Download or read book Meet Your Happy Chemicals written by Loretta Graziano Breuning and published by Loretta Graziano Breuning. This book was released on 2012-02-14 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The "happy chemicals" are controlled by tiny brain structures that all mammals have in common. Your brain rewards you with good feelings when you do something good for your survival. But we struggle to make sense of our neurochemical ups and downs, and can trigger vicious cycles such as alcohol, junk food, risk-taking. Learn how to make real-world choices that will help you break the cycles.
Download or read book Habits of a Happy Brain written by Loretta Graziano Breuning and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-12-16 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offers simple activities that help you understand the roles of your "happy chemicals"--serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphins. You'll also learn how to build new habits by rerouting the electricity in your brain to flow down a new pathway, making it even easier to trigger these happy chemicals and increase feelings of satisfaction when you need them most.
Download or read book Tame Your Anxiety written by Loretta Graziano Breuning and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2019-05-08 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anxiety is natural. Calm is learned. If you didn’t learn yesterday, you can learn today. It’s not easy, of course. Once your natural alarm system is triggered, it’s hard to find the off switch. Indeed, you don’t have an off switch until you build one. Tame Your Anxiety shows you how. Readers learn about the brain chemicals that make us feel threatened and the chemicals that make us feel safe. You’ll see how your brain turns on these chemicals with neural pathways built from past experience, and, most important, you discover your power to build new pathways, to enjoy more happy chemicals, and reduce threat chemicals. This book does not tell you to imagine yourself on a tropical beach. That’s the last thing you want when you feel like a lion is chasing you. Instead, you will learn to ask your inner mammal what it wants and how you can get it. Each time you step toward meeting a survival need, you build the neural pathways that expect your needs to be met. You don’t have to wait for a perfect world to feel good. You can feel good right now. The exercises in this book help you build a self-soothing circuit in steps so small that anyone can do it. Once you learn how it’s done, and how it can help ease your anxiety, you will learn how to handle situations in which you feel threatened or anxious. Understanding the underlying mechanisms will help you stop them before they get ahead of you.
Download or read book The Molecule of More written by Daniel Z. Lieberman and published by BenBella Books. This book was released on 2018-08-14 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why are we obsessed with the things we want only to be bored when we get them? Why is addiction perfectly logical to an addict? Why does love change so quickly from passion to indifference? Why are some people die-hard liberals and others hardcore conservatives? Why are we always hopeful for solutions even in the darkest times—and so good at figuring them out? The answer is found in a single chemical in your brain: dopamine. Dopamine ensured the survival of early man. Thousands of years later, it is the source of our most basic behaviors and cultural ideas—and progress itself. Dopamine is the chemical of desire that always asks for more—more stuff, more stimulation, and more surprises. In pursuit of these things, it is undeterred by emotion, fear, or morality. Dopamine is the source of our every urge, that little bit of biology that makes an ambitious business professional sacrifice everything in pursuit of success, or that drives a satisfied spouse to risk it all for the thrill of someone new. Simply put, it is why we seek and succeed; it is why we discover and prosper. Yet, at the same time, it's why we gamble and squander. From dopamine's point of view, it's not the having that matters. It's getting something—anything—that's new. From this understanding—the difference between possessing something versus anticipating it—we can understand in a revolutionary new way why we behave as we do in love, business, addiction, politics, religion—and we can even predict those behaviors in ourselves and others. In The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity—and will Determine the Fate of the Human Race, George Washington University professor and psychiatrist Daniel Z. Lieberman, MD, and Georgetown University lecturer Michael E. Long present a potentially life-changing proposal: Much of human life has an unconsidered component that explains an array of behaviors previously thought to be unrelated, including why winners cheat, why geniuses often suffer with mental illness, why nearly all diets fail, and why the brains of liberals and conservatives really are different.
Download or read book The Science of Positivity written by Loretta Graziano Breuning and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-12-02 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Science of Positivity teaches you how cynical thought habits are formed, and how you can rewire yourself to go beyond them.
Download or read book 14 Days to Sustainable Happiness written by Loretta Breuning and published by . This book was released on 2021-06 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You have power over your emotions.It's limited, so you need to understand your power.Here is a simple explanation of the chemicals that make us feel good: dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin. You'll find out what turns them on in animals, and how you manage them with the animal part of your brain. Then you'll learn to rewire your happy chemicals by feeding your brain new inputs in a new way. We'll do the same for the unhappy chemical, cortisol, too.It's a step-by-step method with no jargon, based on the work of the Inner Mammal Institute. A more complete presentation of the science is in the companion book, Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain your brain to boost your serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphin levels.With one lesson a day for fourteen days, you will discover your power over your happy brain chemicals. This is not a checklist of activities. It's a guide to the way your brain got wired long ago, and the way to add on new wiring. We humans get wired by early experience, so we all need updates. You can learn to blaze a new trail through your jungle of neurons to reach your happy chemicals in natural, healthy ways.Realistic expectations are the key. Our happy chemicals are not designed to flow all the time for no reason. They evolved to reward you for taking a step that meets your needs. Our brain defines "needs" in a quirky way, alas. You will learn about these quirks so you can design realistic steps toward your happy chemicals.You cannot rewire your whole brain in 14 days. You can build one new neural pathway at a time. You will learn to target the new pathway you want and the steps that will build it. It will build with repetition, so you will flow there as smoothly as you now flow into your old happy-chemical pathways. You can replace an unsustainable habit with a new habit designed by you. You'll be glad you did!
Download or read book Leaders Eat Last written by Simon Sinek and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2014-01-07 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestseller by the acclaimed, bestselling author of Start With Why and Together is Better. Now with an expanded chapter and appendix on leading millennials, based on Simon Sinek's viral video "Millenials in the workplace" (150+ million views). Imagine a world where almost everyone wakes up inspired to go to work, feels trusted and valued during the day, then returns home feeling fulfilled. This is not a crazy, idealized notion. Today, in many successful organizations, great leaders create environments in which people naturally work together to do remarkable things. In his work with organizations around the world, Simon Sinek noticed that some teams trust each other so deeply that they would literally put their lives on the line for each other. Other teams, no matter what incentives are offered, are doomed to infighting, fragmentation and failure. Why? The answer became clear during a conversation with a Marine Corps general. "Officers eat last," he said. Sinek watched as the most junior Marines ate first while the most senior Marines took their place at the back of the line. What's symbolic in the chow hall is deadly serious on the battlefield: Great leaders sacrifice their own comfort--even their own survival--for the good of those in their care. Too many workplaces are driven by cynicism, paranoia, and self-interest. But the best ones foster trust and cooperation because their leaders build what Sinek calls a "Circle of Safety" that separates the security inside the team from the challenges outside. Sinek illustrates his ideas with fascinating true stories that range from the military to big business, from government to investment banking.
Download or read book Discovering the Brain written by National Academy of Sciences and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1992-01-01 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The brain ... There is no other part of the human anatomy that is so intriguing. How does it develop and function and why does it sometimes, tragically, degenerate? The answers are complex. In Discovering the Brain, science writer Sandra Ackerman cuts through the complexity to bring this vital topic to the public. The 1990s were declared the "Decade of the Brain" by former President Bush, and the neuroscience community responded with a host of new investigations and conferences. Discovering the Brain is based on the Institute of Medicine conference, Decade of the Brain: Frontiers in Neuroscience and Brain Research. Discovering the Brain is a "field guide" to the brainâ€"an easy-to-read discussion of the brain's physical structure and where functions such as language and music appreciation lie. Ackerman examines: How electrical and chemical signals are conveyed in the brain. The mechanisms by which we see, hear, think, and pay attentionâ€"and how a "gut feeling" actually originates in the brain. Learning and memory retention, including parallels to computer memory and what they might tell us about our own mental capacity. Development of the brain throughout the life span, with a look at the aging brain. Ackerman provides an enlightening chapter on the connection between the brain's physical condition and various mental disorders and notes what progress can realistically be made toward the prevention and treatment of stroke and other ailments. Finally, she explores the potential for major advances during the "Decade of the Brain," with a look at medical imaging techniquesâ€"what various technologies can and cannot tell usâ€"and how the public and private sectors can contribute to continued advances in neuroscience. This highly readable volume will provide the public and policymakersâ€"and many scientists as wellâ€"with a helpful guide to understanding the many discoveries that are sure to be announced throughout the "Decade of the Brain."
Download or read book Perfect Chemistry written by Simone Elkeles and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-11-10 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the New York Times bestselling author Simone Elkeles comes an epic love story like no other . . . First in the gripping PERFECT CHEMISTRY series, this is the next addictive read for fans of Anna Todd's AFTER series, and Caroline Kepnes's YOU. When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of senior year, she has no clue that her carefully created 'perfect' life is about to unravel before her eyes. Forced to be lab partners with Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, Brittany finds herself having to protect everything she's worked so hard for – her flawless reputation, her relationship with her boyfriend and, most importantly, the secret that her home life is anything but perfect. Alex is a bad boy and he knows it. So when he makes a bet with his friends to lure Brittany into his life, he thinks nothing of it. But the closer Alex and Brittany get to each other the more they realise that sometimes appearances can be deceptive and that you have to look beneath the surface to discover the truth. 'Compelling and addictive… I've still got that "wow" feeling you get after reading a great book' Wondrousreads.com 'Perfect Chemistry is a novel to obsess about. It is a book that you should drop everything for...the most romantic love story that I have ever read.' Thebookette.com 'Captures that rush of feelings associated with first love' Thebookbag.com 'Elkeles pens plenty of tasteful, hot scenes…that keep the pages turning. The author definitely knows how to write romance.' Kirkus Review
Download or read book Beyond Cynical written by Loretta Graziano Breuning and published by . This book was released on 2013-09-02 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cynicism is popular because it stimulates the brain chemicals that make you feel good. It stimulates dopamine by making the world feel predictable. It triggers serotonin by making you feel superior to "the jerks." It triggers oxytocin by telling you who to trust. You pay a high price for these moments, unfortunately, because cynicism keeps you focused on problems instead of opportunities. Here is a way to PARE your cynicism with Personal Agency and Realistic Expectations. Here are 3-minute exercises that will build new thought habits in six weeks. Even if you're surrounded by a chorus of negativity, you can transcend cynicism and stimulate happy chemicals in new ways.
Download or read book The Chemistry Between Us written by Larry Young PhD and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-09-13 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How much control do we have over love? Much less than we like to think. All that mystery, all that poetry, all those complex behaviors surrounding human bonding leading to the most life-changing decisions we’ll ever make, are unconsciously driven by a few molecules in our brains. How does love begin? How can two strangers come to the conclusion that it would not only be pleasant to share their lives, but that they must share them? How can a man say he loves his wife, yet still cheat on her? Why do others stay in relationships even after the romance fades? How is it possible to fall in love with the “wrong” person? How do people come to have a “type”? Physical attraction, jealousy, infidelity, mother-infant bonding—all the behaviors that so often leave us befuddled—are now being teased out of the fog of mystery thanks to today’s social neuroscience. Larry Young, one of the world’s leading experts in the field, and journalist Brian Alexander explain how those findings apply to you. Drawing on real human stories and research from labs around the world, The Chemistry Between Us is a bold attempt to create a “grand unified theory” of love. Some of the mind-blowing insights include: Love can get such a grip on us because it is, literally, an addiction. To a woman falling in love, a man is like her baby. Why it’s false to say society makes gender, and how it’s possible to have the body of one gender and the brain of another. Why some people are more likely to cheat than others. Why we sometimes truly can’t resist temptation. Young and Alexander place their revelations into historical, political, and social contexts. In the process, they touch on everything from gay marriage to why single-mother households might not be good for society. The Chemistry Between Us offers powerful insights into love, sex, gender, sexual orientation, and family life that will prove to be enlightening, controversial, and thought provoking.
Download or read book Dopamine Nation written by Dr. Anna Lembke and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2023-01-03 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES and LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER “Brilliant . . . riveting, scary, cogent, and cleverly argued.”—Beth Macy, author of Dopesick This book is about pleasure. It’s also about pain. Most important, it’s about how to find the delicate balance between the two, and why now more than ever finding balance is essential. We’re living in a time of unprecedented access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli: drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, gaming, texting, sexting, Facebooking, Instagramming, YouTubing, tweeting . . . The increased numbers, variety, and potency is staggering. The smartphone is the modern-day hypodermic needle, delivering digital dopamine 24/7 for a wired generation. As such we’ve all become vulnerable to compulsive overconsumption. In Dopamine Nation, Dr. Anna Lembke, psychiatrist and author, explores the exciting new scientific discoveries that explain why the relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain . . . and what to do about it. Condensing complex neuroscience into easy-to-understand metaphors, Lembke illustrates how finding contentment and connectedness means keeping dopamine in check. The lived experiences of her patients are the gripping fabric of her narrative. Their riveting stories of suffering and redemption give us all hope for managing our consumption and transforming our lives. In essence, Dopamine Nation shows that the secret to finding balance is combining the science of desire with the wisdom of recovery.
Download or read book Business Chemistry written by Kim Christfort and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2018-05-22 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A guide to putting cognitive diversity to work Ever wonder what it is that makes two people click or clash? Or why some groups excel while others fumble? Or how you, as a leader, can make or break team potential? Business Chemistry holds the answers. Based on extensive research and analytics, plus years of proven success in the field, the Business Chemistry framework provides a simple yet powerful way to identify meaningful differences between people’s working styles. Who seeks possibilities and who seeks stability? Who values challenge and who values connection? Business Chemistry will help you grasp where others are coming from, appreciate the value they bring, and determine what they need in order to excel. It offers practical ways to be more effective as an individual and as a leader. Imagine you had a more in-depth understanding of yourself and why you thrive in some work environments and flounder in others. Suppose you had a clearer view on what to do about it so that you could always perform at your best. Imagine you had more insight into what makes people tick and what ticks them off, how some interactions unlock potential while others shut people down. Suppose you could gain people’s trust, influence them, motivate them, and get the very most out of your work relationships. Imagine you knew how to create a work environment where all types of people excel, even if they have conflicting perspectives, preferences and needs. Suppose you could activate the potential benefits of diversity on your teams and in your organizations, improving collaboration to achieve the group’s collective potential. Business Chemistry offers all of this--you don’t have to leave it up to chance, and you shouldn’t. Let this book guide you in creating great chemistry!
Download or read book Your Brain at Work written by David Rock and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-06 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Your Brain at Work, David Rock takes readers inside the heads—literally—of a modern two-career couple as they mentally process their workday to reveal how we can better organize, prioritize, remember, and process our daily lives. Rock, the author of Quiet Leadership and Personal Best, shows how it’s possible for this couple, and thus the reader, not only to survive in today’s overwhelming work environment but succeed in it—and still feel energized and accomplished at the end of the day.
Download or read book Brain Rules Updated and Expanded written by John Medina and published by Pear Press. This book was released on 2014-04-22 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most of us have no idea what’s really going on inside our heads. Yet brain scientists have uncovered details every business leader, parent, and teacher should know—like the need for physical activity to get your brain working its best. How do we learn? What exactly do sleep and stress do to our brains? Why is multi-tasking a myth? Why is it so easy to forget—and so important to repeat new knowledge? Is it true that men and women have different brains? In Brain Rules, Dr. John Medina, a molecular biologist, shares his lifelong interest in how the brain sciences might influence the way we teach our children and the way we work. In each chapter, he describes a brain rule—what scientists know for sure about how our brains work—and then offers transformative ideas for our daily lives. Medina’s fascinating stories and infectious sense of humor breathe life into brain science. You’ll learn why Michael Jordan was no good at baseball. You’ll peer over a surgeon’s shoulder as he proves that most of us have a Jennifer Aniston neuron. You’ll meet a boy who has an amazing memory for music but can’t tie his own shoes. You will discover how: Every brain is wired differently Exercise improves cognition We are designed to never stop learning and exploring Memories are volatile Sleep is powerfully linked with the ability to learn Vision trumps all of the other senses Stress changes the way we learn In the end, you’ll understand how your brain really works—and how to get the most out of it.
Download or read book Female Brain Gone Insane written by Mia Lundin and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first book to specifically address the emotional issues of hormonal and brain chemistry imbalances Do you wake up every morning feeling flat and like you are going through the motions? Feel wired but tired? Do you feel like it's all you can do to get through another day? Ambivalent or lackluster about life? Is your brain foggy and are you worried about your lack of sleep? If any of these questions pertain to you, you may feel like you have gone insane, but there is an emergency guidebook that can rescue you. Female Brain Gone Insane is the hands-on manual for women who feel like they are falling apart, losing it, or going "insane" and focuses on the emotional symptoms of hormone and brain chemistry imbalances associated with the combination of stress-filled lives and life transitions such as PMS, perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause. Unlike other hormone books on the market, Female Brain Gone Insane is less focused on physiological changes such as bone loss and weight gain and instead tackles the legitimate panic and distress women feel as they experience symptoms associated with emotional and intellectual turmoil, including mood swings, loss of concentration and/or memory, and mental acuteness, to name a few. Women who have asked 'Why do I feel like I am losing it? 'How can I cope with the emotional changes I am experiencing?' and 'Will I ever feel like myself again?' will find real and compassionate help in this emergency guidebook. What's even more unique, is the author's contention that changes in the brain that affect a woman's mood, memory, concentration, and acuteness may not always be a hormone imbalance caused by menopause or other female-specific issues, as doctors often misdiagnose, but imbalances induced by the stress and anxiety levels associated with our fast-paced lifestyles that affect us at a deeper level. Bottom line, the key to a woman's well being is balanced brain chemistry, and Female Brain Gone Insane offers customizable solutions for every woman. Without lumping all women into one category, Female Brain Gone Insane helps each woman identify the symptoms of her particular emotional and psychological problems---be they depression, panic attacks, memory loss, or even acting out of character, and then offers support, information, and treatment so that she can rebalance herself. The core of the plan is to use bio-identical hormones (using the right hormone at the right time) and supplements carefully chosen to manipulate brain chemistry so that the body is happy again! Women will be liberated from their emotional turmoil with step-by-step, tailor-made rescue prescriptions based on the author's thriving practice of more than 3,000 satisfied patients. No more misdiagnoses or 'Band-aid' treatments such as antidepressants, birth-control pills, or even unnecessary surgeries Unique philosophy, accompanied with a combination of bio-identical hormones, nutritional supplements, good food, including targeted amino acid therapy, and lifestyle changes allows women to truly manipulate and support their brain chemistry Readers learn the basic science behind the intricate dance between their hormones and brain chemistry and are then encouraged to respect and identify their own emotional and physical symptoms Identifies the underlying causes of emotional symptoms and addresses women's unique bio-chemical composition with a new and unconventional approach to integrating bio-identical hormones, targeted amino acid therapy, and other nutritional supplements.
Download or read book Quirk written by Hannah Holmes and published by Random House. This book was released on 2011-02-22 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who are you? It’s the most fundamental of human questions. Are you the type of person who tilts at windmills, or the one who prefers to view them from the comfort of an air-conditioned motorcoach? Our personalities are endlessly fascinating—not just to ourselves but also to our spouses, our parents, our children, our co-workers, our neighbors. As a highly social species, humans have to navigate among an astonishing variety of personalities. But how did all these different permutations come about? And what purpose do they serve? With her trademark wit and sly humor, Hannah Holmes takes readers into the amazing world of personality and modern brain science. Using the Five Factor Model, which slices temperaments into the major factors (Extraversion, Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness) and minor facets (such as impulsive, artistic, or cautious), Holmes demonstrates how our genes and brains dictate which factors and facets each of us displays. Are you a Nervous Nelly? Your amygdala is probably calling the shots. Hyperactive Hal? It’s all about the dopamine. Each facet took root deep in the evolution of life on Earth, with Nature allowing enough personal variation to see a species through good times and bad. Just as there are introverted and extroverted people, there are introverted and extroverted mice, and even starfish. In fact, the personality genes we share with mice make them invaluable models for the study of disorders like depression, schizophrenia, and anxiety. Thus it is deep and ancient biases that guide your dealings with a very modern world. Your personality helps to determine the political party you support, the car you drive, the way you eat M&Ms, and the likelihood that you’ll cheat on your spouse. Drawing on data from top research laboratories, the lives of her eccentric friends, the conflicts that plague her own household, and even the habits of her two pet mice, Hannah Holmes summarizes the factors that shape you. And what she proves is that it does take all kinds. Even the most irksome and trying personality you’ve ever encountered contributes to the diversity of our species. And diversity is the key to our survival.
