Yanwen’s blog

9/23/2026

Since September 16, 2026, I have been writing about David Phillips's book High on Life: How to Naturally Harness the Power of Six Hormones and Revolutionize Yourself. Over the past few days, I have looked more closely at the six chemicals discussed in the book:

1. Dopamine (多巴胺)

2. Testosterone (睾酮)

3. Endorphins (内啡肽)

4. Oxytocin (催产素)

5. Serotonin (血清素)

6. Cortisol (皮质醇)

After spending some time thinking about these six chemicals, I came away with a simple idea:

Don't define yourself by how you feel in a particular moment.

When you feel down or discouraged, don't immediately conclude that something is wrong with you. Sometimes, your mood is simply being influenced by sleep, exercise, stress, social connection, daylight, physical activity, and many other processes happening inside your body.

For example, when you're feeling low, instead of simply lying there and waiting for your mood to change, you might go for a walk, exercise, or do something that makes you laugh. Physical activity and laughter can influence systems involved in mood and pain regulation.

When you're nervous about speaking in front of a large audience or facing an important challenge, don't immediately conclude that you're a coward. You might first stand up, move around, adjust your breathing, and use a simple pre-performance routine to help yourself feel more prepared.

When you're struggling to start something, don't automatically label yourself lazy. Ask instead: What would make me want to do this? Perhaps you can create a small reward, make the activity more enjoyable, or give yourself something to look forward to.

When you see on social media that your friends seem to be achieving more than you are, don't automatically measure your life against theirs. You may need to remind yourself that someone else's progress does not determine the value of your own life.

And when you're overwhelmed by unfinished tasks and ongoing problems, instead of simply telling yourself to “relax,” write down what's bothering you. Then ask what you can eliminate, resolve, postpone, or accept.

None of these actions is a magic formula, and we should not try to diagnose our moods by assuming that one particular hormone is responsible. Human emotions are far more complicated than that.

But the framework gives us a useful way to think about ourselves.

How we feel is not necessarily who we are.

Our emotional state can change with sleep, exercise, light, stress, social interaction, physical activity, and countless other factors.

So perhaps the next time you find yourself thinking:

I'm useless.

I'm lazy.

I'm a coward.

I'm falling behind everyone else.

I'll never change.

Pause before believing it.

Instead, ask yourself:

What state am I in right now?

What might be influencing how I feel?

What is one small thing I can do to change that state?

We don't have to accept every thought our brain produces, especially when we are tired, stressed, discouraged, or overwhelmed.

Sometimes we don't need to change our entire life.

We just need to change what we do next.

And perhaps that is the most useful lesson I took from High on Life: before judging yourself, understand your state; before giving up, try changing it.

9/22/2026

Today marks the end of the last episode of 70 Up, the last installment of the longest-running documentary project in UK TV history.

Seven Up! began in Britain in 1964 as a one-off television documentary. Filmmakers selected 14 seven-year-old children—10 boys and 4 girls—from very different social and economic backgrounds: wealthy families, middle-class homes, working-class neighborhoods, and a children's home. 

The idea came from the Jesuit saying:

“Give me a child until he is seven and I will show you the man.”

This is similar to the Chinese say: 三岁看大，七岁看老, which emphasizes a person’s personality and character.

Here the filmmakers wanted to find out about social class: How much of a person's future is already determined by family background and social class at age 7?

Originally, nobody expected the project to continue for decades. But seven years later, the researcher who had worked on the first film, Michael Apted, returned to interview the same people at age 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, 56, 63 and 70.

Thus the TV series became: 7 Up → 14 Up → 21 Up → 28 Up → 35 Up → 42 Up → 49 Up → 56 Up → 63 Up → 70 Up.

The latest and final installment, 70 Up, began airing in September 2026, bringing the experiment to its conclusion after more than six decades.

What happens to the children?

At seven, the children talk about things that seem simple:

• What do you want to be?

• What kind of school do you want to attend?

• What do you think about money?

• What do you think about marriage?

• What do you want your life to be like?

Then, every seven years, we see what actually happened.

Some followed remarkably predictable paths.

Children from privileged families had access to elite schools and universities and subsequently entered prestigious professions.

Others from poorer backgrounds left school early and entered working-class occupations.

But the story is not nearly as deterministic as the original premise suggests.

Some people moved considerably beyond their childhood circumstances. Others had apparently promising beginnings but experienced divorce, unemployment, illness, financial problems or disappointment. Some people who seemed destined for conventional success chose very different lives.

The real subject is circumstance versus choice

The question changed from initially asking: 

Does your class determine your future?

To this, after sixty years:

How much of our lives is determined by where we start, and how much can we change through our own choices?

The participants experience almost everything ordinary human beings experience: education, work, ambition, love, marriage, divorce, children, illness, aging, financial difficulties, death and regret.

Many themes emerge from their life stories.

First: social class.

Family background and social-economic status clearly matters. Education, money, connections and the neighborhood in which a child grows up can influence the opportunities available later in life.

Second: individual choices.

People are not simply prisoners of their childhood circumstances. Some participants make choices that take them in unexpected directions. Their stories demonstrate that social background influences a life without completely writing the script of their life

Third, life itself.

At 70, the question isn't really who became rich or who climbed the social ladder.

And that may be one of the deepest things Seven Up! ultimately teaches. A person's life cannot be adequately measured by social class, income, occupation or whether he or she “moved up.” Those things matter, but they are only part of the story.

The final chapter is therefore less a sociological experiment than a portrait of human lives unfolding over time. The Guardian makes essentially this point: the series began as an exploration of class, fate and environment, but ultimately became a much broader record of ordinary human experience. (The Guardian)

9/21/2026

This is the sixth and final piece about David Phillips’s book High on Life: How to Naturally Harness the Power of Six Hormones and Revolutionize Yourself.

The sixth is cortisol (皮质醇), often called the body's primary stress hormone. Cortisol is a steroid hormone produced by the adrenal glands, which sit on top of the kidneys.

Cortisol plays an essential role in the body's response to stress. When the brain detects a threat or challenge, cortisol helps the body become more alert and mobilize the energy needed to respond.

Its functions include:

1. Responding to stress

When we face a threat or intense pressure, cortisol rises and helps increase the availability of energy. It can raise blood sugar, support blood pressure and cardiovascular function, and temporarily shift resources away from less urgent processes such as digestion and reproduction.

A short-term increase in cortisol can therefore be useful. It helps us become alert and focused when something requires immediate attention.

The problem is persistent stress. When the body's stress system is repeatedly activated or its regulation becomes disrupted, it can contribute to problems such as:

• Sleep disruption

• Anxiety and irritability

• Difficulty concentrating

• Weight gain and metabolic problems

• Higher blood pressure

• Problems with learning and memory

2. Following a daily rhythm

Cortisol also follows a natural circadian rhythm. It is normally higher in the morning, helping us wake up and become alert, and gradually declines during the day, reaching lower levels at night.

3. Other important functions

Cortisol also helps regulate metabolism, blood pressure, inflammation, and the body's response to physical stress.

So how can we influence our stress system?

Phillips offers a surprisingly simple suggestion: write down the things that are stressing you.

Too much work? Write it down. A relationship that keeps making you uncomfortable? Write it down. Something that has been delayed for months and annoys you every time you think about it? Write that down too.

Once everything is on paper, look at each item and ask: Can I eliminate it, resolve it, reduce it, or simply accept that I cannot control it?

Some things can be deleted. Delete them.

Some things cannot be deleted, but they can be dealt with. Deal with them.

Some problems have been sitting on our mental to-do lists for months. Sometimes simply taking the first step can turn an undefined source of anxiety into a concrete problem that can be solved.

One less unfinished task can mean one less thing burdening your mind.

This may be one of the most practical lessons from cortisol: sometimes we should simply create less of it.

We often think of stress management as learning how to calm ourselves down after stress arrives.

But sometimes the better way is more direct: Remove the stressor.

And perhaps that is a fitting way to end this six-part journey through Phillips's book. We began with dopamine and the desire to move toward something, and ended with cortisol and the wisdom of knowing what to let go.

Six hormones, six Functions: Want. Dare. Endure. Connect. Be content. Let go.

A good life needs all six.

9/20/2026

This is the fifth piece about David Phillips’s book High on Life: How to Naturally Harness the Power of Six Hormones and Revolutionize Yourself.

Today I'll talk about another chemical in Phillips's framework: serotonin (血清素), sometimes described as a chemical associated with mood stability and well-being.

Serotonin is both a neurotransmitter and a signaling molecule in the body. Most of the body's serotonin is produced outside the brain, particularly in the gastrointestinal tract, while serotonin in the brain is produced by specialized neurons.

Serotonin is involved in many functions, including:

1. Mood and emotional regulation
   It is involved in regulating mood, anxiety, and emotional responses and is associated with feelings of calm and contentment.

2. Sleep and the body clock
   Serotonin is a precursor to melatonin and participates in the regulation of sleep and circadian rhythms.

3. Appetite and digestion
   Serotonin plays an important role in gastrointestinal movement and appetite-related signaling.

4. Impulse control
   Serotonin is involved in regulating impulsive behavior and emotional responses.

5. Pain regulation
   It also participates in the body's complex system for modulating pain.

One way I think about the difference between dopamine and serotonin is this:

Dopamine asks, “What else do I want?”

Serotonin is closer to, “I'm okay with where I am and what I have.”

Dopamine can push us toward the next goal, the next achievement, or the next reward. Serotonin is more associated with a stable sense of well-being and contentment.

Imagine that all your friends have achieved something that you haven't. They have advanced further in their careers, bought something you cannot afford, or invested in a stock that made them money.

You look at your own situation calmly and say, That's their path. I'll continue doing what makes sense for me. You are what people say in Chinese, 不攀比 (bù pān bǐ), don't measure yourself against others.

That ability to remain relatively steady rather than constantly chasing what others have is a valuable form of emotional stability.

So how can we support the body's serotonin system?

One simple suggestion Phillips discusses is exposure to natural light. Research has found links between daylight exposure, serotonin-related activity, and circadian regulation. This is one reason getting outside during the day can be a useful habit, particularly when we are feeling sluggish or low.

Instead of leaving it to chance, you can simply put daylight into your schedule. 

A quick summary so far

• Dopamine: I want to do it!

• Testosterone: I dare to do it!

• Endorphins: That hurts, but I can get through it.

• Oxytocin: I feel close and safe with you.

• Serotonin: I'm calm. I have enough.

Perhaps that's why serotonin is such an interesting part of this series.

We spend a great deal of our lives trying to get somewhere: more money, more achievement, more recognition, more experiences.

But a good life cannot consist entirely of wanting more.

Sometimes the goal is not to climb higher. It is to be able to stop for a moment, look around, and feel that where you are is enough.

9/19/2026

This is the fourth piece about David Phillips’s book High on Life: How to Naturally Harness the Power of Six Hormones and Revolutionize Yourself.

Today I'll talk about another chemical in Phillips's framework: oxytocin (催产素), often called the “bonding hormone” or “love hormone.” Oxytocin is a hormone and neuropeptide produced in the hypothalamus and released into the bloodstream by the pituitary gland. It also acts in the brain as a signaling chemical.

Oxytocin is involved in several important aspects of human life:

1. Social connection and trust. It is involved in feelings of closeness, empathy, and trust and plays a role in forming attachments, including parent-child bonds, romantic relationships, and close friendships.

2. Childbirth and breastfeeding. It stimulates uterine contractions during labor and helps trigger milk letdown during breastfeeding.

3. Stress regulation. Oxytocin interacts with the body's stress systems and may contribute to feelings of calm and safety, particularly in supportive social situations.

4. Social recognition. It is also involved in how we recognize and respond to familiar people and social cues.

In other words, oxytocin is closely connected with one of our most basic human needs: to feel connected and safe with other people.

You may have experienced something like this. After a hectic day, you come home feeling stressed and exhausted. You hug someone you love, sit down together, and talk for a while. Gradually, you begin to relax.

Of course, many things are happening at the same time, but physical touch and positive social interaction can activate systems in the brain and body that are involved in bonding and stress regulation, including oxytocin.

It is almost as if your body is receiving a message: This is a safe place. These are people I can trust. I can let my guard down.

We can also deliberately create more of these moments in our everyday lives.

When spending time with children, for example, we can hold their hands, hug them, pat their backs, or simply sit close to them. Physical touch provides the brain with a whole set of signals associated with connection and safety. The same can happen when we hug someone we love, hold hands, show kindness, or spend time with a pet. These seemingly small actions can strengthen our sense of connection and well-being.

But there is an interesting qualification. Oxytocin is not simply a chemical that makes us universally loving and trusting. Research suggests that its social effects can be highly dependent on context. In some circumstances, it may strengthen attachment to people we already identify with while increasing vigilance or defensiveness toward outsiders.

So perhaps the lesson of oxytocin is human beings are built for connection.

In a world where so much of our communication happens through screens, online, we sometimes forget how powerful a hug, a hand held, a warm conversation, or simply sitting beside someone can be.

Sometimes, what another person needs most is a simple message from our presence:

You are not alone. You are safe with me.

Finally, a song comes to me, "...Lean on me, when you're not strong