Last updated on 3rd May, 2024 at 01:31 pm

By reinvigorating your happy hormones, you can reignite your motivation to achieve your 2024 goals. Here’s how they work and how to harness them.

Reading time: 3 minutes

In this article, you’ll learn

• That our hormones can affect the way we feel and function.
• Harnessing specific ones can motivate you to achieve your goals.
• The feel-good hormones, what they are, and how to harness them.

Our hormones play a far bigger role in our overall wellbeing than you might expect. By stifling or igniting specific ones, it can influence how you feel as well as affect your motivation, performance, and output. “It’s not only situations that can influence how we feel – our brain chemistry plays an important role too when it comes to our mental health,” explains Kate Clark, founder of Thunder Life Coaching.

If you want to reinvigorate your passion to conquer your goals when you’re feeling in a rut, here’s how to harness your happy hormones and how they can help to get you feeling motivated and enthusiastic once more.

Dopamine: The pleasure hormone

Dopamine plays a critical role in motor function, memory, learning, and mood. It acts in the brain’s reward system, motivating us by enhancing feelings of pleasure and satisfaction in response to desired outcomes.

“Dopamine results in us feeling pleasure when we engage in activities that we enjoy,” says Clark. “It also plays a crucial role in our brain’s reward system and helps us achieve our goals by seeking out that feeling we get when we’re being praised.”

There are several ways to increase your body’s production of this hormone. These include listening to music that uplifts your mood, sniffing scents that evoke positive associations and memories, and getting enough good-quality sleep.

Serotonin: The happy hormone

“Serotonin boosts our mood and regulates bodily functions, such as sleep, appetite, memory, and wound healing,” remarks Clark. “Low levels of serotonin are related to severe mental issues like anxiety, depression, and insomnia”.

“The best way to increase your serotonin levels is by going outdoors and enjoying the sunshine. Enjoy your morning coffee in the garden or add a 15-minute walk into your lunch break. Another way of staying balanced is by actively reducing your daily stress, so take regular breaks to recharge your batteries.”

Endorphins: The natural painkiller

“The brain’s natural pain reliever, endorphins are released when you suffer from mental or physical stress,” says Clark. “The relationship between exercise and this hormone is well documented. More recently, it’s been shown that we increase our levels even more when exercising in a group.”

Certain other life experiences can release endorphins as well. These include having a good laugh with people whose company you enjoy, getting a relaxing massage, o r eating dark chocolate (in moderation, of course!).

Oxytocin: The love hormone

“Known informally as the ‘love hormone’ because it helps us to create and maintain emotional bonds with others, oxytocin not only makes you feel happier, but can promote trust and empathy in your relationships,” explains Clark. “Not only are levels increased by physical touch, including cuddling, kissing or sexual intercourse, but just spending time with loved ones or thinking or talking about them can do the trick!”

So, make get-togethers with the people you care about a priority – it’s good for you, after all! Giving your beloved pets some affection has also been shown to boost oxytocin production.

Because chemicals, such as neurotransmitters and hormones, act as messengers that regulate physical functions and emotional states, it’s important to harness them to optimise your journey to attaining success. By making small changes to your lifestyle, from turning on the radio, going for a walk outdoors or giving someone a hug, you can ensure that yours are activated so that they can steer you in the direction of your dreams.