How FOLO evokes dopamine
In our last blogpost we have discussed how important social contacts are for us. But what exactly is behind it?
Social factors influence a person’s health and life expectancy. Social properties are influenced by endogenous substances. A central and overarching role was played by endorphins and dopamine. Our brain produces a large number of messenger substances that influence well-being and social behavior. The tasks of individual substances are thereby quite specific for certain social characteristics.
Scientists found that dopamine influences social bonds in larger networks — outside of two- person relationships. Dopamine is considered a “happiness hormone.” The connection can be explained because relationships with others in larger groups are often associated with pleasant activities, such as laughing, singing or dancing together.
Dopamine is not called the “happy hormone” for nothing, because it is usually released when you are rewarded in some way. Things that make you happy, such as sports, your favorite hobby, music, social interaction, sexual activity, etc., influence the release of the hormone and neurotransmitter in the brain. In addition, another hormone plays an important role, called the “feel-good hormone” serotonin, which is also released as a reward for positive experiences. It sets up a kind of feedback loop that motivates you to repeat the very things that made you happy through the dopamine release. In this way, the hormones motivate you and direct your attention to the goals that you associate with a good feeling. So your brain rewards you every time you take a step toward the goals you’ve personally set. In fact, few things provide as large a release of dopamine as achieving long-held goals. But if you suffer from a deficiency, little of the hormone is released even for things that would normally have made you happy. No wonder, after all, there simply isn’t that much of it and the positive feedback effect is absent.
What are you waiting for? Download the FOLO App, create or join some FOLOs and get together with like-minded people around you. Your dopamine level will rise up high!
