The Happy Brain copertina

The Happy Brain

The Happy Brain

Di: MHNR Network LLC
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 Do you wonder what stimulates your happy brain chemicals- dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, endorphin? Answer your questions with these lively conversations between Loretta Breuning and real readers of her book, Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain your brain to boost your serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphin levels. Still have more questions? Read the book and be a guest on the show yourself! Contact Dr. Breuning and learn more about her work at the Inner Mammal Institute at: InnerMammalInstitute.org.

The brain chemicals that make us feel good are inherited from earlier mammals. They evolved to do a job, not to make you feel good all the time. When you know the job of each chemical in the state of nature, your ups and downs make sense. More important, you can re-wire yourself to enjoy more of them in sustainable ways.

But it’s hard. Our brain is designed to release happy chemicals to reward steps that promote survival. But our brain defines survival in a quirky way: it cares about the survival of your genes and it relies on neural pathways built in youth. To make things even harder, our brain habituates to the rewards it has so you always have to do more to get more happy chemicals.

We are not born with survival skills like our animal ancestors. Each newborn human wires itself from its own early experience. Happy chemicals are like paving on your neural pathways, wiring you to repeat behaviors that made you feel good before. This is why our urgent motivations don’t make sense to our verbal brain. It’s not easy being mammal!

When you know how your brain works, you can find healthier ways to enjoy happy chemicals and relieve unhappy chemicals. You can build new neural pathways by feeding your brain new experiences. But you have to design the new experiences carefully and repeat them a lot.

The Inner Mammal Institute has free resources to help you make peace with your inner mammal: videos, blogs, infographics, and podcasts. Dr. Breuning’s books illuminate the big picture and help you plot your course. You can find new ways to feel good, wherever you are right now.

Music from Sonatina Soleil by W.M. Sharp. Hear more of it at InnerMammalInstitute.org/musicbywmsharpCopyright MHNR Network, LLC Igiene e vita sana Psicologia Psicologia e salute mentale Scienza Successo personale Sviluppo personale
Episodi
  • Serotonin and the Natural Urge for Social Dominance

    Serotonin and the Natural Urge for Social Dominance
    Sep 12 2025
    You have probably noticed that my explanation of serotonin is not what you hear elsewhere. This episode explains why, and gives you the raw biology of your serotonin so you can find your power over it.

    The HAPPY BRAIN PODCAST helps you spark your happy brain chemicals in healthy ways. Your host is Loretta G. Breuning PhD, founder of the Inner Mammal Institute and author of "Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain your brain to boost your serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphin levels.” Details at: https://innermammalinstitute.org.

    Check out our new video course, Train Your Inner Mammal to Feel Good Now.
    (https://innermammalinstitute.org/course — 10% off with the code ReaderDiscount at the checkout.) You will learn to rewire your happy chemicals with small simple steps!

    Our dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin are inherited from earlier mammals. We control them with the limbic brain we’ve inherited from animals. The verbal human part of the brain doesn’t understand what makes the animal part feel good, and that’s why we do things to feel good that we later regret. When you understand the job that each happy chemical evolved to do, you can find healthy ways to spark them.

    Dr. Breuning’s new book, Why You’re Unhappy: Biology vs Politics, shows why unhappiness comes so easily to our brain. Why do they tell us that happiness is the natural state and unhappiness is a disorder? It’s politics. The kind of politics that all mammals have. Find out more at: https://innermammalinstitute.org/why

    See video clips from this episode and others at:
    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1hyR2RHXp04OmVhFUKNh81FT5gffvplq
    If you like The Happy Brain Podcast, please rate and review it to help others make peace with their inner mammal.

    Our happy chemicals evolved to reward survival behavior, not to make you feel good all the time. Your brain chemicals are like paving on your neural pathways, which wires you to repeat behaviors that spark good feelings and avoid behaviors that spark bad feelings. That’s why we keep repeating or avoiding things without quite knowing why. To change these patterns, you have to blaze a new trail through your jungle of neurons.

    It’s hard because it takes so much repetition. The Inner Mammal Institute shows you how to design and build the new neural pathway that’s right for you, and motivate yourself to do the repetitions.
    Rewiring your brain is like learning a foreign language: we all know it’s possible, but most people don’t. You can be someone who does! You can build new paths to your happy chemicals so you flow there more easily.

    The Inner Mammal Institute has the resources you need to do that. It offers free resources, including videos, blogs, infographics, and podcasts. Dr. Breuning’s books explain the big picture and help you plot your course step by step. No matter where you are right now, you can enjoy more happy chemicals in healthy ways. Get the details at https://InnerMammalInstitute.org.

    The music on this podcast was composed by William Sharp. Hear more of it at https://innermammalinstitute.org/musicbywmsharp/
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    29 min
  • Trauma and Dating

    Trauma and Dating
    Aug 24 2025
    My guest is Sasha Hershfeld, creator of TraumaDater.com, which helps people see the link between their early pain and their present patterns of romantic attraction…and grow from it.
    The HAPPY BRAIN PODCAST helps you spark your happy brain chemicals in healthy ways. Your host is Loretta G. Breuning PhD, founder of the Inner Mammal Institute and author of "Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain your brain to boost your serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphin levels.” Details at: https://innermammalinstitute.org.

    Check out our new video course, Train Your Inner Mammal to Feel Good Now.
    (https://innermammalinstitute.org/course — 10% off with the code ReaderDiscount at the checkout.) You will learn to rewire your happy chemicals with small simple steps!

    Our dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin are inherited from earlier mammals. We control them with the limbic brain we’ve inherited from animals. The verbal human part of the brain doesn’t understand what makes the animal part feel good, and that’s why we do things to feel good that we later regret. When you understand the job that each happy chemical evolved to do, you can find healthy ways to spark them.

    Dr. Breuning’s new book, Why You’re Unhappy: Biology vs Politics, shows why unhappiness comes so easily to our brain. Why do they tell us that happiness is the natural state and unhappiness is a disorder? It’s politics. The kind of politics that all mammals have. Find out more at: https://innermammalinstitute.org/why

    See video clips from this episode and others at:
    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1hyR2RHXp04OmVhFUKNh81FT5gffvplq
    If you like The Happy Brain Podcast, please rate and review it to help others make peace with their inner mammal.

    Our happy chemicals evolved to reward survival behavior, not to make you feel good all the time. Your brain chemicals are like paving on your neural pathways, which wires you to repeat behaviors that spark good feelings and avoid behaviors that spark bad feelings. That’s why we keep repeating or avoiding things without quite knowing why. To change these patterns, you have to blaze a new trail through your jungle of neurons.

    It’s hard because it takes so much repetition. The Inner Mammal Institute shows you how to design and build the new neural pathway that’s right for you, and motivate yourself to do the repetitions.
    Rewiring your brain is like learning a foreign language: we all know it’s possible, but most people don’t. You can be someone who does! You can build new paths to your happy chemicals so you flow there more easily.

    The Inner Mammal Institute has the resources you need to do that. It offers free resources, including videos, blogs, infographics, and podcasts. Dr. Breuning’s books explain the big picture and help you plot your course step by step. No matter where you are right now, you can enjoy more happy chemicals in healthy ways. Get the details at https://InnerMammalInstitute.org.

    The music on this podcast was composed by William Sharp. Hear more of it at https://innermammalinstitute.org/musicbywmsharp/
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    42 min
  • Why Doesn't Love Last

    Why Doesn't Love Last
    Sep 10 2024
    Love feels spectacular because it sparks all four happy chemicals, but you end up disappointed if you expect the good feelings to last. Here’s how to build realistic expectations about love so you can relieve that disappointment.



    The HAPPY BRAIN PODCAST helps you spark your happy brain chemicals in healthy ways. Your host is Loretta G. Breuning PhD, founder of the Inner Mammal Institute and author of "Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain your brain to boost your serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphin levels.” Details at: https://innermammalinstitute.org.

    Check out our new video course, Train Your Inner Mammal to Feel Good Now.
    (https://innermammalinstitute.org/course — 10% off with the code ReaderDiscount at the checkout.) You will learn to rewire your happy chemicals with small simple steps!

    Our dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin are inherited from earlier mammals. We control them with the limbic brain we’ve inherited from animals. The verbal human part of the brain doesn’t understand what makes the animal part feel good, and that’s why we do things to feel good that we later regret. When you understand the job that each happy chemical evolved to do, you can find healthy ways to spark them.

    Dr. Breuning’s new book, Why You’re Unhappy: Biology vs Politics, shows why unhappiness comes so easily to our brain. Why do they tell us that happiness is the natural state and unhappiness is a disorder? It’s politics. The kind of politics that all mammals have. Find out more at: https://innermammalinstitute.org/why

    See video clips from this episode and others at:
    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1hyR2RHXp04OmVhFUKNh81FT5gffvplq
    If you like The Happy Brain Podcast, please rate and review it to help others make peace with their inner mammal.

    Our happy chemicals evolved to reward survival behavior, not to make you feel good all the time. Your brain chemicals are like paving on your neural pathways, which wires you to repeat behaviors that spark good feelings and avoid behaviors that spark bad feelings. That’s why we keep repeating or avoiding things without quite knowing why. To change these patterns, you have to blaze a new trail through your jungle of neurons.

    It’s hard because it takes so much repetition. The Inner Mammal Institute shows you how to design and build the new neural pathway that’s right for you, and motivate yourself to do the repetitions.
    Rewiring your brain is like learning a foreign language: we all know it’s possible, but most people don’t. You can be someone who does! You can build new paths to your happy chemicals so you flow there more easily.

    The Inner Mammal Institute has the resources you need to do that. It offers free resources, including videos, blogs, infographics, and podcasts. Dr. Breuning’s books explain the big picture and help you plot your course step by step. No matter where you are right now, you can enjoy more happy chemicals in healthy ways. Get the details at https://InnerMammalInstitute.org.

    The music on this podcast was composed by William Sharp. Hear more of it at https://innermammalinstitute.org/musicbywmsharp/
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    30 min
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