Emotional Regulation

Certain chemicals are dumped when you get deregulated, like cortisol, and these can cause us to go into a fight/flight/freeze/fawn state. When this happens, we won't be able to act with intention, and we will instead act on our emotional state, which can have some seriously bad consequences if we aren't lucky.

Getting regulated

On a scale of one (regulation) to ten (deregulation), emotional regulation has what I feel is three different states: regulation, mild deregulation, and full deregulation. When deregulated, our amygdala takes over, which is essentially the emotional animal monkey brain, and it will do whatever it takes to "keep us safe", which it will define based on past experiences.

When regulated, you are cognizant of your emotional state and can act rationally and with intention. When mildly deregulated, you still have your rational thoughts but they are getting clouded by an increasingly dominant voice from your amygdala. When fully deregulated, you are no longer acting rationally and your brain has more or less fully given control to your amygdala.

To get regulated, there are a few ways to get the amygdala to chill out and activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which will tell your amygdala it can calm down and go back to doing stuff in the background.

Legs against the wall

Lay on the ground and bring your butt up against the wall so your legs are pointing towards the ceiling. Your body will make an L shape.

Doing this brings blood away from the legs, where the majority is stored, into your head, and increases circulation.

Breathing

Another proven method is through regulating your breathing. Each of these exercises should be done for about five minutes to see the effects.

Physiological sighing

Square breathing

4-7-8 breaths

Useful Chemicals

Similarly, if we are lacking certain chemicals, we will likely not feel motivation to do what we want, or we may not feel the ways that we want to feel.

Dopamine

Dopamine is the chemical that "signals the perceived motivational prominence (i.e., the desirability or aversiveness) of an outcome, which in turn propels the organism's behavior toward or away from achieving that outcome"[1].

To increase dopamine, you can do some of these things:

ADHD is associated with decreased dopamine activity, so these activities may be more important for those with ADHD.

Oxytocin

Oxytocin is known as the "cuddle hormone" and has myriad benefits. It is usually associated with human connection and plays a role in achieving stronger interpersonal/community connection. It "may help to decrease noise in the brain's auditory system, increase perception of social cues and support more targeted social behavior [and] may also enhance reward responses"[2]. It "produces antidepressant-like effects in animal models of depression"[2]. There are many more benefits, and I recommend reading up on it.

What's interesting about oxytocin is that "[p]roduction and secretion of oxytocin is controlled by a positive feedback mechanism, where its initial release stimulates production and release of further oxytocin", so it pays dividends to get some as often as reasonably possible.

To release some oxytocin, try some of the following:

Serotonin

Getting more serotonin can help your mood. It "is involved in mood, cognition, reward, learning, memory, and physiological processes such as vomiting and vasoconstriction[, and in] the [central nervous system], serotonin regulates mood, appetite, and sleep"[3]. Increase levels with the following activities:

Endorphins

Endorphins "block the perception of pain and increase feelings of wellbeing"[5]. You can get more endorphins by doing the following:

References

  1. Dopamine
  2. Oxytocin
  3. Serotonin
  4. Serotonin: The natural mood booster - Harvard Health
  5. Endorphins

Last modified: 202601031452