Category: Corporate

Sensory neuroscience is understanding the brain and how it contributes to us working and living on a daily basis. Open plan office and call centre environments are traditionally busy, sensory overloaded, and noisy with a high activity level.  The following are simple, yet effective strategies based on how the senses work in the brain at the level where it integrates with alert levels, stress, attention and emotion.

1. Taste: Sucking or crunching on healthy foods is regulatory for the brain (i.e. apples, nuts, carrots). The ultimate is the use of a spout water bottle – while sucking away, you will be hydrating your brain and your full bladder will mean more movement breaks!
2. Move: Movement is one of the best regulators for the brain. Stand up from your desk and take a movement break. Stretch and take a deep breath. Have lunch away from your desk! Do regular exercise!
3. Touch: Deep firm, hard pressure on the skin is calming and regulatory – that is why massage is such a great stress reliever. Put both hands on your head and squeeze down firmly for 5 seconds, relax and repeat. Fiddling with a stress ball and/or textured object is regulatory. Ever wondered why some of us get such a kick out of doodling?
4. Look: Calming visual stimuli are: fish tanks, lava lamps, artwork, gentle colours and plants. Reduce the clutter in your work environment as it keeps on stimulating the brain in the “background”! Reduce the number of icons on your desktop, clear your inbox and use a structured electronic filing system.
5. Listen: Music has powerful effects on the brain. I advocate the use of earphones/headphones as they can help anyone contain noise and auditory distractions. Use music that calms and regulates the brain. Play up-tempo and lively music when you need to kick start your brain, but more calming and regulatory music when overloaded and stressed.
6. The bottom line is: Take 5 – give your brain a break!

Demands, tasks and deadlines have increased the daily frenzied distractions we are faced with in a 21st century workplace. Our brain circuits have become overloaded and we use all our energy to simply survive, doing as much as we can, as fast as we can and as best as we can, yet we don’t always perform to our best potential. Despite our best efforts, our to-do lists, tasks, meetings and inboxes still grow exponentially and we are stretched, stressed, disengaged and worn-out.

In the modern workspace of open plan office environments it is very difficult to escape the continuous bombardment of the senses.  As managers/leaders/supervisors you are expected to trouble shoot, problem solve, deal with people and technology issues, manage processes – all which require a high level of brain energy, thinking and reasoning.  For this you need time and space, which so often escape us. Research shows a vast increase in workplace stress and depression rated as the main occupational disease of the 21st century, placing our brains, health and self-esteems at risk.

Although the brain works best with a certain amount of pressure and demand, there is a fine line between kick starting you versus throwing you over the edge.

• Are you able to recognise your limits?
• How do you handle all the demands and distractions?
• Being most efficient and resilient in the workplace takes knowledge, insight and guts!
• Workplace stress and distractions are real and constant; it cannot be avoided – it must be understood and tackled through practical, easy and effective strategies.
• Understanding and reducing stress and distractions will result in better brain power, better performance and efficiency.

Business leaders owe it to their bottom line to tackle these issues and not expect employees to simply “shape up or ship out”.