Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain Your Brain to Boost Your Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin, & Endorphin Levels

Key Concepts and Strategies

Loretta Graziano Breuning's book, «Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain Your Brain to Boost Your Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin, & Endorphin Levels», focuses on understanding and managing the four main neurochemicals that influence our sense of happiness. The key concepts include:
1.Understanding the role of each happiness hormone: dopamine is responsible for motivation and pleasure from achieving goals, serotonin is linked to feelings of significance and respect, endorphins help cope with pain and stress, and oxytocin promotes social bonds and trust.
2.Recognizing that the brain evolved for survival, not happiness, and that the habits we develop can either support or hinder the production of these hormones.
3.Strategies for boosting each hormone: for dopamine—setting and achieving attainable goals, for serotonin—enhancing self-esteem and acknowledging achievements, for endorphins—physical activity and laughter, for oxytocin—developing trusting relationships and social interaction.
4.Creating new neural pathways: the author proposes a 45-day plan to form new habits that promote the production of happiness hormones, emphasizing the importance of repetition and consistency in behavior change.
5.Acknowledging and managing negative emotions: understanding how negative experiences can block the production of happiness hormones and developing strategies to overcome them. The book offers practical advice and exercises to implement these strategies in daily life to improve overall well-being and happiness.