PORTLAND, Maine — By now, many people have given up on New Year's resolutions like weight loss, but it could be the brain shutting down the motivation.
Dr. Franchell Hamilton, a bariatric surgeon and the creator of NeuroSwitch, said we all have a spot in our brain that reminds us of the times we've failed and essentially tells our bodies to stop. Here's how to work around the habenula.
"Your brain is the ultimate CEO of your weight-loss journey, and it has been shown to be potentially more powerful for sustainable health," Hamilton said. "More so than medications and even surgery. So be nice to your brain."
Being kind to your brain includes getting enough sleep, hydrating, and eating more nutritious foods. A healthy brain helps you live a healthier lifestyle. If you're looking to stick to a new diet, Hamilton said consider starting small.
"Don’t commit to a very restrictive or a deprivation diet. Don’t cut your calories to 1,000. Don’t decide to completely give up sugar, because the way the brain sees it it’s like a sinking ship, and it’s trying to figure out how to pull the ship out of the water so to speak," Hamilton said.
The brain plays into diets and how we view them so much that when it believes it's lost a source of energy, it fights.
"It also triggers your cortisol to release stress because it feels very stressed, and then it slows down your metabolism. The brain does all of these things to kind of prevent you from continuing the diet, which is why most people can’t continue it," Hamilton explained.
The culprit is the habenula, essentially an area in the brain that controls stress, depression, and frankly reminds you of your past failures or things you've tried that didn't work or hurt your body.
"This area gets activated any time we’ve had an adverse event occur in our life," Hamilton said. "A lot of times people are like, 'I’m going to start a gym membership.' And so if you’ve tried to start a gym membership every January for the past three years your brain remembers that, and when you go back to the gym that area in the brain is activated, that non-rewarding pathway, and it’s not going to let you continue that behavior."
How can you work around it? Try something new.
"What you need to do is use curiosity and figure out something else to do," Hamilton suggested. "If exercise is your goal think about hiking, think about dancing, think about something else besides physically going into a gym. Just kind of make that small adjustment."
If a physician recommends a 30-minute workout each day but that seems too daunting, break it up into 10-minute increments throughout the day.
To learn more about Hamilton and the science behind healthier living, click here.