109 – Healthy ways to get your happiness hormones

Hello loves.

Today I want to talk about the healthy ways you can get those happiness hormones. Happiness hormones are the chemicals that our body naturally produces to increase our wellbeing.

All of our feelings and emotions are a result of chemical reactions that take place within our body. And these reactions are responsible for us feeling negative emotions or positive emotions.

The body is capable of producing by itself these happiness hormones and having these happiness hormones reduces depression in us and the great news about this is that we are able to create these for ourselves. As they are created through a reward system, so to speak, we can create them through bad habits, which is how bad habits are so easy to develop and so difficult to give up.

But the problem with it being from bad habits is that after a while, we need more and more of it to be able to get the same hit. And we slowly start to feel numb elsewhere.

So what are these hormones? Well, you’ve heard of all of these before, and I’m sure you know the things that you can do. But sometimes it’s good to have a refresher. I certainly always need a refresher.

So, hormone number one – our endorphins.

The endorphins are the hormones that we produce in our body to help with stress and pain relief. We can get endorphins, the most commonly known one is exercise. I’m sure you’ve heard of the runner’s high. Now the runner’s high is actually quite elusive. When you are out on the run, to feel amazing doesn’t always happen. Most of the time it feels like hard work. I always say I don’t run because I love running, I run because I love who I am after. And that is the endorphins. There’s something about getting the blood pumping through your body, to have done something you really didn’t want to do that was good for you. For me that’s going for a run because it is hard work. But when I’ve got my really bad days of leg pain, exhaustion, even something as simple as bed yoga can kick off endorphins within me. You could laugh with friends. Watch a comedy. Take a hot bath. Even eating chocolate has been shown to trigger endorphins.

The next one is serotonin – the happiness and mood stabiliser

And for this it’s about spending time in nature, sitting in the sun, practising gratitude.  You could try aromatherapy or you could talk to a therapist or a coach. The reason why I say this instead of talking with a friend is because a therapist or coach is typically, if they are properly trained, neutral. They won’t offer you advice or tell you what to do. They will draw from you what it is that you want to do and what you are feeling.

The next is dopamine, which is the pleasure, satisfaction and motivation hormone.

And by this you can listen to music. You can enjoy a hobby, discover new things, complete small tasks, which is great for people with chronic health issues or you could meditate.

And the last one, oxytocin which is the love, empathy and trust hormone.

And for this we hug someone, spend time with friends. speak kindly to yourself, cuddle with your pets, get a massage, or even give someone a gift or send them a card.

And that’s it.  Different ideas to get the different hormones that you need to feel happier every day. I would love to know what ones you would choose.

And remember you are worth it and you get to choose.

Have a lovely day