So Here For It - Episode 6
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Amy Mingin: [00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to the So Here For It podcast, episode six. I am your host, Amy Mingin, and I am so excited to get into today's conversation all around neurotransmitters, how these things actually secretly control our lives, but also influence us and influence our behavior and our behavior change. This is the crux of a lot of my work.
And these are the things that a lot of people find the most interesting. So I'm really excited to get into this conversation today. Now, let me firstly introduce what neurotransmitters are, because maybe you've heard of them. Maybe you haven't. In my world, I speak about neurotransmitters in a quite simplistic way so that you get what they actually are.
So let's start from the beginning. They get created inside of the gut. Believe it or not, 90 percent of our neurotransmitters [00:01:00] are created inside our gut. Now, you've probably heard about your gut and your brain being very interconnected and this is why. So imagine having really great gut health, it's going to influence a really great brain health and mental health, right?
But it's only going to be one aspect. So just because you're producing neurotransmitters doesn't mean that your body is necessarily going to be making the most of them. And it certainly doesn't necessarily make you have the best mindset in the world. So we'll get into that in just a little while about what does each neurotransmitter do, what goes wrong, And different ways that you can boost it each day, because let's face it, if you can have more great days rather than just okay days, that is so what we're here for, right?
I love feeling great and I love people around me feeling great. And imagine if you were feeling great more often, how much better your life would be. So let's get started [00:02:00] into what is a neurotransmitter.
Neurotransmitter, or I might even say in this case, sometimes we could say neuromodulator. It's a chemical messenger. So if it gets created inside the gut, it's very reliant upon our bacterial status. It's very reliant on our absorption methods and it's very reliant on how our inflammation is going. So there is a little bit of inflammatory events that are unpreventable, right? But we just don't want that inflammation to go out of hand.
So we want to make sure that the messages that are going from the gut up to the brain happen efficiently and that we have enough, like there are specific foods that will have specific nutrients that will help to feed the brain and nervous system. So of course, if you're feeling a little bit deficient, which I'll go through some deficiency signs when I let you guys know what specifically is involved with these neurotransmitters and you can add more of [00:03:00] these foods into your diet. Like literally, I am so here for using food as medicine. And if you've never done it before, then here's a great time to try it. Now, usually I speak about neurotransmitters in dose. So it gets created, we get a dose of neurotransmitters every single day inside our gut, feeds through to the brain. The brain then influences our hormones, our behavior, our unconscious mind, our conscious patterns. So many different things. So it's really, really worthwhile getting on top of your neurotransmitters and influencing them as much as you possibly can each day. Now what do I mean by dose? Dose is dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins.
Now why do we want these? Let's start with dopamine. Dopamine is actually probably one of my favorite things to talk about. I love dopamine because it's all about our rewards pathway. It's actually also involved with our fear pathway. [00:04:00] So if you're somebody that does things, if you're driven by the fears in your life, like, Oh, I don't want that to happen so I'll do this. You're probably driven through dopamine. If you're very pleasure driven, you're like, Hmm, I really want to have that thing. That's dopamine at play. Now there's lots of foods that people will get dopamine from. There's lots of drinks, like a morning coffee equals dopamine, a green tea, dopamine.
Dark chocolate, dopamine, anything sweet, dopamine. Now it's not just dopamine. At all times we're always producing more chemical messengers than just dopamine. But let's say for simplicity's sake, anytime there is that fight or flight situation going on and there's like some heavy emotion We can actually get a little bit addicted to the flight and the thrill in that. People can get a bit addicted to their emotions.
So I'm thinking, all right, anybody who is driven through dopamine, which by the way, all [00:05:00] humans are, there is this potential of also having quite a drive for things like gossip, quite a thing for getting external validation, quite a thing for like doing the right thing and being told that you've done it right.
So yes, this is some of the inner child work that I do with people, but also in a neurotransmitter sense there are emotions that are attached to the different behaviors that we carry out on a daily basis that we have learned all throughout our life. So for example, if you learned that you helped out your grandmother set the table, and she handed you a lolly after you did that, you'd be like, okay, cool. If I help out somebody, then usually I would be rewarded with a sweet treat. Can you see how these emotions and these presumptions inside of our nervous system start? It always starts in childhood, and then as we go, as we're going through [00:06:00] our lives, We either add to it or we take away from it, but what's most important here is for us to be more aware of how it actually plays out for us personally in our own lives.
Now the other thing with dopamine is because there's this emotional attachment often, we're going to also want to do more of those behaviors. Because what do we get? We get a thrill out of it. We get the pleasure centers in the brain light up. We also get the fear factor. Do some people love that feeling of thrill? They love the feeling of adrenaline going through their body. Think about the people who love roller coasters. I think I went through a phase where I did and now I really don't. If someone said to me, Do you want to go to dream world and go on all those fast rides? I'm like, no, no, I don't. Like in my world, I think the thrill for me is finishing a really long run. The thrill for me is [00:07:00] more about the resilience building rather than like the full force fast thing. But that's just me personally. Maybe I've learned over time to bring some behaviors in that actually help for me to moderate the amount of dopamine.
Because here's the thing, like they've done studies, particularly in males, I don't know about the females in this department, but this is one of the studies that I've read is they did The receptor activity, particularly for dopamine and the areas of the brain related to pleasure and also showing men porn, pornographic material. It's highly addictive. Why is that? Because it's this thrill seeking behavior. It's this thing that lights up their brain. So it's going to enhance some sort of emotional status within their body, but it makes it. a little bit addictive because there is something there that makes them want to go back for more, right?
And I'm not saying this [00:08:00] is across the board, but this is very much the molecule of more. There's actually a book, The Molecule of More. So once you get the taste for it, you think about like Easter time when people are eating loads of chocolate and you know, you have chocolate for a few days and then you start like going, hmm I could go a bit more chocolate. That's dopamine. Dopamine's like yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. Let's have it. YOLO. You only live once like, let's do it. But the problem is when you get really heightened with dopamine you start wanting more So, how do you get healthy amounts of dopamine? This is the beauty of it.
It's really self regulating. There's the short lived ones like scrolling on your phone, checking your emails, having a loved one send you a text message, all of that's going to spark some dopamine. But the things that really spark the dopamine the highest are actually the most dangerous in inverted commas.
And [00:09:00] that's because they have you wanting for more thrill seeking behaviors. So they've done the studies on people who have drug addictions, for example. So the people who have the IV, if they, if they use a needle to inject ice, which is a methamphetamine, right? Somebody who injects ice, which I can only imagine would be like, so hectic to the nervous system.
Those people have such a high with the dopamine that they almost always want to go back for more. And that's why these drugs are so darn addictive, because they're seeking more dopamine. In fact, it makes everyday life seem bland compared to the life that they have when they're high, or the life that they have while they're watching porn, or the life that they have while they're eating all the food.
Can you see where all this binging and addictive style behaviors come from? So that is why dopamine is so important. What do we do for regulating dopamine? [00:10:00] I'm glad you're thinking this way because this is what I feel is so important for humans to do. We actually need to go out of the non reality form and into the reality.
And what I mean by that is normal, life. So in a really easy sense, let's think about it this way, because women in Catalyst, one of the things that they would say to me, some of them, not all of them, but one of the things that they say is I feel like I'm going to miss out on social situations because I can't go out and eat right this minute. And I'm like, yes, you can. Who's saying that you can't go out and eat? And they're like, but I have to stay on this food plan. And that means I won't get any social connection and da da da da da da da da. And I'm like, Eat before you go. You can still sit there and talk with your friends. You can take your food with you.
There's so many options, right? There are so many options. Now, this is one way of regulating dopamine. So they get the dopamine from the [00:11:00] connection. They get the dopamine for their food being brought to the table. They get the dopamine for choosing something different that they didn't have to cook. What if they stuck to their plan, so they're sticking to what they say they're going to do. They feel really good, they actually get dopamine because they're doing what they say they're going to do. They eat their food, which is part of their Catalyst plan, and they still get to see their friends and still get the dopamine from the connection. Now, I'll get to oxytocin in a minute, but this sort of dopamine lasts in your system for so much longer.
So I want you to think about long term dopamine versus the short lived dopamine. Now, the short lived dopamine is like eating candy. It's like eating a lolly, every five minutes you're looking for the thing and I know for sure my brain will do this some days. If I'm feeling really scattered for whatever reason, if I haven't done any of my nervous system work or I haven't had access to the foods that I would normally eat and my brain's going a bit AWOL, it happens some days, right?[00:12:00]
There are the days where I really struggle to regulate myself with my phone. I would want to pick up my phone every five minutes. I would want to just have a look. There's nothing on there. There's nothing there in that five minutes that there wasn't there the five minutes before, but I'd still check it, because that's dopamine at play.
And we don't know that we're doing it until we're aware of it. So if I catch myself in a time like that, I go, all right, I put a timestamp on it. I'll go, all right, so say that's 11 AM. I'll be like, I'm not picking it up again until 2 PM. Put my phone on do not disturb. Go and put it in a different room and shut the door, whatever is necessary.
So the big thing about dopamine is, add friction to it because it prevents you from being able to access it. Now, this isn't in a punishment way. This is in a holistic way for your nervous system to actually regulate your dopamine cycle. Because if you can have that longer term dopamine, you are going to be so much more satisfied with who you are. What [00:13:00] you're doing and what sort of connections you have in this world.
So I want you to think about the difference between eating candy and actually eating a holistic meal of some really good quality protein, some organic vegetables, some brown rice. Like think about how wholesome that sort of meal is. Even like, the picture I have in my head is like a deconstructed sushi bowl where you've got some rice and you've got some seaweed and you've got some pickled ginger and you've got some salmon and you've got some edamame and you've got some cucumber, maybe some carrots, some cabbage, like you've got a really wholesome bowl there versus eating candy.
This is the difference in short term dopamine versus long term dopamine. And I want this to really hit home. So how to get the long term is to create friction for the short term. And what I mean by this is like what I said that I do with my phone. Sometimes I [00:14:00] just have to get stuff done and I'm being distracted. So I need to put the friction in place. If I'm in that sort of a mood and getting distracted, I'm hardly going to go. to the other end of the house to try and find my phone that I put there two hours ago. I'm just going to get the thing done and make it a reward that I get to have my phone at the end.
And guess what? That dopamine peak doesn't come as high as what would have if I just kept taking the candy, kept checking, kept looking. I'm sure we've all had this. So I felt like it's a really good example. You could also use the example around food, people snacking, really, really similar. So I want you to think about what friction can you put in place for that short term dopamine, so that you can access your long term dopamine. And this is behavior change 101. This is actually what I teach inside Catalyst, that our behaviors are only our behaviors because they worked for us at one [00:15:00] stage and you don't have to have the same behaviors for your whole life.
So my suggestion here is to make sure that you start becoming self aware. Start noticing what behaviors are positive for you and which ones are so not positive. Put the friction in front of the things that are not positive. And it is going to change your life. So that's dopamine. Hope you enjoyed that. That was really good.
Now we're going to go into oxytocin. Oxytocin is also known as like the hormone of love. Oxytocin is really high. It's the thing that starts labor when women are giving birth. So thankfully, me in my life, I've had a lot of surges of oxytocin. I was going to say dopamine, that too, but oxytocin.
I've had two home births by the way, two totally natural births at home and very blessed to have such access and privilege to be able to have such an informed birth both times. Really, really loved both my birth journeys, which I'll probably share with you later on some other time. [00:16:00]
Oxytocin is at play here. Oxytocin is a connection neurotransmitter. Now, some people don't realize it, but they crave this. Anyone who says to me that they feel lonely or they feel isolated or they feel like they don't fit in or they don't belong, they're hunting for more oxytocin. Now there's something very interesting that happens in our primitive brain here.
Our primitive brain is wired to survive and it sits just at the base of the skull. It's called the occiput. It's the brainstem. It doesn't care how good we feel. It just wants us to survive. Are you breathing? Is the blood flowing? And that's it. It does not care whether we're getting connection or not. Now, the beauty is as we evolved as human beings, we started to learn that we were actually better off being in groups, being paired up with a partner.
We felt better when we had these family connections and that's [00:17:00] how everything evolved. So it's very in our primitive brain if we start to feel a feeling of rejection, if we feel this feeling of loneliness or isolation that this oxytocin might be feeling a little bit low.
Now, how do we get more oxytocin? This is the beauty. If you need more oxytocin, a 20 second hug is one of the best things. I've said to some of my coaching clients over the years who are single, who don't have a partner, who really want to have kids. I'm like, can you just get a dog? Cause a dog is like endless source of oxytocin. Go to a dog beach and pat people's dogs.
Go to a cafe where they have dogs, be around people with dogs. People with dogs tend to be okay with you being like, all ooey gooey over their dogs. I am such a dog person by the way, in case you didn't already know. And I hang out at cafes where they allow dogs. I have a dog of my own. He's not because, [00:18:00] because he's a rescue, like he doesn't socialize that well.
So I tend to go socialize with other people's dogs and have my own dog at home. And that's just how it rolls for us. But there's so much oxytocin that you can get by being around people. People who you trust, get a hug from them. Say, can I have a hug? If you want a hug, have a hug, hug someone. But also you get it through genuine connection.
And I think this is where our phones are cutting off the connection, right? I want you to have a think about the last time that you actually met someone in person. And the last time that you had a deep conversation with someone, the last time you felt vulnerable, the last time you actually had the bravery and courage for you to step into your vulnerability, because that's you stepping into the oxytocin side of things and you being able to connect more deeply.
If you're connecting more deeply, you're able to fill your oxytocin cup. You feel more connected to yourself and you'll feel more connected to others, which keeps the brainstem [00:19:00] happy, takes you out of survival mode. You're already thriving then. So I want you to think about oxytocin, the hormone of love, the hormone of connection, neurotransmitter that when we're around people, particularly people who we feel safe with, that's really important, that's when oxytocin is going to thrive.
So ways to increase your oxytocin is getting out there and meeting new people. This is for the people who currently feel like they don't belong or they're struggling because they feel isolated. The social aspect of health is actually so, how do I say this? The social aspect of health is misjudged.
It's missed out a lot of the time and it's actually one of the most important markers, particularly as we age. It is a marker of life expectancy. So where they talk about the blue zones and all the food that they eat, all of that side of things. What's really true for all of [00:20:00] these people is they actually have a really great social life.
They'll go down and have their espresso on the corner with their friend who they see there every day. They'll go for a walk. A lot of them walk everywhere, right? They go for a walk. They meet with friends. There's always something going on with their friends or their family. So the social aspect of your health is really, really important. And that's where oxytocin comes in.
Now, S is for serotonin. Now serotonin is probably one of the more spoken about neurotransmitters and it's been hypothesized that it's related to depression if you're low in serotonin, but it goes so much further than that. Like depression to most people is like all the lights have been switched off in your body. A lot of people sleep. They can't get out of bed. They really struggle with their energy. They struggle to find things that bring them joy. They struggle to feed themselves or they overfeed themselves because they're [00:21:00] trying to stuff down their emotions. And with serotonin, it definitely is a hormone of presence.
We naturally have more serotonin in the afternoon. So, you know, those cultures that have Siesta time. That's the best way for you to have more serotonin. Serotonin is also heavily influenced by the amount of protein we have in our diet, by the amount of antioxidants that we have, but also the level of sunshine that we get each day.
So sometimes people who live in those low sun areas really struggle with low serotonin, 90 percent of your serotonin created in your gut. So you could actually make sure that you're having a high enough protein, high enough antioxidant diet in order to have more serotonin. You want to make sure that you're getting outside, getting fresh air, breathing deeply, making sure that you're actually noticing how you're feeling in the afternoons.
Again, a walk in the sunshine every day. I say this to all my clients who have low energy. If they're tired, they have to go for a walk in the sunshine, [00:22:00] even if it's for 10 minutes. And why? Because it helps you build more serotonin. The more serotonin that you have during the day, it gets converted to melatonin at night so you actually sleep better.
So the better you sleep, generally speaking, over time, might not happen straight away, but over time, you're going to end up with more energy. Everyone wants more energy. So, let's go for a daily walk in the sun to get more energy. Serotonin is a happy hormone. Serotonin influences our ability to connect again with other people, but also that feeling of satisfaction and being able to be present right here.
There's nothing about focusing on the past and nothing about focusing on the future. It's about you being present. You know those people who are really good at holding space, they've got really good serotonin. And what I mean by that is that they're really present with you. They're like a solid anchor when you're talking to them. You feel so safe with them. They have really great [00:23:00] serotonin. So if you want really great serotonin, practice being present. Be present in your body, breathe, ground your feet each day, be in the sunshine. I know super basic things, but it's actually, health is really basic and getting the basics right is actually key to you feeling great throughout your life. So that's serotonin.
Now, last one is endorphins. Endorphins are created when we exercise, when we laugh, when we see something funny, when we are listening to great music. Endorphins, I feel, are very much externally motivated and influenced, but we can create them for ourselves, obviously. But they definitely are again, enhanced when we are connecting with people, when we are doing things that are more active.
And you think about the things that bring you joy. And some of these people who say, yeah, I'm feeling a bit flat. The things that used to bring me joy, [00:24:00] don't bring me joy anymore. I'm like, cool. So find something new. Like I get great endorphins when I find out something new. I love, this is one of the things that I say, I love when the universe surprises and delights me.
I love that. I find out things that are synchronous. So if I say something and then someone says something else that isn't in alignment with that just like moments later or something is shown to me, I just go, Oh, that is so cool. And I get a really great rush of endorphins. I get endorphins after I go running, or if I have an ice bath or a cold shower.
I get endorphins after running with the dog or the kids. Like you think about the different things that you do in your life that give you that exhilarated feeling without being stressed. That's the most important thing here, that there is no stress attached to endorphins. It's all positive stress, if anything.
So you think of cardio exercise or even weight resistance exercise, it's all going to help [00:25:00] enhance endorphins. Anything that's connecting with other people, laughing, joking, you feeling really great in your body is going to enhance endorphins.
Now I just want to bring it all around into one area now. If you're in your body and you're able to access who you are and you're able to access what it is that you want and you're able to connect with others and you're eating the whole foods and you're getting outside and you're getting all these basics correct.
This will inevitably enhance your dose per day. I want you to think about the different things that you do that enhance your dose per day. Dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins. There's one thing that hits all the marks all in one go and that's actually you connecting with a loved one in a [00:26:00] sexual way and you climaxing, you hitting orgasm, gets dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins, all in one go.
So if that's available to you, my suggestion is to access that more often. There's a lot of magic that you can access and a lot of healing that you can access through actually having a better sexual relationship. And I'm not here to necessarily go into that detail today, but I wanted to let you know that's one of the best ways that you can hit your dose every single day.
So give it a go. Even if you don't feel like it, see what happens when you start enhancing your oxytocin by having more hugs. You might kiss your partner more often. You might enhance your connections by going on more dates. Like think about how these different things can all come into your life and how it's all going to enhance your life.
Most of it is to do with connection as number one. It's overcoming the short term dopamine so you can have the long term dopamine. It's being [00:27:00] present. And it's enjoying it while you're doing it. So I hope that you absolutely love learning about neurotransmitters today. I love this conversation so much.
And if there's someone who, you know, needs to hear this, please share it with them. Please review this podcast, rate it, subscribe to it. I love being in your ears every week. So jump online, share this with your friends. I'm so grateful to be in your ears today and have the, really the best day ever. And I'll see you in the next episode.
