The Body-Brain Connection for a Healthy Legal Career
Gabriela Brunner
June 18, 2025
Jennifer and I are excited to continue our series on wellness in the legal profession (if you missed our first post, feel free to catch up here)! Today, we are focusing on physical strategies for stress resilience, including understanding and managing the brain-body connection. Most legal professionals likely understand that you need your brain to think, read, research, write, and do the things that lawyers do. But how often have you stopped to consider what a healthy brain looks and feels like? Or how your physical body can help support your law practice?
What your brain needs for a better practice
A 2024 survey by Bloomberg Law found that 62% of lawyers said they sometimes or often “encounter legal professionals whose well-being, substance abuse, or mental health may interfere with their work responsibilities.” The report also revealed significant problems with anxiety, disrupted sleep, depression, low energy, and worsened moods, with sleep issues being the most prevalent. Oftentimes, if an attorney experiences or lives with any of the above-named symptoms, they tend to feel like they need to push through or work harder, not realizing that by doing so, they may be causing more harm than good.
So if you struggle with any of these, we’ve got two pieces of good news. First, you’re clearly not alone. Second, you can do something to change it. And we’re going to help you with that - so keep reading!
You’ve invested a lot of time, money, and effort to earn your law degree, pass the bar, and find your first job. Why not invest the time and effort in caring for your body and brain, so you can feel your best, practice at your best, and stay in the profession?
Lawyers have brains and bodies that need to be cared for like anyone else’s. It can be tempting to focus only on the brain and cognitive capacities, since those are so crucial to succeeding in law school and the practice of law. But the brain is linked to—and operates in conjunction with—the rest of the body. It does not function on its own.
And that is why self-care is brain care.
Let’s explore essential ways to care for your brain with the three “body basics”: sleep, diet, and exercise. As a reminder, please make sure to consult with an appropriate medical provider before making any changes to your health plan. The information provided below is for informational purposes and not intended to diagnose or treat any specific condition.
Sleep
Most experts say we need 7-9 hours of sleep a night. The right amount will differ among people, so it’s important to notice what amount of sleep helps you be at your best. It may take some trial and error to figure out your ideal amount of sleep.
Our brains don’t stop working when we’re asleep; they just work differently. Think of a washing machine and the different cycles it goes through to clean your clothes. Sleep is like the spin cycle for the brain.
During sleep, our brains:
Sift through information and clean out what’s not needed in the memory banks.
Engage in a process of actively washing out metabolic waste.
Both of these processes are important for legal professionals because they can help the brain sift through mental clutter to more easily process and recall important information. They also help keep our brains healthier longer by protecting us from neurodegenerative disease.
Additionally, research shows that a lack of sleep has a similar effect on the brain as drinking too much alcohol. It disrupts the brain cells' ability to communicate with each other and affects memory and reaction times. Think of a time when you had a few too many drinks and had to function the next day. How did it feel? Poor sleep can have similar effects on our productivity and ability to sustain higher-level cognitive thinking required to do good work.
A recent analysis of brain studies shows that while one bad night of sleep might affect our mood and attention span, frequent lack of sleep can have more harmful effects on our brain development, emotional stability, working memory, and performance at school or work. It also means fewer harmful substances get removed from the brain during that “spin cycle” process that happens during restorative sleep.
Here are some quick tips for getting better sleep:
Set a schedule—go to bed and wake up at the same time each day.
Exercise 20 to 30 minutes a day, but no later than a few hours before going to bed.
Avoid caffeine and nicotine late in the day and alcoholic drinks before bed.
Establish a relaxing bedtime routine, whether that’s a warm bath, herbal tea, soothing music, reading, journaling, or another relaxing routine.
Create a room for sleep—avoid having bright lights, a TV, or a computer in your bedroom.
Avoid screen time before bed or in the middle of the night.
If this list feels overwhelming, consider picking one thing to try tonight. In the morning, notice if it made a difference in your sleep. You may not see monumental changes right away, but tracking what you are doing and how it makes you feel can motivate you to continue on this journey. Starting small can be incredibly powerful and can help you build a strong foundation as you add more things to your routine.
Diet
Did you know that the brain literally burns calories? The brain processes about 20 percent of our calorie intake. Below, we discuss a few different foods critical to keeping our brains fueled and healthy.
The brain needs energy to work, and its main source of energy is glucose (a simple sugar carried in the bloodstream and converted into energy). Focus on eating complex carbs that release glucose into the bloodstream slowly, helping you stay alert and focused through the day. That includes starchy vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, beets, winter squash, and beans. Whole grains, such as whole wheat, and even popcorn, are also rich in B vitamins that are beneficial for the brain.
B vitamins help keep our brains healthy. Many B vitamins, including folic acid, are vital for producing neurotransmitters that relay signals between neurons. Low levels of these can cause cognitive problems, fatigue, depression, anxiety, aches, and pains. Good sources of vitamin B can be found in salmon, leafy greens, liver and other organ meats, eggs, milk, beef, legumes, and more.
Vitamin D can also affect memory, mood, and cognitive functioning. If you are deficient in Vitamin D, consider adding fatty fish, shrimp, egg yolk, mushrooms, canned tuna, cod liver oil, or fortified cereal to your diet.
Antioxidants protect cells from damage from “free radicals” in the environment that accelerate the aging process. For example, have you ever noticed how quickly an apple turns brown when exposed to air? But when you put lemon juice on the apple, it protects and keeps it from turning brown. The same thing happens with antioxidants and our cells (Source). Berries, especially dark berries like blackberries, blueberries, and cherries, are packed with antioxidants. Other foods that are high in antioxidants include broccoli, spinach, red peppers, green tea, red wine, and coffee.
Omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation in the body and have been shown to preserve brain function. Some studies suggest that an omega-3-rich diet could significantly reduce the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Foods that are high in omega-3s include walnuts, flax oil, chia seeds, canola oil, avocados, olives, seeds, coconut oil, grass-fed butter, and oily fish such as salmon and sardines.
In a study of nearly 1,000 older adults, the results found that eating a single serving of green leafy vegetables daily may help slow cognitive decline with aging. Great sources of leafy greens include spinach, broccoli, kale, collard greens, Swiss chard, and arugula.
Water
Water is a major source of nutrients for our thirsty brains. It is essential for removing toxins, and also for cushioning and lubricating the brain tissues. Every chemical reaction in the brain requires water, especially energy production. Even a small reduction in hydration can cause confusion, fatigue, and dizziness. Harvard Health suggests that most adults should drink between 4-6 cups of water per day. This amount will vary depending on activity level and health conditions.
Exercise
Exercise is a great way to boost brain function. First, it helps reduce inflammation and increases the amount of “growth factors” in the brain, such as BDNF, the Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, that support the health, growth, and survival of brain cells.
Second, regular movement measurably reduces stress and anxiety while improving sleep and mood, which in turn can improve brain structure and function. A 2015 study found that exercise may be able to prevent the onset of depressive symptoms. The same study showed that exercise can boost your mood by triggering the release of feel-good hormones and chemicals, like endorphins, which in turn can improve brain health. Sounds like a win-win for choosing that evening walk tonight!
“The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that, optimally, healthy adults engage in more than thirty minutes of cardiovascular activity five days a week or twenty minutes of vigorous training three days a week. They also recommend resistance training that targets major muscle groups with activities such as balance, agility, coordination, and flexibility.” It may be helpful to engage in a variety of exercises, like a combo of aerobic and resistance training, for optimal results. With that said, it is important to find exercises that you truly enjoy because it is more likely that you will stick with them.
Mindfulness
In addition to sleep, diet, and exercise, engaging in a mindfulness practice has been shown to have very positive effects on the brain and body. Law schools and law firms are noticing the value of mindfulness practices and are starting to offer them as a resource for their students and employees. This is very encouraging news as the legal profession is truly seeing that “to be a good lawyer, one has to be a healthy lawyer” (Source, pg. 1).
But what is mindfulness? According to mindful.org, it is “the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.”
Mindfulness has been shown to increase the gray matter in the pre-frontal cortex (the CEO of the brain!), and it plays a key role in:
maintaining attention and focus
integrating and connecting different parts of the brain
increasing executive functioning, such as planning and decision-making
increasing awareness of the self and others
improved self-regulation (the ability to balance emotions)
improved adaptability, meaning being flexible in your responses
Doesn’t this list look strikingly like a list of qualities and skills that good attorneys possess?
Additionally, mindfulness can help with that fight-or-flight reaction. Research shows that after mindfulness training, the amygdala had stronger connections to the pre-frontal cortex (self-regulation, control impulses) and the hippocampus (involved in our memories and emotional regulation). So when the amygdala is activated (fight/flight response), connections with the pre-frontal cortex and the hippocampus could help control the reactivity. For example, you are less likely to blow up the next time you receive a negative email from someone.
Mindfulness can be developed in many ways, including mindful breathing, walking meditations, mindful movement, connecting with nature, yoga, or simply taking the time to be present and aware in your day-to-day activities.
For example, next time you brush your teeth, try being fully aware and present to the experience. Allow yourself to notice the flavor of the toothpaste, the temperature of the water, the sensation of the toothbrush moving over your teeth and gums, and so on. And you know what the best part is? You don’t have to do anything but notice what it feels like. The more you can incorporate mindful moments throughout your day, the easier it will become to make mindfulness and lifelong practice. Many have found yoga to be a great way to practice mindfulness.
Yoga is a practice that “aims to create union between body, mind, and spirit.” Yoga appears to reduce at least our perception of stress and anxiety, which means the emotional/limbic brain isn’t triggered, and neither is the body’s physical stress response (e.g., heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing). Additionally, yoga helps improve the body’s ability to be relaxed and respond more flexibly to stress. While oftentimes we see yoga depicted as someone twisting themselves into a pretzel or standing on their head, yoga is so much more than that. It is a combination of breath patterns and physical postures that help support the relaxation response in the body and strengthen the mind-body connection. If you would like to explore the different types of yoga, here is an article that explains 20 different styles and how you can find the right one for you.
Conclusion
Before we sign off, we wanted to leave you with a specific call to action to help you integrate what you have read today.
First, carve out about 30-45 minutes to reflect on your unique situation. You may want to clear your desk or set up a cozy spot to write on your couch. When ready, answer the questions below:
Which of the body basics presented above do you most want to improve?
What matters most to you about it? In other words, what’s your why?
Once you get clear on that, what’s one action you can start to take toward improving this area?
Here are a few tips on creating a new habit to help support you:
Make it doable. You don’t have to do it all, and you certainly don’t have to do it all right now!
Tie your new habit to a recurring trigger or cue (e.g., after you wake up, before or after a meal) to make it easier to build into your day.
Share your new habit with others, or even create a buddy system (e.g., meet a friend at the yoga class).
Be compassionate if/when you backslide (because you probably will!), and remember your why.
Thanks again for being here and learning more about how you can become your healthiest self, so you can support your clients in the best way possible. Stay tuned for our last post, coming in July, where we focus on applying what you’ve learned to the workplace, paying special attention to confidence, setting boundaries, and connecting (and re-connecting!) to your values, especially in times of challenge. See you then!
Gabriela Brunner holds a JD from Chicago-Kent College of Law and a MS in Higher Education Leadership from Western Illinois University. Prior to becoming a prelaw advisor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Gabriela practiced law for ten years in business litigation and immigration law. She has a passion for mindfulness and meditation, particularly as it applies to pre-professionals.
