Listening to Complainers Is Bad for Your Brain

Being exposed to too much complaining can actually make you dumb. Research shows that exposure to 30 minutes or more of negativity--including viewing such material on TV--actually peels away neurons in the brain's hippocampus. "That's the part of your brain you need for problem solving," says Trevor Blake, a serial entrepreneur and author of Three Simple Steps: A Map to Success in Business and Life. "Basically, it turns your brain to mush."