What Is Happiness?
Happiness is not just a smile on your face. It’s a subjective feeling of overall well-being. It’s about how good, content, or fulfilled you feel from within.
It involves a deep sense of satisfaction, strength, and optimism. When you’re happy, you feel more confident, energized, and positive about life.
What Makes Us Happy?
Happiness is influenced by two main types of factors:
1. Exogenous (External) Factors
These are the external elements of your life, such as:
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Your family and relationships
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Career or job satisfaction
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Financial stability
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Living environment
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Social support
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Personal achievements and hobbies
These factors shape your experiences and can have a strong impact on your emotional state.
2. Endogenous (Internal) Factors
These are biological and chemical changes that happen inside your body. Your happiness is also controlled by hormones and neurotransmitters, such as:
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Dopamine – the “reward” chemical
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Serotonin – the “mood stabilizer”
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Endorphins – natural pain relievers and stress reducers
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Oxytocin – the “love hormone” that boosts bonding and trust
When these chemicals are released in the brain, they trigger feelings of joy, satisfaction, and calmness.
Why Do We Feel Happy?
We feel happy because of a chemical reaction in the brain. Our body releases happiness-related hormones and neurotransmitters in response to certain situations, behaviors, or thoughts.
For example:
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Laughing with friends triggers dopamine.
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Helping someone or practicing kindness boosts serotonin.
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Hugging a loved one increases oxytocin.
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Exercising releases endorphins.
These chemicals are responsible for elevating mood and creating a sense of contentment.
1. Dopamine
Dopamine is directly related to the happiness, yes it is a happy hormone.
2. Serotonin
This is the second happy hormone, it directly relates to your satisfaction, optimism and well being.
When you are happy, the serotonin level in your body increases.
Even the anti-depression medicines (which are given for depression), one of their functions is to increase the serotonin level in the brain. Increasing the serotonin level in the brain happens.
3. Endorphins
Endorphins are endogenous opioids released from the brain, they have many positive functions in our body, even endorphins,
- They reduce the perception of pain in your body
- they keep the mood elevated
- keeps us happy
- Helps in curing many of our diseases
- These endorphins are released when you exercise, you become happy. Even when you consume chocolate, at the emotions of love, orgasm, these endorphins are released in the body during all these things.
4. Norepinephrine
This is also the name of neuro chemical, which is released when you are happy.
Medicines which increase its level are also used in anti depression.
5. Oxytocin
This is released in breast feeding females when they secrete breast milk, in response to the baby’s heartbeat.
This is a time bonding or love hormone, which is shown to show love or affection. It is also released when you show love or affection to someone.
When you are social, social gathering, meet your friends, family, at the time of a positive emotions, especially.
So it has one major role, we are showing positive emotions. When you are showing love then only these neuro chemicals will be released in your body, which will help in keeping you happy.
This is the vice versa cycle, the happier you are, the more positive hormones will be released from the body, you will be more happy. That happiness will release more positive hormone. So, it becomes a happy life, if you try yourself, to spread a love and positive emotions.
6. Melatonin
Basically its role is in maintaining our sleep, awake cycle, We fall asleep during night or darkness, after sunset.
One reason for this is the release of melatonin, and this melatonin is released during darkness or night, its level starts decreasing in early morning,
This melatonin is also associated with a good mood and happy mental state. So, a good sleep in a night is also health making you happy.
Is There any Difference Between Happy and Sad People?
Many studies have been conducted and in one study it was found that there are many genes which play a major role in your being happy.
A group study was conducted in which it was seen that genes play a role in 35-50% happy people.
1. 5-HTTLPR Gene
This gene is associated with level of satisfaction
This gene increases the level of serotonin in our brain.
2. MAO- A – C Gene
People who had this gene had anti-social personality, they were often at risk of dependency, abusive substance means, risk of alcoholism was seen. And they were also seen to have higher chances of depression.
3. Prefrontal Context
Apart from this, it was also seen in some studies that those who are happier, their left side of pre-frontal cortex (a part of brain) was more active as compared to right side, even when they were in resting phase or when they were happy.
And exactly the opposite happened with those people who were more sad.
These studies at last conclude that, brain structure and to a large extent genetic form also determines whether your personality is happy or not.
Benefits of Happiness
It has been seen in medical data that among people who are happy.
- Because of the release of good and positive neurochemicals, they are seen to have very good physical health.
- They also have a low risk of obesity
- They have a low risk of some diseases like blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and even heart diseases.
- Studies have also found that people who are happy have a longer life span, i.e. they live longer as compared to people who are sad.
- And more interesting is, people who are happy have a higher pain threshold, which means, the time taken by them to feel the pain is higher as compared to people who are stressed/sad.
- It has also been observed that whatever are chronic diseases like cancer, the strength to fight all of them is more in the body of happy people as compared to sad people.
- This fact of being happy in our body is much more in multiple directions.
Adverse Effect of Sadness
Sad mood has a profound effect on the physiology of our body
- Because of this, the risk of many diseases increases in our body.
- Blood pressure, heart disease, weight gain starts,
- People who are in depression, their body weight starts increasing slowly, the risk of obesity, diabetes, diabetics increases,
- Pain tolerance decreases,
- There is a delay in healing in many diseases in their body,
- Social life becomes poor,
- The carrier also becomes poor.
- Ultimately, this is also a cycle, all these things are having a negative effect, that negative effect reduces the secretion of positive neurochemical in our body, there is a further negative effect, that reduces further and this continues, you get caught in it.
- And this is exactly the same cycle as the cycle of positive effect, which always keeps you up, keeps you happy, and this cycle will always keep you sunk and sad.
How Can We Live Happily?
We have read the effects of being happy, now how to be happy?
Scientifically we have understood this, all those activities which were increasing the level of positive neurotransmitters in your brain help you to be happy, have you done all those activities?
- Exercise, running, jogging, swimming, any sport, these help you to stay happy. Even long term effect
- Listening music, music is a therapy in itself. Music keeps you happy by increasing your neurotransmitters and according to studies music has a role in healing chronic diseases
- To laughter, laughter. These laughing exercises help you a lot to stay happy
- Deep breathing exercises meditation, this too will help you to stay happy
- Playing with children, animals, pets. You can also stay happy with this
- Spreading love, love is the most positive feeling. The more love you spread, the more it will reinforce you and keep you in good health. It has the same effect again and again – how positive are you? You are spreading more punitiveness.’ When this comes back to you, you will become more positive; like this, this effect continues.
It is important because human beings are social animals. It is very important that you interact with the society. So, how positively you will interact will make you happy and happy.