Here are my Tips to help you hack your natural feel-good hormones to boost your Mental Health and overall sense of wellbeing.
Raising your levels of feel-good hormones will increase your overall sense of wellbeing by influencing your ability to experience pleasure, regulate your emotions, boost motivation, mental acuity, energy, sleep while reducing anxiety and stress. Nature has given us 4 hormones that you can boost naturally:
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- Endorphins – the natural painkiller.
- Dopamine – the pleasure hormone.
- Oxytocin – the love hormone.
- Serotonin – the mood boosting, happy hormone.
Research has revealed a range of activities that will increase all 4 of these hormones naturally, including: exercise, sex, massage, touch, eye contact, laughter, spending time with loved ones, music, yoga, meditation, eating a balanced diet rich in a range of nutrients, exposure to natural sunlight or light therapy, anything that creates a sense of achievement which can be found through work, hobbies, community activities and other interests.
It’s important to incorporate a range of these activities in your regular routine so you maintain these hormones at a healthy level, because when they drop, you will intuitively seek to raise them through a range of ‘quick fixes’ in the form of reward seeking behaviours that provide comfort and pleasure, from other sources. Not only are these quick fix solutions very short lived, but they also result in an unhealthy cycle, which can have a lasting negative impact on your mental and physical health.
As part of World Mental Health Day make a commitment to hack your hormones and boost your Mental Health.
If you have any questions relating to this article, I’d be delighted to talk with you or your team, please contact me at [email protected]