How to Hack Your Hormones: The Simple Tricks to Boost Your Body’s ‘Happiness Chemicals’ — and What You Should NEVER Do in the Morning If You Want to Be in a Good Mood

Did you know that your body is constantly talking to you? Not with actual words, of course, but rather through the changing levels of our internal chemicals, including dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins.

Their impact on our emotions, health and overall well-being simply cannot be overestimated.

Take dopamine, a neurotransmitter (or chemical messenger) that I think of as the chemical of motivation. Fueled by hard physical work and mental effort, it in turn further boosts our drive and helps us pursue goals.

Oxytocin – the love or connection hormone – helps you build bonds with people and provides optimism.

Serotonin is linked to mood and energy and has a hugely positive effect on emotions and productivity levels.

Finally, endorphins help de-stress: hormones stimulated by strenuous physical activity, they calm you down and relieve pain.

Researchers have consistently found that modern life has a significant detrimental impact on these neurotransmitters.

For example, if you scroll on your phone for hours and then feel exhausted and demotivated, as I’ll explain later, this is because phones affect your dopamine levels.

The same thing happens if you eat too much sugar or sit inside all day.

DOPAMINE: CHEMICALLY INCREASE YOUR MOTIVATION

DON’T CHECK YOUR PHONE TOO EARLY IN THE DAY: We know from research that parts of your brain that experience pleasure and pain are located next to each other in the hypothalamus, the control center of the brain.

To understand how they work in conjunction with each other, the leading American psychiatrist Dr Anna Lembke, who has done a lot of work in this area, compared it to a series of scales on a fulcrum – I encourage people to imagine them as a saw.

When you do strenuous “painful” activities that result in mental or physical strain, such as pushing yourself in the gym or concentrating for long periods of time, it will put pressure on the pain side of your brain, causing more activity there. . This raises the ‘fun’ side of the seesaw.

But too much “pleasure” from fast dopamine-boosting activities, like eating sugary foods, drinking alcohol, or scrolling through social media, will tilt the seesaw in the opposite direction. In response to the unnatural dopamine spikes, your brain produces an additional neurochemical called dynorphin to keep you from engaging in these activities. It causes discomfort in your brain, usually experienced as feelings of depression and severe low mood, the kind you get after drinking too much alcohol or eating too many sugary foods.

If you have low dopamine, you will feel demotivated – exercising or eating healthy will feel harder – and you will procrastinate.

Dopamine is designed to be ‘earned’ slowly through exercise. Activities such as housework, exercise and gardening are good sources of ‘slow’ dopamine. Journaling, painting, or playing a musical instrument also help. Just like sleeping: while you sleep, your brain regenerates dopamine, so you wake up with an abundance of it, motivated to start your day.

Since your dopamine levels are at their baseline in the morning, it’s important that you don’t look at your phone first thing and create a dopamine peak-and-dip effect. I wait to look at mine until I’ve gone for a walk. Remember this simple phrase: “I have to see sunlight before I see social media.”

FORGET YOUR PHONE, WATCH TV: I’m sure you’re struggling to watch TV without constantly looking at your phone.

Both are obviously screen-based activities, but when it comes to our dopamine, there are significant differences.

Watching TV requires effort from your brain because you have to concentrate and pay attention, which increases dopamine levels.

Scrolling through videos on social media takes no effort to get pleasure from, and will have a negative effect on your dopamine in the long run.

OXYTOCIN: TURN ON THE LOVE HORMONE

HUG FOR AT LEAST FIVE SECONDS: Research has shown that when someone holds you down, oxytocin is released into your bloodstream. This also lowers your primary stress hormone, cortisol. Brain scans suggest that the effect of touch begins after about five seconds.

Some people like a hug. Others don’t. It is important to receive touch in a way that feels comfortable. This could mean just cuddling a cat or dog, which research has shown also releases oxytocin.

CALL, NOT TEXT: Much of our social connection now takes place through phone messages. A 2012 study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US assessed the different levels of oxytocin released between messaging someone close to you, or, alternatively, calling.

No oxytocin was released when sending messages. But the soothing sound of a voice triggered a much more substantial release of the hormone.

SEROTONIN: TURN ON THE HAPPY HORMONE

GET UP AND OUT: Many studies show the importance of sunlight for your health – your sleep quality, immune system and, last but not least, serotonin production. This in turn provides more energy and a more positive mood.

Make sure you get enough daylight in the morning for an optimal start to your day. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be sunny to benefit from the happiness benefit.

FUN IN FRUIT: The most important thing to know about serotonin is that 90 percent of it is produced in your intestines. So if we have a happy, healthy gut, we’re more likely to have a happy mind too. The serotonin produced in the gut has been shown to positively impact our mood, energy and nervous system function.

So the importance of eating gut-friendly, unprocessed foods, foods high in probiotics (such as live yogurt) and not drinking too much alcohol cannot be overestimated for serotonin.

However, fruit is on the menu. The impact it has on your serotonin system is phenomenal, as fruits such as bananas, kiwis, plums and apples contain an essential amino acid known as tryptophan (also found in other foods such as eggs and fish), which is an important building block for the production of serotonin.

Postpone your morning coffee: Many of us drink coffee within the first 30 minutes of waking up. This causes a number of challenges for your brain and the body’s energy cycle.

When you wake up in the morning – and especially if you go outside in natural light – your body experiences a natural increase in the hormone cortisol. This will get your energy system going for the day.

If we consume caffeine during this period, this natural cortisol increase is disrupted and the body uses the caffeine for energy. This is a primary cause of afternoon energy accidents.

Try to consume your coffee at least 90 minutes after waking up, preferably two hours. This will produce a much more natural energy curve. I drink my coffee at 10 a.m. and always undertake a challenging activity or job immediately afterwards. The caffeine also increases dopamine to improve concentration and productivity.

LIGHTS ON ONLY AFTER 7:00 PM: Because good quality sleep is so important for our serotonin levels, it’s crucial that we prepare our bodies for rest. An easy way is to turn off the overhead lights in your home after 7 p.m. and stick to lamps instead.

The goal is to prevent light from shining above your head, because your brain perceives this as the sun.

ENDORPHINE: SUPPLYING YOUR NATURAL PAIN KILLERS

THE POWER OF A SHORT JOG: When you physically strain your body, it produces a significant release of endorphins. This is perhaps the most important thing to understand about endorphins: to boost them, you have to push your body.

You may have come across the term “runner’s high,” where people experience a significant increase in endorphins as a result of the physical pain caused by running.

I find it very difficult to start running. Instead, I take three moments during my morning walk to push my body a little harder. This could be a quick jog of 50 yards, or even a slow jog up a small hill. Even this gives an endorphin boost.

TAKING A WARM BATH: A warm environment increases endorphin levels. How, you may ask? For example, when you take a bath, your body temporarily experiences a form of ‘heat stress’. Your body senses that this heat can be dangerous because it doesn’t know that the water isn’t getting hotter and you’re getting burned. In preparation, it releases pain-relieving endorphins, making you more relaxed. If you have access to a sauna, use it instead of the steam room, as saunas are more challenging and cause a greater release of endorphins.

• Adapted from The DOSE Effect by TJ Power (HQ, £20). © TJ Power 2025. To order a copy for £18 (offer valid until 02/02/25; UK P&P free on orders over £25) visit mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937. Free UK delivery on orders over £25.