Have you heard about my challenge “Be Happier Challenge”? Well I have opened it twice and soon I am about to open it again, but when I heard this new podcast episode about how you can be happy I had to share. So I have been following Rene Amberg for a while now, she is a you-tuber, and when she launched her podcast “The Wisdom Theory” I knew I needed to subscribe because I love listening to podcasts while I work and her videos are pretty good and inspiring too.
She uploaded an episode about happiness called “4 Scientifically Proven Ways To Activate Happiness” and I knew I needed to look out for more info about it and share it because happiness is not only part of my brand but I also created a challenge called “Be Happier Challenge” and I knew that this info was not only going to be great for everybody but also to add more about it on my challenge. Here I will share her important points on how to be happy but in a scientific way, which have been proven and effective.
Our brain releases four chemicals, that are responsible for us feeling happy. Here we explain what these chemicals are, how to use them, their functions, deficiencies, cause of deficiencies, and more.
Dopamine
It is a neural transmitter that is known as the chemical of reward or motivation molecule, it is responsible for our motivation. It is released during pleasurable situations, it makes you jump with joy when you reach a goal or get something new like makeup, clothes, toys, etc. Dopamine leads you to food when you need it. Dopamine causes expectations, correct predictions bring good sensations, flows when you feel like you’ve done it and it seeks rewards, it is the joy of finding what you seek.
Its functions:
Felling of salience
Pleasure
Euphoria
Motivation
Alertness
WakefuLness
Deficiencies
Lack of interest in life or situations
Lack of motivation
Procrastination
Inability to feel pleasure
Feeling of burnout on life, goals, career.
Causes
Drug abuse
Diets high in sugar
Diet high in saturated fats
Diets low in protein
Increase Dopamine
Eat foods rich in tyrosine, it is an amino acid that you can find in almonds, bananas, avocados, beans, legumes, and soy.
Get a good source of probiotics, they are the good bacteria in your gut. Your gut is known as your second brain and it is extremely linked to your brain, and it impacts your mood and behavior, this means that if you eat a poor diet your mood will be poor as well as your actions. You can get them in yogurt, kombucha or probiotics pills, or supplements.
Getting quality sleep, keeps dopamine balance and it releases most in the mornings and falls as night comes. Get enough sleep, but also good quality, there’s no point in going to bed early and wake up twenty times during the night because of noise, phone notifications, unnecessarily calls, etc.
Listen to music, instrumental music boosts your levels of dopamine by 9%.
Take a new challenge, feelings of accomplishing something, like a challenge or a goal, completing a task boost dopamine.
Focus on lifestyle choices instead of quick fixes.
Too Much Dopamine Signs
Attention deficit disorder
Difficulty paying attention
Hyperactivity
Impulsivity
Seek instant gratification, like gambling, drugs, alcohol, or food.
Increase in adrenaline, nervous breakdown, aggression, over competition, etc.
Oxytocin
This is a hormone known as the love hormone. Oxytocin is the safety of social bands, it builds social alliances. Oxytocin helps you trust your mates, loves the bonds you create, and flows when you stick with the herd. When you don’t have social bonds, your brain feels alarmed. However, the herd will annoy you. When you run with a pack, oxytocin will flow, makes you feel to trust someone, and when someone trusts you. Oxytocin stimulates dopamine and serotonin and it is released during sex, child bird, breastfeeding, and lactation.
Functions
Warm fuzzy feelings
Lower anxiety
Lower stress
Reduction in drug cravings
Improvement in social skills and social bonding
Improve libido
Deficiencies
Poor communication
Low empathy
Lack of socialization
irritability
Anxiety
Craving sugar
Sleep difficulty
Low libido
Lack of trust
Causes
Lack of human interactions
Disorders like depression, autism, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders
Too much stress
Too many cortisol levels, the more cortisol the lower levels of oxytocin.
Holding grudges
Increase Oxytocin
Physical contact like hugs, hand-holding, massage, cuddling, eye contact, shaking a hand. These interactions can be done with a human or even your pets.
Sex
Close relationships with others
Laughing
Childbirth
Forgiveness, this one reduces cortisol.
Too Much Oxytoxin signs
Increase walls between people, fear and mistrust
Aggression
Lower cooperation
Suspicion and jealousy
Too much trust
Prejudice
If you feel like you have a deficiency of this or too much you should consult your doctor, these are hormones and these are better to work with a professional.
Serotonin
It's a neurotransmitter also known as the happy chemical, it is used in a lot of anti-depressants. It is the security of social dominance, get respect for others. Serotonin swells your chest with pride when you get respect and needn’t hide. When you have serotonin you are modest and don’t like to boast, you feel good when you boost yourself higher, but if others do this, it provokes your ire. With serotonin, you can be clever, helpful, or funny, but when others one-up you, your mind agitates, because serotonin droops until you lift your own weights.
Functions
Stabilized mood
Feelings of pleasure
Feelings of satisfaction
Good sleep
Feelings of happiness
Deficiency
Insomnia
Depression
Anxiety
Bench eating
Negativity
Low self-esteem
Carb cravings
Causes
Unhealthy gut, 95% of serotonin is created in the intestines, not the brain, this means that diet plays the main key on this hormone.
Stress
Caffeine
Alcohol
Lack of sunshine
Diet high on sugar
High cortisol levels
Increase Serotonin
Sunshine
Vitamin D
Exercise
Happy thoughts
Meditation
Healthy carbs
Protein
Foods high in tryptophan like spinach and seeds.
Be around friends
Micros and soil, walk on grass or putting your feel indirect earth surface with no sucks or shoes.
Too Much Serotonin Signs
Agitation
Restlessness
Confusion
Rapid heart rate
Diarrhea
Shivering
Irregular heartbeat
Sceachures
Nervousness
Increase or balance Serotonin
Supplements such as bacopa, magnesium, vitamin D, and omega 3.
Endorphin
It is a chemical produced by the central nervous system and helps us to deal with physical pain. Endorphin compromises twenty feel-good brain chemicals and it is a feel-good chemical, happiness, etc. Endorphin is the oblivion that masks pain or ignores physical pain. It helps you to mask the pain or injuries that you sustain. Endorphin makes you feel like you’re safe. It triggers you to laugh or cry for an instant, it makes you feel great when it eases your pains and only real pain makes it flow in your veins.
Functions
Feel lightheaded
Getty
Euphoria
Bliss
Decrease of stress
Deficiency
Anxiety
Depression
Stress
Cause
Lack of exercise
Increase of Endorphin
Exercise
Walk
Go out and do something
Fall in love
Laugher
Vitamin D
Dark chocolate
Spicy foods
Moderate alcohol
Dancing, studies had shown that country music releases endorphins while heavy metal leads to anxiety.
Do things that you like
Eat things that you like
Too Much Endorphin
You are on the edge
You are on a fight or flight response constantly
Happiness comes from diets, exercise, connection to others, connection to ourselves, being in tune with our bodies and ourselves, connection to our mind, connection to our thoughts, the way we think.
Happiness is essentially up to you, you choose either if you want to eat healthily, exercise, take things seriously, let things go, laugh or cry, I mean you are in complete control of it. It is an attitude and nothing to do with materials, it comes from within your body, from the inside.
There are many other things you can do to be happy, again, happiness comes from within, and taking actions also comes in handy here, you need to have the desire to live your best life, to go out and do what makes you happy.
Not sure what else to do? Here are some tips:
1. Work with your hands, this can be gardening, building something, cooking dinner, etc.
2. Practice “Taking in the good”, avoid focusing on negativity and receive the good that exists in your life.
3. Help others, be of service, help someone you know or a stranger. Lend a hand to someone close to you, even when you’re busy. Seeing a need, even a small one, and meeting it, will make you happier.
4. Stop caring about what others think, their opinions do not concern you, do not shape you or build your happiness.
5. Let Go of perfection, that does not exist.
6 Practice mindfulness, and the inner calm that goes with it.
7.Embrace life’s small pleasures, they count as much as the big ones.
8. Journal, keep track of your feelings, habits and write things you are grateful for.
9. Drink water, stay hydrated.
10. Limit your time on your electronic devices, especially social media, they are time-consuming and give false perspectives of other people's lives.
11. Baby steps matter, reading 5 pages of a book is better than nothing, working out 10 minutes is better than nothing, just get started.
12. Spend more time outside, get some fresh air, some sunlight, and walk barefoot.
13. Stop complaining, the more you focus on the bad, the worst you will feel about it.
14.Make time for the things that make you happy.
15.Tell people when they do something that you appreciate. Verbalizing your gratefulness not only improves your happiness but theirs as well.
16.Find a community of other people, invest yourself in it.
17. Don’t fear failure, failures are amazing lessons that make us grow and teach us how to be a better person.
18. Pay attention, stop, look, and listen to the everyday moments of your life.
19. Find a mantra, write it down, and repeat aloud, repeating a mantra is a way of meditation, and this positive meditation will make you happier and more resilient.
20. Get creative, don’t be afraid to try some art, music, singing, etc.
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