What Are Endorphins?
In the past you may have come across the term “endorphin” and how they are released during exercise to provide you with a rush of happiness and relaxation. So, exactly what are endorphins?
Endorphins (“endo-” for “endogenous” = produced within the body, “-phins” = morphine = an opiate pain reliever) are powerful chemicals primarily produced by the pituitary gland, a small bean-sized gland responsible for regulating important functions such as growth and reproduction.
When released, they go on a mission to mask bodily pain, relieve stress, and enhance pleasure. They can also lead to intoxicating feelings of euphoria. Endorphins are most commonly associated with feelings of joy following intense exercise sessions, joyful states that are commonly known as “runner’s high’s” or “exercise euphoria”. They are divided into:
- Alpha endorphins
- Beta endorphins
- Gamma endorphins
Beta-endorphins are the most abundant in the human body, which is the reason it is the best-researched subgroup of your small lucky charms.
Take-Home-Message #1: Endorphins are your body’s natural pain relievers and messenger molecules that increase feelings of happiness, that have the potential to lead to intoxicating feelings of euphoria.
Their Biological Purpose
Next, I am going to discuss how and why endorphins have developed the way they have. Despite the well-known positive effects of endorphins, this potent neurochemical (referring to a small molecule that participates in nerve activity) did not evolve for good times. In fact, physical pain is the primary trigger of endorphins.
To help you understand the role of endorphins, let us start with a hypothetical story. Pretend you are an antelope on the African plain. You are relaxing, munching on some vegetation, pretty much minding your own business, when suddenly a starving lion springs out of a clump of bushes and starts to chase you. You instantly react and start running for your life. Unfortunately, the lion gashes your hind leg with its claw. You abruptly change directions, faking out the hard-charging lion, and escape into safety. A bit later, after you’ve recovered your breath, you examine your hind leg and are startled to see just how deep the lion’s scratch marks are. It’s a physical injury that under normal circumstances would have had you drop everything and writhe in pain.
What saved your life was a rush of adrenaline and endorphins. These hormones worked together to temporarily mask your pain and provide you with the drive to exert the maximum effort that was required to save your life.
Additionally, endorphins work by providing you with a satisfactory sense of reward after you engage in activities that promote your survival. For instance, the powerful rush of euphoria following an intense run happens primarily because your body wants to reward you, as running is beneficial for your health and can help your survival in the long-term.
Take-Home-Message #2: Endorphins evolved to mask physical pain during emergency situations and to reward you for increasing your chances of survival.
Effects on the Body
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, endorphins can have powerful effects on the body in sufficient doses. Let’s have a more detailed look at how those little molecules affect our overall physical and mental well-being:
1. Anxiety & Stress
The pain-relieving and calming effect of the endorphins makes you less sensitive and more resistant to the high stress and anxiety. It can make you feel bad about yourself for not having started it earlier. This is why a walk in the sun, or a jogging session often helps to calm you down following a time of high stress.
2. Mental Health
Additionally endorphins can create states of euphoria and leave you with a feeling of great satisfaction for hours to come. So if your body regularly produces happiness hormones, depressive moods definitely won’t stand a chance in the long run.
3. Sleep Quality
Your body’s happy molecules also have a calming effect and ensure deep and restful sleep. By decreasing the levels of your body’s stress hormones, endorphins drive your worries away. Thereby they can decrease your late-night inner talk and setting you up for a good night’s sleep.
4. Appetite Control
Although more high-quality studies are needed, animal studies are quite promising regarding the control of appetite. For example, in a study with mice, increased levels of opiates were associated with normal regulation of hunger [3].
5. Pain Tolerance
As mentioned previously, endorphins have immediate direct effects on the nervous system resulting in an increased threshold for pain perception. An increased pain tolerance will also help you to produce greater levels of exercise-induced euphoria.
6. Sexual Function
Endorphins are also partially responsible for the formation of sex hormones. It may be the reason for an increased sex drive following a rather intense gym session or may be why you are “just not in the mood” following period of prolonged physical inactivity.
7. Immune System
Those who go through life in a positive mood, have fun and take more time out to relax, are less likely to be ill. This is simply because endorphins strengthen the immune system.
Take-Home-Message #3: Endorphins relieve pain, enhance your mood, ensure better sleep, activate sexuality, reduce hunger, strengthen the immune system and prevent stress.
How they Work to Produce their Effects
Endorphins work to produce their effects by working as a neurotransmitter. Neurotransmitters are chemicals messengers produced by your brain with the purpose to enhance the transmission of electrical signals (the primary way of nerve communication).
When your body experiences physical stress, endorphins are produced in your brain’s pituitary gland, which are then distributed all throughout your bloodstream. Here, they interact with physical receptors all over your body, resulting in the production all of their other wonderful beneficial effects discussed above.
Best Endorphin Sources
Now we know that endorphins can have powerful effects on the body. Whether it is relieving chronic pain, alleviating anxiety and depression, improving your body’s natural immunity, controlling your weight, or giving you a higher-quality slumber, endorphins can do it all. It is not surprising that we crave the occasional after-effects of a natural endorphin boost.
Now that you know more about endorphins and their great positive effects on your body’s physical and mental health, it’s up to you to take your luck into your own hands. Below we will show you how you can easily increase your endorphin levels naturally.
Physical Activity
When you exercise, your brain unlocks the ability to release high amounts of endorphins. The amount of endorphin production appears to be related to the intensity level of the activity you engage in. In order to accumulate noteworthy levels, and to experience the joyful effects of the “runner’s high”, put your body through a significant challenge.
Long-term positive effects of exercise were found by researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine in a study in which daily running for 30 minutes brought a significant improvement after just 10 days [1]. Moreover, some research shows, that if done correctly, high-intensity exercise for short periods (for example a ~15-20 minute HIT session) of exercising a few times per week can create long-lasting beneficial effects.
But what exact exercise intensity, frequency, and duration is ideal for you to create long-lasting levels of euphoria? Find out this and much more in our free “Exercise Euphoria Secrets” ebook, as well as our newsletter by subscribing.
Nutrition
When you think about chocolate… how do you feel? Happy? Even in small amounts, dark chocolate can release endorphin molecules. About one square of chocolate a day should do the trick. Unfortunately though, the consumption of chocolate appears to release the happy molecules in significantly lower amounts than is the case with physical activity. Additionally, the effects are rather short-lived. The chemical “capsaicin” in chilli peppers has shown to have a similar effect [6].
A balanced diet that provides your body with essential nutrients that your body craves for survival helps in the maintenance of good overall health and can also leave you feeling great.
Beside maintaining a balanced diet, certain foods appear to be able to normalize a different powerful happiness hormone called serotonin. For increased production of serotonin, foods containing the L-tryptophan, such as fish, bananas, avocados, legumes, oatmeal, cheese or seeds such as amaranth, quinoa and sesame are recommended.
Although we do not recommend it for the purposes of creating additional joy, dietary supplements can also help. Products containing vitamin D, for example, can contribute to the production of serotonin.
The Sun
An additional great source of endorphins is the sun’s radiation. Have you ever wondered why your mood surges when the sun shines? Of course, the reason is because the sun stimulates the release of endorphins! Among other reasons, this is due to the effects of vitamin D, which forms in larger quantities within the body as a result of exposure to the sun. This is particularly evident during the springtime. Joy appears to spread quickly as soon as the days get longer and the sun shines more. Aim to spend 30 minutes outside on a sunny day whenever you can to experience the effects for yourself!
Laughter
Laughter has shown to make you happy, while simultaneously strengthening your immune system. Researchers at Oxford University found that laughing leads to significantly less intense pain perception [4]. The test subjects in the study were asked to watch a funny video while the cuff of a blood pressure monitor on their arm was inflated very tightly. The group that watched the funny videos hardly noticed the pain, whereas the control group who felt the pain more intensely.
Another study found that people with good social contacts have a higher pain threshold than people who are not particularly sociable [5].
Tip: The brain doesn’t really care whether the laughter is real or you are just faking it. By tensing your facial muscles involved with smiling, you can trick your brain and activate the production of endorphins. Who would have thought it was that easy?
Other Sources
Although the aforementioned sources are the most reliable contributors in when it comes to the production of endorphins, there are a few other activities that appear to be able to cause a spike endorphin levels:
- Eat dark chocolate
- Eat something Spicy
- Have a glass of wine
- Intimacy
- Get a massage
- Take a trip to the Sauna
- Create Music or Art
- Dance Alone or With Someone Else
- Meditate
- Volunteer
- Acupuncture
Take-Home-Message #4: The most reliable sources for a quick endorphin boost are physical activity, a healthy diet, laughing with friends or taking a walk in the sun. Creating happiness can be so easy!
Endorphin Deprivation
Have you been taking it easy on your exercise routine? Have you skipped out on your healthy meals or missed out on a few social events with friends and family? Are you feeling more down than usual? If you answered “yes” to one of the questions before, then you may be wondering if you are suffering from endorphin deficiency. There are a few ways this can manifest itself, however the most general noticeable symptoms are:
- Fatigue & Exhaustion
- Sleeping difficulties
- Lack of drive/motivation
- Irritability
Other common symptoms that develop at later stages include depression, anxiety, moodiness, aches and pains, addiction, as well as addictive behaviour and impulsivity [6].
Note: If you suffer from chronic pain, depression, or anxiety, seek a health care professional for appropriate treatment. Moreover, give the above-mentioned ways of boosting your natural happiness levels a try!
Take-Home-Message #5: Keep a steady flow of happy chemicals flowing through your bloodstream to avoid the negative effects of endorphin deprivation. These include fatigue, exhaustion, irritability and other common signs and symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Conclusion
In the previous few paragraphs you learned that endorphins are one of the most powerful hormones involved in creating natural happiness. You learned that they have the power to create long-lasting positive moods and possess the ability to decrease the perceptions of pain during extreme situations by reducing the transmission of pain signals to the brain. Additionally, they have strong calming effects and can strengthen the body’s immune system.
Common symptoms of endorphin deficiency include fatigue, exhaustion, lack of drive and irritability. Try to boost your endorphin levels through physical activity, maintaining a balanced diet, as well as by enjoying the sunny outdoors and through social activities and laughing with friends.
Would YOU benefit from a regular, reliable Endorphin Boost to create additional happiness in your life?
References
[1] Craft, L. L., & Perna, F. M. (2004). The benefits of exercise for the clinically depressed. Primary care companion to the Journal of clinical psychiatry. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC474733/.
[2] Tarr, B., Launay, J., Cohen, E., & Dunbar, R. (2015). Synchrony and exertion during dance independently raise pain threshold and encourage social bonding. Biology Letters, 11(10), 20150767. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0767
[3] Appleyard, S. M., Hayward, M., Young, J. I., Butler, A. A., Cone, R. D., Rubinstein, M., & Low, M. J. (2003). A role for the endogenous opioid β-endorphin in energy homeostasis. Endocrinology, 144(5), 1753–1760. https://doi.org/10.1210/en.2002-221096
[4] Dunbar, R. I., Baron, R., Frangou, A., Pearce, E., van Leeuwen, E. J., Stow, J., Partridge, G., MacDonald, I., Barra, V., & van Vugt, M. (2011). Social laughter is correlated with an elevated pain threshold. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 279(1731), 1161–1167. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2011.1373
[5] Johnson, K. V.-A., & Dunbar, R. I. (2016). Pain tolerance predicts human social network size. Scientific Reports, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep25267
[6] Cafasso, J. (2017, July 12). Endorphins: Functions, levels, and natural boosts. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/endorphins#symptoms.
*Disclaimer*
I suggest that you speak to your doctor before starting your high intensity program. If you are worried that a high-intensity program may cause a flare up or worsen a current physical injury, speak to your physical therapist prior.
I want to be 100% transparent with you, so I would like to disclose that there may be some affiliate links within my blog posts. Given this, you can assume that I would receive a small commission from any links included. That being said, I truly only promote products or services that I believe deliver great value to you and support you in your journey of becoming a happier version of yourself through exercise!