Your Brain On

Your Brain On... New Year’s Resolutions

Feb 14, 2024

Exploring the neuroscience behind why new year's resolutions often fail, with tips on how to succeed. Insights from experts on habit formation, cognitive flexibility, and the impact of social norms. Strategies for staying committed and leveraging social support for achieving goals.

35:02

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Episode guests

Howard Jacobson

Phillippa Lally

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Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Prefrontal cortex plays a key role in setting resolutions and exercising cognitive flexibility.

Habit formation requires deliberate practices, mindfulness, and tying behaviors to values for success.

Deep dives

Understanding the neuroscience of New Year's resolutions

New Year's resolutions tap into the psychology of fresh starts. The prefrontal cortex plays a crucial role in setting and pursuing goals like resolutions. Cognitive flexibility empowers us to consider changes in our lives but can also lead to familiar habits. Cementing resolutions requires exercising cognitive flexibility and dopamine signals to evoke a sense of reward.

Introduction

2min

Breaking Habits and Forming New Ones

9min

Navigating the Transition from Intentions to Actions for Behavioral Change

2min

Navigating the Self-Help Landscape and Overcoming Guilt in Processes

2min

Navigating Habits and New Year's Resolutions

18min

Tips and Strategies for Successful New Year's Resolutions

3min

On New Year’s Eve, we experience feelings of joy, sadness, thankfulness, regret, and nostalgia, as our brains recall episodic moments from the past 12 months.

Surges of dopamine mix with our aspirations, forming resolutions. As we count down to the new year, we’re full of excitement and hope.

But most of us don’t manage to stick to our new year’s resolutions beyond January.

In this episode of Your Brain On, we discuss the neuroscience and psychology of:

• Why new year’s resolutions so often fail

• How we can keep our new year’s resolutions, with science-backed techniques

• Whether new years are good starting points for forming new habits

We’re joined by Dr. Phillippa Lally, a Senior Lecturer of Psychology at the University of Surrey in the UK, and our friend Howard Jacobson, an expert in the mechanics of behavior change.

‘Your Brain On’ is a brand new podcast from hosts Ayesha and Dean Sherzai.

CONTEST

To celebrate the launch of our new podcast, ‘Your Brain On’, we’re giving away prizes to its earliest listeners — like you! Prizes include memberships to our thriving NEURO Academy community, and bundles, like our Better Brain Cooking Box, Books Bundle, and Better Brain Favorites Box.

To enter, all you’ll need to do is subscribe to Your Brain On, leave an honest review of the show on Apple Podcasts, and then sign up for the contest at thebraindocs.com/podcast.

LINKS

Join the NEURO Academy: NEUROacademy.com

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Website: TheBrainDocs.com

More info and episodes: TheBrainDocs.com/Podcast