endorphins

[Absaroka]

I was talking with someone the other day and the subject of endorphins came up. Those nice little things that your body makes that act like a very mild narcotic. You get them from exercise, and they produce the runners high that people talk about.

What I hadn't realized is that the body can be cued to produce them by a lot of other things. Such as meditation, which seems to be the opposite of exercise in physiological terms.

So I started thinking. Does the calming effect from dressing result in part just from endorphins? Since for me, and many others, it was initially associated with both sex and secrecy, it would seem that the excitement similar to running or hiking were present, ready to produce the endorphins. And is just sitting, enjoying the clothing as I work or watch tv or something, similar to the feeling of meditation in terms of the endorphins? There is for me something very quiet about dressing-I don't like to do it when I am distracted or depressed. It does not cheer me up when I am unhappy, rather it raises my feeling of not being able to concentrate or to cope.

It does seem to me that for myself, the feeling of wearing a nice dress is similar to the feeling of sitting alone contemplating a sunset or something similar. And the excitement of choosing what to wear today is a bit of a physical rush even with the sex removed. (If sex can ever be truly removed from anything once associated with it.)

It's a kind of a nice image. Comparing wearing a dress with watching a sunset or listening to the crickets at night or sitting by a pond meditating on the flight of a dragonfly. And they all feel like they are a way of nurturing myself, of letting something of who I really am breathe a little more. But just as there is a physiological reason why a relaxing walk just feels good, maybe there is something equally simple with how dressing feels good.

As always this idea comes with a disclaimer. It's about me and how I feel. Someone who is really female, and not male and experimenting with various feelings, is going to have a very different feeling about all this. Probably more like the feeling I get from putting on my jeans and flannel shirt; a feeling of how nice to be who I really am. But I don't have that feeling. Cding is a fun thing to do, and it is truely for me crossdressing, a variation on a theme rather than the theme itself.

Any thoughts ladies?

Absaroka

[Grace]

Very interesting thought-- it never occurred to me, but definitely worth reflecting on. Thanks!

Grace

[ShamrockFaerie(SO)]

Abrasoka..... I love you (platonically, of course).

I think you're right on point. I get the same feeling when I get up in the morning and know I have nowhere to go and nothing to do and I don't have to put on makeup or fix my hair or stuff myself into that damned uncomfortable bra.... (of course, since my boobs are now filling with milk and are ridiculously huge and uncomfortable, I feel a bit differently about bras than many of you do.... ) I feel like I can just BE, without trying to impress anyone. I can just be myself, without the extra baggage. A sense of calm washes over me and I feel a mild euphoria. I have often wondered if there was some physiological reason for that. I get the same feeling when I buy a new pair of shoes that I really like, or after a good prenatal yoga session..... Come to think of it, it's the same feeling I had in the hospital just after I had my daughter. I had NEVER looked worse, and everyone important in my life was there.... But I didn't care.... It was all about me and the baby. I can only imagine that when Joe gets to channel Jennifer, he must feel the very same way. I had never really thought about it that way before.

-Tiffany

[JoAnnDallas]

I get migraine headaches. The doctor gave a meds that when I take it, will shut down the headache like someone turned off a switch. The pain goes away that fast. He also told me to expect a rush for about 10 minutes after the meds kick in. It seems that my body is producing endorphins in overtime, trying to ease the pain. Then the meds kick in and now there is no pain but I now have a over supply of endorphins in my system. I go from really bad pain to big high in matter of seconds. Then my body realizes that there is no more pain and shuts down the endorphins. Doctor once asked me how I like the sudden transformation when the meds kicked in. I told him it's a trip. He just laughed.

[Lisbeth]

I used to pay a lot of money to get the same things but in reverse.

First I would get the high and the rush and later I would have a big headache.

Live and learn.

Lisbeth

[Absaroka]

Tiffany it wouldn't surprise me to learn that breast feeding also produces endorphins. I know my wife found it very relaxing once she didn't have to spend 6 hours a day doing it and really missed giving up the last early morning and late night feedings.

Absaroka

[Tekla]

If true, and it most likely is, then crossdressing is good for you, as endorphins lower blood pressure and thus reduce the risk of a heart attack. So now you have a health reason to slip into something more comfortable.

[Anne]

I would think dressing for a CD would often produce endorphins. Some might even feel it when shopping or doing other related things (pedicure perhaps as an example). When you get to do things that feel good and right, your brain rewards you.

Possibly the reason purging and CD abstenence don't often work - eventually one comes around full circle to get the chemistry "right" again.

Anne

[Ann Stef]

I too get a slight high getting dressed up. With the long hot summers down here, I enjoy a bra and 1/2 slip before putting on a long knit dress. This is comfort as well as the good feeling. With 90 degree weather 6 months of the year, a sleeveless dress is in order.