Happiness hormones - what are they and how can they be activated?

You can give your natural messengers of happiness a boost and activate your happiness hormones in various ways to increase their effect in your body:

• Sunlight activates endorphins and serotonin levels.
• Exercise and sport has many benefits for physical health. However, exercise can also have a positive effect on emotional well-being by releasing endorphins, dopamine, noradrenaline, serotonin and phenethylamine. You may have heard of the so-called runner's high which occurs after longer sports and especially endurance units and releases a wave of neurotransmitters.
• Laughing together with friends and family can help to reduce feelings of anxiety and stress and improve mood by increasing dopamine and endorphin levels.
• Cooking and eating can even activate different neurotransmitters at the same time: Enjoying a delicious meal can release serotonin, dopamine and endorphins. Sharing a meal with someone you love can increase oxytocin levels. We'll take a closer look below at which nutrients and therefore foods your body needs to produce happiness hormones and which foods stimulate their release.
• Music can activate the happiness hormones in different ways. On the one hand, listening to music can stimulate your dopamine production or improve your mood and thus increase your serotonin levels. On the other hand, making music yourself releases endorphins.
• Yoga and meditation can not only improve sleep and reduce stress, but also have a positive effect on dopamine and endorphin production. If you don't know where to start, take a look here Yoga for beginners and mindfulness training.
• Time for two increases the love neurotransmitter oxytocin, whether through feeling attracted or through physical affection such as kissing, cuddling or sex. The latter can also activate endorphins and dopamine.
• Petting and cuddling your pet also increases the bonding hormone oxytocin.
• Good sleep helps to keep all messenger substances in balance, especially dopamine.
• Massages can even activate 4 happiness hormones: Serotonin, dopamine, endorphins and oxytocin. You get an extra dose of oxytocin when your partner gives you a massage instead of a massage therapist.

Yours nutrition is not only important for your health, but also for the stimulation of feelings of happiness and well-being. There are spices and foods that can stimulate the release of endorphins, such as chili, pepper and chili peppers.

However, it is also important for the release of happiness hormones that the necessary precursors, from which the hormones are formed, are ingested through food. Foods with a high content of the amino acid tryptophanwith increased serotonin and melatonin levels levels. The amino acid tryptophan is mainly found in eggs, meat, fish and seafood, dairy products, cashew nuts and beans. Small amounts of carbohydrates support the production of serotonin. Bananas, pineapples and plums, as well as dried fruits such as dates and figs, are suitable for this purpose. Chocolate is also associated with increased serotonin levels. However, you should opt for the dark varieties that contain less sugar, as this can have a negative effect on your mood in the long term. Chickpeas are also very rich in tryptophan and are sometimes referred to as a precursor to antidepressants.

Just try out how roasted chickpeas  or a Moroccan chickpea soup have an effect on your sense of happiness.

The cuddle hormone oxytocin consists of 9 different amino acids2 of which (isoleucine and leucine) cannot be produced by the body itself and must therefore be obtained from food. You can find these amino acids in rice, pea and hemp protein, for example, but also in seeds such as pumpkin and sunflower seeds and some pulses such as lentils.

These two important amino acids for the release of oxytocin can be found in the vegan lentil and broccoli curry  and the vegan muesli bar.

But also the neurotransmitters norepinephrine and phenethylaminewhich are responsible for courage and pleasure, are formed from amino acids, namely tyrosine and phenylalanine. A diet that meets your protein requirements is therefore also essential for this. As a rule, you need around 1g of protein per kilogram of body weight. This means that with a body weight of 60 kg, your body needs 60 g of protein. Please note, however, that the protein content of foods can vary greatly. However, these are only guidelines; if you do a lot of sport, for example, your protein requirement may be even higher.

Our Gut and our brain are in close connection to each other and many precursors of neurotransmitters are formed in the gut. It is also said that our gut is the seat of our second brain or abdominal brain. Studies have shown that intestinal dysfunctions such as irritable bowel syndrome are usually associated with mood swings and, conversely, in the case of mental illnesses such as depression, the intestinal flora is often not optimally composed. The brain needs a balanced ratio of gut bacteria in order to produce happiness hormones, which it uses to keep itself healthy and stable. Probiotic and prebiotic foods are a good way to increase the number of good intestinal bacteria through natural foods and to provide them with fiber as a source of nutrition. Probiotic Very rich are Yogurt, kefir, buttermilk, kombucha, kimchi and sauerkraut. Together with the prebiotic effective food sources, for example from Beans, onions, asparagus, leeks and Jerusalem artichokes you can thus stimulate the release of happiness hormones such as dopamine and serotoninpositively.

How about a Asparagus salad with strawberries or a vegan high protein chili sin carne with prebiotics or a kimchi with prebiotics for your gut health to increase the release of happiness hormones?

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Our brain needs Omega-3 fatty acidsfor it to function optimally. As the happiness hormones are formed in a complex interplay, these important fatty acids also play a major role here. Studies show that omega-3 fatty acids have positive effects in the accompanying treatment of depression. You can take omega-3 fatty acids via ground linseed or linseed oil . However, these only contain a precursor for the particularly effective forms and the conversion rate depends on many different factors and varies from person to person. However, if you want to make sure you are getting enough of the brain-boosting omega-3 fatty acids, you should look for algae oil algae oil.

Our brain only needs a small amount of sugar building blocks to live and function. However, with a balanced diet, it gets enough of these from fruit and vegetables. Through the consumption of soft drinks and sweets our brain is literally bombarded with flooded with sugarwhich inflammations which can ultimately lead to depression. Bread, pasta and all white flour products are metabolized into sugar in the body and therefore have a similar effect.

Sweeteners such as aspartame or saccharin have been shown in studies that when they are consumed, substances accumulate in the brain that can increase the production and release of the neurotransmitters dopamine, noradrenaline and serotonin.

Among the fats, there are the good ones from olives, almonds or avocados, for example, but also less good ones such as hydrogenated oils and margarine. One study showed that the participants more likely to depressed became depressed, the more bad fatsthey ate over a period of 6 years, for example from fried foods.

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