How can I make sure I get some of those happy hormones?

So I have been asked, how can I make sure I get some of those happy hormones? And do I need them every day?

Now, in answer to the second part of that question. Ideally, yes.

If you want to encourage happiness and improve your mood, you want to be doing activities daily that really help promote your happy hormones.

So what are your happy hormones?

Well, there are four key hormones associated with happiness and improved mood. I call them the famous four.

There are obviously other hormones involved in the process. However, just for today, I'm going to stick to the famous four, starting with dopamine.

Dopamine gets activated whenever we send some kind of achievement and reward and we're not talking big wins here. You can simply activate this hormone through being kind of someone else or completing something off your to do list, which we all love to do.

Then there's Oxycontin. Oxytocin is activated through connections and is often referred to as our cuddle and love hormone. Again, simple activities such as daily gratitude, smiling at somebody or being kind to somebody can activate this hormone.

You then have serotonin. Serotonin is a hormone that helps us increase our sense of well being and improve our mood and just getting enough daylight or getting out in nature can really help promote this. And it's associated with exercise

And talking about exercise, we then have our endorphins so endorphins get released through exercise and can help reduce the sense of pain and increase a sense of pleasure. So activities such as exercise, like I said, eating chocolate, laughter and great sex can really help get this hormone up and running and working for us.

Meet the Author

kelly swaby

Helping women within management avoid burnout, relieve stress and thrive within their busy schedules through 1:2:1 Coaching | Stress Management | Workplace Well-being mentoring.