ENDORPHINS: What are they, Function and Types

Surely during the course of the day or the week you experience many feelings of happiness, even euphoria, you feel full and happy, with an increase in your well-being. If you like sports, this feeling may be promoted in front of its activity or if you like the arts, it may be that while listening to music or watching a play, you promote these feelings. This feeling of well-being occurs thanks to the well-known hormones of happiness, endorphins. Faced with this, if you want to know the meaning of endorphins, what they are for and their relationship with happiness, love and sport, keep reading this article from Psychology-Online: endorphins: what are they, functions and types.

Index

1. What are endorphins? Definition
2. Endorphins: functions
3. Types of endorphins
4. Endorphins and happiness
5. Endorphins and sport

Endorphins are neurotransmitters in our body, a endogenous natural chemical, that is to say, produced by our own body, commonly called “pleasure hormones”, since they maintain the function of stimulating the brain areas that produce the sensations of pleasure. Its structure is very similar to opioids, such as morphine, opium and / or heroin, but although its function may be similar in stimulating pleasure,

In the definition of endorphins we have already seen their involvement in happiness and in our well-being, however they are also involved in many other functions of our body. The different effects of endorphins are as follows:

1. Endorphins, love and sexuality

Endorphins are involved in the sexual desire, because they help release the secretion of sex hormones in the pituitary gland. For this reason, the release of endorphins plays a very important role in sexuality. In addition, various investigations have linked the release of these hormones with the romantic bonding of a couple, because of their participation in feelings of well-being and happiness.

The sensation of pleasure is directly related to the sensation of reward and the repetition of the behavior, that is, when we perform an action, such as the sexual act or doing sports, we release a large amount of endorphins, which gives a sensation of pleasure, interpreted as a reward and therefore, we seek to perform these again activities.

2. Endorphins and pain

Endorphins are the natural morphine in our body and therefore, help relieve pain physical, produced for example by trauma, excessive effort or excessive physical activity, inflammations,... Endorphins have the function of inhibiting this pain, therefore when receive a signal from nociceptors (pain receptors) that warn them that our body has been damaged, there is an almost immediate release of endorphins, which produces a decrease in pain sensations temporarily, so that the body can respond with an adaptive response, for this reason when we hurt ourselves, for For example, when we break a bone, the initial pain is not as intense as it will be later when we are relaxed.

3. Endorphins and emotions

Endorphins not only play a role against physical pain, they also act against emotional pain. Endorphins are involved in the emotional regulation. When we are sad, pessimistic or apathetic, having received bad news, such as the death of a loved one, a breakup, an emotional trauma or we simply feel stress and / or anxiety, there is a great release of endorphins that help to inhibit said emotional pain, as happens with physical pain, to help us reduce the intensity of stress or pain. For this reason, on many occasions when we receive bad news we take time to react, since the release of endorphins temporarily inhibits emotional pain. At the same time, a low level of endorphins is associated with feelings of sadness and / or depression.

4. Endorphins and the immune system

Our immune system depends to a certain extent on our state of mind, causing that in times when we are faced with more stresses or tensions, it is easier for us to get sick. The more depressed moods or stress responses decrease the ability of this system to be able to combat microorganisms from outside. Against this, endorphins help strengthen the immune system by being involved in emotional regulation.

5. Endophins, memory and attention

Endorphins have been related in the capacity of attention and memory, facilitating their functions, due to the greater emotional well-being, better performance of these capabilities.

6. Endorphins, hunger and sleep

The previously mentioned functions consequently involve the linking of endorphins with other processes in our body. First, they have been implicated in the appetite regulation, as well as in the regulation of respiratory function. In addition to this, the sensations of pleasure then produce the sensations of sleep inductionTherefore, after having sex and in the face of the increased release of these hormones, a state of relaxation is produced in our body that induces sleep.

The main substances that have been identified as endorphins are grouped into three different families: enkephalins, beta-endorphins and dynorphins.

1. Enkephalins

This substance is found in the Central Nervous System (in the pituitary and brain), also located in the peripheral, in the adrenal medulla and in the gastrointestinal tract. They have the function of fight the pain and with it, a certain analgesic effect. On the other hand, they also maintain a depressant function on the neurons of our central nervous system.

2. Beta-Endorphins

This substance is a neurotransmitter found on opiate receptors in the brain, which acts as a powerful pain reliever with the ability to increase the release of growth hormones and prolactin.

3. Dynorphins

This type of endorphin is an endogenous opioid in our body.

Endorphins have been defined as the hormones of happiness, due to their involvement in feelings of pleasure and well-being. These chemical substances have the ability to increase feelings of well-being and calm, both physically and mentally, which contribute to obtaining feelings of happiness. In addition to this, our body receives the secretion of this hormone as a reward and therefore, we seek to repeat the behaviors that give us this sensation. Therefore, the lack of endorphins, low levels of this neurotransmitter, promote a low mood.

Therefore, if you wonder how to generate endorphins, a quick way to obtain these feelings of happiness is to perform activities that produce you pleasure, such as practicing sex, playing sports and / or simply observing landscapes or certain personal situations that produce these feelings of pleasure.

If you wonder how to produce endorphins quickly, the answer is exercise. The relationship between endorphins and sport is well known: sport releases endorphins. In fact, it has been shown to be the activity that produces a increased endorphin release, even after several hours of its practice, therefore after practicing sports the person sits in a more euphoric state, of potency or ecstasy, similar to that produced by synthetic opioids or morphine. If you have ever asked yourself why do I feel good when I exercise? Here is the answer.

Sport allows you to activate these feelings of well-being after releasing endorphins. The release of the hormone of happiness produces a sensation similar to a energy injectionTherefore, the person who does sports has the feeling that they can still do more and more. As sports are practiced, the person feels that they can perform more, thereby increasing the self confidence and the person begins to carry out more physical activity, thanks to the sensations of pleasure that the activity produces, thereby reaching an optimal state of health.

If you want to know more about the release of endorphins, you can consult this article: How to release endorphins?

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Endorphins: what are they, function and types, we recommend that you enter our category of Neuropsychology.

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