Transcript automatically generated via https://otter.ai. Its accuracy may vary.
Alex Hourigan
Well chicks, we are well and truly into the party season and you guys know Sal and I are always down for a party. That's why we are so excited to partner with Go-To sSincare for this week's episode.
Sally McMullen
Skincare is the first and last step of any good partay prep routine and Go-To Skincare is quite literally the go to.
Alex Hourigan
So we're gonna share some of our faves later in the episode. And also, of course, a cute little discount code for you chicks to get some cash off. So keep listening for that. Anyway, let's get into the episode, chicks.
Alex Hourigan
I'm Al. And I'm Sal. And this is too bright cheeks to show that shares life lessons for the gas from the gas. And today we're chatting, everything about hacking your happy brain chemicals. So the global happiness survey came out for 2022 Recently, and it was less than I do. All right. Apparently, we're all a little bit unhappy. It wasn't all bad news, Australia came 12th In terms of happiness overall. Not bad. Not bad. Not bad at all. But today we've done a whole bunch of research. We've pulled in a bunch of sources from, you know, health loan Harvard, the National Library of Medicine,
Sally McMullen
the people who know what they're talking about. Yeah. All right.
Alex Hourigan
We're not claiming we're doctors. And we pulled in all the ways that you can actually hack your brain chemicals to just put you in the best mood possible. Because we have a lot to get through today. We're going to be skipping the life lessons and product recommendations because honestly, this whole episode is a life lesson for me. Yeah, so true. And I'm a product recommendation if it is if you and me like do this, do that, buy this, buy that. So we're gonna skip to the loo with the whole whole spiel of how to hack your healthy brain chemicals. Love that.
Sally McMullen
And I think something interesting that we learnt doing this research is that I think a lot of us think that the positive events in our life, like the big things like getting in a new relationship, or maybe getting a promotion at work is what leads to happiness. But the science shows that that isn't necessarily true. The happiness from those things doesn't last, it's actually the little things that you do every day, that lead to a happier life. So that's kind of what we're going to tap into today.
Alex Hourigan
So basically, we're all gonna be really happy. Yes, Episode happy. Finally. All right, jumping straight into it kicking us off. What are our happy brain chemicals? Well,
Sally McMullen
there are four main happy chemicals which are dopamine, serotonin, endorphins and oxytocin.
Alex Hourigan
So it's actually super interesting because each happy chemical has a different purpose within your body. So dopamine is actually the reward chemical. Serotonin is your mood stabiliser. Oxytocin is the low hormone, my personal favourite, and endorphins are the painkiller.
Sally McMullen
So we're going to go through each of these happy hormones and chemicals, break down what they are science to see if you're low on them, and also how to hack them, how to get them up. We love it. Exactly. So kicking things off with dopamine, aka the reward chemical. So Dopamine is a chemical that's released in our brains that's responsible for pleasurable motivation and satisfaction. Some signs that you might be low in dopamine include procrastinating or if you're struggling to focus, mood swings, low energy, or if you're feeling fatigued, or lack of motivation. What's really interesting
Alex Hourigan
about dopamine is that there's good quality dopamine, and there's low quality dopamine. So for example, low quality dopamine can actually come from things like social media, video games, watching television. And the reason it's low quality is because it doesn't last very long. So that's why you feel like you need to go back to tick tock and keep scrolling for so long. Or you keep going back to social media or video games because it's immediate dopamine hits but they don't last very long. Whereas you want to kind of focus on good quality dopamine that emphasises and achievement like cooking a nutritious meal that maybe you've never made before waking up early, having a cold shower, those things that really kind of tick something off that you achieved something because let's be honest, scrolling on Tick, tock. You're not like Go me,
Sally McMullen
soldier. Yeah, no quick fixes. Unfortunately, there is such a thing as a dopamine detox we found when we were doing our research, but there's mixed reviews when it comes to that. And like we said, up top, we're not experts. So we're not going to dig into that too much. Because we don't want to lead you astray with with any wrong advice.
Alex Hourigan
Okay, so jumping straight into how to hack your dopamine. Okay, so how to actually hack your dopamine chemical, the number one way that we found across our research was to actually write a to do list and check it off. This can be as big or as small as you like, it's still kind of serves the same purpose. So whether that's literally writing three things that you already do in the mornings, like making your bed, drinking a glass of water and doing your skincare routine, giving yourself that reminder of ticking off a to do list that you achieve something gives you that reward. And that's why it feels so good when you write it to do is and you check things off and you highlight it because you're getting a hit of dopamine so satisfying, so satisfying, but so interesting, because you're always like, Why does it feel so good? It's dopamine dog. Yes, dopamine, dopamine dogs. And then, another really common one was doing self care activities such as meditating, journaling, or taking a cold shower. However, one of the really cool self care activities that's listed as a dopamine hit factor was listening to music. So a 2011 study found that people that listened to music that gave them instrumental chills had a 9% increase in their dopamine.
Sally McMullen
I love that so much. Hi, al. and I both have orchestral playlists that we listen to on the rag and I think that's probably the key source of our dopamine. If you
Alex Hourigan
haven't really ventured into instrumental music, I highly recommend Hans Zimmer, specifically the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack. Oh, yeah. bomb.com. But what are some other ways you can hack your dopamine cell.
Sally McMullen
Another way to hack your dopamine is eating nutritious meal. So cook yourself a gorgeous meal that's packed full of everything that you need. According to health line, a balanced diet that contains all of the appropriate vitamins, minerals, probiotics, as well as a balanced amount of saturated fat. Balance can help your body produce the dopamine that it needs, which is very interesting you are what you eat, as they say. And then the next hack is celebrating your wins, which I love kind of similar vibes, I think to the checklist. So give your friend a call and tell them something that you achieved that day. Ask them something that they were proud of that day, maybe give you a Boston update or something that you achieve that day like so easy, but celebrate those wins as they happen and do it regularly. Don't wait for the big things.
Alex Hourigan
I love selling up also thing of everything that we've like achieved whenever we've done something good. I'm like, Look how amazing we are. And it does give that dopamine hit and then when they give you like a shout out and like the works like you're like Oh yeah.
Sally McMullen
I love that. So easy. All right, let's move on to endorphins aka the pain killer. So endorphins are produced by neurotransmitters in our brain, and they help alleviate pain but also promote pleasure. So some signs that you might be low in endorphins are aches and pains in your body. Impulsive behaviour, mood swings, and also anxiety or depression
Alex Hourigan
Am I lower endorphins? Getting I'm getting Am I will never know. We do know. Going to the gym recently, the number one way to hack your endorphins. But this also does feed into your dopamine and serotonin which we're going to speak to next is to move your body. So exercise is one of the best ways that you can release happy chemicals across dopamine, endorphins and serotonin. But endorphins is kind of like the big head honcho happy chemical that you get from moving your body. However, this is kind of why you hear about the term runner's high because this is the endorphins being released in your body whenever you exercise or you do kind of like a high intensity workout. But according to Healthline, there are actually ways that you can maximise the increase in endorphins and the release that you get through exercise. So a small study by Science Daily in 2017 showed that people that worked out with friends or in a group had a higher increase in release endorphins than those who worked out by themselves. You also get a high release of endorphins when you work out in the sun, so in like the light or outside rather than in like a dark space like at home or whatever or in a dark gym or sweaty gym. And last of all is that you work out for at least 30 minutes at like a high intensity workout. So if you're wanting to really maximise your endorphins, dopamine and serotonin through moving your body, maybe it's a good idea to organise a few friends for a group workout in the sun in the morning for at least 30 minutes to really get the most out of your workout and your happy brain chemicals.
Sally McMullen
I love that and some it's a perfect time to do that to our next hack to get some endorphins is eat dark chocolate. Okay, Don Silas Silas Gwaine. According to Healthline dark chocolate is full of poly phenolic compounds, which help produce endorphins. So when you eat dark chocolate, you'll get a little boost of endorphins. They do say that you should aim for dark chocolate that's at least 70% cocoa and just have a few small squares per serving. Don't gorge yourself on an entire block that's probably going to do the opposite. But I do love that because I love dark chocolate. And the next way to hack your endorphins is to love I love to laugh. So laughing actually produces endorphins also, and suppresses cortisol which is the stress hormone. So if you're feeling like you might be low in endorphins feeling a bit stressed call your funniest friend. Get owl on the blower. Yeah,
Alex Hourigan
me. I'll give you a good giggle literally.
Sally McMullen
Or maybe go to a live comedy show or watch an episode of your favourite sitcom and just have a giggle
Alex Hourigan
or look up your favourite like tick tock or at the moment mine is Britney Spears.
Sally McMullen
Oh my god. Yes, we
Alex Hourigan
love Britney Britney is my favourite human if I'm sure you've seen another fabulous human that does like the would I date them Disney characters like scenarios? And it's just
Sally McMullen
perfect starcrossed lovers with Woody Yeah,
Alex Hourigan
I just love them. They're amazing. That's an endorphin hit 100 visit every time every time they come up with my four year pages and does it sound just like Oh perfect. That hit the spot. Yeah. All righty cheeks.
Alex Hourigan
As we mentioned, we partnered with Go-To Skincare for this week's episode, so we're going to break down some of our favourite product picks for the silly season
Sally McMullen
Starting off with the Transformazing Sheet Mask which is $11. This serum drenched beauty will leave your skin looking luminous, plump, bright, giving you a perfect base for flawless makeup application.
Alex Hourigan
Next up is the Fancy Face Oil Cleanser. It retails for $45. And this bad boy does not play around when it comes to taking off your makeup after a night out. You know when you cleanse your makeup and you think you've taken it all off and you go in with a face wash or a cotton pad and there's still make up? That is not an issue that you have with the Fancy Face Oil Cleanser in your back pocket.
Sally McMullen
And last but certainly not least is the Face Hero which is $45. This lightweight facial oil really gets in there to hydrate, soothe and revitalise your skin. It's perfect to give you a glowy base in the morning or give your skin a little kiss of hydration after a really long night.
Alex Hourigan
Anyway, now that you know what you're shopping for, let's get back into the episode.
Alex Hourigan
Okay, so our third happy hormone that we're going to talk about is probably one that you've heard about before it's very much a word that's thrown around but it's that sweet, sweet serotonin. So serotonin is known as the mood stabiliser and it's produced by nerve cells and is sent between your nerve cells. It can be found in multiple places within the body including your digestive system and your platelets. But it's also produced in your brain to kind of help stabilise your moods. Okay, so some signs that you might be low in serotonin is that you have low self esteem or you're feeling sensitive, you feel anxious or you're having panic attacks. You might have insomnia, like trouble sleeping, or you might be feeling like a little bit hopeless. You feel sad too. I feel low serotonin,
Sally McMullen
literally but it's okay, we've got some hack way to hell. So how to hack your serotonin. As I'll mention exercising does help with serotonin especially in the sunlight. And that's because sunlight and bright light helps boost your serotonin. So you might have heard like the winter blues or seasonal depression, which I always thought was a myth. Before doing this. I was like yeah, whatever. actually a thing Yeah, which is wild but make sense. And according to the National Library of Medicine in the human post mortem brain, people who died during summer had high levels of serotonin in comparison to people who passed away in winter,
Alex Hourigan
it just blew my mind when we read that.
Sally McMullen
So it's true, get some sunshine, get some vitamin D,
Alex Hourigan
a better day in summer, otherwise, I'm gonna be pissed.
Sally McMullen
Although they'll be like she died as she lived, depressed.
Alex Hourigan
Also, it is worth saying that when we're saying like, if you're feeling these things, you might be low and serotonin. If you are feeling really sad or really low, it is a really good idea to go speak to your GP, or speak to someone reach out to a friend because obviously, these are small little hacks to put yourself in a good mood, but it's not going to completely fix your entire life or fix. If you're feeling quite low, it is a good idea to get professional help. If you are feeling like you are hopeless, feeling hopeless, or quite low or whatever that feeling is that you have and you don't feel like it's getting better. Definitely reach out to someone in your life that can help you through that
Unknown Speaker
100%. However, back to our healthy hacks,
Alex Hourigan
so eating foods containing tryptophan, according to healthdirect.gov.au. It's an amino acid that assists production of serotonin in the body. This includes nuts, eggs, cheese, red meat, Turkey, salmon, tofu, and pineapple. So the other thing that I thought was really interesting, with tryptophan, that according to the National Library of Medicine, this actually helps with feelings of irritable illness. So if you feel like you're highly irritable ating more tryptophan actually was proven to make you more agreeable, and decrease quarrelsome, nervous, and also improve your mood. So I need to I need to eat some salmon.
Unknown Speaker
Salmon bed. Yeah.
Alex Hourigan
Whenever I'm like in a grumpy mood, just like throw a salmon at me and be like I'm gonna instal
Sally McMullen
a little doggie door and like put a plate of pineapple and just slide it through. Like you've sent out the empty plate, I'll be like, Okay, I can come in.
Alex Hourigan
But like the thing with this is like you don't eat half this crap.
Sally McMullen
I know. That explains a lot. I know. I need to up the pineapple and nuts. Those are two of the things in that list and tofu.
Alex Hourigan
Yeah. So again, tryptophan is found in nuts, eggs, cheese, stunning. Red meat, Turkey, salmon, tofu and pineapple.
Sally McMullen
love pineapple. love pineapple.
Alex Hourigan
Also frozen pineapple in like a smoothie with some mango. Oh,
Sally McMullen
me. Yeah, it's good shit good shit. Serotonin immediately serotonin immediately. Okay, moving on to oxytocin. Okay, the love hormone.
Alex Hourigan
Fourth and final, happy hormone
Sally McMullen
hot my
Alex Hourigan
favourite one because the love bug comes back up and bites me
Sally McMullen
and shout out to Fergie. So the oxytocin hormone is produced by the hypothalamus part of our brain that makes us feel love and trust. So you can blame that guy for that the hormone is released during sexy times as well as during breastfeeding and childbirth.
Alex Hourigan
So the really interesting thing about oxytocin is that humans wouldn't be able to do a lot of things that we do without oxytocin. Women wouldn't be able to give birth because they wouldn't love their baby enough, if they didn't have oxytocin going through because they'd be like, this hurts to enjoy. Yeah, so to endure pain, that's why we have like oxytocin release, which is so interesting, I did just nerding out about it. But oxytocin can also boost your immune system, which makes you more resistant to addictive qualities of dopamine. So as we said, dopamine can kind of get addictive from things like social media, drugs, video games, all that juicy stuff. Not juicy, but you know, a quick hit the quick hits and addictive qualities of dopamine, but unlike dopamine, oxytocin gives you a lasting feeling of calm and safety. It's just so cute. I love it I'm like I would I like picture them all in my head and what they look like kind of like inside out Yes. It Tyson has these really big eyes. It's just I view
it you Wow, that just goes to show how much I love. You my head looks like you.
Sally McMullen
It looks like a gremlin.
Alex Hourigan
Yeah. So some signs you may be low in oxytocin is that you might be feeling lonely. You might be disconnecting from your relationships or feel a disconnect from your relationships have a lack of energy or motivation or feel highly stressed.
Unknown Speaker
You get so sad every time
Sally McMullen
you make me feel very sad, but how to hack your oxytocin and our first tip is to spend time with animals. So if you have a pet, give it a little pat. If you don't maybe foster an animal like elders or volunteer at an animal shelter,
Unknown Speaker
we'll just go to the dog park. Yes.
Sally McMullen
I love that we'll go to any cafe in Bondi Yeah, they're everywhere. So according to the National Library of Medicine, several studies have actually shown that animals receive a surge of oxytocin when they have a positive interaction with one another. So whether that's getting a pet or a cuddle or going on a walk, how cute is that? So it's a reciprocated Exchange, which we love. I love
Alex Hourigan
that one time I remember I was looking at my dog like Jada, my dog that was growing up. I was honestly like 10 metres away from her and she was just in her beanbag and I looked at her I just thought she looked really cute. I just smiled at her. And her tail started wagging like she recognised that i What a smile was when I spotted her and her tail wag and then she did her little thing with it knows that she smiled back at me. Yeah.
Sally McMullen
It was stroke. Oh, yeah, overdose.
Alex Hourigan
So the other way that you can have a good old oxytocin hit is to hook someone. So according to Healthline, our oxytocin levels rise when we hug, touch or sit close to someone. That's kind of why like physical touch is one of the love languages as well. According to an article in Forbes, the perfect hug should last about 20 seconds for a maximum oxytocin release. Carrie. I pride myself in being a very good hugger. Me to make sure I make sure I give a good squeeze. When I hug like I don't kind of like just rest myself around the person I really hold. And then like, do a little pack. And then I'm like,
Sally McMullen
yeah, no, limp fish hug.
Alex Hourigan
No, I love you for that a good hug me too. You know, when you have someone tall, and they put their arms around the race and then they give you a little pickup and you're like, Oh, that's a stop.
Sally McMullen
Crack you back at the same time? Well, yeah, yeah.
Alex Hourigan
Now the rest we're gonna say and the third and final way to release the oxytocin
Sally McMullen
me having an orgasm baby.
Alex Hourigan
I'm doing mine right now.
Sally McMullen
You can achieve anywhere. I love that micro. Micro dosing orgasm. Yeah. That's a business ID completely re trademark T m. So our bodies actually release oxytocin after we orgasm, whether that's self stimulated or with someone else so yourself or have sex with someone else? Do you get a nice little boost of oxytocin? Or do you both
Unknown Speaker
make fan of that? Yeah.
Sally McMullen
Another really interesting study I read was according to a clinical psychologist Dr. Wazoo Dev, shout out, cuddling post sex can also increase your oxytocin levels, and further that connection with your partner.
Alex Hourigan
Makes sense. That's also why it makes it really difficult to have a friend benefits because when you're sleeping with someone or cuddling with someone, your brain is releasing oxytocin, which is the love hormone. So your brain relates being with this person to feeling love and good vibes. So that's why it is really difficult to not get feelings for people that you're having the good sexy times with. So if you already like the person, and you already have maybe like a little bit of a butterfly in your tummy for them, but all they want is sex, do not do that best eat. Get out. The science says no, science says no, we say no. Doctor pursued I've said no. But one of our favourite parts of oxytocin is it decreases cortisol levels. As we mentioned previously, cortisol is one of the main stress hormones. So if you're feeling stressed at work, if you're feeling stressed about money, whatever you're feeling stressed about, go bang one out, and I promise you'll feel better after however you want to do that. My preference is a 3pm afternoon delight. I can have company for it or not, I don't mind. But as I've said before, if the bagel status is on my slack, don't talk to me.
Sally McMullen
If the bagel status is right I can no coming back.
Alex Hourigan
Well, that is a wrap for how to hack your happy brain chemicals. And what's so interesting is within that global happiness survey for 2022, the two main sources of happiness was number one physical health and well being and number two, mental health and well being, which so many of these hacks as we say, or activities are literally working on your physical health or working on your mental health. And it's just so important to really make sure that you're putting time in your everyday life and in your routine to feed into those things. Because like we said, at the start of this episode, it's not you know, one off things that make you happy, it's the small little details and changes in your life that lead to overall happiness. Again, as we said, if you are feeling depressed, low, anxious, and that things are a little bit hopeless, please do reach out to someone close to you, whether that is a family member, a friend, your GP and talk to them about it. These are kind of things to more, you know, give you a little boost of your good mood, but they're not going to completely you know, turn around your mental health if you are feeling that way. But we hope it does, you know, put a little bit of a spring in your step. Make you feel good.
Sally McMullen
Yeah, exactly. We covered a lot in today's episode, a lot of resources were shared. So we'll make sure to check all of those in the show notes if you want to do any of your research, as well as a couple of resources if you do want to reach out for help. Mental health resources in the show notes were huge.
Alex Hourigan
Thank you to Go-To Skincare for sponsoring this episode of Two Broke Chicks. As always, it's not a Two Broke Chicks episode if we don't have a cute little discount code for you. If you use the code TBCPOD you can score 15% off orders over $80 from gotoskincare.com up until 11:59pm Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time on the 19th of December 2022. So go get your skincare and some money off.
That is a wrap for another episode of Two Broke Chicks! thank you to our production team Pariya Taherzadeh and made in Katana studios for making this episode of To purchase happen and thanks for having us on the airholes check. We absolutely love to be here. I love it. Now go and get your dopamine endorphins serotonin and oxytocin besties by Jake's love Yeah, I feel high serotonin. Check yourself much
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
