Hello, Hello..!!!! Today I will talk to you about a very important topic, since we move through the world between emotions and feelings, without taking into account how this can affect our body.
The first thing we are going to do is to define what is an emotion and what is a feeling, since, in many occasions, we use both words indistinctively. However, there are clear differences between the two. Knowing how to differentiate them can help us change unhealthy behaviors and find more happiness and peace in life, thus health.
Emotion is a set of neurochemical and hormonal responses that predispose us to react in a certain way to an external stimulus such as something seen or heard, or internal, such as thoughts, memories, images, etc. Therefore, we can conclude that emotion is an organic response that creates biochemical reactions in the body, altering the current physical state.
Now let's define feelings, these are mental associations and reactions to emotions, according to our personal experiences, it is the sum of emotions and thoughts, that is, it is the result of emotions. An emotion becomes a feeling to the extent that one becomes aware of it.
The feeling is the subjective experience of our emotional experience, i.e., in the feeling, in addition to the physiological reaction, a cognitive and subjective component is involved. Therefore, a feeling occurs when we label the emotion and make a judgment about it. Feelings usually last longer than emotions, and they follow emotions..
Having clarified the two definitions, we will clearly see the difference between the two: emotions are biological reactions to stimuli, while feelings are mental reactions or perceptions to those stimuli. Feelings are experienced consciously, while emotions are manifested consciously or unconsciously.
It is important to know that both emotions and feelings have to do with the irrational, that is, with the subjective way in which we experience a situation and although they are different concepts, in the practice of life, where there is an emotion there is always a feeling or several.
I will give you some examples of emotions:
· Joy: it is the expression before stimuli that are considered pleasant, it generates a sensation of pleasure that has a limited duration.
· Sadness: It is the organic reaction to loss. It can generate crying.
· Fear: It is the reaction generated as a response to a threatening stimulus. It may include increased heart rate, sweating, desire to flee, etc.
· Anger: is the organic response to set limits and identify unpleasant stimuli or situations. Anger can generate increased blood pressure and sweating, among other manifestations.
Now some examples of sensations:
· Love: is a feeling that can be felt towards oneself, another person, others or a particular event. By feeling love, people feel connected in a positive way with the world, and their sense of well-being increases. People in love are the best representation of this feeling, such as maternal love and friendship.
· Happiness: it is a feeling of fullness or satisfaction, therefore, it is a feeling associated with well-being. We can feel it in personal achievements.
· Hate: is a negative feeling characterized by the perception of dislike towards someone or something, this feeling can be expressed collectively, as for example in cases of disliking a political leader. Physical aggressions, harassment or violence can be some expressions of hate.
Loss, also called bereavement, involves emotional pain.
Now, it is important for you to know that good and bad emotions activate the hormonal system. The hormones our body produces influence our mood. This is because they regulate the release of chemicals called neurotransmitters, which affect our emotions.
When we are afraid, adrenaline puts us in a state of heightened alertness to a threatening stimulus and cortisol, which is the hormone produced by the adrenal glands, helps the muscles release more sugar. Both alert us to escape, hide or face danger.
What causes excess adrenaline and cortisol in the body: Muscle tension and pain, heart disease, heart attack, high blood pressure and stroke. Sleep problems, weight gain.
When we are experiencing sadness, prolactin, also called the crying hormone, is activated. Too much prolactin reduces the production of estrogen and testosterone hormones. It can also prevent ovulation during the menstrual cycle in women. In men, too much prolactin can also decrease sperm production and bone loss causing osteoporosis.
Anger: it releases noradrenaline which is the hormone that increases blood pressure and heart rate, dopamine and at the same time glutamate and there is a decrease in serotonin and vasopressin levels.
What causes excess noradrenaline: problems with attention, blood pressure, vascular system, consciousness and the ability to respond to stress and fighting situations. Lack of dopamine can lead to mania, hallucinations or schizophrenia, irregular muscle movements.
I talked about negative emotions first so that we become aware of how this negatively influences our organism. Obviously, positive emotions are beneficial, so let's try to live in love, gratitude and happiness, with these positive emotions dopamine, serotonin, endorphins and oxytocin are activated.
These four hormones give us a feeling of well-being, relaxation and positivism, as is the case with serotonin.
We feel less pain and stress when we release endorphins, it also helps us modulate appetite, release sex hormones and strengthen the immune system.
Dopamine is a hormone that must be in the right balance, since it not only fills us with happiness, which is wonderful, and so we can have the brain and motor function in optimal conditions, but also an excess of them can lead us to suffer from addictions to have pleasure and reach higher and higher levels of pleasure.
Oxytocin: is the hormone of love. When increased, it causes feelings of satisfaction, calm and security. Falling in love is a behavior entirely driven by the brain and our body chemistry.
Our cells perceive, they listen, only we can decide in which emotion remains and for how long, which feeling we keep thanks to our thoughts to keep feeding those emotions and keep activating our hormonal system.
My advice is to live one day at a time, being in the present time and, you should always decide for your health.