What Is Your Body Telling You?

Ending on a good note, Dr. Northrup suggests three great ways for women to get healthy doses of pleasure:

• Exercise
• Meditation
• Sex

"Those things increase beta-endorphin in the brain," Dr. Northrup says. "It's the natural morphine-like substance and you absolutely need it for mood modulation. And if you don't get it naturally through meditation, exercise or sex, you will get it abnormally through drugs and alcohol and sugar. You're going to go for pleasure because your body needs to have pleasure. You need it. But I'd much rather have you get it deliberately in healthy doses."

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