The brain’s role in good health

Topics …

• 5.1 How you can help your brain improve your health
• 5.2 Positive thinking
• 5.3 Mindfulness or autopilot?

5.1 How you can help your brain improve your health

The brain has a crucial role to play in your health. This generally occurs at a subconscious level although there are things you can do consciously to assist your brain’s role in maintaining good health.

The obvious things are eating the right foods (see chapter 2, especially 2.8 Diet/Brain) and regular physical activity, preferably a variety of exercise and done daily (chapter 3 Exercise). Sleep is also important. Positive thinking and Mindfulness (below) are other ways to help.

The following table outlines key areas of your health that are regulated by your brain, together with brief explanations of how this works and how you can help.

Health area	Brain influence	What to do	Sign of imbalance
Coordination / movement	Motor areas of the brain (e.g., cerebellum, motor cortex) affect movement, balance and coordination.	Varied physical activity – walking, stretching, balance exercises.	Clumsiness, poor posture, or difficulty with some motor tasks.
Digestion and appetite	The brain regulates hunger and satiety through the hypothalamus and interacts with the gut via the enteric nervous system.	Eat mindfully, avoid multitasking during meals, and tune into hunger/fullness cues.	Cravings, bloating, irregular appetite, or emotional eating.
Immune function	The link between your brain and your immune system (via the vagus nerve) affects your immune system.	Look after your microbiome/gut health, manage stress, get adequate sleep.	Frequent infections, slow healing, or chronic inflammation.
Pain perception	The brain processes pain signals and can modulate their intensity.	Use distraction, relaxation techniques, and gentle movement.	Heightened sensitivity, persistent pain or emotional distress.
Sleep	The brain controls sleep cycles through the circadian rhythm and melatonin production, impacting energy, mood, and recovery.	Consistent sleep schedule, reduce screen time before bed	Trouble falling asleep, waking often, daytime fatigue, mood swings.
Stress regulation	The brain activates the stress response via the hypothalamus and adrenal system. Chronic stress can dysregulate this system, affecting immunity and cardiovascular health.	Practice deep breathing, mindfulness, and regular movement. Limit stimulants and schedule downtime.	Frequent irritability, sleep disruption, digestive issues, or feeling constantly “on edge.”

Personal story – sleep and brain health

5.2 Positive thinking

Positive thinking is having a constructive mental attitude. It involves focusing on strengths and opportunities, good solutions and looking at setbacks as a temporary pause. It’s not quite the same as optimism but they are closely related and the benefits for health are very similar.

Are you born a positive thinker?

The benefits of positive thinking

• positive people have stronger immune systems, more resilience and recover more quickly from illness and injury;
• mental health is improved e.g. it helps ward off anxiety
• positive thinking enhances coping skills and reduces the duration and intensity of stress, protecting the body from its damaging effects;
• chronic inflammation that underlies many diseases can be reduced by positive thinking;
• better relationships and higher life satisfaction are experienced by people who are positive thinkers;
• positive thinking helps the management of pain and diseases, even ones such as diabetes, heart disease and arthritis.

Proactive health and positive thinking

Practising proactive health supports mental health and well-being which contributes to a positive outlook on life. In turn, a positive attitude contributes to good health.

How does positive thinking work?

Personal story – learning to be positive: a matter of choice

What makes a positive thinker?

• Attitude e.g. challenging negative beliefs, which are not always rational, and replacing them with constructive thoughts.
• Diet and nutrients: A well-balanced diet plays an important role in fostering positive thinking and mindfulness because the nutrients we consume have a direct effect on how the brain functions.
• Gratitude: Being grateful tends to make us look at life more positively – even appreciation for everyday occurrences and small things, such as a fleeting connection with another person, helps to build positivity. Gratitude on a macro level (e.g. for who you are, where you live; etc,) is even more helpful for positive thinking.
• Reframing: It helps to look at difficulties as challenges, rather than becoming despondent or ignoring them in the hope that they will go away.
• Smiling: Research shows that lifting your head, straightening your spine and smiling (even slightly) are not only a reflection of your mood, they help shape it. It can trigger subtle shifts in brain chemistry, reduce stress hormones and encourage optimism: Posing smiles can brighten our mood | Stanford Report

Support and professional advice

Being associated with supportive and positive people can foster optimism and positive thinking although, if you suffer from chronic negativity, advice from a cognitive-behavioural therapist may make the difference.

Further reading: How to become a positive thinker

5.3 Mindfulness or autopilot? It’s your choice.

What is mindfulness and why is it important?

Mindfulness (often referred to as “being in the present”) means being mentally alert, aware and focusing deliberately on what’s happening – not just on what you’re doing, but also on relevant internal and external circumstances such as your objective, the physical environment (e.g. the surface you’re walking over) and the unfolding context around you … without being distracted!

It is the opposite of doing things on autopilot or letting your mind wander.

The next time you walk into a room and forget why you are there, it’s probably because you didn’t maintain mindfulness after you thought about what you needed to do or get, headed in that direction and unconsciously allowed autopilot to switch on.

Similarly, next time you can’t find your keys, phone or glasses, it’s invariably because you weren’t mindful when you put them down. If you don’t remember a paragraph or two you just read, or miss a sentence or two in a conversation, it’s probably because you were not reading or listening mindfully.

These are not memory problems. They are attention problems. You didn’t pay sufficient attention to what you were doing at the time, so the memory never formed.

The importance of mindfulness

The importance goes well beyond the incidental examples above. It is important for your mental, emotional and physical health, as explained below. It’s also a significant contributor to happiness and well-being.

How often do people unconsciously switch to autopilot?

It is a lot more common than you probably think. A Harvard study found that people’s minds wander 47% of the time. Other studies show that people on average spend between 30% and 50% of their waking hours on autopilot or “sleepwalking”.

What’s the downside of autopilot?

Sometimes the cost is obvious but small – such as when you forget why you went into that room, or drop something (unless it’s valuable and fragile). But sometimes the cost can be high – such as when you have an accident.

Most of the time the cost isn’t obvious. That’s because people usually don’t realise what they missed out on when they forget to be mindful – what details they missed, how they could have done better or how much more they could have enjoyed what they were doing.  

Even more importantly, most people don’t understand that mindfulness is a significant contributor to good health (see Advantages and how to benefit below).  

“It was just an accident”

The concept of something being an accident often means people don’t accept personal responsibility, but the truth is that most accidents occur through someone’s lack of attention. And that can be addressed by improving mindfulness.

What causes the switch to autopilot?

It either happens as a result of being distracted – by an internal thought or an external trigger – or it is simply a loss of focus on what you’re doing.

The likelihood of distraction or loss of focus increases when you are under stress, doing something that is familiar, monotonous, of long duration or is routine or undemanding. Regular digital stimulation exacerbates the problem.

The advantages of mindfulness and how you can benefit

Short-term and long-term benefits

Research shows that mindfulness has a range of immediate benefits. It can improve your attention span and focus. It can reduce anxiety. It can change your mood and make you feel better, almost instantly.

Mindfulness also has a range of longer-term health benefits when it is practised in a structured manner (see Meditation below). For example, it lowers blood pressure and improves sleep. It lowers stress by reducing stress hormones like cortisol and reduces the risk of disease. It improves emotional balance, decision-making and is a significant contributor to quality-of-life and happiness.

1. Improved health: reduced stress, anxiety & better emotional regulation

Breath‑focused mindfulness – focusing on breathing activates the body’s calming mechanism (i.e. the parasympathetic nervous system). It reduces stress hormones, such as cortisol. This can have a short-term effect of reducing stress and anxiety. It can also have a long-term effect (see 9 below) – if it’s done regularly – that makes both stress and emotional reactions less intense and easier to manage.

What to do – sit comfortably and notice the sensation of each full breath – inhaling, exhaling and the pause in between. If your mind wanders, bring it back so that you continue to focus on breathing. 10-15 minutes per day is recommended

Helpful tip – be aware of how your body may give you a forewarning of anxiety, perhaps a tightening of the chest or shoulders; take a long slow breath and label the emotion as “anxiety”. This can interrupt the spiral. Practising this long-term reduces the brain’s tendency to overreact. Before changing activities, take 3–5 slow, purposeful breaths. Keep attention on the breath, not the next task. This prevents stress from accumulating.

2. Improved focus, attention and memory

Maintaining focus/attention – practising mindfulness strengthens your ability to stay on task and return if distracted. This will improve reading comprehension, concentration and memory. It also improves decision‑making.

What to do – choose an anchor to focus on such as a part of your body and keep your attention on the chosen anchor for between 10 and 15 minutes per day. Doing this for 8 weeks has been shown to improve attention, concentration and working memory. If your attention drifts, just bring it back to the anchor as soon as possible. Breath focused mindfulness also works for this.

Helpful tip – before reading or commencing work, take a long slow breath and deliberately notice the first sentence or first step. This anchors attention.

3. Better sleep

Mindful breathing + body awareness – this shifts the nervous system from “alert mode” to “rest mode” and helps to quieten mental chatter and racing thoughts. It should result in faster sleep onset, fewer nighttime awakenings and improved quality/depth of sleep.

What to do – lie on your back, place a hand on your abdomen, and feel the rise and fall as you a breath in and out. If thoughts appear, return to the sensation of breathing. Do this for 5–10 minutes before bed. Deep breathing techniques can also help you fall asleep when you get to bed. One of these is called “box breathing” – breathing in deeply through your nose for 4 seconds; holding your breath for 4 seconds; breathing out through your mouth for 4 seconds and holding for another 4 seconds. Some people find that breathing out for 6 seconds and skipping the final 4 second hold works better.

4. Improved posture, movement and accident avoidance

Mindful movement – practising movement‑based mindfulness improves proprioception and increases awareness of surfaces, obstacles, and alignment. This can stop attention drifting and result in fewer falls, better balance and reduced physical strain.

What to do – walk slowly and notice the contact of your feet with the ground, the movement of your legs, and the environment around you, particularly scanning ahead for changes in surface. It is recommended to do this for 5-10 minutes during a daily walk. This trains the brain’s sensory‑motor networks, which govern coordination and stability.

5. More pleasure, enjoyment, fulfilment and life satisfaction

6. Better social connections and relationships

Mindfulness – mindful or active listening will improve the quality of communications and social connections. This usually means more meaningful connections and appreciation of relationships.

What to do – when someone begins speaking, feel your feet on the floor. Doing this, even briefly, grounds attention and improves listening.

7. Pain management

Mindfulness can improve pain perception – it doesn’t actually reduce the level of physical pain but makes it more bearable. Pain is exacerbated by a person’s emotional response and by subconscious tension. Body-scan mindfulness can reduce both.

What to do – Move your attention slowly through the body from head to toe, being aware of subtle feelings. Focusing on other present-moment issues (such as breathing, sounds around you, etc) can also help. Doing this can direct the brain’s attention away from the pain because it takes up bandwidth and judgemental responses to pain such as “this is terrible”.

Deep breathing techniques are also helpful because this activates the parasympathetic nervous system – the rest and repair mechanism – which counters the body’s stress response, lowers cortisol (which can amplify pain) and improves heart rate variability which can help with pain tolerance. Further reading: Use mindfulness to cope with chronic pain.

Helpful tip – It also helps to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. For example, this may involve consulting a physiotherapist who may be able to release muscles and ligaments that are trying to protect the ‘damaged’ area but ironically can cause, or contribute to, the pain. This not only has a physical benefit but also a psychological benefit – knowing that the underlying problem is on the way to repair can make a big difference to the perception of pain.

Medical advice: There are times when it is necessary to seek medical advice, such as when pain is persistent (lasts for more than a few days), gets worse or interferes with daily life. You should also seek help if the pain is accompanied by other signs or symptoms such as unexplained weight loss, fatigue, headaches, digestive issues, infections, dizziness, changes in vision, speech or movement.

8. Make you feel better

Mindfulness can make you feel better both physically and mentally – for example, being aware of your posture will usually result in small adjustments that can improve your disposition within seconds; thinking about being more mentally alert can sharpen your focus and awareness which can make you feel better.

9. Long term health

Mindfulness improves long-term health – This is because mindfulness reduces chronic stress, lowers inflammation, and results in healthier behaviours including improved sleep, reduced desire for alcohol, increased physical activity and reduced emotional eating. These changes directly improve cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure, blood glucose, and cholesterol. The American Heart Association reports that mindfulness meditation lowers cardiovascular disease risk by 22%.

What to do – Daily informal mindfulness (e.g. mindful walking, gardening and eating) contributes to good long-term health but not as much as structured mindfulness that requires sustained attention; repeated returning to mindfulness when the mind wanders, and consistent daily practice for 10-13 minutes a day over a period of 6-8 weeks. Deeper benefits can be achieved with 20-30 minutes a day. This is why meditation (see below) produces deeper health effects than casual mindfulness.

Personal story – how mindfulness enhances well-being

Over six months, she noticed a significant reduction in her anxiety levels and an improved ability to concentrate. She also found that her sleep quality improved, contributing to overall well-being.

Meditation

Meditation is the training that builds mindfulness to a higher level than can be achieved by just practising mindfulness in daily living. It’s a bit like weight training – the day-to-day use of your muscles will strengthen them but not as much as doing weights or using resistance bands.

The end result is that meditation will produce better long-term benefits if done diligently.

How meditation works

Structured meditation training involves dedicated sessions (usually for a minimum of 10-13 minutes) focusing on one anchor, such as your breathing or bodily sensations. Attention will often wander – bringing it back to focusing on the anchor (i.e. the “return”) is the key that strengthens neural pathways, like repeatedly lifting a weight strengthens your muscles.

The benefits of meditation

Measurable improvements in attention and working memory can be gained after 6 to 8 weeks of regular meditation, preferably daily. It will also improve the way you respond to various emotions.

Another benefit is that meditation activates the parasympathetic nervous system which helps with sleep. It will also improve your stress resilience, whereas mindfulness is helpful for interrupting stress when it occurs but doesn’t build the same level of resilience.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR)

MBSR will not only reduce stress and but also improve emotional balance. The three core practices are:

1. Breath Meditation: Sit comfortably and focus on your breath. When your mind wanders, gently return to focusing on your breathing. Time: 10-20 minutes.

2. Body‑Scan Meditation: Move your attention slowly through the body, noticing sensations without judging them. If your mind drifts, return to the body part you were focusing on. Time: 20-40 minutes.

3. Mindful Movement: Slow, deliberate movement (gentle yoga or walking). Pay attention to how the body feels as it moves. Time: 10-20 minutes per day, although longer sessions of 45 minutes per day (the clinical protocol) are used for managing chronic pain, severe anxiety and long-term emotional dysregulation, although this is not necessary for most people.

Mindfulness complements these practices: The results will be helped by bringing awareness to everyday activities outside the structured meditation sessions – such as eating, walking, showering, listening. Notice the sensory experience and return your attention when it drifts.

Meditation time guidelines

Research indicates that even 5 minutes a day can reduce anxiety, improve awareness and lead to better emotional stability, although 5 minutes typically helps to build the habit rather than producing the long-term benefits themselves.

Deeper benefits require a minimum of 10-13 minutes a day to produce improvements in mood, stress levels, sleep quality, attention, working memory and emotional regulation. These benefits typically begin within 6-8 weeks.

20-30 minutes per day will produce better long-term improvements in emotional resilience, stress reactivity, cognitive clarity, rumination and anxiety.

Consistency matters more than duration – small daily practice beats occasional long sessions.