The Chemistry of Happiness | Mary-Frances Hanover | TEDxCushingAcademy
my name is Mary Francis Hanover I'm a teacher here at krushing Academy thank you for allowing me to share some thoughts with you on chemistry and happiness not many people put the words chemistry and happiness together in the same sentence especially high school chemistry students but no matter how you look at it chemistry and happiness are inexorably and organically linked life in the human body is designed to be an enjoyable experience our evolutionary biology and sure is that everything necessary for our survival should make us feel good so it makes sense that our brain has access to chemicals called neurochemicals that turn life's struggles and trials into something that make us happy when we achieve them it was the ancient Greeks who first explored that concept of the link between our physical bodies and our emotional response they created the concept of the four humors black bile yellow bile blood and fleem now this concept has long since been dismissed but fast forward a few thousand years later we are still exploring that link between the physical and the emotional it was Francis Crick who is best known for his work on identifying the um structure of the DNA molecule who once said that you your Joys and Sorrows your memories and abilities your personal sense of identity and Free Will are in fact nothing more than the behavior of a vast network of nerve cells and their Associated neurons Neuroscience proposes that happiness indeed any one of our emotions is simply a result of biochemical reactions in the brain bra brought on by various stimuli the human brain weighs a little over 2 pounds and has an estimated 86 billion neurons now that number is almost impossible to conceptualize but imagine hopping on a plane and traveling around the world 3 million times you will have traveled 86 billion miles signals travel along each nerve cell and each neuron makes hundreds of connections with others around it everything we do and everything we are relies on the ability of our nerve cells to communicate with one another electrical impulses and chemical signals travel across the brain and from the brain to the other parts of the nervous system when a neuron is activated there is a slight change in electrical charge this unbalanced charge is called an action potential and is called caused by a change in concentration of ions across the cell membrane this action potential travels along a neuron very very quickly think of a series of dominoes falling when it reaches the end a chemical is released it travels across the synapse and binds to receptors on the receiving neuron this starts the process all over again at each of the 300 trillion synapses in the human body these chem called neurotransmitters allow one nerve cell to communicate with the next it's this vast Network that provides the complexity needed for us to feel emotion whether it's devastating grief or soaring Elation the brain produces hundreds of neurotransmitters only a fraction of which have been explored by science however there are four that are associated with our happiness remember this acronym do d o s e dopamine oxytocin serotonin and endorphins the right balance of these chemicals in our bodies make us happy too much of the dose or too little of the dose can cause great distress dopamine the first of our neurotransmitters has sometimes been called the happiness drug but that's really a misconception dopamine is more associated with reward reward and motivation more associated with anticipation than actual happiness dopamine motivates us to move towards goals needs and desires and will reward us with this surge of satisfaction when we achieve them some Studies have shown that rats with low levels of dopamine are only willing to work hard enough to get a minimal amount of food however rats with higher levels of dopamine are willing to exert the effort to get twice the amount of food they need and we all know that a fat rat is a happy rat so how do we as humans maintain dopamine levels in our body well make sure you set goals and more importantly break those goals into little pieces that way our brain instead of reaching One Finish Line reaches a series of Finish Lines make sure you recognize and celebrate each one of your achievements did you get an A on that Lit test get the part in the play maybe you made it to the gym three times this week by recognizing and celebrating each one of these will help maintain dopamine in your body set new goals before the old ones are reached and lastly and this is very important make sure you get enough sleep you eat healthy foods and you exercise regularly regular exercise releases dopamine but when you exercise with a Target will release even more dopamine so the next time you go to the gym have targets involved oxytocin oxytocin is the chemical foundation for trusting others it has been around a very long time a precursor can be traced back to over 400 million years ago and natural selection has found a way to utilize it in both our brains and our bodies some Studies have shown that animals will reject their offspring if the release of oxytocin is blocked in humans oxytocin is activated by closeness with another person now I don't mean for you to start snuggling with your neighbor what you can do instead is have a positive social interaction what that means is the next time you're talking with someone look up from your phone make eye contact be attentive face- tof face time instead of Facebook time will ensure your happiness oxytocin cements existing bonds and relationships and it promotes intimacy and Trust all of which are essential for a positive and productive Community give somebody a hug if you're not a hugging kind of person or someone's not a receiving hugs kind of person share a meal pay the them a sincere compliment pet a dog maybe even use the LW these positive social interactions keep the levels of oxytocin in our body oxytocin helps us care for other people and it helps motivate us towards working together towards a common purpose and of course get enough sleep regular exercise and eat healthy foods serotonin has many jobs in the human body but it's best known for its role in maintaining mood balance serotonin has been produced in your brain and your intestines and as a matter of fact most of your serotonin is housed in your gastrointestinal tract low levels of Serotonin are associated with loneliness and depression which is one reason why people might join groups the culture of a group provides experiences that facilitate serotonin release another way way to release serotonin is to take a moment and to reflect back on a past achievement or success allowing your brain to relive that experience you see our brains have a difficult time telling the difference between what is real and what is imagined so serotonin will be released in both instances it's also important to get outside every day for a few minutes in the sun our skin absorbs UV radiation which helps our body produce vitamin D as well as serotonin eat healthy foods and in this case carbohydrates that contain tryptophan which our body changes into serotonin get regular exercise for serotonin you want low impact exercise in Aerobic zones and of course get enough sleep endorphins endorphins are the last of our quartet of chemicals that make us feel good when it comes to designing happiness endorphins help us power through endorphins am mask pain and discomfort and they're known as the body's natural painkillers which is why they're associated with the whole fight or flight mechanism historically endorphins are what helped our ancestors ancestors keep running through the pain when being chased by Predators today however endorphins are released through intense regular exercise and when I say intense is you're in our anerobic zones when oxygen stores in our muscles are depleted and the pain starts to build endorphins help us push through another way to release endorphins is through certain Aroma therapies like vanilla or lavender and lastly and this is fantastic news for us all dark chocolate helps release endorphins but perhaps the simplest and most effective way for us to activate endorphins in our bodies is through laughter even the anticipation or the expectation of laughter releases endorphins so make sure that you take your sense of humor with you wherever you go what did the fish say when it swam into a wall damn I did have a line in my back pocket if nobody laughed but that was good please remember that I've just given you a really really simplified version of how neurotransmitters work neurotransmitters are incredibly complex their functions are dependent upon where they're coming from where they're going to what neurons release them what neurons receive them and a myriad of other factors but keep in mind that you have control over daily activities and behaviors that can maintain the balance of dopamine oxytocin serotonin and endorphins in our body your body has an inner Pharmacy that is open 24 hours a day 7 days a week you need to make it work for you thank you [Applause]