20. Changing Your Caveman Habits with Dr. Jud Brewer

Today I am joined by Dr. Judson Brewer to discuss how we can use curiosity to investigate our behaviors and break bad habits. Dr. Jud is the Director of Research and Innovation at the Mindfulness Center and associate professor in psychiatry at the School of Medicine at Brown University, the executive medical director of behavioral health at Sharecare, as well as a research affiliate at MIT.

He is also the author of several books including The Craving Mind and his new book is called Unwinding Anxiety:  How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind.  His TED Talk ”A Simple Way to Break a Bad Habit” has over 16 million views on YouTube.

Topics Include:

• Defining addiction
• Can overeating be an addiction
• Addictive behaviors versus addictive substances
• How and why habits are formed
• Craving, dopamine, and the anticipation of reward
• The connection between dopamine and learning
• How curiosity influences awareness
• How Dr. Jud's app helps people reframe their relationships with their addictive behaviors
• Why Dr. Jud's nonnegotiable habit is curiosity
• And other topics...

Resources Mentioned:
Newest Book – Unwinding Anxiety by Dr. Judson Brewer
Book – The Craving Mind by Dr. Judson Brewer
Dr. Jud's Website
Eat Right Now App
Unwinding Anxiety App
Ted Talk - How to break a bad habit
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