Ep 197: Happy Brain Chemicals and Teen Behavior

Loretta Breuning, author of Habits of a Happy Brain, joins us to
talk about how oxytocin, dopamine, serotonin and endorphins
create happiness and habits in our teens’ minds.


Sponsored by Equip: Eating disorder treatment
that works—delivered at home. Visit equip.health/talking for more
information, and a free consultation.


Full show notes


Sometimes teens behave in ways that seem truly inexplicable. One
day they'd rather die than miss a trip to the mall with their
friends...and the next they can’t stand a single one of those
same friends! They want to join the lacrosse team but won’t go to
a single practice,  date someone new every week, and change
their future career three times in one day. It seems like they’re
being motivated by something behind the scenes…something that
even they don’t understand!





In reality, teens are acting under the influence of all sorts of
brain chemicals that developed as a result of evolution. Beyond
just the reproductive hormones like testosterone and estrogen
that we often associate with adolescence, kids are motivated by
their internal reward system, including chemicals like dopamine,
serotonin, oxytocin and endorphins. These chemicals cause teens
to form habits and reward-seeking patterns that not only shape
their teenage lives, but potentially their adult lives too!





To understand how these chemical forces work in the teenage
brain, we’re talking to Loretta Breuning, author of Habits of a
Happy Brain: Retrain Your Brain to Boost Your Serotonin,
Dopamine, Oxytocin, & Endorphin Levels. Loretta is the
founder of the Inner Mammal Institute, which provides resources
for people to understand their pleasure-seeking brain chemicals
and cultivate a happier life! 





In our interview, Loretta explains how oxytocin, dopamine,
serotonin and endorphins work, how these chemicals change teens’
behavior, and what happens when teens don’t get enough of them.





The Chemicals Behind Your Teens’ Behavior


You may have heard that brain chemicals like dopamine or
serotonin are related to happiness, but how do they really work?
Loretta and I dive deep into the different chemicals that
motivate us by signaling pleasure in our minds. In our interview,
she explains that these chemicals are not a part of our
conscious, reason-driven mind, but instead our inner, mammalian
limbic system. This part of our brain controls how we feel, while
the outer cortex uses logic to process our lives, says Loretta.
Because these two are somewhat disconnected, we are often
confused about what’s motivating us and making us happy!





Loretta explains that dopamine is one of the most important and
significant chemicals in this reward system. It’s stimulated in
our brains by attaining something we need or achieving a
difficult task! For example, our ancestors had to scavenge for
food in order to survive, so when they finally found and obtained
nuts, berries, vegetables or meat, their minds were flooded with
dopamine. This signaled to their brain that they should check
back in the same place for food next time, ensuring their
survival! In the modern day, this dopamine might come from
ordering something we really want online, or finally finishing a
book we’ve been reading for months. 





Nowadays, we can achieve this dopamine a little too easily, says
Loretta, leading us to occasionally feel depressed. In our modern
society, we don’t have to scavenge through the woods for food…we
just have to walk to the refrigerator! This can lead to a lack of
stimulation in teens’  brains, and may cause them to feel
bored or complain that there’s nothing to do. This could lead
them to seek out dopamine in less healthy ways, Loretta explains.
She and I talk about a feeling she calls “dopamine droop”,
further in the episode.





Another important chemical is serotonin, which motivates us to
earn respect from others. We receive serotonin when a crowd
laughs at our jokes or cheers us on. Many times, we receive this
chemical when we’re provided entry into some kind of exclusive
clique, or feel ourselves move up in a hierarchy. This is what
motivates teens to win football games, run for student body
president, or accumulate hundreds of Instagram followers! It
doesn’t last forever, says Loretta, leading us to constantly seek
more and more. Even when we’ve received the highest award we can
possibly get, our minds are often desperate to know when the next
one is coming.





In the episode, Loretta and I talk about two other pleasure
chemicals: oxytocin and endorphins. In addition to explaining
what these chemicals are, Loretta and I are also discussing how
they motivate teens to act certain ways.



Cultivating a Happy Mind


In our conversation, Loretta explains that teens are at the peak
of neuroplasticity–meaning that they’re particularly susceptible
to falling into reward-seeking habits that stimulate these
chemicals. These habits might just stick with them as they grow
into adults, so Loretta suggests encouraging them to think
critically about how they search for that regular boost of
happiness in their daily lives.





Loretta and I talk about how humans tend to receive a serotonin
boost when they put others down, especially when this negative
talk is shared with peers. It’s easy for us to make others seem
small in order to boost our own status, says Loretta–it’s just a
product of our mammalian brain. This mean-spirited behavior is
pretty common among teenagers, and can lead to some serious
drama. Loretta recommends that we help kids find ways to lift
themselves up and achieve something for a serotonin boost,
instead of bringing others down to get the same result.





This practice of dragging others down is often seen as a product
of modern social media, but Loretta says we’ve been doing it for
centuries. For most of human existence, we’ve been competing to
be the most impressive and attain whatever brings us an increase
in status. Nowadays, modern luxuries make it possible for us to
obtain pretty much any physical object we want–meaning that
social media and the online world has become the basis of modern
day status-seeking. In our interview, Loretta explains why social
media activity can be so emotional for teens who are trying to
find their place in the high school hierarchy.





When discussing the effects of these chemicals, Loretta and I
also talk about what happens when we don’t receive them. We’re
prone to feeling the physical and mental sensation of
disappointment–what happens when we anticipate a hit of serotonin
or oxytocin that we never end up receiving. Disappointment can
often spike our cortisol levels, leaving us stressed and in a
negative thought loop, says Loretta. For our ancestors, this
feeling of disappointment may have come from not having enough
food to stay alive. For us, it might come from having to wait a
long time at the grocery store, or finding out our favorite show
is no longer on Netflix!





In the episode, Loretta and I talk at length about the power of
distraction: how giving ourselves or our teens small rewards can
help soften the blow of disappointments. A few spoonfuls of ice
cream or dancing at a party can help teens remain stable and
healthy throughout daily life! Loretta warns against making these
small pleasures taboo–if we don’t have little rewards along the
way, we can go overboard when we finally boil over from too much
stress.