QUT Professor Selena Bartlett offers free brain training for health and happiness at Australasian Neuroscience Society conference
Bingeing on sweet foods, self-medicating with drugs, having sex or gambling offer temporary relief to a stressed brain. But visiting scientist and author Professor Selena Bartlett offers a better way, to reward the brain and achieve health and happiness.
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Change your brain with practical exercises to become happy, fit and stress-free, says inspirational visiting neuroscientist and author Professor Selena Bartlett.
Professor Bartlett believes we are on the cusp of a revolution in mental health that will combine modern neuroscience with ancient practices such as meditation – presented on smartphone apps.
“It’s really about taking daily action, like waking up in the morning and starting the day in a really good way, being grateful, doing exercise, eating well,” the Queensland University of Technology neuroscientist says.
“Starting the day off well is the first step towards actually seeing that you do have power over how your brain is wired, because the brain is a machine, if you set it in the right direction, it will go for the rest of the day looking for those positive things.”
On Tuesday December 3, the Australasian Neuroscience Society presents Health, Fitness, and Addiction: The Neuroscience of Brain Resilience, a free public talk by Professor Bartlett during its annual scientific meeting at the Adelaide Convention Centre.
She is best known for her research showing that sugar is just as addictive as alcohol and nicotine.
She says bingeing on sweet foods, self-medicating with drugs, having sex or gambling offer temporary relief to a stressed brain. But there are healthy ways to relieve that stress, such as exercise, meditation, rest and reward including positive affirmations.
Professor Bartlett’s book MiGGi Matters: How to Train Your Brain to Manage Stress and Trim Your Body refers to the role of the brain’s amygdala or “miggi” – which processes emotions – in the stress response.
“You can be the boss of your brain when you know how,” she said. “People who get it and start doing it change their lives and just can’t believe it.”
Health, Fitness, and Addiction: The Neuroscience of Brain Resilience, free Tuesday December 3 from 6pm at the Adelaide Convention Centre, bookings: eventbrite.com