The ONLY 4 Happy Hormones You Need

The human brain produces four feel-good hormones associated with happiness: Dopamine, Serotonin, Endorphin, and Oxytocin. These innately made chemicals are responsible for many bodily processes, such as triggering your feelings of happiness and helping regulate your mood. 

In our daily lives, there are many stressors that contribute to anxiety and low morale. Knowing how to improve your outlook with simple practices that boost your mood can significantly benefit the way you go on with your day. Specific happy hormones are triggered by certain events or rewards that lead to positive feelings, such as happiness and pleasure. Activities like cooking, reading, exercising, and listening to music are some examples of practices that can help you feel better and enhance your mood.  

Boosting Happy Hormones Naturally

The four hormones responsible for happiness can be specifically activated naturally to provide the boost you might need to face the challenges of your day. Knowing how these hormones work can help you set your feelings and actions towards triggering them. 

Dopamine 

Identified as the “feel-good” hormone, dopamine plays a huge part in your brain’s motivation and reward systems. It is responsible for pleasure, memory, and learning, which is why it gets activated when you aim to achieve exciting goals. The expectation of claiming a reward once a goal has been achieved triggers dopamine release in our system, providing an extra boost of energy that helps in the effort. 

Drinking coffee and consuming sugar are common ways of increasing dopamine in our system. However, there are simpler ways of conditioning yourself to boost dopamine more naturally. This can be achieved by setting new goals for yourself and taking small achievements every day to fulfilling them can provide you the reward of developing new dopamine pathways that make you happier. 

Whether it’s a professional goal or taking on a new sport or hobby, the practice of taking on challenges and completing goals can help you boost your mood and stay motivated. 

Serotonin

This neurotransmitter regulates your mood and is responsible for your appetite, digestion, sleep, and even bone health. In addition, serotonin is a vital hormone to control anxiety and depression. 

Having belief in your self-worth and the feeling of being confident can trigger your serotonin response. In addition, building a habit of believing in yourself by adapting to something new and conquering new challenges can help build confidence and boost your serotonin. 

Oxytocin

Oxytocin is responsible for bonding relationships and the feeling of trust. This “love hormone” is also essential for biological activities such as childbirth, breastfeeding, and the development of parent-child bonding. 

Social trust and physical intimacy can trigger your oxytocin response. Emotional connection with who you interact is also crucial to how this hormone is released, which is why developing relationships and trust networks can help you achieve more positive steps. 

Endorphins

Endorphins are your body’s natural pain reliever, which is why they are primarily associated with exercising. These hormones provide pleasure and mitigate pain, allowing you to push through tasks like running or trying to survive without being hampered by injury. 

Doing activities that you love, such as watching a movie or eating your favorite food, can help you release endorphins. Laughter is also a natural way to gain a burst of this hormone. 

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