Why winning makes us feel good.

Winning, watching our team win, or achieving a set goal in most people, lead to a feeling of elation and increased happiness and self –esteem.

This feeling is due to some hormone changes behind the scenes in response to “the battle” and then “the win”.

Some of the hormone involved include serotonin, adrenaline and nor adrenaline (the 2 stress hormones) and testosterone.

While at the local leagues club last night, I am sure the vague smell of “teenage boys” was due to the awareness of HIGH levels of testosterone in the room. If you have ever been to a footy club on “State of Origin” night , this will need no more explanation. If you haven’t, you may have been to a sporting event where you have seen or even experienced first hand, the feelings of tension during the game and then elation, relief and happiness if your team wins, or the opposite feelings if you and your team loses.

Research by Professor James Dabbs of Georgia State University into testosterone and human social behaviour have made some provocative discoveries. Dabbs and his researchers have found positive correlations between testosterone levels and criminal violence, suicide, aggression, sexuality and sex roles, occupation, personality, emotions, competitiveness, disturbed relationships and more.

One of his studies looked at male testosterone saliva levels before a World Cup soccer match. Mean testosterone levels ROSE (nearly doubled) in the winning team’s spectators, and dropped in the fans of the losing team!

They extrapolated that testosterone levels can rise and fall with success and failure in social encounters.

Women in prisons are found to have higher testosterone levels compared to non-prison females.

Dabbs and his researches found that actors and footy players had higher testosterone levels than religious ministers. I am sure none of this is surprising you and seems quite logical.

So if you feel the thrill of the win, enjoy it. But remember it has been stimulated by a win/lose situation. Win/wins (which aren’t really an outcome in sport), can also lead to similar rewards. In life seek out win/wins. HQ