Stress, wellbeing and smartphones

with Nicola Morgan,expert and author

www.nicolamorgan.com

Your brain is in your hands

And you have more control than you

think

Let’s talk about stress

Chemicals

Adrenalin and cortisol

• Heart beats faster and we breathe faster

• Blood rushes to where it’s needed

– Carrying oxygen and glucose (energy)

• => SUPER-PERFORMANCE

So, what’s the problem?

1. Too much panic

2. Cortisol can build up, affecting:

sleep, mood, mental + physical health,

concentration, self-control, memory,

performance and more

And….

3. “Preoccupation” – too much “on our mind”

• Brain “bandwidth”

– Everything occupies some bandwidth

• These things occupy a LOT:

– Anxiety / worry / negative thoughts

– Anything we have to concentrate on

– Screen use / Internet / social media etc

If you have a lot “on your mind,” your concentration won’t be so good.

You will work less well.

We all need to learn to manage stress

There are lots of simple things we can do

Free advice on my website:

www.nicolamorgan.com

1. Instant: a breathing technique

• Let’s test your breathing…

– Relaxed breathing is “belly-breathing”

• www.nicolamorgan.com has free audio

– Practise it before you are too stressed

– Then you can use it instantly at any time

Instant

2. Daily relaxation / time-out

Daily

Your choice

• Several different things

• Things you find relaxing – your choice

• Three things that definitely help:

1. Exercise – even just a quick walk outside

2. SWITCH OFF devices for an hour

3. Read for pleasure – anything you choose

What kind of activities?

bath

walk

music

read

drawstroke a

pet

make something

breathe deeply

write

mindfulness

daydream

laugh

be alone OR

social

look at nature

any exercise

SWITCH OFF!

Exam Tip:

• Taking breaks during your work helps your brain learn

Screentime and life online

Fantastic devices

• We can:

– Connect with people around the world

– Connect with people who share our issues

– Learn about anything

– Make friendships

– Relax

– Have fun

But also some problems:

1. Safety – personal info etc

2. Loss of privacy – mistakes are public

3. Exposure to dark ideas and images

4. False information and fake news

5. Cyber-bullying and cruel behaviour

Those are mostly NOT what I’ll talk about

I want to talk about “over-use”

Being on our screens too much

1. Affects our work

2. Affects our mental health and stress levels

• And some strategies to take back control

But maybe you ARE in control!

Let’s take a quiz

• 0 = Never

• 1 = Occasionally

• 2 = Quite a lot

• 3 = Very often

0 = never 1 = occasionally2 = quite a lot 3 = very often

1. Check your device within 5 minutes of waking?

2. Spend longer on it than you planned to?

3. Feel anxious or annoyed when you can’t use your device

4. Have your device on before going to sleep

5. Feel bad that you’ve wasted time on your device

6. Try but fail to use your device less

How did you score?

• 0-2: a healthy digital life – GOOD!

• 3-6: not bad but be careful of any “2 or 3” answers

• 7+: you need to take control!

• If you get your score to 2 or less, you will:

– Feel better and work better

– Sleep better

– Have better wellbeing and mental health

– Have a better chance of achieving your potential

The problem is not your phone

It’s how much you use it and how you control your

use

What problems do youthink there might be?

• Sometimes stressful?

• Makes us snappy?

• Tiring?

• Ignoring friends?

• Stops us getting to sleep?

• Too little physical exercise?

• Stops us working well?

• Spoils our concentration?

Some things we know

• Multi-tasking harms work: tiring, stressful + not effective

• People who do this more are worse at focusing

• A nearby screen/phone lowers concentration

• Since smartphones: less going out, exercise, face-to-face conversation, empathy

• Using smartphones moremore unhappy

(See my website for research and an Online Wellbeing Pledge for you)

So why do we keep doing it?!

What’s the connection?

Using social media, screens etc

• Use the same “reward” parts of the brain

• Same brain activity and same chemicals

• Dopamine – the YES chemical

• It’s very very tempting

So we need to be very strong

1. Know the science

2. Set smart goals: “I’ll switch phone off for 35 minutes”

3. Help each other

4. Remove it from sight

5. Switch off an hour before bed

6. Tell your parents to do this, too!

Six Steps to Online Wellbeing: A Pledge

1. I am worth more than how many people “like” my posts2. I will also spend time talking and listening to people offline3. I will notice when being online is harming me and I will switch off4. I will turn off my phone and social media when I need to focus5. I will turn off my phone from an hour before bed until morning6. Every day, I will enjoy some time with my phone off

Copyright © Nicola Morgan 2017Permission to share

Stress, wellbeing and smartphones

with Nicola Morgan,expert and author

www.nicolamorgan.com

Multi-tasking

• Brain “bandwidth”

• Everything you do uses bandwidth

• If we try to multi-task:

– We get worse results

– We complete the task more slowly

– We get stressed and tired

An activity

• Think of your phone/tablet/device in a negative way – use all senses

• Describe it with words/pictures/both

• Build more detail into your negative image, so that your phone becomes something unpleasant

• THINK of that any time you want to resist temptation