A review by radkat
Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain Your Brain to Boost Your Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin, & Endorphin Levels by Loretta Graziano Breuning

informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

The book is focused on four neurochemicals (dopamine, endorphin, oxytocin, serotonin) and places them in the context of being a human - again and again.

Why are those important? Because they are the actual/technical reason we do anything. Cortex can process lots of information but if the limbic system doesn't say “go”, nothing happens.

Knowing which neurochemical does what is good for debugging your own life and correcting behaviors but there are a few high-level observations:

• Happy chemicals are designed to be released in short bursts and be reabsorbed
  • Don't try to create a long lasting good feeling: it's against the nature and can lead to addiction
• Cortisol (unhappy chemical) has a message
  • Don’t ignore the bad feeling, don't try mask it or stuff it away: try to tolerate it and figure out the meaning
• Myelination (coating of the neurons for better conductivity) happens by the age of seven and then again in puberty
  • Most of our habits are suboptimal, to say the least
• Creating a new habit takes 45 days
  • It's either repetition or a strong emotion that paves the new nuropaths

Dr. Breuning dives deep into each of the neurotransmitter: what they are for, how they work, what they signal, how to place them and their function in the context of being a human in the modern world. She gives some prompts and exercises along the way to help the reader apply the theoretical material on their own life.