Scholars have noted that a lack of pleasure in life leads to particular emotional and mental states. Depression, schizophrenia, addiction, anxiety, obesity have been reported to be indicative of a “missing ability to experience pleasure.” Pleasure appears to be necessary for a healthy and happy life. Endorphins are released when we engage in pleasure. Endorphins are a crucial component of emotional well being, they are the body’s natural opioids. Endorphins decrease pain, increase euphoria, release sex hormones, and enhance the immune response. They are the body’s natural pain medication. In his book, “Eat to Live,” Dr. Furham states that endorphins have an equal effect to Valium. The more endorphins we produce, the better we feel, and the less depressed or mentally ill we get. The body releases endorphins when you eat chocolate, exercise, laugh, orgasm, get moved to tears, meditate, think positive thoughts, rest, connect with nature, sunbathe, eat a chili pepper, get scared – to name a few things. What these experiences have in common is that they promote feelings of pleasure. Feeling pleasure is so powerful that just thinking of something pleasurable will trigger endorphins.

Pleasure allows us to filter the infinite number of inputs we receive.  Meaning that, if we had no pleasure, our bodies would entertain every single input with which it comes into contact.  We need pleasure to evaluate emotions, sensations, objects, people, processes, etc .  For example, if I didn’t feel pleasure, I would eat everything that was presented to me regardless of whether it was good or not.  In other words, pleasure helps us survive because it helps us stay away from things that are bad for us (i.e., eating something that is rotten) and helps us to increase what is good for our wellbeing (i.e., eating fruits that are ripe).