Mindset and Physiology

Mindset is the pillar of wellness that most impacts the other three. It is also one of the more in depth pillars, as there are so many aspects that make up a positive or growth mindset. To begin diving into the pillar of mindset, I think it is helpful to reference the article above. 

This article discusses the in depth roles of dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain, on our system. This article states that dopamine is known to play roles in:

• Behavioral reward systems

• Motivational control

• Critical thinking

• Memory

• Response to environmental stressors

If we leave mindset as a broad topic with many moving parts, I believe it is difficult to create change in this pillar. However, if we use the evidence in this article coupled with current science, we can understand that mindset, at its core, has to do with the physiology in the brain. 

Once we look at physiology, and specific neurotransmitters, we start to be able to close in on actionable behaviors that will create change. For example, one may realize that through the COVID pandemic, they became comfortable with a sedentary lifestyle and comfort food. The dopamine released from these comfort-seeking behaviors in a stressful time reinforces the comfort-seeking behavior, even as the pandemic began to subside. Understanding this allows the person to be empathetic with self as they break these dopamine reinforced habits and allows the person to understand that, with time, they will experience a similar reinforcement of the new behavior via alternative dopamine pathways. 

Rather than asking, “Why is it so hard for me to get back into my healthy routine?” or “What is my problem, why am I still not taking action?” we can instead understand the ways dopamine affects our pursuit of these behaviors. This allows us to reframe the challenge from “I need to get back in routine,” to “I know the first week or so will be difficult, but I also know I will start to feel great from it, as I succeed at creating these new habits.”

This is where mindset becomes a foundation that determines our ability to affect change in the other pillars.

SOURCE

Bromberg-Martin ES, Matsumoto M, Hikosaka O. Dopamine in motivational control: rewarding, aversive, and alerting. Neuron. 2010 Dec 9;68(5):815-34. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.11.022. PMID: 21144997; PMCID: PMC3032992.