Chemistry within you. Yes YOU there!

Ever wondered why is that sudden surge of energy come from when you are in a risk? Or the sudden existence of that nice feeling of pleasure and relaxing and blissful when you are happy? All of these relates with chemistry within our body. Maybe you will ask, is it not that anything related with humans and other living things are under the field of biology? That is true indeed. But having say so, I have to stress that within biology there is still chemistry going around. The digestion system for example, required a lot of chemicals just to make sure the system work. These chemicals can exist in different forms; hormones, vitamins or enzymes. HCl (hydrochloric acid) is required to activate pepsin, an enzyme to digest proteins in the stomach. Liver produces bile and stores in the gall bladder to be secreted into the duodenum when needed. Bile is alkaline in nature and is used to neutralize the acidic food bolus from the stomach, other than to digest lipids. From these simple examples, are you aware that your body includes a variety of chemicals now?

As the saying goes: “All of life is chemistry”. Not only do we exist, we learn, think, love, sleep, and feel well or bad, down or up, healthy or sick, due to the chemical levels in our body. If everything is well and balanced, our body is in a state of homeostasis. If they are not, then we have trouble, more or less.

Let’s start with imagining when you are all worn up and tired, and suddenly out of nowhere a lion pops out and chases you for lunch, or just a dog will do if you think that a lion is too much for you. You run for your life of course. But where are the extra energy, rage, and power came from? Ask your adrenal glands about that. Adrenal glands produce adrenaline and cortisol, two main hormones or chemicals which is responsible for the boost of energy just now. When our body is under stress and risk, the gland secretes these hormones into our blood, or also known as adrenaline rush. Adrenaline increases our physical performance for a short period of time, while cortisol acts as a stress manager. The boost of performance comes with a side effect though, that is your body will feel more tired and worn out after the adrenaline rush. Just rest well after you had an adrenaline rush and you should be fine. 

What about the pleasure and happiness you feel? Dopamine is to be questioned. Dopamine, the pleasure chemical, produces the feeling of bliss and pleasure, and it also acts as a natural pain-killer. More dopamine in our blood means more pleasure and less pain. Another chemical which produces the similar feeling of dopamine produces is called phenylethylamine. It is found in chocolates and it gives you the blissful feeling. That is why when you are feeling down and sad, go have some chocolate bars. It helps.

Well let’s go into a more complex feeling, love. Ever notice people keep saying that: “love is complicated”? They are right for real. Love is a chemical process that occurs in the body when the body produces a mixture of chemicals including dopamine, noradrenaline, phenylethyamine and many more. Because of so, you may experience flushed skin, sweaty palms, and heavy breathing. If you go further, a few other hormones will be involved, mainly oxytocin and testosterone. Oxytocin, for females, and testosterone, for males, are sexual hormones which gives us the feeling of emotional attachment. As you become more and more aroused, more and more oxytocin or testosterone will be produced, depending on your gender. So next time when you feel “chemistry” for another person, you know what is going within you. 

Well, your body and mine is a giant "laboratory", involving hundreds and thousands and millions of "reactions" everyday. You know that's so true now.