When you feel good, your brain is releasing happy chemicals like dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, or endorphin. These chemicals are essential for survival, and they turn on when an animal sees a way to meet its survival needs. Social needs are also central to the story of our happy chemicals, as they are essential to survival.

Each happy chemical has a special job to do. Dopamine creates a great feeling that a reward is at hand, while oxytocin creates the good feeling of trust. Serotonin creates the good feeling of social importance and contentment with long standing happiness, while endorphin creates a euphoria that masks pain. Understanding these happy chemicals and how they work in animals can help you better understand your own brain and behavior.

Key Takeaways

• Happy chemicals like dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin are essential for survival and turn on when an animal sees a way to meet its survival needs.
• Each happy chemical has a special job to do, such as creating a feeling of reward or trust.
• Understanding these happy chemicals and how they work in animals can help you better understand your own brain and behavior.

Understanding Happy Chemicals

When you feel good, your brain releases dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, or endorphins. These chemicals play a significant role in our survival and happiness. In animals, happy chemicals turn on when they see a way to meet their survival needs. Social needs are essential to survival, so they’re central to the story of our happy chemicals.

Each happy chemical has a special job to do. Dopamine creates a great feeling that a reward is at hand. When a monkey sees a juicy mango at the top of a tree, dopamine triggers the good feeling that a need is about to be met. That motivates the monkey to climb the tree, and more dopamine is triggered each time the monkey sees the mango get closer. Once the luscious treat is all eaten, dopamine stops because it’s already done its job. Now, the monkey scans the world for another dopamine stimulator, which will need another need.

Dopamine surges in a lion when it sees a gazelle it can catch, which releases the lion’s reserve tank of energy. A lion who ran after everything would starve to death because it wouldn’t have enough energy. When a good opportunity comes along, dopamine is the brain signal that now is the time to go for it. You may wish you had that excitement every minute, but a mammal survives by making careful decisions about when to invest its energy.

Neurons connect when dopamine flows, which helped our foraging ancestors find food in places they found it before. Once they got the reward they were seeking, their dopamine drooped back to neutral, and they looked for another way to meet a need. We mammals survive by evaluating steps toward our needs, and dopamine makes it feel good.

Oxytocin creates the good feeling of trust. Reptiles release this chemical while mating, but the rest of the time, they don’t trust their fellow reptile. Mammals live in groups, so we need to keep stimulating oxytocin to tolerate each other. Mammals surge with oxytocin during childbirth, but that oxytocin has gone in a short time, and more must be stimulated with touch. That’s why mammals lick or cuddle their babies. It would be nice to enjoy oxytocin all the time, but anyone close enough to touch you is close enough to bite you. So the mammal brain makes careful decisions about when to release the oxytocin.

Each spurt of oxytocin paves neural pathways that tell a mammal when to trust in the future. Early experience builds pathways that prepare a young mammal to attach to a herd or pack or troop. A gazelle enjoys oxytocin when surrounded by its herd, but it pays a price for this good feeling. You end up competing for the same dried up grass as everyone else when you stick with the herd. A gazelle longs for the greener pasture it sees in the distance, but when it strays from the herd to get it, its oxytocin falls, which motivates the gazelle to return to safety in numbers. Oxytocin promotes survival in a world full of predators, but you can end up on grass trampled by many hooves.

Serotonin is the “contentment” neurotransmitter that tells our brains we don’t need any more; yet its deficiency leads to depression. Serotonin creates the good feeling of social importance. No one likes to admit they enjoy social importance, so it helps to know that animals work hard to raise their status in a group because serotonin makes it feel good. This animal research is widely ignored because we like to think nature is warm and fuzzy, but understanding your animal urge for social importance helps you make peace with your serotonin.

In the state of nature, a mammal who reaches for a banana or a mating opportunity can easily get bitten by a group mate. Avoiding pain is the brain’s top priority, but if you’ve never reached for a reward, you would starve, and your genes would get wiped out. We could not be descended from animals who never asserted themselves.

Natural selection built a brain that constantly compares itself to others and rewards you with serotonin when you see yourself in a stronger position. When a mammal sees that it’s in the weaker position, cortisol is released, and it withdraws to avoid pain. Fear of conflict is part of being a social animal, and serotonin promotes survival by making you feel good when you take the chances necessary to meet your needs. But serotonin is soon metabolized, and you have to find a one-up position again to trigger more.

Endorphin is the brain chemical you’ve heard about in the context of runner’s high. Endorphin creates a euphoria that masks pain. Real physical pain is what triggers it. Endorphin didn’t evolve for us to inflict pain on ourselves to enjoy it. It evolved to promote survival. For example, a gazelle can run for its life even with a lion’s teeth in its flesh. Endorphin masks pain when we have been injured or experiencing unwanted physical pain.

Lets explore these further.

Dopamine: The Reward Trigger

When you feel good, your brain releases chemicals like dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, or endorphin. These chemicals are responsible for creating a sense of happiness and well-being in your body. However, the release of these chemicals is not constant, and they are only triggered when your brain senses a way to meet a need. Too much of one can interfere with the other, especially too much dopamine. This over stimulation of dopamine is becoming more and more of a problem in our modern society. How many times per day do you check your social media?

Dopamine is the chemical that creates a great feeling that a reward is at hand. For instance, when a monkey sees a juicy mango at the top of a tree, dopamine triggers the good feeling that a need is about to be met, which motivates the monkey to climb the tree. As the monkey gets closer to the mango, more dopamine is triggered, and when the luscious treat is all eaten, dopamine stops because it has already done its job.

Dopamine also surges in a lion when it sees a gazelle it can catch, releasing the lion’s reserve tank of energy. However, a lion who ran after everything would starve to death because it wouldn’t have enough energy. Therefore, dopamine is the brain signal that now is the time to go for it, and mammals survive by making careful decisions about when to invest their energy.

Neurons connect when dopamine flows, which helped our foraging ancestors find food in places they found it before. Once they got the reward they were seeking, their dopamine drooped back to neutral, and they looked for another way to meet a need. We mammals survive by evaluating steps toward our needs, and dopamine makes it feel good.

In summary, dopamine is responsible for creating a sense of reward and motivation in your brain. It helps you make careful decisions about when to invest your energy and motivates you to walk towards greener pastures. However, its release is not constant, and it only triggers when your brain senses a way to meet a need.

Oxytocin: The Trust Molecule

Oxytocin is a happy chemical that creates the good feeling of trust. While reptiles release this chemical only during mating, mammals need to keep stimulating oxytocin in order to tolerate each other. Mammals surge with oxytocin during childbirth, but that oxytocin dissipates quickly, and more must be stimulated with touch. That’s why mammals lick or cuddle their babies.

Each spurt of oxytocin paves neural pathways that tell a mammal when to trust in the future. Early experience builds pathways that prepare a young mammal to attach to a herd or pack or troop. A gazelle enjoys oxytocin when surrounded by its herd, but it pays a price for this good feeling. The gazelle ends up competing for the same dried-up grass as everyone else when it sticks with the herd. A gazelle longs for the greener pasture it sees in the distance, but when it strays from the herd to get it, its oxytocin levels drop, which feels bad. This motivates the gazelle to return to safety in numbers.

Oxytocin promotes survival in a world full of predators, but you can end up on grass trampled by many hooves. Dopamine motivates you to walk toward greener pasture, while oxytocin droop motivates you to go back. We mammals face a frustrating choice between dopamine and oxytocin, but our brain is designed to weigh those trade-offs. The mammal brain makes careful decisions about when to release oxytocin, as anyone close enough to touch you is close enough to bite you.

In conclusion, oxytocin is a happy chemical that creates the good feeling of trust. It promotes survival in mammals by helping them tolerate each other and form social bonds. However, the mammal brain makes careful decisions about when to release oxytocin, as it can be risky to trust others too readily.

Serotonin: The Contentment and Social Importance Indicator

Serotonin provides a sense of “contentment” that tells our brains we don’t need any more; yet its deficiency leads to depression. Serotonin is a chemical in the brain that creates a good feeling of social importance and a feeling of happiness that can be found beyond the feeling of social superiority. It is often ignored in animal research because people like to think nature is warm and fuzzy. However, understanding your animal urge for social importance can help you make peace with your serotonin.

In the state of nature, a mammal who reaches for a reward can easily get bitten by a group mate. Avoiding pain is the brain’s top priority, but if you’ve never reached for a reward, you would starve and your genes would get wiped out. Natural selection built a brain that constantly compares itself to others and rewards you with serotonin when you see yourself in a stronger position.

When a mammal sees that it’s in the weaker position, cortisol is released and it withdraws to avoid pain. Fear of conflict is part of being a social animal, and serotonin promotes survival by making you feel good when you take the chances necessary to meet your needs. But serotonin is soon metabolized, and you have to find a one-up position again to trigger more.

You may hate this in others, but when you seek the one-up position, you feel like you’re just trying to survive instead of hating your urge for social importance. You can feel good about how hard we work to restrain this impulse while still trying to get some serotonin. You don’t have to be king of the world to stimulate it. In fact, if you were king of the world, you’d face the same dilemma as everyone else. Your serotonin would be quickly metabolized, and you’d have to do more to get more. But every time you tried, you’d risk getting bitten by rivals who want your reward, and you’d lose oxytocin by undermining trust bonds. Serotonin works like this in our social life but it has a role in contentment as well.

When we are in the pursuit of being happy we maximize our serotonin output at healthy levels by finding enjoyment, satisfaction, and meaning. Happiness is unattainable, it’s a direction. Being happier is a choice, but not a feeling.

No one has a free pass to serotonin because the brain doesn’t work that way. It only releases the good feeling when you gain an advantage of enjoyment, satisfaction and meaning. This is why people are so fond of moral superiority. It stimulates serotonin without open conflict. Notice how often people stimulate their serotonin by calling attention to their moral superiority. The problem is that moral superiority can go away easily with one foul up, while the pursuit of being happy is more permanent. We can do this by making sure we are enjoying our life, feeling satisfied with ourselves, whether superior or not, and by establishing meaning in our lives. This approach will provide a long term and healthy production of serotonin in our brain.

Happiness long term, like a lifetime, and is felt above the neck. Happiness is more ethereal. The serotonin of happiness is felt in giving, like habitat for humanity. Happiness is not achievable with substances. We can be addicted to substances but there is no such thing as being addicted to too much happiness via serotonin. While happiness is above the neck, happiness is a broader and more stable emotional state that includes controlled joy, satisfaction, and overall well-being.

Endorphin: The Pain Masker

Endorphin is a brain chemical that creates a euphoric feeling that masks physical pain. Real physical pain is what triggers it, and it evolved to promote survival. For example, a gazelle can run for its life even with a lion’s teeth in its flesh. Endorphin masks pain for about 20 minutes, in that time the gazelle either retreats to heal its wounds or dies in a state of oblivion. Masking pain all the time would not promote survival. Endorphin is there for emergencies, not for partying.

Fortunately, you get a trickle of endorphin when you get up and move, and also from a belly laugh. We can be grateful that we have this regular trickle and also that we have an emergency backup system. Instead of expecting to surge with endorphin all the time, it’s important to understand that it’s there for emergencies.

It’s important to note that endorphin didn’t evolve for us to inflict pain on ourselves to enjoy it. It evolved to promote survival. Therefore, it’s crucial to avoid inflicting pain on ourselves in order to experience the euphoric feeling of endorphin.

The Mammalian Brain and Survival

In the animal kingdom, survival is a constant struggle. Animals are not constantly bathed in happy chemicals like dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, or endorphins. Instead, these chemicals are released when an animal sees a way to meet its survival needs.

Dopamine is responsible for creating a feeling of reward when an animal sees something it needs. For example, when a monkey sees a juicy mango at the top of a tree, dopamine triggers a good feeling that motivates the monkey to climb the tree. As the monkey gets closer to the mango, more dopamine is released. Once the mango is eaten, dopamine stops because it has already done its job. The monkey then scans the world for another dopamine stimulator, which will fulfill another need.

Similarly, a lion experiences a surge of dopamine when it sees a gazelle it can catch. This surge releases the lion’s reserve tank of energy, allowing it to catch its prey. However, if the lion chased after every potential meal, it would starve to death. Therefore, dopamine helps the lion make careful decisions about when to invest its energy.

Oxytocin, on the other hand, creates a feeling of trust. While reptiles release this chemical only during mating, mammals need to keep stimulating oxytocin to tolerate each other. Mammals surge with oxytocin during childbirth, but this surge quickly fades. Therefore, mammals must stimulate oxytocin through touch, such as licking or cuddling their babies. However, the mammalian brain makes careful decisions about when to release oxytocin, as anyone close enough to touch is also close enough to bite.

Serotonin creates a feeling of social importance. Animals work hard to raise their status in a group because serotonin makes it feel good. However, in the state of nature, a mammal who reaches for a reward can easily get bitten by a group mate. Therefore, fear of conflict is part of being a social animal, and serotonin promotes survival by making you feel good when you take the chances necessary to meet your needs.

Finally, endorphins create a euphoria that masks physical pain. However, this chemical did not evolve for animals to inflict pain on themselves to enjoy it. Instead, it evolved to promote survival. For example, a gazelle can run for its life even with a lion’s teeth in its flesh, as endorphins mask the pain for about 20 minutes. In that time, the gazelle either retreats to heal its wounds or dies in a state of oblivion.

Understanding these happy chemicals can help us better understand our own behavior and motivations. While it’s tempting to try to constantly stimulate these chemicals, the mammalian brain is designed to weigh trade-offs and make careful decisions about when to release them.

Trade-Offs Between Dopamine, Oxytocin, and Serotonin

When it comes to happy chemicals, dopamine and oxytocin are two of the most important. Each of these chemicals has a unique role to play in our survival and wellbeing, but they also come with their own trade-offs.

Dopamine is the chemical that creates a feeling of reward when we see something we want. It motivates us to pursue our goals and take action to meet our needs. However, dopamine is also short-lived. Once we’ve achieved our goal, dopamine levels drop, and we need to find another source of stimulation to keep the feeling going.

Oxytocin, on the other hand, creates feelings of trust and connection with others. It’s essential for social bonding and helps us tolerate each other in groups. However, oxytocin is also fleeting. It requires constant stimulation through touch and other forms of physical contact to keep the feeling going.

These two chemicals create a dilemma for mammals like us. We need dopamine to motivate us to pursue our goals, but we also need oxytocin to maintain social bonds and avoid isolation. Our brains are constantly weighing the trade-offs between these two chemicals and making decisions about when to release them.

Serotonin is another important happy chemical that plays a role in social status. It creates feelings of importance and helps us assert ourselves in social situations. However, serotonin is also short-lived and requires constant stimulation to maintain the feeling. That can come through directing ourselves toward the choice of being happy. As long as we are going in the direction of being happy through enjoyment, satisfaction, and meaning then we are producing healthy amounts of serotonin. This is different than constant pleasure seeking, which is strictly reward based.

There’s no such thing as overdosing on too much happiness but there’s one thing that downregulates serotonin, and that’s dopamine, which is connected with pleasure. That means the more pleasure you seek the more unhappy you get. It’s been said a million times, don’t seek pleasure, instead seek happiness.

Finally, endorphins are the chemicals that mask physical pain during emergencies. While they can create feelings of euphoria, they are not meant to be stimulated regularly.

In summary, each happy chemical has its own unique role to play in our survival and wellbeing, but they also come with their own trade-offs. Our brains are constantly weighing these trade-offs and making decisions about when to release each chemical. By understanding these chemicals, we can better understand our own behavior and motivations.

Serotonin and Social Dynamics

Serotonin is the “contentment” neurotransmitter that tells our brains we are content and happy. Happiness doesn’t result from external forces, it is internal in our brain. Serotonin is a brain chemical that creates the good feeling of social importance and self-esteem in humans. It is released when a mammal sees itself in a stronger position compared to others in the group. This urge for social importance is hardwired into our brains and helps us to survive in a group.

In the state of nature, a mammal who reaches for a reward or a mating opportunity can easily get bitten by a group mate. Avoiding pain is the brain’s top priority, but if you’ve never asserted yourself, you would starve, and your genes would get wiped out. Natural selection built a brain that constantly compares itself to others and rewards you with serotonin when you see yourself in a stronger position.

When a mammal sees that it’s in the weaker position, cortisol is released in the form of stress, and it withdraws to avoid pain. Fear of conflict is part of being a social animal, and serotonin promotes survival by making you feel good when you take the chances necessary to meet your needs. But serotonin is soon metabolized, and you have to find a one-up position again to trigger more.

You don’t have to be king of the world to stimulate serotonin. In fact, if you were king of the world, you’d face the same dilemma as everyone else. Your serotonin would be quickly metabolized, and you’d have to do more to get more. But every time you tried, you’d risk getting bitten by rivals who want your reward, and you’d lose oxytocin by undermining trust bonds.

No one has a free pass to serotonin because the brain doesn’t work that way. It only releases the good feeling when you gain an advantage. This is why people are so fond of moral superiority. It stimulates serotonin without open conflict. Notice how often people stimulate their serotonin by calling attention to their moral superiority.

Understanding your animal urge for social importance helps you make peace with your serotonin. Instead of hating our urge for social importance, you can feel good about how hard we work to restrain this impulse while still trying to get some serotonin. It’s not easy being a mammal, but it’s important to understand how our brain chemicals work to promote survival.

Endorphin and Its Emergency Role

Endorphin is a brain chemical that creates a euphoric feeling that masks physical pain. It is commonly associated with the runner’s high. However, it is important to note that endorphin did not evolve for us to inflict pain on ourselves to enjoy it. Its primary purpose is to promote survival in emergencies.

For instance, when a gazelle is being chased by a lion, endorphin masks the pain caused by the lion’s teeth in its flesh. This allows the gazelle to run for its life and either retreat to heal its wounds or die in a state of oblivion. Endorphin only masks pain for about 20 minutes, after which the pain signals return as a valuable reminder that the injury needs protection.

Fortunately, we get a regular trickle of endorphin when we get up and move or from a belly laugh. However, it is important to note that endorphin is not meant to be searched for all the time, as masking pain constantly would not promote survival. Instead, it is an emergency backup system that kicks in when needed.

In summary, endorphin plays a crucial role in masking physical pain during emergencies to promote survival. While we can enjoy a regular trickle of endorphin from certain activities, it is not meant to be searched for all the time as it is not designed for partying.

Happy Chemicals vs. Cortisol

When you feel good, your brain releases happy chemicals such as dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, or endorphin. These chemicals are responsible for creating a great feeling of reward, trust, social importance, and euphoria. However, there is one chemical that is not so happy – cortisol.

Cortisol is a stress hormone that is released by your body when it perceives a threat. It is the body’s natural response to danger, and it helps you to respond quickly to a potential threat. However, when cortisol is released too often or in large amounts, it can have negative effects on your body and mind.

The release of cortisol can be triggered by a variety of factors such as anxiety, fear, or stress. When cortisol is released, it can cause a range of symptoms such as increased heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate. It can also cause feelings of anxiety, irritability, and restlessness.

In contrast, happy chemicals such as dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin have positive effects on your body and mind. They can help to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. They can also improve your mood, boost your energy levels, and increase your sense of well-being.

Dopamine creates a great feeling of reward, serotonin creates the good feeling of social importance, oxytocin creates the good feeling of trust, and endorphin creates a euphoria that masks pain. These chemicals can help you to feel good and improve your quality of life.

In conclusion, while cortisol is a necessary chemical for survival, too much of it can be harmful. It is important to find ways to reduce stress and anxiety in your life and to stimulate the release of happy chemicals such as dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin. By doing so, you can improve your overall health and well-being.