The benefits of gratitude start with the dopomine system. Feeling grateful activates the brain stem region that produces dopamine. And trying to think of things you're grateful for makes you focus on positive aspects of your life. It also increases seratonan production in the interior singulat cortex, which is something that is bobbing around in your skull.
As a friend of a friend's hairdresser once said: "it's hard to be hateful with a plateful of grateful." Is it? In this pre-holidays quickie episode, Alie is grumpy as hell and decides to research the neuroscience of gratitude. Does it work? Who's studying it? Does she need to buy a journal? Find out how jotting down things you don't hate on the back of a receipt or opening a secret Twitter account may be worth more than whatever you get in your office Secret Santa exchange.
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