 What's up everybody? This is Chris from the Rewired Soul where we talk about the problem, but focus on the solution and we are doing another mental health book review. And this is probably one of the first books that really got me interested in using neuroscience to overcome symptoms of mental illness. And this book that we're talking about today is called Upward Spiral by Dr. Alex Korb. And actually the introduction of this book was written by another neuroscientist who I love, Dr. Daniel Siegel. So by the way, if you just happen to come across this video or you're not struggling with depression and you know that other people you know might be struggling with depression, please share this video. So maybe people will pick up this book and start working on their depression. So this book is all about using neuroscience to overcome various symptoms of depression. And it's extremely important like I've done other videos like a video that I'll link up in the info card is called The Brain Mechanic. And what this whole thing is about, what I try to do on my channel, I try to teach you more and more and more about your brain and what's actually happening when these symptoms of mental illness come up. Because once you understand what's actually going on under the hood, you can start to notice what's happening and start believing in and understanding the various tools that you can use to overcome these symptoms. And in this book, Upward Spiral by Alice Korb, he does an excellent job of this. So let's first talk about the title of this book, Upward Spiral. So the reason why he titled it this is because we all know what a downward spiral looks like, right? So say for example, you know, I'm at home, I'm feeling depressed, and my friends, they invite me to go hang out, right? So they invite me to hang out. I'm like, now man, I'm just going to stay home. So I stay home and all of a sudden I'm at home and I'm just flipping through Facebook or Instagram and I start seeing them posting pictures and tagging each other and all this stuff and having fun. And now all of a sudden my depression says, nobody likes me, they're probably having a better time out there without me, you know, it's best that I didn't even go. So then I put down my phone and I start feeling even more depressed. I start feeling more alone. Nobody gets me, nobody understands me. So you see how that first initial problem spiraled me down and it made this depression even worse than what it was. That's a downward spiral. So in this book, Upward Spiral, we're talking about doing the exact opposite, starting with one small little thing and then turning it into this kind of chain reaction that brings us up and out of depression rather than feeding the depression and going down. In this book, Dr. Alex Korb, he lists out the various neurotransmitters that we have that are involved with depression. So when you hear the words like chemical imbalance, this is what we're talking about. So neurotransmitters are these little chemicals that fire inside of your brain and what they do is they multiply and they create more of it. People who have clinical depression, in some cases, they have a problem with developing these neurotransmitters that are meant to make us not depressed. So let's go ahead and let's list out these neurotransmitters real quick. So first is one of the most important ones, serotonin. This improves our willpower as well as our motivation and our mood. This is a huge one because one of the issues with depression is that we lack motivation. So think about it. If you can learn ways to spark more serotonin in your brain that would give you more motivation, think about all the things that you could accomplish that would then get you out of depression. So there's a lot about improving serotonin levels in this book. So next we have norepinephrine. This is all about enhancing thinking, focus, and dealing with stress. And then there's dopamine, drug addicts and alcoholics like myself. We know a lot about dopamine, but dopamine is a natural neurotransmitter in your brain. And this is about pleasure, our feelings of pleasure, but it's also about creating good habits as well as creating bad habits. So then there's oxytocin. This is all about improving our trust, love, and connection with other people. It can also help with decreasing stress. Then there's GABA. GABA is a lot about decreasing anxiety and helping you feel relaxed. Melatonin. So real talk, like before I read this book, I thought melatonin was just a thing that came in a pill. Melatonin is actually a natural chemical that your body creates that helps the quality of sleep. So in this book, you learn how to create more natural melatonin that helps you with your sleep and sleep is a huge part of decreasing depression. Then lastly, we have endorphins. This helps with feelings of being happy as well as the ability to decrease pain. So this is also very important because some of you may have heard this already, but if not, I'm about to learn you. A sick mind can often translate into a sick body. If you watch my other video about the six common signs of depression, it talks about how you might have physical ailments that don't go away and it's purely based on depression as well as a lack of endorphins and other neurotransmitters. Again, this book is all about creating an upward spiral. I kind of call them like a chain reaction. So let me give you an example real quick. Okay, so one way to increase serotonin levels is by accomplishing goals, very small, deliberate precise goals. Here's an example. Every day I will get up and get out of bed by 715 in the morning. Every day by eight o'clock in the morning, I'm going to go outside and go for a walk. Okay, so that will help create serotonin. When you accomplish goals, it triggers serotonin in your brain. Now this goal is to go outside and walk every single morning. So as you walk and it doesn't matter how far, doesn't matter where you do it, whether it's the gym or just around the neighborhood, just going for a walk is going to increase endorphins as well as dopamine. Alright, so you see what we're talking about with this upward spiral already? Serotonin, then we get endorphins, then we get dopamine, alright? Then if you go for a walk outside while the sun is out, that is going to help create natural melatonin. So that evening when it's time to go to sleep, melatonin starts going throughout your body. It helps you get a better night's sleep. So that is just one example of some of the things that you can put together from this book about how you can create your own upward spirals. And it's amazing too, because it's like doing this like ultimate combo in one of those old school video games and getting a knockout. Alright, so anyways, thank you so much for watching. If you want to check out this book, Upward Spiral by Dr. Alex Korv, I will link it down in the description below. And as always, there will also be a link to my entire mental health reading list. So if you want to check out some of the other books that I recommend to help you improve your mental health, make sure you check out the links in the description below. Alright, if you end up reading this book, I would love to hear your thoughts by leaving a comment and please like share this video with other people. If you know somebody who is depressed, make sure that you share this video with them. But if you liked this video, be sure to give it a thumbs up. And if you're new here, I'm always making videos to help you out with your mental health as well as your emotional well-being. So make sure you click that subscribe button. If you want to check out some other videos on this channel, you can click or tap on one of those thumbnails right there. Alright, but anyways, thank you so much for watching. Go read some books today that will help you out with your mental health and I'll see you next time.