Why Does Hot Sauce Make Me Feel So Good?

Hot peppers (and the sauce we make from them) can increase​ our natural tolerance for pain. But how?

Since ancient Mayan and Aztec civilizations, human beings have known there’s more to hot peppers than just their spicy kick. From medicine men to modern doctors, we recognized that hot peppers -- and the sauces we make from them -- can actually relieve pain. It may hurt at first, but spicy peppers eventually have an analgesic effect.

So if you’re a lover of hot sauce, is it because you like the taste? Or because you’re a pepper junkie hooked on a feeling? Are you high on believing? Well believe this: there’s a two-part process that spicy foods like hot sauce use to make us feel like we’re high on fire.

First is a potent chemical called capsaicin and its partner dihydrocapsaicin. They have no color, odor or actual flavor. However, both trick our nervous system into thinking that our tongues have touched something scorching hot, as though a burning coal fell in your mouth.

These capsaicinoids trigger a protein in our mouths called “TRPV1.” This protein signals our brain by releasing a neuropeptide called “Substance P” and tells it our mouth is burning. To give you a comparison, it usually isn’t activated by anything in our mouths over 109 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius). That’s how hot something has to be to stimulate the same response as hot sauce. But when it’s triggered, “Substance P” tells our brains to pump endorphins to the site.

These endorphins are what cause the “natural high” reported by fans of intense hot sauce. Similar to morphine, they make our nerves more tolerant to pain. It’s a pleasant sensation, kind of like the “runner’s high” reported by marathon racers. Endorphins like these also help pregnant women with the pain of childbirth, even increasing their soothing levels in amniotic fluid so the child itself is protected from birthing pains. So… in a way, eating hot sauce reminds us of being born into this big, bright world.

So if it can make us feel that good, why aren’t we all hot sauce addicts, jonesing for our next fix? Well, it turns out you can actually build up a tolerance to it. If you’re consistently exposed to capsaicin, it can potentially kill fibers in the receptors that alert your brain. Also, it is possible to use up your nerve’s supply of “Substance P” and continued exposure to capsaicin can prevent it from replenishing. It’s only after the exposure stops that your nerves can produce it again.

Despite this, scientists are looking into ways to use capsaicin to manage pain for everything from shingles to arthritis.

SOURCES:

Ask Men's Health. By: Dailey, Kate, Men's Health, 10544836, Dec2005, Vol. 20, Issue 10

WHAT'S SO HOT ABOUT PEPPERS? By: Biebuyck, Valerie, Odyssey, 01630946, Mar2003, Vol. 12, Issue 3

Using the Brain to Conquer Pain. By: Myslinski, Norbert R., World & I, 08879346, Feb2003, Vol. 18, Issue 2

[Gamerkat]

There is a real suggestion of hot peppers/very hot food as a safe alternative to self-harm. A healthy pain- which is hard to come by, haha!

[NarschoolVlog]

how about pot brownies.. they make me feel good.. 

[HeatherLipinski]

My mother has diabetic neuropathy and the only thing that helps her is a capsaicin cream.  She has tried a number of drugs with no relief.  It's amazing and since it comes from chili peppers her doctor said we do not need to worry about any interaction issues (unlike the other drugs tried). 

[FirstHomeAgain]

A study in Korea found that rats genetically predisposed to alcoholism consumed less alcohol when chilli was added to their diet. It is thought that the hit some alcoholics get from liqor can also be activated by capsaicin. Chilli is also anti cancer and helps lower blood pressure.

[gangarthethief]

I'm drinking on a extra spicy mott's clamato and I put some good amount of white rum with 2 tablespoons of hot sauce and I put a salary with salt on it a speckled salt before on it and put it in a drink with a splash of orange juice experiment drink spiciness of it very confident the world around me floatiness of greatness smiling as the rum kicks in as the spiciness hits before I go to sleep it taste so good lol

[blitztage]

Im addicted to hot sauce. I'm drinking it rgt now 😂 been like this for years

[UnknownXV]

I just love spicy food. I'll eat it everyday. I feel decent after, but it's the kick from the food that I love. 

[rarelife]

I find that hot sauces take me out of my mind and into my mouth. Figuratively ofcourse. It also heats up my body which lifts up my mood.

[informalnarwhals]

1:58 I stopped mid-Taki when I heard this...then got so relieved at 2:04 lmao

[supercow]

I'm eating ghost pepper sauce while watching, it's called satans ghost highly recommended

[CryptoJordanVR]

Getting high on spicy foods is very similar to being tipsy but with less side effects like being dizzy.

[SupertoastGT]

Never got a "high" from hot stuff but I love it anyway. As far as removing pain from something, salt works wonders on a cut. Stings alot for a couple minutes but then there is no pain at all. Good stuff.

[beau-]

I suffer from migraines. Insane hot sauces makes them go away.

[devin]

I'm watching this as I'm eating spicy wings. I'm high on the spicy for sure

[SicSemperTyrannis-]

Sitting here lighting my mouth on fire with spoonfuls of hot sauce just for the high

[jacobbergau]

Am I weird for periodically taking shots of hot sauce out the bottle?

[TheRedRaven_]

Totally a mental game. Spicy food used to make me hiccup, feel so uncomfortable in public. Now I want the hottest sauce available in my mouth just so I can get pepper high, which is somewhat masochistic in nature but more so a big D competition as you know peppers that hot can change a man.

[E_LDN]

I knew it had to be addictive in a sorta high giving way, can't get enough of the stuff

[livingwordzion]

I like spicy foods becuase more of the flavor If I eat something that's spicy with no flavor I would not eat it but more so I eat spicy foods for flavor

[ethangc]

I'm licking hot sauce out of a bowl right now, I had no idea so many people were hot sauce lovers like me.