#BrainChemistry March 6

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March 2026 marks the 75th consecutive month that Jeff Neelon, Jaclyn Donovan, and I have completed a 30-Day Coach4aday Challenge. For this milestone month, we’ve chosen to focus on teaching. Each day for 30 days, we will share one lesson, principle, or insight gained from the previous 74 challenges—calling it the 30-Day Coach4aday Teach It Challenge. For each of us we believe that our own personal growth increases when we share it. Today it is teaching about BRAIN CHEMISTRY.

In March 2020 during Covid, I took on the 30-Day Reading Challenge where I set a target to read 8 books in a month. One of those reads was “Leaders Eat Last” by Simon Sinek. That book exposed me to the four primary brain chemicals that impact happiness.

“Teach It” 30 Day Challenge Guidelines

In past challenges, we invited others to join us, though participation has been limited. This month, the three of us will return to January 2020—the very beginning—and move forward to the present, reflecting along the way and sharing a life lesson or insight from any month with one another.

Here is how we will do it.

1. Identify the principle, insight, or lesson from a previous 30-Day Challenge-identify the Challenge also.
2. Teach that lesson to each of us.
3. Share the conversation by posting on social media with the hashtag #Coach4adayChallenge

Day 6-Brain Chemistry and Happiness

The four are endorphins, dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin—widely recognized as the primary brain chemicals that influence our sense of happiness and well-being. The book Meet Your Happy Chemicals by Loretta Graziano Breuning explores each of these in depth and explains how they shape our moods and behaviors.

Simon Sinek book helped me understand that each happiness chemical serves a distinct and important purpose.

Endorphins help mask pain—they’re the reason an intense workout can actually feel rewarding.

Dopamine gives us a sense of satisfaction when we complete a challenging task, check something off our to-do list, or achieve a meaningful goal.

Serotonin creates feelings of pride and respect. It fulfills our need for recognition. As Sinek explains, it’s the difference between crossing the finish line in front of a cheering crowd versus finishing with no one watching.

Oxytocin is what Sinek describes as the chemical of friendship and trust. It’s the feeling we experience when someone shows us kindness or when we do something meaningful for someone else.

All four of these chemicals shape our mood and overall happiness. Sinek also discusses another chemical: cortisol.

Cortisol triggers stress and anxiety. While it serves a necessary function, chronically elevated cortisol can have serious consequences—raising aggression and suppressing other essential bodily functions. The challenges of consuming too much social media have certainly caused many of us to experience more cortisol than is healthy.

When we talk about creating balance in our lives, it may be surprising to realize that we’re often talking about achieving chemical balance within our bodies.