Brain Rot: Simple Strategies to Beat It

Brain rot is a perceived mental decline caused by the consumption of low-quality and low-value content from any online media. Excessive use of social and digital media harms psychological and cognitive health (1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
9 unexpected things we learned about mental health and our brains in 2024

Go to source).

Advertisement

Brain Rot: Impact of Social Media on Your Mind

“Brain rot” is the official Word of the Year for 2024, announced by the Oxford University Press (OUP). The expression’s usage raised to a frequency of 230 percent between 2023 and 2024. The phrase is mostly used by those who are affected by brain rot.

Activities like endless scrolling through social media, watching videos that do not engage the mind, or reading non-informative articles can rot the brain. Over time, these habits can decrease attention and memory, and increase mental fatigue leading to stress and anxiety.

This constant stimulation without intellectual engagement can make it harder for the brain to process information effectively and can reduce cognitive function over time. People with internet addiction show structural brain changes and reduced grey matter.

Advertisement

Brain Rot’s Impact on Attention, Memory, and Mental Health

Brain rot has various negative impacts on brain health. However, decreased attention span is the most significant. Continuous exposure to online media makes it harder to focus on tasks like reading or deep thinking which require attention.

Watching or reading poor mental stimulation content can lead to a decline in cognitive abilities like memory, problem-solving, and critical thinking. Reduced real-life social interactions may result in feelings of isolation or loneliness. The transition towards online interactions leads to less or no empathy. Brain rot can cause decreased productivity and poor sleep quality, as the constant need for social media interferes with relaxation and focus.

Advertisement

How to Beat Brain Rot: Tips for Better Mental Health

Brain rot is nothing but an addiction to useless content. Fortunately, there are some ways to overcome this and addiction and get free from brain rot. They are:

1. Writing by hand: Writing letters or taking notes by hand improves conceptual understanding than typing for learning and memory. For kids, it can improve letter recognition and learning.

Writing by hand requires coordination between motor and visual systems which engages the brain.

2. Gut microbes: The guts of people who handle stress have more anti-inflammatory microbes and a strong gut barrier. This keeps toxins and pathogens away from the bloodstream.

The brain and gut have a connection as the gut produces serotonin and dopamine affects mood and mental well-being. Eating healthy and nutritious foods can help in dealing with stress.

3. Proper sleep: Working night shifts and sacrificing sleep for wasting time on low-quality content can make people susceptible to depression and poor mental health.

Having a regular and ample amount of sleep help with stress and other mental sickness. Sticking to a sleep schedule can lower the usage of social media.

4. Healthy lifestyles: Changes in sleep patterns, diet, social lives, and physical activities can reduce the risk of getting dementia. Even people with genetic risk factors can benefit and track risks to their brain health.

5. Talking to yourself: A therapeutic approach called Internal Family Systems (IFS) can help with stress. It is based on the idea that inside everybody there are different parts or voices like an inner critic, a worrier, or a protector. The therapy helps to understand and accept these parts and figure out what they’re trying to tell you.

6. Weight training: Strength training for at least two to three times a week can reduce the symptoms of depression and anxiety. Exercises using resistance bands or doing squats or push-ups are other alternatives for weight lifting.

7. Avoid ultra-processed food: Eating more ultra-processed foods like fast foods, sugary drinks, and packaged snacks are linked to mental health problems like depression.

Eating nutritious and healthy balanced-diet foods that are fresh and free from chemicals can help overcome depression.

8. Waste removal from brain: During deep sleep, the brain works like a cleaning system. Slow electrical waves synchronize with the neurons, effectively turning them into tiny pumps that push fluid from deep in the brain to its surface. From there the waste is transported to the liver and kidneys for excretion.

When the wastes from the brain are removed properly it reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, headache, and even depression.

9. A high-fat and low-carb diet: Following a ketogenic diet which is high in fat and very low in carbs can help with mental health issues. This diet may also help with conditions like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and depression.

While consuming low-quality content might seem harmless, the long-term effects on the brain can have adverse effects. So, it is important to follow some of these healthy habits and simple lifestyle changes to overcome brain rot and live a peaceful life.

Reference:

1. 9 unexpected things we learned about mental health and our brains in 2024 - (https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/12/31/nx-s1-5243328/discoveries-mental-health-brains-neuroscience-2024)

Source-Medindia