How Small Daily Moments Improve Brain Health

🌟[TT] moments 🧠

Last Thursday I decided to skip writing a newsletter and instead, enjoy being with my nieces, and send you a gift instead – the Sleep Anchor Method® Audioguide Series! For those of you who accessed this, I hope you are enjoying it, do let me know how you are getting on!

The time with my nieces got me thinking about moments.

Moments matter. The moment you choose how to answer a difficult email. The moment you decide whether to keep scrolling or put the phone down and sleep. The moment you choose to finish this newsletter so it gets posted on time 🤣 None of them feels significant on its own. Added together across a year, they are most of what your brain health actually is.

Here are three moments to consider this week.

📍3 Tips: Moments That Matter for Your Brain & Wellbeing

[1] Morning moments

(BRA(i)NS® Method: Building Brain Resilience, under Sleep)

Do you snooze your alarm? Does your wake time drift depending on the day?

I used to think the snooze button was the villain, but in fact, it’s the drift that is the bigger problem: from 6am on Tuesday, to 9am on Sunday… This shift in wake times leaves your body clock confused.

Then there is the first hour. Is it a scramble out of the door? A quiet cup of tea? Breakfast with family and all the delightful chaos that comes with it?

It’s not about which is right or wrong. The question is whether you are choosing that hour or going into some default pattern without consciously deciding about it.

Try this: pick one wake time you could hold seven days a week, including Sunday. Just for this week. Notice what happens after 7 days of this!

[2] Moments of stress

(BRA(i)NS® Method: Balancing the Autonomic Nervous System, under Breathwork)

Dr Viktor Frankl (Holocaust survivor and author of Man’s Search for Meaning) wrote that the last of human freedoms lies in choosing your attitude in any given set of circumstances.

You may think “nice concept, but what does that mean in practice?”.

Because when stress is high, it’s easy to reach for a chocolate biscuit, a cigarette, or speak to the barista serving you in an unkind way.

Try this: before your next difficult call, take a slow breath in through the nose with the breath out roughly twice as long as the in-breath. Do this for 3 rounds. And then take the call.

[3] Moments of joy

(BRA(i)NS® Method: Optimisation, under Mindset)

Moments are exactly that – brief and easily overlooked. From a cool breeze on a hot afternoon, laughter with a friend, or the first bite at dinner.

These moments are not rare and are present whether you register them or not. And noticing is the thing that makes all the difference to the moment.

Try this: tomorrow morning, set out to notice three pleasant things that day. Later that evening, take a moment to note it down in a notebook. How did the pleasant moment feel, and why did it happen?

📍The Brain Science Behind It*

Your body clock responds to a regular wake time. In an observational study of nearly 61,000 UK older adults wearing accelerometers, day-to-day consistency of sleep and wake timing predicted all-cause mortality more strongly than sleep duration did.

Breathwork can make a difference during stressful moments. A randomised study comparing five minutes daily of three breathing practices showed that the breathwork focusing on longer exhales had the biggest benefit (though all groups also improved). This is because the longer exhales help shift your autonomic nervous system towards the relaxation response.

And joyful moments? A study showed that writing down three good things each night and why they happened was one of the few exercises that raised happiness and lowered depressive symptoms at follow-up.

📍Where this sits in the BRA(i)NS® Method

Moments do not belong to one BRA(i)NS® pillar. That is rather the point of them.

A quick summary for those new to the Thursday Tips Tribe (welcome!). The BRA(i)NS® Method has Purpose and Meaning as its container, with three pillars inside:

= Building Brain Resilience covers your physical foundations.
= Balancing the Autonomic Nervous System covers your stress and relaxation responses.
= Optimisation pulls these together through mindset, habits and community.

All this is individualised to you, giving the (i) in BRA(i)NS®.

So the morning moment sits in Building Brain Resilience, the stressed moment in Balancing the Autonomic Nervous System, and the noticed moment in Optimisation. Three pillars that give us moments of awareness and better health. And the (i) decides which one is yours: for some of you the mornings are already solid and it is the stress that needs attention.

📍Question for you today

Which of the three moments will you pay attention to this week?

Hit reply, it comes straight to my inbox! I write back to every one of the replies to my Thursday Tips, as I am here to provide content that better serves you, so your emails are much appreciated. Also, I only found out 2 weeks ago that my replies to Yahoo emails don’t get through due to some tech interface problem. Please email me again if you use Yahoo; I think that is now fixed!

Wishing you moments worth noticing,
Dr Sui Wong

PS: If you missed last week’s gift email, you can still get it for free for the next two days (promo code T3GIFT for 100% discount expires on 31st July). https://go.drsuiwongmd.com/samaudioguide

The Sleep Anchor Method® Audioguide Series by Dr Sui Wong displayed on a smartphone with headphones, promoting audio lessons and guided relaxation practices to support better sleep and brain health.

*Reference:

Windred et al 2024 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37738616/
Sundelin et al 2024 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37849039/
Balban et al 2023 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36630953/
Rowe et al 2007 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17182749/
Seligman et al 2005 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17182749/

FAQ

Why is a consistent wake-up time important?
Keeping a regular wake time helps support your body’s internal clock, improving sleep quality and promoting better overall health.

Can breathing exercises really reduce stress?
Yes. Research suggests that slow breathing, particularly with a longer exhale, can help activate the body’s relaxation response and reduce stress.

Why should I notice moments of joy?
Taking time to recognise positive experiences can improve wellbeing and has been linked to increased happiness and reduced symptoms of depression.

Summary

Brain health is shaped by the small moments we experience every day. From maintaining a consistent wake time and pausing to breathe before stressful situations to noticing moments of joy, these simple habits can have a lasting impact on wellbeing. In this Thursday Tip, Dr Sui Wong explores the science behind daily routines, breathwork, and positive reflection, showing how small choices made consistently can strengthen both brain health and emotional resilience.

My mission:

To inspire a movement for better brain health.

Because better brain health supports better wellbeing. And better wellbeing creates a ripple effect that benefits individuals, families, communities, and beyond. Making the world a better place for all. And it all starts with you as the individual.

I am a practising medical doctor (MBBS MD FRCP MA FHEA DipIBLM) working as a Neurologist and Neuro-Ophthalmologist, and am an active neuroscience researcher. My research is inspired by questions arising from my busy clinical practice, and I am grateful that both have been recognised with awards.

I am also an Author and Speaker, creating public-facing health content in my spare time.

Learn more:
drsuiwongmd.com

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