Happy Hormones
Before diving into happy hormones, let's understand what hormones are. Hormones are chemical messengers secreted directly into the blood by different glands, which transport them to various organs to exert their functions. And in this article, we're going to discuss one most crucial function - regulating mood and emotions.
Happiness is an emotion, and so is fear, disgust, anger, surprise, happiness, and sadness (Ekman, P. 1999). Social Psychologist, Barbara L. Fredrickson, identified these 10 positive or happy emotions. Joy, Gratitude, Serenity, Interest, Hope, Pride, Amusement, Inspiration, Awe, and Love. There are more than 300 Hormones and 100 Neurotransmitters in the human body, keeping us alive and helping us to perform our day-to-day activities.
Now the question is, what is happiness?
It is an emotion, and emotions are nothing but the body's response to different chemicals.
A bad mood is just an amalgamation of different stress hormones working efficiently and happy hormones hiding behind the curtain.
There are 3 happy hormones:-
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Dopamine - Dopamine is also known as the "feel-good" or "pleasure" hormone and is released from several brain parts. The body releases dopamine when a person goes through delightful events like eating tasty food, sexual activity, listening to a favourite song, or drug use. It creates a reward system, making the person return to do something repeatedly, thus falling into a loop of addiction to drugs, food, sex, or alcohol. It also keeps the enthusiasm high by improving cognitive performance and motor unit functions. Certain foods, like, yoghurt, beans, eggs, and almonds, are linked to dopamine release.
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Serotonin - Serotonin is an essential hormone that affects mood, digestion, Circadian rhythm and health and is primarily produced in the GUT. Indulging in physical activities and good quality sleep triggers serotonin production. (Carhart-Harris et al. 2017). Food items high in tryptophan (an amino acid) and containing probiotics, like yoghurt, are linked to increased serotonin levels.
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Oxytocin - also dubbed as "the love or the cuddle hormone", impacts emotional, cognitive, and overall psychological stability and is also released in the brain. It is an essential hormone during childbirth, breastfeeding, and strong parental bonding. The trigger points of release are responses to the activation of sensory nerves during labour, breastfeeding, and sexual activities.
Thanks to oxytocin, we feel good whenever we're with the people we care about.
Research done on rats suggests that oxytocin can also negate the effects of the cortisol hormone, but data on this topic is minimal. (Lancel, M. et al. 2003).
How can we keep their levels in check?
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Exercise or indulging in any physical activity can improve the release of these hormones and positively affect mood.
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Certain foods like chocolates and cacao contain tryptophan, which helps the brain to produce serotonin.
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Sexual activity or massage can help stimulate the sensory nerves, increasing the production of oxytocin and dopamine.
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Laughter is great medicine, and it increases the release of dopamine. It's so effective that laughter therapy has been established as a cognitive behavioural therapy to treat patients' stress and depression.
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Achieving goals induces a sense of reward and directly affects dopamine levels. It helps to keep performing the tasks one by one. And this is the primary reason to break down the long-term goals into small attainable goals.
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Recalling Happy Memories, the limbic system is a part of the brain that modulates memory, emotions, and the connection between them. Upon thinking about specific memories, we start feeling goo, primarily by a mocktail of different hormones and the limbic system's ability to connect the memories with particular emotions. That's why a saddening event makes us cry if recalled, and a happy one refreshes us instantly.
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Listening To Music and singing your heart out can help release oxytocin. So why are you still here? Open a music streaming app, tune in to your favourite song, and start vibing!
This trio acts as both, under the right conditions, work as a team to make a person feel happy and take care of the mental health to a great extent.
References:-
- Carhart-Harris, R. L., & Nutt, D. J. (2017). Serotonin and brain function: a tale of two receptors. Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England), 31(9), 1091–1120. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881117725915
- Ekman, P. (1999). Basic Emotions. In Handbook of Cognition and Emotion (eds T. Dalgleish and M.J. Power). https://doi.org/10.1002/0470013494.ch3
- Lancel, M., Krömer, S., & Neumann, I. D. (2003). Intracerebral oxytocin modulates sleep-wake behavior in male rats. Regulatory peptides, 114(2-3), 145–152. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0167-0115(03)00118-6
