fokus und Wohlbefinden

Where and how do happiness and well-being arise?

For many, the state of happiness is the subjective feeling caused by personal actions such as success or peak performance. Being happy does indeed depend on how you organise your life and how successful it is for you. What many people don't realise, however, is that happiness is also a chemical process in your brain. In fact, there are four important neurotransmitters/neurochemicals that produce the feeling of happiness in the brain. Biochemically, three neurotransmitters in particular are involved, namely dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin. These three brain messengers are joined by a cocktail of your own personal brain opioids: endorphins. Together they create a state of happiness and ensure that you are content and simply feel good.

The length or quality of this happiness depends on what triggers the positive feelings. Sex or material rewards, such as money, activate your reward system, specifically the nucleus accumbens. An area in your brain that reacts primarily to the neurotransmitter dopamine. However, the happiness generated by dopamine is very short-lived and needs to be constantly renewed. Other forms of reward, such as social interaction in the form of a deep friendship or recognition at work, activate a longer-term state of happiness. They activate areas in the cerebral cortex that are primarily responsible for processing positive experiences.