Did you know your body is constantly talking to you? Not with actual words, of course, but rather through the changing levels of our internal chemicals, including dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins.
Their impact on our emotions, health and overall wellbeing simply cannot be overestimated.
Take dopamine, a neurotransmitter (or chemical messenger) that I think of as the motivation chemical. Fuelled by hard physical work and mental effort, it in turn further stimulates our drive, helping us to pursue goals.
Oxytocin – the love or connection hormone – helps you to bond with people and builds optimism.
Serotonin is linked to mood and energy and has a hugely positive effect on emotions and productivity levels.
Finally, endorphins aid in de-stressing: hormones stimulated by hard physical activity, they calm you and relieve pain.
Researchers have consistently found that modern life is having a significant detrimental impact on these neurotransmitters.
For example, when you scroll on your phone for hours, and feel depleted and demotivated afterwards, this, as I shall explain later, is down to phones affecting your dopamine levels.
The same thing happens when you eat too much sugar, or sit inside all day.
TJ Power with his book The DOSE Effect
DOPAMINE: BOOST YOUR MOTIVATION CHEMICAL
DON’T CHECK YOUR PHONE TOO EARLY IN THE DAY: We know from research that parts of your brain that experience pleasure and pain are situated beside each other in the hypothalamus, the brain’s control centre.
To understand how they operate in conjunction with each other, leading US psychiatrist Dr Anna Lembke, who’s done a lot of work in this area, has compared it to a set of scales on a fulcrum – I encourage people to imagine them as a see-saw.
When you do hard ‘painful’ activities resulting in mental or physical strain, such as pushing yourself in the gym or concentrating for a prolonged period of time, the see-saw will be weighted on the pain side of your brain, causing more activity there. This then causes the ‘pleasure’ side of the see-saw to rise.
But too much ‘pleasure’ from rapid dopamine-spiking activities, such as eating sugary food, drinking alcohol or scrolling through social media, will tip the see-saw in the opposite direction. In response to the unnatural dopamine spikes, your brain produces an additional neurochemical called dynorphin, to dissuade you from seeking out these activities. It creates discomfort in your brain, usually experienced as depressive feelings and severe low mood, the kind you get after drinking too much alcohol or eating too much sugary food.
In a low dopamine state, you will feel demotivated – exercising or eating healthily will feel harder – and you will procrastinate.
Dopamine is designed to be slowly ‘earned’ through effort. Activities such as housework, exercise and gardening are good sources of ‘slow’ dopamine. Keeping a diary, painting or playing a musical instrument also help. As does sleep – when sleeping, your brain regenerates dopamine so you wake with an abundance of it, motivated to start your day.
Considering that your dopamine levels are at their baseline in the morning, it’s important that you don’t look at your phone first thing and create a dopamine ‘spike and dip’ effect. I delay looking at mine until I’ve been out for a walk. Remember this simple phrase: ‘I must see sunlight before I see social media.’
FORGET YOUR PHONE, WATCH TV: I’m sure you’ve found yourself struggling to watch TV without checking your phone constantly.
Both, of course, are screen-based activities, but when it comes to our dopamine there are significant differences.
Watching TV requires effort from your brain, as you have to concentrate and pay attention, increasing dopamine levels.
Scrolling through social media videos takes zero effort to get pleasure, and will have a long-term negative effect on your dopamine.
OXYTOCIN: SWITCH ON THE LOVE HORMONE
HUG FOR AT LEAST FIVE SECONDS: Research has demonstrated that when someone holds you, oxytocin is released into your bloodstream. As a result, your primary stress hormone, cortisol, is also reduced. Brain scans suggest the effect of touch kicks in at around five seconds.
Some people love a hug. Others don’t. It’s important to get touch in a way that feels comfortable. This might mean just cuddling a cat or dog, which studies have shown also provides an oxytocin release.
CALL, DON’T TEXT: A lot of our social connection now takes place via phone messaging. A 2012 study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US assessed the different levels of oxytocin released between messaging someone close to you, or, alternatively, calling them.
When messaging, there was no release of oxytocin. But the comforting sound of a voice gave a far more substantial release of the hormone.
SEROTONIN: CRANK UP THE HAPPY HORMONE
GET UP AND OUT: Many studies show the importance of sunlight to your health – your sleep quality, immune system and, not least, the production of serotonin. This in turn brings greater energy and a more positive mood.
Make sure you get your morning blast of daylight for an optimum start to your day. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be sunny to gain the happiness benefit.
TUCK INTO FRUIT: The most important thing to know about serotonin is 90 per cent of it is produced in your gut. So if we have a happy, healthy gut, we’re more likely to have a happy mind. The serotonin produced in the gut has been shown to positively affect our mood, energy and nervous system function.
So the importance of eating gut-friendly unprocessed foods, probiotic-heavy foods (such as live yoghurt) and not drinking too much alcohol cannot be over-estimated for serotonin.
Fruit, however, is on the menu. The impact it has on your serotonin system is phenomenal, as fruits like bananas, kiwi, plums and apples contain an essential amino acid known as tryptophan (also found in other foods such as eggs and fish), which provides a key building block for the production of serotonin.
DELAY YOUR MORNING COFFEE: Many of us have coffee within the first 30 minutes of waking up. This causes a number of challenges for your brain and the body’s energy cycle.
In the morning when you wake – and especially if you go outside into natural light – your body experiences a natural rise in the hormone cortisol. This kicks off your energy system for the day.
If during this period we consume caffeine, this natural cortisol increase becomes disrupted and the body uses the caffeine for energy instead. This is a primary cause of afternoon energy crashes.
Our hormones affect our emotions, health and overall wellbeing
Aim to have your coffee at least 90 minutes after waking, preferably two hours. This will provide a far more natural energy curve. I have my coffee at 10am and always undertake a challenging activity or job immediately afterwards. The caffeine also provides a rise in dopamine to enhance concentration and productivity.
ONLY HAVE LAMPS ON AFTER 7PM: As good quality sleep is so important for our serotonin levels, it’s vital we prepare our body for rest. One easy way is to keep the ceiling lights in your home off after 7pm, and stick to lamps instead.
The aim is to avoid having any light shining above your head, because your brain perceives this as the sun.
ENDORPHINS: FUEL YOUR NATURAL PAINKILLERS
THE POWER OF A SHORT JOG: When you push your body physically, it provides a significant endorphin release. This is perhaps the most important thing to understand about endorphins: to stimulate them, you’re required to push your body.
You may have come across the term ‘runner’s high’, which is when people experience a significant elevation in endorphins as a result of the physical pain caused by running.
I find it very hard to get into running. Instead, I take three moments during my morning walk to push my body a little harder. This might be a 50-metre fast jog, or even just a slow jog up a small hill. Even this gives an endorphin boost.
HAVE A HOT BATH: Hot environments raise endorphin levels. How, you might ask? When you lie in a bath, for example, your body temporarily experiences a form of ‘heat stress’. Your body perceives this heat could be dangerous, as it doesn’t know the water won’t get hotter and burn you. To prepare, it releases pain-relieving endorphins, making you more relaxed. If you have access to a sauna, use it instead of the steam room as saunas are more challenging and provoke greater endorphin release.
- Adapted from The DOSE Effect by TJ Power (HQ, £20). © TJ Power 2025. To order a copy for £18 (offer valid to 02/02/25; UK P&P free on orders over £25) go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937. Free UK delivery on orders over £25.
