Hey everyone, time for a reintroduction! 👋🏻 I’m Patricia, a German living in Chile. My background is in psychology & neuroscience & I left my university professorship in 2025 to focus on my science communication & ghostwriting biz. When I’m not at my PC, you’ll likely find me gardening, spending time with the fam, or cuddling my cats. I’m most active on Medium & I publish a weekly newsletter called ATP—All Things Psychology, making psychology & neuroscience accessible & useful (link in bio!).

Nose breathing isn't just about filtering the air before it reaches your lungs. It also activates brain regions that mouth breathing simply bypasses.

Pro tip: move your learning activities to evening hours. What you learn in the hours before sleep is more likely to be prioritized for consolidation overnight. If you study earlier, do a recap before bed.

The mere presence of a phone ruins your focus, even if you don't check it & sounds/notifications are turned off. Your ability to focus... ... is most impaired when it's visible. ... is less impaired when it's out of sight. ... is best when it's in another room.

If you’re stuck on an issue, postpone it to the next day. Most of the time, the solution appears like magic (but in reality your brain did the work overnight).

You can't fail you don't try. But you also can't win if you don't try.

According to a scientific study, people check their phones 85x/day. Considering 16 waking hours, that's every 11 mins. The study participants estimated 37x/day, much less than the real number. You probably underestimate how much you use your phone.

When asked to sit with their thoughts for 15 minutes, 43% of participants gave themselves at least one painful electric shock. Some people would rather experience pain than sit with their thoughts.

It’s wild that people imagine university professors spend most of their days reading, writing, & thinking. When I was a professor, those were actually my least frequent activities. I had to quit my job to finally be able to do what a professor is supposed to do!

It’s easy to think of brain health as something that happens only in your head. But your brain is part of a body & that body includes your gut. A new study found that women with daily bowel movements showed better cognitive performance & stronger gut-brain coupling than women with less frequent bowel movements. This doesn’t mean that daily bowel movements cause better cognition but it adds to a bigger body of research showing that gut & brain function are connected.

Morning sunlight is free, takes 10 minutes, and might be the highest-ROI habit you're not doing.

Instead of looking for a perfect, polished health routine you cannot follow, find one you can actually implement, even if it’s not “perfect”. Progress over perfection!

How to use your breath before a big decision: Inhale for 2 seconds. Exhale for 8 seconds. Repeat a few times. Research shows this activates your parasympathetic nervous system & makes your brain more sensitive to potential rewards. Your breath changes your perspective.