Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

The chemistry going on inside your body controls who you are more than anything else. Most people know that testosterone is one of the primary dictates of men's lives, but they don't know about an even more influential hormone, cortisol. When a person is stressed, their body releases cortisol. This is a primordially survival mechanism, and affects everything: decreased immune system, cell aging, Alzheimer's, obesity, heart disease, cancer, mental illness, diabetes, depression, impaired learning, blood pressure; all to put the body into fight-or-flight response. It saves you in the instant but is deadly if chronically secreted over a lifetime. Unfortunately for men, the most common cause of cortisol is due to subjugation in a male dominance hierarchy; low-status male gorillas never become silverbacks and die early.

On the flip side of body chemistry, positive emotions are caused by the neurotransmitters, dopamine & serotonin. Dopamine is released during pursuit of goals, a great motivational power. Any goal works to release dopamine, which is why games are popular because games, especially immersive videogames, establish their own frame of reference, increasing relative status. Stories, like books & movies, work in a similar way by putting you in the role of the hero, increasing perceived status, which triggers dopamine, increases serotonin, and decreases cortisol; a win for your body all around. Essentially, you aren't what you eat but you are what you secrete.