How bad habits affect your brain

By M.Farouk Radwan, MSc.

Bad habits alter your brain and make life less joyful

In my previous article How internet porn affects your brain i said that the more a person stimulates the release of dopamine in his brain by watching porn the more his brain will become resistant to dopamine.

Dopamine is the chemical responsible for experiencing excitement and pleasure so if your brain became resistant to it then you will find all life pleasures less satisfying!

The breaking news i have for you is that dopamine resistance doesn't develop as a result of watching pron only but it results from any additive behavior!

A study has found that women who eat more fatty foods develop more dopamine resistance than women who eat other foods. In other words, women who eat fatty foods enjoy life activities less than those who eat healthy food. (see also Food and mood)

How bad habits affect your brain

When you go after a certain reward, lets say smoking a cigarette, your brain releases dopamine. Because the next time you smoke another cigarette you wont feel as excited as you felt the first time you smoked you will need a more powerful stimulus in order to experience the same level of pleasure.

As a result you will have to consume a larger dose and so program your mind to develop dopamine Resistance. Now when you do any life activity that you used to enjoy you will find it less joyful because your mind has already developed dopamine resistance as a result of your smoking habit.

This effect happens when you get addicted to anything! Food, smoking, porn, drugs or whatever.

The next time you attempt to do your bad habit remind yourself that you are actually changing the structure of your brain and making life less joyful.

Breaking bad habits

In my book The ultimate guide to breaking bad habits i said that most people do the mistake of using will power to break bad habits without actually trying to understand the dynamics of their bad habits.

Before you can break a bad habit you first need to understand the psychological causes behind it. Lets suppose that a child steals because he wants attention, in such a case treating his excessive need for attention is the only way to help him stop stealing.

If that child was forced not to steal then he might develop another dangerous habit just to get back the lost attention. In other words, without understanding the real intention behind a bad habit it might not be possible to break it.

2knowmysef is not a complicated medical website nor a boring online encyclopedia but rather a place where you will find simple, to the point and effective information that is backed by psychology and presented in a simple way that you can understand and apply. If you think that this is some kind of marketing hype then see what other visitors say about 2knowmyself. The book The ultimate guide to breaking bad habits was released by 2knowmyself. The book will help you get over all bad habits that are haunting you in a short period of time.

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