Written by: Aashutosh Pudasaini - 2022002, Grade XI
Posted on: 16 May, 2021
We human beings have been roaming around the world for a very long time now, only very recently have we discovered the internet and all fancy things. Nature intriguingly has designed all beings on our planet to survive and take a place in the life chain. We are no different, we have eyebrows so that when fighting for our families in the old days sweat wouldn't visually affect us, we were given hair all over our body to protect ourselves from extreme cold. Nature has created us for one purpose and that is to survive and maybe then reproduce and thrive. Not just physically but nature designed us emotionally as well. All the feelings we feel are just another one of Nature's gifts to mankind to ensure our survival. Emotions are just liquid in our bloodstream, when we feel stressed or anxious, it is because cortisol stress imposing hormone’s amount has spiked up in our blood flow similarly whatever we feel in just hormones rushing through our veins, Love, Anger, Depression, Pain all are nothing but chemicals. In the book “Leaders Eat Last” the writer Simon Sinek argues that emotions are one of the main if not the most important factor in one’s life, our function is based on how we feel and not what right if we were to function based on what’s right then everyone would sleep 8 hours daily, drink 8 glasses of water and follow the rules. Emotions can be our greatest ally or our worst foe, It solely depends on how we use them, yes we can use our emotions. Below I am going to try to explain a few hormones and how we make the best of them.
That tingly feeling when someone brings up the tiny detail about yourself you start blushing and smiling, why? According to psychologists, it's because every time our human brain gets attention or feels affection it releases a small burst of dopamine. Dopamine, also known as the “pleasure hormone ” by a lot of people like its name, is released when we feel pleasure, but it is primarily released when our brain gets the feeling of accomplishment. In the old days when we killed an animal and ensured our tribe’s survival, this hormone would be released, giving us a feeling of joy and making us want to do it more. This way nature made sure that we wouldn't be lazy and never have motivation. Dopamine can be really addictive, and in some cases being addicted to feeling good is amazing. It can push us to do great things but this also means that we can dwell in the wrong places for dopamine. In our modern society, however, human beings have been resistant to small doses of dopamine, Why? The constant feeling of fake achievement, Social Media to be precise, every time we get a like or comment in our post, our ancient brain mistakes it for an accomplishment and releases dopamine, this is why millions of people, especially youths are addicted to social media for that constant free happiness. This poses a massive problem as with already having more than enough dopamine we simply wouldn't have enough motivation to try new things and get better at something. However, this can be avoided by doing something called dopamine detox, basically avoiding all sorts of fake dopamine trigger points for a month or so resets our brain's natural dopamine levels. Quitting social media is also an option, however, it doesn't seem so variable in this day and age.
Serotonin is a happiness hormone, the hormone of pride, it is released when we feel like our colleagues or friends respect us. It makes us feel like the most badass person on planet earth like we can take on anyone, as social animals we love validation. We love it when our loved one complements our dress or when someone answers our “Ask me a question?” in our social media story. We Love Validation, We need it. In the ancient days, our ancestors needed respect and validation to lead them to successful raids, which is still relevant today. I want you to imagine a scenario: You are taking part in a race, the prize money is massive you see a lot of homeless kids and decide to win the prize money for them, now because of serotonin, I’ll win this will turn to We’ll win this, You will now definitely be better. Unfortunately, Recently we have seen a massive dip in this hormone among humans. We should fight and work hard for the opportunities, in that way we’ll never run out of Serotonin.
Ever wonder why professional athletes run like crazy even when their legs hurt like hell, why MMA fighters fight even when they constantly get beat, It’s not all money. A hormone called Endorphin plays a major role, Endorphin is the pleasure in pain, The feeling of Drive. They are released to mask the pain we are causing ourselves. We should constantly connect with our physical side, Our primal self to feel the power of Endorphins.
Oxytocin is the hormone of love, that feeling we get when someone steps up for us when they consider our feelings, when they risk something for us, it makes us feel like we are worth living and forms lifelong bonds. As social species, we can do a lot more when we are in a group compared to when we are alone. In our hunting and gathering days, Socialization was a requirement, being alone would mean death, now however as times change we humans today can live without a social life, but we cannot live without connections. Love, we all know it, has probably experienced, not just opposite gender love as a girlfriend, boyfriend but love that we experience as kids, love that is bestowed upon us by our parents and relatives. Love is formed with the lifelong release of Oxytocin. My favorite definition of love is “Giving someone the power to destroy us, but trusting them not to”. Oxytocin is very important, and along with time and oxytocin, we can climb the success ladder.
I did my best to explain all the major hormones in our human body. We can be a slave to our emotions or we can use them to our advantage and move up in life. We control our fate.
