Tag: dopamine

When you reward bad behavior, you literally wire your child’s brain to repeat the bad behavior. No parent intends to do that, but it happens so easily. When you know how, you will reward only good behavior, and give your child a good start.

Imagine that your child grabs a cookie from someone. You tell them it’s not nice, but you let them keep the cookie. "Just this once."

A young brain learns from the cookie more than your words. Cookies trigger dopamine, the brain’s reward chemical. Dopamine paves a neural pathway that turns on more of the good feeling in similar future circumstances. That wires a brain to expect grabbing to get rewards. Each reward strengthens the pathway.

Love triggers all four happy brain chemicals: dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and endorphin. No wonder it’s so motivating!

However, life is complicated because the happy chemicals are not designed to be on all the time. The job of this brain stew is to reward you for steps that promote your genes. They dip after they spurt, which is why we’re always struggling to get more. Fortunately, when you know how your happy chemicals work, you can stop blaming your partner and stop blaming love. You can better manage the neurochemical roller coaster when you know how you create it.

ADHD is an often-misunderstood disorder that can be difficult, even for trained professionals to diagnose. The term itself - attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, invites us to make assumptions and associate it with a few select symptoms, chiefly hyperactivity and inattentiveness. In truth ADHD has a wide range of complex effects that impacts each of us individually and often unpredictably.

If you’ve done some web-searching, you may have noticed an overriding, cautionary tone. I respect that, and it’s worth pointing out that none is absolute or conclusive.

Sex and relationship expert, Dr. Trina Read, is ready to answer your questions.

I want to try a vaginal tightening cream, but wanted to make sure they work before buying.

The short answer is "no" they don’t work. It’s just something else in a long list of things to make women feel insecure about their sexuality.

Here’s what vaginal tightening creams do to make you believe they work. Some numb the vagina making it so you don’t become fully aroused. That means you’re less lubricated causing more friction which can make it feel tighter, but also more uncomfortable.

"Help! What’s gone wrong with my marriage? We used to be so passionate! The sex was hot and heavy. Now, our sex life is almost non-existent. If it goes on like this any longer, I don’t know what I’ll do." When words of this sort pour from a client’s lips, I know there’s a lot of work ahead. As I think of the standard solutions to this difficult and complex issue, I know there is no quick fix.

The standard advice reads: "Have more fun." "Take off the pressure." "Make romance happen!" "Wear sexy lingerie." "Have a date night!" "Cuddle with each other."

What's really going on when you're attracted to someone? The infatuation phase is when you see only one side of a person: the positive traits, the potential for a happily ever after. You don't even notice that her feet stink or that he scratches his butt. No, she's Cinderella and he's Prince Charming—for now.

Your body chemistry only heightens the whole lopsided process, giving you regular doses of dopamine (a hormone that mimics the effects of cocaine), resulting in phenomena such as energy boosts, appetite suppression, heart palpitations, accelerated breathing, hyperactivity, and insomnia.

The idea of "falling in love" as an all-consuming passion over which we seem to have little control, is standard romantic fare. We meet someone with whom there is a strong physical and even emotional attraction. We may even get to the stage where we become mildly obsessed. We can't seem to get this love interest out of our minds. We not only think about this lucky one constantly, but when we see him/her we often get all warm and fuzzy inside and our body might do things which we didn't exactly plan for. Finally, we get hitched and regrettably, sometime after, the excitement gradually wanes or, for some, comes to a screeching halt. Then some of us claim to have "fallen out of love." Did we honestly expect to maintain these heady feelings for a lifetime and what are our relationship options in marriage when this intensity begins to fade?