take a break, and just "do nothing." It's odd and quite honestly, quite irritating.

It's like I feel better when someone I care about and value says to me, "Andrea, kick back and give yourself grace, take a break and push all that aside for today." I can then breathe easier and have not such a challenging time doing so. What's so frustrating to me about how I handle this is that I am so kind toward those I care about and try to urge others to be kind to themselves and take a break when needed in life. Why don't I take my own advice here? HA!

One thing I've tried to work on in recent months is to really focus on talking to myself like I do those I love. I often find myself asking myself "would I say this to my friend, daughter, lover, mom, dad, etc?" Oftentimes the negative thought perpetuates a hard answer of NO, I definitely would NOT. I try to be gentler with myself and notice how much better I feel when I shut off things as often as I can (often times for me, as it's night after my girls are in bed - this is my most treasured time of the day) and just BE.

It's so important to take time for ourselves to avoid always suffering from a "busy brain" - I couldn't agree more! That article is so very interesting for so many reasons. I am VERY aware of how this affects my students as well. Without fail, we take 2-5 dance/exercise breaks from our work during a single school day. Sometimes I choose the song/movement and if a student earns it, I let them choose. Sometimes it's fast paced dancing, stretching, quiet breathing, fun movements, etc but we call these "brain breaks," as they help us give our brains a break from thinking and learning and then get back on track after a drink of water. If I do not give these breaks, yes, oftentimes it manifests itself in children as fidgeting in class and becoming disruptive towards others.

Sometimes these kids benefit from visiting the "calming corner," which has a box of fidget toys/spinners, one minute water timers, squeeze toys, etc. OR I have these students take a note to another teacher to get in a little walk for a "break." I try not to have the kids sit idle in their seats for long periods of time because, well, first, they are only six and seven years old and their natural attention spans are short, but also because it's of utter importance to me to keep them engaged in learning and WANTING to learn all day long in class, so we do a lot of partner work, "one minute turn and talks," cooperative learning, and sharing activities in a group. Students need help socializing and interacting appropriately with others, especially since the Covid era, so I use this to their benefit as well. I use calming music very often in my classroom and I turn the lights off, too, while we are writing and/or brainstorming on a daily basis as well.

I have two lamps on to help set the mood and I diffuse DoTerra essential oils in my classroom as well. All of these help with focus and attention. I try not to overstimulate. For instance, we were writing about planning our dream party this morning and on my big SmartBoard projector, I had a fireplace projector that was crackling live to instrumental music. It has a very calming effect?not only for me, but for the students as well. MANY people have commented over the years on how wonderful the mood is in my classroom so this maintains to be a priority to me on a daily basis to help combat "busy brain."

Finally, we talk quite regularly about the "zones of regulation" in class and how to manage our emotions/feelings as a school and it helps the students at all ages (staff, too) throughout the day and hopefully at home as well. Here is a quick overview if you are interested in this as well:?https://drive.google.com/drive/search?q=zones%20of%20regulation. We ALL need to unplug, take breathers, and find our happy/calm place on a regular basis in order to maintain our sanity and find true peace and happiness...now if only I could live on the beach, I could attain this feeling 100% of the time... ha ha :)