A Calm Brain: How to Relax into a Stress-Free, High-Powered Life

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Robert Sapolsky, professor of biology and neuroscience at Stanford, sums up the entire role of the frontal cortex quite nicely: “the frontal cortex makes you do the harder thing when it’s the right thing to do.”

In Part 1, I introduced the More To That map of the human brain, which took this super complex, mushy goo of cells and neurons riding in our heads: Stress and anxiety are often to blame for sleep issues. During periods of tension, the body activates its natural stress response But instead of viewing the Land of the Wise from a left-to-right perspective, we’re going to focus primarily on one area of it: the frontal cortex.The fact that something as wise as the prefrontal cortex lives alongside something as unpredictable as the amygdala is a testament to the inescapable battle between our impulsivity and rationality. This struggle is enrooted in the core essence of who we are, right down to our own biology. Much of human existence is about striking the right balance between the two – if we allow the Land of Emotional to have complete, 100% control over us, we will likely end up destitute and homeless. On the other hand, if we allow the Land of the Wise to have complete control, we won’t know what it’s like to have any fun. So the key here is to pay attention to the moments in which your impulses are guiding you to the right place, and the times in which your rationality is telling you otherwise.

Body scans are a type of meditation that feature a slow, focused attention to different parts of the body. Once you’re lying comfortably in bed, try these steps for a relaxing body scan:When people refer to the famous left and right hemispheres of the brain, they are generally referring to the lateralization (or division) in this outer layer. The left side is largely responsible for language processing, verbal comprehension, and analytical thought, while the right side governs important things like emotional thought, intuition, and creativity. 2 However, this “left-brainedness” and “right-brainedness” has been largely exaggerated over the years – in reality, the functional differences between the two sides are very subtle, and significant overlap occurs between the two. The Sleep Foundation editorial team is dedicated to providing content that meets the highest standards for accuracy and objectivity. Our editors and medical experts rigorously evaluate every article and guide to ensure the information is factual, up-to-date, and free of bias.