HEALTH AND WELLBEING
Can happiness be linked to our hormones? WORDS DR MICHELLE REISS, LIFESTYLE MEDICINE PHYSICIAN
Is happiness something we all have to work at continuously, or can we expect it to just happen? Charlie Chaplin, the silent film comedian who made the world laugh, knew the secret. He was also a gifted composer and wrote the music behind the words, “Light up your face with gladness/Hide every trace of sadness … You’ll find that life is worthwhile/If you just smile.” Those words, it turns out, are still true today. In a recent study by psychologists*, three groups of volunteers kept weekly journals focused on a single topic. Group 1 wrote about the daily irritations or things that had displeased them; Group 2 wrote about events that had affected them (whether positive or negative); and Group 3 wrote about things they were grateful for that occurred during the week. After 10 weeks, those who wrote about gratitude were more optimistic and felt better about their lives. They also exercised more, felt more motivated, and had fewer physical symptoms such as fatigue and headaches with fewer visits to physicians than those who focused on sources of irritation. So, if actively practising gratitude can improve a sense of emotional and physical wellbeing, how much control can we have on things that give our lives meaning? When it comes to happiness, love, positivity and contentment, there are effectively four major neurotransmitter/hormones that play very important roles in regulating these emotions: dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins. If you say “hormones”, most people think puberty and menopause. However, there are many hormones that control most bodily functions. We also have neurotransmitters, little chemicals that travel between our nerves. Some chemicals, such as oxytocin, are both a hormone and a neurotransmitter. And the best news is we are able to exercise control over their concentration levels and therefore our own feelings of wellbeing.
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