One of my favorite books, about different brain researches in recent years.

The book is not the newest, but most of these discoveries are exciting and surprising for ordinary people. I have read this book many times and will definitely read again, because it is very concise and interesting.

Thanks to brain researches we can start looking for answers to the questions , that people have always wanted to know. What is happiness and how does it emerge? Is the anger disappeared, when we let it out? Is it possible to extend beautiful moments? What makes us happy? Can we be in love with the same person the whole life? Which partners are loyal?

Scientists have discovered, that there are switches to joy, pleasure, and euphoria in our head - we have a so called system of happiness. Another, more surprising discovery was, that the adult human brain is constantly changing. By learning something new, our brains switching schemes change.

I have also read newer books on this subject, which explain the mechanisms of brain function. When Anders Hansen“s book “The Real Happy Pill“, of which I also wrote a review, speaks more about brains functioning in relation to movement, then this book deals with the mechanisms of generating different emotions and tells, how and to what extent we are influenced by the genes we inherited, how to increase our well-being, by which emotions are generated which hormones  and what activities and thoughts help us to increase our happiness. The book describes various exiting studies and experiments with animals and also humans. It has been discovered, that we can train our natural talent to experience good feelings the same way we acquire foreign languages, for example.

As one of the major concerns of today“s world is the depression of people of all ages and its causes are directly related to the lack of happiness, researchers are trying to explore all possible ways to prevent depression and also find the best medicines and treatments.

Considering the spread of the disease, they think that depression is going to be the plague of the 21st century. Stress and depression, in turn, increase the risk of many other serious illnesses. Happiness on the other hand makes us wise, and not for a moment, but for longer time. Positive feelings make nerve connections in the brain grow, so joy creates new connections in the head. The book tells us, how happiness is created and why good feelings are created.

 One of the most important messenger substances - dopamine, controls our will, excitement and learning, plays an important role throughout the book. That is in other words a substance, that pulls us into action. It is involved in regulating of being awake and focusing attention, increasing curiosity, learning ability, fantasy, creativity and desire. Under its influence, we feel motivated, optimistic and full of self-confidence. If we see something appetizing, that we“d like, dopamine is one of the most important messenger substances, that helps us get it. Also, when we see a person we like, dopamine is released in the brain. By grabbing a glass of beer or a cigarette we get an enjoyable extra-portion of this messenger substance, because alcohol and nicotine affect the brain to release more dopamine.

As the scientists have studied a lot of different messenger substances, they try to find medicines, that could compensate for some of the messengers. So also the drugs have come on the market, the book explains the connection between different drugs and narcotics with messengers. For example, to replace dopamine is invented cocaine, which has a much stronger and destructive effect though. Often the scientists initially experiment with themselves and so many of them have become addicted to drugs. If people can try most of the narcotic substances for couple of times without being immediately addicted, then almost no one can resist heroin, because this substance generally makes them dependent upon the first consumption.

I remember, among other things, a study of the fidelity gene. In the case of animals, it was either removed or transplanted and, for example rats, that otherwise do not have this gene and because of this they are not loyal to their companions but change partners all the time, suddenly became  true partners. In humans, this gene is either stronger or weaker, depending on the individual. The fascinating fact is, that fidelity and curiosity are closely connected, they are being controlled by the same gene. So beware, if your dating companion is curious, it probably means, that he has problems with being faithful!

The same way like in my other favorite book, which i mentioned before and which is about brain researches as well, this book tells about the connection between the brain and moving - sport makes wise.

I recommend reading both books, these are my two biggest favorites.