Happiness Is a Chemical in the Brain


Book Description

A stunning debut from an award-winning poet. Populating a small town in the Pacific Northwest, the characters in Lucia Perillo’s story collection all resist giving the world what it expects of them and are surprised when the world comes roaring back. An addict trapped in a country house becomes obsessed with vacuum cleaners and the people who sell them door-to-door. An abandoned woman seeks consolation in tales of armed robbery told by one of her fellow suburban housewives. An accidental mother struggles to answer her daughter’s badgering about her paternity. And in three stories readers meet Louisa, a woman with Down syndrome who serves as an accomplice to her younger sister’s sexual exploits and her aging mother’s fantasies of revenge. Together, Happiness Is a Chemical in the Brain is a sharp-edged, witty testament to the ambivalence of emotions, the way they pull in directions that often cancel one another out or twist their subjects into knots. In lyrical prose, Perillo draws on her training as a naturalist and a poet to map the terrain of the comic and the tragic, asking how we draw the boundaries between these two zones. What’s funny, what’s heartbreaking, and who gets to decide?




Happiness Is a Chemical in the Brain: Stories


Book Description

A collection of short stories that takes place in the Pacific Northwest includes odd characters like an addict who becomes obsessed with vacuum cleaners and a suburban housewife who commits armed robberies.




Meet Your Happy Chemicals


Book Description

The "happy chemicals" are controlled by tiny brain structures that all mammals have in common. Your brain rewards you with good feelings when you do something good for your survival. But we struggle to make sense of our neurochemical ups and downs, and can trigger vicious cycles such as alcohol, junk food, risk-taking. Learn how to make real-world choices that will help you break the cycles.




Habits of a Happy Brain


Book Description

Offers simple activities that help you understand the roles of your "happy chemicals"--serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphins. You'll also learn how to build new habits by rerouting the electricity in your brain to flow down a new pathway, making it even easier to trigger these happy chemicals and increase feelings of satisfaction when you need them most.




Your Brain on Food


Book Description

Draws on new research to answer questions about the effects of specific drugs and foods on the brain, in an updated edition that discusses the role of biorhythms and how drugs interact with the body's biochemistry. --Publisher's description.




The Happy Brain


Book Description

'Funny, wise and absolutely fascinating.' Adam Kay, author of This Is Going to Hurt *** Do you want to be happy? If so - read on. This book has all the answers* In The Happy Brain, neuroscientist Dean Burnett delves deep into the inner workings of our minds to explore some fundamental questions about happiness. What does it actually mean to be happy? Where does it come from? And what, really, is the point of it? Forget searching for the secret of happiness through lifestyle fads or cod philosophy - Burnett reveals the often surprising truth behind what make us tick. From whether happiness really begins at home (spoiler alert: yes - sort of) to what love, sex, friendship, wealth, laughter and success actually do to our brains, this book offers a uniquely entertaining insight into what it means to be human. *Not really. Sorry. But it does have some very interesting questions, and at least the occasional answer.




The Molecule of More


Book Description

Why are we obsessed with the things we want only to be bored when we get them? Why is addiction perfectly logical to an addict? Why does love change so quickly from passion to indifference? Why are some people die-hard liberals and others hardcore conservatives? Why are we always hopeful for solutions even in the darkest times—and so good at figuring them out? The answer is found in a single chemical in your brain: dopamine. Dopamine ensured the survival of early man. Thousands of years later, it is the source of our most basic behaviors and cultural ideas—and progress itself. Dopamine is the chemical of desire that always asks for more—more stuff, more stimulation, and more surprises. In pursuit of these things, it is undeterred by emotion, fear, or morality. Dopamine is the source of our every urge, that little bit of biology that makes an ambitious business professional sacrifice everything in pursuit of success, or that drives a satisfied spouse to risk it all for the thrill of someone new. Simply put, it is why we seek and succeed; it is why we discover and prosper. Yet, at the same time, it's why we gamble and squander. From dopamine's point of view, it's not the having that matters. It's getting something—anything—that's new. From this understanding—the difference between possessing something versus anticipating it—we can understand in a revolutionary new way why we behave as we do in love, business, addiction, politics, religion—and we can even predict those behaviors in ourselves and others. In The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity—and will Determine the Fate of the Human Race, George Washington University professor and psychiatrist Daniel Z. Lieberman, MD, and Georgetown University lecturer Michael E. Long present a potentially life-changing proposal: Much of human life has an unconsidered component that explains an array of behaviors previously thought to be unrelated, including why winners cheat, why geniuses often suffer with mental illness, why nearly all diets fail, and why the brains of liberals and conservatives really are different.




Happiness


Book Description

Do you feel like you could be living a happier life? Are you tired of feeling depressed? Frustrated? Or apathetic? Tired of feeling like you are walking around in a fog of negativity? Sick of letting stress getting the better of you? Or maybe you just want to boost your mood and be able to enjoy life a little bit more. Whatever the case, we could all use a little more happiness in our life... And as it turns out, there's an easy but powerful way to go about improving your mood. Did you know, there are over 50 different hormones in your body, each one responsible for a different task and absolutely essential for keeping you alive? ....But that only 6 of these hormones have a huge role in determining how happy you are feeling RIGHT NOW? That's right - 6 little hormones pretty much determine your mood at every moment of your life. And if one is out of balance, it can not only cause you do be depressed, it could also cause mayhem for the rest of your health. So what can you do? Hack your happiness hormones and start experiencing massive positive changes by rebalancing your inner chemistry! Did you know, that the entire hormone process is initiated by a feedback loop that starts in the pituitary gland, and that the pituitary gland in your brain gets its instructions from YOUR OWN THOUGHTS?? That's right! You are the key to your own happiness! By combining the knowledge of how you control your own hormones, and creating habits that encourage an improved balance of those hormones, you really can make huge positive changes your emotional state. You may be surprised at how modifying a few simple behaviors, with consistency, can drastically improve your sense of well-being and overall happiness. In this book you will learn: ✔ The science behind hormones and how they work in your body ✔ Happiness hacks tailored for each happiness chemical ✔ The best foods to eat to boost your happiness - and which ones to avoid! ✔ Specific habits that you can start today that will rewire your brain for happiness ✔ 21 Day personalizable happiness challenge guide to get you on track This book is highly actionable, with step-by-step exercises for building a better, happier life. After reading this book you will be able to: ✔ Understand the symptoms and causes of hormonal imbalance ✔ Increase serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphins to improve your mood naturally ✔ Control stress and regulate cortisol levels ✔ Optimize your hormone health & overall mental well-being This book is filled with easy-to-implement habits that will rewire your brain allowing you to create new neural pathways and make it super easy for your brain to trigger these emotions more often - which will help you feel less stressed, more at ease, and even improve your memory and overall health! So what are you waiting for? Pick up a copy of Habits to Boost Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin and Endorphins & Naturally Improve Your Brain Chemistry! today and learn how to create a life of happiness! Click the BUY NOW button at the top of this page!




The Science of Positivity


Book Description

The Science of Positivity teaches you how cynical thought habits are formed, and how you can rewire yourself to go beyond them.




Joy.Ology: The Chemistry of Happiness


Book Description

We wake up every morning hoping to be happy and, by conventional wisdom, we should be! If we work hard, we will be more successful, and if we are more successful, we will be happy. If we can just find that great job, get that next promotion, or lose those five pounds, happiness will follow. But happiness is far more than a positive feeling that comes and goes. Neuroscience has now proven that keeping happy is a skill you can develop! In JOY.OLOGY, Professor Turker Bas delves into this, revealing fascinating new insights into the science of happiness and taking us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and the four chemicals that drive the way we feel. JOY.OLOGY presents an unprecedented view of the intersection of neurology, psychology, and contemplative practice, and is filled with practical tools and skills that you can use every day to tap into the unused potential of your brain and rewire it for greater happiness. Each chapter will help you understand the role of one the "happy chemicals" in your brain-serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphin-focusing on exactly what that chemical is and how it can boost your happiness. Read this practical, easy-to-understand, and often entertaining book, and you'll know exactly how to trigger your happy chemicals, nourish your mind, balance your brain, and help others do the same.