Play by Stuart Brown MD

I just finished reading Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown, MD the founder for the National Institute of Play.  His observation confirm the need for humans and animals to play. He provides pictures of a polar bear and a sled dog playing together at the same time for several days while the polar bear waits for proper ice flow conditions.

He notes that play is essential for children for brain development. In adults a play deficit results in a darkened mood and a reduced ability to feel pleasure. Play appears to improve brain function and optimism. Play is best when there is movement. Incorporating play and movement in the treatment of depression has had positive results.

He differentiates play where both people work to keep an activity going to activity initiated by a person who is a player. That person engages others in play for their own interest and not for the mutual benefit others. As an example he relays the pickup football game that he played in Chicago while growing up. The kids made up the rules and changed them to compensate for some players with limited abilities. A friend of mine who was a good ping pong player would play me left handed to make it a competitive match.  He recommends self organized play by children over strictly organized play by adults.

He encourages adults to allow some rough and tumble play between students within some broad boundaries. Students need to learn the limits of play and friendly teasing through interaction with others and not through severe restriction on behaviors. Rough and tumble play is characterized by laughter

At the end of the book he concludes: "Play is the purest expression of love. When enough people raise play to the status it deserves in or lives, we will find the world a better place."

What is play - Stuart Brown MD - 8 min.

The Neuroscience of Play - 72 minutes

Play is more than fun - 15 minutes

Why You Love Music: From Mozart to Metallica by John Powell

John Powell the physicist and part time musician wrote Why You Love Music: From Mozart to Metallica--The Emotional Power of Beautiful Sounds as a follow up to his book How Music Works: The Science and Psychology of Beautiful Sounds, from Beethoven to the Beatles and Beyond. He wanted the general reader to get a basic understanding of both the physics and the psychological effects of music.

With delightful British wit he aptly explains why we like chords and specific note progressions. His dive into the psychological literature offers up some studies showing how types of music influence the purchase of either French or German wine with French music driving French wine sales.  Music can even influence the perceived taste of wine. In one study a wine was both judged the worst and the best wine with order and background music the only variables.

He also noted the ability of music to cause the production of various neurotransmitters, serotonin, and dopamine. Music can be an important therapy in pain management. By stringing songs in a particular order and at the appropriate volume it can also assist people with getting to sleep.  With my MP3 player I can string together a series of songs and the player will automatically turn off when the set is done. This has helped me sleep when I am awaken during the middle of the night and need to get back to sleep.

Musical instruments as old as 40,000 years old made from the bone of a vulture can still play familiar tunes. He suggests that music was important in parental bonding with children as the parent will sing to their baby to help them control their emotions.

40,000 year old instrument plays a familiar tune

How music works - 4 minutes

Why we love music - 6 min. 

The physics behind the psychology of music - 6 min. 

The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain by Barbara Strauch

Barbara Strauch's The Secret Life of the Grown-up Brain: The Surprising Talents of the Middle-Aged Mind describes the properties of a middle aged brain that make it different than a person in their 20's. The mature brain is not able to focus on one topic, which causes many to fail to retrieve an item in another room because we forgot what we were looking for. The older brain also has difficulty remembering names often necessitating a mental trip through the alphabet or a search for a middle vowel sound that will release the name from the tip of the tongue.

The diffuse method of thinking allows the mature brain to increase creativity with many more experience with the potential for novel links. This wealth of experience and connections allows the grown up brain to be "... smarter,   calmer, wiser, and happier..." than the earlier version of ourselves.

The author points to research indicating that the mature brain is still capable of producing new neurons and new connections. Aerobic exercise in lab animals and humans stimulates the production of new cells in the dentate gyrus (Wikipedia) an area in the brain's hippocampus crucial for creating new memories. 

The evidence for diet impacting the dentate gyrus is less well supportive. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory chemicals in blueberries and other dark fruits, colored vegetables and beans may promote brain health. The mildly toxic effects of resveratrol in red wine and other fruits may stimulate the production of brain derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) which is important in stimulating brain repair. The unanswered questions remain can we ingest enough of these chemicals in our diet to have any effect and what is the optimum dose?

Factors that adversely impact brain health include: obesity, elevated blood glucose levels (type 2 diabetes), high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Individuals who have a more varied and positive social network do better than individuals who are or choose to be isolated. The author suggests that navigating a social network is a complex task for the brain and keeps it fit.

These recommendations cross over into the Blue Zones research and its association to longevity. In some cases items that improved brain health did not improve longevity but did improve the quality of the life lived.

The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain - 17 min. 

Middle Aged Brains are Awesome - 5 min. 

Optimizing brain health - 8 min. 

The Blue Zones of Happiness by Dan Buettner

In Dan Buettner's latest book, The Blue Zones of Happiness: Lessons From the World's Happiest People, he examines the commonalities in areas of the world where people live longer and attempts to apply that knowledge to improving existing communities. I recently attended Dan Buettner's talk at Northrop Auditorium at the University of Minnesota.  He is an engaging and informative speaker who resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota and works for the National Geographic Society.

Dan Buettner introduced by Regent David McMillan

In the book it was interesting that Dan Buettner also referred to the same 50/10/40  Happiness rule that Henry Cloud noted in his book The Law of Happiness.

• Genetics: 50%
• Circumstances: 10%
• Areas under control: 40%

If we focus less on circumstances (bummer I did not win the lottery again) and focus more on developing friendships, taking care of our bodies. and engaging in activities with a sense of purpose we will be happier irrespective of our circumstances or genetics. 

Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way - Image Think (click on image to enlarge)

Creating Blue Zone communities can have a significant impact on reducing medical costs and improving economic vitality. The Blue Zones project for Albert Lea, Minnesota revitalized the downtown by making it more pedestrian friendly and reduced community medical costs as noted in the Albert Lea case study summary.  His collaboration with Public Health experts at the U of M along with other experts in community planning allows for an integrated approach to creating environments where it is easier to make a choice that will improve health and happiness. 

Slide from Dan Buettner's Blue Zones talk 

The appendix of the book compiles the public policy and personal practice suggestions for a happy life from the experts that Dan Buettner consulted in the book. I most appreciated the 24 joint personal practice recommendations from Sonja Lyubomirsky and Kristin Layous. These are just four with minor editing.

• Try to make someone else happier
• Share personal positive experiences with a partner
• Regularly go out in nature
• Write about intensely positive experiences

At the Blue Zone website there are additional Blue Zone Articles on diet, health, happiness and longevity.  You can also take the Blue zone true vitality test.

The Blue Zones of Happiness - 27 min.

The Blue Zones of Happiness - 48 minutes

Lessons from the world's happiest people - 21 minutes

The Science of Trust by John M. Gottman Ph. D.

The Science of Trust: Emotional Attunement for Couples by John M. Gottman Ph. D. provides meticulous descriptions of dysfunctional and functional relationships. This audio book would be a brutal but effective pre-test for couples considering marriage and could also be used to pull a marriage out of path headed towards dissolution. Trust in a marriage is making sure the other person puts the partner first above other people and other obligations. This is facilitated by each person attuning to the other partner.

He and a team of researchers observed marriages for twenty years watching the marriages succeed or dissolve without intervening. During that time they observed that people seeking marriage counseling were doing even worse than those who were not.  This made them even more cautious about offering advice.

They looked at successful recovery after a disagreement or a failure to be attentive to a partner. Successful repair worked best when the expressions of negative emotions were muted, There was humor, People who had successful recovery focused less on I and more on we.

It is very difficult for couples to resolve issues when one of them is flooding. This occurs when one person is very emotional with sweating and elevated blood pressure. An effective strategy involves taking a 20 minute break to let stress chemicals clear out of the bloodstream. This works best if neither party ruminates during the break.  After the break the issue is addressed again but this time with cooler heads.

Interesting marital tests: As part of a fun activity couples construct a tower made only out of sheets of paper. If the couples did this with a sense of humor and enjoyed it as a fun activity this was predictive of a successful marriage.  If they argued and bickered about how to construct the tower this predicted relationship or marriage failure.

A portion of the book was devoted to the the  separate mathematical functions associated with two parents and a child.  The researchers also discovered two low level resting states on the positive and the negative side of the relationship. It is very easy for a couple to get stuck in a negative loop and be unable to get out of it because of their heightened emotional state.

Further information on the neuroscience of trust at work is available from Six Seconds the emotional intelligence network.

The science of trust and betrayal - 7 min

How to build trust - 5 min. 

The science of Love - John M. Gottman - 28 min. 

As You Wish by Cary Elwes

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes details the activity behind the scenes surrounding his participation in the movie production of the Princess Bride. He details the struggles of William Goldman and Rob Reiner to get the picture made. It appears to a be a twisted Hollywood game of Red Light Green light. Both Cary and Wallace Shawn were unnecessarily worried about being dumped from the picture.

To maximize the enjoyment of this book, I recommend reading the Princess Bride by William Goldman and watching the movie prior to reading or listening to the audio version of this book.  The audio book adds to the enjoyment with contributions from several of the cast members. Cary also does a spot on impersonation of Rob Reiner among other cast members

The cast and the crew were universally grateful to be part of the picture. Andre the Giant in particular thoroughly enjoyed the experience. In this case a good script, a great cast, an excellent director, and a good studio produced a timeless picture for all generations. A movie that studio executives had no clue how to market when it originally came out. Thanks to VHS and DVD the show found a second life. 

Cary Elwes - As You Wish - 39 minutes

The Princess Bride reunion - 30 minutes

Remembering Andre the Giant - 4 minutes

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

The Princess Bride: An Illustrated Edition of S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure as relayed by William Goldman offers an additional back story to the movie based on the book directed by Rob Reiner. William Goldman is a masterful storyteller having written several Hollywood screenplays including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President's Men.

The illustrations add a nice touch to the text. This addition also includes some of William Goldman's thoughts on the movie adaptation to the book. The book also has a brief additional story about Buttercup's baby.

I appreciated the addition of the back stories for Inigo and Fizzig. Some parts of the book were changed for the movie. The Pit of Despair in the movie was originally the zoo of death in the novel. and some of the lines were lifted from other parts of the text and given to another character. This is an excellent book to read to the whole family.

Film vs. book - 15 min.