Dopamine serotonin oxytocin formula

Share on Pinterest Aaron Thomas/Stocksy United Hormones are chemicals produced by different glands across your body. They travel through the bloodstream, acting as messengers and playing a part in many bodily processes. One of these important functions? Helping regulate your mood. Certain hormones are known to help promote positive feelings, including happiness and pleasure. These “happy hormones” include: • Dopamine: Known as the “feel-good” hormone, • Serotonin: • Oxytocin: Often called the “ • Endorphins: Here’s a look at what you can do to help produce more of these natural mood boosters. Who hasn’t heard the old saying, “Laughter is the best medicine?” Of course, laughter won’t treat ongoing health issues. But it can help relieve feelings of According to a small So, share that funny video, dust off your joke book, or watch a comedy special with a friend or partner. An added bonus? Bonding over something hilarious with a loved one might even trigger oxytocin release. This tip could — in theory — boost all four of your happy hormones. The enjoyment you get from eating something delicious can trigger the release of dopamine along with endorphins. Sharing the meal with someone you love, and bonding over meal preparation, can boost oxytocin levels. Certain foods can also have an impact on hormone levels, so note the following when meal planning for a happy hormone boost: • spicy foods may trigger endorphin release • yogurt, beans, eggs, meats with low-fat content, and almo...

Your mood is influenced by many things — the good, as well as the bad. Spending time with a loved one or friend can improve it. Sitting in an hour of unexpected traffic can ruin it. But your mood is more complicated than the situations and environments you encounter. There's brain chemistry to consider, too. In between sensing a situation and responding to it, chemicals called neurotransmitters and hormones help your brain understand, evaluate and communicate what you're experiencing. These various neurotransmitters and hormones have specific jobs — each being activated in a certain way, signaling certain emotions and stimulating certain areas of your brain. When it comes to happiness, in particular, the primary signaling chemicals include: • Serotonin • Dopamine • Endorphins • Oxytocin Here's what you need to know about these happy hormones, including tips for activating the feel-good brain chemistry they provide to help improve your mood:

• Endorphin happiness is triggered by physical pain. The body's natural morphine masks pain, which allowed our ancestors to run from predators when injured. Humans experience endorphin as euphoria, but it obviously did not evolve to trigger a constant feeling of joy. You would touch hot stoves and run on a broken leg if your brain were always releasing endorphins. Nature saves them for moments when they help you do what's necessary to survive. • • • Serotonin happiness is triggered when you feel important. Animals release serotonin when they dominate a resource. Their serotonin falls when they cede a resource to avoid conflict. Being one-up feels good, but conflict can cause painful injuries. The brain is constantly analyzing information to balance the risk of pain against the satisfaction of winning. Each of the happy chemicals evolved to do a job. They work by making you feel good, which motivates you to go after whatever triggered them. You have inherited a brain that motivates you to go toward anything that promotes the survival of your Sometimes you stumble on happiness. When an ape accidentally stumbles on a luscious fruit tree, its brain surges with dopamine. That creates The happy chemicals feel so good that we use our big cortex to figure out how to get more. Apes negotiate groomings with each other, and it stimulates their oxytocin. Apes dominate their troop-mates when they think they can get away with it, which stimulates their serotonin. Apes invest time teasin...

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Happiness for me is a warm cup of tea on a slow Sunday night, curled up with a blanket and a book. No matter who you ask, each person’s definition of happiness will look a bit different, varying in terms of location, time of day, and company. While many know what makes ourselves happy (whether it’s coffee or tea, books or a movie), fewer of us know why these acts and rituals result in a lift to our spirits and a newfound skip in our step. Although the changes in our mood may seem random and uncontrollable, thanks to neuroscientists and psychologists, there’s an ever growing body of research around the science of happiness, to link our everyday actions with the feelings and mood that shift as a result. These studies have linked four specific brain chemicals—Dopamine, Endorphins, Serotonin, Oxytocin (D.O.S.E.)—with changes in mood and attitude, and the way to trigger the release of these chemicals in your brain may be easier than you’d think. If you’re looking to have these brain chemicals explained, look no further than below to discover how to hack your daily D.O.S.E. of happiness for a more balanced and blissful life. Dopamine What It Is: Associated with pleasure-seeking and perseverance, dopamine is a neurotransmitter that gets released when your brain expects a reward. Consider dopamine your “motivation molecule,” or the engine behind your focus and concentration on a specific goal or task. Whenever you complete a task, goal, or project, your body naturally releases dop...

Key points • Evolutionary biology ensures that everything necessary for a human's survival makes them feel good. • There is evidence that people with extraverted personalities tend to have higher levels of dopamine than people with introverted personalities. • A surge of adrenaline makes one feel very alive and be an antidote for boredom, malaise, and stagnation. Life in the human body is designed to be a blissful experience. Our evolutionary biology ensures that everything necessary for our survival makes us feel good. All animals seek pleasure and avoid pain. Therefore, our brain has a wellspring of self-produced neurochemicals that turn the pursuits and struggles of life into pleasure and make us feel happy when we achieve them. The Neurochemicals of Happiness 1. Endocannabinoids: “The Bliss Molecule” Endocannabinoids are self-produced cannabis that work on the CB-1 and CB-2 receptors of the cannabinoid system. Anandamide (from the Sanskrit “Ananda” meaning Bliss) is the most well-known endocannabinoid. Interestingly, at least 85 different cannabinoids have been isolated from the Cannabis plant. The assumption is that each of these acts like a key that slips into a different lock of the cannabinoid system and alters perceptions and states of consciousness in various ways. It is likely that we self-produce just as many variations of endocannabinoids, but it will take neuroscientists decades to isolate them. A study at the University of Arizona, published in April 2012, a...

Source: Riken Brain Science Institute/ w permission Your brain has an operating system inherited from earlier animals. It rewards you with happy chemicals when you take steps toward meeting your needs. It alarms you with unhappy chemicals when you see a threat or obstacle to meeting your needs. Your ups and downs make sense when you know the job they evolved to do. You have power over your brain, but it's limited. It helps to know exactly where that power is. Here is a simple introduction to your inner mammal so you can build your power over it. • • The mammal brain releases a good feeling when it sees something good for your survival, and a bad feeling (cortisol) when it see a survival threat. • But it defines survival in a quirky way: it cares about the survival of your • We can build new pathways to turn on our happy chemicals in new ways. • These chemicals are not designed to flow all the time. They evolved to turn on in short spurts to motivate survival behavior. Each spurt is soon metabolized and you have to do more to get more. • When you know what stimulates happy chemicals in the state of nature, your ups and downs are easier to manage. • Dopamine creates a feeling of excitement when you expect a reward. Animals have to forage constantly to survive, and dopamine gives them a good feeling when they approach a potential resource. The joyful feeling is released with each sign that a reward is at hand, and it spurts when a resource is more than expected. But the brain...

Source: shutterstock I get so breathless, when you call my name I've often wondered, do you feel the same There's a chemistry, energy, a synchronicity When we're all alone —Corinne Bailey Rae Falling in love can hit you hard—in mind and body. You feel irresistibly attracted to your crush. If things continue, you may feel a rush of euphoria, a longing to be together, passion, and excitement. You feel like you've found the most special, unique person in the world. Fast forward a few years, and the excitement has likely gone down (except for a few lucky couples). But though the novelty may wear off, if all goes well, it has been replaced by a warm, comforting, nurturing type of feeling. You feel bonded in body, mind, and spirit. You share your hopes and dreams and work hard together to make them come true. 1. Lust When you’re in the stage of lust, you feel physically attracted and drawn to to the object of your affection. You want to seduce them (or be seduced). There may be an element of mystery or an intensity that makes things exciting—imagine a hot one night stand. Lust is driven primarily by the hormones • Dopamine: Increased dopamine is associated with • Norepinephrine: Norepinephrine is responsible for the extra surge of energy and "racing heart" that you feel, as well as the loss of, in some cases, both your • Serotonin: Scientists think serotonin probably decreases at this stage, but more studies need to be done. Low levels of serotonin are found in THE BASICS • • • ...