Episode 162. Support For Your Brain...Because It Needs More Than Coffee and a Pep Talk

If your brain feels overloaded lately…
if you’re exhausted before the day even really starts…
if you’re forgetting things, overstimulated, emotionally fried, or one “hey quick question” away from losing it…

this episode is for you.

Because most of us in dentistry were taught how to take care of patients, schedules, treatment plans, and everyone else around us…but nobody ever taught us how to take care of the thing running all of it: our brain.

In this episode, we’re talking about simple, real-life ways to support your brain so you can feel calmer, think clearer, have more energy, and stop living in survival mode all the time.

No fluff.
No “just think positive.”
No unrealistic morning routine nonsense.

Just honest conversation and practical things you can actually do that make a huge difference when your brain feels maxed out.

HEY THERE! LET'S CONNECT...I'D LOVE TO GET TO KNOW YOU BETTER!

• Website: https://www.bethheilmancoaching.com
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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You know what's wild? Most of us in dentistry spend more time taking care of the autoclade than we do the thing that's actually running our entire life, our brain. And you can feel it. You wake up already tired. You walk into the practice, and before the first patient even sits down, somebody's asking you a question. The schedule has changed three times. Someone called in. There's a treatment plan sitting on your desk you forgot to submit. And now your stomach already feels tight. It's only 8 15 in the morning. And then somewhere around 2:30, you hit that wall. And here's the crazy part. Most people think that means something is wrong with them. It doesn't. Your brain is doing exactly what it is designed to do. Your brain's number one job is not to make you calm, keep you focused, productive, happy, organized, or emotionally mature. It's trying to keep you alive. That's it. So all day long, your brain is running the same survival program. Avoid pain, look for relief, and save energy wherever possible. That means when you're stressed, you're overwhelmed, you're distracted, emotionally exhausted, you're doom scrolling at night instead of just going to bed, napping at people you actually love and care about. You're craving sugar, caffeine, or just wanting everybody to leave you alone for five minutes. Your brain is not broken. It's just not supported. And the problem is most of us are trying to fix ourselves while completely ignoring the thing that actually needs support in the first place. That's what we're talking about today. We're talking about how to give your brain the support it needs. So let's get started. Welcome to the Dental Life Podcast, where we explore how you can have both a successful career and a meaningful personal life in and outside of your practices without sacrificing one for the other. I'm your host, Beth Highman, former Dental Office Manager, Turn Certified Life and Health Coach, and I'm here to help you navigate the challenges and opportunities that come from being a dental professional. Let's get started. Well, hello, my friends, and welcome back to the podcast. Since it's mental health awareness month, I want to talk about something almost nobody is talking about. And honestly, I think it's one of the biggest pieces missing for us as people, but especially in dentistry. And that is how to support your brain. Not just the take a bubble bath support, not drink more water and think positively support. I mean real support. So back when I was in the practice, every morning, I was usually the first one to arrive. Turn the lights on, boot all the computers up, brew the coffee, check the schedule before my nervous system had even had a chance to clock in for the day. And every single morning I checked the autoclave like it was a patient on life support. Because if that thing went down, oh game over. Dirty instruments start piling up, everyone starts panicking. The doctor's digging through storage, trying to drag out that backup autoclave like it was performing a medical resurrection. And then comes the collective prayer circle. Please work, please work, please work. Because nobody wanted to pay that service bill. And nobody wanted that chaos. I protected that autoclave with my entire soul. But you know what? I never checked on my brain. Not once. Not whether I was exhausted, not whether I was overloaded, not whether I was running on caffeine, adrenaline, people pleasing, and just pure survival mode. It never even crossed my mind that my brain needed support too, which is honestly insane when you think about it. Because that autoclave wasn't running the practice. My brain was. My brain was running the schedule, solving problems, handling conflict, remembering everything, regulating emotions, dealing with patients, navigating pressure, and just trying to keep the entire ship afloat. So while I was out there protecting some machine, I was completely neglecting the thing operating my entire life. Because your brain is handling everything all day long. The pressure, the interruptions, the people, the emotions, the decisions, the remembering, problem solving, overthinking everything at 2 a.m., the pretending you're fine when you're absolutely cooked. And most of us are expecting our brains to operate like a brand new iPhone, but we're treating them like some old laptop with 37 tabs open, 4% battery, and a charger that only works if you hold it in some weird angle. I mean, it looks like a frayed-out fire hazard. And today, I want to have a real conversation about what your brain actually needs to function well. Because when your brain suffers, everything suffers right along with it. I don't want this to be one of those podcasts where we dance around the issue for 45 minutes and then everybody leaves with a quote and no actual help. So let's get right to it. I want to give you real practical ways to support your brain that you can use in your life on a daily basis. Not your imaginary, I wake up at 5 a.m. and meditate for an hour life. I'm talking about support for that overloaded Wednesday afternoon brain. The if one more patient asks me something brain, the exhausted drive-home brain that's staring at the fridge like it's a portal brain. Because if your brain is carrying your entire life, then it deserves better support than caffeine, cortisol, and just white knuckling. So let's make a real list of things that will give you some help. Here's what support for your brain looks like in real life. Number one, you have to give your brain a job or it will make one up. And trust me, you will not like the job it picks. We're actually going to go deeper into this on next week's podcast because this one right here is huge. If you don't intentionally direct your brain, it automatically defaults to survival mode. And that means it's going to choose easy over important, comfortable over growth, familiar over different, that quick dopamine over long-term peace. Every single time. That's why you grab your phone instead of dealing with the thing that's stressing you out. That's why you reorganize a drawer instead of making the hard phone call. It's why you tell yourself you're too tired to work on your goals, but somehow you have the energy to scroll TikTok for 45 minutes and have watched Netflix at the same time, maybe even stress eating some Cheetos. Listen, your brain isn't trying to ruin your life, it's trying to conserve energy and avoid discomfort. That's what brains do. So one of the best ways to support your brain is to give it direction before the day starts hijacking you. Not some color-coded Pinterest mom morning routine. Just clarity. What matters today? What are we focused on? What kind of person are we being today when things get chaotic? What problem are we solving? I'll be talking more about problems soon on the podcast because problems are actually great support for your brain. If you don't tell your brain where to go, it will wander straight into the stress, into distraction, avoidance, and survival mode by lunchtime. Number two, reduce the noise. Look, your brain cannot hear itself think anymore because it's getting absolutely hammered all day long. And I don't think we realize how much noise we're living in anymore because it's become so normal. From the second your eyes open, something is demanding your attention. Texts, emails, group chats on Slack, the schedule, the patient that's running late. Uh hygienist needing help, someone standing in the doorway saying, Hey, quick question. That constant dinging, buzzing, talking, thinking, remembering. And on top of the noise, you've got the mental tabs that are open in your brain all day. Can I call that patient back? I need to stop at Costco after work. I forgot to text my daughter back. What are we doing for dinner? Ugh, I know I should really work out. I cannot believe she said that in the morning huddle this morning. Listen, your brain never fully powers down. It just keeps running in the background. And then we wonder why we are mentally fried out by 6 PM. But your brain doesn't necessarily need a week in Sedona with a sound bath and a spiritual awakening. It just needs a minute where nothing is coming at it. No podcast, no scrolling, no answering people, no stimulation, no input. Just a few small pockets during the day where your nervous system can unclench for five seconds. Even 10 quiet minutes in your car before you walk into the house can change the entire tone of your evening. That's not being lazy. That is brain support. Number three, finish what's open. This is why you feel mentally open. Your brain is full of those open tabs. You know that feeling when someone asks you one simple question and you immediately want to fake your own disappearance. Yeah, that. Most of the time it's not because your schedule is that terrible. It's because your brain is carrying around 972 unfinished things, those half-finished conversations, the text you forgot to answer, the treatment plan you still need to follow up on, the laundry sitting in the dryer since Tuesday, the dentist you need to talk to, the goal you keep saying you're going to start when things calm down. And that weird interaction and sterilization you're still replaying three days later. Your brain keeps all of that open, like internet tabs. And eventually your mental computer starts overheating. I used to joke all the time that I was self-diagnosed ADHD. Like, haha, look at me, I can't focus on anything. And listen, ADHD is very real and deeply affects a lot of people's lives. I am absolutely not minimizing that at all. But for me, that wasn't what was happening. What was happening was mental clutter. No system, no boundary, no focused direction, no closing of all those loops, just chaos, avoidance, distraction, and a million unfinished things draining my brain all day long. And I was calling it a personality trait instead of realizing I was just exhausting myself. Your brain loves closure. So instead of trying to relax harder, start reducing the number of open tabs your brain is carrying around. Write it down, make the decision, put it on the calendar, have the conversation, delete it, delegate it, or just let it go. Because your brain cannot rest when everything feels unfinished. Number four, your brain needs movement more than motivation. And look, I know the last thing you want to do after a long day in a dental practice is exercise. Half the time you walk into the house feeling like a dehydrated raccoon that just survived a natural disaster, but somehow you still have to decide what's for dinner. And here's what I didn't understand for years movement is not just about your body, it is one of the fastest ways to support your brain. Because stress doesn't just live in your thoughts, it lives in your nervous system. And when you spend all day sitting in pressure, in people, in interruptions, the tension, noise, and overstimulation without physically releasing any of that, your brain stays stuck and just go, go, go survival mode. That's why sometimes you come home exhausted, but it's somehow it just feels like you're restless, like your body is tired, but your brain won't shut off. Your nervous system is still carrying the day around in it. And no, this does not mean you need to suddenly become one of those people posting gym selfies at 5 a.m., holding a green juice, talking about the grind. Look, relax. I'm talking about simple movement. A walk around the block, a stretch while your pasta water boils. Put your phone down and walk outside for 10 minutes after work. Dance in the kitchen like some weirdo while you're unloading the dishwasher. Your brain loves movement because movement signals we're safe. We're not trapped. The stress cycle can now complete. And honestly, some of the best thinking, the most clear thinking I've ever done is on a wall, especially after I was too overwhelmed to think straight sitting still. So let's talk about number five. Stop expecting everything to be positive all the time. If you're like me, my brain wants to treat every bad mood like a crisis. This one matters more than you think, because so many of us are exhausting ourselves trying to feel positive all the time. And the second we feel stressed, irritated, emotional, overwhelmed, unmotivated, insecure, annoyed, discouraged, or just mentally fried, we immediately think, what's wrong with me? Why am I like this? I need to get it together. Meanwhile, your brain's just over there, like, uh, excuse me, ma'am, I'm literally just responding to pressure. Listen, not every negative thought means your life is falling apart. Not every bad mood needs some kind of breakthrough. Not every hard day means you're burnt out forever and should quit your job and move to some cabin in the woods. Sometimes your brain is just tired, overstimulated, hungry, emotionally overloaded, hormonal, under-supported, or just human. That's it. Your brain naturally scans for problems, for pressure, discomfort, and potential danger. That's part of being human. So when you expect yourself to be calm, to be grateful, positive, patient, and emotionally regulated 24-7, you end up creating a second layer of suffering because now you're stressed about being stressed. And that spiral is exhausting. One of the healthiest things I ever learned was this. You can feel overwhelmed without making it mean something terrible about you. You can have a hard day without turning it into a hard life. Nothing has gone wrong because your brain had a human moment. Here's the bottom line. Supporting your brain isn't about doing more, it's about understanding what it's already doing and setting your life up so it works for you instead of against you. If you really want to go deeper with this, the real If you really want to go deeper with this, the real shift is going to happen when you learn how to separate what your brain is automatically doing versus what you actually want to think, feel, and do anyway. That's where everything can start to change. Number six, eat in a way your brain can actually use. A brain is a high maintenance organ, it needs steady fuel, not chaos. Think less perfect diet, more let's stop the roller coaster. Put protein in your day early. This will help steady your mood and your focus. Things like eggs, greet yogurt, a protein shake. Real food versus processed snacks, that is less crashes, less brain fog. Healthy fats matter. Your brain is literally built from fat. So avocado, nuts, olive oil, that kind of thing will help. Hydration, even mild hydration, is better than fatigue and irritability. If you're living on coffee, skipping meals, and grabbing whatever's fast, of course your brain feels scattered and short fuse. This is not a mindset problem. It is a fuel problem. Next, sleep. Sleep like it matters because it does. You don't need more discipline, you need more rest. This is where your brain clears out those stress chemicals. It can process emotion. It resets for the next day. Not enough sleep means you'll be more reactive and less patient, harder to focus, especially when everything feels heavier. You don't have to be perfect, but if you're cutting sleep and expecting to feel good, that math is not going to work. We try to think better, but our brains are running on fumes. You cannot outthink a poorly supported brain. So let's make this real and usable. If you want your brain to show up for you clear, focused, steady, you've got to support it physically and mentally. Here's what a daily brain support routine could look like, even on those days when everything feels like a lot, which is most of the days in a dental practice. In the morning, don't start in survival mode. Before the schedule, before the chaos, give your brain a fighting chance. Drink water before coffee. Now, I love a cup of hot water with lemon and apple cider vinegar. Sounds disgusting, but it's really yummy. Eat something with protein. Then pull out your calendar and walk yourself through your day before it starts running you over. And if you follow me, you already know I am a huge believer in planning your week ahead of time. Not because you're trying to be some productivity robot, but because your brain functions better when it knows where it's going. Otherwise, you're gonna wake up Monday morning and immediately enter that dental practice in hunger games mode. Don't wait until the moment to figure it out. Your brain loves clarity. That's it. You don't have to have some full life plan. Just what matters today. Because if you don't decide, your brain's gonna default to what's easy and reactive. During the day, stay out of the spiral. This is where most people lose it. Talking to myself here, you're getting pulled in ten directions. Things are going sideways, and your energy drops. So instead of waiting until you're fried, use these micro resets. Take three slow breaths between patients. Step outside or just away from your desk for five minutes when you can. Drink water again. Yes, again. Eat something real before you hit the wall. And here's a big one. When things feel like too much, say this is a lot, and I can handle one thing at a time. That one sentence keeps your brain from spiraling. Do a midday check. Maybe take 60 seconds. Ask yourself, what's important for the rest of today? What doesn't need my energy right now? And then adjust. Most people don't need more time. They need to stop wasting energy on things that don't matter. And then after work, close those loops. This is the difference between going home mentally fried or clear. Before you leave or when you get home, write down anything still on your mind. Decide, handle it, schedule it, or just forget about it. If you don't do this, your brain's going to keep working all night. Night long. That's why you feel exhausted but can't shut it off. And reset your body. Look, this is a non-negotiable. You carry stress all day. You need to move it out. So go for a walk, stretch, get outside for a minute. No big workout plan is needed. Just move your body. This is how your brain comes out of survival mode. And then at night, set tomorrow up. Keep it simple. Put your phone down earlier than you want to. Go to bed. You don't need a perfect routine. You need enough sleep to not hate your life tomorrow. And look, you don't have to do all of this. I'm just giving you this as a suggestion. Do what you can. Consistency will be perfection. Just don't overcomplicate it. And here's the real takeaway. You are not bad at handling stress. You've just never been shown how to support your brain while you're doing a demanding job. This is that support. And when you do this, even halfway, you're going to notice you're less reactive, you think more clearly, you don't feel as drained. You have energy left at the end of the day. And listen, if you're tired of feeling like you're carrying all of this by yourself, come hang out with us in my free Facebook group, Beyond Dental Burnout. Because we have real conversations over there, not these fake good vibe-only conversations, not pretending everything's fine while inside we're running on caffeine and cortisol. I'm talking about real support from people who actually understand this world. People who know what it feels like to be mentally exhausted from that constant being needed. People trying to stop living in survival mode, people learning how to support themselves instead of unintentionally making life harder on themselves. And honestly, sometimes just realizing other people's brains are doing the exact same weird stuff yours is doing, that is healing all by itself. So come hang out with us over there. I'd love to have you. And thanks for hanging out with me today. I want to see you inside the group and on next week's episode. Have a fabulous week. Bye. Hey, have you had a chance to download your free copy of my mental hygiene checklist yet? Visit Beth HeilmanCoaching.com to get your copy. It teaches you the practical skills you need to achieve the same level of excellent mental hygiene as your dental hygiene. Don't miss out on this valuable resource for both your personal and professional growth.