Tag Archives: serotonin

Maintain Your Brain

Posted on by

The other day, I was working at a café when in walked a group of women who slid a couple of tables together, spread out a table cloth, and proceeded to set up for a game of Canasta. I couldn’t resist approaching them and chatting about the benefits of ‘exercising’ our brains to keep them young and vital, and I mentioned my competitive card-playing parents—whose brains are remarkably youthful for being in their 80s.

Yes, research has shown that regularly making our brains ‘work’ is one strategy for keeping our wits about us.  Anything that stimulates the formation and strengthening of new neuronal pathways, like learning a language, reading, singing (which is also great for stress reduction and getting oxygen to the brain), solving the crossword in the Sunday paper, and even meditating and/or praying (which my parents also do for several hours daily) keep our brain cells healthy and firing.

Of course, there’s more to maintaining a healthy brain than belting out a daily tune—like a healthy diet. And if you had to pick a good reason to get physical exercise, consider preservation and even optimization of brain health.  If the benefits are not immediately obvious to you, here are a few:

  • Better delivery of oxygen and nutrients to brain cells
  • Balancing neurochemicals and neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and GABA for better moods, focus, and concentration
  • More restful sleep
  • Optimal blood sugar management which can help brain cells maintain insulin sensitivity and stave off neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s Disease
  • The production of neural stem cells and the maturation of neurons and oligodendrocytes—the cells that insulate the neuronal axons and enhance signal transduction and that are attacked by the immune system in multiple sclerosis

These are all good reasons to make sure you’re getting regular exercise and many of these same benefits can be applied to the health of your entire body.  You can’t go wrong with exercise—that is, when you do it within your physical limits, you do it in a safe manner, and you don’t overdo it.

BTW, I checked in on the ladies before I left the café and they were still having a ball playing cards.  One in particular had a pretty good hand—as you can see, that she was excited to show me.  Meeting these women reminded me that maintaining your brain doesn’t have to feel like work. It can be fun.

Feeling Blue? Get Outdoors and Soak in Some Sun

Posted on by

20180714_112340 By now, we all know about the dangers of getting too much sun as it applies to accelerated aging of the skin and the increased risk of skin cancers like melanoma.  As a result, many of us have done a complete 180 and resorted to avoiding sun altogether, whenever possible—which means staying indoors, always wearing a strong sunscreen, and always covering up when exposed to the sun.  While on the surface, this may do a good job of delaying skin aging and lowering the risk of skin cancer, it prevents us from taking advantage of the health benefits of sunshine.

20180713_154744

For example, our skin is considered a neuroendocrine gland and sun exposure stimulates skin production of most neurotransmitters.  One in particular is serotonin, a neurochemical involved in such things as feeding behavior (when it gets low at night, we reach for carbs!), mood, pain, and sleep—since serotonin gets converted to melatonin—also produced in the skin.

Moreover, the brain’s production of serotonin is influenced by sunlight and sun exposure also increases the binding of serotonin and dopamine to their transporters.   If you live in a climate where the winters are long with dark, cold days, then you may experience the impact of very little sunlight exposure through seasonal affective disorder, or SAD.

Vitamin D is another important hormone produced in the skin upon sun exposure that regulates thousands of genes and is important for a healthy immune system.   Too little sunlight has also been linked to autoimmune diseases, like multiple sclerosis.

You can read here about my recommendations for protecting your skin from sun damage, including covering up when the sun is at its hottest, wearing a safe sunscreen if you will be spending extended periods in direct sunlight (even under the clouds, for that matter), and eating your veggies, as they provide a wealth of antioxidants that can protect our DNA from UV damage.

Particularly in the summer, it’s best to get your sun early in the day and then later in the afternoon/early evening, when the sun starts to go down.  When I lived in CT, this meant that I would stay out of direct sunlight between 10 am and 2 pm.  However, now that I live in Texas, it’s more like 10 am – 6 pm.

The bottom line is, there are benefits to soaking in sunlight through our skin.  However, like with so many things, to get the benefits of the sun while avoiding the harm it can do, we need to strike a balance between safe sun exposure and overdoing it.

 

Starting the day w/good intentions and ending it w/a pint of Haagen Dazs

Posted on by
ID-10095333

Courtesy of -Marcus-

Does this sound familiar?  You wake up in the morning ready for a day of healthy eating.  You eat a small bowl of cereal or a slice of toast for breakfast, or grab a banana and head off to work.  Lunch rolls around and you sip on a cup of soup or eat a vegetable salad – and all is well.   By 3 or 4 o’clock, though, you’re suddenly craving chocolate, you stop to pick up a pizza on your way home from work, you graze while you’re cooking dinner, or after dinner, you polish off a pint of ice cream.

If any of these situations sound like you, you’re not alone.  So many people I talk with begin their day with good intentions and end it forgetting all about them – over and over again.  Although there are many factors that can play into this scenario, one has to do with our bodies’ natural cycle of brain chemicals like serotonin that’s functions in appetite control, depression and anxiety relief, pain tolerance, and sleep.

For example, in the morning, levels of your ‘feel good’ neurotransmitter serotonin are high and as the day progresses, they begin to dip.  And so by the afternoon, if you’ve depleted your supply without replenishing it, your cravings will begin – for foods like ice cream and chocolate, or a bowl of cereal with milk, or a gooey cheese pizza.   Why?  Because dairy (and cacao) is a good source of protein, and specifically tryptophan, the building block of serotonin.

As you’re probably well aware by now, though, concentrating these heavy, fatty foods later in the day will not only pack on the pounds, it will disrupt your sleep, impact your digestion, and ultimately lead to more serious health issues.   And if you’re like many people who have inherited less serotonin-making capabilities, then you’re much more sensitive to a diet that hinders its production.

If you suspect this is you, then here are some dietary/lifestyle habits that may help maintain your serotonin levels:

Eat regular meals that include protein.   If you’re skipping breakfast or lunch, or going light on them, you’re probably not getting enough protein during the day.  In addition, in most protein sources, tryptophan is low compared to other amino acids and in plant proteins, it’s levels can be up to ten times lower per serving than in animal proteins.

Even with animal proteins, wild game and animals that are raised on their natural food sources (like grass-fed beef) are higher in tryptophan than animals raised on corn so making the shift to cleaner sources of meat, fish, eggs, and dairy can help.  Some of the plant sources of tryptophan include legumes like beans and lentils, nuts and seeds, leafy greens, whole grains, bananas, winter squashes and sweet potato.  This page provides a list of a variety of tryptophan sources.

Include healthy fats in your meals.  Fat helps tryptophan become available to the brain so it’s important to include it at every meal.  Foods like avocados, nuts, seeds, olive oil are all sources of healthy fats to include regularly.  In one study, researchers found that decreasing fat in people’s diets correlated with increases in low serotonin symptoms like anger and hostility.

Cut back on caffeine and artificial sweeteners.  If you’re beginning your day with a cup of coffee, you’re working against your serotonin stores early since as a stimulant, caffeine works in exactly the opposite way of serotonin’s calming capabilities.  In addition, according to Julia Ross in The Mood Cure, the artificial sweetener aspartame can also have an overstimulating effect because one of it’s components, the amino acid phenylalanine converts to the stimulants tyrosine, dopamine, norepinephrine, and adrenaline.  And it’s second component, the amino acid aspartic acid is also highly excitatory.

Eliminate sugar and refined carbohydrates that are naturally low in tryptophan and wreak havoc on your blood sugar and insulin levels that also promotes stress in the body and interferes with your good mood!

Get regular exercise because it increases oxygen in the body, which is important for serotonin production in the brain.  It also helps divert amino acids necessary for muscle building and repair to the muscles, freeing up some of the competition from tryptophan for crossing the blood brain barrier (remember, its supply is already low compared to other amino acids in dietary protein).  In fact, regular exercise helps to balance all brain chemicals naturally.  The important point here is ‘regular’ exercise because like everything else, it’s benefits are temporary.

If after trying these strategies, you still suspect your serotonin levels are still low, there are additional supplements that can be taken, even temporarily to help raise them. Contact me for more information and we can determine if you’re a candidate for them.