I would like to spend some time going over the so-called happy hormones. It turns out there are four of them: dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and oxytocin. I think the one that many people know well is endorphin. If you are a Reese Witherspoon fan, you may know the quote from the movie Legally blonde; “Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t kill their husbands, they just don’t.” We can say with confidence that the first part is true. Endorphins do make you happy, but it does this in an interesting way.
If you have been unlucky enough to be hospitalized with extreme pain, you may have received something to reduce it. You may also have consumed this in dairy products, or had a dose of it during exercise. Morphine, you guessed it. Well, endorphin comes from the words “endogenous,” which means within the body, and the opioid drug morphine. I also randomly threw in the fact that dairy products also contain at least 200 nanograms of morphine in them.
Well, to explain one way in which endorphins work, I would like to make another pop culture reference. “Hurt so good, come on baby, make it hurt so good”. Yes, the John Cougar Mellencamp song. To put it in my own words; we are getting exercise from doing something opposite to what I am doing now, sitting on the couch; exercising. We may be doing something that most couch potatoes find painful, but we are getting a natural morphine shot to cope with the pain in the form of cheese; correction endorphin hormones, but I guess you could try eating cheese and exercising. That may work too.
I guess it is a high, but it is a natural high. You may have heard of the concept of ‘Runners high’, well, that is the endorphins kicking in. It is a great way to stay fit, reduce your stress and increase your wellbeing.
But it is also important to keep away from recreational opioid drugs, because by repeatedly taking them, your body slows down the production of endorphins. Your body develops tolerance, and this stops those great endorphin highs from kicking in. Which you can only imagine what kind of damage it can do, including stopping you from exercising and being fit.
So don’t be afraid to be an endorphin junky. It is a great way that your body rewards you for putting in the painful work to get healthy.
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