The expert talked about ways to become happier

The International Day of Happiness is celebrated annually on March 20. It was established by the UN General Assembly on July 12, 2012 as a symbol of the fact that the pursuit of happiness is a common desire for all people of our planet. On March 20, Alexey Umryukhin, Head of the Department of Normal Physiology at Sechenov University, MD, told Izvestia about which body systems are responsible for its formation and whether there is a "happiness gene".

The feeling of happiness is formed when certain brain centers, the so-called reward centers, are aroused, Umryukhin noted. These include the area of the ventral tire, the nucleus accumbens, and a number of other brain structures. The neurochemical processes that occur in them when getting the expected result lead to the release of neurotransmitters — dopamine, endorphins and other substances that activate specific signaling systems of the brain, he explained. At the same time, a person feels a sense of well-being, euphoria, and joy.

According to him, this is a kind of biological reward to the body for its efforts. Moreover, this award may be an advance one, the expert emphasized. People can feel happy when they only anticipate that they will get the desired result. The key to activating the brain's "reward centers" is the effectiveness of behavior.

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As for the "happiness gene," according to Umryukhin, there is no separate gene responsible for this feeling. The mechanism of happiness formation involves a whole range of natural physiological processes along with human motivations for actions and desired results. How often we feel happy and how pronounced this feeling is depends not on genetic factors, but on the structure of behavioral scenarios formed in the process of individual development. These scenarios begin to form in childhood, but in the course of life they continue to build and develop.

It is necessary to find factors, define life goals and implement them, the specialist said.

"In the process of achieving priority goals, we can experience tension, negative emotions that help to mobilize the body's resources. But we must try to make sure that negative emotions are always accompanied by the achievement of results. Then all the physiological mechanisms in the body will be balanced, and the person will feel happy," Umryukhin concluded.

On March 13, Invitro endocrinologist Shalala Pashayeva spoke about the impact of thyroid problems on the psychological state. Hypothyroidism, she says, is characterized by apathy, fatigue, mood swings, drowsiness, impaired memory and concentration. In addition to changes in the emotional state, patients with hypothyroidism may be concerned about the appearance of puffiness, weight gain, dry skin, chilliness, increased hair loss, constipation, she added.