{"id":79001,"date":"2022-09-07T14:38:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-07T18:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=79001"},"modified":"2022-09-19T10:34:39","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T14:34:39","slug":"brain-reward-system-and-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/","title":{"rendered":"The Brain Reward System and Addiction: Are We Wired to Overindulge?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What’s the connection between your brain’s reward system and addiction? How do experts explain the neuroscience of addiction?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Dopamine Nation<\/em>, author Anna Lembke explores what causes addictive behaviors and how you can take back control. Lembke further explains both the neurological and emotional causes of the addiction cycle<\/a> and overindulgence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on to learn about your brain’s reward system and addiction, according to Lembke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Lembke: Your Brain’s Reward System & Addiction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to author and addiction treatment expert Anna Lembke, your brain’s reward system is fine-tuned to keep consuming pleasurable goods<\/strong>\u2014and now you have an abundance of these goods and<\/em> plenty of time to consume them. <\/strong>When explaining the brain reward system and addiction, Lembke asserts that rising overconsumption<\/strong> is behind a well-documented decrease in happiness among industrialized nations, and she highlights the rise in addiction-related deaths<\/strong> in all age groups between 1990 and 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if the odds are stacked against you, it’s still possible to overcome your patterns of overindulgence. <\/strong>However, you’ll have to tackle the cycle in both its dimensions: neurochemical and emotional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why You’re Wired for Overindulgence<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take a closer look at the role of your brain’s reward system in forming addictions. Lembke writes that the balance of chemicals in your brain can either present enormous obstacles to overcoming overindulgence\u2014or be part of the solution. <\/strong>Understanding your brain’s natural tendencies will help you change your behavior<\/a> by working with<\/em> your brain instead of against<\/em> it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Lembke’s book, Dopamine Nation<\/em>, the chemical largely responsible for cyclical overindulgence is dopamine. Lembke examines how pain and pleasure interact neurologically to drive the cycle of overconsumption. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dopamine in Your Brain Rewards Addiction<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Contrary to popular misconceptions about addiction, dopamine isn\u2019t the \u201chappy chemical\u201d in your brain’s reward system. <\/strong>Dopamine isn’t released when you receive<\/em> something pleasurable\u2014it\u2019s the chemical that motivates you to seek out<\/em> pleasure.<\/strong> Studies have shown this chemical is largely responsible for overindulgence because it drives you to continually seek out pleasurable activities. Some of the highest dopamine-driven activities include gambling, shopping, sex, and using cocaine or methamphetamines.<\/strong> However, Lembke points out that \u201chigh-dopamine activities\u201d are not the same for everyone\u2014the high-dopamine activity that motivates you to indulge compulsively may be something \u201cmilder\u201d like sugar, video games, or social media. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are Some Activities Designed to Be Addictive?<\/strong>

Dopamine is the chemical in your brain’s reward system that drives addiction to pleasure-seeking activities. As a result, we now know that many of the activities people engage with every day are designed to manipulate their brains and keep them in a state of overindulgence<\/strong>. Game designers in particular have realized that your brain releases dopamine when you feel you are close to obtaining a reward. Therefore, they\u2019ve developed proven strategies to make you feel close to winning\u2014and therefore engaged in\u2014their games<\/a>. <\/strong>Let\u2019s explore three of the most common tactics:

1. Dangling a large unobtainable reward. <\/strong>If you are constantly reminded that you have a chance to hit the jackpot, you will remain in a state of dopamine arousal. For example, carnival games often display one big prize, like a giant stuffed animal, that’s almost impossible to win.

2. The “near miss” effect.<\/strong> Players are likely to experience a rush of dopamine if they feel they almost <\/em>got a reward, and might get it on their next try. For example, a slot machine requiring you to match three characters will create a “near miss” effect if you match two of them, making it feel like you were closer to winning than you really were.

3. Unpredictable rewards. <\/strong>Studies have found games that reward players unpredictably are more addictive than games with predictable rewards. Unpredictable rewards mean that there’s always a possibility that you could win big on the next play. Gambling is the most obvious example, but consider that popular video games like World of Warcraft<\/em> use this too. If monsters drop loot randomly, then the next monster you defeat could always be the one that drops a rare item. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How Pain and Pleasure Drive Overconsumption<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

People engage in high-dopamine activities because they lead to pleasure in your brain’s reward system\u2014and in turn, this pleasure keeps you locked in an addictive loop of overindulgence. Here, we\u2019ll explore how pleasure\u2014and pain\u2014play a part in this cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neuroscientists have discovered that pain and pleasure are processed in the same parts of the brain. <\/strong>When you\u2019re feeling pain, you won\u2019t feel pleasure and vice versa. When discussing how to overcome addiction, Lembke encourages you to imagine your brain’s reward system as a seesaw<\/strong> that tilts in either the direction of pleasure or pain. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you engage in your high-dopamine activities, you “press down” on the pleasure side of the seesaw. This not only causes pleasure, but it also “lifts up” the pain side, alleviating your pain. Unfortunately, using pleasure to alleviate pain comes with a catch. Lembke explains that the brain has a natural tendency to balance out the seesaw, seeking what neuroscientists call \u201chomeostasis.\u201d<\/strong> If you press constantly on the pleasure side by overindulging in pleasurable things, the brain will naturally heap more \u201cweight\u201d on the pain side of the seesaw to keep your system in balance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Biology demonstrates why your body has such a powerful drive for homeostasis. Studies have found that all living things strive for homeostasis, even at the cellular level<\/a> because your cells and organs function best when they are in a predictable environment. <\/strong>If your brain swings unpredictably between pleasure or pain\u2014thereby frequently changing the environment\u2014it will have to devote energy to adjusting to the environment and optimizing function. Your brain avoids having to expend this additional energy by counterbalancing environmental changes\u2014remaining in a neutral, predictable state.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why It’s Hard to Stop Indulging<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The excess \u201cpain weight\u201d that counterbalances pleasure can lock you into an addictive cycle of overindulgence because of two factors that work together in your brain’s reward system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. You build up a tolerance to pleasure. <\/strong>Each repeated experience of pleasure will have less of an impact because it must push against more weight<\/em> on the pain side. This is why your fifth trip to the casino won\u2019t feel as good as your first. <\/li>
  2. You can set your default balance to pain. <\/strong>As you build up “pain weight” over time, it will keep weighing down the pain side of your seesaw, even when you aren’t doing anything pleasurable. Therefore your default state\u2014when you’re not doing anything painful or pleasurable\u2014will be feeling bad instead of feeling neutral.<\/em><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    These two factors have a cyclical effect:<\/strong> You feel pain when you stop consuming because of the extra weight placed on the pain side. This pain creates an incentive<\/a> to consume again and go back to feeling okay. However, each act of consumption will have less effect than the one before, enticing you to indulge more than before. This, in turn, keeps adding weight to the pain side, digging you deeper and deeper into a negative feedback loop<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How Pain and Pleasure Motivate Us<\/strong>

    Rather than using the seesaw metaphor, some researchers argue that what’s actually happening with pain and pleasure is that they are each taking turns directing your motivational circuits<\/strong><\/a>. The motivational circuits are the pathways your behavior-motivating chemicals follow toward various goals, informed by inputs from different parts of your brain. <\/a> Understanding how pleasure and pain influence these circuits can shed further light on why overindulgent behaviors feel cyclical as if you\u2019re caught in a loop.

    Pain and pleasure are both responses evolved to motivate your behavior. However, your pain and pleasure motivations are meant to trigger behavior in distinctly different <\/em>situations, because they motivate such different behaviors.<\/strong> Pleasure motivates you to move toward<\/em> helpful things (finishing a delicious meal). Pain motivates you to move away from<\/em> harmful things (taking your hand off of a hot stove).

    However, once you start using pleasure as a strategy to alleviate pain, you will have both influencing your motivational circuit in the same situation.<\/strong> Now that avoiding pain and obtaining pleasure are the same activity, these two sources of motivation can take turns propelling you toward the same behavior over and over.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What’s the connection between your brain’s reward system and addiction? How do experts explain the neuroscience of addiction? In Dopamine Nation, author Anna Lembke explores what causes addictive behaviors and how you can take back control. Lembke further explains both the neurological and emotional causes of the addiction cycle and overindulgence. Read on to learn about your brain’s reward system and addiction, according to Lembke.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":79032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,9,160],"tags":[746],"class_list":["post-79001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-psychology","category-science","tag-dopamine-nation","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Brain Reward System and Addiction: Are We Wired to Overindulge? - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What does addiction expert Anna Lembke say about the brain's reward system and addiction? Learn why she says you're wired for overindulgence.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Brain Reward System and Addiction: Are We Wired to Overindulge?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What does addiction expert Anna Lembke say about the brain's reward system and addiction? Learn why she says you're wired for overindulgence.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-07T18:38:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-09-19T14:34:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/human-brain-hormones-neruoscience.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1848\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1232\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Emily Kitazawa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Emily Kitazawa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Emily Kitazawa\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb\"},\"headline\":\"The Brain Reward System and Addiction: Are We Wired to Overindulge?\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-07T18:38:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-19T14:34:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/\"},\"wordCount\":1409,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/human-brain-hormones-neruoscience.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Dopamine Nation\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Health\",\"Psychology\",\"Science\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/\",\"name\":\"The Brain Reward System and Addiction: Are We Wired to Overindulge? - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/human-brain-hormones-neruoscience.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-07T18:38:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-19T14:34:39+00:00\",\"description\":\"What does addiction expert Anna Lembke say about the brain's reward system and addiction? Learn why she says you're wired for overindulgence.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/human-brain-hormones-neruoscience.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/human-brain-hormones-neruoscience.jpg\",\"width\":1848,\"height\":1232},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Brain Reward System and Addiction: Are We Wired to Overindulge?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb\",\"name\":\"Emily Kitazawa\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Emily Kitazawa\"},\"description\":\"Emily found her love of reading and writing at a young age, learning to enjoy these activities thanks to being taught them by her mom\u2014Goodnight Moon will forever be a favorite. As a young adult, Emily graduated with her English degree, specializing in Creative Writing and TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), from the University of Central Florida. She later earned her master\u2019s degree in Higher Education from Pennsylvania State University. Emily loves reading fiction, especially modern Japanese, historical, crime, and philosophical fiction. Her personal writing is inspired by observations of people and nature.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/emily-kitazawa\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Brain Reward System and Addiction: Are We Wired to Overindulge? - Shortform Books","description":"What does addiction expert Anna Lembke say about the brain's reward system and addiction? Learn why she says you're wired for overindulgence.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Brain Reward System and Addiction: Are We Wired to Overindulge?","og_description":"What does addiction expert Anna Lembke say about the brain's reward system and addiction? Learn why she says you're wired for overindulgence.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2022-09-07T18:38:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-09-19T14:34:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1848,"height":1232,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/human-brain-hormones-neruoscience.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Emily Kitazawa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Emily Kitazawa","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/"},"author":{"name":"Emily Kitazawa","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb"},"headline":"The Brain Reward System and Addiction: Are We Wired to Overindulge?","datePublished":"2022-09-07T18:38:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-09-19T14:34:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/"},"wordCount":1409,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/human-brain-hormones-neruoscience.jpg","keywords":["Dopamine Nation"],"articleSection":["Health","Psychology","Science"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/","name":"The Brain Reward System and Addiction: Are We Wired to Overindulge? - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/human-brain-hormones-neruoscience.jpg","datePublished":"2022-09-07T18:38:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-09-19T14:34:39+00:00","description":"What does addiction expert Anna Lembke say about the brain's reward system and addiction? Learn why she says you're wired for overindulgence.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/human-brain-hormones-neruoscience.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/human-brain-hormones-neruoscience.jpg","width":1848,"height":1232},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-reward-system-and-addiction\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Brain Reward System and Addiction: Are We Wired to Overindulge?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb","name":"Emily Kitazawa","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Emily Kitazawa"},"description":"Emily found her love of reading and writing at a young age, learning to enjoy these activities thanks to being taught them by her mom\u2014Goodnight Moon will forever be a favorite. As a young adult, Emily graduated with her English degree, specializing in Creative Writing and TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), from the University of Central Florida. She later earned her master\u2019s degree in Higher Education from Pennsylvania State University. Emily loves reading fiction, especially modern Japanese, historical, crime, and philosophical fiction. Her personal writing is inspired by observations of people and nature.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/emily-kitazawa\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/human-brain-hormones-neruoscience.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79001"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79084,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79001\/revisions\/79084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}