Grow beyond the chemicals in your head!
Ever wondered what makes you feel the emotions? Like, how exactly do you perceive happiness, pain, excitement? “ It’s all emotions ! ” is a layman’s answer. Science says it’s the chemicals in your brain or it is the result of millions of chemical reactions.
What exactly are the chemicals in our brain and how can we grow beyond them would be the focus here.
Brain communicates through tiny cells called neurons via neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers. Out of the numerous chemicals, the main ones in our brain is often referred to as D.O.S.E : Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin, Endorphins. They are transmitted from nerve to nerve or neuron to neuron deciding how you feel and function every day.
What does each one of them do?
DOPAMINE: Dopamine is basically a pleasure and reward neurotransmitter. It controls your behavior, emotion, and cognition. As it is related to movement, you might have come across the statement that Parkinson’s disease is linked with low levels of dopamine. Nevertheless, it also helps you in achieving your to-do list or starting a new habit. But the effects are usually short lived.
OXYTOCIN: Oxytocin is responsible for us being social animals which is also referred as “hugging drug” since it is released during physical contact with others, providing us the feeling of love, friendship or deep trust. The effects of oxytocin are long lasting unlike dopamine.
SEROTONIN : Sense of accomplishment or recognition can be attributed to the effects of serotonin. It creates strong, positive emotions. Since it controls dynamics of pride, loyalty and status, it plays a role in sleep, depression and mood.
ENDORPHINS : Endorphins is our partner in persistence, helping us push beyond our comfort levels.
How do they influence our well being?
Too little or too much of certain neurotransmitters results in a chemical imbalance in the brain. For example, too little dopamine can lead to depression while too much can lead to aggressive and addictive behaviour. Hence, balance is the key.
None of us are born with anxiety issues. Our moods are influenced by our social ennvironment though many of it depends on our nervous system. A perfect balance of the hormones and chemicals help us in feeling a balanced mood. Limited stress and exercise helps us in this.
How can you grow beyond them?
Balance is what we are seeking here. But the unintentional rat race leaves you with no choice. With each day getting tightly packed, the kind of stress and mood swings you experience has become more common. One can make a statement which sounds incredibly simple: ‘Control your stress’, but you know it is not an easy thing.
Let’s take an example of a condition that is an aftereffect of too much stress -migraine!
Unlike just a headache, migraine headaches are characterized by symptoms such as severe pulsing head pain, sensitivity to light, sound,smells and nausea. They can reach a level where pills become ineffective. Without treatment, a migraine headache can last upto 3 days.Medical professionals do not fully understand the exact cause of migraine and hence treatment depends on various factors like frequency, the kind of pain, accompanying symptoms.
Listing some insights from personal experience. It took few weeks to try and implement different ways and noticed lesser frequency when followed regularly.
- Stop Rushing and plan better : No matter how much you rushed to get through the day, it adds up to make a difference of few minutes that is not worth the throbbing of impulses in you brain. Once in a while you can rush it all, but this routine everyday is not worth the pain.
- Prioritize your task and goals: Bucket lists and life goals are endless. Prioritizing and breaking up the tasks helps to travel the journey with ease.
- Take enough breaths and relax: Consciously convince yourself to take long breaths and relax while you perform your tasks until it becomes a habit and your brain flow with the pace.
- Calm reactions: Take time to process what is going on and react calmly rather than half heard burst outs.
- Celebrate small things: If your list says plant a tree this week and when you get it done, be happy and stay motivated to strike off the next thing on your list or if you completed your weekly target of exercises, get yourself a small treat.
- Social interactions: Have deep and affectionate conversations, gift something or share a meal. Keep your circle closer.
These acts can lead to balanced chemical reactions by creating a balance of D.O.S.E
Why do you need to outgrow the chemicals?
Though balance is much sought and it is the base of many medications, the exact cause of mental health conditions is still unclear and there is little evidence that imbalance in brain chemicals cause them.
Even though antidepressant medications support imbalance theory, their effects are temporary. Therefore, permanent solutions like learning new strategies and new methods needs to be adopted. You must take control of chemicals in you brain and their reactions. A balanced diet, reduced stress and exercise aids this. Practice is important to make you better and stronger.
P.S: The title ownership belongs to a well wisher. But it has stuck with me ever since. Thank You for this one!