Firstly Dopamine. Dopamine is our reward hormone. It triggers joy when we find what we seek. One of the simplest ways to trigger dopamine in your day is by setting small goals. Setting small goals for you to achieve and then celebrate it! These can be any type of small goals - lifestyle goals, personal goals, work goals. Ticking off the list feels good. Next up our love hormone Oxytocin all about trust and connection. Some ways we can get more oxytocin flowing in our body are: • By taking the time to be present and look people in the eyes. • Hugs are also great and hopefully as we start to reduce the physical distancing we can get back to more hugs in the world. • Even placing your hand on your own heart for as little as 20sec can begin to release the hormone.
For me one of the most profound learnings from my study into happiness is that happiness spreads. When you are happy you can influence the happiness of people up to 3 degrees of separation (that’s people you have never met!). The Framingham Heart Study conducted over 50 years literally found clusters of happiness (and unhappiness the choice is ours). When we decide to be happy our brain will start to look out for things to be happy about. Adding in some of these habits are great for training a happy brain and giving us a happiness boost we could all do with. Don’t wait for the happy ending..... Angela Lee Jenkins BSC App www.angelaleejenkins.com Wellbeing Specialist
Something I love about oxytocin to is that it can reduce the amount of stress hormones in your body too. #winwin
Serotonin is another happiness hormone. Serotonin is released when we are proud of our achievements. We so often don’t acknowledge this but it is important to. What are you proud of today? Share it with a friend for some extra serotonin. Something important to understand about Serotonin is that 80% of it is produced in our gut. So, looking after our gut health with whole foods is also a winner.
Habits for a happy mind It’s been a big few years full of challenging and stressful times. We all know it. We are all feeling it. And world events don’t seem to be going away anytime soon. But does that mean we need to continue to feel like this? Is it still possible for us have a happy mind and create a happy workplace despite what is going on??
In my discussions with many Childcare Educators the number 1 thing that so many of them want is to be happy at work. Have a happy team, happy kids and a happy workplace.
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Some of the other top habits of a happy brain in the research that you may also like to include are: 3 Good Things - writing down 3 good things a day showed to increase happiness exponentially.
Angela Lee Jenkins
In the words of the very inspiring and wise Viktor E Frankl, an Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist, philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor: “When we can no longer change a situation, we are forced to change ourselves.”
Finally endorphin which is commonly knows as the ‘runner’s high’ hormone. Often released in marathons and ultra distance events to suppress the pain. But the best bit is you don’t have to go out and run like that to get endorphin flowing in your body. It is also released by doing a novel activity or movement. Kids are great for leading the way with novel activities and movements – join in!
In her PHD study ‘Habits of a Happy Brain’ Loretta Breuning discusses 4 of our happiness hormones: Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin and Endorphin. When you understand these hormones and how they work you can set up habits to create the release of more of these hormones. Yes, we can make choices to trigger the release of more happiness hormones! How cool is that?
So let’s get started with some Happy Hormones.
Call a Friend - in the top 10% of happy people, the single most reported factor was social relationships. Friends are a good havit to have. Nature - getting out and experiencing the senses in nature all trigger positive responses in our brain. Focussing on building these healthy happiness cycles is important because there are a lot of people caught in ‘unhealthy’ happiness cycles like the dopamine addiction from getting facebook likes or the feel good sugar hits. Rather than focussing on trying to stop these unhealthy habits, the brain works better by focussing on filling our cups with healthy happiness cycles.
Bio Meet Angela - Mum, International Presenter and Consultant, Corporate Speaker, ‘Will to Liv’ Podcast Host and founder of the 4D Wellness Program. Angela is known for bringing cutting edge concepts, great energy and leaving her audiences inspired. Her expertise is in stress management, holistic lifestyle coaching, and personal development where she takes a personalised 4-dimensional approach to wellness. With over 20 years of experience, Angela has coached leaders around the world, run corporate wellbeing programs, founded an exercise physiology centre, mentored award winning trainers and developed a team of Coaches in Australia, NZ and Asia. Her work has been featured across major US media outlets and she has provided expert commentary in leading publications in Australia and Asia. “She has a very personal powerful story which she has transformed into her mission to inspire the “Will to Liv” our most fulfilling life.”
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