Live with Dr.Charryse 🧠: The Impact Of Chronic Distraction On Your Mental Wellbeing

Good morning, Kaja Sphere. How are you this week? As always. Come in, say good morning, good afternoon, or good evening. Let me know where you are in the world and rate your week one to ten. One, meaning you're on the struggle bus, which is okay. If you're on the struggle bus, you've come to the right place. Good morning, Audrey. Or ten. You feel like you are just rocking a week to the best of your ability? If this is your first time here, welcome. I'm Doctor Charryse Johnson. Hello. Speak wonder.

A licensed clinical mental health therapist, mindfulness practitioner, and author. And I come here a couple times a week so that we can talk about all things. Life, health, trauma, you name it, we're going to get into it. And I'm so excited. Hello, Joycelyn. About what I have today. I know I say that every week, but it's true. I wish you guys could feel my heart before it's time for a live. You would think that I've never done this before, but I just get so excited. What's up, Dallas in Houston, and there's a little bit of neuroscience in today.

Hello, Charleston with your cinnamon tea. So that also geeks me out, but I also need to try to contain myself. That being said, I'm glad that you're here, and I'm glad that you showed up today. I'm gonna hop right into it. Tell me this. Hello, Columbia. Oh, let me rate my week. I would say that my week is a nine, which feels really good. I don't even know what would make it a ten, but I don't ever think there's really such thing as a perfect, perfect week. You know what I mean? I mean, it can be.

It's up to you. But I would say a solid, solid nine, which feels good. I feel like I haven't had a nine week in a long time. So the same things that I ask you to do, I do myself. I think that is a beautiful, very simple, self regulation skill that you can use to go, how am I doing? Where am I at and where am I going? So everything adds up. If you're the kind of person that typically takes notes on lives, this might be one where you want to take some notes. It's probably going to be a two part live because I know I'm looking down and I'm like, girl, you have way too much information.

But I think it's going to be so important. Hello, Jules. Hey. Do the best that you can. Sometimes a five is where it's at, and that's better than a one. Right. Hello, Fairmont, West Virginia. What's up? All right, so have you ever had a moment or season in life where you just felt like your mind was all over the place, too many tabs open, can't remember where things are, feel like you're forgetting things, you're constantly behind the eight ball. And we may not feel like this all the time, but I just want you to think about the moments that you do feel this way, where your brain just feels like it is just completely distracted or what's up, Buffalo?

Moments where you feel like it is just really challenging to focus. Now let me say as a caveat, if you're a neurodivergent, well, of course you're going to feel that way. We feel that way a lot. But even beyond our typical neurodivergence, there is this scattered and you're just struggling to focus. So I want to spend some time today talking about the impact of being distracted and how it impacts your mental health. So the first question that I have for you, how would you rate your level of focus, one to ten?

Are you locked in and really, truly focused on the things that you say that you want in life? Your goals, your desires, your passions, your aspirations, whatever it is, are you genuinely focused on what you say you want for yourself? Because there's a big difference between, oh, here's all these things that I want for myself, and I'm not really doing anything to put these things in motion. I do want you somewhere, whether in your mind or on a piece of paper, to rate one to ten, how focused are you on what you say that you desire for yourself?

Good morning, Kane 1906. And hello, Ken. Then I want you to ask yourself, and I probably will stop talking for like 20 seconds, what's distracting you right now? And I want you to consider this. Sometimes there can be good things in your life that are still a distraction if they're taking up too much of your time, too much of your energy and too much of your focus. So regardless of what's kind of around you and what you're managing, our responsibility is always going to be how do we make sure that we're not placing so much focus on all of these other things, things that we didn't ask for, things that are good, that we're doing too much and making sure that we're centered on taking care of ourselves.

And here's why I think this is so crucial this time of year. I also want you to take a moment and think about what has this year been like for you? Because mental health and well being isn't just a matter of each day. It's cumulative. So I want you to think about man. Here's how I felt at the beginning of the year. Here's how I thought the year would be. And as the year has gone along and things have happened in my life or with the people that I love now that it is September, here's the reality of how I'm feeling.

Because you may still have unresolved things or things that you didn't get a chance to really manage that have happened to you, that as a result of all of those things weighing on you, you're kind of in a state of distraction. And when we're distracted, the challenge is it can create anxiety, it can create overwhelm, it decreases our productivity, and it makes it more difficult to manage the task and the responsibilities that we have for ourselves. So think of your cumulative year. How focused are you right now?

What's distracting you? Please make sure you actually take the time to answer those questions, because that's your application, is you can't work through the things that you're unwilling to acknowledge and be aware of. What did you say that you wanted for yourself this year, and have you actually worked on those things? If you have, bravo. But if you feel like, you know, I've just kind of been treading water, that's okay. But don't get distracted. I want you to stay focused on what you said you wanted for yourself and continue to believe that it's possible.

I do want to go into a little bit of neuroscience. I do that every now and then. I try not to over geek on it too much, but I do want to spend a little bit of time this morning. So I'll make it two part, helping you understand how distraction impacts the brain. Why is that important? Your brain is your wheelhouse. Your brain connects to your heart, connects to your digestion. And all three of these important parts of your body are constantly talking to each other through neurotransmitters that are sharing information.

So if I'm distracted and my brain feels scattered, my heart's going to kind of feel anxious, overwhelmed, sad, numb. You fill in the word that it is for you, overexcited, because you can be so distracted that you're overcompensating as well. That's going to impact my digestion, what I eat, what I crave. Right. Whether or not you eat right, under eating or overeating are the same issue, just with different responses. So everything that you see yourself doing is bi directionally. Focused. And when we're distracted, we're not going anywhere.

We just feel like we're going through the motions, and it leads often to us feeling not so great about ourselves. But your focus is something that you can continue to work on. It doesn't mean that every day needs to be perfect, but the key is, don't lose sight of what you said, that you want it for yourself. And really take inventory of anything in your life right now that has become a distraction that's taking up your mental landscape. And how do you really move that off to the side or reposition it where you go?

This isn't mine to carry. I've been carrying this too long. This situation isn't within my control, so I need to let it go and refocus my energy so that you can continue to end the year well, but more importantly, so that you can maintain a level of well being. Thank you for your shares. Those of you who are chiming in and sharing about the things that are distracting you, you're always welcome to put any of those shares in the chat as you want to. So, five things that happen in the brain when you're distracted.

Number one, it impairs your focus, so it disrupts your prefrontal cortex, this really important part of your brain that's centered right in the beginning front of our forehead. This is where we want to hang out as much as possible, because this is where concentration is. This is where decision making is. So, you'll notice we can all admit that when we're distracted, decision making is more challenging. It is more difficult. We don't want to make decisions. We make impulse decisions. So that is one issue that happens when we're too distracted.

Number two, it reduces what we call our working memory. And our working memory is actually pretty fragile. So we all feel like we have constant interruptions in our overload. It's difficult to retain information. We feel like we're constantly forgetting things, we're numbing out. Or we find that when our prefrontal cortex is struggling and our working memory is down, we are not as effective. So it's really important for us to recognize we have to find balance. Some of you are saying things like, yeah, I have had some new caregiving situations or realize I've got some unresolved issues that are still kind of there.

Things can happen. Yes. In our connection circles, on social media, in real life, and as a result of it, it can throw us off, and it's important to go, whoa, this is starting to be too much. And here's how you'll know you're genuinely distracted when you find yourself thinking about things that you're like, this is really not where I want to be spending my time and energy, and your mind feels stuck on something, replaying on loop, that's a pretty good sign that you want to back away from that thing, especially if that thing is harmful.

It's okay to be excited about something, but when you know, like, hey, this is harmful. And keeping my mind here is keeping me from focusing other things, that's an issue. So, five ways that your brain is impacted by distraction. Impaired focus. Reduce working memory. Increased stress. Distraction equals stress because you're not finding that you're spending quality time focused and centered on the things that are necessary for you. I'll out myself when I get too distracted, when my mind has way too much going on.

I'm an internalizer, so my typical desire is, I want to go in, I want to withdraw, I want to go into my shell, I want to sit there and try and figure it all out before I come back out. But as a result of that numbing, because of distraction, I'm forgetting things that are important. Doing things feel overwhelming to me. I'm not taking care of myself as much. I have less motivation to follow my typical routines if there's something that is taking up too much space in my brain. So increased stress, which also increases your cortisol levels, which is your stress hormone.

And for those of you that are familiar with me talking about stress and how you eat when cortisol is high, stress hormone is high. Satiety leptin will be low. That means you're going to eat more, you're going to drink more, you're going to smoke more, whatever your preferred outlet is when stress is high. I caught myself yesterday. Yesterday was an underlyingly stressed day, and I was fighting between being distracted by all the things that happened and trying to stay calm and hold myself. And I noticed my brain was like, don't you want this food and this food and this?

And that's not bad. But I knew, like, whoo, there's something going on when I'm starting to crave things that aren't a part of my normal routine. And that was a sign for me that my stress was high and I really had to work on bringing it down. Number four, diminish cognitive performance. So when you're distracted and your brain is overwhelmed because there's too much going on, you're going to find that your productivity goes down and your cognitive, what we call cognitive efficiency goes down. Big word.

That just means your ability to make efficient decisions and choices that are focused on the long term diminished. So these are the moments where you're too distracted. And when you're distracted and working memory and stress is struggling, you make more impulse decisions instead of thinking about, what do I want for myself long term? And number five, you have altered neural pathways. I love this. I need to listen to this when I'm not distracted. That's perfect. Yeah, I know it's heavy, but I do want you to kind of go back to it.

So, altered neural pathways means you're not going to function the same. If we stay chronically distracted too long, it will absolutely impact our mental health. And as a result of that, it actually changes your brain structure, which is not a good thing. If our brain structure, our neural pathways, are changing in positive ways, it's phenomenal. But if we're not careful and we allow ourselves to stay distracted by other people's mess or by not dealing with our stuff, then it changes the structure of our brain.

And as a result of that, we can really start picking up some habits that can be pretty detrimental. So here's what I want you to do. I know that was a lot of information. This is one that you're going to have to come back and listen to first before I say what I want to do. Why is this important? I always want you to understand that mental health isn't just about did I do the right thing, it's about, do I understand the way I'm designed and created? Do I understand that this core brain center of my body impacts everything that I believe about myself and there's work involved, and that being distractive and taking on stress and having too many tabs open and over multitasking and nothing dealing with my pain is cumulative and will keep you and I from being what we're capable of being.

I want you to be everything that you desire, and most of you desire to be your absolute best self. And in order for us to be that, we got to do some work. But we have to understand that in action is a decision and distraction is a choice, that we actually do have the ability to pull back, to shut things down, to push people to a different place in our lives, and to reset and make sure we're really focused on ourselves. And you will feel amazing. Now let me talk to my people pleasers for a minute.

I know that it can feel really scary to think, is it okay for me to center myself? Other people need me, and what will they think? They'll be fine, and so will you. You have to pull back if needed, and make sure that you are in a place where you are focused and you're centered. And from that place, that's where you make your choices. That's where you make your decisions. That's where you create new habits and patterns or maintain the great ones that you have in place. Because if you're overly distracted and your brain is struggling to manage your daily life, you're going to see that show up in every single area of your life.

So the only thing that I want you to do after listening to this is go back and ask yourself, where do I see that my brain might be overwhelmed right now? Is my focus impaired? Is my working memory? Am I being very forgetful right now? Do I feel like my stress is increased? Am I noticing that there's some diminished cognitive performance? That I'm not able to be as productive as I normally would? Am I seeing altered neural pathways? Am I seeing myself make decisions and choices that I know are a sign that I'm not in a good place, but I feel like I can't stop them.

And if you see yourself in any of those places, pull back. Is it time for you to pull back and to reset? You decide what pullback means for your life. It looks different for each person. Are there some people that you need to talk to less? Are there some people that you need to talk to more because they're great for you? Are there some activities that you need to engage in more because they make you feel good? Are you engaging in some activities that you need to do less because they actually make you feel bad long term?

Is social media overwhelming right now and you need to back away from places that are too much and too activating? Is there a friend that as much as you love them, they are too much right now and keeping them on your mind is distracting you from being able to focus on yourself? That's okay. You're not wrong. Help direct them to a resource, to a counselor, to a coach, or to somebody that can help them. It is not your job to be the therapist friend. That's for somebody. Okay. Part two of this, which we'll go into next Wednesday, is I'll give you some strategies on how you can actively and tangibly decrease the level of distraction in your life.

But until then, please put yourself first. Please give yourself permission to pause if you don't remember anything that I say today. I want you to remind yourself that your peace is your power, and peace is not something that we necessarily just wake up with and it stays with us all day in this magical feeling. We have to work for it. It's something that we have to create conditions so that peace can allow. And I want you to determine what that means for you. You don't have to make any changes yet, but at least go through the reflection questions that I gave you and begin to think about where are you distracted, where have you lost focus?

Where do you need to give yourself permission to pause and where do you need to let go and let somebody else take care of themselves while you take care of you? All right. Thank you for being here. If you come across somebody who is struggling with this topic and area, I feel so overwhelmed and distracted. Let them know this exists. It could be 20 minutes that could change their life. And I look forward to seeing all of you very soon. Have an incredible, incredible rest of the day. Bye.