Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of IHeart Radio.

Good morning. This is Laura.

Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

Today's tip is to turn down the volume.

By consciously substituting less stimulating activities

for more stimulating ones,

we can feel less anxious and more calm.

Today's tip, like some others this week,

comes from Chris Bailey's new book, How to Calm Your Mind.

In this book, Chris shares strategies for being more productive by reducing anxiety.

When your mind is racing, it is hard to accomplish much. But when you aren't flitting from thing to thing,

you can relax and get more done.

Chris notes that some activities are far more stimulating than others.

Our brains get a dopamine hit from things that are novel or changing quickly,

or are alarming in some way.

Picture the hyped up face of a child interacting with two screens at once. A game on a

Kindle and streaming a video on an iPad. We could laugh about that, but honestly, many adults do

similar things all the time.

Theoretically, watching a Zoom meeting while checking email or scrolling social media,

while watching a TV show, or having podcasts on in the background,

while you're doing something you are trying to focus on.

Just as with a kid, it can get you in a hypercharged frame of mind.

...