The fascinating truth behind our stress-driven behaviors that shrink DNA and accelerate the aging process. It is chilling what our daily stressors do but following a pandemic it is essential training. The good news is you can stop the damage and repair what was once believed to be permanent damage to our DNA. Fun life-behaviors including play, foods you eat and the darkness of your bedroom can work miracles. Regenerated neurons bounce back with motivation, improved memory, better relationships, weight loss, sleep and more. The stress of our lives depletes our best health and begin disease but so do the healthy behaviors within days, boost function and heal the brain. This is Kim’s FAVORITE presentation!

Looking you in the eyes is means you care or does it mean a fight? Why are boys test scores sometimes years behind girls?  Do spatial reasoning and math scores differ by gender?  Brain imaging shows compelling differences in male-female processing and it does not just dictate color and toy preference it is driving emotional responses and the chance you will slam the door when you walk out of a fight. If we are not radically different, why is the most stressful event for one different than the other?  Stay with me here, what if learning the difference can save marriages, improve workplace interaction, and even increase our collective intelligence? Neurology, hormones, and culture work together for the sometimes-hilarious opposites. What if simple new behaviors and strategies tap our greatest potential.  You will be shocked at how quickly relationships and interaction improve!

The experts in mental health have totally missed the mark. You cannot wait until there are symptoms to recognize. The only factor that matters for mental health is to protect it before it wanes. Forget everything you knew, there are 5 things in our daily lives that sustain our energy that drives mental health. The problem is the most common behaviors you do every day threatens it.  Simple things like flipping on a light switch can put you at risk for disease and addictive behaviors. Light lowers our defense against properties that trigger anxiety and depression.  You can get it back, but you must know the pitfalls. The best part of this presentation is the reality that changing only one or two things can bring relief immediately. You must know the science behind it though or putting down a phone and closing the electronic devices will never happen. Another important piece is knowing that men and women, boys and girls have different symptoms.  The goal is to bring your balance back, learn about sleep, which foods and ways to reset and upgrade your connections to others.

Believe it or not, movements are therapeutic and some types of movement magically repair what was considered permanent damage. Integrating movement into daily life activities including work and learning is especially effective for sustained attention, enhanced cognition, and motivation. The more we move, the better. More complex movement has the power to regenerate neurons, counter cognitive deficits and even improve social skills. Fitness and movement provide the foundation for our short-term memory, ability to learn math, and learning to read at grade level. Imagine that 10 minutes of moving changes mood, and 10 minutes of moving increases innovation, and 10 minutes slows our aging processes. You do not want to miss the activities you can build into your workday, school day and homelife.  Moves that engage students with attention deficits, manage discipline, motivate apathetic learners, and reinvigorate learning for everyone in the classroom.

Some things come easily, most take effort and being the best does not always guarantee a win. The best of the best spends years training, practicing precise and technical execution to get it right when it matters. No matter how good, the win always goes to the one with the best mental game. The thrill of victory or agony of defeat comes from training the neural pathway to protect against a tailspin in the clutch. Science shows us what triggers it, how to counter it and the strategies are simple. Using this training is key for peak performance in sports, and for being a champion in the real world where bias and belief systems can trigger underperformance. Practices that take minutes or seconds can mean the difference between great success and failure.

There is little question surrounding the answer to a long and healthy life; more friends are the answer—and means you catch fewer colds. Our social skills are a holy grail for almost all success, interpersonal skills and recognizing mindset are essential. It never occurred to me that we could learn the basics, and train others to build connections at work, school and especially in our personal life. These skills and interacting with others impact our mood, intelligence, problem-solving and especially our health.  The power of skillful relationships promotes sales and business deals, but especially improve our daily life and personal happiness, most important, you will see what the opposite sex truly values!

What if we could train ourselves to be happy? Would you do it? Happy people are more productive, healthy, and active, save more money and have significantly more joy in relationships. Forty years of research on positivity has revealed a path no longer reserved for the lucky. No matter what life event or personality trait, daily actions especially gratitude can take us from ordinary and despair to a state of happiness. You will love what it looks like in the brain.

Using your hands and fingers for a purpose builds the network that supports your IQ, the more sophisticated and complex, the higher our intelligence.  Building, making, assembling and problem-solving use the same functional integration we use for cognition. More using our hands decreases depression symptoms, increase motivation and engagement especially relevant for education and parents. Greater eye-hand coordination correlate with innovation and intelligence; you can see the pathways for yourself.

Your willpower determines everything you do, all your choices and ultimately lifetime success and failure. In a landmark experiment, children given the choice of eating one treat immediately or two treats in 10 minutes showed us how to measure our self-discipline. Every day we begin with a limited amount; that means a hard day depletes the supply leaving less for the end of the day. Thankfully, we now know how to build, replenish, and harness this ability. Like our muscles, the more you use it the better it gets. If you want to lead the life you have always wanted, you will love this presentation.