Welcome to another episode of Building Your Best Brain podcast!

In today's episode we talk about:

• 5 reasons why meditation is NOT for you

• Finding your WHY when it comes to meditation

• Journal prompts to set up a consistent meditation practise

Use these following journal prompts once to establish what your meditation practise looks and feels like (use as many senses as possible)! This will stimulate the right circuits before you even dive into your practise.

Whenever you are struggling to meditate, pull these answers back up to remind yourself how it looks and feels like.

Journal about your BEFORE

• What activities are you doing right before, how to prepare, your setup, where is your phone, how to feel

Journal about your DURING

• What time of day is it, where are you, what is around you, what are you wearing, what is our state of being

Journal about your AFTER

• What are your closing activities, how do you feel, what do you do next, how does the rest of your day feel

You can always come back to this to refine your meditation practise set up, so be kind

Message me to let me know how it is going and follow along for more tips on how to build your best brain.

Join me live for a free webinar by joining my newsletter and staying tuned for the next Pick My Brain session.

If you're looking to improve your stress regulation, take my quiz to discover where your brain is currently at—and what steps can help you move to the next level.

📱 Instagram & TikTok — @synaptic.sylvie

🎥 YouTube — Synaptic Sylvie

🌐 Website — synapticsylvie.com

Welcome to another episode of Building Your Best Brain podcast!

In today's episode we talk about:

• Your limbic system

• Neurobiology of your fear response

• Emotions as energetic fuel

Looking for more examples? More tools? Got questions? Drop them in the comment section below and follow along for more tips on how to build your best brain.

Join me live for a free webinar by joining my newsletter and staying tuned for the next Pick My Brain session.

If you're looking to improve your stress regulation, take my quiz to discover where your brain is currently at—and what steps can help you move to the next level.

📱 Instagram & TikTok — @synaptic.sylvie

🎥 YouTube — Synaptic Sylvie

🌐 Website — synapticsylvie.com

Welcome to another episode of Building Your Best Brain

In this episode we:

• Define the clinical and scientific definition of placebo effect

• Unpack a fMRI study looking at placebo and pain relief

• How to apply placebo to your limiting beliefs

Drop your questions below and follow along for more tips on building your best brain!

Study video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REaiu-7wRvs&t=112s

Review paper placebo and pain- https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-pharmtox-010818-021542

Join me live for a free webinar by joining my newsletter and staying tuned for the next Pick My Brain session.

If you're looking to improve your stress regulation, take my quiz to discover where your brain is currently at—and what steps can help you move to the next level.

📱 Instagram & TikTok — @synaptic.sylvie

🎥 YouTube — Synaptic Sylvie

🌐 Website — synapticsylvie.com

Welcome to another episode of Building Your Best Brain podcast!

In this episode we:

• Little life update

• Whats next for the podcast this month

• Why triggers are your brain's best friend

Drop your questions below and follow along for more tips on building your best brain!

Join me live for a free webinar by joining my newsletter and staying tuned for the next Pick My Brain session.

If you're looking to improve your stress regulation, take my quiz to discover where your brain is currently at—and what steps can help you move to the next level.

📱 Instagram & TikTok — @synaptic.sylvie

🎥 YouTube — Synaptic Sylvie

🌐 Website — synapticsylvie.com

Welcome to building your best brain podcast!

In this episode we dive into a HIGHLY requested topic which is on the popular ONNIT Alpha Brain Supplement. Here I walk you through the website where I review the ingredients, mechanism of action, references and reviews.

I also give you my opinion on whether or not I would try Alpha Brain as well as other options.

Drop in the comments your experience, prespective and questions! And subscribe to learn more tips on building your best brain.

Join me live for a free webinar by joining my newsletter and staying tuned for the next Pick My Brain session.

If you're looking to improve your stress regulation, take my quiz to discover where your brain is currently at—and what steps can help you move to the next level.

📱 Instagram & TikTok — @synaptic.sylvie

🎥 YouTube — Synaptic Sylvie

🌐 Website — synapticsylvie.com

Welcome to the episode of Building Your Best Brain Podcast!

In this episode we:

• Different types of information overload

• The dangers of the "if then" statement

• Three ways to overcome "health hack" overload

Join me live for a free webinar by joining my newsletter and staying tuned for the next Pick My Brain session.

If you're looking to improve your stress regulation, take my quiz to discover where your brain is currently at—and what steps can help you move to the next level.

📱 Instagram & TikTok — @synaptic.sylvie

🎥 YouTube — Synaptic Sylvie

🌐 Website — synapticsylvie.com

Welcome to Building Your Best Brain Podcast!

In this episode we:

• The communication highway between your breath and your brain
• The autonomic nervous system
• The lizard brain - star is medulla oblongata
• Your breathing muscles - main vs. accessory
• Inhale vs. Exhale
• Your stress réponse and breathing rate overtime

Join me live for a free webinar by joining my newsletter and staying tuned for the next Pick My Brain session.

If you're looking to improve your stress regulation, take my quiz to discover where your brain is currently at—and what steps can help you move to the next level.

📱 Instagram & TikTok — @synaptic.sylvie

🎥 YouTube — Synaptic Sylvie

🌐 Website — synapticsylvie.com

Welcome to Building Your Best Brain Podcast!

In this episode we:

• Benefits of a long, less frequent meditation practise vs. shorter more frequent meditation practice

• Journal prompts to build your meditation plan that will actually stick!

• Some free meditation resources to get your started.

Journal prompts;

1. What do you hope you will gain from a consistent meditation practise?

1. What is a small, specific, feasible goal you can implement right now?

1. What tools or resources can you use right now to help strengthen your meditation practise?

1. What emotions/thoughts come up when you think about implementing a daily meditation practise? What is an antidote thought to help nurture a positive learning environment?

1. What is a science fact that you are most attracted to and/or find most motivating to maintain a meditation practise?

Join me live for a free webinar by joining my newsletter and staying tuned for the next Pick My Brain session.

If you're looking to improve your stress regulation, take my quiz to discover where your brain is currently at—and what steps can help you move to the next level.

📱 Instagram & TikTok — @synaptic.sylvie

🎥 YouTube — Synaptic Sylvie

🌐 Website — synapticsylvie.com

References:

Levi K, Shoham A, Amir I, Bernstein A (2021) The Daily Dose-Response Hypothesis of Mindfulness Meditation Practice: An Experience Sampling Study. Psychosomatic Medicine 6: 624-630.

Welcome to Building Your Best Brain Podcast!

In this episode we:

• What is DNA? How is it organized? Where do we get it?

• How is each cell so different but have the exact same DNA?

• Where our genes meet our environment.

• What is meditation?

• Meditation, aging and your epigenetics.

• Epigenetic aging.

• What does this mean when it comes to meditation?

Join me live for a free webinar by joining my newsletter and staying tuned for the next Pick My Brain session.

If you're looking to improve your stress regulation, take my quiz to discover where your brain is currently at—and what steps can help you move to the next level.

📱 Instagram & TikTok — @synaptic.sylvie

🎥 YouTube — Synaptic Sylvie

🌐 Website — synapticsylvie.com

References:

Chaix R, Álvarez-López MJ, Fagny M, Lémée L, Regnault B, et al. (2017) Epigenetic clock analysis in long-term meditators. Psychoneuroendocrinology: 210-214.

Chaix R, Fagny M, Cosín-Tomás M, Álvarez-López MJ, Lémée L, et al. (2020) Differential DNA methylation in experienced meditators after an intensive day of mindfulness-based practice: Implications for immune-related pathways. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity: 36-44.

Welcome to Building Your Best Brain Podcast!

In this episode we:

• Sylvie's favorite saying in all of neuroscience research!

• What is a neuron?

• What are the building blocks of a circuit in the brain?

• Excitatory vs. inhibitory neurotransmitters.

• Dr. Donald Hebb "Hebbian Learning"

• The famous rhythm by Dr. Carla Shatz

• The break-through research that brought it to life

• What is neuroplasticity?

Join me live for a free webinar by joining my newsletter and staying tuned for the next Pick My Brain session.

If you're looking to improve your stress regulation, take my quiz to discover where your brain is currently at—and what steps can help you move to the next level.

📱 Instagram & TikTok — @synaptic.sylvie

🎥 YouTube — Synaptic Sylvie

🌐 Website — synapticsylvie.com

References:

Hebb D. 1949. The organisation of behaviour. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons.

Shatz CJ. 1992. The developing brain. Sci. Am. 267, 60–67. ( 10.1038/scientificamerican0992-60)

Song S, Miller KD, Abbott LF (2000) Competitive Hebbian learning through spike-timing-dependent synaptic plasticity. Nature Neuroscience 9: 919-926.