Mindset Neuroscience Podcast · Stefanie Faye

Cerebral Entanglements with Dr. Allan Hamilton

·58 min·2 clips

Seven hugs a day gets you the highest boost. And the other interesting thing is, if you can't get the hugs in, pet your dog.

Dr. Alan Hamilton, Harvard neurosurgeon and decorated veteran, shares a remarkable career arc from janitor to leading intellect, emphasizing the neuroscience of love, connection, and trauma. He explains oxytocin's bonding mechanism, actionable practices (seven hugs daily), intergenerational trauma inheritance via epigenetics, and concerns about first-person shooter games' effects on young brains. Core message: connection and warmth are neurobiologically essential for healthy development; one supportive adult can transform a child's trajectory.

As heard by us

A broad neuroscience interview that turns biography into an argument about vulnerability, behavior, and media.

Season five opens on Dr. Alan Hamilton, tracing a path from janitor to Harvard-trained brain surgeon and decorated Army veteran. His background spans military medicine and multiple professorships, and the conversation is at its best when it stays with his view of how…

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Why you'd press play

A brain surgeon traces how violent games, development, and vulnerability can collide.

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