Love can make people do crazy things, and now a new study is explaining why. Scientists in Australia have found that love really does scramble the human brain on a neurological level.
While prior studies have established that romantic love has a connection to the release of oxytocin, often called the “love hormone,” within the brain, this new report documents how a specific area of the brain is responsible for placing our sweethearts on a pedestal when we first fall in love. This project was a joint collaboration featuring The University of South Australia, The Australian National University, and the University of Canberra.
“We actually know very little about the evolution of romantic love,” says ANU lead researcher and PhD student Adam Bode in a university release. “As a result, every finding that tells us about romantic love’s evolution is an important piece of the puzzle that’s just been started.”
“It is thought that romantic love first emerged some five million years ago after we split from our ancestors, the great apes. We know the ancient Greeks philosophized about it a lot, recognizing it both as an amazing as well as traumatic experience. The oldest poem ever to be recovered was in fact a love poem dated to around 2000 BC.”
A couple on the beach
Study authors explain this project was the first ever to investigate and analyze the link connecting the human mind’s behavioral activation system (BAS) and feelings of romantic love. In all, a total of 1,556 young adults who identified as being “in love” took part in a survey. Questions mostly focused on their emotional reaction to their partner, their behavior around them, and the focus they placed on their loved one above everything else.
Sure enough, researchers discovered that when people fall in love, our brains react differently. Our new romantic flame becomes the center of our lives. Bode explains this study has shed some light on the mysterious mechanisms underlying romantic love.
Dr. Phil Kavanagh, University of Canberra academic and UniSA Adjunct Associate Professor, notes that this work indicates romantic love is associated with changes in behavior as well as emotion.
“We know the role that oxytocin plays in romantic love, because we get waves of it circulating throughout our nervous system and blood stream when we interact with loved ones,” Dr. Kavanagh concludes. “The way that loved ones take on special importance, however, is due to oxytocin combining with dopamine, a chemical that our brain releases during romantic love. Essentially, love activates pathways in the brain associated with positive feelings.”
The Japanese word ikigai translates roughly to “to live the realization that one hopes for” or “that which makes life worth living.” It’s a concept that refers to the intersection of what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs from you, and what you can get paid for. In essence, it is what one’s purpose in life is. Now, new research published in the journal JAMA Network Open shows that having a purpose in life is linked to living longer and healthier. Rather than Japan’s ikigai, this article defined purposeful living along more Western terms as “a self-organizing life aim that stimulates goals.”
This study used data from the Health and Retirement Survey, or HRS. Starting in 1996, the HRS has been administered to about 20,000 individuals over the age of 50 every two years and includes a slew of questions on demographics, physical and mental health, and other subjects. Critical to this research, the HRS began incorporating survey questions designed to measure life purpose in 2006, such as asking participants to indicate how strongly they agreed or disagreed with statements like “I enjoy making plans for the future and working to make them a reality” and “my daily activities often seem trivial and unimportant to me.”
This study specifically looked at the nearly 7,000 people who received the modified HRS in 2006 and met the study’s inclusion criteria. The researchers crafted a life purpose score based on the participants’ answers and followed-up with the participants five years later. During this period of time, 776 of the study participants had died. After conducting a statistical analysis, the researchers found that individuals who scored low for life purpose were more than twice as likely to have died in the five years after 2006.
What’s behind this finding?
It could be that this result was a case of reverse causality; rather than having low life purpose and subsequently dying, these individuals could have had, say, a life-threatening disease that caused them to feel as though their life had no purpose. But incredibly, the result still held when individuals with chronic and fatal conditions were excluded from the analysis, though slightly weakened. The researchers also took into account other variables that might affect life purpose and mortality, such as depression, optimism, anxiety, social participation, and so on — it seems as though not having a purpose in life can be fatal.
Overall, individuals with low life purpose scores died due to cardiovascular and digestive tract conditions. But if there really is a connection between life purpose and mortality, what’s the cause?
The authors speculated that inflammation may be responsible. Purposeful living is a significant contributor to overall well-being, and research has shown that stronger well-being is related to the reduced expression of genes that code for inflammation and with reduced cortisol levels, which is the hormone responsible for stress. Evidence exists, too, that higher levels of inflammatory proteins are associated with increased mortality. It could be that having no purpose in one’s life leads to chronically higher levels of inflammation. Researchers believe that chronic inflammation is behind a number of serious conditions, like coronary artery disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and cancer.
Lead author Aliya Alimujiang clarified the big picture. “There seems to be no downside to improving one’s life purpose, and there may be benefits,” she said. But this begs the question of how one can improve one’s life purpose. “Previous research,” said Alimujiang, “has suggested that volunteering and meditation may improve psychological well-being.” Exercise and social interaction has also been shown to improve well-being. But in addition to these strategies, one can simply try to find a purpose for living. Of course, that’s not so easy.
Dreams often fade away after waking up, but a sizable portion of people can still recall their dreams as they begin their workday. Now, researchers from the University of Notre Dame have found that when someone remembers a dream from the night before, many can’t help but draw connections between their dreams and their waking lives. Those connections, real or not, then end up altering how they think, feel, and act at work.
The team at UND, including lead author Casher Belinda, assistant professor of management at Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, and Michael Christian from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, explain that earlier research reveals roughly 40 percent of the working population recalls their dreams on an average morning.
“Similar to epiphany, we found that connecting the dots between dreams and reality gives rise to awe — an emotion that sparks a tendency to think about ourselves and our experiences in the grand scheme of things,” Prof. Belinda says in a university release. “This makes subsequent work stressors seem less daunting, bolstering resilience and productivity throughout the workday.”
“People experience awe when they undergo something vast — something that challenges their understanding or way of thinking about things,” the study author continues. “These experiences can come in different forms, whether physical, such as when witnessing aurora borealis, or conceptual, such as when grasping the implications of a grand theory. Awe often borders on the extremes or upper bounds of other emotions, for example, when people experience profound gratitude or admiration. Dreams are conceptually vast experiences that have a striking capacity to elicit feelings of awe.”
Researchers conducted a total of three studies encompassing roughly 5,000 morning-of reports of dream recall among full-time employees. They released a morning-of field study, a single-day morning-to-afternoon study, and a two-week experience sampling study.
These projects discovered that the relationships persisted even after researchers accounted for how much or how well people slept. This suggests that the psychological consequences of recalling and finding meaning in a dream could sometimes offset or mitigate the physiological consequences of poor sleep.
On the surface, dreams may sound like the opposite of a very real workday, but researchers explain that many people are dreaming vividly mere minutes or hours before beginning their professional day. This research shows that when we remember our dreams – which to our sleeping minds are very real – they can influence and set the stage for the rest of our day.
“We arrive at work shortly after interacting with deceased loved ones, narrowly escaping or failing to escape traumatic events and performing acts of immeasurable ability,” Prof. Belinda explains. “Regardless of our personal beliefs about dreams, these experiences bleed into and affect our waking lives — including how productive we are at work.”
(Photo by Yan Krukau from Pexels)
For example, let’s say you remember an awe-inspiring or meaningful dream one morning. Later that same day in the afternoon, your boss tells you to conduct 10 more interviews than you were expecting. Despite the extra work, your recent dream may help you put everything into perspective. Study authors say dreams may help workers realize there’s a bigger world out there and they are just part of it or recognize the interconnected nature of everything.
“Harnessing the benefits of awe may prove invaluable to organizations,” Prof. Belinda adds. “And one of our primary goals was to understand how to do so.”
Of course, researchers stress that everyone’s number one priority should be to get a good night’s sleep. While it’s true that dreams occur during all stages of sleep, Prof. Belinda explains that the most vivid dreams occur during REM sleep. That phase of sleep tends to take place late in a given sleep cycle. So, study authors recommend getting as much sufficient, high-quality sleep as you can to get the most out of your dreams.
They also suggest the use of sleep-tracking devices that indicate when and how much time is spent in REM sleep for anyone looking improve their sleep schedules and perhaps experience more awe-inspiring dreams.
“Also, keep a dream journal to allow meaningful dreams to stick with you,” Prof. Belinda comments. “Recording dreams gives them repeated opportunities to elicit beneficial emotions and make connections between dreams.”
Meanwhile, the research team has a suggestion for managers and employees as well: Promote the “awe experience” at work as much as possible. Besides just dreams, other elicitors of awe include nature, art, music and exposure to senior leaders. These experiences can help increase productivity at work.
The study is published in the Academy of Management Journal.
Research has indicated that reading books may cause people to form greater connections, or expand their perception, of the outside world. (MIND AND I/Shutterstock)
The headline has exercise written all over it. But I’m not here to trick you into exercise. In fact, I’m not even going to give you a list of 30-minute healthy recipes. Nope. This little bit of news is less about getting active and more about sitting down in a comfortable chair. So, it might be time to pick up a good book.
In what might be the most surprising bit of news I’ve read in a while, I learned that sitting with a book for at least 30 minutes per day has the potential to lead to a longer life. It may also have the potential to maintain cognition and stave off dementia.
Researchers from Yale University concluded reading books was associated with longer, healthier lives. Looking at data collected from the University of Michigan’s Health and Retirement Study (HRS), they found that reading books for at least 30 minutes per day was associated with living two years longer when compared to non-readers. They also found that book readers were 23 percent less likely to die than those that only read newspapers and magazines.
What gives books the benefit over newspapers, magazines, Facebook, and Instagram? It could be that books encourage a deeper form of engagement. As opposed to skimming news or rifling through headlines, reading books forces people to pay more attention and use more of their brains.
Research has indicated that reading books may cause people to form greater connections, or expand their perception, of the outside world. These connections may activate the brain to forge pathways between hemispheres and lobes at a higher rate. Creating and activating neural networks can promote brain health and are closely associated with preventing dementia and cognitive decline. Close, engaged reading may also stimulate greater blood flow in the region.
Sitting quietly and reading a book, not social media, newspaper, or magazines may help boost the length and quality of your life. Reading just be the most accessible anti-aging tool yet!
The discovery that short peptides can form spontaneously on cosmic dust hints at more of a role for them in the earliest stages of life’s origin, on Earth or elsewhere.
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The spontaneous formation of peptide molecules on cosmic dust in interstellar clouds could have implications for theories about the origin of life.Kristina Armitage / Quanta Magazine
Billions of years ago, some unknown location on the sterile, primordial Earth became a cauldron of complex organic molecules from which the first cells emerged. Origin-of-life researchers have proposed countless imaginative ideas about how that occurred and where the necessary raw ingredients came from. Some of the most difficult to account for are proteins, the critical backbones of cellular chemistry, because in nature today they are made exclusively by living cells. How did the first protein form without life to make it?
Scientists have mostly looked for clues on Earth. Yet a new discovery suggests that the answer could be found beyond the sky, inside dark interstellar clouds.
Last month in Nature Astronomy, a group of astrobiologists showed that peptides, the molecular subunits of proteins, can spontaneously form on the solid, frozen particles of cosmic dust drifting through the universe. Those peptides could in theory have traveled inside comets and meteorites to the young Earth — and to other worlds — to become some of the starting materials for life.
The simplicity and favorable thermodynamics of this new space-based mechanism for forming peptides make it a more promising alternative to the known purely chemical processes that could have occurred on a lifeless Earth, according to Serge Krasnokutski, the lead author on the new paper and a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and the Friedrich Schiller University in Germany. And that simplicity “suggests that proteins were among the first molecules involved in the evolutionary process leading to life,” he said.
Researchers say they’ve found a shortcut to proteins — a simpler chemical pathway that reenergizes the theory that proteins were present very early in the genesis of life.
Whether those peptides could have survived their arduous trek from space and contributed meaningfully to the origin of life is very much an open question. Paul Falkowski, a professor at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers University, said that the chemistry demonstrated in the new paper is “very cool” but “doesn’t yet bridge the phenomenal gap between proto-prebiotic chemistry and the first evidence of life.” He added, “There’s a spark that’s still missing.”
Still, the finding by Krasnokutski and his colleagues shows that peptides might be a much more readily available resource throughout the universe than scientists believed, a possibility that could also have consequences for the prospects for life elsewhere.
Cosmic Dust in a Vacuum
Cells make the production of proteins look easy. They manufacture both peptides and proteins extravagantly, empowered by environments rich in useful molecules like amino acids and their own stockpiles of genetic instructions and catalytic enzymes (which are themselves typically proteins).
But before cells existed, there wasn’t an easy way to do it on Earth, Krasnokutski said. Without any of the enzymes that biochemistry provides, the production of peptides is an inefficient two-step process that involves first making amino acids and then removing water as the amino acids link up into chains in a process called polymerization. Both steps have a high energy barrier, so they occur only if large amounts of energy are available to help kick-start the reaction.
Because of these requirements, most theories about the origin of proteins have either centered on scenarios in extreme environments, such as near hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, or assumed the presence of molecules like RNA with catalytic properties that could lower the energy barrier enough to push the reactions forward. (The most popular origin-of-life theory proposes that RNA preceded all other molecules, including proteins.) And even under those circumstances, Krasnokutski says that “special conditions” would be needed to concentrate the amino acids enough for polymerization. Though there have been many proposals, it isn’t clear how and where those conditions could have arisen on the primordial Earth.
But now researchers say they’ve found a shortcut to proteins — a simpler chemical pathway that reenergizes the theory that proteins were present very early in the genesis of life.
Last year in Low Temperature Physics, Krasnokutski predicted through a series of calculations that a more direct way to make peptides could exist under the conditions available in space, inside the extremely dense and frigid clouds of dust and gas that linger between the stars. These molecular clouds, the nurseries of new stars and solar systems, are packed with cosmic dust and chemicals, some of the most abundant of which are carbon monoxide, atomic carbon and ammonia.
In their new paper, Krasnokutski and his colleagues showed that these reactions in the gas clouds would likely lead to the condensation of carbon onto cosmic dust particles and the formation of small molecules called aminoketenes. These aminoketenes would spontaneously link up to form a very simple peptide called polyglycine. By skipping the formation of amino acids, reactions could proceed spontaneously, without needing energy from the environment.
To test their claim, the researchers experimentally simulated the conditions found in molecular clouds. Inside an ultrahigh vacuum chamber, they mimicked the icy surface of cosmic dust particles by depositing carbon monoxide and ammonia onto substrate plates chilled to minus 263 degrees Celsius. They then deposited carbon atoms on top of this ice layer to simulate their condensation inside molecular clouds. Chemical analyses confirmed that the vacuum simulation had indeed produced various forms of polyglycines, up to chains 10 or 11 subunits long.
The researchers hypothesized that billions of years ago, as cosmic dust stuck together and formed asteroids and comets, simple peptides on the dust could have hitchhiked to Earth in meteorites and other impactors. They might have done the same on countless other worlds, too.
The Gap From Peptides to Life
The delivery of peptides to Earth and other planets “certainly would provide a head start” to forming life, said Daniel Glavin, an astrobiologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. But “I think there’s a large jump to go from interstellar ice dust chemistry to life on Earth.”
First the peptides would have to endure the perils of their journey through the universe, from radiation to water exposure inside asteroids, both of which can fragment the molecules. Then they’d have to survive the impact of hitting a planet. And even if they made it through all that, they would still have to go through a lot of chemical evolution to get large enough to fold into proteins that are useful for biological chemistry, Glavin said.
Is there evidence that this has happened? Astrobiologists have discovered many small molecules including amino acids inside meteorites, and one study from 2002 discovered that two meteorites held extremely small, simple peptides made from two amino acids. But researchers have yet to discover other convincing evidence for the presence of such peptides and proteins in meteorites or samples returned from asteroids or comets, Glavin said. It’s unclear if the nearly total absence of even relatively small peptides in space rocks means that they don’t exist or if we just haven’t detected them yet.
But Krasnokutski’s work could encourage more scientists to really start looking for these more complex molecules in extraterrestrial materials, Glavin said. For example, next year NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is expected to bring back samples from the asteroid Bennu, and Glavin and his team plan to look for some of these types of molecules.
The researchers are now planning to test whether bigger peptides or different types of peptides can form in molecular clouds. Other chemicals and energetic photons in the interstellar medium might be able to trigger the formation of larger and more complex molecules, Krasnokutski said. Through their unique laboratory window into molecular clouds, they hope to witness peptides getting longer and longer, and one day folding, like natural origami, into beautiful proteins that burst with potential.
As if their love for abortion wasn’t already bad enough, today’s Democrats see nothing wrong with delivering the child victims of failed abortions and allowing them to die on the delivery table, all in the name of “reproductive rights” and “choice.” This newfound adoption of infanticide, a.k.a. baby murder, as one of their core “values” proves once and for all that Democrats hate human life, and openly embrace the “progressive” policy of murdering babies after they’ve already left the womb.
We might as well start referring to the Democrat Party as the Death Party – the party that will “cry” over the deaths of children whenever it suits their agenda of trying to scrap the Second Amendment, but that hoots, hollers, cheers, and claps when legislation is passed and signed that allows newborn babies to be chopped into bits and trashed as “medical waste” upon breathing their first breath of air.
There’s certainly no place for real Christians in the Democrat Party, which embraces pretty much every evil thing that the Bible condemns. Whether it’s brainwashing innocent children into believing that there are unlimited genders, or silencing free speech about the dangers of vaccines, the Democrat Party wants to destroy all that is good and wholesome, and replace it with every type of vice and wickedness.
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Things have taken a major turn for the worse since 2002, when a bipartisan Senate UNANIMOUSLY affirmed that born-alive children are human beings deserving of life
Believe it or not, it wasn’t that long ago that Democrats, or at least some of them, still had some level of conscience within their beings. Back in 2002, in fact, Democrats in the Senate unanimously, along with Republicans, voted to pass the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. This bill recognized all born children as “human persons,” affording them the same rights and protections as all other humans.
But somehow over the years, the Democrat Party decided that granting human life status to newborn babies infringed upon “women’s rights,” and here we are today.
“In just over a decade and a half, Democrats have gone from ‘safe, legal, and rare abortions’ to ‘kill ’em all and don’t stop when they’re born,’” writes Matt Walsh for The Daily Wire. “Many of us warned that the first slogan would lead eventually to the second. We take no pleasure in our vindication.”
As you may recall, it was the Republican Party that had to step up to the plate in the past to stamp out another evil known as slavery, which was openly embraced by the Democrat Party. And it’s now up to Republicans once again to intervene on behalf of society’s most vulnerable, unborn and newborn babies, to protect them from the Democrat Party death cult.
“It is probably not a coincidence that the Democrat Party, through its long and sordid history, has supported both of those peculiar institutions,” Walsh adds about the Democrats’ support for both slavery and baby murder.
“What a force for evil it has been. But what amazing consistency – to always fall on the wrong side of every human rights issue.”
A new sequencing technique that maps out and analyzes DNA damage demonstrates how bacterial cells function in two critical excision repair proteins.
The team’s research and discovery not only heralds the use of this new mapping technique, it could also pave the way for a solution that will help address antibiotic resistance.
DNA-REPAIR SYSTEMS
Every day, the DNA in our cells gets damaged. This might sound scary, but it’s actually a normal occurrence – which makes DNA’s ability to repair itself vital to our survival. Now, scientists are beginning to better understand exactly how these repairs happen. A new sequencing technique that maps out and analyzes DNA damage demonstrates how bacterial cells function in two critical excision repair proteins: Mfd and UvrD.
The process, called nucleotide excision repair, has been used by a team from the UNC School of Medicine to gain a deeper insight into the key molecular functions of these repair systems, including the proteins’ roles in living cells. This repair process is known for fixing a common form of DNA damage called the “bulky adduct,” where a toxin or ultraviolet (UV) radiation chemically modifies the DNA.
The technique, called XR-seq lets the scientists isolate and sequence sections of DNA with the bulky adduct, thus allowing them to identify its actual locations in the genome. It has previously been used to generate a UV repair map of the human genome, as well as a map for the anticancer cisplatin drug.
For this study, scientists used the same method to repair damage caused by E. coli. As co-author of the study, Christopher P. Selby, PhD explained:
When the DNA of a bacterial gene is being transcribed into RNA, and the molecular machinery of transcription gets stuck at a bulky adduct, Mfd appears on the scene, recruits other repair proteins that snip away the damaged section of DNA, and “un-sticks” the transcription machinery so that it can resume its work. This Mfd-guided process is called transcription-coupled repair, and it accounts for a much higher rate of excision repair on strands of DNA that are being actively transcribed.
A POTENTIAL SOLUTION
Chris Selby, PhD; Aziz Sancar, MD, PhD; and Ogun Adebali, PhD
In further experiments, the researchers defined the role of an accessory excision repair protein in E. coli – UvrD, which helps clear away each excised segment of damaged DNA. Essentially, think of Mfd as the DNA “un-sticker” and UvrD as the “unwinder.” Using the XR-seq method, scientists discovered evidence of transcription-coupled repair in normal cells, but not in cells without Mfd—implying that the protein played a key role in its repair process.
The team’s research and discovery not only heralds the use of this new mapping technique, it could also pave the way for a solution that will help address the pressing, global threat of antibiotic resistance.
“If we fail to address this problem quickly and comprehensively, antimicrobial resistance will make providing high quality universal health coverage more difficult, if not impossible,” the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. “[Antibiotic resistance] a fundamental, long-term threat to human health, sustainable food production and development.”
To support their current research, the team now plans to study XR-seq in bacterial, human and mammalian cells, to better understand the excision repair process.
Our brain releases a neurotransmitter, dopamine, which is crucial for numerous essential bodily functions. Dopamine is great for the following body functions:
– Regulating movement
– Controlling the center of pleasure and reward in the brain
– Improving the cognitive functions (knowledge, attention, memory, decision-making, evaluation, problem solving)
– Regulating the secretion of prolactin
Since it is extremely important for our wellbeing and happiness, the reduced levels of dopamine lead to various health issues, such as depression, sadness, negativity and various emotional troubles.
Fortunately, there are 10 effective ways to raise the dopamine levels in the body, without using medications:
1. EXERCISE
The exercise of every kind raises the levels of dopamine, serotonin, and endorphin. Regular exercise provides happiness, strengthens the body, reduces stress. Try the plank.
Moreover, addictions alter our lifestyle in favor of the source of the addiction, and it is a wicked cycle. Therefore, you should try and lower the risk of developing addictions, enjoy life, and find things that provide deeper calmness and happiness. Also, it is of great importance to work a job you enjoy.
3. DETOXIFICATION
Make sure you regularly detoxify your system, as the accumulation of toxins and bacteria in the body prevents the dopamine production and weakens the immunity. Try this one.
4. INCREASE TYROSINE
Tyrosine is one of the 22 essential amino acids used for the creation of proteins. It is actually the most important chemical for the dopamine production of dopamine.
Besides dopamine, it also has the potential to elevate norepinephrine levels. In order to raise its levels in the body, you should consume green tea, watermelon, almonds, bananas, avocados, and dark chocolate.
5. MUSIC
Dopamine levels are also increased through listening to music, even though it may be short-term. Therefore, use music as a common way to raise dopamine levels. And by the way playing an instrument makes you smarter (science reveals).
6. ORGANIZE YOUR LIFE
The levels of dopamine are raised in the case of organized small daily tasks, even though they are hard at times. You should write your tasks down on a piece of paper, and check them off. In this way, you will be satisfied as you note that you finish them one by one.
The Principles of Self-Management state that if a task represents a change of 25% (or bigger change) in the routine, you will feel unable to finish it, and often ends up with a self-sabotage or giving up.
If the task changes 10% of your routine, you will succeed to complete it, as you will believe it is small. Therefore, balance tasks to be 10 and 25% of new behaviors, in order to try new and challenging things, but still not too difficult to complete.
7. CREATIVITY
The levels of dopamine in the brain are also elevated with a creative activity. This will also keep you focused. You do not need to become a world-known artist but try dancing, singing, writing, sculpturing, painting, drawing, cooking, knitting, making crafts, and auto repair, and you will feel much better right away.
8. GET A STREAK GOING
In this sense, “streak” will mean a visual reminder of the number of times in a row you do something. This is similar to organizing the tasks, and accomplishing them. This will raise the levels of dopamine, and make you happier and satisfied. You should use a calendar, written your goals, and plan when to complete them. As soon as you finish the task, mark it off on your calendar. Yet, the drawback of the ‘streak’ is routine, so you should find a way to enhance the performance.
9. SUPPLEMENTATION
Dopamine levels can also be raised through supplementation, such as:
Curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric, effectively increases dopamine in the brain.
Ginkgo Biloba has a potential to raise dopamine levels as well.
Acetyl-l-tyrosine is a building block of dopamine, so a healthy dose of it supports the production of dopamine in the brain.
L-theanine increases numerous neurotransmitters in the brain, including dopamine. Green tea is a rich source of l-theanine.
Note: consult a doctor before using any of the above
10. MEDITATION
Meditation raises the levels of dopamine in a different way that cardio exercises. It improves your mood, creates mental energy, and relaxes the mind. Meditation is an efficient way to reduce stress on a daily basis. Harvard MRI studies proved that meditation literally rebuilds your brain gray matter in 8 weeks!
When life gets rough and you feel like giving up, it helps to remember these 7 things. Why? Because they will help you find the necessary strength, courage and confidence to move forward and do the things you deep down inside know you should be doing.
Here are 7 Things to Remember When Life Gets Rough:
1. Remember the story about David and Goliath.
When life gets rough and you feel like giving up, remember the story of the young man David and the giant Goliath. Remember how, even though David was but a young shepherd, and Goliath a warrior from his youth, David managed to defeat Goliath. By not allowing the outside circumstances to overwhelm and intimidate him, he focused on his inner strength and the power he knew for sure that was present within him, and as a result, he defeated Goliath. Be like David. Don’t let the size of your problems overwhelm and intimidate you.
2. Life may be tough, but you are tougher.
No matter how many challenges life will send your way, and no matter how big and overwhelming your problems might seem at times, you have to remind yourself that you are bigger than all of your problems. And that you can deal with whatever life send your way. Life may be tough, but you are tougher.
3. When life gets rough, remember that Diamonds are made under pressure.
I really love how Peter Marshall spoke about this: “When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure.” Diamonds are made under pressure and oak trees grow strong in contrary winds. And just like a diamond, you too need the pressure in order to be polished and refined. You too need the winds in order to grow strong, bold and confident. Remember this when life gets rough!
4. Every problem comes with a gift.
Richard Bach said it better than anyone else ever has, or will: “There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts.”
Every problem comes with a gift, and if you have mountains of problems in your hands to solve, you will soon have mountains of gifts in your life to enjoy. And this is something you should definitely remind yourself in those moments when life gets rough and you feel like giving up.
5. There can be no lotus flower without the mud.
We all want to live lives free of pain, sorrow, darkness and difficulties, but these things are part of life. And just as the lotus flower needs the mud in order to come to life, you too need these challenges in order to cleanse yourself of yourself and become all that life created you to be.
6. Life is a journey.
Life is a journey, not a destination. And every experience and every interaction life sends your way, no matter if good or bad, is meant to shape you, to guide you, to lead you, and to help you craft a life that is worth living. Enjoy the journey.
7. Your life is your story.
You are the main character of your life, the hero of your life story. And when the time will come for you to leave this world, looking back at your life, you will perceive all these challenges and all difficulties, different than you do now. You will look back at all your struggles and all your difficulties with gratitude and contentment, knowing that they were the ones that help you become all that you have become.
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