Serotonin is one of four feel-good hormones and neurotransmitters. As a neurotransmitter, it sends and receives chemical messages to and from nerve cells and between the body and brain.
It helps with mood, sleep, memory, digestion, appetite, wound healing, learning ability and sexual desire. It keeps you calm, happy, focused and reduces stress response.
When levels are good, your mood, emotions and feelings of wellbeing are good; when they are low, you get moody, emotional and don’t feel well.
Serotonin plays many roles and helps on many levels, so much so it’s sometimes called the confidence booster because it gives you the courage to put yourself in situations that boost your self-esteem, increases your feelings of self-value and enhances your sense of belonging.
About 95% of serotonin is produced in the lining of your gut, your gastrointestinal tract, and released into your bloodstream where it’s taken up by blood platelets. About 10% is produced in your brain.
Your brain and gut have a direct line of communication on speed dial, that consists of your Central Nervous System (CNS), your brain and spinal cord that regulates your thoughts, feelings, emotions, breathing, heart rate, body temperature and the release of some hormones.
This biochemical and physical communication network is the brain part of your gut-brain axis which stretches from your brain to the end of your spine.
Your Enteric Nervous System (ENS), your digestive system, sometimes called your “little brain”, is automatic and unconscious and resides in the lining of your gut, where serotonin is produced. It stretches from your oesophagus to your anus and consists of millions of nerve cells travelling throughout your digestive system, directing all movement through it.
The building block of serotonin is tryptophan, an essential amino acid responsible for the production of serotonin. Just in case you don’t know, ‘an essential amino acid’ means it’s not produced by your body; it has to be taken from the food you eat.
Now, here’s the kicker, your brains (small and large) use a variety of neurotransmitters, including serotonin, to manage your physiological and mental processes, including your moods and depression.
Your ENS is responsible for moving your food along your gut, regulating your bowel movements and releasing GABA and serotonin. Along with melatonin, GABA and serotonin are involved in sleep. Melatonin regulates your sleep-wake cycle, and your brain needs serotonin to make melatonin.
Melatonin is the hormone that signals your body it’s time to sleep, GABA blocks the stress hormones that keep you awake, putting you into a state of relaxation ready for sleep, while serotonin and dopamine control how well and how long you sleep.
All these hormones form one team, but without the coach, the Vagus Nerve that switches on your PNS, your hormonal break, and sends out the order to “shut down”, sleep doesn’t come. It’s a team effort and if one member of this team is not functioning properly, nights can be very long.
Are you understanding how the food you eat not only controls your physical and psychological health and wellbeing but also, if you sleep, the quality of your sleep and how long you sleep? Are you seeing how all these systems are linked by the amount of serotonin taken from the food you eat? Food and sleep, two of the most important elements of your physical and psychological health and wellbeing.
Put simply; your serotonin levels and whether you feel good or bad, happy or sad, all come down to the amount of healthy or unhealthy foods you eat. So, next time you’re feeling bad and sad, ask yourself, “what have I been eating?”
Serotonin is responsible for our moods, digestion, nausea, sleep, wound-healing, learning ability and sexual desire; isn’t that a lot? What if you don’t eat a healthy diet? Well, it may explain why you could have problems in these areas.
Low serotonin levels can result in:
- Little or no appetite
- Digestive problems
- Ulcers
- Acid reflux
- Nausea
- Unable to focus
- Memory loss, dementia
- Changes in sleep pattern; bad sleep quality
- Wounds taking too long to heal
- Chronic pain
- Anxiety
- Depression
- No sexual desire
Now that you understand the role serotonin plays, if you’re suffering from any of these symptoms and suspect your levels are low, you can try raising them with the following natural serotonin boosters.
Spend time in the sun. If the sun is not shining, spend time outside in nature. Ground yourself, recharge with negative ions by taking off your shoes and walking in the grass. Moving water gives off the most negative ions, so waterfalls and beaches are great places to recharge serotonin levels, otherwise the earth under your feet and the air around you will boost levels. A shower is a great quick short boost.
Any kind of regular exercise will help increase levels. When you exercise, your gut-brain axis works hard to get your body to release tryptophan into your bloodstream and reduce other amino acids that might get in the way, so that the released tryptophan can reach your brain quicker and easier.
Tryptophan builds muscles, keeps nitrogen levels balanced, breaks down food, grows and repairs tissue, maintains skin, hair and nails, makes serotonin and other neurotransmitters. The following foods contain tryptophan:
- Tofu and soybeans
- Chicken, pork, turkey and beef
- Milk, cheese and yogurt
- Nuts and seeds
- Fish and seafood
- Eggs
- Apples, prunes and bananas,
- Oats, buckwheat, white and brown bread.
- Potatoes and string beans
- Coffee
- Chocolate
So, you see, you’ve no excuse. If you’re feeling bad and sad, pick some foods you like and start eating, with common sense.
The mistake traditional western medicine makes is believing our physical and mental illnesses are separate from our biological, physiological, psychological and behavioural responses. When, in reality, our brain is directly linked to our gut that makes serotonin, a feel-good hormone and neurotransmitter, divinely designed to keep us physically and mentally healthy and happy.
By Joan Maycock
Joan Maycock MSc Health Psychologist specialised in stress and burnout education, designing, setting up and presenting Stress and Burnout Educational Retreats, Workshops and 1 on 1 sessions for private and corporate groups in Ireland and Portugal.
Tel: 00 351 915 793 592 | Email: eirinnretreats@gmail.com
