Using Play to Rewire & Improve Your Brain

In the episode "Using Play to Rewire & Improve Your Brain" from The Power of Play podcast, host Dr. Andrew Huberman delves into the profound impact that play has on the human brain. He explains how engaging in play not only alters our emotions, thoughts, and behaviors but also has the potential to rewire our brains for enhanced functionality across various life aspects.

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The New Happy

Stephanie Harrison's book, "The New Happy", certainly aligns with the principles underlying the Playology concept, especially in terms of promoting well-being, personal growth, and new ways of thinking about happiness. Harrison’s approach emphasizes redefining happiness away from traditional societal success metrics and towards more intrinsic values such as connection, purpose, and yes, play.

The New Happy philosophy advocates for practices that increase emotional and psychological wellness, which is very much in line with Playology's emphasis on using play as a strategic tool in both personal and professional realms to enhance creativity, reduce stress, and improve interpersonal relationships. By encouraging individuals to engage in playful activities, both concepts support the idea that such engagement can lead to a more fulfilling and joyful life.

In this way, "The New Happy" complements the ideas of Playology by underscoring the importance of shifting perspectives towards more holistic and authentically driven definitions of happiness and success, which include the freedom and creativity found in play. Both suggest a reevaluation of conventional approaches to personal and professional fulfillment, advocating for a life that balances productivity with playful spontaneity.

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Your Brain on Improv

Musician and researcher Charles Limb wondered how the brain works during musical improvisation -- so he put jazz musicians and rappers in an fMRI to find out. What he and his team found has deep implications for our understanding of creativity of all kinds. (Filmed at TEDxMidAtlantic.)

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Performance Breakthrough: A Radical Approach to Success at Work

Break through to your peak performance!

Whether you're navigating your way on a new team, expanding your leadership role, or just trying to get heard in a meeting, you're facing the kind of workplace challenge we all run into sooner or later: you need a new performance.

In Performance Breakthrough, Cathy Salit presents the revolutionary strategies that she's proven successful through over twenty years' experience custom-creating workshops for powerhouse clients including American Express, Nike, Coca-Cola, and DIRECTV. Artfully blending techniques from theatrical performance with the new science of performative psychology, Salit guides readers through forging new relationships guaranteed to yield greater success and satisfaction. Performance Breakthrough outlines proven techniques, including taking an emotional inventory; crafting new scripts for greater confidence, stronger relationships, and better outcomes; building ensembles; improvising; and listening -- really listening -- including accepting others' criticism and input.

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Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul

From a leading expert, a groundbreaking book on the science of play, and its essential role in fueling our happiness and intelligence throughout our lives

We've all seen the happiness on the face of a child while playing in the school yard. Or the blissful abandon of a golden retriever racing across a lawn. This is the joy of play. By definition, play is purposeless, all-consuming, and fun. But as Dr. Stuart Brown illustrates, play is anything but trivial. It is a biological drive as integral to our health as sleep or nutrition. We are designed by nature to flourish through play.

Dr. Brown has spent his career studying animal behavior and conducting more than six-thousand "play histories" of humans from all walks of life-from serial murderers to Nobel Prize winners. Backed by the latest research, Play explains why play is essential to our social skills, adaptability, intelligence, creativity, ability to problem solve and more. Particularly in tough times, we need to play more than ever, as it's the very means by which we prepare for the unexpected, search out new solutions, and remain optimistic. A fascinating blend of cutting-edge neuroscience, biology, psychology, social science, and inspiring human stories of the transformative power of play, this book proves why play just might be the most important work we can ever do.

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