#PAWS4 Episode 3: Meet the feel goods

What are the feel goods?

There are chemicals in our bodies that are designed to make us feel good.

The body can release these chemicals to help with our overall health and wellbeing.

There are four chemicals designed to lift our mood, these are:

• Dopamine
• Serotonin
• Endorphins
• Oxytocin

How they work

These feel-good chemicals are released in a variety of different situations.

Dopamine makes you feel good

Serotonin boosts your mood

Endorphins relieve stress

Oxytocin is the connection chemical

All of these chemicals have one thing in common: they can be activated by interacting with our furry friends 🐶

How to activate them

Our furry friends and the great outdoors can help us access those mood-boosters.

Taking your dog for a walk can help to release Serotonin to help with your sleep, the sunlight releases Endorphins to help you manage stress, talking to other people releases Oxytocin to help your emotional wellbeing, and Dopamine to improve your motivation and overall happiness level.

Taking your dog for a 20-minute walk every day can help you to naturally access all four of these feel-good chemicals.

Nearly everything you do on a walk can help you to release the feel-goods. Some ways you can regularly get the feel-good chemicals you need include:

• Exercising with your dog
• Interacting with and caring for them
• Hugging them
• Giving them a boop
• Laughing at their antics
• Getting out into nature and experiencing new things with them

Interacting with your furry friends regularly can give you the natural mood-boost you need.

Find out the benefits of regularly harnessing your feel-good chemicals in the next Episode.