How Your Brain Controls You and How to Hack It

Hey, 42, have you ever remembered something you said or did and thought, wow, was that psycho? I'm not talking about that awkward moment when you called

your

boss dad. I'm talking about those times when you overreacted to a situation maybe you lost control like another driver in rush hour traffic maybe you turned into a fire breathing maniac after stepping on

your

kid's lego maybe You had a fight with your ex and you threw a toaster at him. It happens that most of us can remember at least one or two occasions when we behaved like a character in a Stephen King novel, although we are usually too embarrassed to admit it.

This type of behavior is usually as unusual and catches you as off guard as it seems. As a completely different person, centuries ago periodic periods of madness were attributed to the cycles of the moon, hence the word lunatic, but today we have neuroscience to provide a more plausible explanation: sometimes you act this way because your

brain

has been hijacked before you get your

brain

out. Tinfoil hat, let me explain to you that your brain is not being controlled by aliens or lizard people or any external entity, it is an inside job and, as we will see shortly, it involves a formidable cocktail of chemicals;

In fact, almost every decision you make is influenced. by a collection of powerful brain chemicals that control a variety of physical and psychological functions, including your mood, eating patterns, breathing, digestion, ability to learn, and sleep cycles. There are six main brain chemicals that control you daily and dictate your personality adrenaline dhea dopamine serotonin and oxytocin let's find out how each one has been controlling your life so far and the simple steps you can take to influence those chemicals to

hack

your brain and change your life let's go back for a moment to one of those times I acted a little crazy, remember I said your brain had been hijacked, it was probably by a collection of nuclei deep in the temporal lobe of the brain called the amygdala.

This small almond-shaped brain mass has the task of keeping us safe, usually the data received from our senses. It is processed by the neocortex responsible for thinking, reasoning, planning and storing long-term memories that make up the majority of the brain layer of mammals. The neocortex evolved later. Birds, for example, do not have a neocortex, therefore a bird brain, which is why they fly to the windows and then do so. Same thing next week Most of the time the neocortex is the primary arbiter of our actions and reasoning, but when there is danger, the amygdala, a much older and more primary part of the brain, has the power to take the reins and activate the brain. fight or flight response this is the neurological equivalent of your pants and when you press the big red button your body is instantly flooded with adrenaline and cortisol two powerful hormones designed to prepare you for combat or escape it's like turning into the hulk except you're not It's green and you usually keep your pants on in phytoflight, the amygdala bypasses the neocortex and takes control of decision making, which is why in moments of extreme fear you feel like you're in a mental fog and can't think Clearly, this entire process occurs in milliseconds.

The fight-or-flight response has two stages: First, the autonomic nervous system, which is piloted by the amygdala and

controls

involuntary bodily functions such as heartbeat, triggers an almost instantaneous reaction to imminent danger. This happens so quickly that your body will react before you are. aware of the danger, second, the sympathetic nervous system is activated, which pumps your body full of adrenaline, increases blood flow to your muscles by 300 percent, widens the airways in your lungs to increase breathing, your Pupils dilate, your hearing becomes sharper and much more, it is the equivalent of your brain. of throwing gasoline on a bonfire and the whole process takes a few seconds to a few minutes to fully activate, we do not have control of this response, which is how we get to the hijacking of the amygdala and the profound impact that cortisol and adrenaline are Bearing in all of our modern lives, the term amygdala hijack was coined by Daniel Goldman in his book Emotional Intelligence and refers to a sudden, intense emotional reaction that is out of proportion to the surrounding situation.

To see it in action, look for examples of anger in the road look at a soccer ball Fans react when their player is fouled or read Twitter during national elections or any other time. To be honest, the problem is that we no longer spend most of our days on the open savannah and when your amygdala is hijacked, you lose control over your senses and cannot moderate your emotions in a rational way, like Instagram taking over of your brain by someone with rage. The amygdala and the fight or flight response are actually a nuisance in the modern office environment and you end up unintentionally hitting your coworker. in the crotch because he snuck up behind you wielding a hole punch, amygdala hijacking is considered a modern disease because it is a product of persistent stress and the consequent overproduction of adrenaline and cortisol, as you may remember, these two chemicals are strongly released during fight or flight response, as mentioned above, this survival mechanism used to also serve earlier in human history, when we needed to be constantly on the lookout for predators or attacks from marauding tribes, the threats were physical and real, but for most Those of us who live in the 21st century are not a major concern; we are much more likely to be worried about our job, our relationship, or paying our mortgage.

The current threats are mostly psychological, but the chemical process in our brain unfortunately remains the same despite the impressive power that the amygdala wields is not very good at discerning the difference between a risk to our physical well-being and a threat to our health. psychological safety when you are in a work meeting and your boss unexpectedly addresses you in front of 10 other people. people and demands to know your opinion at that very moment your amygdala does not see the boss using his power to put me in an uncomfortable position, it only sees a lion and opens the adrenaline and cortisol floodgates, which is why sometimes, when you are abruptly put in the place in which you can suddenly feel hot feel your heartbeat your palms sweat and you find it impossible to think of a sensible response it's not because you're stupid maybe you are it's because you're in fight or flight mode adrenaline and cortisol in your The system has cut off access to your higher faculties.

It's only after this chemical rush dissipates that you suddenly think of hundreds of things you should have said. The transition back to normal is supposed to be fairly quick. The fight or flight response is designed to be short. and an acute reaction, however, the chronic stress of modern life keeps cortisol levels abnormally high while your brain tries to keep you alert and ready to respond to danger. Your body also works overtime to generate repetitive bursts of adrenaline in response to apparent dangers in the environment over time. The results of this imbalance can be catastrophic if left untreated, high cortisol can lead to elevated blood sugar, weight gain, especially abdominal fat, a weakened immune system, and an increased risk of serious diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, insulin resistance and diabetes, if adrenaline levels remain high for a long time.

It can make you feel overly excited and restless, making you seem manic. Research has shown that you can reduce your cortisol levels by practicing stress-reducing techniques, such as meditation massages and yoga, and watching my videos; However, it is important to remember that cortisol and adrenaline are not bad, these are crucial chemicals for living a healthy and happy life. It's the cortisol that gets you out of bed in the morning. It generates adrenaline that gives you the impulse to act in important situations, but the key here is balance with what you can ask for. Let's move on to our next chemical dehydrophila dehydrophysio dehydra dhea, apart from being impossible to pronounce, the hormone known as dhea is a high performance natural chemical, in fact, it is so powerful that the synthetic version has been banned in most sports professionals, this chemical provides us with vitality and is associated with a healthy, high-functioning body and mind.

It is a counterpoint to cortisol, the more cortisol we have, the less dhea and vice versa, dhea is directly related to aging, which is the main reason it has received so much attention from scientists, endocrinologists and others. For people who value their youthful appearance, dhea production begins in the womb. The fetal adrenal glands produce about 200 milligrams of dhea a day 10 times. This occurs when you are an adult, after you are born, this production drops to almost nothing and remains that way until you reach puberty, this is probably because dhea acts as a precursor to the production of hormones such as estrogen, progesterone and testosterone.

A study of traders and testosterone found that your long-term trading prospects might also have something to do with your fingers in men and boys. The right index finger. is shorter relative to the right ring finger than in girls, the higher your testosterone level before birth, the lower your index finger to ring finger ratio will be, according to a study by Testosterone and Traders. Men with the lowest index-to-ring finger ratios made the most money and had the most long-term success, but when the swedish king's crew ate themselves to death, adolf frederick learned that you can have too much of a good thing, Both cortisol and dhea are essential for life and, as we have discussed, too much cortisol and too little dhea can have serious health implications, including the debilitating condition of Cushing's syndrome, but too little cortisol causes Alzheimer's disease.

Addison, which is life-threatening. You need to maintain a happy balance, and speaking of happiness, let's introduce the next two chemicals into our hit parade: dopamine and serotonin. Like cortisol and adrenaline, dopamine and serotonin love to work together. Serotonin is the happiness chemical and is essential for our sense of well-being. It is produced when we laugh or eat chocolate, and persistent deficiency of this chemical can lead to depression if you ever encounter it. It's hard to be happy when you're stressed, that's partly because high cortisol levels negatively affect serotonin levels. What is the remedy? Fake it until you can smile like crazy, just like it sounds.

Studies suggest that happiness doesn't just cause you to smile. Smiling causes happiness by stimulating. the release of serotonin and other neurotransmitters such as dopamine and oxytocin, which we will cover later. Smiling even when you don't mean it can trick your brain into thinking you're happy. The effects go even further. Happiness has a positive influence on the immune system. One study suggested that smiling can even shorten our recovery time from stress and reduce heart rate and another study conducted at Cardiff University in Wales found that people who were unable to frown due to Botox injections were happier in average than those who could frown.

Who thought that injecting a lethal toxin into your face could be the secret to happiness? Serotonin is essential to feeling happy, but so is dopamine. Dopamine is the feel-good hormone that is released as a reward for purely hedonistic pleasures such as sex, eating chocolate, watching Netflix or whatever. three at a time, if you feel particularly talented, it is also activated when we experience success, such as scoring the winning goal in a sports game or getting a sought-after promotion at work. Buddha postulated that life is suffering and if the teachings of the man with the tits are to be believed, then it is natural to extrapolate further that almost all human behavior can be reduced to avoiding pain or seeking pleasure to alleviate existential suffering and that makes dopamine possibly the most important of all brain chemicals that affect the brain. attention span focus motivation willpower and what one considers important in one's life to illustrate this let's use the proxy of science for humans rats when influenced by dopamine rats will pull a lever over and over again to get food which we can all relate to every time you eat or drink too much of something, whether it's cake orbeer, it's because dopamine has triggered a reward sentence in your brain to consider something valuable, even necessary, even though you don't need more and should have stopped doing it later. the third slice of barbarian cheesecake when taken to its extremes dopamine causes addiction a person with low levels of dopamine is more likely to become addicted to drugs alcohol food or anything that gives them pleasure the fast food industry lo knows better than anyone has invested years of research and millions of dollars to achieve just the right balance between salt, sugar and fat to make that pizza, burger or glazed donut in your hand literally irresistible.

The dopamine mechanism also explains why people do irrational, even depraved and violent, things to achieve this. It is more of an addictive substance. Let's return to our rodent friends in laboratory studies. Rats with more dopamine have been shown to be willing to climb a wall to reach a pile of food larger than the pile right in front of them. In short, the motivational pull of dopamine is very strong. which changes the perception of effort, even the risk of dopamine depletion can cause bad mood, forgetfulness, apathy and lack of concentration, basically, you become a teenager again when you experience these symptoms, it is common to seek a boost through caffeine , nicotine or foods high in sugar and fat, these are all very effective at delivering a shot of dopamine, but dopamine only provides an empty and superficial form of pleasure.

The long-term impact of creating this reward circuit in the brain is rarely positive if dopamine is low, get some exercise and work to reduce stress through relaxation. Find a hobby and a purpose instead of filling your time with hedonistic activities. And instead of fast food, it is better to eat foods rich in tyrosine, an amino acid that helps the brain create more dopamine through a less artificial process, such as cheese, fish, meat, dairy, soybeans, nuts, beans and lentils. Red and yellow bananas are full of dopamine. and very useful if you also have a snail infestation, being a diuretic, dopamine is deadly to all slimy creatures like snails, slugs and that sketchy uncle that no one wants to invite to Christmas, so next time Piedo Pete comes knocking on the door for his joyful vacation, tries to throw bananas at him.

To finish our journey down the road of brain chemicals, we have saved my favorite for last oxytocin, this is known by many names, the love hormone, the hug chemical, the cuddle hormone, even the moral molecule , if brain chemicals were beetles, oxytocin would be John Lennon, imagine it all. people who live life in peace are oxytocin talking and class a drugs, this hormone is deeply intertwined with our sense of connection and belonging when you feel that the people around you are there for you, oxytocin levels increase, However, if you feel left out or invisible, oxytocin drops your body and your mind are flooded with oxytocin when you fall in love it is the fuel for the honeymoon period of any relationship it is nature's way of making us blind to the many idiosyncrasies and annoying habits that start to drive us crazy when we have been with someone for more than a few months without oxytocin, we may never be with each other long enough to build the bonds that lead to procreation and the survival of one's own species .

Bond building may also be the reason why breastfeeding stimulates the release of oxytocin. Friendship response, in contrast to the fight-or-flight response mentioned above, is a useful comparison because, unlike the survival stress caused by cortisol and adrenaline, oxytocin stimulates relaxation, reduces anxiety, and lowers blood pressure. Research suggests that oxytocin may encourage men to remain faithful to their partners, confirming a view long held by many women, men are voles, well, one vote in particular, to be precise, the role of The grasslands common to Europe and Asia are naturally monogamous. Part of the only three percent of the mammalian kingdom that takes a mate for life.

Science has yet to prove whether humans also fall into this category. Once prairie voles mate, they stay together forever; conversely, the prairie vole's cousin, the vole montaigne, could not be. Less interested in commitment Even though the two species share 99 percent of the same genes, life for the montaigne vole is a series of one-night stands and furious rodent orgies, scientists believe the difference in involved behavior may be due to receipt of oxytocin. Oxytocin is released in the prairie vole's brain during mating; when the hormone is blocked, the vol tends to treat sex as a one-time affair. Similar to its montane relatives, however, when the hormone is added to the prairie vole's brain without the vole having sex, it still develops a bond with its partner.

What happens when we add oxytocin to the prairie vole? Nothing, he's still womanizing as usual, the difference seems not to be the chemical itself, but whether the animal's brain is designed to receive it, so the big question is whether human brains are identical to those of cute ones. Forest rodents, obviously not, but the lesson is the same: our behavior can radically change by changing the mix of hormones and neurotransmitters in the brain, everything from the food we crave to the people we desire can be altered by levels of different brain chemicals that flow through our gray matter, but you are not a victim of this process, you are the owner of what happens in your brain, so take care of it, treat it well and you will get the right chemical notes for a good life. lived.

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