GagBase Logo Explore

Asking Brain For Serotonin Gets You Cortisol Instead

This meme uses the viral "we have [desired item] at home" comedic format to joke about relatable poor mental health experiences. The setup shows a person asking their brain for serotonin, the hormone associated with happiness and calm. The brain responds that it has serotonin at home, and the punchline reveals the "serotonin at home" is actually cortisol, the primary stress hormone, paired with its full chemical structure. The joke highlights the common experience of seeking positive feelings but instead only experiencing stress and anxiety from one's own brain.
Make

Text content

Can we get SEROTONIN ?
My brain: We have SEROTONIN at home.
The SEROTONIN at home: Cortisol, plus the chemical structural diagrams of serotonin and cortisol

Overview

This meme uses the viral "we have [desired item] at home" comedic format to joke about relatable poor mental health experiences. The setup shows a person asking their brain for serotonin, the hormone associated with happiness and calm. The brain responds that it has serotonin at home, and the punchline reveals the "serotonin at home" is actually cortisol, the primary stress hormone, paired with its full chemical structure. The joke highlights the common experience of seeking positive feelings but instead only experiencing stress and anxiety from one's own brain.

Origin notes

This meme was pulled from an RSS feed of Reddit r/Meme community posts, originally shared with the title "It do be like that". It adapts the widely circulated "at home knockoff" meme template that gained mainstream popularity across Reddit, Twitter/X, and Instagram starting in the late 2010s, applied here to the popular online neurochemistry and mental health joke niche common in mental health discussion spaces online.

Similar memes

The meme features a simple, crudely drawn slouched stick figure with weary half-closed eyes, holding a leash that is attached to a realistic illustration of a human brain resting on the ground. The text next to the figure reads 'C'Mon. Make Dopamine'. The visual joke is a personification of the common relatable experience of struggling with low motivation, anhedonia, or mental fatigue, as the person figuratively begs their own brain to produce the pleasure and motivation hormone dopamine to feel functional or happy.

C'mon Make Dopamine Relatable Mental Health Meme

The meme features a simple, c…

This is a 2x2 grid 4-panel meme comparing cortisol (the primary human stress hormone) levels across two scenarios. The top row shows the cortisol gauge with its needle pointing to the highest red 'HIGH' level, paired with the text 'having a bad day' to indicate that a bad day causes extremely elevated stress. The bottom row shows the same cortisol gauge with its needle pointing to the lowest green low level, paired with the text 'seeing my wife', conveying that encountering one's wife immediately eliminates stress, tying to the common adage 'happy wife happy life' to express appreciation for one's spouse and the positive impact they have on mood.

Happy Wife Happy Life Cortisol Meme

This is a 2x2 grid 4-panel me…

A two-panel black and white meme contrasting a character's state 'Before therapy' and 'After therapy'. Both panels feature the same tired-looking individual wearing a hoodie and beanie, smoking a cigarette with a melancholic expression. The top panel is labeled 'Before therapy' with no additional text. The bottom panel, labeled 'After therapy', includes a list of negative outcomes on the right: '+insomnia', '+can't goon', and '+no grapefruit'. The humor stems from the sarcastic subversion of therapy's expected benefits, instead highlighting trivial or relatable 'side effects'.

Before and After Therapy: Unexpected Side Effects

A two-panel black and white m…

This is a two-panel comparison meme using edited versions of the SpongeBob SquarePants character. The top panel has text on the left reading 'Wake up at 6.00 am after 7 hours of sleep', paired on the right with a disheveled, haggard, heavily wrinkled version of SpongeBob with bloodshot, droopy eyes, appearing extremely exhausted and unwell. The bottom panel has text on the left reading 'Wake up at 11.00 am after 5 hours of sleep', paired on the right with a polished, handsome, human-like version of SpongeBob with clear blue eyes, smooth skin, and a calm, well-rested expression. The meme jokes about the common counterintuitive real-life experience where people often feel far more rested waking up later after less sleep, compared to waking up early after getting a longer amount of sleep.

SpongeBob Sleep Quality Contrast Meme

This is a two-panel compariso…

The meme depicts a humorous scene where a Grim Reaper-like figure, labeled "My horniness," stands on a house porch ringing the doorbell while holding a scythe. To the left, a man labeled "My last brain cell" runs away in a panic, suggesting that horniness is overwhelming the remaining brain function. The background features a white house with a porch and greenery, emphasizing the contrast between the fleeing brain cell and the imposing horniness figure.

Yeah good bye braincell

The meme depicts a humorous s…

This is a 4-panel relatable meme. Panel 1 features a crudely drawn, smiling stick figure with large round glasses standing next to an illustrated human brain, with the text 'hey brain hows it goin?' above, showing the person checking in on their own mental state. Panel 2 shows the brain completely covered by a dense, messy tangle of chaotic black scribbles, visually representing that the brain is overwhelmed, burnt out, disorganized, and not functioning properly. Panel 3 shows the same smiling stick figure waiting silently with no text. Panel 4 shows the stick figure still smiling, with the short text 'yea' above, implying that the completely disorganized brain gave a casual, unconcerned confirmation that everything is fine, despite the obvious chaos. The joke resonates with audiences who experience high stress, burnout, or mental disarray but habitually respond that they are okay when asked how they are doing.

Person checks in on their chaotic brain that says it's fine

This is a 4-panel relatable m…

This is a black and white stick figure comparison meme illustrating the paradoxical effect of caffeine on people with ADHD. On the left, labeled 'other ppl on caffeine', a heavily blurred, jittery stick figure with wide excited eyes is shown shaking, representing the expected hyperactive effect of caffeine on most neurotypical people. On the right, labeled 'me (adhd)', a clear, still stick figure with a bored, unamused neutral expression stands completely calm, referencing the common experience where stimulant substances like caffeine have a calming, focusing effect on people with ADHD instead of making them hyperactive.

ADHD vs Neurotypical People Caffeine Reaction Meme

This is a black and white sti…

This meme features a weathered plastic skeleton prop slouched casually against the back of a wooden park bench, set against a background of green grass and dry shrubbery. Bold white text is overlaid at the top of the image, reading 'WHAT I IMAGINE LIVING WITH LACTOSE INTOLERANCE IN WISCONSIN IS LIKE'. The humorous premise relies on the fact that Wisconsin is widely known as the 'Cheese State', with dairy products forming a core part of its local culture and cuisine, so a lactose intolerant person living there is humorously depicted as having wasted away to nothing but a skeleton due to being unable to eat most of the local iconic food.

Lactose Intolerance in Wisconsin Meme

This meme features a weathere…

A 4-panel comic meme depicting relatable late-night overthinking. Panel 1: A pink brain with wide, intense eyes asks, "Are you going to sleep?" Panel 2: A person lying in bed, covered with a blanket, responds annoyed, "Yes I am. Now shut up." Panel 3: The brain, still wide-eyed, suddenly states, "'W' starts with a D." Panel 4: The person, now wide awake with shocked eyes, lies in bed, clearly unable to sleep due to the brain's random thought.

Why am i like this?

A 4-panel comic meme depictin…

This is a single-panel Wojak-style meme illustrating the lived experience of having ADHD. The top of the image opens with the question "What does it feel like to have ADHD?", followed by a section labeled "Me:" that shows a first-person perspective of a frustrated Wojak character sitting at a messy desk in front of a computer. The character has a speech bubble that says "I don't want to work, I need more knowledge". The surrounding room is disorganized: there are tall piles of books on the desk and floor, a large pile of unwashed clothes in the corner, and two annoyed, judgmental Wojak figures (depicting parents or roommates) staring disapprovingly at the main character from the doorway. The walls are covered with random, unrelated materials including a world map, portrait of Friedrich Nietzsche, medieval religious artwork, portrait of Baruch Spinoza, biology diagrams, and a page of text. The meme jokes about the common ADHD experience of hyperfocusing on gathering niche, random knowledge as a form of procrastination to avoid required work, while also referencing the original post title's sentiment that this gathered knowledge is often not retained long term.

Gain Knowledge, Retain Nothing: ADHD Experience Meme

This is a single-panel Wojak-…

A meme consisting of overlaid text and a collage of real-person images. The top text reads 'Me: *finally takes my schizophrenia medication*' followed by 'My homie Jerome:' below. The image shows a person (presumably Jerome) in an outdoor parking lot with greenery, pointing with their index finger, creating a humorous implication that the medication's effect might be short-lived ('meds be running out quick') as Jerome reacts to the situation.

Them meds be running out quick

A meme consisting of overlaid…

A two-panel meme using the Drake 'Hotline Bling' template. The top panel shows Drake in an orange puffer jacket, hand to his ear, looking dismissively to the side, with the text 'Drinking Nesquik'. The bottom panel shows Drake pointing forward with a smile, with the text 'Eating Nesquik Powder'. The humor stems from the relatable childhood experience of preferring to eat Nesquik powder directly rather than mixing it into a drink.

Who else did this as a kid?

A two-panel meme using the Dr…