A deep-dive series on optimizing your mental energy (aka autonomic arousal)

When I first delved deeply into all things “energy” many years ago, I was very skeptical.

For one, it’s a broad term that can mean many things in different domains, including physics, natural resources and – of course – the human body and mind. In terms of the latter, the term often comes across as a bit esoteric, which doesn’t exactly speak to a scientist’s mind.

In last week’s post, I introduced a model that has fundamentally changed the way I think about energy in humans. It has also transformed how I go about my day. That model is the “arousal continuum” (see figure below).

Where we are on that continuum governs all of our sensations, perceptions, feelings, thoughts and actions – and underpins our levels of mental energy around the clock. And as I explained last week, one of the best ways to deal with stress is deliberately changing where we are on that continuum.

For most waking activities (notably deep focus), the sweet spot is in the middle. Our alertness system and calmness systems are in balance. Our level of autonomic arousal is moderately high —and we’re both alert and calm.

For non-waking activities (notably deep sleep), moving toward the right side of the arousal continuum in the evening in time is vital.

By learning to work with both the alertness system (our “throttle”) and the calmness system (our “brake”) in real-time, we can put ourselves in the “driver’s seat” throughout our days, including when we’re too alert (read: stressed).

Now, on top of working with our throttle and brake, we can use three very powerful levers to systematically optimize our mental energy around the clock – and be at our best (i.e., alert and calm) throughout most of the day and deeply asleep at night.

These levers include light, nutrition and exercise. Being the most powerful synchronizers for controlling our mental energy, these are also known as “time givers” – or “Zeitgeber”, as termed by the German scientists who discovered them.

Over the next weeks, I’ll delve deeper into all things light, nutrition and exercise for optimizing one’s mental energy. Here’s a sneak peek: 

• The most potent time giver is light. As it turns out, it’s only by getting light energy of specific wavelengths into our eyes early in the day – and avoiding that same light late in the day – that we can get our levels of mental energy to where we want them to be day and night.

• The timing, quality and quantity of what we eat (and drink) massively impact our levels of mental energy around the clock. Much of this is highly counterintuitive, including how restricting caloric energy and the order of foods we eat improve our mental energy.

• Exercise is one of the most transformative things we can do to optimize our mental energy. Timed and done right, exerting physical energy doesn’t take away from or compromise our mental energy, but accomplishes the exact opposite — by keeping us alert and calm throughout the day and deeply asleep at night.

So, brace yourself for some counterintuitive insights and recommendations in the next few weeks.

Until then, please share this post with one person who might benefit from learning how to systematically set their mental energy up to be at their best each day:

Until next week,
Christian