The Brain Chemicals that govern our lives and how massage therapy plays a role

There seems to be 3 distinct parts of the pie that when put together become human.  1.  Our thoughts, 2.  Our bodies, 3.  Our spirit.  All 3 of these pie pieces are directly related to one another.  Thanks to science we are beginning to understand how these components are connected by how are brains interact with the rest of our being through chemical messengers called neurotransmitters.


Neurotransmitters transmit a message from a nerve cell across a synapse to a target cell.  This target cell could be another nerve cell, a muscle cell, or a gland cell.  Accessing neurotransmitters with intention can instantly bring the 3 pieces of the pie to more of a state of balance and homeostasis.  


Below are some common neurotransmitters that when accessed fairly regularly can bring about a balanced healthy lifestyle.  By having a better understanding of these chemical messengers we will be able to see how massage therapy and bodywork can directly and naturally activate many of these chemicals to keep us on a balanced path.

1. Acetylcholine:  This neurotransmitter is linked to alertness, memory, arousal, appetite control, release of growth hormone, and motivation.
2. Adrenaline:  This neurotransmitter plays a direct role in our fight of flight response.  When activated it creates an instant exhilarating surge of energy.  This surge of adrenaline makes you feel very alive and can help prevent boredom and stagnation in our lives.  Taking risks and going out of our comfort zones is important in accessing our human potential.  Adrenaline can give us this specific surge of energy to do so.
3. Norepinephrine:  This neurotransmitter also plays a role in the fight or flight response but is a little different than adrenaline.  Adrenaline is purely activated during a fight or flight response.  Norepinephrine pairs with adrenaline in these situations but also has other roles as well, such as:  breaking down fat and increasing blood sugar levels to provide more energy to the body.  It is activated for tasks that require a learning curve and memory storage.  It also plays a role in our sleep wake cycle by increasing attention and getting us to rise out of bed and start the day.
4. Dopamine:  The reward molecule.  Dopamine when activated in a balanced and healthy way can be very powerful.  It can also be very powerful when accessed in a non balanced and unhealthy way.  This neurotransmitter is activated when we do something that stimulates pleasure and is reward driven.  It is easy to overload our dopamine system through video games, certain foods, excessive sexual behavior, drinking too much, and being addicted to drugs.  The pleasure and reward aspect of these activities is so easy to access that our dopamine systems can become severely overloaded especially in our modern world.  A healthy balanced way of activating dopamine is by setting a goal and achieving it.
5. Endorphins:  The pain killing molecule.  This neurotransmitter is the body’s natural opioid.  It directly interacts with our opioid system.  On one end of the spectrum high powered opioid drugs can overload this system to the point where feeling no pain in situations where we should feel pain in order to survive is important.  Exercise is a great way to access this neurotransmitter, as well as laughing, and conscious deep breathing.
6. GABA:  The relaxation molecule.  This neurotransmitter can be activated during meditation, yoga, or any activity for someone that creates a relaxation response. 
7. Glutamate:  This neurotransmitter is responsible for memory and learning.  Participating in activities that have a learning curve and activate a memorization response can activate glutamate. Taking a class, learning a new technique to enhance your business, doing a puzzle, reading something and having to remember various parts of what you read all get glutamate moving.
8. Melatonin:  The anti aging and rest and recuperation molecule.  This neurotransmitter regulates the body’s natural clock.  To activate this increase natural sunlight exposure, keep your bedroom dark, and decrease artificial lights at night.
9. Oxytocin:  The bonding molecule.  Activating this neurotransmitter can be by:  Sexual intercourse with someone you love, taking a walk with a good friend, being in a positive group environment, shaking someones hand with intention and eye contact, and giving and receiving a good hug from someone.
10. Serotonin:  The mood molecule.  To increase this neurotransmitter naturally is by challenging yourself regularly.  Accomplishing things in our lives that give us a sense of purpose and worthiness increases serotonin.  In our modern world it can be hard to increase this neurotransmitter naturally because of all the distractions we have that inhibit us in having purpose and feeling worthy in our lives.  Increasing serotonin can be hard to access naturally because it is directly connected to going out of our comfort zones.

This is just a minimal amount of neurotransmitters that are active in us.  These few listed are well known and by developing a better understanding of how to access them naturally we can see where we might be lacking or where we might be overloading creating an imbalance.  The great thing about massage therapy and body work is that this treatment is not one dimensional and can access some of these neurotransmitters directly and indirectly during a session. 


If someone wants to come in for bodywork that is overloaded with adrenaline because of stress massage therapy could activate the GABA neurotransmitter as well as a healthy hit of dopamine to signal to the brain that this massage is pleasurable and rewarding creating a more relaxed bodily and mental response. 


 Another person could want bodywork that is lacking human connection and touch in their lives and their oxytocin levels are low.  Massage for them could help increase their GABA levels to help them relax more and then get oxytocin flowing in their body to increase feelings of well being and trusting of another human’s touch.  


For people that are restless at night and find it hard to fall asleep a great way to aid in the increase of melatonin levels could be by receiving a massage in a dimly lit room at a more night time hour (7pm).  This could do wonders for someone with insomnia or just general nighttime restlessness.  


Another great example is with endorphins.  For someone that has a certain tender spot on their body or sensitive area that they want to be worked on endorphins could potentially be released for that person in order to cope with productive temporary discomfort in order to heal.  


This is why massage and body work is so powerful for the human body, mind, and spirit.  When our lives are governed by these neurotransmitters learning what activities we can partake in in order to interact with them is so vital to having an awesome and meaningful life.  Adding massage therapy to this list of activities could be life changing for many of us.


https://www.happyfeed.co/research/4-brain-chemicals-make-you-happy

Breuning, L. (2012). Meet Your Happy Chemicals. Dopamine, Endorphin, Oxytocin, Serotonin. Oakland: System Integrity Press

https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain/brain-physiology/what-are-neurotransmitters

https://www.hormone.org/your-health-and-hormones/glands-and-hormones-a-to-z/hormones/norepinephrine

https://slate.com/technology/2016/03/how-big-is-the-brain-who-knows-even-our-best-efforts-to-calculate-its-capacity-are-flawed-and-meaningless.html​

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