#131: ☺️ Unlocking Your Brain's Natural Happiness Chemicals Through Movement and Connection
How Dance Floors, Gatherings, Connection and Friendships Drive Our Brain’s Joy Systems
Hey Friends,
Last week, I did something so cool.
I gave a scientific talk about happiness on the beach before a DJ set.
I explored “The Pursuit of Happiness” through the lens of biochemistry & neuroscience, revealing how dance floors, gatherings, connection and friendships drive our brain’s joy systems
The talk was a hit, and I want to share the key points with you here in my newsletter.
Check it out below.
💬 In this note:
☺️ Unlocking Your Brain's Natural Happiness Chemicals Through Movement and Connection
📚 Dust
⚡️ Dissolvable Plastic
☺️ Unlocking Your Brain's Natural Happiness Chemicals Through Movement and Connection
Our brains are always manufacturing happiness chemicals, but modern life often blocks their production or gets in the way.
The good news is that we can rewire our brains by doing activities that trigger happiness to create greater joy and well-being.
The Biochemistry of Happiness
There are four key neurochemicals that drive our feelings of happiness and well-being.
I call them The Happiness Quartet.
We have dopamine, which is best known as the "reward" chemical, provides pleasure and motivation.
Serotonin is the happiness and joy hormone. It is our "mood stabilizer" which promotes feelings of contentment.
Oxytocin, which is the "love hormone," facilitates bonding and trust.
Finally we have endorphins, the body's natural painkillers that also produce euphoria.
The Happiness Quartet works in harmony together.
Social recognition increases serotonin, which can boost dopamine, creating a positive feedback loop.
These systems evolved to reinforce behaviors beneficial for survival and reproduction.
The Neuroscience of Happiness
While these systems work together, in our modern society, we are flooded with one of the four more than others.
Dopamine.
Dopamine is the pleasure hormone and it has only 5 receptors in the brain.
But pleasure isn’t happiness.
The pleasure we experience from dopamine is addictive, short-term, usually experienced alone, visceral in that it is felt through the body, and it is linked with addiction if over-exposed.
Serotonin is our joy hormone. It has 14 receptors throughout the brain.
Serotonin is non-addictive, the joy we experience from serotonin lasts long-term. We usually get bursts of serotonin from shared experiences.
Serotonin is ethereal and felt in the mind.
Serotonin regulates mood stability and fosters a deeper, more enduring sense of happiness.
Our brains are fascinating, complex and highly adaptable.
Our brains can physically change in response to repeated experiences.
We can choose to rewire our brains from too much dopamine release, to more serotonin release.
Happiness pathways can be strengthened through consistent activation.
Serotonin release is associated with more disciplined and regimented practices.
You can strengthen your happiness pathways through happiness activities.
Think about things like mindfulness practice, letting go of things in the past that are out of your control, journaling, being in nature, doing acts of service.
Of course, a personal favorite of mine, and many of yours…is dance.
Dance is powerful.
Rhythmic movements can increase serotonin synthesis and release.
I truly believe dance is medicine.
How Dance Creates Happiness
Dance is one of the few things we can do that activates and integrates the mental, the physical and the emotional, together in perfect harmony.
Dancing also lowers stress & raises serotonin (the feel-good chemical)
Dance encourages the growth of new brain connections in areas tied to long-term memory, executive function and spatial awareness.
Dance can also reduce your chance of developing dementia.
A 2003 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, looked at how leisure time activities affected older individual’s chances of developing dementia, and dance reduces an individual's chance of developing dementia by 76%.
Last summer I had the chance to meet the founder of Dance for PD, a New York-based dance studio who offers people with Parkinson's the benefits of research-backed dance through in-person and online classes and videos.
He showed that people with Parkinson’s who struggle to walk, can move effortlessly when dancing to music.
Dance also activates multiple happiness pathways simultaneously.
It activates the Happiness Quartet simultaneously.
Dance Floors Also Drive Our Joy System
Partner dancing and group dancing that involves touch can activate our serotonin pathways.
Dancing in groups triggers neural synchrony between participants.
Our brains actually become more in sync with each other on a dance floor.
This creates a collective production of endorphins, and elevates oxytocin levels, creating a biochemical sense of connection.
Also on the dance floor, our brain's mirror neuron system activates, creating emotional resonance.
An Oxford University study showing synchronous dancing elevates pain thresholds by 33% (a proxy for endorphin release).
Also, the environment of the dance floor usually involves bright or changing lights.
Light exposure, especially bright light, increases serotonin turnover in our brain.
Why Gatherings Make Us Happy
Gatherings make us happy for four key reasons.
1. The first is co-regulation.
Human nervous systems are designed to attune to one another.
Proximity to calm, happy people helps us to regulate our own emotional state.
Emotional contagion is a real phenomenon that operates on a biological level.
I remember in grad school, I watched a video experiment where a woman starts to laugh. She’s in a crowd and she’s laughing, and laughing harder and harder. Then suddenly, someone next to her starts laughing. Then another person joins in. Suddenly everyone is laughing, and they are laughing just because everyone else is laughing. And it’s sparking so much joy.
2. The second reason we love gatherings is social validation.
Group belonging activates reward pathways.
Recognition by your friends triggers a serotonin release.
And this has an evolutionary advantage - group acceptance meant survival.
3. We also experience a collective effervescence when we gather.
There is a heightened sense of energy when people gather.
And synchronous activities in groups amplify positive neurochemical effects.
This is why we love dancing, concerts, sporting events and even religious ceremonies when we are all focusing our attention on the same thing, and coordinating movements.
4. Special occasions where we gather can activate anticipation.
Anticipation increases dopamine, and the combination of novelty, social connection, and purpose creates optimal conditions for producing the happiness quartet.
Why We Need Connection and Belonging
Human brains evolved primarily for social interaction.
Loneliness activates the same neural pathways as physical pain.
Chronic isolation suppresses immune function and reduces oxytocin production.
The body treats social connection as a biological necessity, not a luxury.
We need connection because this builds trust circuits in our brain.
Oxytocin facilitates trust and bonding and it is released in positive social interactions.
It creates a positive feedback loop. More trust leads to more connection, which leads to more oxytocin.
And our mirror neurons help us with connection and bonding.
These brain cells fire when we perform an action and when we see someone else perform it.
This allows us to “feel with others” amplifying both joy, and other emotions like empathy and sorrow.
Understanding the neuroscience of happiness gives us the power to create more of it.
I will leave you with a few practical tips to create more healthy happiness:
Bring regular dance or movement in your routines, especially with others. 10 minutes of rhythmic movement can boost the Happiness Quartet.
Practice eye contact and physical touch with trusted loved ones.
Practice active listening to strengthen neural pathways for connection.
Immerse yourself in nature. This reduces cortisol and increases endorphins. Our brains process natural settings more efficiently than urban ones.
Bring intentional gatherings into your life. Designed gatherings that include elements of synchrony, shared purpose and positive touch can maximize neurochemical benefits.
Our brains are literally wired for connection, movement, and community.
When we honor this design, we unlock our innate capacity for joy.
📚 Book of the Week
Dust: Book Three of the Silo Series (Silo, 3) by Hugh Howey
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Three stars for Book 3 of the Silo Series.
This book brings together all of the characters from Book 1, Wool, and Book 2, Shift.
However, the ending reminded me a bit of the TV show LOST.
We don’t get all the answers. And the ending is just a bit…meh.
I can’t say beyond that without spoilers but it’s worth the read, with the caveat that it’s just a bit lacking after two novels that keep you on the edge of your seat.
This was a reader recommendation by Taylor! Thanks Taylor!!!
⚡️ Check This Out
Japan develops plastic that disappears within hours in seawater and boosts soil health.
Researchers at the RIKEN Centre in Japan have developed a groundbreaking biodegradable plastic that dissolves in seawater within hours and decomposes in soil in just 10 days. The research was published in Science on November 22, 2024.
Traditional plastics can take centuries to break down and harm marine life.
This new material is made from food-safe, non-toxic components.
It also enriches soil by restoring nutrients and carbon content during decomposition, offering a promising solution for sustainable waste management and reducing long-term environmental pollution.
🗣️ Looking for the Nina’s Notes Podcast?
It’s available on: 🟢 Spotify, 🟣 Apple Podcasts, 🟠 Substack Podcasts
On the Nina’s Notes Podcast I interview entrepreneurs who are building products based on the science that I write about in the Nina’s Notes Newsletter.
You’ll also find voice overs of all the weekly Nina’s Notes.
Edited by Wright Time Publishing