Active addiction was a time
when getting high was the most important need. However, the means to which one
got high was highly external and superficial. Drugs and alcohol are addictive
because they replicate neuro-chemicals that are already present within the
body. The only problem is that when we use external chemicals, the appreciation
as well as functionality of the internal chemicals becomes highly impaired.
This causes addiction because the power of chemical regulation has shifted from
the natural system of neurochemistry to the unnaturally self-controlled
addiction to dangerous substances. How do we get back the “natural high”, which
are locked away in our neurochemistry? Below are a number of ways to re-activate
these gems of happiness by doing the following activities:
Exercise
Intense exercise such as running, weight-lifting,
and swimming helps to release two neuro-chemicals:
Beta-endorphins and an endocannabinoid: Anandamide, which makes people who exercise feel “high” after a workout.
It is sometimes dubbed as the “runners’ high”. It is often suggested to clients
in rehab to go for a rigorous workout whenever he/she feels depressed or
tempted during early recovery. Not
only will it help to remove obsessions, but leave the client in a better mental state as a result
of the natural high exercise affords.
Group Workouts
Rowers tend to feel more pain after their workout
rather than during training. The reason for
that is due to the fact that during training, rowers are part of something
bigger than themselves.
They are part of a team that works together for the better good of the whole. They feel the camaraderie and
close kinship for each other, thus allowing the body to release the “love hormone” – Oxytocin. This neuro-chemical is
responsible for strengthening the
bonds they feel as a group. Therefore, going for a group workout is a great way
to get high naturally for not only will
you get high from the workout, but performance will be much eased by the presence and support of others.
Extreme Sports
Bungee-jumping, sky-diving, and paragliding are
examples of extreme sports. These sports involve
our entire senses because they are interpreted by our primitive or “Lizard”
brain as a means to die. The sports
simulate near-death experiences through their mimicry of hazardous situations, making the
body release an array of neuro-chemicals from adrenaline, dopamine, to beta-endorphins. Time slows
down as a result of our acknowledgement of imminent
death. Yet, the flurry of relief, which follow thereafter releases more neuro-chemicals leaving us in extreme/intense
calm, surrounded by the serenity of achievement. Hence, exposing oneself to extreme sports to get in touch
with the dangers of reality is a good
way of building courage as well as releasing the natural “high”.
Love
Love is the ultimate high. We humans were designed
to look to others for support, nurture, and
love when we feel insecure, fearful, depressed, or low. When it comes to love,
we are a chemical mess for it
releases nearly all the neuro-chemicals in a massive cascade. Dopamine, Adrenaline, Vasopression, Serotonin,
and Oxytocin are released whenever we receive the love of others or provide love/care to others as well as
ourselves. Hence works of charity, being
with family, and friends or even being in a loving and caring relationship with
a significant other: are all means
to feel and experience love.
Nature
The forest is our ancestral home. Yet, we tend to
forget due to urban/modern living that we came
from that environment. Simply being in nature makes us feel different to being
in the city. The freedom from urban
clutter and whitewashed environments somehow makes us feel more authentic and connected to the world around
us. Hence, one fine way to attain a natural
high is to return to nature itself by maybe taking walks around the forest.
Music
There was a PET (Positron Emission Tomography)
imaging done on participants who listened to
the music they loved and compared it with just others’ choices/ “general
noise”. Regions of the
brain that accounted for euphoria were highlighted when the music they loved
were played. This shows that
music has the power to induce stimuli that bring about emotional “highs”. Music transports its listeners
back in time to the memories of the song, which play much significance to the hearer, who then identifies
with it. This came from a time when in our
evolution, humans could identify with their community due to the rhythms and
beats that went with their own
people. Music equips its listeners with a sense of community and belonging, thus providing them
with an internal high, which is filled with personal history and meaning.
Dreams
When we dream every night, we release Dimethyltryptamine
(DMT), which is a psychedelic compound.
It helps to make us feel like our best heroes in a world of our own mind.
Dreams evoke a natural high
because it is a result of the sleep we get when our body rests and rejuvenates after a long day of
productivity. Simply being in bed and dreaming can bring out our natural “highs”. So sleep early
and get a chance to dream so that you can be nurtured
by it.
Humor
Even watching or listening to some comic relief is
good for our health. Laughter actually releases
“Beta-endorphins”. This is why it is encouraged that enjoying a good laugh be
it from television, the
internet, or just simply experiencing and savoring something funny is a good way to end the day. Laughter is
so highly prized in India that some have gone to laugh voluntarily without any funny stimuli such as in
“Laughing Yoga”. So if at odds with what works,
laugh yourself into a good time for a start in the right direction! In fact, in
recovery, taking life less
seriously has provided those with long-term sobriety an edge over others.
Also - Spicy Food!
Capsaicin was designed by plants to fend off the
herbivorous dinosaurs from eating and plundering
the Jurassic forests. Posit 65 million years into the future and humans have adapted this chemical to spice
up their food for pleasure purposes. Eating really spicy food releases adrenaline due to the
activation of the central opioid system. Hence, treat yourself to some spice and enjoy the relaxing
calm one feels after experiencing the intense pain, spice induces on those who dare!
Why the natural high?
One of the major benefits of
getting our high naturally is that it will always be available because it is a
part of our make up. There is no need to go out searching for something to get
us high. We don’t get addicted to natural highs (except in certain
circumstances of abuse such as in behavioral addictions like Sex and Exercise
addiction) because being internal, the dispensation is controlled by our
neuro-chemistry and not our external choices.
Furthermore, we don’t go to
extreme measures to attain neuro-chemicals except when we activate them
internally through the activities suggested above. These activities are deemed
safe, legal, and nurturing as compared to the means addicts go to in order to
attain the drugs of their respective addictions. Being non-dependent, natural
highs bring people closer rather than the isolationism experienced in active
addiction towards drugs/alcohol.
Regardless of all these
differences between the external and internal highs, we should go for the
natural high because it builds and sustains; rather than destroys; life - be it
our own or those who care for us. In that sense, if we want to live in peace,
we need to change the way we attain our highs from synthetic to natural.
The funniest and most ironic
part of addiction is that we are prone to drugs that simulate the chemical
properties of our own neuro-chemistry to the tee. The closer the simulation is
to our own internal highs, the greater, the addiction. What this means is that
our own neuro-chemical effects are what we seek in the drugs out there. So why
not engage with the real “joy” rather than concoct it up in unnatural ways that
imperfectly meet those expectations? The irony is that we seek what is already
within!
