Im trying to form a new habit of writing down everything that Im learning during my learning sessions. My learning sessions usually consist of reading textbooks in English and German. Since reading is a passive way of learning, I have decided to make my learning routine more active by writing down what I have learned during it. So, today I read textbook “ Neuroscience” by Bear. From my learning session I learned, for example, about oxytocin. Oxytocin is a hormone that is famously responsible for emotional bonding between mother and her child. As a child sucks on the mothers breast, the mothers brain releases oxytocin. Oxytocin is also released by the mother just by hearing her childs cry. I also learned about another hormone vasopressin. If the salt concentration in our blood rises, vasopression is released, which signals the kidneys to retain water and contributes to the sensation of thirst. Besides that I also read about stress and the brain. Stress has inevitably damaging effect on our organism. When we are stressed, cortisol is released. Cortisol has receptors all over the brain and leads to excitotoxicity when too much calcium enters neurons through ion channels. Too much calcium in neurons causes the damage and death of neurons, for example in the hippocampus.