What are Endorphins?
by Lillian Bonar
Essay: What are Endorphins?
Pages: 11
Rating: 3 stars
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• What are Endorphins?.doc
What are Endorphins and what does our endorphins do to our body? Endorphins are made up from two words,
endogenous and morphine. “The definition of endorphins is “morphine within” – natural, opiate-like
neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure.” (Myers). What are endorphins made of? They are small,
protein molecules that are produced by cells in your nervous system and other part of your body. Endorphins are
important to our body because they are like a sedative, which is known to relieve pain. That is why they put
morphine and endogenous together, morphine help relieve pain. They are located in our brain, spinal cord, and
other nerve endings. Endorphins are not a single molecule, but actually come in a lot of forms, and can be
anywhere from eighteen to five hundred times as powerful as any man made pain killers, and you do not get
addictive to endorphins! Because endorphins are natural to our body, they are the best way to get a natural high.
“They are one reason why soldiers wounded in battle can continue to fight or have the strength to save someone
else, it also accounts for the so called runner's high, or why some people are drawn to dangerous activities like car
racing, sky diving and bungee jumping.” (Health)
Endorphin was discovered in 1960 by a nuerochemist Choh Hao Li at the University of California in San Francisco.
He was doing some research on pituitary glad for aided in the metabolism of fat. It was really hard, Li tried
different camels, but they did not have a certain fat-metaboliser. He tried another amino acid substance from the
camel pituitary, which is beta-endorphin, but It did not answer any of his questions and he never looked at it
again. Thirteen years later, 1973, a team of researcher...