Love is Selfish 2.0: A Chemical Breakdown

What does it mean to be happy?

Screenshot of my smiling, happy children! If that doesn’t make you smile, you are a grinch!! Image created by author

Happiness is a cascade of chemical reactions.

In anticipation of being happy, our brains produce the “happy hormones” that we’ve all heard some pop psychologist enthuse over. A cluster of hormones known as endorphins work in different ways to make you feel good. Serotonin, the lack of which is well-known to play a role in depression, keeps you emotionally and physically balanced. Dopamine can make you feel addicted and obsessed in your happiness.

Oxytocin, my favorite, feels like it literally opens up your heart and enables bonding with another human being. Oxytocin is the hormone fiercely at play when you look into the eyes of your newborn and fall in love, when everybody in the world is a beautiful person after loving and fulfilling sex.

The hormones of happiness even affect you physically. Endorphins loosen and ease your tense muscles, regulate your heart rate, and open up your blood vessels, improving circulation and literally making you more physically attractive (this is why someone in love is said to “glow” — expanded blood vessels bring more blood to the surface, making skin look fresher and more alive.)

The release of endorphins suppresses the brain’s release of cortisol, commonly known as the “stress hormone”…