As a neurologist, I spend long days in a hospital seeing patients with complex neurological problems. When my day is done, I head home to put my two young kids to bed.
So when I start to feel overwhelming fatigue or like I’m about to hit a mental wall, I use a simple strategy that I created after nearly 20 years of studying the brain.
It has consistently supported my brain health and energy levels more than anything else. It works so well that I’ve started sharing it with my patients, too.
I call it the “5-minute rule.”
When you don’t feel like doing something, start anyway and tell yourself you’ll just do it for five minutes, and then you’ll reassess how you feel. Often, it’s not physical exhaustion that stops us from going for a jog, but the mental energy required to get started.
