11 Everyday Habits That Can Damage Your Brain, According To Research
Even the most unsuspecting parts of your daily routine could be sabotaging your health and happiness.
Tkachev Dmitry | Shutterstock While it can feel monotonous and even frustrating to listen to health gurus and lifestyle influencers suggest you're not looking out for yourself by feeding into an unhealthy routine or poor habits, the reality is that, for most of us, we don't feel empowered to change. Whether it's a defense mechanism to sleep past our alarms or a self-soothing exercise to eat fast food, our healthy habits often fill a void that we're uncomfortable confronting with healthier behaviors.
However, it's important to recognize the everyday habits that can damage your brain, according to research experts like those at Harvard Health, that actually feed into the cycle of loneliness, exhaustion, and brain fog plaguing your life. By addressing and changing even one of these habits, you may feel more empowered to reconstruct your entire routine in a way that not only protects your physical health, but promotes your general emotional and mental well-being as well.
Here are 11 everyday habits that can damage your brain, according to research
1. Negative self-talk
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While it might not seem like an everyday behavior you're intentionally engaging in, cultivating space for your inner critique to shine without restriction often manifests as one of the everyday habits that can damage your brain, according to research experts like psychotherapist Amy Morin.
When you make critical and self-punishing comments about yourself, both internally and in social situations, you're not only promoting more negativity in your routine, you're sparking unnecessary stress in your brain that can cause mental health problems like anxiety and depression.
Breaking this habit can be uncomfortable, especially for people who have lived their entire lives under the veil of insecurity, but it starts with acknowledgement. When you're looking in the mirror, call out those harsh criticisms and replace them with positive affirmations. If you notice yourself talking down on your accomplishments or goals in conversation, take a beat to shut down those critical thoughts.
2. Staying in the dark too often
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Whether it's staying in bed too long or forgoing time spent outside in the winter, spending too much time in darkness can cause your body to lower its production of serotonin — the brain's chemical that determines your mood and emotional well-being.
While it might feel comforting in the moment to retreat to a dark room after work or lay in bed instead of going for a walk, in the long run, escaping sunlight is one of the everyday habits that can damage your brain.
Of course, exposing yourself to more sunlight has direct benefits as well, outside of just helping to prevent poor moods and mental struggles, according to a study from the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. From reducing your risk for strokes and heart attacks, to curbing weight gain and diabetes, getting out of the darkness and into the sunlight is a quick way to add value to your life, emotionally and physically.
3. Drinking too much caffeine
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According to Dr. Nicole Clark, a neurologist from St. Peter's Health Medical Group, caffeine isn't entirely bad; in fact, in some of her patients, she's seen caffeine be the trick to curing chronic headaches and migraines.
However, when consumed too frequently — more than two cups of coffee or 400 mg of caffeine — it's not only common for people to adopt more anxious, jittery, and overstimulated states of being, it's also been shown to contribute to higher cholesterol levels, insomnia, anxiety disorders, and headaches.
So, experts don't argue that you need (or even should) completely cut our caffeine from your daily routine, but ensuring you're consuming it in moderation is key to protecting and maintaining a healthy brain and emotional state.
4. Going on your phone first thing in the morning
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Coupled with too much screen time throughout the day, people who get right on their phones, scrolling socials and answering emails, in the morning when their alarms go off could be sabotaging their mental and emotional well-being before even getting out of bed.
Not only do our phones completely overstimulate our brains in the morning with information and input — sparking anxiety before we have a chance to fully wake up — they have the power to reduce our creativity, productivity, and disrupt our sleep cycle when we consistently adopt this everyday habit.
If you're prone to snoozing your alarm or getting on your phone first thing in the morning, try restructuring your morning routine away from your phone, like Mel Robbins suggests, even if that means getting up just 5 minutes earlier.
Plug your phone in away from your bed, swapping nighttime scrolling for a book or journal. Count to 5 when your alarm goes off, encouraging you to get up when you reach 1, instead of doomscrolling and throwing yourself directly into work.
5. Listening to loud music with headphones
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By listening to loud music with headphones consistently in your routine, you may be overloading your brain with sensory input that negatively impacts your ability to concentrate and focus, even when you continue on with your day.
In addition to overworking and overwhelming your brain, listening to loud music can cause permanent hearing loss that drastically affects your daily life. While temporary hearing loss from listening to loud music, like at a concert or show, often reverses itself, consistent loud input from headphones can permanently damage the hair cells that moderate sound waves in your ears.
To leverage the benefits of music in your routine, consider investing in noise-cancelling headphones that allow you to listen at a safer volume, play your music out loud when possible, and take consistent breaks when you're wearing headphones throughout the day.
6. Consuming too much bad news
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While listening to and seeking out bad news feels inevitable with the accessibility of traditional media and social media sites, the constant overload of negative news that outlets tend to share with readers can drastically impact your general well-being and brain chemistry.
Triggering a consistent stress response in our brains, consuming too much bad news can skew our sense of reality, urging our brains to constantly assume the worst from every situation and experience. This kind of catastrophic thinking can spark anxiety and depression, but it can also directly sabotage healthy relationships and social interactions.
Set limits with yourself to regulate the news you're susceptible to every day. It's not impossible to completely cut out some of the daily habits that can damage your brain, but it's possible to set boundaries like time limits on news apps that ensure you're not hyper-focusing and catastrophizing over worldly events and news you have little power over.
7. Sleeping too much or too little
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According to experts from the American Chemical Society, a poor sleep schedule not only sabotages your mood and energy throughout the day, it has the power to also alter your brain chemistry when you're not getting enough sleep, causing damage in the areas of your brain responsible for memory and learning.
On the other hand, sleeping too often — more than 9 hours on average every night — is another everyday habit that can damage your brain, according to research experts like Western University neuroscientist Adrian Owen.
Also prone to sparking mental illness like anxiety and depression, people who consistently sleep too often are disrupting their brain's natural sleep cycle, sabotaging the natural processes of their brains associated with concentration, memory, and mood.
8. Isolating yourself from social interaction
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According to a study from Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine, there's a direct association between social isolation and cognitive decline. From memory recall to communication skills, people who don't consistently and intentionally interact with others don't feed into the parts of the brain associated with connection, communication, and learning.
On the other hand, there are certain things that may inhibit social interaction, cognitive decline included. When we're stressed, overwhelmed, or burdened with emotional turmoil, we may feel less driven to pursue social interaction. But even in small doses, it can encourage us to adopt a better, happier, and more fulfilled mood and emotional state.
9. Not moving your body throughout the day
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Generally, exercise has been shown to enhance brain cognitive function, strengthen learning, memory, and focus, and promote a better, more balanced mood for people who commit to making it a daily practice. Experts from the Mayo Clinic add that moving your body is also a great way to de-stress and combat burnout in people with busy routines and schedules.
Of course, you don't need to run a marathon, commit to a sport, or even weight lift to leverage the benefits of exercise for your brain; you can find smaller, more intentional moments. From taking a 5 minute walk outside to stretching in the morning, finding a movement that's comfortable and exciting for you to engage in is more important and impactful than fitting the mold of stereotypical exercise routines.
10. Skipping breakfast
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While it might be hypothetically easier to skip breakfast or fend off hunger until the afternoon, skipping a meal at the beginning of your day can disrupt your body's blood sugar levels and reduce the amount of energy your brain can offer, according to experts from Piedmont Healthcare.
Not only does this make us feel more fatigued throughout the day — battling the midday slump at work — it can cause irritability, reduced focus and concentration, and unnecessary stress that negatively impacts your relationships, physical health, and emotional well-being.
Find ways to make time for breakfast in the morning, even if that means waking up a bit earlier, finding accessible foods for driving to work, or meal-prepping.
11. Not drinking enough water
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Not drinking enough water can dramatically impact many parts of your brain, according to the Cleveland Clinic, putting pressure on nerves and reducing blood flow that can contribute to physical symptoms like headaches and emotional ones like anxiety and stress.
Consistent dehydration is one of the everyday habits that can damage your brain, according to research experts from the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, that suggest memory, concentration, and focus are all negatively impacted in people not drinking enough water.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a staff writer with a bachelor's degree in social relations & policy and gender studies who focuses on psychology, relationships, self-help, and human interest stories.