Endorphins are your body’s natural painkillers, and they also contribute to a sense of well-being. During times of emotional stress, endorphins are released in the limbic system of the brain and produce a euphoria that lessens anxiety and melancholy. Endorphins are believed to produce four key effects on the body:
Besides behaving as a pain regulator, endorphins are also thought to be connected to physiological processes including euphoric feelings, appetite modulation, and the release of sex hormones. Since orgasms cause a release of endorphins into one’s cerebral-spinal fluid and endorphins are also somewhat responsible for the emotion of happiness, etc.
Pain
Pain exists and therefore the body needs to learnhow to deal with it. After a physical injury, endorphins activate opiate receptors and produce ananalgesic effect, alleviating severe pain. Endorphins are long chains of amino acids, or polypeptides, that are able to bind to the neuroreceptors in the brain and are capable of relieving pain in a manner similar to that of morphine. Scientists had suspected that analgesic opiates, such as morphine and heroin, worked effectively against pain because the body had receptors that were activated by such drugs. They reasoned that these receptors probably existed because the body itself had natural painkilling compounds that also bonded to those receptors.
Stress
The ability to cope with the stress is in proportion to the endorphins levels we have in our body. Since the discoveryof the endorphins in 1975, scientists have hypothesized that these neurotransmitters are released into synapses when the body encounters stress. When stress is detected by the brain, it sends out signals, or opiates, which bind at the receptor sites, and the pain is alleviated. Endorphins are now known universally as stress, orcatecholamine, relieving hormones which act much like the opiate drugs : opium, morphine, and heroin.
Highly stressful emotional events such as death of a loved one, job loss, or divorce can result in a permanent suppression of endorphin levels. We will encounter great difficulties in removing our stress unless sufficient amounts of endorphins are released. The term endorphin rush is sometimes used in normal speech to refer to a feeling of wellness caused by exercise, danger or stress.
When you are stressed, it is important to get enough sleep. Increases of blood endorphin levels are associated with exercise, sexual activity and stress, as well as emotional responses such as laughter and nervousness. If you are highly stressed, you need to do a more intense workout which means longer than 30 minutes; if you are less stressed, then 30 minutes should suffice,” she says. The release of endorphins upon ingestion of chocolate likely explains the comforting feelings that many people associate with this food and the craving for chocolate in times of stress.
Exercise
The term endorphin rush is sometimes used in normal speech to refer to a feeling of wellness caused by exercise, danger or stress. Another widely publicized effect of endorphin production is the so-called “runner’s high”, which is said to occur when strenuous exercise takes a person over a threshold that activates endorphin production. Exercise increases the blood flow to the brain, bringing extra sugar and oxygen, which can help when concentrating.
The psychological benefits of aerobic exercise are numerous: mood enhancing, reduced anxiety and depression and also stress reduction. According to the definition from the Global Healing Centers website, “Aerobic exercise is a type of movement such as running or cycling that gets your heart pumping faster and increases your oxygen intake. Exercisers actually go to sleep faster, are more refreshed when they wake up, and have sharper memories.
OK, so we are all told we need to partake in aerobic exercise to obtain many benefits, such as weight loss and better skin and muscle tone. Evidence is reviewed that supports the concept that many of the cardiovascular, analgesic, and behavioral effects of exercise are mediated by this mechanism and that the same or similar mechanisms are responsible for the central and peripheral effects of acupuncture.
Conclusion
Unlike opioids, the body’s endorphins are not addicting. The main difference between the natural endorphins and the analgesic drugs is that natural endorphins are cleared from the blood very quickly. Endorphins are released throughout the entire body, reducing stress and returning the body to equilibrium. In addition to their analgesic, or pain-relieving, effect, endorphins are thought to be involved in controlling the body’s response to stress, regulating contractions of the intestinal wall, and determining mood. Endorphins are not just produced from exercise; they are also triggered by deep-breathing, meditation, eating spicy food and deep laughter.
