For most of human history, our brains dealt with pretty straightforward problems. We looked for food, and we tried not to get eaten in the process. We hunted, and we gathered, and that was pretty much it for the last 50,000 years. But that brain is the exact same one we now use to post pictures of our pets on social media, fill out Excel spreadsheets and worry about the next payment on our credit card. It's not surprising that our brains sometimes get overloaded in this hugely complex modern world ` anxiety, stress and depression. But is there a way to make our Stone Age brains work better in the modern world? In this episode, we'll look at the three most common issues that affect our brain ` stress, depression and anxiety. (SCREAMING) We'll see why they happen and what we can do to reduce the impact they have on our lives. Oh my goodness! (SOMBRE MUSIC) Captions by Jean Teng. Edited by Jake Ebdale. www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2018 We live in an amazingly complex world our ancestors could never have imagined, so it's not great surprise our Stone Age brains are often overwhelmed in our kinds of ways by our relentlessly demanding digital lives. All of us are affected by strange and disconcerting thoughts at times, and they can lead us into darker territory ` anxiety, depression and stress. Whenever there's a major change in my life, I feel weirdly compelled to dramatically change my hair ` by bleaching it, perming it ` doing some sort of damage. And, initially, it's something I want to do, but after it's done, after the damage is dealt, I'm like, 'Ahh!' Whenever I'm alone, I feel like somebody is watching me, and I get scared. Uh, it hap... It only happens in the dark, not doing the light or during the day. So... I feel like somebody's watching me and following me. I bite my nails sometimes until it hurts, through worry and anxiety. And if I manage to grow my nails, then I scratch my face. So, I've had social anxiety and depression for about six years. And the thing with me is ` when I'm overly tired and I want to go to bed, my body's like, 'No, no, no. Don't go to sleep. You're passing out.' But I'm not. I'm just going to sleep, but the thing is ` my brain's already triggered to think that. So it's like a response, like a panic attack. And I'm like, 'Whoa, OK. I'm not going to go to sleep.' Well, I actually have a problem with actually getting into a car and expecting that we're gonna have an accident. I grab hold of the door handle, yeah, because I have this vision that, obviously, someone's gonna smash or smack into us and I'm gonna be gone. Gonna be gone today. Not tomorrow ` today. (GROWLING) Experiencing stress and anxiety from irrational thoughts is actually quite common. But an even more common source of stress isn't from our thoughts but our everyday lives. Feeding the lions is obviously awesome fun. But if I wasn't in this cage, my brain would instantly kick into survival mode. It would increase my heart rate and my breathing and cause my liver to release sugar into the bloodstream, sending oxygen and energy-rich blood to my muscles. And all of that is designed to get me ready for one thing ` fight or flight. Now, the stress response is obviously awesome when it comes to things like running away from lions, but we don't have to do that very much, do we? Our stress comes from emails and deadlines at work and mortgages. So what happens in the modern world when that stress response doesn't last for minutes; it lasts for days, weeks or even years? (LION GROWLS, CAGE RATTLES) Two years ago, while holidaying with friends, Matt found our exactly how long-term stress plays out in our brain. The event was relatively minor ` turning up at a family member's bach with a whole bunch of people who I didn't really know, and, really, basically, in my mind going, 'Oh my God. I can't deal with any more.' And, boof, next minute ` on the floor, sobbing, weeping. It was really tough. It was really tough. I mean, I'm a guy who's physical, who's used to getting stuff done. I was bedridden for two or three weeks, um, and I had dizziness, off and on, for six months. So, what is stress? Stress, basically, is what happens when the body thinks it's under attack. When the body thinks it's under attack, it'll do anything it can to, basically, get out of that scenario, out of that situation, and protect itself. So speed up your organs; increase your rate of breathing so you get more oxygen; deprioritises things like digestion, because we don't really need that while we're running away. And it does all of this stuff so that you're in your best position to get out of that really dangerous situation. When did your stress start building up? It was certainly through my graduate study ` I was experiencing a loss of sleep and stress. But I could cope with that. But then you pile on top children, as most people will relate to ` you know, young children ` mortgage, and then with graduation, a lack of security around employment ` looking for employment. And all those things` Through my 30s, those things started to build up and spiral and the symptoms slowly became, you know, worse and worse. Well, the thing is, is that stress in itself isn't actually a bad thing. Stress protects us. It's helped us survive as humankind for this many years. Unfortunately, nowadays, very often, the stress that we're under is chronic, because it just doesn't let up. So, when you look back now, what were the symptoms of that stress building up that you started to notice? Not sleeping well; change in mood. You know, the wife saying, 'Are you all right? You're not yourself.' Feeling a lack of control in my life, feeling generally unhappy. And then, subsequently, following that, physical symptoms. So first off, it was irritable bowel. 'Oh, I just need to stop drinking coffee.' Then it was... Towards the end of the period was dizzy spells, light-headedness, before the, sort of, final... breakdown event, you might call it. What's the effect of chronic stress? Ah, where do you wanna start? (LAUGHS) So, impact on the brain can be anything from aging the brain faster, killing off brain cells quicker, slowing the production of new brain cells. And one interesting this as well is that our amygdala, the fear centre, the part of our brain that tells us there's something to look out for, gets enlarged over time, which primes us to see more frightening things, which puts us under more stress, which creates a vicious cycle. The first step was rest. Literally, just rest ` no work. I wasn't capable of working. Counsellor ` actually just going to talk to someone. The first time I went and spoke to this counsellor, I literally just broke down and bawled my eyes out for the whole time. And I'm not a guy who easily bawls his eyes out. But, literally, just having someone there going, you know, 'What's going on?' I remember the feeling. It was like this huge weight just to be able to release that emotion and cry. What have you learnt about your mind as a result of this whole experience? I've learnt that my mind needs a break. Stress is a modern-day epidemic. 40% of the workforce is suffering from it. So what else can we do to reduce stress? * In our busy modern lives, we've replaced the stress of being eaten with a whole bunch of more subtle but far more pervasive stressors. One of the biggest is the stress of constant busyness with the Internet and mobile devices we hardly ever switch off. We're always flat out without a second to relax. One of the ways we try to beat the stress of our relentless busyness is by multitasking. So is that working for us? Now, Melanie, would you say that you're good at multitasking? Yes. OK. What I would like you to do is to take a pen and write, 'Can we really multitask?' on the first line. And on the second line, just write one to 21, which is the number of letters. (EXPECTANT MUSIC) Pretty good. 30 seconds. 34 seconds. 31 seconds. Next, what I'll do is ` I'll rub this off. And I want you to do the same thing, but this time... to write C, 1, A, 2, N, 3. Yep? And... go. It's the same task as before, but this time, they split their attention between the sentence and numbers. Essentially, we're getting them to multitask. Oh, I spelt it wrong. (LOW, EXPECTANT MUSIC) 47 seconds. Mm-hm. So, when you were actually multitasking, it was kind of about 25% longer to do the task than if you were just single-tasking. Are you surprised by that? Yep, I am. Yeah. I thought with my job, I could probably multitask a bit more with this sort of experiment. Cos it looked like you were having to spend energy and time switching from one task to the other rather than just going... Yeah, from letters to numbers. Yep. Yep. 40 seconds. Are you surprised by that result? I thought I'd do better. So when you hear people say, 'Oh, yeah, I'm a multitasker.' (CHUCKLES) Do you believe that any more? (CHUCKLES) Yeah, I've changed my mind a bit. While our brains can do background tasks ` things like breathing or walking or eating dinner while you're watching TV ` when we try to so-called 'multitask' higher level things, it's actually the same part of our brains switching between the two tasks. So rather than being faster, it's way less efficient. But one person in our experiment did seem to be able to multitask. (BEEP!) You are somewhat of a statistical anomaly. (CHUCKLES) So, you did that in 31 seconds. So you actually did the multitasking experiment ` you did that at the same speed as the single-task experiment. Science would say that you shouldn't be able to do that. (LAUGHS) So how did you do that? Um, so I basically, kind of, thought forward a little bit. So I just went C, 1; A, 2; N, 3. While I was writing 1, I was looking up here... It turns out, Amrit wasn't actually multitasking. Using her skill set as a mechatronic engineering student, she turned the two tasks into one. So, once again, we see the wonder of the human brain. Because you've, kind of, trained your brain to do this stuff, and so it does it in a way that normal people don't. Most other people take about 25% longer. You just went (WHOOSHES) and did it. Wow. So if multitasking isn't a thing, what else can we do? Well, there's a theory that you can train yourself to deal with stress. I thought I'd put that to the test by doing something that's really stressful where the stakes are incredibly high, like being in a helicopter which has just crash-landed in the water. (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC) Basically, what is gonna happen is I will give the command to the module operator ` 'Ditching, ditching, ditching.' And then we will start to go underwater. The water will come up. And when it gets to about to here, I'll say, 'Capsize'. That'd be a good time for you to start holding your breath. You won't be able to see... OK. That's good. ...because you'll have blackout goggles. Good. All helicopter ditchings, I've found there is no visibility. OK. Yep. Good. Let's... Let's go for realism, then. OK. (BOTH LAUGH) (DRAMATIC MUSIC) I've had no preparation or training, and I want to measure how stressful the exercise is. But even before the test begins, I can feel my stress levels beginning to rise. (DRAMATIC MUSIC CONTINUES) Capsize! Now the real stress kicks in. My hypothalamus sends a message to release adrenaline, which is giving instructions ` heartbeat increase to get my oxygen, shut down digestion, increased energy to the muscles. But there's also panic. That's my amygdala giving an emotional response because I'm not trained to escape from capsized helicopters. The seconds feel like minutes, but, finally, I make it to the surface. (EXHALES) Oh my God. So... (EXHALES) If that looks pretty terrible, it's because it actually is. Because it's all very well when you're sitting there, but when you tip upside down and your whole centre of buoyancy shifts, I must admit, I think my heart rate increased quite a bit. Beforehand, my heart was beating 81 times a minute, and now it's 45bpm faster. This 50% increase is giving me all the extra oxygen I need to escape the capsized helicopter. OK, calm. (BREATHES DEEPLY) Tighten. We train so that a really stressful situation feels less stressful, and the cortex ` the rational part of our brain ` can then deal logically with the problem at hand. Impact. Locate. Open your door. Grab the fuselage, undo your seatbelt, pull yourselves out. Perfect. Cool. Capsize! Now, because I've done some basically training, in theory, I should become less stressed when I'm capsized in the pool this time. I still feel the stress of the situation, but because it's happened once before, and I've done some basic training, I'm definitely feeling less stressed. Oh, dear. OK, so... problem with me was ` I had the technique... but messed up part of it and then overthought it, and then started to get a little bit fidgety and panicky. And then I thought, 'No, no, no. Just get out of the helicopter.' (CHUCKLES) I... I kind of went back to just going for the door and getting out. But you can certainly see why you need to practise this stuff, because it's not like you can do it once in a class and be good at it. You kind of need to do it a few times. My heartbeat isn't quite as fast as the first attempt, but still 30 beats faster than my resting pulse. I think more practise, wiring in those circuits. It got easier each time I tried the exercise. And by the end, it almost felt as normal as taking a casual swim in the pool. (DRAMATIC MUSIC) So, Chris, I guess the big learning for me is that panic is kind of normal, like, stress is normal. But if you've got a plan, then you can just push through that if it's a simple plan. Oh, definitely, definitely. Like, the first thing you need to do when something happen is stop, take a breath, think about your plan, because plan keeps panic down, and if the plan's really simple, well, then, it's easy to do even if you are panicking slightly, you know. And if you can control stress, it's possible to have a full-time job that would stress out most of us, even if we only did it for an hour. This is the Auckland Police call centre, and it is probably one of the most stressful places you can work in, because your job here is to make complex life and death decisions constantly for eight hours straight. Thank you. Two calls in, 1 Victor, go to... 'As a call taker for the police, you take calls from members of the public throughout the country. 'So you're taking emergency calls.' Comms on. Team one, team one, team one for possible 1C premiere and... 'As a call taker, you are doing a number of things. 'You're not just talking to a person on the end of the phone ` 'you're typing down what they are telling you; 'you are trying to find them on our mapping system immediately; you're asking questions.' Got a car versus power pole. However, it appears the vehicle has decamped. 'It is multiple jobs at the same time. And if you have multiple events for different things, you have to assess which one is the most priority. You can have anywhere between five and 30 jobs pending at any one time for police officers to attend. With training, is it possible for Wiki to do this job without suffering from stress? For most people, dealing with 20, 30 complex situations at any one time, that sounds impossible. So how do you do that? It's a challenge, definitely. But over the years, you sort of build up a resilience. You've gotta be calm; you've gotta breathe and move on to the next job. So you're constantly assessing. Constantly. Confirm robbery or theft ex shop? For me personally, I have this internal thing where if I'm losing the plot or if I'm missing steps or if I'm not quite on to it ` which happens ` I think, 'Come on, Wiki. Get back on the ball. 'What's happening? Take a breath.' That happens in, like, a second. That's my internal monologue to kick my backside to get myself back on the ball. The informant thought the parties running may have stolen alcohol, but that's unconfirmed. With her training, and by developing effective strategies over the years as her brain tried different ways of coping with the huge demands of her job, Wiki now has tools for dealing with stress. I love the job. I couldn't see myself doing anything else. (GIRLS SCREAM) So if we can train ourselves to deal with stress, is it possible to do the same thing with anxiety and depression? * Outside forces cause stress, and we know that there are ways of dealing with that. But what happens if the problem is coming from our brain? It's what anxiety is. It's creating the problem. What can we do about that? Mikayla has struggled with anxiety for 10 years. When I was 18 ` that's when I kind of noticed something wasn't quite right. I was actually in the bathroom looking at myself in the mirror, and I had no idea who that person was, and I kind of freaked myself out. Like, obviously, it's me. I'm in` it's my reflection, but I didn't recognise that person at all. So what was the mental, kind of, chatter? What were the thoughts that were going around in your head at the time? So a lot of, 'You're not good enough. You're ugly. You're stupid. What are you doing here? 'Nobody likes you.' Like, 'You're not good at anything.' So it was just real negative put-downs. So... Like, when that is getting told to you, even by yourself, over and over and over again, you start believing it. Anxiety, fear and stress are all very closely linked. Anxiety tends to have more of the cognitive, negative thought patterns behind it, whereas stress tends just to be a physical response to get you out of that situation as quickly as possible. So, symptoms that might come along with anxiety are things like nausea, insomnia, heart palpitations, trouble breathing, tight chest. And it tends to make you see things through a lens of fear and negative perception. And the reason for that is because, again, from an evolutionary perspective, it's the 'better safe than sorry' approach. We'll label everything as a danger. We'll label everything as a possible risk, and then we'll be less likely to get caught out. Back then, how did you respond to those negative thoughts? So I actually self-harmed. Never in the intention to die or get attention or anything like that. Like, that's not what I wanted. I always thought people who did that were just for the attention or, you know, cowards. But actually being in that myself was just a way to actually feel ` feel anything. Like, I got so numb and just so... empty that I think the only way that I thought I could actually feel anything, whether it be pain, was to hurt myself. Something had to change for Mikayla. She decided on antidepressants and counselling. And the therapist was amazing. Cos I always thought, 'Oh, I'm not gonna go to a shrink.' Like, 'No, I don't need to. No, no, no.' And I was like, 'Actually, I'm just gonna give it a go, because I need help.' (CHUCKLES) So, yeah, she was amazing. She taught me how to take the negative thoughts and turn it into something positive. Another way for her to feel better is to scare people at Spookers, a haunted house attraction. It's a good stress release. (LAUGHS) (GIRLS SCREAM) (SHRIEKS) (GIRLS SCREAM) (GRUNTY VOCALISING) I like working here. I get to yell it out, which is another really good way to get rid of that stress or anxiety, or just whatever's holding you back ` just yell, scream. And it's OK to do that. So why does our brain get anxious? Why does it do things that hurt us, not help us? How does our brain make trouble for us when no trouble actually exists? We're not born stressed, anxious or depressed. These are all things our brain accumulates as we go through our lives. Baby X can help us understand how. Created by Dr Mark Sagar and his team, she isn't just an animation. She sees, hears and responds in the moment, which means she can show us in a way we've never been able to see before how our mind creates negative feelings. I know what you're thinking ` spider on my face. But here's the thing. Some scientists think that we're not born with a list of things that we fight or flee from. Our brain actually acquires that list over our lifetime. But how does it do that? Well, let's take a fear of spiders. Now, at the moment, Baby X hasn't seen a spider, so she's not scared of it. Now, I'm gonna do something which might seem a bit mean. I'm gonna give Baby X a spider phobia. 'On the right-hand side, 'we can see that Baby X is looking at the spider and there's no reaction. 'But I'm not going to tell her it's something she should be scared of.' (INHALES QUICKLY) Scary spider! Scary spider! Scary spider! 'The spider now provokes a clear fear response. 'The sight of the spider triggers specific parts of her brain. 'Her amygdala initiates a cascade of reactions which send chemicals into her system, 'generating physical and emotional feelings of fear. 'When we take the spider away, she calms down. 'And when we bring it back, we can see she's now scared of it. 'So if our brains can be taught to take on negative feelings like fear, 'can we do the reverse? 'Can we train it to let go of negative feelings like anxiety and depression?' You can do better. Sorry? Get approval before you buy with a secured gem car loan rate at just 9.99% fixed per annum. So you can get the money faster when you find the car you want. You can do better with gem powered by Latitude. Apply today. VOICEOVER: Allergies can hold you back. Break through hayfever allergies with Telfast 5-in-1 multi-benefit relief. It works fast, relief last 24 hours and it's non-drowsy. Break through hayfever allergies with Telfast. * (RAIN PATTERS) Sometimes it rains. That's just a part of life, and the sun always comes out again. But for some people, it feels like the rain will never end, and this is what depression can feel like. But what exactly is depression? And, more importantly, what can we do about it? For Jack, depression seemed to come out of the blue. The first time that I realised something was wrong, I went overseas on a climbing trip, and I was in Bolivia. And I was living my dream, which was going overseas and mountaineering. And I found myself... on the top of a 6000m mountain,... crying. For me, the first step was accepting that something was going on, and then going out and seeking help. What are the thoughts that you have? What are the things that start pushing you into that space? As I've, kind of, experienced it and gone through it, I've come to realise that part of it comes down to my expectations of myself, and I have high expectations of what I can achieve. And often I'm not meeting those expectations. So I'll be thinking negatively about myself. I've thought quite negatively about my employment. And I just think about the fact that I'm feeling depressed. So you have that initial self-judgement, and there's that secondary level of thinking that comes in as well. Yeah. I mean, certainly one thing is the ruminating; is the,... yeah, thinking about something that I can't do anything about and trying to work a way though that. And then when it gets really bad, I'll start thinking about the fact that I am ruminating and thinking about how unhelpful that is. What are the things that you do to get yourself out of the hole? Like, a small amount of regular exercise is what's key for me. So I have a 5K run every morning ` is my routine at the moment. And, for me, that's a small amount. It's enough to get a bit of a sweat on. That's really good for me. I need this routine. I need this structure in my life. If I lose this structure, if I lose the rhythm of living, then the wheels fall off a little bit. What happens inside our brains when we feel depressed? What makes us feel bad? Well, Baby X really likes this duck. Watch what happens when I take it away. (BABY X GIGGLES) I'm gonna take the duck away now. (BABY X CRIES) This is the closest a toddler like Baby X would feel to actual depression. Now, what's actually happening there is there are particular chemicals that are changing inside her brain. In this case, it's dopamine and serotonin, and that has a direct impact on her behaviour. She becomes tearful. She looks sad, and she's unsettled. And you can actually see this happening inside her brain. Depression is very complex. But it's fair to say dopamine and serotonin play an important role in regulating how we feel. And the way we might try to fix depression is just as complicated. For most of the 20th century, we tried to understand what makes us unhappy ` what makes us anxious and depressed and lonely. So, of course, we ended up knowing lots about why things go wrong. Recently, researchers came to the conclusion that maybe we were going about this the wrong way, and they made a sudden U-turn. Hello, how are ya? My name is Alan Patrick Joseph McElroy, and I'm from Ireland. The reason why I'm living here is because I met and married a Kiwi lady ` just for the visa. (LAUGHTER) They decided that maybe the best approach wasn't to study the things that make us sad, but to study what makes us happen. (LAUGHTER) And now we're beginning to learn all kinds of helpful things. My perspective is that studying happiness is quite an exciting field, because now you're looking at what makes us tick at humans. You know, what makes things exciting for us versus just looking at what's wrong with us. Can we train our brains to be happier? Is it a skill that we can develop? Yes, I think so. If you define happiness as feeling calm and feeling content, you can train your mind to be calm ` mindfulness meditation, even yoga, can teach you how to be calm. It can teach your mind to be content. Doing gratitude diaries. If you define happiness as feeling connected, you can train your mind to be connected. So there are different forms of training programmes available now. And a lot of these training programmes have been around for thousands of years. I wanted to see if the idea of gratitude could actually make us feel better. So we have a very simple experiment to put it to the test. So, Rhys, who's someone that's really important to you that you feel very grateful towards? Definitely my mother, for sure. Yep. My nan has had a massive impact on my life. My husband's there 100%, supporting and encouraging. My best friend. She's been with me through some real dark times, and she's the one person who's always been there for me. So, what I'd like you to do is take the journal and then just to write and just explain why you're grateful to her and what she's done for you... OK. ...in your life. (REFLECTIVE MUSIC) Studies have shown this the simple task can increase your happiness. People were more optimistic, exercised more, and even made less doctor visits than those who didn't keep a gratitude diary. READS: Mum... I got them to read out what they'd written. Oh, you've gotta be kidding me. Nope. LAUGHS: Oh my goodness! How about instead of reading it to me ` cos that makes no sense ` how about you read it to your mum? Cos that makes a lot more sense. It does. (LAUGHS) Ah, here we go. (LAUGHS) READS: 'Mum, your resilience and love is second to none. 'You were always loving and knowledgeable when I'm challenged. You always have an open ear to us. 'For what you've gone through, you never change. 'So I have a massive sense of pride to be your son and skite about you a lot.' (BOTH CHUCKLE) READS: 'Today I am grateful to you for your continued support 'and ongoing love during these last few years. Any time I need support, you are there for me.' (CHUCKLES) It seemed better for Nick to be here for this part. Yes. Hi. Hi. READS: 'Today I am grateful to you for your continued support 'and ongoing love during these last few years. 'Nothing is too much effort or trouble for you, and your calming presence is a godsend. 'I could not have gotten through the last few years without you. 'I love you, my husband, and I'm so glad you are in my life. 'And your support as I return to university to study to become a midwife is wonderful.' Holy! Oh my God! Oh, you've made me cry. So this time, I'll let you read it to your actual friend. Don't you dare make me cry on national television. READS: 'We've known each other now for over 20 years, 'and through that time, you've been there for me through thick and thin. 'I'm thankful that you and your sister have adopted me into your family... (CHUCKLES) '...and kept me going through the hard times. 'Even when things were going really badly for me, I knew that you were the one person who wasn't judging me 'or leaving me behind.' Oh my gosh! I'll leave you with your nan. READS: 'Dear Nan, I have some special memories of us.' QUIETLY: I didn't want to cry. READS: 'I have some special memories of us from a young age and all the wonderful places you'd take me. 'You've carried us through some tough times and shone your light on us in the dark.' We got the people who wrote in the diaries to rate their happiness before and after this experiment, and, overall, there was a 25% increase in their reported happiness. What did it feel like to read that stuff out to your mum? Way more powerful than writing it, which I thought was even more powerful than thinking it and... (LAUGHS) So, yeah, it's an extension beyond that, for sure. Definitely. I loved having the opportunity to tell her that. EMOTIONALLY: It means a lot. (CHUCKLES) Don't cry. You'll ruin your make-up. Don't cry ` my make-up! Even the happiness levels of the people hearing the diaries went up as well. Nick, what was it like for you to hear that stuff? Um, it had all my hair standing` they're still standing on end, actually, to be fair. Mm. Feels good. Feels really good inside, actually. Huge amount of warmth comes up, and, yeah, no, you just feel good. Gratitude can work to increase our happiness. But there's one surprising thing science has shown that can not only increase our happiness, but also help with stress, anxiety and depression. 1 (INTRIGUING MUSIC) (SNORES) Ron, what are you wearing? WHISPERS: I didn't know we had to get dressed up. WHISPERS: We're not going to bed, Ron. We're going out. (ROLLER DOOR RATTLES) (INTRIGUING MUSIC) (IGNITION CLICKS, CAR WHIRRS) (MAN SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE ON VIDEO) Hit it! (CAR POWERS UP) (EXCLAIMS EXCITEDLY) (WHOOPS) # Lazy days... # (MEN LAUGH) Oh my Gawd! Hey! (SCREAMING) Yes, yes, yes. I don't feel well. BOTH: What?! (TYRES SCREECH) (WOMEN LAUGH) There you go. (BOTH LAUGH) (ENGINE REVS) What have you got under the hood, bro? You wouldn't believe me. (TYRES SCREECH, MEN EXCLAIM, CAR WHIRRS) (BOTH LAUGH) (RELAXED MUSIC) You think I could drive back? Nah, mate. (CLICKING) (LOUD CLATTERING) (DOGS BARK) * One of the things we've seen in this series is that learning is something our brains do all the time. They're plastic, and we can reshape them and reform them. So, when things are going wrong with our brain, what can we do to help them cope better? Most of the evidence-based advice is actually what your parents have always told you ` eat well, sleep well and get some exercise. It's obvious, but it's also 100% right. And there's one more thing that science shows can change everything and everyone can do it. It's called mindfulness. It works for Matt, who suffers from stress. I've really got into mindfulness-based meditation. It's really changed my life. I did an eight-week course on it that I can genuinely say... And it's quite funny, cos four years ago, I would have laughed if someone had suggested I do meditation. I thought that was for hippies. But I did this course that... Yeah, it has enabled me to still my mind to focus on not the past, not the future, but the present. It works for Mikayla, who suffers for anxiety. I have to take a moment, take a breath. Try not to hold on to the thought. It works for Jack, who gets depressed. I recognise when I've had a good day, usually I've been quite mindful about the things I'm doing. If I've had a bad day, I've been a bit all over the place. What is mindfulness? When we do these, sort of, traditional mindfulness practices of noticing the breathing, we're taking that on as an intentional focus for our attention. And when the mind wanders, we call our attention back and just be with the breathing again. The mindful approach is really to notice that this is occurring. 'Hey, I'm not feeling so good. And, you know what, that's OK. I accept it.' And that doesn't mean that I then just, kind of, roll over and just say, you know, 'This is my lot in life. There's nothing I can do about it.' That acceptance provides my working edge for changing the situation. Breathing in and... Mindfulness is a type of meditation. It's not spiritual or religious. But for some, when they first hear about it, it sounds like a non-scientific response to actual problems. Mindfulness is basically trying to calm down, and being mindful in the moment that is currently happening. For me, mindfulness is when I'm stressed out or when I'm angry, I get to use pause, breathe and smile to just relax and just remember that bad time will go away. So you have to sit comfortably or you can lay, and you just close your eyes... and... then you just think about your breathing. Clinical trials are showing that mindful meditation has significant positive results, especially for people suffering from anxiety and depression. And schools around the country are introducing kids to mindfulness with some impressive results. Who thinks they're a bit ready for the day now? What was it about the concept of mindfulness that you thought might be useful to the kids here? We thought that if we could take mindfulness out and give our children some strategies to learn how to be mindful, they'd slow down. People are saying at primarily level now, we have so many anxious children. So rather than moan about it, we thought we'd do something proactive. OK. And what I want you to do is I want you just to close your eyes. Well, the international evidence tells us that when taught in schools, mindfulness builds resilience and it boosts cognitive performance. The research we've done down here in New Zealand in partnership with University of Auckland and AUT University, we've found things like increased calmness, enhanced focus and attention, that it helps in conflict resolution skills and the building of positive relationships. It reduces teacher stress. And then we've done a couple of studies where we really looked at quantifiable changes for children's well-being, and we've found statistically significant increases in well-being, and, in particular, an emotional well-being. And focus on your breathing. 'Before a basic facts test ` a five-minute basic facts test ` they did some mindful movements. 'And what they found was there was a 75% increase. The children, across the class ` '75% of them increased their scores and quite substantially.' Focus on your breathing. Before I come to school, I use it. For a good five minutes, I do breathing and mindfulness. And it just helps me focus and get through the day. When I'm in my bed and I don't get really sleepy, or I have nightmares, I always use it. And it helped me go to sleep. It's helped me with my flips and landing them. And it's help me when I don't know the answer for my homework. All right. So as you're doing your mindful eating, listening to it if you're having to peel. Looking at the different textures. What's been the impact on the kids? Like, what are the changes that you've seen? Some more self-belief. Time to stop and reflect before action, increase in some of their percentages in assessments. Random acts of kindness and children not looking for some kind of feedback in return, but just the benefit of the gift of giving without expecting to receive. Hugely in line with who we say we are as a school and as people. How are you different now from what you were before? I'm much less stressed. I'm much more emotionally connected to my kids and to my family, but also my friends. And, you know, I'm genuinely a happier person. Cos, generally, I'm taking life less seriously. One of the best ways to fix a broken brain is to be still for just a minute. Decades of research shows us that brains need a little quiet time to recharge and untangle themselves from all the whirling thoughts and endless tasks. This answer may seem a little mystical or even magical, but perhaps that's appropriate, because we understand so much more about our heart, liver and lungs than we do our brains. Scientists are just at the beginning of the journey of trying to understand how our brains work. Distinguished professor Sir Richard Faull told me he thinks we might actually need a bigger brain to truly understand our brain. But maybe it doesn't matter if we never completely figure it out. Your brain ` you get it for nothing. When you're born, you get it for nothing. And yet it's the most incredible, precious gift that you will ever have. There's nothing else in your life which approaches the value that the brain is going to give to you. Nothing. Captions by Jean Teng. Edited by Jake Ebdale. www.able.co.nz