See the World Anew with Dishabituation
Enrik’s Birthday Edition 🎂

Welcome to Effective Habits, a weekly newsletter where I share evidence-based strategies and tools to help you live a happy, healthy, and productive life.

Today at a Glance:

• Dishabituation: How to Trick Your Brain to Find More Joy in Life

• Should You be Taking a Multivitamin for Cognitive Health?

• It's Time To Take Your Brain Back

Dishabituation: How to Trick Your Brain to Find More Joy in Life
Alison Flood

Lights, Camera, ...
Ever notice how you walk into a smokey or smelly room, but soon enough, the smell fades? Ever wonder why the joy of new experiences fades over time, like the excitement of new clothes or moving to a new home? That's habituation, our brain's knack for tuning out the familiar. But habituation isn't always helpful; it keeps us in bad relationships, blinds us to climate change, and perpetuates gender biases. So, how do we break free? Enter dishabituation, the art of seeing things anew. Tricking our brains into fresh perspectives not only enhances happiness but also sharpens our awareness of misinformation and societal issues, offering a pathway to personal growth and social change.

Action!

1. Take breaks from your usual environment, whether it's a short getaway or making changes to your daily routine. When you return, you'll see things with fresh eyes.

2. Diversify your life and experiences by enrolling in courses outside your field, working on diverse projects in different industries, and exploring various topics. This helps you break out of habituation and see familiar things in new ways.

3. Incorporate breaks into enjoyable activities, like listening to music or taking vacations. Research shows that interruptions can reignite joy by preventing habituation. E.g. opt for shorter vacations rather than one long break.

4. Rely on data rather than relying solely on your feelings related to significant issues like air pollution and climate change. Our emotions can often deceive us when it comes to perceiving slow changes.

Should You be Taking a Multivitamin for Cognitive Health? A New Study Suggests Yes.
Brady Holmer

Lights, Camera, ...
Unlock the secret to a healthier brain with just one small addition to your daily routine: a multivitamin. In a trial of over 20,000 adults, daily multivitamin supplementation for two years was linked to significant improvements in memory and overall cognitive function (even in already healthy adults), akin to rolling back the clock on brain aging by 2 to 5 years. This research, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, challenges the notion that multivitamins merely produce "expensive urine." While targeted supplements and a healthy diet remain the gold standard, embracing a daily multivitamin could serve as a blanket insurance cover against cognitive decline as we age, ensuring your brain stays sharp for years to come – a small investment for such significant potential gains.

Action!

1. Take a daily multivitamin as part of your routine to ensure you're getting all essential nutrients, as even with a balanced diet, nutrient deficiencies can occur. As a blanket cover it will provide you with more vitamins than you will likely need, but easily covers the ones you may be deficient in.

2. Invest time in researching and testing to pinpoint any nutrient deficiencies you may have. By identifying specific deficiencies, you can tailor your supplement intake for a more targeted approach to improving your health.

It's Time To Take Your Brain Back
Philip Pearlman

Lights, Camera, ...
Tired of feeling overwhelmed by digital distractions? Embrace the concept of Digital Intermittent Fasting—a weekend detox from screens and social media. Just like intermittent fasting can transform eating habits, this protocol can reclaim your attention and restore joy in simple pleasures without breaking with digital tools completely. Experience the liberation of weekends filled with genuine connections, deep dives into passions, and blissful moments of uninterrupted peace. It's time to break free from the chains of constant connectivity and rediscover the richness of the offline world—one long weekend at a time.

Action!

1. Thursday evening, log out of social media apps and disable notifications on your phone.

2. Before bedtime, store your phone in a drawer outside your bedroom and repeat this nightly until Sunday morning.

3. Limit text messages and email to essential communication only from Friday to Sunday.

4. Whenever possible, keep your phone in the drawer or turn it off.

5. Enjoy phone-free activities like walks, dining out, or outdoor adventures over the weekend.

6. Combat phone urges with alternative activities such as recalling fond memories, hydrating, walking, jogging, or deep breathing.

7. Reflect on the relief of disconnecting from distractions on Monday morning, then resume social app access and notification settings.

TOOL TIP

How to Chop Every Vegetable: In case you’ve ever wondered, this video with James Beard Award-winning cookbook author and chef Amy Chaplin teaches you how to slice (nearly) every vegetable at the market.

FUN FACT

Mice don’t like cheese.

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Disclaimer: The information provided in this newsletter is for informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult a medical professional for advice, diagnosis, or treatment. We are not liable for any risks or issues that may arise from using this information.