 Did you know that according to Stanford University, the YouTube Rewind is actually causing brain damage? What is up, everybody? This is Chris from the Rewired Soul, where we talk about the problem, but focus on the solution. And if you're new to my channel, my channel is all about mental health. And what I like to do is pull different topics from the YouTube community to try to teach you how to improve your mental and emotional well-being. So if you're into that, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. So yes, the YouTube Rewind was just released. And oh my, the internet is tripping. So just looking at like Twitter, and then looking at the comments and the like to dislike section, wow. And by the way, real quick plug, I paused my writing because I'm working on a new anger management book called Rewire Your Anger. So if you're somebody who's getting extra angry at what's happening on YouTube, make sure that you stay tuned because that book will be out this weekend. But yeah, anyway, it's a real brief history of my knowledge of the YouTube Rewind. I got started on YouTube, took it seriously about last June. So the first year I watched the YouTube Rewind, I don't even think I watched the YouTube Rewind. I watched a lot of reactions to the Rewind and how angry everybody was. So this year I was like, okay, now I know a little bit more about YouTube, let's see who's in it and all of that. And it's crazy just seeing all of the anger. And it's kind of the same thing that I heard like last year. Like one of the main complaints is the same thing that was last year was like putting a mainstream celebrity like Will Smith in the intro. Like last year I think it was Stephen Colbert, but that's like the first complaint, right? The next one was that I saw a lot of is, where's PewDiePie? Where's PewDiePie? You should have had PewDiePie versus T-Series, but they did have PewDiePie's chair in there. But one of the other biggest complaints that you see from a lot of people is, you know, like where's this person? Where's that person? I don't know anybody in here. Where's my favorite creator? All these other things. So today in this video, we're actually going to talk about how complaining affects your mental health. Isn't that cool? All right, so when it comes to mental health, I'm a huge neuroscience nerd. I like to teach and even learn about how the brain, you know, and the way it works affects our mental health. So something that they have discovered is the way our brain forms habits, okay? By reinforcing habits, you're more likely to do that thing over and over again because the brain's trying to become the phishing. So when you are somebody who's complaining all the time, the neurons when you complain are wiring together. So you are more likely to complain. This is why a lot of people are more glasses half empty than glasses half full. They are people who are going to find negatives in just about anything. Now you might be wondering, what am I talking about with this Stanford University study? Well, people who complain, they actually did some research and complaining actually shrinks the hippocampus in the brain. This part of the brain is responsible for problem solving as well as critical thinking. Think about that. You are damaging your brain by complaining so much and it's affecting the way you solve problems. So this is why I always say we talk about the problem but focus on the solution. People who keep complaining are more focused on the problem and sometimes they never find a way out. One of the worst parts about complaining is the social impact of it, all right? So complaining is almost like secondhand smoke, okay? So what that means is just like smoking. You don't have to be a smoker to be affected by someone else's smoke. Same thing with complaining. This is why I keep trying to teach you guys to quit hanging out with negative people. Like this is something that I was guilty of for many years. I hung around such negative people all the time and they were always complaining. And what that does is it actually brings you down. And why does that happen? Because complaining actually triggers the stress hormone cortisol. Do you know what cortisol is? Cortisol is the hormone that runs through your body when you have anxiety. So when you complain, you are triggering cortisol which is more likely to give you anxiety and anxiety can actually fuel depression. This happens because our brain is actually pretty good at what it does and it's trying to keep us safe. It's trying to keep us alive, all right? So the more you complain, the more you're triggering cortisol, your brain thinks that you're in danger. So it's gonna spot all these problems and make you more anxious and even more depressed. Like for example, isolation is a huge cause of depression. So if you're somebody who's like, oh, I don't wanna go out. Those people are dumb. I don't wanna hang out with these people. I hate small talk. You're more likely to isolate which is going to cause more depression. So what do we do about this? What do we do about this? Well, I'm gonna give you three tips to help get yourself out of this complaining circuit that you're in, all right? The first one is gratitude. Gratitude is probably one of my number one mental health tips, all right? They have done studies that show that people who keep a gratitude journal and even list five things that they're grateful for per day, they have decreases of symptoms of anxiety and depression by upwards of 80%. The next tip is ask yourself, how much does this really matter? Now, this is something that I actually teach my son who's not even 10 years old because it's something that I do too. When I get angry, when I get upset, when I wanna complain, I ask myself on a scale of one to 10, how much does this really matter, right? And I don't mean to diminish anybody's own perception or feelings or emotions, but when it comes to something like the YouTube Rewind and your favorite creator not being in there, how much does it really matter in the grand scheme of things? And the last tip is focus on the solution, baby. You know how we get down on the Rewired Soul, all right? So like I was talking about earlier, like when you are shrinking your hippocampus from all of your complaining, you are lacking in problem-solving skills. But if you're focusing on the positive, if you're focusing on the solution, then you are going to strengthen your hippocampus and strengthen your problem-solving abilities and strengthen your critical thinking. This is why I love solving problems. When I see something, I don't see something as a huge catastrophe or a problem. I look at it as a challenge, right? How can I solve this thing? This is where meditation and mindfulness really comes in handy too, because we teach people how to be curious, right? Like ask yourself like, huh, why did this happen? Almost like you're a little scientist of your own mind. Like where is this coming from? Why am I so upset? Like a great question to ask yourself is like, why am I so upset about this? Okay, I'm upset about this. I need to get into the solution. But anyways, I wanna hear from all of you. Like how does complaining affect you? Are you somebody who notices that you complain all the time, the glass is half empty all the time, or do you have friends who you might have had to cut out of your life because they're constantly complaining? That's definitely something that I've had to do. All right, and again, if you're struggling with anger issues, if the YouTube rewind made you that upset, make sure that you stay tuned because my book on anger management is coming out in the next few days, all right? But anyways, that's all I got for you with this video. If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up. If you're new, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell because I make a ton of videos. And a huge thank you to everybody supporting the channel over on Patreon. You are all amazing. And everybody over on Patreon, there's some brand new exclusive content over there for the $5 tier and up. All right, thanks so much for watching. I'll see you next time.