Neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happy
from BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE
Eric Barker
You get all kinds of happiness advice on the internet from people who don't know what they're talking about. Don't trust them.
Actually,
don't trust me either. Trust neuroscientists. They study that gray blob
in your head all day and have learned a lot about what truly will make
you happy.
UCLA neuroscience researcher Alex Korb
has some insights that can create an upward spiral of happiness in your
life. Here's what you and I can learn from the people who really have
answers:
1. The most important question to ask when you feel down
Sometimes it doesn't feel like your brain wants you to be happy. You may feel guilty or shameful. Why?
Believe it or not, guilt and shame activate the brain's reward center.
Via The Upward Spiral:
Despite
their differences, pride, shame, and guilt all activate similar neural
circuits, including the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, amygdala, insula,
and the nucleus accumbens. Interestingly, pride is the most powerful of
these emotions at triggering activity in these regions — except in the
nucleus accumbens, where guilt and shame win out. This explains why it
can be so appealing to heap guilt and shame on ourselves — they're
activating the brain's reward center.
And you worry a lot too. Why?
In the short term, worrying makes your brain feel a little better — at
least you're doing something about your problems.
Via The Upward Spiral:
In
fact, worrying can help calm the limbic system by increasing activity
in the medial prefrontal cortex and decreasing activity in the amygdala.
That might seem counterintuitive, but it just goes to show that if
you're feeling anxiety, doing something about it — even worrying — is
better than doing nothing.
But guilt, shame, and worry are horrible
long-term solutions. So what do neuroscientists say you should do? Ask
yourself this question:
What am I grateful for?
Yeah, gratitude is awesome… but does it really affect your brain at the biological level? Yup.
You know what the antidepressant Wellbutrin does? Boosts the neurotransmitter dopamine. So does gratitude.
Via The Upward Spiral:
The
benefits of gratitude start with the dopamine system, because feeling
grateful activates the brain stem region that produces dopamine.
Additionally, gratitude toward others increases activity in social
dopamine circuits, which makes social interactions more enjoyable…
Know what Prozac does? Boosts the neurotransmitter serotonin. So does gratitude.
Via The Upward Spiral:
One
powerful effect of gratitude is that it can boost serotonin. Trying to
think of things you are grateful for forces you to focus on the positive
aspects of your life. This simple act increases serotonin production in
the anterior cingulate cortex.
I know, sometimes life lands a really mean punch in the gut and it feels like there's nothing to be grateful for. Guess what?
Doesn't matter. You don't have to find anything. It's the searching that counts.
Via The Upward Spiral:
It's
not finding gratitude that matters most; it's remembering to look in
the first place. Remembering to be grateful is a form of emotional
intelligence. One study found that it actually affected neuron density
in both the ventromedial and lateral prefrontal cortex. These density
changes suggest that as emotional intelligence increases, the neurons in
these areas become more efficient. With higher emotional intelligence,
it simply takes less effort to be grateful.
And gratitude doesn't just make your brain happy — it can also create a positive feedback loop in your relationships. So express that gratitude to the people you care about.
(For more on how gratitude can make you happier and more successful, click here.)
But
what happens when bad feelings completely overtake you? When you're
really in the dumps and don't even know how to deal with it? There's an
easy answer…
2. Label negative feelings
You feel awful. Okay, give that awfulness a name. Sad? Anxious? Angry?
Boom. It's that simple. Sound stupid? Your noggin disagrees.
Via The Upward Spiral:
…in
one fMRI study, appropriately titled "Putting Feelings into Words"
participants viewed pictures of people with emotional facial
expressions. Predictably, each participant's amygdala activated to the
emotions in the picture. But when they were asked to name the emotion,
the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex activated and reduced the emotional
amygdala reactivity. In other words, consciously recognizing the
emotions reduced their impact.
Suppressing emotions doesn't work and can backfire on you.
Gross
found that people who tried to suppress a negative emotional experience
failed to do so. While they thought they looked fine outwardly,
inwardly their limbic system was just as aroused as without suppression,
and in some cases, even more aroused. Kevin Ochsner, at Columbia,
repeated these findings using an fMRI. Trying not to feel something
doesn't work, and in some cases even backfires.
But labeling, on the other hand, makes a big difference.
To
reduce arousal, you need to use just a few words to describe an
emotion, and ideally use symbolic language, which means using indirect
metaphors, metrics, and simplifications of your experience. This
requires you to activate your prefrontal cortex, which reduces the
arousal in the limbic system. Here's the bottom line: describe an
emotion in just a word or two, and it helps reduce the emotion.
Ancient methods were way ahead of us on this one. Meditation has employed this for centuries. Labeling is a fundamental tool of mindfulness.
In
fact, labeling affects the brain so powerfully it works with other
people too. Labeling emotions is one of the primary tools used by FBI hostage negotiators.
To learn more of the secrets of FBI hostage negotiators, click here.)
Okay,
hopefully you're not reading this and labeling your current emotional
state as "Bored." Maybe you're not feeling awful but you probably have
things going on in your life that are causing you some stress. Here's a
simple way to beat them…
3. Make that decision
Ever make a decision and then your brain finally feels at rest? That's no random occurrence.
Brain science shows that making decisions reduces worry and anxiety — as well as helping you solve problems.
Via The Upward Spiral:
Making
decisions includes creating intentions and setting goals — all three
are part of the same neural circuitry and engage the prefrontal cortex
in a positive way, reducing worry and anxiety. Making decisions also
helps overcome striatum activity, which usually pulls you toward
negative impulses and routines. Finally, making decisions changes your
perception of the world — finding solutions to your problems and calming
the limbic system.
But deciding can be hard. I agree. So what kind of decisions should you make? Neuroscience has an answer…
Make
a "good enough" decision. Don't sweat making the absolute 100 percent
best decision. We all know being a perfectionist can be stressful. And
brain studies back this up.
Trying to be perfect overwhelms your brain with emotions and makes you feel out of control.
Via The Upward Spiral:
Trying
for the best, instead of good enough, brings too much emotional
ventromedial prefrontal activity into the decision-making process. In
contrast, recognizing that good enough is good enough activates more
dorsolateral prefrontal areas, which helps you feel more in control…
As Swarthmore professor Barry Schwartz said in my interview with him: "Good enough is almost always good enough."
So when you make a decision, your brain feels you have control. And, as I've talked about before, a feeling of control reduces stress. But here's what's really fascinating: Deciding also boosts pleasure.
Via The Upward Spiral:
Actively
choosing caused changes in attention circuits and in how the
participants felt about the action, and it increased rewarding dopamine
activity.
Want proof? No problem. Let's talk about cocaine.
You
give two rats injections of cocaine. Rat A had to pull a lever first.
Rat B didn't have to do anything. Any difference? Yup: Rat A gets a
bigger boost of dopamine.
Via The Upward Spiral:
So
they both got the same injections of cocaine at the same time, but rat A
had to actively press the lever, and rat B didn't have to do anything.
And you guessed it — rat A released more dopamine in its nucleus
accumbens.
So what's the lesson here? Next time you buy cocaine…
whoops, wrong lesson. Point is, when you make a decision on a goal and
then achieve it, you feel better than when good stuff just happens by
chance.
And this answers the eternal mystery of why dragging your butt to the gym can be so hard.
If
you go because you feel you have to or you should, well, it's not
really a voluntary decision. Your brain doesn't get the pleasure boost.
It just feels stress. And that's no way to build a good exercise habit.
Via The Upward Spiral:
Interestingly,
if they are forced to exercise, they don't get the same benefits,
because without choice, the exercise itself is a source of stress.
So make more decisions. Neuroscience researcher Alex Korb sums it up nicely:
We don't just choose the things we like; we also like the things we choose.
(To learn what neuroscientists say is the best way to use caffeine, click here.)
Okay,
you're being grateful, labeling negative emotions, and making more
decisions. Great. But this is feeling kinda lonely for a happiness
prescription. Let's get some other people in here.
What's something
you can do with others that neuroscience says is a path to mucho
happiness? And something that's stupidly simple so you don't get lazy
and skip it? Brain docs have an answer for you…
4. Touch people
No, not indiscriminately; that can get you in a lot of trouble.
But
we need to feel love and acceptance from others. When we don't it's
painful. And I don't mean "awkward" or "disappointing." I mean actually
painful.
Neuroscientists did a study where people played a
ball-tossing video game. The other players tossed the ball to you and
you tossed it back to them. Actually, there were no other players; that
was all done by the computer program.
But the subjects were told the
characters were controlled by real people. So what happened when the
"other players" stopped playing nice and didn't share the ball?
Subjects'
brains responded the same way as if they experienced physical pain.
Rejection doesn't just hurt like a broken heart; your brain feels it
like a broken leg.
Via The Upward Spiral:
In
fact, as demonstrated in an fMRI experiment, social exclusion activates
the same circuitry as physical pain… at one point they stopped sharing,
only throwing back and forth to each other, ignoring the participant.
This small change was enough to elicit feelings of social exclusion, and
it activated the anterior cingulate and insula, just like physical pain
would.
Relationships are very important to your brain's feeling of happiness. Want to take that to the next level? Touch people.
Via The Upward Spiral:
One
of the primary ways to release oxytocin is through touching. Obviously,
it's not always appropriate to touch most people, but small touches
like handshakes and pats on the back are usually okay. For people you're
close with, make more of an effort to touch more often.
Touching is incredibly powerful. We just don't give it enough credit. It makes you more persuasive, increases team performance, improves your flirting… heck, it even boosts math skills.
Touching
someone you love actually reduces pain. In fact, when studies were done
on married couples, the stronger the marriage, the more powerful the
effect.
Via The Upward Spiral:
In
addition, holding hands with someone can help comfort you and your
brain through painful situations. One fMRI study scanned married women
as they were warned that they were about to get a small electric shock.
While anticipating the painful shocks, the brain showed a predictable
pattern of response in pain and worrying circuits, with activation in
the insula, anterior cingulate, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
During a separate scan, the women either held their husbands' hands or
the hand of the experimenter. When a subject held her husband's hand,
the threat of shock had a smaller effect. The brain showed reduced
activation in both the anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral
prefrontal cortex — that is, less activity in the pain and worrying
circuits. In addition, the stronger the marriage, the lower the
discomfort-related insula activity.
So hug someone today. And do not accept little, quick hugs. No, no, no. Tell them your neuroscientist recommended long hugs.
Via The Upward Spiral:
A hug, especially a long one, releases a neurotransmitter and hormone oxytocin, which reduces the reactivity of the amygdala.
Research shows getting five hugs a day for four weeks increases happiness big time.
Don't
have anyone to hug right now? No? (I'm sorry to hear that. I would give
you a hug right now if I could.) But there's an answer: Neuroscience
says you should go get a massage.
Via The Upward Spiral:
decreases
stress hormones and raises dopamine levels, which helps you create new
good habits… Massage reduces pain because the oxytocin system activates
painkilling endorphins. Massage also improves sleep and reduces fatigue
by increasing serotonin and dopamine and decreasing the stress hormone
cortisol.
So spend time with other people and give some hugs. Sorry, texting is not enough.
When
you put people in a stressful situation and then let them visit loved
ones or talk to them on the phone, they felt better. What about when
they just texted? Their bodies responded the same as if they had no
support at all.
Via The Upward Spiral:
…the text-message group had cortisol and oxytocin levels similar to the no-contact group.Author's note: I totally approve of texting if you make a hug appointment.