What makes brain happy

Each time your neurochemicals surged, your brain built connections and is wired now to turn on your brain chemicals in the same ways they were activated in the past. But it can be done. Your brain is capable of neuroplastic change until the day you die. So pick a new happy habit and start implementing it with repetition and consistency, and you will start to shift the neurochemical balance in or brain. Over time, your new happy habits will feel as natural to you as your old ones.

Of course, depression, mood, and behavior are the products of more than just your neurochemicals, but understanding and consciously altering them is a step closer to a happier you and a better life. Debbie Hampton recovered from depression, a suicide attempt, and resulting brain injury to become an inspirational writer.

On her blog, The Best Brain Possible she tells about lifestyle , behavior and thought modifications, alternative therapies, and mental health practices she used to rebuild her brain and life to find joy and thrive and tells you how to do the same. You can quickly learn the steps to a better you in her book, Beat Depression And Anxiety By Changing Your Brain , with simple practices easy to implement in your daily life.

You can also find Debbie on Facebook , Twitter and Pinterest. Great article. Thank you. Your email address will not be published. Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email. We would love you to follow us on Social Media to stay up to date with the latest Hey Sigmund news and upcoming events. Strong steady breathing will reverse the fight or flight physiology that causes nausea, butterflies, Oct Needs and behaviour can get tangled up and treated as one.

When you can, separate the need from the In fact, it rarely does. We teach our kids to respect adults and other children, and they should — respect is an important When we are angry, there will always be another emotion underneath it. It is this way for all of us Oct 5. When we ask ourselves what makes us happy, we often think of the circumstances, possessions, or people in our lives. In reality, happiness is largely a chemical experience.

Four main neurochemicals, hormones, and neurotransmitters generated in the brain are fundamentally responsible for creating the sensations and emotions we've come to associate with happiness. This is actually great news. It means even when circumstances, possessions, or people in our lives aren't exactly as we'd like them to be, there are simple ways we can increase our happy brain chemicals and alter our moods. I talk about this with my mindfulness students in elementary school, and they really understand the concept.

Endorphins are opioid neuropeptides , which means they are produced by the central nervous system to help us deal with physical pain. They also make us feel lightheaded, and even giddy at times. One non-painful well, not too painful way to induce endorphins is exercise.

Endorphins are released after both aerobic and anaerobic exercise. In one study , as little as 30 minutes of walking on a treadmill for 10 days in a row was sufficient to produce a significant reduction in depression among clinically depressed subjects.

Serotonin may be the best-known happiness chemical because it's the one that antidepressant medication primarily addresses. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that is naturally triggered by several things we can do each day. Exposure to bright light, especially sunshine, is one way to increase serotonin.

Exercise and happy thoughts also stimulate production of this chemical. Some research has found that a higher intake of tryptophan-heavy foods, relative to other foods in the diet, may do the trick as well. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter often referred to as the "chemical of reward. But you can also get a natural dose of dopamine when you perform acts of kindness toward others. Volunteering has been shown to increase dopamine as well as have other long-term health benefits.

And some research has even found that it only takes thoughts of loving kindness to bring on the dopamine high. Mothers may be familiar with oxytocin, the hormone produced in abundance during pregnancy and breastfeeding. It's also the high behind MDMA , a popular party drug, which releases oxytocin in the brain.

ACTH increases Cortisol hormone. The role of this hormone in psychological process is managing stress. Several studies investigated the relation between Cortisol and depression as a contrary dimension of happiness. Cortisol has been shown to be a consistent marker for depression. High levels of morning Cortisol have been linkedto depression and neuroticism.

Also, atypical Cortisol secretion patterns have been linked to depression, stress, and anxiety Researchers, according to thesefindings, suggest that happiness related to level of Cortisol in the body.

Is it a correct question? Researches indicate that less salivary Cortisol is good predictor of happiness However, some researches directly investigated level of Cortisol on the body and its effect on happiness, findings showed that level of Cortisol is not a predictor of happiness The relation of happiness and level of Cortisol needs to more studies.

Adrenaline also known as Epinephrine is a hormone and a neurotransmitter that releases from Adrenal glands. Adrenaline has many functions in the body, regulating heart rate, blood vessel and air passage diameters, and metabolic shifts; Adrenaline release is a crucial component of the fight-or-flight response of the sympathetic nervous system. Therefore, adrenaline produces similar effects to Cortisol, such as increased heart rate and immune system suppression.

Researches indicate that urinary adrenaline is a good predictor of happiness Oxytocin is a peptide hormone that composed of nine amino acids A hormone released from pituitary gland and control uterine spasms and breast feeding stimulus.

Recently researches showed that Oxytocin causes a wide spectrum of behavioral and physiological effects mediated through receptors within the brain, such as maternal, sexual and social behaviors Oxitocin facilitates the relationship with others and associated with positive social behaviors, so it assumes that related with happiness.

While relationship has a strong effect on life satisfactory and there is a significant correlation between happiness and social relationship, then Oxitocin can be a mechanism that produces happiness through facilitating social relations 32 , The change in OXT affects Happiness.

Medicine and psychological findings showed that positive emotion reactions against life events can influence in various ways on physiologic characteristics. Therefore, several studies investigate the association between physical health and happiness. A group of researchers studied the general association between physical health and happiness and others investigate the relation between physical illness hypertension, bulimia… and happiness.

Recently, several studies concluded that positive mood in individuals is a strong predictor of physical health an there is a significant correlation between positive mood and physical health 35 — Researchers stated that people with happiness experience a long life People with happiness behave healthier weight control and practice than others Moreover, people with happiness inhibited the risky behaviors Having positive mood and happiness correlated with decreasing some illnesses such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease and fatness.

Researchers find a strong relation between local of brain that manage weight and metabolism and areas that control cognition and emotions Fatness is likely a risk factor for depression and then significantly decreases the quality of life Researchers indicated that rate of hypertension is low among happy societies In addition, researchers concluded that special emotions like fear, anger and happy, play a clear and important role in psychopathology and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

Recent studies showed that people with happiness can more fight with cancer and more survive. Some researchers used music therapy to increase positive emotions in individual with cancer; they conclude that music therapy has a significant effect on dealing with cancer Van Dom described that positive attitudes can stop the serious disease and happiness is the best means against cancer In addition, some researches indicated hypothesis of long life among happy cancers is invalid and some studies reported short life among cancers.

The first category of constitution, typology and physiognomy refer to Socrates. He divided humans into two distinctive categories: Habitus Apoplecticus, Habitus Phthisicus. The relation between typology and mental and emotion characteristics or psychosomatic correlation involved a part of anthropology researches. For example, people with leptomorph style are sensitive, serious, manager, affective, optimism, intelligence introversion and vulnerable to schizophrenia, hypertension and ulcer.

Based on studies assigned a group of signs to each type While the typology can form a specific emotion and behaviors, the image of our body can influence on this characteristics. It must be noted that imagination is affected by culture. Several studies investigate the relation between happiness and physical attractiveness and they found that there is a significant positive relation between them In social interaction, physical attractiveness leads tomany positive points.

For example, other interested in choosing them as a friend, they are successful in choosing a partner, assessed by others positively and so on. Finally, it is important to know that there is a strong bias in assessing attractive people positively.

Generally, attractive people perceived happier and successful than others A Meta-analysis indicated that when people a person assessed as an attractive one, they assessed in comparison with non-attractive people more intelligent, kindly, socially and with more social skills Bias to attractiveness is traceable in children. For example, teachers assess attractive children as lovely and intelligent students, unconsciously.

This subject repeated in experimental condition and acquired same result. Happiness is a new concept in positive psychology. Although, everyone uses this concept commonly as a clear concept, it has a complex meaning and composed of several factors. In ease, all effective factors divided into two dimensions: endogenic and exogenic. In spite of the influence of exogenic factors on happiness, endogenic factors form the basis of happiness.

Biological factors as a part of endogenic factors, in ease, divided into five major areas: genetic factors, brain and neurotransmitters, endocrine glands and hormones, physical health and typology and attractiveness. Recently studies have also focused on finding related genes in happiness. We hope to clarify the genetic base of happiness in the future.

Brain studies have no clear findings about localization of happiness, but some part of brain introduced as emotion control centers: prefrontal cortex, amygdale, hippocampus, anterior cingulated cortex, and insular cortex.

Neurotransmitters have no exact explain, but most related neurotransmitters in relation with happiness are as followed: endorphin, dopamine, serotonin, Nor-epinephrine, and melatonin. Another factor that affected happiness in general is hormones and glands. Studies suggested that some released hormones Cortisol, Adrenaline, Oxitocin have a fundamental role in happiness and mood regulation. Physical health and attractiveness also influence on happiness and they seem to be significant factor in comprising happiness.

Finally, it can be said that genetic is all and other factors are additional. Based on special genetic structure, integrating related factors can result in happiness. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Iran J Public Health. Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer.

Received Jul 23; Accepted Oct This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Abstract Happiness underlying factors are considerable from two dimensions: endogenic factors biological, cognitive, personality and ethical sub-factors and exogenic factors behavioral, socialcultural, economical, geographical, life events and aesthetics sub-factors. Keywords: Happiness, Health, Biological factors. Introduction During the history of psychology, this branch of science studied the human being disorders such as anxiety, depression, and violence and so on.

Genetics Factors In the recent years appeared a new branch of human psychobiology: a genetic approach to well-being and happiness. Table 1 Genes related to mood and emotional characteristics 8. Energy, hypertension. OPRK1 kappa-opioid receptor Alcohol and heroin dependence. Pain mechanisms and tolerance. SLC6A3 Post-surgical pain, cocaine abuse, alcohol dependence, smoking behavior, juvenile delinquency, pathological aggression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, ADHD, impulsive aggression, cognitive impulsivity.

NOS3 Pain mechanism, healing mechanisms, circulation, hypertension, cardiovascular. PPARG Type 2 diabetes, Obesity, Insulin sensitivity, Body composition, eating disorders, BMI, physical exercise, common metabolic disorders, body mass, waist circumference, inflammatory response, immune system.

PEMT Proinflamamtory, immuneregulation, apotosis, substance use disorder. MANEA Substance dependence LEPTIN-OB BMI, Schizophrenia, stress, obesity risk, food intake, craving behavior, diabetes, insulin sensitivity, adiposity, body composition, linear growth, metabolic factors, hyperphagia, cocaine dependence, lip genesis, modulation of sweet substances, anorexia, bulimia, cardiovascular effects, fertility, sexual maturation, brain development, depression, fatty acid metabolism, hunger, MAO-A Pain sensitivity, bipolar affective disorder, ADHD, alcoholism, Substance Use Disorder, violent behavior, juvenile delinquency, smoking, child abuse, suicide, criminal activity, posttraumatic stress disorder, antidepressant treatment response, alcoholism, panic disorder, schizophrenia, pathological gambling.

VEGF Angiogenesis factor, cognition, tissue healing, pain sensitivity, oxidative stress. Open in a separate window. Brain and Neurotransmitters All of the activities managed by brain.

Hormones and Endocrine glands Endocrine glands with release hormones control various processes like growth, metabolism, and emotional regulation and so on.

Cortisol Hydrocortisone is a well-known Glucocorticoids in the body that is released from adrenal glands.