Sort Your Brain Out: Boost Your Performance, Manage Stress and Achieve More

Table of contents

1. Cover
2. Endorsements
3. Title page
4. Copyright page
5. Dedication
6. What This Book Is All About
7. Introduction
   1. A bit about us
8. Your Amazing Brain – The wonder between your ears
9. Flying Start – Five quick tips to get more out of your brain
   1. BOP1: Water – Start every single day by rehydrating your brain
   2. BOP2: Exercise – Vital for brain health (and holding onto your marbles)
   3. BOP3: Stress – Control your cortisol to manage your stress
   4. BOP4: Sunshine – Soak up the sun's rays to stabilize your mood
   5. BOP5: Caffeine – Good for your brain in many ways, in moderation
10. Old Dogs, New Tricks – It's never too late to change
    1. Rewiring needed
    2. Bring it on!
    3. Finding Flow
    4. Chapter takeaways
11. Cyber Heads – Who's the boss, you or technology?
    1. Brain for sale – no longer needed
    2. I want it now!
    3. External brain reliance
    4. Will technology ruin our brains?
    5. Staying in to play
    6. Multitasking?
    7. The buzz and bleep of modern living
    8. Brain training ourselves to distraction
    9. Chapter takeaways
12. Gone Fishing (for Great Ideas) – Are you receiving, over?
    1. Dunking
    2. Where in the brain do these creative thoughts actually come from?
    3. Using novelty to jolt you out of set piece behaviours
    4. Switch it up
    5. Inputting relevant data to feed eureka moments
    6. The night shift
    7. Rest and play
    8. Go jump in a few puddles!
    9. Chapter takeaways
13. Perception Is Everything – Mind the gap
    1. Now you see it, now you don't
    2. Wiring up the senses
    3. Division of labour
    4. Bottom-up and top-down pathways
    5. Do I know you?
    6. Mind the gap
    7. Impact of context and expectations on perception
    8. Chapter takeaways
14. To Do or Not to Do – Making better decisions
    1. Icebergs of hindsight
    2. Got a hunch?
    3. Reward Line
    4. What do you fancy for dinner?
    5. Emotion-flavoured decisions
    6. Push and pull
    7. Danger zone – excessive buy button activity likely
    8. Losses loom larger than gains
    9. The price of impatience
    10. Experience really does count
    11. Chapter takeaways
15. Food for Thought – Gastronomic impact for better or for worse
    1. Don't wait for the leptin
    2. The influence of bacteria
    3. Fat filled and all sugared up
    4. Sugar-coated vandalism
    5. No vacancies
    6. The best fuel
    7. Pump that brain
    8. Consistent high performance
    9. Endorphins – natural opiates
    10. Chapter takeaways
16. All Aboard the Stress Express! – Making sure you're in the driving seat
    1. Cortisol the motivator
    2. Holding back the pain
    3. Who's driving your train?
    4. “Trying” to get to sleep
    5. Sixty crucial minutes
    6. Chapter takeaways
17. “Smart” Drugs – Understanding your chemical assistants
    1. Everyone's on drugs!
    2. On top of the world
    3. Not so smart drugs in schools
    4. Whistle while you work
    5. Nootropic drugs – big dilemmas, grave outcomes
    6. The original smart drug
    7. Brewing for survival
    8. Wear and tear
    9. Chapter takeaways
18. Hold On to Your Marbles – Keeping senility at bay
    1. Over the hill
    2. Putting the brakes on
    3. Brain attack
    4. Brain change activity
    5. Building cognitive reserve
    6. Alzheimer's disease versus Alzheimer's dementia
    7. Chapter takeaways
19. What Next? – Your brain, your call
    1. What could possibly hold anyone back?
    2. The feedback we received and the impact it had
    3. Repetition rules
    4. Photo albums
    5. Believing is seeing?
20. Acknowledgements
21. About the Authors
    1. Dr Jack Lewis
    2. Adrian Webster
22. Index