Transcripts
Hello listeners. This is Voice Over Work, an audiobook sampler. Where do you listen?
Speaker:Today we're introducing the book, Happy Brain, Happy Life. Everyday Neuroscience of Health,
Speaker:Wealth and Love by Peter Hollins. You don't have to be a scientist to make your brain
Speaker:work for you. Happy Brain, Happy Life is all about how to fine tune your brain to the finest
Speaker:condition possible. We start with what makes a happy and healthy brain, and then we go into
Speaker:how to get there. And once we get there, we talk about the specific actions and behaviors
Speaker:we can use in our daily lives to ensure that you are set for health, wealth and love.
Speaker:Chapter 1 The Healthy Brain
Speaker:We'll begin this book with a question. What is the mind and what is the brain?
Speaker:And what is their relationship to one another? Definitions sometimes tell us that the mind
Speaker:is what perceives, reasons, remembers, imagines, etc. And that the mind encompasses conscious and
Speaker:unconscious processes and mental phenomena. The mind, we're told, is the seat of consciousness
Speaker:and the thing we use to think and feel and perceive. Although this tells us what the mind does,
Speaker:it doesn't really tell us what the mind is. Thought, memory, learning, imagination,
Speaker:consciousness, perception, mood and motivation are very different activities, yet we attribute
Speaker:them all to the mind. If those activities stop, then where is the mind? The brain is easier to
Speaker:define. It's that organ that sits inside your skull. What then is the relationship between
Speaker:brain and mind? Consider that a human being is like an instrument, say a violin. There is the
Speaker:violin itself, the body, the neck, the strings, the bow, but there's also the potential for music,
Speaker:which is what the violin has been made for. In this metaphor, the brain is the physical violin,
Speaker:and the music it creates is the mind. Brain and mind are two aspects of the same thing,
Speaker:but the brain is while the mind does. In much the same way as a violinist can master their craft
Speaker:by learning all about music and its creation, they won't get very far if the physical instrument
Speaker:itself is damaged. If the violin's strings are out of tune, the bow too loose or the body chipped
Speaker:and broken, then the violin won't play properly no matter how skilled the violinist.
Speaker:The psychological approach to self-improvement focuses on the mind, i.e. the experiences and
Speaker:outward manifestations of the activity of the brain. In this book, however, we'll be focusing on the
Speaker:other side of the equation, the brain itself. We'll be paying close attention to the physiological
Speaker:aspects of our psychological well-being, because it's only when the brain itself
Speaker:is happy and healthy that the mind can be healthy. When the brain as an organ is strong,
Speaker:healthy, and resilient, then the mind reflects this in the form of flexibility, creativity,
Speaker:resilience, and so on. Just as good music is a natural expression of a well-maintained violin,
Speaker:a healthy mind is the natural expression of a healthy brain.
Speaker:What are the physical characteristics of a healthy brain?
Speaker:Have you ever thought about the physical condition of your brain? For the vast majority of us,
Speaker:our brain is something secret and invisible, and, if we're lucky, we're born and we die,
Speaker:never setting eyes on it. Perhaps we forget that it's there at all and don't appreciate that it's
Speaker:composed of living tissues and blood vessels, just like the other limbs and organs of the body.
Speaker:Your arms, legs, hands, feet, facial features, all of these things are uniquely yours,
Speaker:and change according to their state of health. The same is true of your brain,
Speaker:which is just as unique as the rest of you, and the health of which is just as dependent on its
Speaker:environment. Before we can understand how to achieve a healthy brain, we need to understand
Speaker:exactly what- Chapter 2 The Resilient Brain
Speaker:A healthy brain is one that needs to be able to resist many of life's unfortunate threats and
Speaker:hazards, and if injury is sustained, the brain should be able to recover as quickly as possible.
Speaker:In other words, a healthy brain is resilient. So far we've mentioned a few rather scary things
Speaker:that can happen to the human brain in the course of its lifetime. Alzheimer's disease, brain damage,
Speaker:sleep deprivation, and the ravages of drug and alcohol use, to name just a few.
Speaker:The shocking fact, however, is that the biggest threat to our brain health is not unexpected
Speaker:head injuries or dementia, but rather from a more pervasive, everyday danger, chronic stress.
Speaker:What stress does to your brain? Stress is everywhere. It's a part of life,
Speaker:and most of us will have to deal with various levels of stress all throughout our lives.
Speaker:But if stress is everywhere, so is resilience and coping.
Speaker:In this section, we'll consider the quite serious effects of prolonged stress on the brain,
Speaker:but also take a look at the good news, how to manage it, and even, if we're lucky, thrive in it.
Speaker:First, let's define exactly what we're talking about. Stress can be understood as the body's
Speaker:reaction to challenges and demands in the environment. This is important. Stress is not
Speaker:in your world. It's in your brain. The stress reaction is part of our biological mechanisms
Speaker:for survival. Stress forms part of that complicated response that helps us focus on and protect
Speaker:ourselves against threats. When the body is stressed, it floods with a cascade of hormones,
Speaker:adrenaline, cortisol, that, in turn, trigger the release of a host of other hormones.
Speaker:The point of this response is to mobilize action that will keep you safe. For example,
Speaker:you may be walking in the woods and your sense organs, eyes and ears, tell you that a wolf is
Speaker:nearby. This perception triggers a series of responses that prime you to act to save yourself.
Speaker:Increased heart rate, decreased digestion, pupil dilation, hyper focus.
Speaker:When the danger passes and the wolf moves on, your body returns to baseline and relaxes again.
Speaker:This finely tuned evolutionary mechanism doesn't always help us when it comes to the
Speaker:stressors of the modern world, however. Dwelling on money trouble, ruminating over social aggravations,
Speaker:getting stuck in traffic, or worrying about climate change are all stimuli that may be
Speaker:perceived in just the same way as a wolf in the forest, except the danger might never sufficiently
Speaker:pass and the body remains in a chronic, prolonged state of hyper arousal that never abates.
Speaker:A fight-or-flight response is triggered when the HPA axis, which includes the hypothalamus,
Speaker:the pituitary, and the adrenal system, is activated. They orchestrate the release of
Speaker:hormones throughout the body that then stimulate the nervous system. The entire organism undergoes
Speaker:changes. For example, digestion stops, muscles tighten, and heart rate increases.
Speaker:The mind takes on a tunnel vision quality and focuses with heightened awareness on the perceived
Speaker:threat, excluding everything else from awareness. Bruce McEwen is a neuroscientist from Rockefeller
Speaker:University, and he claims that because stress changes the way the brain…
Speaker:Chapter 3 The Storytelling Brain
Speaker:Human beings, or more accurately human beings, brains are storytelling machines.
Speaker:The way we interpret life, the assumptions and expectations we hold,
Speaker:the narratives we construct for ourselves, and the words we use to speak to ourselves
Speaker:prove that one of the brain's primary forms of expression is verbal. Words matter,
Speaker:because they reveal the hidden ways we make sense of the world around us.
Speaker:While we can use words to express our reality, the truth is that words can, in turn,
Speaker:influence us and shape that reality. The words we surround ourselves with, the
Speaker:quality of the stories we immerse ourselves in, and the way we speak to ourselves, especially,
Speaker:has a major impact on how our brains work. This relationship is not a theoretical one,
Speaker:but rather something that we can see reflected in the brain itself, its activity,
Speaker:and its neurotransmitter levels. In this chapter, we're going to be exploring
Speaker:the two-way verbal relationship that exists between us and the world.
Speaker:Journaling Rewires the Brain
Speaker:There's something very special about sitting down and putting pen to paper.
Speaker:The act of cracking open a notebook and filling it with your thoughts has far-reaching benefits,
Speaker:and these are not merely anecdotal, but increasingly supported by neuroscience research.
Speaker:Why is journaling so good for your brain? Journaling distresses you.
Speaker:When you put your thoughts and feelings into words, you externalize them, i.e.,
Speaker:get them out of your head, and immediately gain some psychological distance. This alone makes
Speaker:them feel less intense, and at once, you give yourself the opportunity to think about your
Speaker:feelings rather than remaining lost and reactive inside your feelings. The amygdala in the brain
Speaker:is responsible for the complicated processes associated with emotional regulation, but
Speaker:one thing is for sure, emotional reactions are often lightening fast and involuntary.
Speaker:Writing, however, gives us a moment to interrupt this knee-jerk response, slow down our thought
Speaker:processes, and think more clearly. This reduces our anxiety levels, increases our feelings of
Speaker:self-awareness, and builds mastery and self-efficacy as we realize that we are actually able to choose
Speaker:our reaction to life situations. A study done by Michigan State University found that writing
Speaker:reduces cognitive load. According to the study's authors, chronic worriers actually
Speaker:impair their own cognitive function because they're essentially multitasking all the time.
Speaker:Journaling allows you to free up cognitive resources that you would otherwise spend on
Speaker:rumination and vague worry, and channel it towards something useful, like working through
Speaker:problems or processing emotions. The research team was interested in what they called
Speaker:expressive writing, which is delving into your deepest thoughts and feelings. There may be
Speaker:relief in setting aside worries in this way. It's a little like telling your brain,
Speaker:you don't have to keep thinking about this anymore, Brain. It's been noted. It's here on the page,
Speaker:so you can let it go. Thank you for your help. There's also something to be said for the power
Speaker:of labeling. When you put a succinct label on any motion, it suddenly becomes smaller,
Speaker:more definite, and more manageable. Chapter 4, The Connected Brain
Speaker:In this chapter, we'll take a look at the neuroscientific evidence for an idea that many of
Speaker:us have long suspected to be true, that kindness, generosity, and a life lived with purpose
Speaker:can have immense effects on your physical well-being.
Speaker:Self-help literature on boosting brain health often focuses on very limited ideals of what a
Speaker:healthy brain should be and do. It's all about intelligence, processing power,
Speaker:or problem-solving capacity. And yet, if you were to ask a strong and healthy elderly person
Speaker:how they keep vital and mentally switched on, they probably won't tell you that the secret is
Speaker:Sudoku puzzles and brain workouts. Rather, they might mention their grandchildren,
Speaker:their volunteer work, or the strong sense of belonging they feel in their community.
Speaker:One of the biggest determinants, not only of life satisfaction, but longevity too,
Speaker:is a life that feels like it means something. Let's take a closer look.
Speaker:Your brain wants a purpose. What makes a good heart? That's easy. A healthy, happy heart is one
Speaker:that pumps well enough to supply fresh, oxygenated blood to every tissue and organ of the body,
Speaker:and also carries carbon dioxide back to the lungs so it can be removed. In other words,
Speaker:a healthy heart is one that does the job a heart should do.
Speaker:In the same way, a healthy gut does what a gut should do, and healthy arms and legs do what
Speaker:arms and legs should do. When it comes to the brain, we can see its health in terms of its function.
Speaker:But then, what is the brain's function? The brain's not like the heart, or a stomach,
Speaker:or a leg, or an arm. It has many functions that are easy to identify. It can learn,
Speaker:solve problems, imagine, memorize, plan, etc. But to what end are all of those functions applied?
Speaker:It seems as though the brain is an organ that doesn't have a job, but a purpose.
Speaker:Those many functions need to be put towards some higher ambition. After all, a person may possess
Speaker:a vital, intelligent brain capable of many impressive functions. But if that brain continually asks
Speaker:itself what's the point, it's hard to imagine that we would call it healthy.
Speaker:A fascinating meta-analysis by aging research reviews strongly suggests that having a purpose
Speaker:in life is not just some nice lofty ideal, but absolutely necessary for good brain health.
Speaker:Without it, adults risk higher rates of dementia, not to mention depression.
Speaker:Researchers even hinted that purpose and meaning may be detectable in the body as a counterbalance
Speaker:to distinctive neuro-inflammatory cellular stress response. The purposeful brain appears to be better
Speaker:connected and organized. A research team at University College, London,
Speaker:crunched data from more than 62,000 older people across three countries and found a
Speaker:negative correlation between what they call positive psychological constructs, PPCs,
Speaker:and cognitive impairment in later life. In particular, measures for purposeful living
Speaker:were better predictors of good cognitive health than other PPCs like optimism and happiness.
Speaker:This is an astonishing finding. Having a life of purpose may ultimately be healthier than
Speaker:having a life that is merely happy. Chapter 5 The Disciplined Brain
Speaker:What do you think of when you see the word discipline? Do you imagine the kind of toughness
Speaker:and self-restraint required to stick to a gym routine or stop yourself from indulging in a
Speaker:bad habit? Do you think of Navy Seahills or drill sergeants? In this chapter, we'll be looking at
Speaker:a slightly different perspective on discipline, namely that it's possible to discipline yourself
Speaker:to be happy. Many of us assume that our mood is not really under our control. We imagine,
Speaker:perhaps even unconsciously, that how we feel is nothing more than a result of the influences
Speaker:our environment has on us. If things are going well, we'll be happy, and if things aren't,
Speaker:we'll be sad or anxious. Learning to be Optimistic
Speaker:But optimism can be thought of as a good habit, and one as nurturing for your brain as
Speaker:any other healthy habit, like keeping a good sleep routine or eating your veggies.
Speaker:The first thing to understand about optimism is that it's something we have a degree of control
Speaker:over. This is important because optimism can literally alter your brain. A study from the
Speaker:University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign examined the MRIs of 61 healthy participants
Speaker:and discovered that people with bigger orbital frontal cortices, OFCs on average, seem to be
Speaker:more optimistic and less anxious. An earlier study also looked at OFC size, but particularly in adults
Speaker:who had experienced an earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Their data showed that people who had lost
Speaker:the greatest amount of OFC volume showed a greater likelihood of being diagnosed with PTSD
Speaker:later on. Follow-up studies by the same researchers found tiny changes in participants'
Speaker:white matter integrity, suggesting that stress and trauma can damage the brain's interconnectivity.
Speaker:We already know that stress can wreak havoc on the brain,
Speaker:and these studies show that there is indeed a link between brain health and optimism.
Speaker:But is the reverse true? I.e., can optimism change your brain in positive ways?
Speaker:The Dulkos study cautiously concluded that it could be, and suggested that optimism may protect
Speaker:a person against anxiety by creating changes in the OFC. When it comes to the brain, there are often
Speaker:chicken and egg questions about cause and effect, but there's good reason to expect that training
Speaker:yourself to respond well to stressful events can mitigate their effects on your brain.
Speaker:Don't worry if you're a bit of a negative Nancy. Licensed psychotherapist and licensed clinical
Speaker:social worker, LCSW, Carol Ward explains that optimism is down to both nature and nurture,
Speaker:saying, From my experience, optimism is both a personality trait and a product of our environment.
Speaker:From an early age, babies and children pick up the emotional vibes in their homes.
Speaker:If the atmosphere is relaxed and loving, children blossom, even if they innately have
Speaker:a tendency toward anxiety. But if the home environment is tense and filled with dysfunction,
Speaker:optimism is one of the first things to go.
Speaker:It's hard to be emotionally open and hopeful when that is not being modeled for you by your
Speaker:caretakers. An interesting twin study suggested that optimism is
Speaker:Chapter 6 The Agile Brain
Speaker:When we consider the neuroscience of the brain in terms of what the brain's functions are,
Speaker:then we see that as an organ, the brain has evolved for all the many complex survival tasks
Speaker:demanded of a human being, keeping healthy and safe, connecting harmoniously with the tribe,
Speaker:using symbols and language to make sense of the world, plugging into sources of meaning,
Speaker:purpose and direction, and staying strong and determined in the face of challenge, uncertainty
Speaker:and adversity. So far so good. In this final chapter, we look at one more important function
Speaker:of the happy brain, adaptation. Part of what makes human beings the unique organisms they are
Speaker:is that they can respond and react to unknowns in the environment. The human brain is capable
Speaker:of imagining the future, planning for it, and anticipating and avoiding potential danger.
Speaker:Every creature has evolved and adapted to thrive in its unique environmental mellute,
Speaker:but what makes humans special is that they're able to encounter unexpected novelty in the world
Speaker:and adapt very quickly to it. Our ability to engage with novelty goes beyond just surviving it.
Speaker:Instead, we use the potential of newness and the unexpected to help us be more creative,
Speaker:solve problems, and use curiosity to drive our hunger to learn more about the world.
Speaker:In other words, the brain was built for novelty. The spice of life.
Speaker:Many of us can remember the particularly dull, mindless feeling that fell over everything
Speaker:during the months of lockdown over the pandemic. Stuck at home, people's worlds shrank,
Speaker:and there wasn't much newness to stimulate the brain, and every day brought the same
Speaker:tedium and predictability as the day before it. People actually noticed subtle signs of
Speaker:cognitive decline, poorer memories, worse mood, and a rapid decline in social and communication
Speaker:skills. Dr. Laurie Santos is a cognitive scientist and Yale lecturer and puts it succinctly,
Speaker:there is a connection between novelty and happiness.
Speaker:Novel stimuli tend to activate regions of our brain that are associated with rewards.
Speaker:Yep, it's our friend dopamine again.
Speaker:Newness in your environment is often felt by the brain to be intrinsically rewarding
Speaker:and has far-reaching influences on your attention, brain connectivity, and mood.
Speaker:A fun study asked its participants to move around New York City and Miami as the researchers
Speaker:tracked their GPS data and monitored their daily moods. The team lead, Dr. Aaron Heller,
Speaker:said this of the data gathered. What we found was that for every person on days when they
Speaker:displayed greater exploration, greater roaming entropy, they reported feeling happier. It's
Speaker:as simple as that. The experience of novelty, or going to places you've never been before,
Speaker:actually seemed to have an even larger association with positive emotion on that day.
Speaker:The relationship is bi-directional, however. If you explore more, you feel better,
Speaker:and the better you feel, the more inclined you are to keep exploring.
Speaker:Novelty has been said to make us more resilient, more curious, and happier overall.
Speaker:The more we actively engage with our environment, the more alive
Speaker:Introduction
Speaker:One of the famous Delphic maxim inscribed at the Apollo Temple in Delphi is,
Speaker:Know Thyself This is precisely what this book is about.
Speaker:Throughout the chapters it follow, we'll see that knowing oneself and knowing others are
Speaker:two skills that cannot be developed in isolation. We start by gaining insight into our own thoughts,
Speaker:emotions, and beliefs, and how they inform our behavior. Only when we can understand ourselves
Speaker:in this way can we understand others. And, if we have empathy and compassion toward ourselves,
Speaker:can we practice it for others? This book is about two skills that act in tandem,
Speaker:self-awareness, and social awareness. These two pillars form the foundation of emotional
Speaker:intelligence, and from them, we can construct a way of being that is proven to be more balanced,
Speaker:robust, creative, cooperative, and innovative. Let's begin with a question.
Speaker:Are you self-aware? It's a tricky one, since the quality you're asking about is the same
Speaker:quality you need to answer the question. In fact, there's a high risk of self-delusion here, since
Speaker:a lack of self-awareness is one of the things that may prompt us to say, sure, other people don't
Speaker:know themselves, but I do. Just as most believe themselves to be above average drivers, a statistical
Speaker:impossibility, most people believe that they're self-aware, even with little evidence. Self-awareness,
Speaker:just like driving, is a skill that can be developed. This means that it can be strengthened,
Speaker:improved, interfered with, or even compromised. Ironically, those with higher self-awareness
Speaker:tend to be more modest in their self-assessments, but the process is worth it. The ability to
Speaker:clearly see and be aware of yourself has many proven benefits. More confidence and creativity,
Speaker:better decision-making, improved communication skills, and more effective leadership strategies,
Speaker:just a few. The effects go far deeper than this. Better self-awareness completely alters your sense
Speaker:of identity, purpose, and resilience on a fundamental level. Improving one's self-awareness can also
Speaker:provide a useful tool in healing from and overcoming past traumas, especially for those who were unable
Speaker:to develop a healthy or comprehensive self in their early childhood. Even with all of these
Speaker:reasons for studying and promoting self-awareness, there is a major gap between what psychologists
Speaker:and researchers know about the topic and what is known about deliberately improving this skill
Speaker:out in the real world. Psychologists Tasha Yurik and colleagues conducted a massive study on
Speaker:self-awareness. They gained interesting insights into what it is, what it isn't, and how it can
Speaker:become better at it. Their biggest finding? True self-awareness is rare, with only around 15% of
Speaker:people making the grade. Another big contribution of the study is the discovery that there are
Speaker:actually at least two different kinds of self-awareness. Let's pause and consider the fact that self-awareness
Speaker:doesn't really have a fixed definition. The term might refer to the ability to monitor one's own
Speaker:inner experience, or what's broadly called self-consciousness, or it could be about self-knowledge.
Speaker:But what's going on when someone has a pronounced sense of who they are as a person
Speaker:that everyone around them disagrees with? Yurik's study found there's a difference between internal
Speaker:and external self-awareness. Internal? The clarity with which we perceive our
Speaker:innermost desires, emotions, thoughts, values, strengths, and weaknesses, i.e. how accurately
Speaker:you see yourself. External? The understanding of how other people view us, and the effect we have on
Speaker:them, i.e. how accurately you see others' perception of you. Those with high internal self-awareness
Speaker:fare better in their jobs, relationships, and overall emotional regulation. Those with high
Speaker:external self-awareness are more empathetic, and are more capable of taking on others' perspectives.
Speaker:Both types are positively correlated with overall life's success and satisfaction.
Speaker:What may surprise you is that scoring well in one area doesn't mean you'll score well in the other.
Speaker:This revelation allowed Yurik to postulate four main self-awareness archetypes, according to where
Speaker:they fall on these two scales. Low internal self-awareness, low external self-awareness? Seekers.
Speaker:Understandably, they don't know who they are or how they appear to others.
Speaker:They may feel aimless, confused, or frustrated in their work and relationships and be unclear on
Speaker:their own values. Low internal self-awareness, high external self-awareness? Pleasers.
Speaker:The tendency is to focus on how they appear to others at the expense of understanding their own
Speaker:perceptions and preferences. They may be well liked, but make decisions often not in their
Speaker:own best interest. High internal self-awareness, low external self-awareness? Introspectors.
Speaker:While crystal clear on their own values and perspectives, they lack insight into how this
Speaker:might differ from other people's experiences of them, which can cause friction or misunderstandings.
Speaker:High internal self-awareness, high external self-awareness? Aware.
Speaker:They know who they are and what they want, and they know other people's opinions and
Speaker:feelings about them and consider both. According to Yurik, both types of self-awareness are
Speaker:important, and the most successful individuals are those that have cultivated both capacities
Speaker:simultaneously. If you can correctly identify your type, then you know exactly what to work on
Speaker:when becoming a more rounded and generally self-aware person. Yurik and her team explored the
Speaker:things that most commonly impede self-awareness, and they homed in on two aspects, experience and power.
Speaker:Experience can give us false confidence in our abilities, or make us wrongly down ourselves,
Speaker:both inhibit accurate self-awareness. For example, the paradox of expertise is where
Speaker:leaders actually become less accurate at assessing their own competence the more
Speaker:experienced they are, while an inexperienced person may underestimate their valuable contribution.
Speaker:Similarly, having a high degree of power makes most people overestimate their self-awareness,
Speaker:competence and empathy. That would explain a lot about our world, wouldn't it?
Speaker:Anytime you are limiting opportunities for feedback and genuine listening,
Speaker:you're losing perspective and distorting your own self-awareness. On the other hand,
Speaker:anytime you enlist the insight that comes with constructive feedback,
Speaker:you strengthen self-awareness. Most interesting of all, the research team found that introspection
Speaker:doesn't lead to better self-awareness. Deeply examining your own thoughts and feelings is
Speaker:valuable, but it turns out, it doesn't always help us to know ourselves better.
Speaker:Surprisingly, practiced introspectors were found to be less self-aware than others.
Speaker:The reason is, perhaps obvious, it's so easy to do introspection wrong.
Speaker:None of us can learn of our un-
Speaker:you
