11 Ways to Lift Your Mood (or Someone Else's)

Go Ahead, Have a Bite of Chocolate

"Chocolate is better than a martini," says Oz Garcia, director of nutrition programs at New York City's Equinox gym and spa. "It contains alkaloids and magnesium, copper and other minerals that regulate and stabilize brain chemistry." It also creates a natural high, according to Harvard's Sichel. "Chocolate causes a serotonin surge in the brain, so you get an instant wave of euphoria."

Clearly, happiness can come from stimulating our senses– with short, but frequent, moments of pleasure.

You have dozens of little opportunities every day to indulge yourself–so do it.

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