All of your feelings and emotions are a result of chemical reactions taking place in your body. These reactions are responsible for making you feel negative emotions, like anger and sadness, as well as positive emotions, like love and happiness. Read on to find out what your happy hormones are and how you can increase them.
1. Endorphins
Endorphins are your body’s natural painkillers, since they block pain. Most people are aware of the fact that exercise releases endorphins, but they don’t realise the reason for this.
Way back in the stone ages, endorphins were important to our ancestors because they enabled them to keep running through the pain and escape predators. Today, we don’t need to escape predators anymore, so we only produce endorphins when we perform anaerobic exercises, since endorphins help us to keep going even after we deplete our oxygen stores.
2.Serotonin
Serotonin is the key hormone of happiness, since it regulates mood, prevents depression, thwarts irritation and makes you happy and sociable.
3. Dopamine
Dopamine is a pleasure hormone that is released when you strive towards a goal. Dopamine motivates you to work hard so that you can achieve the satisfaction of reaching that goal. It also keeps you mentally alert and helps you focus.
4. Oxytocin
Oxytocin is the love hormone, and is released in large amounts during sexual intercourse and childbirth, but also during other types of affectionate physical contact, like hugging. Oxytocin also increases feelings of love and trust.
10 Natural Ways to Boost the Hormone of Happiness
- Each of the neurotransmitters mentioned above can be activated naturally depending on the lifestyle you have, we will list certain activities to drive them without so much effort.
- Enjoy the sunlight: enjoy the exposure of the sun at every moment you can activate melatonin , which in turn regulates sleep / wakefulness rhythms and the production of serotonin.
- Consume carbohydrates, spicy foods, chocolate, nuts and seeds : any of these foods have the ability to increase the number of happy hormones circulating in the body.
- Do physical activity: it is one of the most truthful activities to boost the happiness hormone, as doing so releases endorphins, it will depend on you what type of physical activity you want to do : jogging, walking, yoga and even dancing. Always keeping in mind that the sedentary lifestyle is the main cause of depression.
- Enjoy aromatherapy : smells have a significant effect on feelings, aromas such as vanilla, coconut, lavender and rose are universally appreciated and known for promoting feelings of safety and comfort. Choose the scent you prefer and use it as much as you can to feel good about yourself, either in essences or in the form of aromatic candles, lighting them around your house, will help you create a peaceful atmosphere.
- Cry without inhibition: just as laughter increases the production of happiness hormone, crying helps. Therefore, when you feel the need to scream or cry, do so because the body produces the endorphin fever shortly after you stop crying.
- Listen to music: the power of sound is extraordinary, it can take you to the heights of ecstasy or to the depths of despair. Always try to surround yourself with sounds and music that appeal to you.
- Become a master of new skills: learn an unknown language or start playing some instrument you want to learn, the brain loves the new challenges.
- Massages: all types of massage influences, in fact, foot massages decrease the stress levels generated by the hormone cortisol and are replaced by serotonin and dopamine.
- Smile: the brain does not distinguish the difference between the real and the imaginary, so smile even when you do not feel like doing it will fool the brain , it will produce more good hormones by the movement of the muscle in the face.
The Oily Guru 