Tapping Into The Brain's Happiness Chemistry

A healthy brain both offers and thrives upon the happiness hormones dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins. By making a few simple changes to our routines, environments, and lifestyle, we can use chemistry and biology to multiply happiness. (Keeping in mind, of course, that there's a lot more to life than happiness.)

Join Greg on this walking-optional meditation. And bring a pen to jot down your ideas that come to mind.

Transcript

We tend to talk about happiness as if it's the most important thing in this world.

We tend to see it as the gold standard.

It is the mountain summit that we are in.

I'm not totally convinced of that,

But I am convinced that it is a worthwhile pursuit.

Regardless,

I think each of us could benefit from greater happiness in life.

So I'm going to go for a walk.

And I'm going to talk about the various ways that we can use our brain's happiness chemistry to our advantage.

To enhance the degree of happiness that we feel.

To enhance the level of positive emotion we experience in our day to day lives.

So maybe you'll come with me for a walk,

Maybe you'll stay right where you are.

I'm going to invite you to record some ideas as they occur to you.

So you might want to bring a pad of paper or maybe just be prepared to use the device on which you're listening to jot down some notes.

I thank you for coming on this journey.

Shall we go?

I've just stepped outside and I'd like to begin by offering gratitude to the indigenous peoples whose land I now walk on.

And I name the Lekwungen speaking people,

Specifically the Songhees and the Esquimalt.

And so I begin my walk.

And whether you're walking or wheeling or sitting,

Standing lying down,

However you are,

I thank you for coming on this journey.

During this time together we will explore the various dimensions of happiness brain chemistry as I understand it.

And if you've got your pad of paper or device where you're recording,

You want to keep that handy.

We won't use it too much.

But you might want to jot down a few ideas as we go.

That's the purpose of this is to generate ideas.

And I'll be doing the same.

And to be sure there is a lot more to life than mere happiness.

Happiness is a worthwhile goal,

Absolutely.

But there's more.

There's more than just positive emotion.

There's engagement or flow.

When do you get to use your deepest most important gifts or talents?

The relationships we have sometimes they're not always about happiness,

But they're important.

Meaning,

Pursuing meaning in life isn't always a positive emotion inducing endeavor.

But it is worthwhile to understand purpose and understand the meaning.

And achievement,

Achievement or mastery for its own sake is important also.

These are the components of well being according to positive psychology research.

But a positive emotional state is something to be treasured and valued and pursued.

There are four main groups of hormones that interact with our brain to allow us to experience happiness or positive emotion.

And I use the acronym dose to remember these.

The first is dopamine.

The second is oxytocin.

The S is for serotonin.

And then the E is for endorphins.

And I'll take us through each of these and describe as far as I know,

The role that they play.

And specifically,

I'm going to invite you to consider things that you might do,

Either small or big,

To tap into each of these four groups of happiness hormones.

And that's what you'll be recording if you like.

You don't have to,

Of course,

You might just want to bring your consciousness to these ideas and move along.

So,

Dopamine.

Dopamine is associated with accomplishing something.

Think of a to do list and the sensation of checking something off of your to do list.

That small rush sometimes it's a big rush is basically dopamine.

And it binds with the receptors in the brain to say,

You can feel pleasure now.

And so when you make a list and check off the things that are on that list,

You're releasing dopamine.

And so what are some things that you could accomplish?

Little to do's maybe,

Or big to do's that allow the dopamine that's naturally generated in your body to bind with the receptors in your brain.

Some say that starting the day with a small accomplishment is a really important approach.

I heard a speech that was extolling the virtues of making the bed.

And the idea basically came down to starting with a little rush of dopamine to feel good about having accomplished something.

Fair enough.

I understand those who make lists and follow them have a sense of achievement,

Even with the minutiae that those of us who don't make lists might not get to experience.

Maybe even making the list itself is an important place to start.

But is there something either in your routine already,

Or that you might add to your routine to think of as an accomplishment so that you might have that experience of dopamine?

Is there a part of your morning routine that you want to tweak?

Or just be aware of all the things that you actually are accomplishing even just by getting out of bed?

And that will allow at least a little bit of happiness.

And there are some big things too,

Big accomplishments in life that might allow a greater experience of dopamine.

Your mind might be bringing some of these to your awareness now,

Big achievements.

Is there a big achievement that you wish to pursue for that extra little hit of dopamine?

And I'm not convinced that big achievements make us all that more happy than small achievements with regards to dopamine.

So in the case of a big goal,

It's helpful to break it into bite-sized pieces if you will,

So that you have way markers to guide you along the way and help you to feel good about your pursuit.

Dopamine comes from accomplishments.

Next in the acronym dose is the O,

And the O stands for oxytocin.

Oxytocin plays a really important role in labor and childbirth.

And it can be an elusive one.

It comes from direct contact,

Skin to skin contact.

It also comes from sexual experiences and orgasm.

And so people who live alone or who are no longer with a partner might not get as much oxytocin as others.

And especially in a time of physical distancing.

Getting oxytocin is really hard.

Even the brush of a cheek that might happen in a hug can be an important source of oxytocin.

Or in the winter when we tend to layer up and have less skin to skin contact even with our intimate partners.

That can disrupt the flow of oxytocin.

I understand that even interaction with pets can provide some of this.

It's not quite the same as human contact,

Skin to skin contact,

But it can be helpful.

Is there a way that you perhaps with a partner can negotiate a little bit more skin to skin contact?

Maybe there's some negotiation around sexual experiences to increase the flow of oxytocin at least once in a while.

Maybe you're recording something now.

Oxytocin is the O in dose.

And so then we move along to the S.

Serotonin.

Serotonin comes from being in a state of maybe heightened awareness or deep calm or peace.

A lot of spiritual experiences,

Meditative experiences release serotonin.

So after a meditation one might feel more positive,

Happy.

And that's the serotonin speaking.

Now since you're listening to this already you have some inclination toward spiritual experiences or the pursuit of deep calm.

Is there anything more that you wish to add or is there something you do already that if you change the intention just slightly you might release some more serotonin?

Is there something around your living space that you might tweak to increase the calm,

To deepen the peace for the sake of allowing the flow of serotonin?

Serotonin is the S in our acronym dose.

And that brings us to E.

The endorphins.

The endorphins like adrenaline come from experiences of heightened heart rate,

Heightened awareness when all of our senses are taking in whatever they can.

Sometimes there is some extra stress associated with this.

Cortisol might also be elevated.

Cortisol isn't necessarily a happiness hormone but it is associated with endorphins and adrenaline.

Maybe you've got an activity already that allows the flow of endorphins.

The runner's high is generally the endorphins saying here you go you can feel happy now.

Is there something you might add to your lifestyle to increase the flow of endorphins?

This one can be a little bit tricky because as I said activities that release endorphins can also release cortisol.

And cortisol is helpful but it also can be quite harmful.

So the idea is to maximize endorphins while minimizing cortisol.

So while a stressful experience might release endorphins,

Adrenaline,

It also releases cortisol.

So we don't just want to add stress to our lives.

But maybe stress of a short duration can be helpful.

Like a physical activity.

Some high intensity physical activity of short duration.

Maybe you're recording your idea for how you might increase the flow of endorphins.

So we've considered the four main happiness hormones.

Dopamine,

Oxytocin,

Serotonin,

And endorphins.

And you might have visualized or recorded ideas that might increase the flow of these.

To bring about more happiness,

More positive emotion.

It might be the case that you've considered some things that touch on multiple of these happiness hormones.

For example if I write on my to-do list,

Go for a run,

And I have a slow warm up or as I'm doing some active loosening before I start running,

I might have music to help enhance a peaceful state that might start the serotonin.

If I run for long enough or for high enough intensity,

I might get the endorphins going.

And then whenever I return home and check that off my list,

I get some dopamine.

Maybe I've run with somebody and I give them a hug to give some skin to skin to contact and release the oxytocin.

If we can take things in our lives that we're already doing rather than adding more to our lives and shift a few things about them,

Shift the intention slightly,

Then we can release even more of these happiness hormones.

In fact many of the things that we do are naturally predisposed to release happiness within us.

I also want to say that what I've described is a desirable brain state.

In other words,

A brain that has developed with optimal conditions in infancy and early childhood and later,

A lot of our brains don't receive the chemicals the way that we might like.

So if we can't bind with the serotonin or the dopamine the way that might be desirable,

We might find other ways that our brains can bind,

Other substances.

These can be hurtful or harmful.

People who live with depression might have a state of receptors that aren't binding to the naturally released hormones.

Sometimes the hormones themselves aren't released.

In some of these cases medical help can be useful.

But regardless,

Finding interventions that are not invasive,

Not harmful,

With basically zero side effects,

Can be helpful for everyone.

So you've visited or recorded some ideas now.

Things that you might add or tweak in your lives to tap into the brain chemistry with regards to happiness and the hormones that allow us to feel happy.

I'm still out walking and the serotonin is feeling pretty good.

So I'm going to continue.

Maybe you'll continue with your state of meditation.

Continue your walk or your roll or your sit.

Until next time,

I'm Greg Powell.

Peace.

Reviews

Lovely session, maybe would have been an idea to take up at the end also ADHD people next to persons with depression:-)

I loved hearing him walking on this meditation! And, giving thanks!