How to produce hormones of happiness?

Everyone has heard about the “happiness hormones” – dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and endorphin. But not everyone clearly understands how each of them works, why it is released and what reaction it causes in the body. And why can’t you feel happy all the time?

It would be great to learn how to “turn on” the rush of the right substances when needed, right? It turns out that everything is possible. You just need to understand the mechanics of the process and work on yourself.

“Happy hormones” are actively synthesized at those moments when the brain identifies events or phenomena that can positively affect our survival. Then the level of these hormones in the body drops sharply until the next “pleasant” occasion. Each of these neurochemicals “turns on” a specific pleasurable sensation in humans.

Dopamine

“This hormone creates a feeling of joy that a person finds something they need,” explains Loretta Graziano Breuning, author of The Hormones of Happiness. In addition, dopamine motivates you to get something you need, even if it involves a lot of effort. The prospect of achieving a goal stimulates the production of dopamine.

For example, in the body of a child, this hormone is produced when he hears the steps of the mother. A marathon runner gets a dopamine rush at the sight of the finish line. A soccer player gets a dose of dopamine by scoring a goal.

Having reached the goal or just seeing it, you experience a feeling of inner comfort. And so you force the body to perform actions again and again that ensure the emergence of this feeling. The runner again goes to the distance, the football player seeks to hit the gate.

How to stimulate production? Think about what goals you achieve at work and in your daily life that bring you joy. Maybe it’s solving math problems, or winning an intellectual quiz, or the fact that today you were able to run 1 kilometer more than yesterday. Celebrate even small victories.

“Never ruin your positive emotions by apologizing to yourself for enjoying the smallest success. Just enjoy the moment of triumph and move forward,” advises Professor Breuning. However, you need to try to ensure that the task or problem that you have to solve is appropriate in scale.

“If the basketball hoop is hanging too low, you won’t get much pleasure from hitting it. If it is too high, there will be no point in even trying to get the ball into the basket,” she adds.

Endorphins

This hormone creates a feeling of lightness and forgetfulness, which helps to alleviate pain. This state is often referred to as euphoria.

Endorphin helps to ignore pain, thus making it possible to hide from danger when injured or injured.

“This neurotransmitter was not created by evolution from a good life,” the expert emphasizes. – The synthesis of endorphins is triggered primarily by physical pain. You can fall and instantly jump to your feet, thinking that you are all right, and then find that you are seriously injured. This is the action of endorphin … It is released only if a person overcomes his usual capabilities and brings himself to a state of discomfort.

Endorphin scientists have long called endogenous morphine, because the mechanism of its action resembles the action of opiates.

How to stimulate production? The synthesis of endorphins in the body is unstable. His rush can be caused by exercise. But exercising to the point of exhaustion and the appearance of pain is harmful. It is better to alternate different loads and try new types of physical activity. So you will load different muscle groups, and the sport will not get bored.

By the way, endorphins are actively produced during stretching exercises. And you can do them not only in the hall, but also at home – while watching your favorite series or even talking on the phone. Laughter and crying also stimulate the synthesis of endorphins, so it is important not to limit these natural emotions for us.

Oxytocin

This substance gives a person a sense of security in a circle of his own kind.

“Trusting someone or realizing that someone trusts you, you experience a rush of oxytocin. Satisfaction with belonging to a group or a sense of security in intra-group relationships is also the result of oxytocin, ”explains the author. Oxytocin motivates to show trust in relation to others.

How to stimulate production? The synthesis of oxytocin is activated by touch and a sense of trust. Any contact with loved ones, from the touch of hands to the feeling of moral support, not to mention the orgasm, causes a surge of oxytocin.

By the way, when you are trusted, you experience positive emotions, regardless of whether you trust yourself. That is, if you arouse sympathy in people, you will be able to enjoy oxytocin “injections” more often. Also, you can always “buy” a dose of oxytocin by simply signing up for a massage.

Serotonin

This conceited hormone is created in a person when he feels respect from others.

“Serotonin gives us a sense of self-importance,” writes Professor Breuning. We easily notice it in others, but we do not like to discover the desire for such sensations in ourselves. The brain has evolved to strive for social dominance, which ensures that more copies of our genes are made.

We tend to avoid conflict because it could wipe our genes off the face of the earth. The brain is very attentive to the social environment. If there is an opportunity to establish himself in it in a safe way, he rewards with a solid portion of serotonin.

How to stimulate production? Feel free to be proud of your successes and achievements. If your merits are not noticed, it will not be superfluous to talk about them. Enjoy your position in the family, at work and in society. Notice when your opinion is listened to and when you have managed to influence others. But be prepared to put up with the fact that you cannot control everything around you.