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 the 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 that it’s sometimes called the confidence booster because it gives you the courage to put yourself in situations that boost your self-esteem, increase your feelings of self-value, and enhance 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, which regulate 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 that produces serotonin. Just in case you don’t know, ‘an essential amino acid’ means your body doesn’t produce it; you have to get it from the food you eat.
Now, here’s the kicker: your brain (small and large) uses a variety of neurotransmitters, including serotonin, to manage your physiological and mental processes, including your moods and depression.
Your ENS moves food through your gut, regulates bowel movements, and releases GABA and serotonin. Along with melatonin, GABA and serotonin support 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 isn’t functioning properly, nights can be very long.
Do you understand 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? Do you see how all these systems are linked by the amount of serotonin you get from the food you eat? Food and sleep are 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 affects 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? That may explain why you 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 and recharge with negative ions by taking off your shoes and walking on the grass. Moving water gives off the most negative ions, so waterfalls and beaches are great places to boost serotonin; otherwise, the earth under your feet and the air around you will help. 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 release tryptophan into your bloodstream and reduce other amino acids that might get in the way, so the released tryptophan can reach your brain faster and more easily.
Tryptophan builds muscles, keeps nitrogen levels balanced, breaks down food, grows and repairs tissue, maintains skin, hair and nails, and makes serotonin and other neurotransmitters. The following foods contain tryptophan:
- Tofu and soybeans
- Chicken, pork, turkey and beef
- Milk, cheese and yoghurt
- 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. In reality, our brain is directly linked to our gut, which makes serotonin, a feel-good hormone and neurotransmitter, divinely designed to keep us physically and mentally healthy and happy.
Joan Maycock, MSc Health Psychologist, specialises 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.
Email: [email protected]