Our Brain Thrives on Distractions. Here's How You Can Help.

Last night, in the middle of a deep and peaceful sleep...

BANG! 
What was that?!
I jumped out of bed. It's 215am. 
Heart racing.
Fear and adrenaline pump through my body.
I can feel my heart vibrating my entire rib cage. 
What was it? Someone in the house? Is it an animal?
Oh, it was just the rain, and the creaking old tree outside. Phew. I try to go back to sleep but it's impossible.

My mind is racing. About animals in the house. About work and all the things I have to do tomorrow. Worried I won't get any sleep and now I've thrown off the whole week and should I just get up now because I'm up?

At the center of our brain sits an almond-shaped lobe called the Amygdala. It’s a primal part, rooted in survival and obsessed with keeping us alive. It hears a noise and it goes into full-in panic mode. Basically, when we feel threatened, it triggers a fight-or-flight response (actually now known as fight-flight-or-freeze). In other words, it’s the part that’s sensitive to looking out for the tiger in the jungle that’s about to jump out and eat us. It’s activated by sudden movements, loud noises, and unusual smells. 

(But we don’t live in the jungle and there are no tigers.)
So instead of tigers, our amygdala responds to things like popup notifications, Slack dings, the rustling of papers, and car horns. The amygdala pumps cortisol and adrenaline into our bloodstream, increasing stress and awareness of our surroundings. In short, when we feel stressed, we're prone to even more distraction.

One alert can put us into that fight-flight-or-freeze mode.
And then we're hyper-aware, sensitive to other distractions and looking for more because our amygdala is active and looking for threats.

Because of that, our amygdala is always challenging our ability to do deep work. We are wired to constantly be on the lookout for some distraction.

The truth is, we’re all in a heightened state of stress right now. As such, one of the best things we can do for our work (and mental well-being) is find ways to calm ourselves down, and quiet our amygdala.  

Deep breathing and meditating can help.
White noise and nature sounds can help.
Taking breaks outdoors can help.

And when we feel relaxed we can more easily do deep work and find ourselves in flow–immersed in our work, learning faster, and controlling our wandering brain. The amygdala is a powerful force in our brain and has evolved to keep us alive. But it can get in the way of flow.

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Caveday is a company aimed at improving your relationship to work. We write regular posts on Medium and send out monthly newsletters with productivity tips, life hacks, and recommendations. Sign up for the mailing list here.

Jake Kahana is a cofounder of Caveday. Sign up for his personal emails, called “The Email Refrigerator” here.