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Pleasure-Saturated

Pleasure-Saturated

We Homo Sapiens are notorious for avoiding pain and seeking pleasure. In fact, we have transformed the planet from a place of scarcity to a place of overwhelming abundance, with ample opportunities to flood our brains with dopamine at every turn.

But over-consuming has consequences: Exposure to prolonged and repeated pleasurable stimuli decreases our capacity to tolerate pain and increases our threshold for experiencing pleasure.

On today’s show: Resetting your neural set point to make dopamine work FOR you, not against you.

Here’s a preview:

[3:00] Here’s exactly why our brains aren’t designed to work optimally in our 2024 world of pleasure

[7:00] Measuring the dopamine-induced addictive potential of various foods, habits, and drugs

[10:00] What goes up must come down: Here’s what opponent process theory means for you and your brain

[14:00] Quantifying leisure time from the Civil War to present day

[24:00] Dopamine fasts work! Here’s how to recalibrate your brain

[28:00] How to best lean into a bit of pain (and why you may want to)

 

 

 

Resources mentioned:

 

 

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The Shopping Conspiracy

Women have been targeted for decades with the message that shopping is recreation. It’s a way to relax and unwind, sure, but recreational shopping also contributes to the climate crisis, supports the worst of shareholder capitalism, and creates an awful lot of unnecessary waste.

Enter Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy, a hard-hitting new Netflix documentary that forces viewers to look at our waste-related woes. On today’s show producer Flora Bagenal offers a behind-the-scenes look at the documentary’s creation; she also answers your pressing, post-viewing questions.

A note from Stephanie: This episode was recorded before the Los Angeles wildfires. If you're able, please consider donating to one of these organizations

 

Here’s a preview:

[7:00] People find it hard to look at waste, and yet the film makes us look. A behind-the-scenes examination all those hard-hitting images

[16:30] Adidas, Amazon, Unilever, and Apple: Here's why the film featured former employees-turned-whistleblowers

[26:00] Corporate execs must show growth, and corporations are on a treadmill of extracting more and more $$ by pushing unnecessary and redundant products. Is not buying an effective act of resistance?

[30:00] Mindset shifts! Quality is a climate issue, and once you press ‘Buy Now’ you become responsible for the item’s end of life

[36:00] Exactly how to Use. Your. Rage!

 

Resources mentioned:

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My Story

Hello there, I’m Stephanie. I live a crazy, beautiful life as a full-time wife, blogger + mother to two spirited daughters. I’m on a mission to simplify eco-friendly living so as to greater enjoy life’s sweeter moments.

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