Anandamide
Ananda means bliss in Sanskrit. Bliss means a feeling of extreme peace and union with everything. It is not even happiness because happiness is temporary. Bliss is that feeling of peace that comes from emptyness that stays forever.
Have you ever felt drunk or high where you had nothing in your mind that made you feel very peaceful?
Endocannbinoid system
The Endocannabinoid system (ECS) is an intricate network of receptors, chemicals, and enzymes that cooperate to support the protection of homeostasis or cellular balance, within our bodies. This system controls things including mood, appetite, and sleep.
Endocannobinoid system which contains millions of cannobinoid receptors plays an important part in regulating your mental performance. It was first discovered trying to find how weed works on our body.
Endocannobinoid system has millions of cannabinoid receptors, and cannabis(THC) affects this system by binding to our cannabinoid receptors causing different chemical activity than normal making you feel high.
Chemist Dr. Raphael Mechoulam, William A. Devane, When trying to determine why our bodies have cannabinoid receptors that can bind with external cannabinoids like THC or CBD, was famed for their ground-breaking studies on cannabinoids, and also first identified the neurotransmitter anandamide also known as N-arachidonoylethanolamine (AEA) in 1992.
When these scientists found that our brain produces our natural narcotic called anandamide, they wanted to name it accurate to it’s effects, and when they went to india for some reason, they came across the word Ananda which means bliss, which accurately explains the role of Anandamide.
Anandamide’s ability to bind to the Endocannobinoid system which is the cb1 ad cb2 receptors, can profoundly impact a person of physiological mechanisms, including appetite stimulation, mood fluctuation and pain management.
What is even more interesting is that this anandamide also affects the reward circuits, modulating the brain chemicals when a drug like weed is smoked. Not only with weed but when other drugs are also administered.
In other words, Anandamide decides to create how the euphoric feeling should effect the body. This is why every user experiences a different effect from a drug. However, our brain does not expect weed or other narcotics to satisfy it’s system.
It expects it’s own natural chemical to satisfy it.
For instance, there was a scottish women that had a rare genetic mutation in her Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase(FAAH) that resulted in high levels of anandamide production. Acid Amide Hydrolase(FAAH) is what breaks down anandamide in the brain.
As a result, she was not affected by anxiety, was unable to feel fear and insensitive to pain at all no matter what happened in her life. She said her life felt peaceful regardless of what happened.
In fact, all her cuts and burns she experienced without the sensation of pain healed very fast without a mark. Due to this she was able to experience intense feeling of bliss regardless of her outside environment. Similar to what a advanced meditator would say.
This chemical in our body is our natural drug that is a mood regulator and the door to infinite peace. This is why high level meditators have high levels of anandamide. They have lived in the effects of anandamide for too long that it produces more of it, allowing them to stay in bliss forever.
Meditation is a major key to increasing the effects of anandamide, also foods like apples, berries and dark chocolate has a good effect on our anandamide. Most fruits aid in producing it. Also working out or playing sports induces it’s production causing you to feel runner’s high.
