Endorphins Quotes

“We were quiet for a while, and then I said, "I think my favorite part of Antarctica is just looking out." You know why?" Dad asked. "When your eyes are softly focused on the horizon for sustained periods, your brain releases endorphins. It's the same as a runner's high.”
― Maria Semple, Where'd You Go, Bernadette

“It's called Gelotology.
(Because it gives you Gelo Belly?)

Beyond a giggle, a titter, a chuckle,
and way past groaning
(although groaning has its profound effects as well),
it shakes your very corpuscles,
a good belly laugh.

It releases endorphins,
stimulates the body's painkillers,
increases neuropeptides which boosts the immune system,
expands blood vessels.
What?????

It relaxes tension
and makes you feel happier
no matter what the current conditions.”
― Shellen Lubin

“Massage reduces pain because the oxytocin system activates painkilling endorphins. Massage also improves sleep and reduces fatigue by increasing serotonin and dopamine and decreasing the stress hormone cortisol. So if you’re feeling out of sorts, get a massage. You’ll be actively triggering the neurotransmitter systems that work to make you happier.”
― Alex Korb, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

“Powerful neurotransmitters in the brain can increase pleasure (dopamine), lead to feelings of happiness and positive mood (serotonin), reduce stress and alleviate pain (endorphins), and enhance a sense of trust and intimacy (oxytocin).”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“Enjoying the taste of toasted raisin bread or the humor in a cartoon may not seem like much, but simple pleasures like these ease emotional upsets, lift your mood, and enrich your life. They also provide health benefits, by releasing endorphins and natural opioids that shift you out of stressful, draining reactive states and into happier responsive ones. As a bonus, some pleasures—such as dancing, sex, your team winning a game of pick-up basketball, or laughing with friends—come with energizing feelings of vitality or passion that enhance long-term health. Opportunities for pleasure are all around you, especially if you include things like the rainbow glitter of the tiny grains of sand in a sidewalk, the sound of water falling into a tub, the sense of connection in talking with a friend, or the reassurance that comes from the stove working when you need to make dinner.”
― Rick Hanson, Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence

“Another thing that can make flour and dairy products so pleasurable and addictive, ironically, is their ability to cause more uncomfortable reactions than just about any other foods. . .They can comfort us from both digestive and/or respiratory distress. Remember how endorphins are released when we've had an injury? Same principle here. . .the body begins to comfort us from this chronic allergic irritation and damage. Ironically, this makes these foods irresistible.

. . .After the extraction process, most of [the] beneficial nutrients are gone. What's left are the crystallized concentrate, not unlike other plant concentrates we're familiar with, like cocaine or opium . . .

. . .[Vegetable oils are] very unstable - that is, they can become dangerously rancid very quickly. Rancid means oxidized, and in your body, oxidized means damage to your cells and tissues. . . If you eat vegetable oils that are already oxidized from heat and light in processing, you are exposing your own healthy tissues to a volatile substance that will damage them,”
― Julia Ross, The Mood Cure

“Fitur tombol alami untuk kesenangan pada manusia"
***

Ada 20 hormon kebahagiaan di dalam tubuh manusia.
Salah satunya
beta-Endorfin (β-Endorfin), sejenis narkotika alami yang dibentuk di otak dan memiliki efek analgesik sangat kuat.
Efek kerja β-Endorfin 500 kali lebih poten daripada morfin sintetis.
Dan... Beta-Endorfin punya pengaruh besar terhadap
kesehatan.

Endorfin memberikan kenyamanan baik secara fisik (terutama dalam mengontrol rasa nyeri), maupun
secara emosional dengan hadirnya perasaan senang (euphoria), gembira, dan damai.
Dan, tidak seperti narkotik
sintetis yang menimbulkan efek samping tidak nyaman serta membahayakan; (seperti mual, gatal-gatal, konstipasi saluran
pencernaan, hingga depresi nafas), endorfin tidak memiliki efek samping yang buruk ataupun efek ketergantungan (adiktif).

Namun untuk dapat mengeluarkan zat berharga ini, perlu ada stimulasi ekstra. Ada beberapa aktivitas yang dikenal kini dapat
memancing keluarnya hormon endorfin, antara lain makan
(terutama saat menyantap menu kesukaan), berolahraga,
melakukan hubungan pasutri, dan bermeditasi (dzikir).

Tapi, menariknya,...
hormon ini ternyata juga keluar sesuai cara kita merespons kejadian atau memaknai suatu peristiwa atau berkaitan dengan kondisi tertentu, seperti perasaan diterima di komunitas.Lebih lanjut endorfin pun bersangkut paut dengan kegembiraan, kesabaran dalam mengatasi kesulitan hidup.
Dan yang lebih menarik lagi, kemampuan seseorang melakukan hal-hal altruistis, semisal memperjuangkan
keadilan dan kesejahteraan bagi orang lain, juga memantik pengeluaran hormon istimewa ini.

Informasi sainsnya, endorfin jika telah keluar, tidak memiliki efek umpan baliknya terhadap tubuh.
Berbeda dengan "hormon-hormon emergency” (mis: adrenaline, nor adrenaline) yang punya efek samping
membahayakan bila terpacu secara intens dan berlebihan bagi tubuh, sehingga selalu ada mekanisme kompensasi
untuk menyeimbangkan atau menetralkannya.

Keberadaan hormon ajaib seperti endorfin ini sebetulnya menjadi bukti yang terang benderang bahwa secara biologis manusia dibekali fitur untuk dapat merasakan bahagia secara alami.

(buku Cinta, Kesehatan, dan Munajat Emha Ainun Nadjib, halaman 90).

*********
*) Jangan salah pilih opioid (narkotika), Tuhan telah sediakan koq secara alami dalam tubuh kita. ”
― Ade Hashman, Cinta, Kesehatan dan Munajat Emha Ainun Nadjib

“For some people, the reward is the driving force behind the habit. We’ve already established that powerful neurotransmitters cause a chemical reaction to reward the ritual and increase pleasure (dopamine) and/or feelings of happiness and positive mood (serotonin). However, other neurotransmitters may also be involved, like endorphins (which reduce stress and alleviate pain) or oxytocin (which increases a sense of trust and intimacy).”
― Simon Marshall, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

“A different Japanese study showed that playing with a dog with which you have a strong bond—a dog that is more likely to make eye contact with you—can increase oxytocin. This suggests that having someone look to you for support or trust can increase oxytocin. Simply petting a dog can also start an upward spiral. Petting, like other forms of light touch, boosts oxytocin. And petting a dog, even someone else’s dog, also increases dopamine and endorphins. The increases in these other neurotransmitters provides even more thrust to an upward spiral.”
― Alex Korb, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

“Serotonin helps with impulse control, willpower, and resilience. Dopamine is important in enjoyment and habits. Norepinephrine modulates focus and concentration. Oxytocin is essential to close relationships. Other neurotransmitters are important too, like GABA (antianxiety), endorphins (elation and pain relief), and endocannabinoids (appetite and peacefulness). Other chemicals, like BDNF, help grow new neurons, and even proteins in the immune system play a role.”
― Alex Korb, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

“Being out in the sun, we are starting to understand, can lower blood pressure, calm our immune system and even alter our mood. Even without such knowledge, most of us are instinctively drawn to sunlight because sitting in it just feels so great, and there may be a reason for that: when the sunlight hits our skin, our bodies release endorphins, the same 'feel good' hormones that produce a runner's high.”
― Linda Geddes, Chasing the Sun: The New Science of Sunlight and How it Shapes Our Bodies and Minds