Written and narrated by Dr. Samantha Brooks.
THE CURB YOUR ADDICTION (CY-A) APP
In partnership with the Meaningful Paths app to support will power training.
Curb Your Addiction (C-Ya for short) is a computer-based, 15-minute game that can be played on any device (Smartphone, PC, Tablet). The game is very simple, but it’s effects on significantly changing brain structure and function for the better are supported by neuroscientific evidence.
The game requires players to remember series of letters, with the difficulty of this task increasing – like lifting heavier weights at the gym – as the player improves. Neuroscience shows us that this brief activity, if practised daily for at least one month, alters connections in the brain between the prefrontal cortex and other deeper brain structures responsible for impulsivity, craving and general ‘out-of-control’ behaviours.
Committing to a daily, short use of CYa for a month, will help you to say ‘C-Ya’ to any bad habits in life that you’re trying to overcome, and by the same token, help you to strengthen good, life-affirming habits to keep you on a Meaningful Path.
That’s why CYa is an excellent companion on your Meaningful Paths journey. All the skills you are learning with Meaningful Paths will likely become easier to master with a strengthened brain. Neuroscience suggests that CYa helps to improve brain processes that not only strengthen your willpower, but also help you to remember goals and new ways of looking at the world.
In our highly distractible world, strengthening brain processes – like strengthening muscles when lifting weights at a gym – will help you to remember and keep in mind the things you are learning on your Meaningful Paths journey. And with more efficient brain functioning, you will really notice the impact that the new skills you are developing will have on your life.
Being able to hold in mind for longer, positive, life-affirming goals that are unique to what YOU want to achieve, amid a world that is becoming more impulsive, overcrowded, stimulating and distracting, is a gift.
The gift to you is access to CYa during your Meaningful Paths journey – and we look forward to hearing about your experiences!
Dr. Samantha Brooks is a Reader of Cognitive Neuroscience in the School of Psychology, Faculty of Health, Liverpool John Moores University, UK, and a Chartered member of the British Psychological Society. Her research specialises in the neural mechanisms of impulse control in various psychiatric conditions (e.g. addiction, eating disorders). Previously, Dr Brooks worked as a lecturer for six years at the University of Cape Town, South Africa and co-led the Psychiatry Neuroimaging Group. Before working in South Africa, she completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Uppsala University, Sweden, where Dr Brooks continues to collaborate on projects examining the brain processes underlying eating disorders and adolescent-onset mental health disorders. She gained her Ph.D. at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London, where she learned clinical neuroimaging techniques, such as structural and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Dr Brooks has published book chapters and over 100 papers to date in high impact journals with a current H Index of 42, continuing to present her work at international conferences. Her research on impulse control in eating disorders and addiction has so far attracted over 1 million Euros in international funding and collaborations with international experts in the field.