Emily McDonald, a neuroscientist, shares three daily habits: don't check your phone when you wake up to avoid dopamine spikes, practice affirmations to engage reward centers, and get sunlight to boost dopamine and serotonin while supporting your circadian rhythm.
Here are three things that I do every single day as a neuroscientist and brain coach to wire my brain right and set myself up for success. Number one is that I avoid checking my phone as soon as I wake up in the morning. Checking social media first thing in the morning spikes dopamine levels and raises your baseline level of dopamine and this can cause you to crave checking social media throughout the rest of the day. Checking your phone first thing in the morning also primes your brain to be more distracted throughout the rest of the day. This leads me to number two because the information that you put into your brain first thing in the morning is super important. I regularly practice affirmations, positive self talk and intention setting. Positive self talk and affirmations have been shown to light up the reward centers in the brain so you get more dopamine from literally your own thoughts and research shows that believing in yourself and having confidence makes you more successful. The third thing that I do to set myself up for success is to get outside in the sun every single day, preferably in the morning. Sunset is a great time as well because of the red long wavelength light. Red light helps mitochondria produce more energy for our bodies. Sunlight regulates our circadian rhythm, boosts dopamine for motivation and mood, and increases the activity of serotonin for reductions in anxiety.
