Creating Structure and Stability Through Routines: Part 1 Routines and The Brain
When I bring up the word routine, some people think this is only for type A people. You know, those people who always have a plan or are always scheduling things. However, routines are not just for type A people. They are greatly beneficial for everyone!
So let’s break this down. What are routines? Routines are patterns that you live by and gives you structure and order through your day. By creating these patterns routines help us to cope with change that might be occurring in your life. Clearly there is a lot of change going on with COVID and a lot of stress occurring because of this change. Creating a routine can help you decrease your stress levels and cope with the constant change of the outside world.
Routines also can help our brain to function more smoothly and with less effort. They can free up the brain to help while you are dealing with stress or change. Here are some ways that routines help to decrease stress and help relax your brain.
1. Minimize uncertainty
Our brains DO NOT like uncertainty. Uncertainty can cause stress or anxiety which then effects the fight, flight, or freeze response in our brain. This then can put you into something called “survival mode”. Survival mode is when the brain's memory and thinking centers “crash” like a computer's hard drive, resulting in persistent feelings of stress that seem unstoppable. Having a routine gives us certainty, predictability, and control. In other words, it can stop the “crash” or the feeling of survival mode from occurring or becoming overwhelming.
2. Routines makes space for clearer thinking
The prefrontal cortex of our brain is where we do things like make decisions, have emotional control, have social intuition, and use abstract thinking. This part of the brain is also the last to develop and the easiest to tire. If we make or schedule routines, this will then be sent to our habit center (basal ganglia) and frees up space in our frontal cortex so we can perform new tasks, create new relationships, and have positive communication outcomes.
3. Routines can lessen the drain of energy that we may feel day to day
We all have a “social battery” or “window of tolerance” for social interactions, self-control, and willpower. If routines are created, we do not have to tap into this battery because it is a habit that the brain no longer must think about.
4. Helps our brain to focus and maintain attention
We need to be able to focus to be successful, be productive and get work done. If we are thinking things like “where are my keys”, “what was I going to say again”, “I came over here for something,” then we are once again wasting energy by not paying attention. By creating a routine, you can direct your attention where it is needed and become more productive, decreasing anxiety and stress.
5. Helps decrease rumination
Rumination is the process of rehearsing past memories over and over in your mind or creating a story in your mind of what the future could hold. Routines helps us to focus on what is in front of us and not try to predict the future or focus on the past. This helps us to look at life’s essentials.
While this gives you an idea of how routines are helpful, I know that it can be a struggle to create routines and stick with routines. In my next blog I will talk about how we can create and stick to a routine more easily.
Sydney Redding, LMSW