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Early career academic, parenthood, and mental health

My son turns 2 this month and is a significant milestone for our family as we went through lots of challenging days over the last 24 months. And I call this challenging not out of inexperience; I immigrated to other countries, twice, did my phd with a long-distance relationship from my husband for 4 years in another language, and lived abroad away from my family for the last 10 years, among the other challenges I had to overcome for the past decade.

I should also say there is no perfect time to be 100% ready, sometimes are better than others though, but there is not a perfect time.

Here what I had done during my pregnancy to boost my productivity. Hopefully, this will help some of you who are in the same position.

1.Start early. As soon as you find out that you are expecting a baby, or even as soon as you start thinking about it, plan your time. Plan your projects, plan your next year (if you do not have a job lined up already). Have a conversation with your boss about extending your contract if you are on a fixed-term contract. If you are applying for new positions, you might need to be clear about your plans. I had a job interview while I was four months pregnant, and I mentioned my pregnancy at the end. I got the job, but I ended up declining it because it was not the right time to move and I would have had enough left to stay with my baby. But there should not be any discrimination, according to the laws, against you because you are pregnant. If none of your plans work out, try to look for positions when on leave. Putting an application together for a job is manageable during your leave, among all of the other activities you need to do for your job.

2.Start with low hanging fruits. If you have many projects that are currently ongoing, and some need a little bit of nudge to be finished and submitted for publications, start with those. Start working on papers that you think are “closer” to the finish line, so you can submit them, and hopefully, you get the first round of revisions before you go on maternity.

3.Plan for your leave. Apply for some funding to cover your role while on leave. I was not able to get any support as the regional grants were not offered the year I was planning to take my leave, and my university also did not have any support for fellows on an internal grant scheme. Hopefully, you’re in a more supportive environment than me, and it would make a big difference for you. Related to planning, prepare a list of all projects you are involved in, and try to plan on how you want to delegate responsibilities. I had several meetings when I told my work that I am pregnant and stated that I would like to stay on the projects and will do my best to contribute as much as I can while on leave. Next, you need to communicate that to your students and set boundaries, so they are not going to expect a lot from you in the beginning when you are trying to figure things out.

4.Reduce the working memory load and be organized. If you have many ongoing projects and papers, find a way to make tracking them easy for yourself. It’s easier to get lost and be overwhelmed after a couple of months when you open an old document, but if you know exactly what are the next steps for each particular project, it would be much easier to start working on them in a small time window you get while your baby naps.

5.Be flexible. Pregnancy and expecting to become a parent for the first time is an enjoyable time. Try to enjoy it as much as you can. Being stressed about not having a job is not going to help you during this time. Be productive and efficient. Stress will bring your performance down, and you would lose the time you need to focus on your priorities. Instead of stress, plan, plan, and then wait.

You are limited by your imaginations. Try to think out of the box. Having a baby will teach you this for sure, but do not be afraid of this change. This is going to be a great change, embrace it!

There is ample evidence about posttraumatic growth, with increased wellbeing and self-awareness, which I can see can apply to when you become a parent too! This is a great time to recreate your future.

Mental health and early career academics

My son turned 2 years old recently and is a significant milestone for our family as we went through lots of challenging days over the last 24 months. And I call this challenging not out of inexperience; I immigrated to other countries, twice, did my PhD with long-distance relationship from my husband for 4 years in another language, and lived abroad away from my family for the last 10 years, among the other challenges I had to overcome for the past decade.

Having a family while being an early career is something that brings anxiety for many of us. As early careers, we do not have stable positions, we are constantly looking for grants and opportunities, we are looking to establish ourselves in our academic circles, and being away from that environment for a couple of months means that we might lose our connections and opportunities. Unfortunately, there is not much support out there either to help alleviate this anxiety and frankly, these anxieties have roots in reality. But what if you want to have a family too? I should also say there is no perfect time to be 100% ready, sometimes are better than others though, but there is not a perfect time. Here what I had done during my pregnancy to boost my productivity. Hopefully, this will help some of you who are in the same position.

Start early. As soon as you find out that you are expecting a baby, or even as soon as you start thinking about it, plan your time. Plan your projects, plan your next year (if you do not have a job lined up already). Have a conversation with your boss about extending your contract if you are on a fixed-term contract. If you are applying for new positions, you might need to be clear about your plans. I had a job interview while I was four months pregnant, and I mentioned my pregnancy at the end. I got the job, but I ended up declining it because it was not the right time to move and I would have had enough left to stay with my baby. But there should not be any discrimination, according to the laws, against you because you are pregnant. If none of your plans work out, try to look for positions when on leave. Putting an application together for a job is manageable during your leave, among all of the other activities you need to do for your job.
Start with low hanging fruits. If you have many projects that are currently ongoing, and some need a little bit of nudge to be finished and submitted for publications, start with those. Start working on papers that you think are “closer” to the finish line, so you can submit them and hopefully, you get the first round of revisions before you go on maternity.
Plan for your leave. Apply for some funding to cover your role while on leave. I was not able to get any support as the regional grants were not offered the year I was planning to take my leave, and my university also did not have any support for fellows on an internal grant scheme. Hopefully, you’re in a more supportive environment than me, and it would make a big difference for you. Related to planning, prepare a list of all projects you are involved in and try to plan on how you want to delegate responsibilities. I had several meetings when I told my work that I am pregnant and stated that I would like to stay on the projects and will do my best to contribute as much as I can while on leave. Next, you need to communicate that to your students and set boundaries, so they are not going to expect a lot from you in the beginning when you are trying to figure things out.
Reduce the working memory load and be organized. If you have many ongoing projects and papers, find a way to make tracking them easy for yourself. It’s easier to get lost and be overwhelmed after a couple of months when you open an old document, but if you know exactly what are the next steps for each particular project, it would be much easier to start working on them in a small time window you get while your baby naps.
Be flexible. Pregnancy and expecting to become a parent for the first time is an enjoyable time. Try to enjoy it as much as you can. Being stressed about not having a job is not going to help you during this time. Be productive and efficient. Stress will bring your performance down, and you would lose the time you need to focus on your priorities. Instead of stress, plan, plan, and then wait.

The academic environment might not be so supportive yet but if you are enthusiastic about your science, you will find something. If you cannot find anything, create something for yourself. Widen your search, investigate industrial positions, or start your own business. You are limited by your imaginations. Try to think out of the box. Having a baby will teach you this for sure, but do not be afraid of this change. This is going to be a great change, embrace it! There is ample evidence about posttraumatic growth, with increased wellbeing and self-awareness, which I can see can apply to when you become a parent too! This is a great time to recreate your future.

What is brain health and why should we care about it?

Our brain is the most precious organ we have. It governs everything we do, our actions, behavior, feeling, and thinking. It is like its own whole world with the most amazing connections and capacities. Our brain is like a very expensive car that needs premium quality care, from food, sleep, exercise, social interaction, thoughts, and cognitive stimulation. Importantly, whatever we do, and our environment impacts brain health and function.

If we deprive our brain of its resources and fuels, it will not perform well, work well, think well and as a result, we will not be able to make decisions that lead to better relationships, better mental health, and success overall.

It is important to take care of our brain with what we have because lack of symptoms does not equal health.

This would be evident when we move upward trajectory, we move towards a hill. If we do not have enough resources, our brain and body won’t be able to support us in that journey. We experience that in 2020. We all thoughts we were healthy and everything was going well until we were faced with the uncertainty and crises of COVID-19.

These days a lot of people talk about brain health and how to take x and y to improve your memory, your stress, your negative thinking, etc. There are not many evidence-based and science-backed up programs out there to give you first, knowledge about how the brain works and second, strategies that we could implement to support our brain health?

Given the complexity of the brain, there is no one dimension answer. Remember, our brain governs everything and is impacted by many factors such as environmental and genetic factors. So, we need to have a look at our brain holistically. In NeuroAcer, I developed a model in which I target brain health and brain care holistically. I developed a program in which I think brain health is NOT complete until we learn and understand these 7 pillars:

Stress and mental health, Negative thinking, Social interaction, Cognitive stimulation, Sleep, Exercise, and Nutrition.

All these need to be considered if we want to have a healthier brain. I briefly explain what can be done in each aspect to help with brain health in the next posts.

Stay tuned or head over to Neuroacer.com for more information.

Seven reasons why you should hire women who are parents

There are several reasons why you should hire a woman who is a parent, psychologically, neurologically, cognitively, and socially. I lay out some of them here.

When you become a parent, there are various things that are unknown to you. You are in a constant overwhelming battle and you are struggling with every little thing because this is new territory for you. But when you find yourself after a few months and become comfortable with who you are as a mum and your new identity, things will start to change dramatically. From a neuroscience point of view, there is evidence suggesting that there are growing cells during pregnancy and during early motherhood in your brain too! So, what are the exact benefits that employees could also benefit from?

1. Super focused

While it might sound obvious, but when you are a parent, and you know that you have only limited time to finish what you had to do, you become super focused and productive. There is no time for postponing things that need to get done and there is no procrastination, most of the time! Your attentional span might be limited because of repetitive disruptions, but when you want to get things done, you can do it very efficiently and squeeze it in a short time when your bub is napping, for instance. This is a super important quality for an employer. If you hire a woman who is a mum, you know they will be efficient and focused in the time they have.

2. Multitasking

Again, while this multitasking is an obvious characteristic, it is a very important one. Our brain doesn’t do multitasking, it just learns to switch between tasks quickly, and hence, there is a cost for switching between tasks. But when you become a mum, you keep track of the time that your baby needs to be fed, while watching their signs of tiredness and plan to do groceries while your bub is napping before it’s too late to get home for another feed or nap. At the same time, there are various tasks that need to be tracked and planned so your bub is not disturbed and you can manage your other chores around the house too. While this is taxing and make mums tired, this is a reality. From the mundane home jobs to office jobs, believe me, mums can track multiple tasks at a time. They can manage to organize a meeting and follow up a stakeholder’s response while thinking about having lunch with a colleague and always be ready to pop into bub’s daycare if needed.

3. Overthinking

When you are a new mum, every single decision about your baby is loaded with hours of thinking and considering different options and possibilities. The extent to which this is healthy is another topic, but when you train your brain to think about an issue from a different angle, transfer of this skill to other situations is very easy, with a little bit of motivation, I must add. Evolutionarily, we are designed to care for our babies and there are our main focus of attention, but if our jobs become more inspiring and will be in line with our passions and goals, there is no reason why can’t we make better decisions in our day jobs too.

4. Compassion

Mums become so empathic and patient. Compassionate. Taking care of a small child who learns every single thing at a relatively slower pace than you, makes you more patient towards others. We become who we are from a fragile, dependent creature and that’s a very remarkable journey. Doesn’t matter what your background is, you become more understanding of others. That is a unique quality when you are in a work environment and especially working in a team with different backgrounds and various levels of skills. You are able to understand others’ points of view better and respect them more.

5. Flexibility

If you ask every mum about their days, they would say that no day is the same. Things change daily, and even hourly. You need to go with the flow and be flexible to be able to care for your child and provide a nourishing environment. Rigidity blocks your child’s creativity and instinctively, every mum knows this and even if they don’t know it, they are forced to be flexible. Again, this is a unique and rare characteristic to find in an employee. If you hire a mum, you know that they can be flexible with changes that might happen in the project that require outside-of-the-box thinking.

6. Motivation

In almost all of the women I met who are mums, I see sparks and motivation. They have ideas, inspiration, and originality. They love to create and they are ready to take action. They are full of lights and while they admit that raising a child is the most difficult thing that they’ve ever done, they are alive. A lot of women I know, started their own businesses, their programs, their ideas, their websites while dealing with the life-changing event of becoming a mum. This shouldn’t be considered lightly when hiring a woman. Most people think that if they hire a woman, they might be disorganized, late, not motivated, tired, and full of excuses. But if you provide a proper environment, women can handle be a unique mum as well as an inspirational and creative employee.

Most people think if they hire a woman, who is a mum, they will be disappointed because mums are disorganised, late, unmotivated, tired, and full of excuses. But if you provide a nourishing environment, you can unleash their power and benefit from women’s creativity. Women can easily handle being a super mum as well as an inspirational, creative, and independent thinker.

7. Just-do-it mindset

When you are a mum, you don’t have much time to waste. You just do it. If you have to book tours for daycares, finding the closest appointment possible for an allergist, book a family photo shoot, or join a class for your child’s development, you just somehow manage to do these things. You get things done! This is a great mindset to look for in an employee. Incomplete tasks make your brain inefficient and thus, tired. When you have this mindset in your employees, you can be sure that you see your project to fruition.

Our lives change as we become parents. Most people struggle to go back to their jobs after their maternity or paternity leave. I think we should think about our employees who are parents as an important asset rather than a lost cause. Think about their potentials and see how you can use their potential to your benefit rather than dismissing them because they are expecting a child or have a child, even unconsciously that might happen. Everyone will benefit from this conclusive and dynamic workplace.

Mental health tips for the elderly during COVID-19 pandemic!

I’ve been working with the elderly for the last 15 years now, and it is my passion to help them have a healthier life. During this time, it is paramount to help them get through this phase with ease. Everyone is stressed and overwhelmed right now, understandably so, but please take a moment to think about any elderly around you that might need your help during this time.

Social connection.

This is obvious but crucial! While social distancing has been shown to slow down the spread of the virus, we have to remember that social distancing doesn’t mean social isolation. For a lot of elderly individuals, distance from their families and friends is going to be really isolating and lonely. They might live alone and if families and friends are not allowed to visit them and get close to them, especially if they live in lockdown areas, that might mean not seeing and talking to anybody for days! While this is a temporary situation, the long-term impact of social isolation will be huge, at least on their mental health if not on their physical and brain health. So, keep your distance but check in with them regularly. Send them messages and see if they are doing ok. Get the elderly socially active and involved. If you have elderly parents, call them frequently and let them talk to their grandchildren. Talk to them about something fun and positive rather than the Corona news!

Cognitive engagement.

Many of the elderly used to attend various groups and classes to keep their mind active and also to socialize with others. Now that social gathering is limited, the isolation is not only impacting their social life but also their cognitive functions. This applies to everyone, of course.

If you, or anyone you know, are experiencing social isolation and feel not cognitively engaged through the day, perhaps now it is a time to pick up a new challenge.

Have you ever wanted to learn a language or learn about a topic in science? There are so many resources for learning various activities. If you can’t find it, ask your friends, children, or neighbors, over the phone or via email, to recommend a book or lend you some resources they used for learning Spanish, for instance. Use your resources to get the material you need! Turn on the TV and watch a documentary or listen to a TED talk. Learning a new skill engages different neural pathways and helps you to stay cognitively engaged. But that has to be something that you are interested in and motivated to do!

Physical activity.

Again while social distancing dictates to stay home as much as possible and not to attend exercise classes or gyms, most elderly need their regular exercises to stay mobile. Losing the momentum of attending regular classes or practicing their routines could lead to weakness of muscle tones and physical readiness with long-term consequences for their health. So, if you are self-isolating, try to get online classes and regular exercises suited for your needs. See if you can find exercise physiologists or personal trainers who offer online consultations. If you already have a routine, try to stick to it as much as possible. If you don’t have a routine, try to start with low intensity and some stretches during the day. There are some apps for exercise to do at home too. If none of these options are available, just walk around your backyard or block! Don’t need to stop and chat with anyone while you are out. But move your body daily during this time. Avoid sitting in front of a computer/TV for a long period. Any movement counts! Wash your dishes, do some gardening, clean your closet/desk, move your body while you are cooking, etc. Any movement is better than sedentary positions.

Healthy Diet.

When in self-isolation, it is very important to take care of your mental health as well.

Research has shown a strong link between gut and brain health. So, the way we eat impacts the way we feel.

Be very vigilant about your food! During stressful times like this, it is important to choose healthier snacks and food options. Reduce foods with refined sugar as much as possible. Try to replace sugar and simple carbohydrate with healthier substitutes and complex carbohydrates such as whole-grain foods, fruits, and veggies. Bake yourself a healthy banana bread or carrot cake to satisfy the craving but stick to fruit and veggies as much as possible. I understand that eating fresh produces would be tricky and require several travels to shops, so try to buy frozen fruits and veggies and store them in your freezer. Consider immune-boosting foods such as oily fish, leafy greens, and ginger. Try to stay hydrated and follow general healthy eating habits.

Mental hygiene.

These days it is important to stay informed about the recommendations by the health care professionals and authorities. But unfortunately, there is a lot that we can’t control during this time, except practicing hand hygiene and social distancing. You don’t need to fill your days at home by reading and listening to the news all the time. Turn on the music channel and listen to your favorite music genre. Listen to tracks that bring joy and wonderful memories back. Listen to a scientific talk about dolphins, they are amazing creatures! Don’t let every single conversation be governed by the pandemic topic.

Remember, most people in your generation ( the elderly population I’m referring to) have experienced difficult periods in their lifetimes. You might have experienced war, poverty, drought, financial hardships, losing jobs, and partners.

You’ve got through them and now you’ve got this one too!

It is important to watch for negative and worrying thoughts that creep in during this time. With a positive outlook and the right social distancing strategy, we can get through this. You are not alone on this!