Change Is All In Our Brains

Change Is All In Our Brains

In Episode 212 we visited with Life Coach, Marcia King, and took a look at behavior and the neural circuitry that is behind it. Change can be difficult because altering habitual behavior actually requires some kind of rewiring in our brains. We used to think that the brain couldn't rewire itself, but recent research has shown that it can and we can continue to grow these nerve fibers well into adulthood.

The Limbic Circus

The part of the brain that most involved with problematic behaviors like addictions, overeating, compulsive behavior is called the limbic system. The brain has two major tracks which set behavior into motion, they are the circuit of reward and the circuit of punishment.

Pleasure-seeking is located in the amygdala (which imparts agreeable or disagreeable tone of feeling to perception), the hippocampus (the area of memory, preserving agreeable memories, associating pleasure to the environment which activated it.) and the reward circuit of the brain which drives us to repeat the behavior which produced the pleasure we experienced. This is where where the circuits get wired, in this repetition of reward.

Bad, Don't Do It

Aversive stimuli that provoke fight or flight responses activate the brain’s punishment circuit which enables us to cope with unpleasant situations. Pain avoidance ("fight or flight") lies in the hypothalamus, the midbrain, and the pain circuit of the brain. And the inhibition of action lies in the septal area, the hypothalamus, the amygdala, and the ventromedial hypothalamus parts of the brain.

We are wired to seek pleasure and avoid pain. Virtually every habit we form has been built by this dynamic. This served us very well when we were evolving in the wild. It does not serve us so well in the modern world where advertisers and marketers have figured out that repetition can take over our neural circuitry and can make us behave in ways that bring them money, but certainly does not serve our health and well being.

In addition, habitual behavior can increase the influence of motor habits and has an inhibitory effect on affective or motivational information. In other words, this type of behavior reinforces the physical act of doing it while discouraging the rational part of you that says you shouldn't. As the Governor of New York will attest, this can lead to tragic consequences.

Its also interesting to note, stimulation of the punishment circuit can inhibit the reward circuit, which supports the common observation that fear and punishment can make things a lot less pleasurable. Chances are good, there will be no more evening calls to Emperor's Club VIP for Mr. Spitzer.

Get Loaded on Brain Chemicals

There are a number of neurotransmitters that work in the brain and these are what Dr. Candace Pert terms the "molecules of emotion" because they cause us to feel various emotions. Here are a few examples:

Dopamine

This neurotrasmitter brings the feeling of pleasure, the "Ahhhh".


It reinforces pleasure behavior and attraction, its is expressed in first love, and infatuation. Risk taking behavior releases more of it. It is also a key initiator of muscle movement, environmental awareness and the thought that "This experience is worth paying attention to." Too much of it produces an unpleasant feeling. Too little can produce boredom and inattentiveness. A lack of it equals depression, anger, suicide. All habitual chemicals associate with dopamine, they either replicate, stimulate, or inhibit its reuptake.

Serotonin


This neuro-peptide causes craving, the "Gimmee". It is also the Zen-master brain chemical that brings tranquility, reason, and calm. A lack of it can make people seek starchy foods and sugar. The drug Prozac works by inhibiting it's re-uptake or keeping more of it floating around in our brains.

Women are two to three times more likely than men to suffer from depression, in part because a woman's brain makes less of the hormone serotonin.

Endorphin:


These give you a rush, the "Wow". These are endogenous opiates and they can give you a high much like morphine. They are released as rewards for many kinds of behavior. Like eating sugar, or exercising vigorously. Why? In nature, these were activities that kept us alive and needed reinforcement.

Oxytocin:

This is the neurotransmitter of bonding, long term love, long term relationships. It is released when a mother breast feeds her child.


Oxytocin is also released in women during times of stress. It causes a response that is different than the more aggressive "fight or flight" response in men. Think of it as more like "tend and befriend" causing you to circle your wagons and protect the children and to gather with other women to protect one another. This releases more oxytocin and this makes them more calm and relaxed.

Run You Fool!

Feed Me


Let's take a look at all of this in action by examining the common behavior of eating sugar and how this wiring doesn't always serve us well in today's modern world:

We evolved in world where sugar was rare and extremely valuable because of the nutrients it provided. So our pleasure system evolved to reward us for eating it. Today, foods with the highest sugar content often contain no micronutrients whatsoever (like soda).

But the biochemical system upon which we rely in choosing our foods has not changed, it is encoded in our genes in a way that leaves it mostly immune to conscious manipulation, the endogenous opioid system still reacts to sweet foods as if they remained a rare and valuable commodity.

Another way of thinking about the role of neurotransmitters in guiding behavior is that they serve as regulators of attention. When our serotonin levels are low, we feel nervous, depressed, irritable and stressed. Low serotonin levels can make us crave sugar. Low endorphin levels can make us crave fat.

What to Do?

We have evolved with this mechanism and now we live in a modern world where we have loads of foods, drugs and opportunities for behavior that can cause tremendously negative health consequences. We really need to have tools to change and alter our behavior. These are like Pavlovian responses. We train ourselves to experience these pleasures. We need to learn new behaviors that will have a positive influence on us.

Keys to Change

There are a number of keys to changing behaviors and regaining some measure of control over your life.

Repetition. You must repeatedly reinforce the positive or, at least, different direction you want to go. Repetition works. this is why most 12 step programs strongly suggest to the new comer that he or she do 90 meetings in 90 days. This reinforces the changes and allows new neural circuits to form.

Substitution. You must replace the old thinking, old behavior and old neural patterns with new ones. Why? Because if you don't your old default thinking, behavior and neural patterns will just naturally take over. These are well traveled pathways and you are just accustomed to going there. Put something else in its place. An affirmation, a prayer, a meeting, a therapist, something other than the problem behavior.

Persistence. Change is not easy, but it can be achieved. The brain is amazingly elastic. It is capable of change and growth for your entire life. This can be very rewarding and something that you can get good at. But you have to work at it. This system of neural circuitry and brain chemicals can be something that you can use to your advantage instead of something that owns you.

That' s all the good news I have time for.

Be well, do less work and have fun people!

Marc