A Book A Day - Weekly Digest 29

Evolve Your Brain by Dr Joe Dispenza

??Key takeaway??

You can consciously train your brain so it supports the person you want to be.

???Key ideas??

First hour of the day for you brain. From sleep to waking consciousness is a complex electrochemical process. To stand up and move, your brain processes sensory inputs, send signals for muscle movement. The visual cortex processes the journey to the bathroom, your memory helps anticipate what comes next. Breathing, blinking, swallowing, heart beating: all done automatically. When food and drinks come in, neurotransmitters are released, raising your blood sugar, kicking off digestion. Planning your day: reasoning, decision-making parts of your brain.

Close to 100 billions of those in our brain. Each neuron transmits information with electrical signals at 250 miles/hour. They stretch to a meter long, coming down through the spinal column, the body. The human brain is 6x the size relative to our body than other mammals. Made of brain stem (basic life functions), cerebellum (coordination, navigation, emotions). Midbrain (autonomic nervous system) with thalamus, hypothalamus, pineal/pituitary glands, amygdala, hippocampus, basal ganglia. Regulates hormones, blood pressure, heart rate, fight/flight, food seeking, sex drive. Neocortex: most complex, sophisticated human brain functions, consciousness.

Neurotransmitters are chemicals carrying information through the brain. One type is excitatory, priming neurons to allow signals to travel more quickly (glutamate). Other is inhibitory, suppressing activity along the neural pathways (GABA). Sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activates fight-or-flight responses, releasing adrenaline (higher heartbeat, increase lung capacity). Parasympathetic (PNS) calm things down when danger has passed. Brings the rest-and-digest state. Modern life brings heightened SNS activity as danger never totally passes (in our mind).

Neuroplasticity: the brain structure is shaped by how you use it. A juggler has larger spatial awareness, visual motion tracking, balance, fine motor control brain areas. Challenging a brain after a stroke creates new substitute neural networks. Meditation can influence the PNS and make it kick in, helpful if you suffer from stress. For new pathways in your brain, you have to push through discomfort of dopamine withdrawal. The whole body suffers, when giving up sugar, nicotine. Play an instrument, learn a new language, new sport, gives a signal for your brain to grow.

Awareness that the brain will grow new pathways as you learn helps you to keep going through a difficult process. You can shape your brain in ways that you want. Choose to evolve it consciously, like a good parent with a child. It will start with discomfort (brain tries to maintain old habits, not exert energy). Find better rewards (exercise, meditation) compared to fast food, scrolling. A brain at peak condition brings a healthier body.

#ABookADay?#readingbooks?#brain

Salt Sugar Fat by Michael Moss

??Key takeaway??

The food industry hooked us with what we crave. The only people who can get us out are ourselves. Time to cook again.

???Key ideas??

After World War II, women started to work with less time to spend in the kitchen. Food companies started to produce more heavily processed convenience food, easy and quick to prepare. 25,000 home economics teachers were still teaching home-cooked meals in schools. Food companies recruited their own teachers, had food contests to shift attitudes to factory-processed foods.

We love the taste of sugar. Because getting quick concentrated calories was good for survival for early humans. Like starchy foods. Food companies identify the bliss point of sweetness for every food item produced. Kids want more sugar than adults. Americans consume 22 teaspoons of sugar per person in average, 2/3 from processed foods. We should get max 5-9 teaspoons per day.

First impact of sugar was seen in the 1970s with kids tooth decay, due to cereals. At the same time sugar was linked to obesity and diabetes. Banning all advertisements for children was thought about, but abandoned as the responsibility was left with parents. Food companies adapted their products to remove the word sugar. But nothing changed, consumption increased, leading to high obesity, diabetes, heart disease.

We also crave fat. Because it is loaded with calories, double the amount of sugar, gram for gram. And for fat, the more the better in our mind. We don't have taste buds for fat, we sense its texture. Adding sugar, hides the fat content when we taste it. Therefore there is a lot of it in processed food (50% of calories sometimes). It also gives items longer shelf life, makes them look better. Americans exceed daily fat recommendation by 50%.

Cheese, particularly processed cheese, is very fatty. Americans consume 33 pounds of cheese/pseudo-cheese per year. In the 1930s the US government decided the diary industry was vital, subsidizing it, guaranteeing to buy all its products if not sold. 1950s: low-fat milk demanded by people, all the stripped fat then went into cheese (also guaranteed by government). Today Americans consume 3x amount of cheese than 1970.

Salt brings out the flavor of food, and hides unpleasant tastes that remain in processed foods after manufacturing. It also helps increase shelf life, bind ingredients together. Hence the food industry producing food with excessive salt amounts, creating hypertension in consumers.

In the UK, Finland, programs have helped reduce salt content in processed foods, reducing heart-disease related death by up to 80%. In the US, government restrictions on the market are generally opposed. Companies like Kraft, Campbell's tried to voluntarily reduce sale, sugar, fat contents. But people did not like them and sales went down, so they changed the products back. The change needs to come from us.

#processedfood

Give and Take by?Adam Grant

??Key takeaway??

Thrive to be a giver, that is actually what brings success and deep contentment.

???Key ideas??

Takers are self-centered, and focused only on what benefits they can get from others. They promote themselves, use words like "I", "mine", tend to be domineering. They see the world as a competitive place, there is a limited amount of pie for everyone, they want the biggest slice.

Givers are driven by the desire to help others and create success for the group. They give more than they get, are generous with their time, knowledge, provide value for others. They feel good when they give. They understand the benefit of collaborative achievement and shared abundance.

Matchers strive for equal, fair exchanges with others. Tit-for-tat. For them the world should be a level playing field based on exchange. They don't like unbalance. If they offer help to you, there is an agenda to get something back later. Most people are matchers, the balance between unconditional giving and reckless taking.

How much we give or take is shaped by who we interact with. We conform to what we believe is expected of us when in a group. Takers become more generous in public, givers might supress their generosity not to be seen as weak. The more similar a person we give to is to us, the more we will give.

Persistent takers lose respect and damage their reputations. They suffer from taker tax, which is the fact that word is spread about the taker's bad behavior, damaging them, making them lose opportunities.

Givers often achieve the top positions in society because they focus on the greater good. Like Abraham Lincoln who first dropped out of a senate race to let a competitor win (Trumbull), as that he would have a better chance and was representing abolishing slavery like him. Trumbull later supported Lincoln.

Successful givers cultivate and use their vast networks to benefit others as well as themselves. They believe resource, knowledge pooling is beneficial to everyone. They have glowing reputations and people readily help them whenever they need, even after not seeing the person for a long time.

Givers see potential in everyone they meet, making them formidable at finding and nurturing talent. Their protégés are often highly successful which reflects well on themselves.

Powerless communication puts givers at a powerful advantage. It involves focusing on the other person, seeking advice, asking questions. It persuades people with a natural interest in others. It makes people more receptive to the giver.

Givers are only successful if they can avoid burnout or being abused by takers. The best way is to witness the impact they have on others, mentoring others can do that. They need to use generous tit for tat to protect from takers. That means matching takers behaviors but occasionally offering a kind gesture.

#give

The Whole-Brain Child by?Daniel Siegel

??Key takeaway??

Know your whole brain as a parent so you can help your child develop his/her whole-brain.

???Key ideas??

One essential area to raising a happy kid: how should you nurture your child's brain? Our brains determine who we are, what we do, experiences change the brain. Your job as parent is to make sure your child uses its entire brain.?Whole-brain parenting: integration of the different brain parts. As a parent you need to use your whole-brain for your child to emulate you.

The right hemisphere of a child (big picture, nonverbal signals, images, feelings) develops faster than the left hemisphere (order, language, logic) up until 3 yo. So reasoning with a two year old won't work. When teaching your child, using both sides is crucial. Strategy 1: connect and redirect (to deal with monster in closet). Connect with his feelings, soothing, being empathetic. Redirect to the logical left brain, opening the cabinet. Strategy 2: name it to tame it. Have your child retell her experience, naming the feelings, it tames activity in brain areas linked to emotions.

The primitive part of your brain controls basic functions keeping you alive. The cerebral cortex help with control, thinking, planning, self-understanding. The primitive part is dominant in children. The amygdala can take over, flooding the child with stress hormones, leading to acting before thinking. 1) Ask your misbehaving child what the problem is, ask her to offer a solution (engaging her higher brain). 2) Encourage her to use the higher brain, let her make decisions, ask why she behaved the way she did. 3) Soothe you child lower brain through exercise.

The memories we can consciously access are explicit vs implicit memories, not conscious, yet they guide our actions. Your child might have early traumas which impact their current behavior. Memories aren't fixed and can be changed through focusing on the positive side. If your child does not want to share the memory, ask her to narrate it like a movie for which she has the remote control.

If your child is always focused on the same part of his personality, it will develop at the expense of the others. Help develop mindsight, an awareness of every aspect of himself, and the choice to place his focus. 1) Teach that emotions come and go, in average they last 90 seconds. 2) Make aware of sensations, images, feelings, thoughts from experiences. 3) Let your child calm himself down, guide his attention at will, one sense at a time.

Our brain is shaped, reshaped through interactions with others. Mirror neurons make us want/do what we observe. Children don't yet have the skills to navigate social situations. Make family life fun, act silly, play games, show them that being with others is fun. When facing conflicts, ask them to consider the other person's perspective. Do acknowledge their own feelings first.

#childdevelopment

Never Enough by Judith Grisel

??Key takeaway??

Drugs basically put you out of your normal balance, and then your body counter-balance which creates addiction.

???Key ideas??

Addiction stems from the brain's accumbens and how it responds to drugs. The?nucleus accubens is the brain's reward center and is stimulated by drugs. If you drink coffee regularly, the baseline activity of the brain is reduced, so you need your cup of coffee. Example of coffee: the first cup fires up your brain activity but then is followed by a decrease in activity. This is called habituation, major element in addiction.

THC stimulates the whole brain and makes us feel that everything is a little special. We are all chemically unique and have different answers to drugs. Marijuana's active ingredient is THC, stimulates regions across the entire brain, intensifies all environmental inputs. THC imitates anandamide's actions (neurotransmitter), which is to recognize special and positive experiences.

Opiates function like the body's own painkillers but consuming them can be seriously dangerous. Opiates make you feel secure and loved but leave you feeling abandoned when they wear off. They imitate endorphins which are painkiller hormones produced by the brain. After a high, body produces anti-opiates which magnify suffering or pain you feel. Only one path: more drugs to release the pain.

Some people are at greater risk of developing alcoholism than others. There is a link between social situations, alcoholism and beta-endorphins. They make you feel good, relaxed and connected in social situations). Alcohol increases the them, people with low levels of beta-endorphins are susceptible to alcoholism (social lubricant). Many adverse effects of drinking: heart disease, high blood pressure, cirrhosis, etc.

Cocaine affects neural communications in an interesting way, nut it's highly addictive. Cocaine make you feel good as it interferes with dopamine transportation and make it stay and repeatedly stimulates the cell's pleasure receptors. Effects last for 30 min, then anxiety sadness sets in.

Tranquilizers calm users by affecting specific cell receptors, but they too, are highly addictive. They slow and relax the nervous system by imitating GABA. They are used for epilepsy, anxiety and insomnia. But the body develops a tolerance to them, then you need more (addiction), or even more (overdose). And habitual users become unable to sleep without them.

There is a genetic component to addiction and epigenetics might also play a part. Children born in families with histories of addiction are at high risk of becoming addicts. Epigenetics: if a generation experience famine, the next generation will be able to live on little food.

Early exposure to drugs is dangerous and adolescents are particularly at risk. If exposed to drugs early (embryos, children, adolescents), then need higher doses if using later. Gateway effect: one drug usage leads to others which can be linked to neuroplasticity.

#drugaddiction #addictionawareness