Feel Good Factors

Feel Good Factors

1. DHEA

Our body naturally produces the hormone dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in the adrenal gland. In turn, DHEA helps produce other hormones, including testosterone and estrogen.

Natural DHEA levels peak in early adulthood and then slowly fall as one ages.

A synthetic version of DHEA is available for oral use, as a tablet, and a topical cream.

Often touted as an anti-aging therapy, DHEA is also claimed to ward off chronic illness and improve physical performance.

2. Serotonin

Serotonin helps regulate your mood naturally.

When your serotonin levels are normal, you feel:

happier
calmer
more focused
less anxious
more emotionally stable

What is serotonin?

Serotonin is a chemical nerve cells produce.

It sends signals between your nerve cells. Serotonin is found mostly in the digestive system. It’s also present in blood platelets and throughout the central nervous system.

Serotonin is made from the essential amino acid tryptophan. All essential amino acids must come from one's diet and is commonly found in foods such as nuts, cheese, and red meat. 
Tryptophan deficiency can lead to lower serotonin levels.

The deficiency could result in mood disorders, such as anxiety or depression.

What does serotonin do?

Serotonin impacts every part of the body, from the emotions to motor skills. Serotonin is considered a natural mood stabilizer. It’s the chemical that helps with sleeping, eating, and digesting. Serotonin also helps:

reduce depression
regulate anxiety
heal wounds
stimulate nausea
maintain bone health

3. What Is GABA?

The Brain-Boosting GABA

What Is GABA?

Gamma-aminobutyric acid, also known as GABA, is a neurotransmitter that helps send messages between the brain and the nervous system.

It is produced in the brain from glutamate. This process is catalyzed by the active form of vitamin B6 and the enzyme glutamate decarboxylase (GAD).

Its main function is to reduce the activity of nerve cells in the nervous system. A good amount of emerging research has found that it could play a role in many conditions, including depression, anxiety and stress.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid is thought to have a natural calming effect and is believed to reduce feelings of of anxiety and fear by decreasing neuronal excitability.

It is often used as a natural supplement to promote sleep, improve mood and ease premenstrual symptoms.

GABA Uses and Benefits

1. Relieves Anxiety
2. Improves Sleep
3. Reduces Depression Symptoms
4. Relieves Symptoms of PMS
5. Decreases Inflammation
6. Improves Focus in ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)
7. Increases Levels of Growth Hormone
   

4. What Are Endorphins?

They are responsible for the all-encompassing sense of happiness we sometimes feel.

Endorphins are a category of neurotransmitters that the body uses as an internal pain killer. A 1995 study (Harte et al) published in the Biological Psychology Journal tested the neurochemical release of two groups — 11 elite runners and 12 highly trained meditators — after running and meditation, respectively.

What did they find?

Both groups’ endorphin levels were greatly elevated.

Perhaps even more amazing, meditation's "feel-good effect" scored even higher than running!

Joggers have coined the term "runners high" to describe how wonderful the endorphin rush feels after a nice, long run. This happy, zen-like, alert state of bliss can be a powerful and highly pleasurable experience, going a long way to explain why so many runners are addicted to their sport.

Luckily, this wonderful mind-state is readily found through meditation. Maybe it is time for meditators to come up with a cool phrase for how good they feel after meditation?

What Are Endorphins

Endorphins are the popular term for chemical substances known as “opiate peptides.”

Which neurochemicals qualify as “endorphins,” and what do endorphins do exactly?

Endorphins include enkephalins and dynorphins, substances associated with feelings of pleasure, sexuality/sensually, euphoria and pain relief. Essentially, endorphins promote a sort of “bliss,” providing a sense of well-being.

Low levels of endorphins are associated with the opposite effects: physical and emotional pain (including chronic pain linked to disorders like fibromyalgia), addiction and higher incidence of risk taking behaviors.

When one talks about endorphins, they’re also referring to other neurotransmitters besides opiate peptides, including dopamine and serotonin.

Here’s a quick overview of how endorphins are released?

Medically speaking, we refer to chemical messengers of the mind that cause emotions as neurotransmitters. Endorphins are manufactured by the central nervous system (your brain, spinal cord and nerves that connect to many other parts of your body). Through the production of certain neurotransmitters, the pituitary gland of the brain gets the signal to release particular endorphins depending on the situation, which then bind to neuron receptors. There’s also evidence that the immune system releases certain endorphins based on rising levels of inflammation, which is a mechanism useful for dulling pain.

 
5. Melatonin

The hormone melatonin plays a role in the natural sleep-wake cycle. Natural levels of melatonin in the blood are highest at night. Some research suggests that melatonin supplements might be helpful in treating sleep disorders, such as delayed sleep phase, and providing some relief from insomnia and jet lag.

Melatonin is generally safe for short-term use. Unlike with many sleep medications, with melatonin one is unlikely to become dependent, have a diminished response after repeated use (habituation), or experience a hangover effect.

What is melatonin?

Melatonin is a hormone made by the pineal gland , a small gland in the brain. Melatonin helps control the sleep and wake cycles. Very small amounts of it are found in foods such as meats, grains, fruits, and vegetables. One can buy it as a supplement.

What does natural melatonin do in the body?

The body has its own internal clock that controls the natural cycle of sleeping and waking hours. In part, the body clock controls how much melatonin the body makes. Normally, melatonin levels begin to rise in the mid- to late evening, remain high for most of the night, and then drop in the early morning hours.

Light affects how much melatonin the body produces. During the shorter days of the winter months, the body may produce melatonin either earlier or later in the day than usual.

This change can lead to symptoms of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), or winter depression.

Natural melatonin levels slowly drop with age.

Some older adults make very small amounts of it or none at all.

Why is melatonin used as a dietary supplement?

Melatonin supplements are sometimes used to treat jet lag or sleep problems (insomnia).
Scientists are also looking at other good uses for melatonin, such as:

Treating seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
Helping to control sleep patterns for people who work night shifts.
Preventing or reducing problems with sleeping and confusion after surgery.
Reducing chronic cluster headaches.

6. Human Growth Hormone

Benefits of Human Growth Hormone

Human growth hormone can be injected in larger doses to promote weight loss and increase muscle size while a small doses can be used for general recovery, health and ignite the anti-aging process. Presently, there is a growing list of benefits of HGH treatment in children, adolescents and adults, such as:

1. Increased Muscle Strength

Human growth hormone has been known to improve physical capacity of individuals through stimulating collagen synthesis in the skeletal muscle and tendons, increasing muscle strength and improving exercise performance as a result.

In the International Journal of Endocrinology, a study with 14 healthy men at the ages of 50 to 70 were randomized into two groups. Seven subjects were administered HGH therapy with seven placebo subjects, and they were re-evaluated after six months. After six months, there was a significant increase in the leg press responsiveness muscles in the growth hormone group.

Overall, the study concluded an increased muscle strength in the lower body after human growth hormone was administered in healthy men. In HGH-deficient adults, participants who were administered long-term HGH therapy experienced normalization of muscle strength, increased exercise capacity, and improved thermoregulation and body composition.

2. Better Fracture Healing

Numerous of local growth factors and hormones are responsible for regulating mineral and bone metabolism, along with fracture healing. Administration of human growth hormone has been shown to speed up the regeneration of bone, making it a key part of bone healing. Applying growth factors like IGF-1 is known to stimulate the metabolism of bone.

In a study published in the journal BONE, growth hormone was systemically applied to recombinant species-specific rats by subcutaneous injections and was compared to the placebo group. As a result, the local growth factor application revealed a stronger effect on fracture healing than the systemic human growth hormone injection. These observations suggest that the local application of growth hormone speeds up fracture healing significantly without systemic adverse effects.

Human growth hormone plays a crucial role in the repair of wear and tear and expedites healing. Researchers have reported the beneficial effects of HGH in enhancing the healing of injuries and wounds significantly. A randomized, controlled, double-blinded study for six months of HGH therapy or placebo in 28 healthy older men with low baseline plasma IGF-1 was conducted at the University of California’s Department of Medicine. As a result, healthy older men who were administered growth hormone had enhanced collagen deposition during the wound-healing process, helping the healing process.

3. Enhanced Weight Loss

Obese individuals have limited response to growth hormone stimuli release, and after successful reduction of weight, growth hormone responsiveness can be partial or complete. Growth hormone accelerates lipolysis, the breakdown of lipids and involves hydrolysis of triglycerides into glycerol and free fatty acids, and impaired secretion of human growth hormone leads to loss of lipolytic effect.

Dietary restrictions and growth hormone treatment effects on anabolic and lipolytic actions as well as the changes in growth hormone secretions and insulin were investigated in a study published in Hormone Research. Twenty-four obese participants were on a hypocaloric diet and treated with recombinant human growth hormone or a placebo in a double-blinded, 12-week randomized study. As a result, growth hormone treatment caused a 1.6-fold increase in weight loss, with the greatest loss being visceral fat compared to the placebo.

In the placebo group, lean body mass was lost, whereas lean body mass was gained in the growth hormone group. This study suggests that in obese participants who eat a caloric-restriction diet, growth hormone accelerates the loss of body fat and improves growth hormone secretion. Thus, human growth hormone can serve a therapeutic role to help obese people lose weight.

 
4. Stronger Bones

The pituitary gland stimulates the release of growth hormone and is essential for regulating bone growth, especially during puberty. Growth hormone stimulates the production of IGF-1, which is produced in the liver and released in the blood. With age, human growth hormone decreases and may be the cause of older individuals not being able to form or replace bone rapidly. The IGF-1/growth hormone duo stimulates bone-forming and bone-resorbing cells, leading to increased bone mass.

5. Reduced Cardiovascular Disease Risk

Adults who are growth hormone-deficient have an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, leading to decreased life expectancy. In Sweden, 104 patients who are growth hormone-deficient were studied for cardiovascular disease risk. These patients had higher body mass and triglyceride concentrations compared to controls. These results suggest lipoprotein metabolism is altered by growth hormone deficiency, increasing the risk for cardiovascular disease.

6. Improvement in Erectile Dysfunction

It’s been suggested in recent studies that human growth hormone is responsible for male reproductive function and sexual maturation while deficiency is associated with loss of sexual erection and desire. Thirty-five healthy adult men and 45 participants with erectile dysfunction were exposed to tactile and visual stimuli in order to elicit penile tumescence in a German study. The increase in growth hormone was greater than 90 percent as determined during developing penile tumescence, followed by a transient decrease afterward. This study suggests that penile erection may be induced by growth hormone through its stimulating activity on human corpus cavernosum smooth muscle, making it a potential natural remedy for impotence.

7. Decreased Obesity

Insulin resistance and visceral/abdominal obesity are common in adults with hormone growth deficiency. Abdominal obesity is prevalent in individuals who show low growth hormone and insulin-like growth hormone serum concentrations as well. Human growth hormone treatment has demonstrated positive results in adults who are growth hormone-deficient in treating obesity naturally.

Thirty men ages 48–66 with abdominal/visceral obesity were treated with recombinant human growth hormone in a nine-month, randomized, double-blind study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Abdominal and visceral adipose tissue decreased along with diastolic blood pressure, and improved insulin sensitivity was one of the favorable benefits of human growth hormone found.

8. Better Mood and Cognitive Function

Quality of life and psychological well-being are restored when growth hormone therapy in growth hormone-deficient adults is administered. A Lithuanian study investigated the changes in cognitive function, mood and concentration from baseline after six months of treatment with human recombinant growth hormone. Eighteen adult patients with HGH deficiency participated in the study, and growth hormone was administered in 12 IU per week.

As a result, cognitive function and mood significantly increased after six months of therapy, according to mood scales. This study suggests that administering growth hormone can be a possible treatment option to improve cognitive function and mood in adults who are growth hormone-deficient.

 
9. Better Sleep

The majority of the growth hormone pulsatile secretion happens just after the onset of sleep and continues to rise when the first hours of sleep are reached. Individuals who are going through sleep deprivation, such as people who work the night shift or late studiers, can be affected negatively throughout the day. Lack of sleep alters pituitary and hypothalamus function, further altering growth hormone release time.

When sleep was deprived for 24 to 36 hours in a study conducted by the University of Chicago’s Department of Medicine, human growth hormone release was drastically decreased and noticeably decreased in growth hormone peak values at night. The 24-hour diurnal pulse of growth hormone release became random and more frequent throughout these waking hours. This study suggests that sleep deprivation can reduce growth hormone release the morning after and can severely disturb and alter the sleep-wake cycle.

Human Growth Hormone Deficiency

Signs and symptoms of growth hormone deficiency vary with age, and children can have different symptoms than an adult. Children being significantly shorter than children their age and grow less than two inches per year are common symptoms of growth hormone deficiency. Children with normal levels grow about 2.5 inches a year from age 1 until they hit puberty, when they can grow up to four inches a year. However, a decline in human growth hormone does not have any impact on a child’s intelligence.

Other symptoms of growth hormone deficiency in children include:

Facial features may appear younger than children who are the same age
Delayed puberty, sometimes will not go through puberty
Increased fat around the stomach and face
Prominent forehead
Slow hair growth

Adults may experience a combination of symptoms from human growth hormone deficiency, including:

Depression
Hair loss
Sexual dysfunction
Decreased muscle strength and mass
Memory loss
Lack of concentration
Dry skin
Increased triglycerides
Fatigue
Cardiovascular disease risk
Increase LDL (“bad”) cholesterol
Insulin resistance
Reduced bone density
Temperature sensitivity
Increased weight, especially around the waist

Best Ways to Increase HGH Naturally

1. High-Intensity Exercise

It’s well-documented in various studies that exercise-induced growth hormone response increases HGH secretion. Research suggests that the exercise-induced growth hormone plus endurance exercise associated with load, intensity, duration and frequency are the determining factors in the regulation of HGH secretion.

An exercise intensity above lactate threshold and for a minimum of 10 minutes elicits the greatest stimulus to the secretion of HGH. HIIT workouts are effective in promoting beneficial well-being, health and positive training outcomes, while stimulating HGH. 
 

2. L-glutamine

Supplementing with L-glutamine is known for enhancing exercise performance, maintaining acid-base balance and increasing the storage of glycogen in muscle. In an Iranian study, 30 healthy non-athlete males were randomly divided into placebo and glutamine supplementation groups and put through an eight-week resistance training program. Both groups performed the same weight training program three days a week for eight weeks. Both groups increased in performance, but the glutamine groups showed greater increases in lower- and upper-body strength, explosive muscle power, blood testosterone, IGF-1, and HGH compared to the placebo group.

3. L-arginine

Most studies have shown when administering oral L-arginine to participants, arginine alone increases the resting growth hormone levels at least 100 percent, while exercise can increase growth hormone levels by 300 percent to 500 percent.

4. A-GPC

According to a study in the 2008 issue of the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, alpha-glycerylphosphorylcholine (A-GPC) might increase human growth hormone levels. Participants who consumed 600 milligrams of A-GPC two hours before resistance exercise had increased HGH levels post-exercise compared to those given a placebo.

5. Laughter

Researchers Stanley Tan and Lee Berk at Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, Calif., observed that two hormones, human growth hormone and endorphins, were increased by 27 percent and 87 percent, respectively, when participants anticipated watching a humorous video.

6. Normal Liver Function

HGH stimulates the liver into producing IGF-1, which is released into the body to stimulate the production of cells that are responsible for cell proliferation, increased muscle mass and increased energy. An individual would never experience the full benefits HGH has to offer if experiencing poor liver function, cirrhosis, fatty liver and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

 
7. Vitamin C

Studies have observed the correlation of reduced vitamin C concentration in decreased growth hormone secretion, obese patients, increased waist-hip ratio and increased heart disease risk, which is why consuming more vitamin C foods may help increase HGH.

Dopamine vs. Serotonin:

Their Effects & Key Differences

The endocrine (hormonal) system functions at a slower pace than the nervous system, but the two must work together to maintain internal balance and happiness. There are actually hundreds of different chemicals in the brain we call neurotransmitters or endorphins.

These cause positive feelings, but the two that are probably the most well-known are dopamine and serotonin.

The combination of dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and opiate endorphins are often called “the quartet.” Together, they’re responsible for most of our perception of “happiness”.

Let’s take a look at how these chemicals function and play off one another:

Serotonin.

Serotonin is often called the “happy hormone” because it improves your mood and helps beat depression. We need healthy levels of serotonin for mood stabilization, getting good sleep, dreaming and visualization. It also influences many physiological functions one probably wouldn’t expect, such as blood pressure levels, digestion and regulation of body temperature. Adequate levels of serotonin provide emotional and social stability, while low levels of serotonin are associated with various mental disturbances including: depression, anxiety, PMS, sugar/carbohydrate cravings, trouble sleeping, obsessive thinking and addiction to alcohol or drugs.

Dopamine.

(It’s closely related to the hormone noradrenalin, also called norepinephrine).

Dopamine is considered one of the strongest “feel-good hormones” (neurotransmitters) that makes you feel energized, motivated and in control. Both dopamine and noradrenaline are associated with pleasure, motivation, alertness, concentration and euphoria. They are raised by sources of stress, but this doesn’t always mean “bad stress.” Noradrenaline levels tend to be higher in “positive stress” states like sex, being in love, during exercise or doing other fun things like dancing, laughing and listening to music. Low levels of dopamine/norepinephrine is associated with: depression, lack of concentration (brain fog), poor motivation and difficulty initiating and/or completing tasks.

There are other important neurochemicals to familiarize with, that include:

GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid): relaxing and calming after experiencing stress, since it has a dampening effect on the central nervous system

Catecholamines: energizers or natural stimulants

Adrenaline (also called epinephrine): strong motivator, stimulating you to deal with and overcome stress

Acetylcholine: improves memory and mental alertness

Tryptamines: help with forming bonds and connection

Melatonin: helps to keep you in tune with the cycles of nature and day/night

DMT (dimethyltryptamine): useful for staying optimistic and seeing “the big picture” when stressed 

 

 

7 Benefits of Endorphins

1. May Help You Overcome Addictions

The release of endorphins can be helpful for allowing you to escape addictions, including some that you may not even realize you have — such as overeating/binge-eating or other “normal” sources of over consumption (like dependence on social media). When endorphins or other neurochemical levels drop, you’re more likely to look for unhealthy sources of comfort or reward, including drugs and alcohol. This is why healthy habits like exercise can be powerful for dealing with addiction, depression and boosting recovery.

2. Offer Relief from Stress, Depression or Anxiety

As you’ve learned, serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphins all have powerful mood-boosting abilities. Several popular antidepressant drugs (such as Prozac or Zoloft) are called “selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors,” or SSRIs. They work to decrease symptoms of depression by blocking neurons’ reuptake of serotonin, leaving more available and circulating in the bloodstream. This helps elevate your mood, although artificially. The same serotonin and endorphin perks, although usually to a lesser degree, can be felt from increasing levels naturally through things like your diet, hobbies and sleep (see below).

3. Protect the Heart

Something that might surprise you about the “cuddle hormone” oxytocin is that it seems to improve immune function and even protects your heart from stress.

Consider this another reason to get a massage or hug someone for your health.

4. Make one Feels Sleepy, but Also Fights Fatigue

Endorphins, and especially serotonin, affect the overall moods, level of sleepiness and pain tolerance —all important parts of regulating the internal “clock” called the circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm helps one to intuitively know the cycles of day/wake versus night/sleep. This helps to wake up refreshed but feel drowsy before bed and during the night.

Melatonin, dopamine and other chemicals, such as adrenaline, also affect the sleep cycle and send the brain a signal when it’s either time to wind down or rise and shine.

 5. Keep the Brain Sharp

Certain endorphins are highly beneficial for cognition, as well as fueling creativity and inspiration. We can thank the release of endorphins and neurochemicals like dopamine for allowing us to stay motivated and intrigued enough to produce great works of art, music and writing, to create scientific formulations and even to experience spiritual breakthroughs.

6. Help to Deal with Pain

Beta-endorphins are a type of neuropeptides involved in pain management, possessing morphine-like effects, according to a report published in Hawaii Medical Journal.

The neuron receptors that endorphins bind to help decrease the perception of pain just like some prescriptions. In fact, certain pain-killing drugs act on the same binding sites that endorphins do. In low doses, the opiates morphine and codeine are actually found in normal cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. However when their levels are dramatically increased, they cause strong pain-killing effects. In normal circumstances without opiates circulating in your system, endorphins take on the role of controlling pain enough to help one carrys on when injured or ill.

7. Help You Feel Connected to Others

Considering humans are a highly-social species, it’s not surprising we feel a natural “high”— thanks to the release of neurochemicals like oxytocin — when we experience a sense of unity with those around us, a deep connection with community or family and a shared sense of life’s purpose. Oxytocin is released during highly emotional moments like childbirth, when you’re in love and also during orgasms. It helps increase fidelity and monogamy in relationships, motivates us to strengthen personal connections, helps us stay honest and facilitates compassion/empathy towards others.

Natural Ways to Increase Endorphins & Feel-Good Chemicals

The amazing thing about the human brain and body is that we are all capable of producing our own “natural highs,” without even taking illegal or prescription substances for help. Positive moods also thankfully work in a cyclical pattern: when we release endorphins following behaviors like exercise or time spent with others, we are motivated to repeat these behaviors again in the future. When we ask ourselves, “What are endorphins,” it’s important to also understand how to naturally boost endorphin levels.

1. Exercise Regularly

A large body of research shows that people who exercise regularly have added protection against depression, tend to deal with anxiety better and also get better sleep. Exercise is one of the most endorphin-boosting things one can do, offering numerous benefits for both our bodies and minds (hence the name “runner’s high”). Studies show exercise even works similarly to meditation to increase well-being. Some of the ways that exercise releases endorphins and therefore improves your mood include:

Increasing self-esteem; we feel good about taking care of our own health
Giving a sense of accomplishment and mastery as one progresses (due to dopamine)
Increasing energy levels and helping to sleep more soundly (thanks to adrenaline and serotonin)
Keeping one motivated to keep trying and improving in the future (due to dopamine)
Leaving one with a more optimistic, positive and energized outlook on life

2. Eat A Healthy Diet

Because your diet is key for creating neurotransmitters, you can view certain healthy foods as near-perfect “brain foods.” Nutrient-dense foods can improve how one feels and thinks, plus balance the blood sugar, which acts as brain and body fuel. Stabilizing the mood with a healthy diet can also allow one to break one's dependency on processed food substances that interfere with normal brain chemistry and deplete the energy over time.

Here’s how to increase the release of endorphins such as serotonin through your dietary choices:

Consume enough protein.
Serotonin is made primarily through intake of tryptophan-rich foods, such as turkey or milk. Almost all protein sources will help release serotonin, including meat, fish, chicken, poultry, cheese, milk and eggs, which are complete proteins.
Don’t skip plant foods.
You can also combine a number of different plant foods, such as beans with sprouted grains, to get the same effects. In general, whole foods like seeds, nuts, beans, lentils, peas, corn or the germ of grains, such as buckwheat and oats, are all good plant sources of amino acids that help increase serotonin.
Even some veggies, such as broccoli, spinach or cauliflower, are relatively rich in protein.
Consume more antioxidant foods.
Free radicals are the major cause of the aging process and also contribute to mental illness, since they attack brain cells and contribute to inflammation. Increase your intake of antioxidant foods by eating colorful plants like leafy greens, sweet potato, squash, citrus, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, plums, broccoli and alfalfa sprouts.
Eat healthy fats.
Fats comprise 60 percent of the brain. Essential fatty acids produce hormones called eicosanoids, which are necessary for many chemical processes within the body. They stimulate the immune system, fight inflammation and support the activity of neurotransmitters, including serotonin. Get healthy fats from coconut or olive oil, wild-caught fish like Alaskan salmon, nuts, seeds and avocado.
Avoid high consumption of alcohol and caffeine.
Using and abusing these substances can lead the body to compensate by building a tolerance due to down-regulation. This makes it harder to quit, requires one to increase one's intake to feel the same mood-boost, and causes side effects of “withdrawal” in some cases.

3. Laugh More!

Laughter is basically a quick-fix for feeling almost instantly better, thanks to the release of endorphins. Studies have even linked laughter with an elevated pain threshold. Try regularly doing something to keep your sense of humor, such as playing with children, watching something funny, recalling a funny moment, sharing jokes, or attending live comedy events.

4. Connect with Others (This Includes Touch, Volunteering & Finding Purpose)

Connection — through means like being touched when receiving a massage or a hug, volunteering to help others or just having a deep conversation with someone you trust — all releases oxytocin and other chemicals that help one to feel calm and comforted. Acupuncture and other hands-on treatments also seem to have similar effects according to some studies. Make time to foster healthy relationships, reach out to others in need, find a sense of purpose and notice how good you feel when you do something nice for someone else.

5. Learn Something New

Dopamine is the primary neurotransmitter involved in stimulus-reward-learning, so it can help us learn positive behaviors and stay motivated when used to our advantage. Of course, the opposite is also true: a dopamine release is also triggered when we engage in a harmful habit (such as overeating junk food). This steers us in the direction of wanting to repeat these behaviors again.

Use dopamine's reinforcing ability to one's benefit by learning something new, experiencing something novel, such as new location when traveling or making progress in a hobby or at work. These can all release feel good neurochemicals, making one to want to repeat them. Challenge yourself regularly by finding new sources of engagement, and don’t shy away from taking on difficult tasks that can wind up be rewarding long-term.

6. Incorporate Soothing Tastes, Smells & Essential Oils

Aromatherapy, or simply smelling something that reminds you of comforting times (such as fresh baked cookies) has been linked to the release of endorphins. Essential oil scents such as vanilla, chamomile, rose and lavender can help one actually feel calmer almost instantly. And similarly, consumption of “guilty pleasures” like dark chocolate can bring on a feeling of comfort, thanks to the release of chemicals such as theobromine.

Wondering if the giggly, mellow feeling you might get from alcohol is related to endorphins?

According to recent studies, drinking alcohol may release a small amount of feel-good hormones (especially when you’re having a drink while bonding with friends), but too much will actually cause the opposite effects. 
 

7. Spend Time in Nature & in the Sun

Exposing yourself to nature and the sun for about 20 minutes daily helps your skin absorb UV rays and produce vitamin D, which is important for your mood. Sunshine and nature also seem to help regulate the release of neurochemicals like serotonin and melatonin.

What Are Endorphins?

Final Thoughts

Endorphins are neurotransmitters, or natural opiate-peptide chemicals, that pass along signals from one neuron to the next, causing feelings or emotions.
The release of endorphins is associated with feelings of pleasure, sexuality/sensually, motivation, euphoria, social connection and pain relief. Low levels of endorphins are associated with pain, addiction, sadness or depression, sleep trouble, brain fog and higher incidence of risk-taking behaviors.
Natural ways to release endorphins include exercise, eating a healthy diet, laughing, working on fun hobbies, learning something new and connecting with others.

Denouncement
 
The Reason I have denounced,

All the earthly institutions is,

Not that I have gone nuts recently,

But put my thinking cap and gear on

In an analytical sphere of activity



Let me dissect the emancipation,

In political sense and

All political dimensions from

Capitalism to

Communism to

Autocracy

Talk about Emancipation

Of the Ailing Masses

But delivers sweet nothing

But to them

The Rulers all the perks,

So denouncing politics is my birth Right





Coming to Religion

Of many dimensions

One has to kick the bucket

To enter

Hell or Heaven

But only the religious hierarchy

Has the bounden right to enjoy

All the spoils of earthly existence,

I want to be happy,

“Here Now"

And I do not want to kick the bucket,

Just like that,

So I denounce all religions

That offer rights

After the fact,

Or after life



Writing about Science,

Is redundant

Since we have not comprehended

The Dark Matter

Where all the secrets

Of Dark energy lie

With it the ability to wonder

Beyond the Matter World,

To Alien space dimensions

Of All,

So I denounce,

The already known science

But not the

New Science of many dimensions

Then again,

I am very happy

With the very nature to

I am born in,

And is part of,

Which is marvelous

And wonder of all,

Which One God have never fathomed

Or created

All by himself,

By the "So called intelligent design".

Footpath, Foothold and Flowers

Footpath, Foothold and Flowers
 
In the city and the villages that surrounded it, where I grew up,  almost anything that one throws away grows (plants and seeds) on its own provided they did not rot away due to too much water. There was no need to water the plants and like a clock set, the rain did come in 10 to 14 day cycles even in the dry season.

Inter-monsoon rain was regular and now I understand and believe that the vegetation itself fashion this rain and its cycles.

More trees mean more regular  inter-monsoon rain.

Less trees mean less rain, for sure, inter-monsoon period.

I lived for short period in Kurunegala and we moved there since doctors advised my father to move out to reduce the recurrence of wheezy episodes I had in Kandy, when very young. We moved back and I never had any problems and the problems were probably, related to growing up and possibly poor nutrition,

I ponder now.

That is just to restate the damp state of affairs of my city, yesteryear.

Even Kurunegala the weather, then, when compared to the present day, with lot of vegetation and coconut trees was very mild but with more frequent dry spells than in Kandy. Now we are going through the cycle of perennial failure of rain. 
The rain that falls in the upcountry where the most important the hydroelectric  power plants are located is failing now. 

All these are related to modernization and clearing up of the scanty vegetation for what is called the accelerated development.

It is going to get worse and there is no master plan to arrest it except adding more vulnerable projects including coal power plants. 
Coal power plants will cause irreversible damage to our eco-system and by the time it is recorded by scientific pundits I would have been long gone (deadwood on a cremation site) but I hope somebody will trace back to year 2000, where I started voicing this on a regular basis in the Web.

It would have been voiced even earlier, if it had not been due to the slow pace of development of the Web and the Internet, in Ceylon.

The  neglect and the failure of the printed papers industry (especially the newspapers and their monopoly deciding what to print) to expose the inevitable economic and and environmental catastrophe made me to be active at least in the Web. 
I felt of the need to identify the proactive indicators of disaster with the economic impact in mind for a small island state which is entangled in ‘debt trap’. 

If the printed media was timely, proactive, I would never have been active in the Web, let alone it is not my field of expertise.

Now I have made it a pastime.

I have moved into a new type of study, what I call the "my sphere of activity" (very limited indeed) and ‘my limited observations’ and I want everybody who is versed in biology (or not) would contribute to this type of observation and record observable events, since we cannot believe the government and its courtiers (the better time is henchmen) to do it. 

They will never make any worthwhile investment (except pass legislation, they themselves violate with impunity) to this effort since politicians and their stooges won't understand the impact of sustainable policy on environment (the better term is mother nature).

Like the mess we have inherited with the success in limited over cricket in 1996 (little after that except 2012, T-20s) and ordering the filling up of an ancient water tank and building a cricket ground on it, is the classic example of the idiocy of our policy makers cricket or otherwise.

We are set for power cuts in spite of thermal power added to the system.

Now if I do not water the plants including water plants they will dry up and wilt away in a shorter spell of time as short as three days.

Unfortunately, there is nobody to help me with, some background knowledge in biology to look after my plants. If I go out for a short holiday for two weeks abroad, all my plants, I have collected over a period of little longer than two decades will be no more. 
This has happened to me not once but twice because of my frequent foreign sojourns.

I am very late in using my power of observations.

When we were young we did not have to worry about plants wilting away.

The observation period should have been over 25 years, or more but due to my frequent absence away from home on foreign soils for work, I have missed a big chunk of observation.

The decline probably started rapidly after 1975, when the plantation section was nationalized by the ill advice of the political leftists of this country. 
The Oil Crisis in Middle East and the Cash Crisis in Ceylon aggravated the already volatile political situation with JVP riding high and then the government in power crushing the uprising brutally, in 1971.

I am one who believes that there was no need for an armed struggle by JVP at that time and if the government took correct political steps, like the leftists’ demise in this country, JVP would have headed for its own demise and self-destruction. 

By the way, if they were able to wrestle power, they did not have  even a rough sketch a political plan for this country. What it really achieved was to spark the armed struggle by LTTE. Even,  the LTTE would have achieved much for the Tamil people, if they worked with the local politicians and people, instead of becoming a pawn of the Indian secret service, the RAW. 
This little political intermission is mandatory since India for some reason did not want us to manage our problems and succeed economically and politically. 

Only India and Indians know why they took such an action.

Everything, I observe, is in the direction of loss of biodiversity. 
The little exotic (I have lost all the orchids except one tiny specimen) plants I have, if I do not replant will be lost, not  only in the wild, but in my garden too, which is very very tiny indeed.

Lot in my neighborhood has changed, except for a few coconut trees all the trees have been felled by the owners in less less than 20 years. The trees felled include, the breadfruit tree (where the birds used to perch on their evening return), the jack trees, water pistol trees, a Kithul tree and the tall tree (I do not know the name) where birds used to feed on the leaves and stems     (I do not know why) during long spells of drought. I believe this tree produces a chemical or chemicals that down the appetite of the birds (even squirrels) but stimulate the brain when fruits are hard to come by.

I never chew a leaf of this tree to see what chemicals it has to entice me, fearing interference with mother nature.

Glad to say, I have contributed to the few remaining ones which include a few exotic palm trees and my wife’s contribution is the mulberry tree and the bamboos. None of them was for commercial value but for shear beauty of their presence in our garden. I may have brought thousands and thousands of ornamental plants over the years, since the land was barren with a big rock in the middle.

There was a plant which I used to call ‘jute plant’ that grew in the crevices of the rock, it bloomed at the top of a tall flowering stem and produced hundreds of little adventitious shoots.

I could neither get a single one to survive nor to find a new plant from even the botanical garden. Its fiber is used in India and Bangladesh to produce rice sacks.
Strangest of my observations was the little white flower.
 
I got the seeds from botanical garden and tried to grow them in our plot but never succeeded.  But they get established in a place that I did not intend to, in the first place.

Very pleasant surprise; to see the vine exhibiting its beautiful white flower near the house of a person known to me. In fact, his wife had worked under my supervision for a brief period. The owners had left to Canada 20 years ago and that house is still empty and once in 5 years somebody cleans the garden up and there was no way the cleaner, not a gardener had planted it, there.

Few of them were still there, until recently.

But to my surprise, the new owner, bulldozed the garden in two days and no more of the vines left.
 
Same day, I went to the botanical garden from where     I got the seeds (from the hanging runners coming over the fence). To my horror those runners have all gone, no flowers and dried up stems were seen on a tall tree.

I think I did some honors to the Botanical garden for picking few seeds (never able to see flowering in our garden) and spread them in our garden which (now) had got washed away and landed on a foreign soil where nobody was living.
 
The sense of sympathetic joy was overwhelming then and that is why I have to pen it down here.

But that joy is no more with the builders coming in for the final kill recently. 
I now remember few years ago, just couple of meters away there was an exotic plant and on a rainy day dug up the yams added to my collection. I now have an enormous collection (personal favorite) of it on my rooftop garden.

The comment below is now redundant.

I will be picking up some seeds from those white flowers and try again to germinate them and perhaps, I might even donate few seeds to the botanical garden chief (previous one was a good friend of mine and I never asked him for any exotic plants except those on sale).

The present one when I met, I suggested  that he should start selling water plants (which has become a monopoly of a selected few) and I am glad to say he has obliged.

I should wind up after stating from whom I learned the secret of throwing seeds all over the footpath (by accident) where I walk, at slow pace, almost ambling.

It was my wife's grandma.

She had the habit of spreading the seeds all over the garden and I used to pull most of them out to get some order in the garden. She was a sweet lady and she needed flowers for her daily offering to Buddha and we had at least 5 varieties almost everyday.

Now she and her daughter and my mother are all gone we cannot pluck two varieties on a single day except on my rooftop garden but they come not from terrestrial plants but from an assortment of water plants.

Strangely enough, my rooftop garden has three to six including, three varieties of jasmine which I grow (a trick I learned from my mother) in the memory of my mother who died well past 90s (and the other two ladies too, I fondly remember when I see these flowers).

I wish, I should not live that long since, if I do that long there won't be any birds or wildflowers to smell in this blessed island.

But as long as I could walk up the footpath (any footpath, for that matter) I am going to pluck dry flowers and spread the seeds like how birds do.

I don't care where they start germinating and like a good Buddhist, I have lost the attachment to any worldly thing including flowers.

In this scenario, I differ slightly from Buddhist virtues.

I want our great great grandchildren to have a reminder of the old times not of my photographs but some of the beautiful and fragrant flowers which we are losing by the day.

I now collect the photographs of all the flowers.

We do not have bees and the the little innocent black variety which are there for the last 30 years, come daily to our rooftop garden to collect honey from my tiny flowers of water plants.

20 years ago, there was a seed I tried to germinate by various mean but never could. Then one day I asked the laboratory assistant who was a keen gardener and one of my patients, (until his death nearing 90s), told me that the seeds crack when there is intense heat and then when the rain comes it germinates and if I soak the seeds they will rot.

Just by accident, I picked up three of those plants to pot before they are run over by the three wheeler drivers who reverse onto the wayside in a hurry. The road is now finished with concrete to lure the voters. It gets heated up and the seeds on either side crack and germinate. 

Suffice is to say, all the seeds are coming from a plant / tree my mother in law planted.

When the older generation take the exit pathway like in America, we will have only commercial growers and mono-culture or tissue culture cultivars.