A couple of weeks after I got diagnosed of a burn-out, I started to read again management books and I had bought “Leaders eat last” from Simon Sinek prior my burn-out but didn’t had the time to stat reading it. The initial goal for buying this book was to learn more about leadership but I didn’t realise that this book changed my life in a very positive way, not about leadership but how four chemicals in your brain can make you more confident and feel more positivity in your live.
The four chemicals
Simon describes in his book that there are four chemicals, so called neurotransmitters in your brain that drives positive feeling, confidence and trust. When you feel overwhelmed you have a bigger change of getting a burn-out and these four chemicals, when in balance, can support you in your recovery from a burn out, but even better they can also prevent you from getting a burn-out. These four chemicals are: Endorphin, Dopamine, Serotonin and Oxytocin.
None of these chemicals is better that the other. All of them serve a specific purpose. They need to be in balance in order to feel good and positive. Endorphin and Dopamine are known as the “selfish chemicals”. We can get them on our own. Serotonin and Oxytocin are the “selfless chemicals”. We need others to get these chemicals in our brains.
Endorphin
The chemical Endorphin will be released in your brain in order to support your body with physical pain. You might be aware of what is called ‘Runners high’. When you are running you notice that after a couple of miles you feel pain in your muscles or knee. Your brain will release some Endorphin so that it will mask your pain and you can continue running. Another example when your brain is releasing Endorphin is when you are laughing, so I reckon you laugh a lot every single day!
Dopamine
When you need to focus on your goals, your brain will release some small shots of Dopamine to keep you going and motivated. When you reach your goal your brain will release a big shot of Dopamine to make you feel great, confident and happy. A balanced way of getting shots of Dopamine is really good to keep you going and motivated in order to get things done. But the biggest risk with Dopamine is that it is very addictive, so it is very dangerous. (Online) gambling, Internet, smoking, social media, alcohol etc. they all will release good shots of Dopamine, so be careful!
Serotonin
The Serotonin is a selfless chemical and can only be released when others are involved. It will for example be released when a group of people (colleagues, friends etc.) work together to solve a problem or reach a goal. It will strengthen our human bonds. When the whole team is recognised and rewarded for their behaviour or good work together, they all will get a good shot of Serotonin, which give them a feeling of respect, confidence, status and pride.
Oxytocin
This is my personal favourite one of all four – Oxytocin is what is called the ‘happiness chemical’ and I already briefly mentioned it in the post about 25 ideas to be happy .This chemical will encourage serving others. When helping others, for example very simple things, like giving a tip in a restaurant or helping your friend moving houses, both you and the other person will get a shot of Oxytocin and this will make you and the other person feel better and positive.
Oxytocin is also released by human contact like high fives, handshakes, big and long hugs or doing volunteer work at homeless shelter for example.
A very important effect of Oxytocin is that our bodies are less susceptible to the addictiveness of Dopamine and the most important effect is that Oxytocin makes you feel better capable of handling stress. This was my biggest support during my burn-out. Just before and during my burn out my body was full of the stress hormone ‘Cortisol’. When you brain is releasing shots of Oxytocin the stress hormone Cortisol will be lowered in your body and you immune system will be stronger with Oxytocin.
That’s why it is so important that you get help and support from others during and after your burn-out.
Cortisol
As said, Cortisol was making overtime during my burn-out and period of anxiety in my life. Short boosts of Cortisol are good and can protect you from potential danger, you go into the fight or flight mode. When Cortisol is released, your immune system is turned off and our body is releasing a boost of adrenaline in your blood stream to really fight or flight. When the danger is over the amount of cortisol will be lowered and you will feel more relax.
When we have cortisol in our bodies more often than we are supposed to have, it can become dangerous. This is what often happens during a burn-out, especially when you feel stressed there will be a constant flow of Cortisol in your body. When the level of Cortisol is going up, the level of Oxytocin is going down. This will weaken our immune system and can cause serious health issues.
Your task is to keep the four chemicals in good balance to decrease the level of constant Cortisol in your brain. It will make you feel better, happier and you see things in a more positive way.
My advice:
- Laugh a lot to release Endorphin
- Focus on your goals to release Dopamine
- Work together to release Serotonin,
- Help others to release Oxytocin and decrease your stress hormone Cortisol.
I recommend you to watch this 45 min video from Simon.
Photo by Jesse Martini on Unsplash
