CNBC.COM
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."
Use the '5-minute rule' to boost your energy and brain health
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.
Similar to how your phone goes into "low energy mode," your brain is doing everything it can to conserve its limited resources, so you'll be more likely to choose low-effort, immediate reward activities like binge-watching or scrolling.
In this state, the brain also tends to exaggerate how much energy a task will take, making it feel harder than it actually is. But the toughest part is often just getting started. Once we do, momentum usually takes over.
The toughest part is often just getting started. Once we do, momentum usually takes over.
By limiting the commitment to just five minutes, the task feels more manageable and less intimidating. It helps you get over the hurdle, and it limits any procrastination tendencies.
The "5-minute rule" has helped me complete hundreds of workouts I would have otherwise skipped. Once I've pushed through that initial five-minute barrier, I almost always find the energy to keep going
I even used the rule while writing my book, "The Phone Fix," during my maternity leave. I'd sit down after bedtime, write a few words and before I knew it, I'd made real progress on days when I didn't think I had the time or energy.
If you decide to stop after five minutes, that's absolutely fine. It's important to listen to your body, and sometimes rest is required. But the progress you made in those five minutes is not lost.
Incremental progress makes more of a difference than you might think
The most important thing to remember is that, in the brain, something is always better than nothing. You can build on something, but you can't build on nothing. Just five minutes a day adds up to more than 30 hours a year.
Regular repetition starts to shift the pattern from your prefrontal cortex — the region of your brain responsible for willpower, complex decision-making and emotional regulation — to a different area of the brain called the basal ganglia. This region is responsible for storing automated habits and routines.
As those behaviors become more automatic, they place less strain on your prefrontal cortex, freeing up more mental energy and increasing your capacity, so that you are no longer in low power mode.
That's how people who've had a consistent fitness routine for years manage to stick with it, because it's not about motivation anymore, it's about habit.
Dr. Faye Begeti is a neurology doctor and neuroscientist at Oxford University Hospitals. Her area of research focuses on neurodegenerative disorders. Dr. Begeti earned her MD and PhD at the University of Cambridge. Dr. Begeti is a member of the Association of British Neurologists Data and Devices Advisory Committee and a health ambassador for The Female Lead. She is the author of "The Phone Fix: How to Transform Your Smartphone Habits." Follow Dr. Begeti on Instagram @the_brain_doctor.
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