"Listening to Complainers Is Bad for Your Brain"

There is a brief article by Minda Zetlin in Inc. reviewing Three Simple Steps: A Map to Success in Business and Life by Trevor Blake. I quote from the article:

"The brain works more like a muscle than we thought," Blake says. "So if you're pinned in a corner for too long listening to someone being negative, you're more likely to behave that way as well." 

Even worse, 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," he says. "Basically, it turns your brain to mush."

We always suspected that listening too long to someone whining rots the brain. Now we realize it is literally true!