HORMONES & NEUROTRANSMITTERS

Dopamine

Influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion.

Serotonin

Affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal.

Norepinephrine (noradrenaline)

Helps control alertness and arousal.

Glutamate

A major excitatory neurotransmitter, involved in memory, oversupply can stimulate the brain, producing migraines or seizures.

GABA

A major inhibitory neurotransmitter, undersupply is linked to seizures, tremors, and insomnia.

Substance p

A neurotransmitter in both peripheral and central nervous systems, it plays a role in the modulation of pain

Endorphins

Neurotransmitters that can influence the perception of pain or pleasure.

Acetylcholine

Enables muscle action, learning, and memory.

Hormones

Chemical messengers manufactured by the endocrine glands, travel through the bloodstream and affect other tissues.

Adrenaline (epinephrine)

Plays a role in attention, focus, panic, and excitement.

Leptin

Protein hormone secreted by fat cells; when abundant, causes the brain to increase metabolism and decrease hunger.

Ghrelin

Hormone secreted by empty stomach; sends “I’m hungry” signals to the brain.

Melatonin

Hormone, produced mainly by the pineal gland as a metabolic product of the neurotransmitter serotonin, that helps to regulate seasonal changes in physiology and may also influence puberty. It is implicated in the initiation of sleep and in the regulation of the sleep–wake cycle.

Oxytocin

Hormone that enables contractions associated with birthing, milk flow during nursing, and social connectedness/bonding.

Agonist Drugs

A drug or other chemical agent that binds to a particular receptor and produces a physiological effect, typically one similar to that of the body’s own neurotransmitter at that receptor.

Antagonist Drugs

A drug or other chemical agent that inhibits the action of another substance

Stimulants

Drugs (caffeine, nicotine, and more powerful drugs like cocaine, amphetamines, methamphetamine, and ecstasy) excite neural activity and speed up body functions.

Depressants

Drugs (such as alcohol) that reduce neural activity and slow body functions.

Hallucinogens

“Psychedelic or " mind-manifesting” drugs, such as marijuana or LSD that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input.

Opioids/Opiates

Opium and its derivatives, like morphine and heroin, depress neural activity, temporarily lessening pain and anxiety.

Addiction

With increasing doses, users start to crave the drug and continue to use it despite adverse consequences.

Withdrawal

The discomfort and distress that follows continuing the addictive drug; can cause a person to go back on the drug

Tolerance

With continued use of drugs, brain chemistry adapts to the offset of the drug effect which then users require larger doses to feel the effect of the drug.