Written by: Henry Jansky
Dopamine and Endorphins are neurotransmitters in your body that play roles regarding your health, mood, and overall well being. It’s good to acknowledge what both of these hormones entail, and what parts of your mood they affect.
What is Dopamine?
Dopamine is a type of neurotransmitter. Your body makes it, and your nervous system uses it to send messages between nerve cells. That's why it's sometimes called a chemical messenger.
Dopamine plays a role in how we feel pleasure. It's a big part of our uniquely human ability to think and plan. It helps us strive, focus, and find things interesting.
Your body spreads it along four major pathways in the brain. Like most other systems in the body, you don’t notice it (or maybe even know about it) until there’s a problem.
Too much or too little of it can lead to a vast range of health issues. Some are serious, like Parkinson’s disease. Others are much less dire.
What are Endorphins?
Endorphins are neurotransmitters produced naturally by the nervous system to cope with pain or stress. They are often called “feel-good” chemicals because they can act as a pain reliever and happiness booster.
Endorphins are primarily made in the hypothalamus and pituitary glands, though they may come from other parts of the body as well. The well-known “runner’s high” that is felt after lengthy, vigorous exercise is due to an increase in endorphin levels.
The level of endorphins in the human body varies from person to person. People who have lower levels may be more likely to have or depression.
What’s the difference?
As stated above dopamine is sent to balance excitement. It sometimes acts as a neurohormone; a hormone that’s produced by nerve cells and secreted into the circulation. Its main function is to activate pleasure and reward, movements, sleep, mood fixation, memory improvement, attention, regulation of prolactin secretion, etc. On the other hand, endorphins are sent due to stimuli; pain and stress. Its functions are mainly pain management. Endorphins are quite similar to morphine and affect the reward system. How do they control pain? Because of their bindings with opioid receptors, endorphins reduce pain by restraining the synthesis of proteins involved in pain transmission.
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