Getting to the bottom of the rumoured happy hormone.
Most of you would have heard of the “happy hormone,” serotonin, and may be wondering how you can increase your serotonin levels to reap the benefits.
In recent years, science and medicine have come closer and closer to understanding the exact link between the chemical and our happiness, which has helped people understand how what they put in their bodies may very well affect their mental health.
Aside from keeping us in a peaceful state of mind, serotonin has plenty of other jobs to do around the body. Perhaps it’s time to start taking serotonin seriously.
What is serotonin?
Serotonin is made from the essential amino acid, tryptophan. The hormone is produced by the nerve cells and sends signals to the hundreds of thousands of other nerve cells in every part of your body.
In order for the nerve cells to make serotonin, tryptophan needs to be absorbed into the body. So that means through foods that are high in the amino acid (which we’ll get to later). It has been found that low levels of tryptophan will result in lower serotonin levels, which affects both the mind and body.
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What you may not know is that the majority of our body’s serotonin is stored and produced in the gut – which is why what you eat plays such a big role.
What does it do?
Serotonin is known as a built-in mood stabiliser. It helps us to do everything we can in our day-to-day life, from managing stress and emotions all the way to sleep and digestion. Serotonin functions throughout the whole body. Healthy levels of serotonin are known to support:
Nausea
Sure, it may not sound like an ideal function but it is when something needs to be expelled from your body. Serotonin pushes bad food or substances out of the body in an emergency response.
Sleep
Who doesn’t want a better night’s sleep? The serotonin chemical plays a leading role in sleep quality: its job is to stimulate parts of the brain when it is time to sleep and wake. Different receptors are stimulated at different phases of sleep.
Bowel Movements
Because it lives primarily in the stomach, serotonin supports your digestive system.
Libido
This is one you wouldn’t expect: low levels of serotonin actually increase libido. Whilst a low libido is often associated with depression, those with depression caused by a lack of serotonin have a higher sex drive.
Blood clotting and healing wounds
Serotonin can be found in blood platelets throughout the human body. When the body needs to heal, blood platelets release serotonin which goes on to narrow the arteries which form wound-healing blood clots.
That’s all pretty jaw-dropping, right? Our bodies do incredible things every day, and we don’t even know. Now that you know why serotonin is so great, how do you go about getting more of it?
How to increase your serotonin levels
Natural forms of serotonin
We mentioned earlier that the body needs external resources to make serotonin. These are some of them:
Get outside
Natural sunlight and light therapy are known remedies for boosting your serotonin levels.
Get moving
Getting your blood pumping means pumping more of the happy hormone around your body.
Eat well
Find foods and vitamins that are high in tryptophan. Consider taking multivitamins like B12 and probiotics to facilitate the absorption of tryptophan. A few serotonin-boosting foods include cheese, nuts and seeds, salmon, eggs, and beans.
Think well
Some studies have shown that practising mindfulness and taking on a more positive approach can release more serotonin into your body.
SSRIs (Antidepressants)
If you’re depressed and somebody tells you to eat more fish to get yourself out of bed, there’s another way to seek help. Medication is a perfectly reasonable course of action for when you need some help. There is medication you can take that will boost your serotonin levels and bio-hack your brain into a better state.
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It’s important to note that there has been some dispute over whether or not the lack of serotonin could cause depression and anxiety. There are scientists who question the validity of “the happy hormone” but there has been plenty of research to show otherwise. So much so, that many doctors prescribe SSRIs, a form of antidepressants, for patients diagnosed with depression or anxiety disorders.
Serotonin travels throughout the brain, but sometimes a protein gets in the way and transports the chemical away from the brain nerve cells – which is not what we want. SSRI’s work is that they block the protein from redirecting serotonin so that it can flow freely to where it needs to go.
We hope you learned something new about your body today – and that you start living the healthiest, happiest life you can.
Your Health Insurance Family,
Oneplan
