Was I experiencing a natural high? If so, why and how?

[Cicero]

So every once in a while, I would experience what I believe are these natural highs. I felt as if time was going slow, and I was cherishing every single second. I also felt a tad emotional, and I felt like a flood gate of emotions was released. A flood gate of happiness and tears of happiness.

I noticed that every time I felt like this, I had just woken up from sleeping, whether it was morning or a small after school nap. It's a feeling that I find hard to describe. This didnt happen often, the last time I remember it happening was 2 years ago. When I think of these moments, I think of joy and memories. These feelings would last for about 1-1/2 hours, and then would slowly disappear.

[Sky Flower]

I think I understand, for me it is just a sudden realisation of how certain things in my life are really going my way and just leads to a really good feeling. Like waking up on the start of summer break or the day after completing a really long project (whether school or work or whatever).

As for why and how these certain events inspire this random happiness high, idk...an enigma of how the brain works i guess

[Manjusri]

Yes, this is very possible. Especially because you noted that it would typically happen after sleeping or resting.

When your body is sleeping or at rest your brain releases serotonin (used in the transfer of information within your brain; relaxes the body), your body also uses lesser amounts of dopamine and norepinephrine (makes you more alert; think quicker). This means that when you wake up your brain has a higher ratio of serotonin, and a higher amount of dopamine and norepinephrine stored. The combination of these neurochemicals would most likely make you have that high kind of feel, especially if you're on a healthy diet.

I'm not sure that the feeling would last for an hour though, unless your brain is making an unusually high amount of dopamine. (?) You could just be feeling a residual mood change which was a result of the good feeling you were experiencing. But yeah, it's very possible to be experiencing a natural high during those times.