You mention hormones and everyone thinks 'oh that time of the month' or hot flushes. Yep hormone related but did you know there are many different hormones with many different jobs? Not just the 'girl' ones. If you perform a positive healthy activity the chemical response results in a positive mood. But also the flip side is that if you do something negative the response is negative too, resulting in a bad mood. Those chemicals are also hormones just different ones. A hormone works a bit like a messenger, telling different areas to release different chemicals to keep everything in balance. I want to talk to you about hormones which act as neurotransmitters and are responsible for mood regulation, and how you can 'hack' your body to boost these happy brain chemicals. All naturally no added other substances you don't want to be messing with I promise.
Sunrise
First of all I will start with Dopamine. Dopamine gives a sense of reward. It has a role in planning, thinking and mood regulation, and helps you sleep. It improves your mood and helps to increase attention. Having too little dopamine can lead to feeling depressed and anxious.
To boost your dopamine levels there are a few things you can do to help. Eating! Eating something good and nourishing can boost your dopamine. Try and choose healthy options. Change your routine, switch it up a bit and try something new to create a reward motivation. This breaks the monotony a bit. Completing small tasks , making a list of easy tasks and completing them boosts dopamine also. Listen to music you love.
Next is Serotonin. This is another mood regulator. With reduced serotonin you feel anxious and depressed, agitated, emotionally unstable.
You can boost it by getting more time outside, more light exposure which is particularly helpful with SAD (seasonally affected disorder). More exercise helps boost your mood. Have you tried meditation? This is a great stress reliever and helps to improve your outlook on life. It will even give you a quicker emotional recovery after a negative event. You are more resilient and able to manage your emotions.
Foods such as eggs, cheese and nuts can also boost your levels.
Who knows what Oxytocin is? That's right, another happy hormone. You may have heard it called the love hormone. It is released through affection and feel good activities, and promotes trust and bonding. Too much makes you over sensitive, too little you will have low empathy levels.
But how do you get more of this stuff? It is released through hugging (20 seconds hugging so squeeeeeeeze those loved ones), orgasm, and breastfeeding. You can also get or give a massage, so getting physical contact, tell someone you love and care about them. Friends build up emotional wellbeing and increases bonding.
Did you know petting a dog lowers your stress hormone Cortisol, while the interaction with your pet helps increase your oxytocin levels, so when i say loved ones, that counts the furbabies too!
Tilly is an advocate of stress relief by fussing a dog...
Next on my list is Endorphins. Endorphins can help you to manage pain, and are released in response to stress or discomfort. They also make you feel good by boosting your sense of pleasure. Endorphins can be released with feel good activities too, so to raise your endorphin levels try mood boosting exercise, yoga, or good food, or sex. Lack of endorphins can give you a low mood.
Endorphins work on a reward system like dopamine does. You can boost it by showing affection, it can be a romantic or platonic triggers. Doing something nice for someone, seeing someone else happy will make you happy too.
Laughter, and creating music or art can also raise your endorphin levels.
So we now know that fresh air, exercise, good food, physical contact, boost our mood making up feel better and happier. What is one thing you can change to boost your mood today? Think something easy to sustain, that you can repeat regularly to work towards being your best self.
Health and wellbeing coaching can help you through life's bumps in the road, support you in building habits you can maintain, help you navigate stress management, or anything you need support to help you work something out. If you feel you may need a bit of help, let me know, I am here.
Nikki
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