Day Four: Neurotransmitters and Cognitive Strategies

So far we have looked at the biology of stress. The hormones, and physical effects of stress. On day three we looked at emotions. Today we will look a tthe neuroscience of motivation and some tools associated with cognitive psychology that are beneficial.

I remember one of the biggest surprises for me when I began learning about the brain was that there is a physical center of motivation in the brain. While this now seems entirely logical, I had imagined it was all psychological, if the will and I wanted to then I would motivate myself.

Not so.

We need to start with an overview of neurotransmitters.

Neurotransmitters are the chemical powerhouse of the brain. Made from amino acids synthesized from the proteins found in food intake. The two crucial amino acids are tryptophan and tyrosine. Tryptophan helps us feel calm, tyrosine helps us feel alert. Converted into neurotransmitters, they enable the brain’s neurons to fire. Different neurotransmitters perform different tasks. Though some 100 neurotransmitters have been identified, for our purposes we will focus on the four most common ones.

The first we’ll look at is the one most affected by stress: dopamine. Dopamine is responsible for us feeling active , lively, having a good immune response to disease, sexual arousal, and helps us face up to, and feel prepared for challenges. It is also responsible for a feeling of reward, and finally and significantly, it is, in part responsible, for addictive behaviour when it comes to drugs and alcohol. Without dopamine not only do we feel physically sluggish, we also start to lose attentiveness. Diet plays a crucial part in all neurotransmitters’ synthesis. Dopamine likes fresh fruit, and dislikes alcohol, and caffeine.

The second: serotonin. Serotonin makes us feel calm, promotes normal sleep, keeps blood pressure normal, promotes learning, and helps memory. Lack of serotonin disrupts sleep, makes us aggressive, and can lead to obssesive-compulsive eating disorders. Serotonin is the tryptophan neurotransmitter. Foods that help include brown rice and cottage cheese, as well as meat, and cheeses.

Thrirdly, norepephrine. Also called norandrenalin. Synthesized from tyrosine it is the brain’s andrenaline, and helps us feel alert. It plays an important part in memory. Foods that help include fruits and nuts, especially bananas, alsmonds, and pumpkin and sesame seeds.

And fourthly, acetylcholine. Acetylcholine (ACh) is essential for memory. It is not made from amino acids but from choline. Choline, discovered by Andreas Strecker in 1864, is an organic compound, noramlly classified with the vitamin B group. ACh is essential for brain plasticity - the ability to adapt, grow, and change, and helps the brain concentrate. Supplements of vitamin B5, C, and phosphstidyl choline all help ACh.

Obviously, one of the most under-rated keys to reducing stress is a good diet. This couple with exercise, and good cognitive strategies dramatically help us to reduce stress.

This brings us to cognitive strategies. I want in particular to look at Appreciative Inquiry (AI).

AI and Appreciative systems are used in organization development to find the positive values of the organization. Essentially it asks “What do we do well?”, rather than focusing on mistakes. Handled well it is a very powerful lever to produce real change in organizations.

M ixing AI and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) can be applied in a coaching model. CBT asks “Why do you think and act they way you do?”

Challenging ourselves to say “How can we do more of what we do well?” is powerful. Complementing the positive psychology of Seligman, and developed by David Cooperider, AI asked a fundamentally important question “Why do we focus our energies on what goes wrong, rather than what is right?”

We might well ask the same in medicine: how do we develop the good habits that produce a healthier brain and body.

Final Day: Conclusions And A Strategy For Stress