Brain/Body chemicals are Endorphins

These chemicals, mostly created inside our body, send info between neurons (Brain Cells). Endorphins are any of a group of hormones secreted within the brain and nervous system, and have quite a few physiological functions. Known as pain killer chemicals, these endorphins are peptides which activate the body’s opiate receptors. When opiate receptors are activated it causes an analgesic (pain relieving) effect. Some are produced naturally by the body, while others come from external sources, mainly foods.
By understanding the chemicals our body makes and needs, we learn how to make ourselves feel great, and can get more positive activity done.

Serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and other endorphins help promote happiness and pleasure and at the same time reduce anxiety and feelings of depression. You can give these feel-good hormones a natural boost with some simple activities.

Happy Hormones: What They Are And How You Can Boost Them To Feel Good Now!

Hormones are chemicals produced by different glands inside your body. These hormones travel through the bloodstream while acting as messengers, and playing a part in many processes inside your body.

One of these important functions of hormones is in helping regulate your mood.

Certain hormones are known to help promote positive feelings, including happiness and pleasure. These Endorphins are hormones your body makes to work as a natural pain reliever. Your body produces these in response to stress or discomfort. Levels may also increase when you engage in reward-producing activities such as eating, working out, or having sex.

These “happy hormones” include:

• Dopamine: Known as the “feel-good” hormone, dopamine is a neurotransmitter that’s an important part of your brain’s reward system. It’s associated with pleasurable sensations, along with learning, memory, and more.
• Serotonin: This hormone and neurotransmitter helps regulate your mood as well as your sleep, appetite, digestion, learning ability, and memory.
• Oxytocin: Often called the “love hormone,” oxytocin is essential for childbirth, breastfeeding, and strong parent-child bonding. It can also help promote trust, empathy, and bonding in relationships. Levels generally increase with physical affection.
• Endorphins: Known as pain killer chemicals, they are peptides which activate the body’s opiate receptors, causing an analgesic (pain relieving) effect.
• Phenylethylamine: It is the bliss & infatuation chemical.
• Nitric Oxide: Nitric oxide is a compound in the body that causes blood vessels to widen and stimulates the release of certain hormones like insulin and human growth hormone. Through this process called vasodilation, blood vessels widen and increase circulation.

Serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and other endorphins help promote happiness and pleasure and at the same time reduce anxiety and feelings of depression. You can give these feel-good hormones a natural boost with some simple activities.

Here’s a deeper look at what you can do to help produce more of these natural mood boosters.

Dopamine:

Its main role in the brain and body is about craving pleasure and not the pleasure itself. It creates craving, motivation, and pursuit. It makes us feel uncomfortable where in our current mood state, thus creating motivation to move forward and attain more. Dopamine’s role is to make us feel motivated and to crave things. In its absence we don’t feel motivated. It drives habits with a 3 part pattern of cue-activity-reward. It’s a neurotransmitter of rewards & pleasure. It’s a building block of adrenaline or epinephrine.

Serotonin:

Serotonin makes us feel good about what we have. The feeling of having enough. It gives us feelings of satiety, confidence, happiness, and self-esteem. Serotonin is an inhibitory neurotransmitter. It helps regulate mood, sleep patterns, sexuality, anxiety, appetite and pain. Diseases associated with serotonin imbalance include seasonal affective disorder, anxiety, depression, fibromyalgia and chronic pain.

Oxytocin:

Our bodies produce oxytocin when we’re excited by our sexual partner, and when we fall in love. That’s why it has earned the nicknames, “love hormone” and “cuddle hormone.”

It can be released through touch, music and exercise. It works together with Serotonin. A promising way to boost oxytocin naturally is with exercise. One study noted a jump in oxytocin levels measured in participants’ saliva after high-intensity martial arts training. Music also seems to have the ability to increase oxytocin levels. It seems especially so when people sing in a group because this adds the element of bonding.

Endorphins:

Endorphins are any of a group of hormones secreted within the brain and nervous system, and have a number of physiological functions. Known as pain killer chemicals, they are peptides which activate the body’s opiate receptors, causing an analgesic (pain relieving) effect. Some are produced naturally by the body, while others come from external sources, mainly foods.

Phenylethylamine:

It is the bliss & infatuation chemical. During the heart-pounding excitement of new love, your brain releases lots of phenylethylamine (PEA). PEA functions like a natural amphetamine, so you really are high on love. PEA triggers the release of two neurotransmitters: dopamine and norepinephrine.

Nitric Oxide:

Nitric oxide is a compound in the body that causes blood vessels to widen and stimulates the release of certain hormones like insulin and human growth hormone. Through this process called vasodilation, blood vessels widen and increase circulation. Vasodilation has been shown to increase performance in athletes, decrease blood pressure, and increase blood flow to certain areas of the body like the hands and feet.

Nitric oxide is produced in the endothelial cells, the single thick wall of cells that comprise the inner lining of blood vessels. Nitric oxide (NO) works as a retrograde neurotransmitter in synapses, allows the brain blood flow and also has important roles in intracellular signaling in neurons.

Nitric oxide is a gas we make within our own bodies from nitrates and nitrites found naturally in our foods. Good sources include dark green leafy vegetables like kale, arugula, Swiss Chard and spinach. Other great sources include beets, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots and broccoli.

Norepinephrine:

Norepinephrine has been shown to play a role in a person’s mood and ability to concentrate. Low levels of norepinephrine may lead to conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, and hypotension (very low blood pressure).

Too much promotes anxiety, high blood pressure and heart rate, and organ stress; high norepinephrine can also cause disturbed sleep, high blood sugar, and headaches. High norepinephrine can also be caused by drug withdrawal, chronic kidney disease, or mental disorders like PTSD.

Norepinephrine activates the amygdala, the part of the brain implicated in producing fear-related behavior. The amygdala can also enhance long-term storage of stressful memories in the hippocampus and striatum. It is also known as noradrenalin.

Hormone, Neurotransmitter or Neuromodulator?

Hormones are chemical signals secreted by the endocrine glands into the circulatory system which convey regulatory messages within the body.

On the other hand, a neurotransmitter is a chemical substance that is released at the end of a nerve fiber by the arrival of a nerve impulse and, by diffusing across the synapse or junction, causes the transfer of the impulse to another nerve fiber, a muscle fiber, or some other structure.

Neuromodulators can be packaged into vesicles and released by neurons, secreted as hormones and delivered through the circulatory system. A neuromodulator can be conceptualized as a neurotransmitter that is not reabsorbed by the pre-synaptic neuron or broken down into a metabolite.

Major neuromodulators in the central nervous system include: dopamine, serotonin, acetylcholine, histamine, norepinephrine, nitric oxide, and several neuropeptides. There are over 100 known neuropeptides, representing the largest and most diverse class of signaling molecules in the nervous system.

Is a neurotransmitter a hormone?

Hormones are produced by the endocrine system while neurotransmitters are produced by the nervous system. Some neurotransmitters (not all) are hormones. Like neurotransmitters, hormones are also chemical messengers. The adrenals, pancreas, kidneys, gonads, thyroid, and other ductless glands secrete hormones while neurotransmitters are released from the terminal end buttons of neurons.

Major neuromodulators in the central nervous system include: dopamine, serotonin, acetylcholine, histamine, norepinephrine, nitric oxide, and several neuropeptides. There are over 100 known neuropeptides, representing the largest and most diverse class of signaling molecules in the nervous system.

How reading a story affects our brain

According to Lisa Cron, who is a foremost leader in how to write and understand stories, story is like a chemical cocktail to our brain and nervous system. We use the following inner body hormones like this:

• dopamine –  the reward and main feel good hormone is released when curiosity keeps us reading and saying to ourselves, “I’m going to read this to find what happens.” That’s the reward.
• cortisol – the stress hormone that keeps us reading because something is at stake, something at risk. It has to be internal and subjectively dramatic, and not objective. Note that in direct response ad copywriting, too much stress, like the insecurity of trying a new product creating fear of loss, will deter people from buying.

(These two alone won’t do it. The third, oxytocin, finishes the process of deciding how we feel).

• oxytocin – empathy, something to care about in the story, usually a protagonist, that isn’t just generic like the protagonist is about to be beaten with a baseball bat.