Hello, everyone. Welcome to Wellness on Mass. I'm Dr. Nicole Sapphire, and I'm sitting down this morning doing this podcast, having my morning cup of coffee because it is like a wintry, snowy mix outside. So it's like a delayed opening for the kids' school. So it's a little bit of a late start today. So let's have our

coffee together, shall we? Big news, it's now December 2nd. And I have decided to do a personal

challenge for December. Oh, I'm taking a sip. Big personal challenge for December. You know,

we all wait until January to come up with like our New Year's resolutions. What are we going to

do? How are we going to get in shape? How are we going to be a better version of ourselves in the new year? I decided I want to do it in

December this year. So here's what I'm doing. So for December, starting yesterday, I'm increasing the amount of workouts I do. So my goal is to do 20 workouts in December. Now, I know for people who work out five,

six times a week, that doesn't sound like a lot, 20 workouts in a month. But when you have holiday

parties, you have Christmas and Hanukkah and all this stuff at the kids' schools,

December can be very busy. And one of the first things to go are the workout. So by having a little checklist, making

sure that I'm getting 20 for the month, that's how I'm focusing on my physical health. I'm also taking

a bit of a step back from social media. Ah, I know. How am I going to do this? I'm not sure. My voice is

going to come and go throughout this, but you know, it'll still be great. So I have decided I want to

get rid of social media from my phone because it's so easy to just, when you have a couple

minutes during the day, you just go on your phone and you start scrolling, scrolling, scrolling.

Well, do you know that actually affects your brain chemistry? They do studies looking at functional

MRI, and it shows activity

in your brain changes as you engage in social media. It also elicits dopamine response, which is why

if you do a post and you get likes and comments and it's doing really well, that actually gives

your brain a reward, and that's why you feel good about it.

But the alternative is also true. If you do a post, and for whatever reason, people aren't seeing it,

aren't liking it, it causes negative emotions and feelings, which is why social media use is

linked to anxiety and depression and all of these other things.

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