Friday 8 September 2023

Surround yourself with “Vitamin People”

Are you a vitamin person?

Vitamins are a group of substances that the body needs to grow and develop properly. When the body does not get enough of certain vitamins, a vitamin deficiency occurs and this can cause serious health problems. Therefore, vitamins are essential for the normal functioning of the body. But what about the mind?

A few days ago, I received a phone call from a very dear friend who lives in Madrid. That day we talked for quite a long time and during the conversation she mentioned that she was making a list of the “vitamin” people she had in her life.

Upon hearing that comment, I told her that I had heard about toxic or poisoned people, but never about vitamin people. I added, doubtfully: “Darling, your creativity in seeing life has always amazed me. Do such vitamin people really exist? I asked her because I thought it was all in her imagination.

My friend, who is a voracious reader of topics related to emotional well-being, explained to me that vitamin people do indeed exist. She recommended that I read the book "Encuentra tu persona vitamina" (Find your vitamin person) by Spanish psychiatric Mariana Rojas Estapé. She also advised me to listen to her lectures and interviews on YouTube.

With great curiosity, I looked for the videos of consultant Rojas. I have seen several videos where she speaks passionately about the subject.

What are vitamin people?

In a single sentence, vitamin people are the people who make you feel closer to happiness. To explain this, Rojas talks about the functioning of two hormones found in the brain: cortisol and oxytocin. Cortisol is the hormone of alert states, of stress. This hormone is important because it allows you to react in moments of alarm and danger.

Cortisol is a hormone that is closely related to emotions. In modern society, people have very high levels of stress and anxiety. This causes cortisol levels to rise disproportionately and that is why people live cortisol intoxicated. As a result of this, the person becomes more impulsive and reacts aggressively to everyday situations. As a result, mental and physical health is affected. For Rojas, a toxic person is a person who lives intoxicated with cortisol.

Fortunately, in the brain we also have oxytocin, which is the hormone of happiness, empathy and falling in love. This hormone is what makes you feel that you are special. Oxytocin lowers cortisol levels and that is why you have to find ways to stimulate it, to feel good or better.

Psychiatrist Rojas describes oxytocin as the hormone for happiness. That is the hormone that when you are with someone and you start looking at their eyes, you feel special for the one in front of you, since there is no judgement but empathy. This hormone makes you smile warmly to others when looking at their faces. It helps us to establish positive bonds between people.

The subject of feeling good seems really exciting to me. Best of all, I have found clear explanations about the topic as well as practical advice to deal with emotions, that helps us to achieve a better well-being.

Neurosurgeon Mario Puig, who is also a Spanish scientist, has delivered several conferences and has written books about mindfulness and how to deal with emotions appropriately.

When scrutinising the subject in English, I have come across some studies done by American economist and neuroscientist Paul Zak, who also talks about oxytocin and defines it as the hug hormone, as when we hug people, we make them feel good and we feel good too. Zak has done several investigations on this.

Clues to identify a vitamin person

My friend from Madrid is not just a vitamin person to me, she is a whole multivitamin complex. Making a list of vitamin people seems like a great idea to me, you have to identify those people who make you feel good so you can be closer to them and treasure them.

To conclude, identifying and surrounding yourself with vitamin people is essential nowadays, to have a better quality of life. The behaviour and attitude of these people help us to reduce cortisol levels in blood. When you share with a vitamin person, your oxytocin levels increase, and you simply feel better about yourself and others. With vitamin people, your quality-of-life increases.

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