Lesson 3 Oh, Happy Days!
The Chemistry of Happiness
When ____ ask ourselves what makes us happy, we often think of the circumstances we are in, what we have, or whom we are with.
From a biological point ____ view, however, happiness is largely a chemical experience.
Four main brain chemicals are responsible for creating the ____ and emotions we associate with happiness: endorphins, serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin.
It is good news for us ____ happiness can be controlled.
Even when our lives aren’t exactly what we would like them to be, we can improve our mood by engaging in pleasant and healthy ____ that increase the amounts of these happiness chemicals.
Let’s take a deeper dive into what each of these chemicals does and how we can ____ their levels.
Endorphins: The Pain Relievers
____ are natural pain relievers.
They are “feelgood” chemicals because they can make you feel better and put you in ____ positive state of mind.
When our body feels pain or ____ the brain releases endorphins to block the nerve cells that receive the pain signals.
This essentially turns off your pain, helping you continue functioning,even in painful and stressful ____
The most well-known ____ to increase endorphins is through slightly challenging exercise which makes you a little short of breath.
Research shows ____ about twenty to thirty minutes of exercise can help boost your endorphin levels significantly.
Another way ____ to have a good laugh.
Share funny videos, tell jokes, ____ laugh with your friends.
We don’t laugh because we are happy; we are happy because we ____
Serotonin: The Mood Balancer
Serotonin is another brain chemical that plays ____ key role in balancing our mood.
It provides feelings ____ happiness and also helps decrease our worries and concerns.
When you feel happy and all seems right with the world, you are feeling the effects ____ serotonin.
Serotonin is made from the essential amino ____ tryptophan, which must enter our body through our diet.
Therefore, eating foods rich in tryptophan like chicken, beans, eggs, and nuts can boost your body’s ____ ability to make serotonin.
Furthermore, good habits like getting more sunshine and ____ on short walks can do wonders for boosting your levels of serotonin.
Dopamine: ____ Reward Chemical
Dopamine is an important chemical for ____
It is called ____ “reward chemical” because it rewards the brain with happy feelings for meeting goals and achieving things.
We can also feel a dopamine rush when we imagine ____ future achievement.
In both cases, dopamine gives us feelings of joy and satisfaction, encouraging us to seek out more goals and find ____ challenges.
Choosing food higher in protein can be a good way to increase your dopamine levels naturally, because it can only be made with ____ amino acid tyrosine, which is found in many proteins.
Getting regular, high-quality sleep may also help keep your dopamine levels balanced ____ help you feel more alert during the day.
Meditation has also been shown to increase dopamine ____
This, in turn, ____ to improved focus and concentration.
Oxytocin: The Love Hormone
Oxytocin is often called the “love hormone” because ____ promotes social bonding and trust.
It is mainly associated with ____ touches and close relationships.
Oxytocin will be released when you are connecting with people, and it reduces ____ stress level and calms down your nervous system.
Spending time with friends and loved ____ is a great way to raise your oxytocin levels.
Giving or receiving a massage, shaking hands, or hugging can lead to higher levels of oxytocin ____ well.
If you have a pet, you can increase oxytocin for both yourself and your ____ by hugging your little friend.
You may ____ heard the saying “Happiness depends on your attitude, not on what you have.”
Endorphins, ____ dopamine, and oxytocin help promote happiness, and you can give these happiness chemicals a natural boost with simple activities.
We cannot ____ choose the situations we find ourselves in, but we can certainly choose what to do for ourselves.
There’s a lot we can do to boost ____ happiness chemicals in our brains.
This means that we have ____ of our own happiness!