2d ago · Video

Can Gaming Be Good for Your Brain? (ft. a Game Designer) (Pt.1)

We spend a lot of time telling kids to get off the Xbox and do their homework. But what if gaming is genuinely good for your brain? This week Adam and Andy are joined by Pavel Tomasik – game designer and co-founder of Mimesis Game Studios – for part one of a two-part deep dive into play, gaming, and why your brain needs it more than you think. We get into play as a genuine brain need (it's one of our 12 Rocks of Wellbeing), why games are a uniquely safe space to explore ideas, roles and consequences, and why the decades-old moral panic about "violent games" quietly ignores how creative, social and profound gaming can be. Pavel gets into what games can do that no film or novel can – handing you real agency rather than passive watching – and we celebrate the narrative games that genuinely move people (It Takes Two, Split Fiction). Plus Adam's confession about the game designer he almost became, and the real friendships that games built for both him and Andy. Find out more about Pavel & Mimesis: https://mimesis-studios.com https://indie.mimesis-studios.com https://www.instagram.com/mimesis_studios/ It's a big one – so big we split it in two. Part two lands next Monday. We want to hear from you! Don't hesitate to email the show: adamwright@aypuk.com Buy us a Coffee!: https://ko-fi.com/onebrainpodcastChapters 00:00 - Clip 00:19 - Intro & meet game designer Pavel Tomasik 02:20 - Why your brain needs to play 03:15 - Games as a safe space to explore 07:00 - The moral panic about "violent games" 11:03 - What games do that films and books can't 15:40 - Narrative games worth your time 18:20 - The real friendships games build 22:17 - Gaming, escapism & genuine connection 23:55 - Outro (part two next week!) This podcast will change your life, if you let it. Welcome to One Brain At A Time, an Action Your Potential podcast. At the top of your neck you have the most powerful processing device in the known universe. But no-one's ever told you how it works... until now. Each Monday, Action Your Potential consultants Adam Wright and Andy Feist strip away the jargon and break down the neuroscience into practical tools you can apply straight away. Entertaining, evidence-based, and 100% woo-woo free. That's a guarantee. Want to learn more about the work we do at AYP? Find out more on our website! 📲 Follow us on TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@one.brain.atatime 📲 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/one_brain_podcast?igsh=MTdxMmVvMndoeDNydg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 📬 Subscribe to the AYP Newsletter: https://substack.com/@actionyourpotential One Brain At A Time is written and presented by Adam Wright & Andy Feist. Production from Adam Wright and Andy Feist. One Brain At A Time is an Action Your Potential production.

Sep 21 · Video

Why Your Habits Fall Apart in Winter (And How to Fix It)

You built the habit over summer. Now it's dark earlier and the whole thing's falling apart. That's not a willpower problem – it's completely normal, and there's a fix. This week Adam and Andy get into something we usually skip over: not building good habits, but keeping them alive when the seasons turn and your whole routine gets upended. We get into why adaptability matters more than rigid structure this time of year, the difference between your non-negotiables (the things you protect no matter what) and your negotiables (the things that can flex), and why the trick is being flexible about when you do something rather than whether you do it at all. We talk sleep as the one habit to guard above all, why one broken routine can topple the whole tower, the winter vitamin D dip that quietly drains your motivation, and the single easiest change that takes the pressure off: making your goals weekly instead of daily. (70,000 steps a week, not 10,000 a day.) It all comes down to one word: sustainability. We want to hear from you! Don't hesitate to email the show: adamwright@aypuk.com Buy us a Coffee!: https://ko-fi.com/onebrainpodcast --- Chapters 00:00 - Clip 00:59 - Intro (ft. the equinox & slipping into the darkness) 03:00 - Building habits is one thing – keeping them is another 04:40 - The power of adaptability (the opposite of what we preach) 06:04 - Summer freedom vs the return of structure 07:31 - Give yourself grace: everyone's finding their feet 09:00 - Why neuroscience shouldn't feel robotic 10:11 - Sleep: the one rock of wellbeing to guard above all 16:09 - Non-negotiables vs negotiables 18:18 - Flexibility in WHEN, not whether 19:00 - Andy's non-negotiables 23:32 - Don't let one broken habit topple the whole tower 28:40 - Winter, less sunlight & the vitamin D / dopamine dip 31:38 - Sustainability & consistency are what actually matter 34:31 - Outro (ft. Big Granola, please sponsor us) --- This podcast will change your life, if you let it. Welcome to One Brain At A Time, an Action Your Potential podcast. At the top of your neck you have the most powerful processing device in the known universe. But no-one's ever told you how it works... until now. Each Monday, Action Your Potential consultants Adam Wright and Andy Feist strip away the jargon and break down the neuroscience into practical tools you can apply straight away. Entertaining, evidence-based, and 100% woo-woo free. That's a guarantee. Want to learn more about the work we do at AYP? Find out more on our website! 📲 Follow us on TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@one.brain.atatime 📲 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/one_brain_podcast?igsh=MTdxMmVvMndoeDNydg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 📬 Subscribe to the AYP Newsletter: https://substack.com/@actionyourpotential One Brain At A Time is written and presented by Adam Wright & Andy Feist. Production from Adam Wright and Andy Feist. One Brain At A Time is an Action Your Potential production.

Sep 14 · Video

Pain Is a Prediction – Here's the Neuroscience

"There's nothing physically wrong with you." It's one of the most frustrating things a person in chronic pain can be told – and the neuroscience of why is genuinely fascinating. This week Adam and Andy are joined by Maddie Gwynee Hughes – a neuroscientist about to start a master's at Imperial – who's been working in Norway on the PRIME study: research into why some people recover from pain while others develop chronic pain that never switches off. We get into what actually separates pain from chronic pain, why long-term pain rewires your whole nervous system, and how inflammation crosses the blood-brain barrier so that your body and brain are never really two separate things. Maddie breaks down the study itself – challenging people's immune systems, tracking inflammatory markers like IL-6 – and we get into the strangest part of all: because your brain is a prediction engine, it can keep generating very real pain even when the injury is long gone. Phantom limbs and all. It's a proper nerdy one – no cures, no snake oil, just a better understanding of your own body. And as ever, the real takeaway is insight: the better you understand your body and brain, the better placed you are to make the right calls for you. We want to hear from you! Don't hesitate to email the show: adamwright@aypuk.com Buy us a Coffee!: https://ko-fi.com/onebrainpodcast--- Chapters 00:00 - Clip 01:05 - Intro & meet Maddie (neuroscientist & old uni friend) 04:04 - The PRIME study: psychoneuroimmunology, explained 05:11 - Pain vs chronic pain – what's the difference? 07:16 - Inflammation, chronic pain & mental health 11:59 - Body & brain are one thing ("it's all one big mush") 13:34 - You are a big fleshy sack of senses 17:23 - Andy's back injury & the power of interoception 18:35 - The immune system & Andy's mum's story 21:31 - Inside the study: challenging the blood (IL-6) 23:52 - Your brain predicts pain – even when it's gone (phantom limb) 27:37 - Ending on hope: your body is adaptable 30:54 - The nuance: what pain is actually FOR 33:14 - Why we must fund academia 35:00 - Outro This podcast will change your life, if you let it. Welcome to One Brain At A Time, an Action Your Potential podcast. At the top of your neck you have the most powerful processing device in the known universe. But no-one's ever told you how it works... until now. Each Monday, Action Your Potential consultants Adam Wright and Andy Feist strip away the jargon and break down the neuroscience into practical tools you can apply straight away. Entertaining, evidence-based, and 100% woo-woo free. That's a guarantee. Want to learn more about the work we do at AYP? Find out more on our website! 📲 Follow us on TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@one.brain.atatime 📲 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/one_brain_podcast?igsh=MTdxMmVvMndoeDNydg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 📬 Subscribe to the AYP Newsletter: https://substack.com/@actionyourpotential One Brain At A Time is written and presented by Adam Wright & Andy Feist. Production from Adam Wright and Andy Feist. One Brain At A Time is an Action Your Potential production.

Sep 7 · Video

Why the End of Summer Feels So Heavy

Feeling a bit anxious now that September's here? There's a good chance it's got nothing to do with anything happening in your actual life – and everything to do with your brain. This week Adam and Andy get into the strange, near-universal dread that arrives with the end of summer – why the drop in temperature and the return of the rain can flood you with the exact stress you felt walking to school as a kid, even decades later. We get into the neuroscience of "models" and why your brain builds one for every situation, why the gap before a new model forms (cognitive dissonance) is felt as pure anxiety, and why the only way to close that gap is to do the uncomfortable thing and go through it. We talk about giving yourself grace – and extending it to everyone else who's just as frazzled – the small practical moves that lower the load (prep the night before, protect your bandwidth), and why understanding your brain never stops it doing its thing. Anyone who says otherwise is selling snake oil. Whether you're a student, a teacher, a parent at the school gate for the first time, or just someone who feels a bit off every autumn – this one's for you. We want to hear from you! Don't hesitate to email the show: adamwright@aypuk.com Buy us a Coffee!: https://ko-fi.com/onebrainpodcast --- Chapters 00:00 - Clip 00:41 - Intro & why September makes you anxious 04:11 - Models & cognitive dissonance: the science of the dread 06:04 - Andy's green-carpet-stairs story 14:08 - Give yourself grace (and everyone else too) 17:45 - Practical: prep the night before, save your bandwidth 20:59 - Teachers & parents 26:00 - It passes: homeostasis & doing it anyway --- This podcast will change your life, if you let it. Welcome to One Brain At A Time, an Action Your Potential podcast. At the top of your neck you have the most powerful processing device in the known universe. But no-one's ever told you how it works... until now. Each Monday, Action Your Potential consultants Adam Wright and Andy Feist strip away the jargon and break down the neuroscience into practical tools you can apply straight away. Entertaining, evidence-based, and 100% woo-woo free. That's a guarantee. Want to learn more about the work we do at AYP? Find out more on our website! 📲 Follow us on TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@one.brain.atatime 📲 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/one_brain_podcast?igsh=MTdxMmVvMndoeDNydg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 📬 Subscribe to the AYP Newsletter: https://substack.com/@actionyourpotential One Brain At A Time is written and presented by Adam Wright & Andy Feist. Production from Adam Wright and Andy Feist. One Brain At A Time is an Action Your Potential production.

Aug 31 · Video

Why Your Phone Kills Your Motivation

"I'm just not a productive person" is one of the most common refrains we hear people say about themselves – and it usually has nothing to do with laziness, and everything to do with dopamine. This week Adam and Andy get into screens, scrolling, and the one chemical that's constantly misunderstood – a part two to the conversation we started at our Brighton event. We get into why dopamine isn't a "pleasure chemical" but a reward-seeking one, why it's a finite resource you can genuinely run dry, and how your phone hijacks it through intermittent rewards – the same trick that makes a slot machine so hard to leave. We cover the pleasure-pain seesaw, why doom scrolling leaves you feeling flat and useless, and why cancelling plans you were excited about isn't a character flaw – it's a dopamine deficit. Then we get practical, from the "phone audit" to why the best thing you can do is leave your phone alone first thing in the morning. You're not lazy. You've just been outplayed by something designed to beat you – and this one's about getting your life back. We want to hear from you! Don't hesitate to email the show: adamwright@aypuk.com Buy us a Coffee!: https://ko-fi.com/onebrainpodcast Chapters 00:00 - Clip 01:04 - Intro 02:27 - Today's topic: screens 02:54 - Dopamine is NOT a pleasure chemical 03:54 - The two dopamine systems: impulsive vs measured 10:51 - The rats that starved with food in front of them 16:29 - Intermittent rewards & why notifications are red 17:24 - The Instagram loop: reward, no reward, crash 20:38 - The pleasure-pain seesaw & homeostasis 23:30 - Step one: the phone audit 24:36 - Effortful vs purposeful phone use 26:01 - The algorithms are designed to beat you 27:30 - It's not a fair fight (and not a matter of will) 32:29 - Control the environment around your phone 33:26 - Don't touch your phone first thing in the morning 33:52 - Outro --- This podcast will change your life, if you let it. Welcome to One Brain At A Time, an Action Your Potential podcast. At the top of your neck you have the most powerful processing device in the known universe. But no-one's ever told you how it works... until now. Each Monday, Action Your Potential consultants Adam Wright and Andy Feist strip away the jargon and break down the neuroscience into practical tools you can apply straight away. Entertaining, evidence-based, and 100% woo-woo free. That's a guarantee. Want to learn more about the work we do at AYP? Find out more on our website! 📲 Follow us on TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@one.brain.atatime 📲 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/one_brain_podcast?igsh=MTdxMmVvMndoeDNydg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 📬 Subscribe to the AYP Newsletter: https://substack.com/@actionyourpotential One Brain At A Time is written and presented by Adam Wright & Andy Feist. Production from Adam Wright and Andy Feist. Intro Music: "Happy Life" by Fredji (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvQ-5RCt9xs&list=PLfP6i5T0-DkK-1uhfhicxlQ2FJwbuA7uU&index=26). One Brain At A Time is an Action Your Potential production.

Aug 24

There's No Such Thing as a "Maths Person"

"I'm just not a maths person" is one of the most common refrains we hear people saying about themselves – and it's neuroscientifically unfounded. Adam and Andy are joined by Professor Geetha Ramani, developmental psychologist at the University of Maryland, whose research focuses on how children actually learn maths. We get into why "I'm bad at maths" is socially acceptable in a way "I'm bad at reading" never is, why all learning looks identical in the brain, right down to the neuron, and how one bad experience becomes a "prior" that runs your whole relationship with a subject. Send it to a maths hater – we'll fix them for you. We want to hear from you! Don't hesitate to email the show: adamwright@aypuk.com Buy us a Coffee!: https://ko-fi.com/onebrainpodcast --- Chapters 00:00 - Clip 00:26 - Intro & meet Prof. Geetha Ramani (ft. Adam's maths beef) 02:40 - Why "I'm bad at maths" is socially acceptable (and reading isn't) 04:06 - All learning looks the same in the brain 05:32 - Resilience: you can learn it even if you don't enjoy it 07:56 - Why effort is the thing that makes a game work 08:28 - Setting kids by ability & the stigma problem 10:29 - Priors: how one bad experience becomes "I can't do maths" 13:02 - There's no such thing as a "maths person" 15:07 - Why maths feels abstract (and reading doesn't) 16:04 - Gamifying maths: making repetition fun 22:26 - Maths as problem-solving, not rote memorisation 23:15 - The hidden executive-function skills you build 25:14 - Home vs school: kids spend 85% of their time out of class 28:40 - Maths is NOT genetic – it doesn't get passed down 31:04 - Summer learning loss & "use it or lose it" 33:45 - Outro (ft. send us your maths haters) --- This podcast will change your life, if you let it. Welcome to One Brain At A Time, an Action Your Potential podcast. At the top of your neck you have the most powerful processing device in the known universe. But no-one's ever told you how it works... until now. Each Monday, Action Your Potential consultants Adam Wright and Andy Feist strip away the jargon and break down the neuroscience into practical tools you can apply straight away. Entertaining, evidence-based, and 100% woo-woo free. That's a guarantee. If you want to learn more about the work we do at AYP, you can find out more information on our website! 📲 Follow us on TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@one.brain.atatime 📲 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/one_brain_podcast?igsh=MTdxMmVvMndoeDNydg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 📬 Subscribe to the AYP Newsletter: https://substack.com/@actionyourpotential One Brain At A Time is written and presented by Adam Wright & Andy Feist. Production from Adam Wright and Andy Feist. Intro Music: "Happy Life" by Fredji (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvQ-5RCt9xs&list=PLfP6i5T0-DkK-1uhfhicxlQ2FJwbuA7uU&index=26). One Brain At A Time is an Action Your Potential production.

Aug 17

Why Achieving Your Goal Doesn't Make You Happy

You spend years chasing the goal – and then you hit it, and it feels strangely flat. Why? Adam and Andy are joined by Sam Cains: former golf pro, now a PhD student researching mental health in high-performance sport (and Andy's good friend from their Masters days). We get into identity tied up in sport and what happens when injury takes it away, why mental and physical health are the same system rather than two, treating the mind as a trainable skill, and the neuroscience of the anticlimax – why homeostasis deliberately crashes your dopamine after the big win, and why the answer is to enjoy the process rather than chase the next hit. We want to hear from you! Don't hesitate to email the show: adamwright@aypuk.com Buy us a Coffee!: https://ko-fi.com/onebrainpodcast --- Chapters: 00:00 - Clip 00:27 - Intro & meet Sam Cains (ft. the imposter syndrome story) 04:11 - Going back to academia later in life 06:16 - Enjoy the process, don't over-plan the future 09:15 - The goal-setting balance: big dreams vs today 11:25 - Golf, football & identity wrapped up in sport 16:57 - The proactive case for mental health in sport 21:55 - Mental and physical health are the same thing 23:59 - Your mind is a skill you can train 26:11 - Why winning the World Cup feels like an anticlimax 27:44 - Homeostasis: why your brain crashes the dopamine 30:57 - "What's next?" & making peace with not knowing 36:14 - Outro --- This podcast will change your life, if you let it. Welcome to One Brain At A Time, an Action Your Potential podcast. At the top of your neck you have the most powerful processing device in the known universe. But no-one's ever told you how it works... until now. Each Monday, Action Your Potential consultants Adam Wright and Andy Feist strip away the jargon and break down the neuroscience into practical tools you can apply straight away. Entertaining, evidence-based, and 100% woo-woo free. That's a guarantee. Subscribe today wherever you get your podcasts and watch the full episodes on Youtube. If you want to learn more about the work we do at AYP, you can find out more information on our website! 📧 Email us questions at adamwright@aypuk.com. 👀 Watch our episodes on our youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@OneBrainPodcast 📲 Follow us on TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@one.brain.atatime 📲 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/one_brain_podcast?igsh=MTdxMmVvMndoeDNydg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 📬 Subscribe to the AYP Newsletter: https://substack.com/@actionyourpotential One Brain At A Time is written and presented by Adam Wright & Andy Feist. Production from Adam Wright and Andy Feist. Intro Music: “Happy Life” by Fredji (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvQ-5RCt9xs&list=PLfP6i5T0-DkK-1uhfhicxlQ2FJwbuA7uU&index=26). One Brain At A Time is an Action Your Potential production.

Aug 10

University Professor On What a 4-Day Week Does to Your Brain

What if you could do all your work in four days instead of five – and actually sleep better, feel less burnt out, and get more done? The neuroscience says you can. Adam and Andy are joined by Dr. Charlotte Rae, biological psychologist at the University of Sussex for the nerdiest episode yet. We get into what a four-day week actually means, why employers should care about it, and what Charlotte's team found when they put people through blood tests, MRI scans and sleep tracking across a 12-week trial: better sleep every day of the week, less burnout, and an 8% rise in productivity in less time. Heads up: Charlotte brought slides. If you usually listen on audio, this is the one literally watch. --- Chapters: 01:20 - Pre-roll: watch this one on YouTube (there's a slideshow!) 02:40 - Intro & meet Dr. Charlotte Rae (University of Sussex) 03:43 - AYP's part in the study (ft. the "glamorous" sleep watch) 04:33 - What actually IS a 4-day week? The 3 types 07:57 - Why would employers ever want this? 14:37 - Inside the study: bloods, MRI & interoception 19:15 - The scans – and where the 10% myth comes from 22:26 - The sleep results (and they keep improving) 30:42 - Goal setting & 8% more productivity in less time 32:51 - Why habits take a few weeks to bed in 34:54 - How to steal this without a 4-day week: deep work 37:03 - Micro-breaks & eating the frog 38:10 - The default mode network: where insight comes from 40:49 - Time boxing & the active break 42:22 - Executive function is finite (ft. the dairy milk) 45:18 - Why we take neuroscience seriously at AYP 47:46 - Outro --- This podcast will change your life, if you let it. Welcome to One Brain At A Time, an Action Your Potential podcast. At the top of your neck you have the most powerful processing device in the known universe. But no-one's ever told you how it works... until now. Each Monday, Action Your Potential consultants Adam Wright and Andy Feist strip away the jargon and break down the neuroscience into practical tools you can apply straight away. Entertaining, evidence-based, and 100% woo-woo free. That's a guarantee. Subscribe today wherever you get your podcasts and watch the full episodes on Youtube. If you want to learn more about the work we do at AYP, you can find out more information on our website! 📧 Email us questions at adamwright@aypuk.com. 👀 Watch our episodes on our youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@OneBrainPodcast 📲 Follow us on TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@one.brain.atatime 📲 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/one_brain_podcast?igsh=MTdxMmVvMndoeDNydg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 📬 Subscribe to the AYP Newsletter: https://substack.com/@actionyourpotential One Brain At A Time is written and presented by Adam Wright & Andy Feist. Production from Adam Wright and Andy Feist. Intro Music: “Happy Life” by Fredji (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvQ-5RCt9xs&list=PLfP6i5T0-DkK-1uhfhicxlQ2FJwbuA7uU&index=26). One Brain At A Time is an Action Your Potential production.

One Brain At A Time

Can Gaming Be Good for Your Brain? (ft. a Game Designer) (Pt.1)

Why Your Habits Fall Apart in Winter (And How to Fix It)

Pain Is a Prediction – Here's the Neuroscience

Why the End of Summer Feels So Heavy

Why Your Phone Kills Your Motivation

There's No Such Thing as a "Maths Person"

Why Achieving Your Goal Doesn't Make You Happy

University Professor On What a 4-Day Week Does to Your Brain

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One Brain At A Time

Episodes

Can Gaming Be Good for Your Brain? (ft. a Game Designer) (Pt.1)

Why Your Habits Fall Apart in Winter (And How to Fix It)

Pain Is a Prediction – Here's the Neuroscience

Why the End of Summer Feels So Heavy

Why Your Phone Kills Your Motivation

There's No Such Thing as a "Maths Person"

Why Achieving Your Goal Doesn't Make You Happy

University Professor On What a 4-Day Week Does to Your Brain

About

Information

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