How to Support your Brain during the Holidays using Āyurveda
I want to share something I hope feels supportive during a season that can easily leave us frazzled and pulled out of our usual rhythms.
One of the most important things to understand about cognitive health is that it’s multi-factorial. There are many variables that influence brain health over time, which means there is no single magic bullet.
Exercise matters.
Sleep matters.
Blood sugar matters.
And science can (and does) go very deep into each of these areas, showing meaningful benefits.
Which means it's easy to forget that:
For some people, one of these factors can actually become the linchpin.
When someone finds their linchpin, supporting that one area tends to create a cascade of secondary benefits. Improve one thing, and suddenly you're experiencing a whole host of secondary benefits.
There is nuance to this, and it's more intuitive than science sometimes allows for.
This is is where the Āyurvedic concept of yukti comes in.
Yukti is the ability to recognize what works best for you, right now, based on lived experience. It is the art of practicing self-discernment and awareness.
This means you're not trying to optimize or perfect everything at once. Instead, you're choosing the habit that gives you the biggest return - the 20% that moves the needle 80% for your system.
Cognitive health may be multi-factorial, but that doesn't mean you need to work on every factor equally, all the time. Especially during the holidays.
So instead of trying to hold every routine perfectly, I encourage you to find your linchpin.
For me, I prioritize sleep like it’s a medical intervention. The last couple of years have brought a series of challenges for me and my family. I’ve noticed that when I create a three-hour gap between my last meal and bedtime, and keep a consistent 10 PM–6 AM sleep window, everything else becomes easier.
Even in the midst of uncertainty and moving around, protecting my sleep-wake circadian rhythm has been my linchpin.
And I'm letting the rest be imperfect.
I'd love to hear from you:
What's your linchpin this season?
What's the one habit you're committed to keeping, even if others fall by the wayside?