Food and mood...does it matter?

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We all know pretty much that what we put into our bodies can not only affect what we look like, but also how we feel.

But do you know to what extent or why?

Well….in several of my blogs I will have mentioned an important chemical called serotonin (Our happy chemical) and we talk about how to produce more serotonin but what we don’t discuss so much is how food can effect it’s production!

Let’s start here…how important is serotonin?

Serotonin impacts every part of your body, from your emotions to your motor skills. It can effect sleep and pain, it greatly effects mood, bone health, and even digestion…so i’d say it plays a pretty big role in our lives!

Serotonin helps regulate your mood naturally. When your serotonin levels are normal, you feel:

  • happier

  • calmer

  • less anxious

  • more emotionally stable

  • more focused

The scientific name for serotonin is 5-hydroxytryptamine, or 5-HT. It is mainly found in the brain, bowels, and blood platelets.

So how is it produced?

(Please speak to a doctor before making any changes to your diet)

It used to be thought that serotonin was just made in the brain, but now we know actually 95% is made in the GUT!!! Sooooo now we can start to see the importance of food and how it effects our mood!

You can’t directly get serotonin from food, but you can get tryptophan, an amino acid that’s converted to serotonin in your brain. Tryptophan is found primarily in high-protein foods, including turkey and salmon.

There is a gut - brain barrier which is a bit on the complex side so we won’t go into this too much here, but we want our gut to be serotonin friendly anyway…

Tryptophan is an amino acid that is important for the production of serotonin in the body. It is also key to brain function and has a role in healthy sleep.

People cannot make tryptophan in their bodies, so must obtain it from their diet.

Therefore we want to eat more of these tryptophan-rich foods which are usually even higher in other amino acids. Because they’re more abundant, these other amino acids are more likely than tryptophan to cross the blood-brain barrier. From what i’ve researched though we also need carbs to help them to be absorbed. Tryptophan needs carbohydrates to be able to reach the brain and create serotonin. (Slow release carbs are best).

Where can we get Tryptophan?

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Go NUTS…. because all nuts and seeds contain tryptophan. Studies show that eating a handful of nuts a day can lower your risk for cancer, heart disease, and respiratory problems.

Anywhere else?

Dark leafy veg, oily fish, poultry, eggs….worth doing a little bit more research or speaking to a nutritionist if you ask me!

Healthy gut foods include: fruits, vegetables and wholegrains, beans, pulses, live yoghurt and other probiotics.

What else?

Exercise helps to move the serotonin around the brain so also highly recommended, also relaxation techniques which are believed to help production of serotonin levels!

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Get To Know Your Happy Brain Chemicals!

Our brain is made up of 100's of neurotransmitters, evolutionarily many of them were and still are essential for survival.  When we feel good it is because our brain chemicals are working well.  

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There are four major chemicals in the brain that influence our happiness, it is really helpful for us to learn what they are, what they do and how we get them. 

1.  Dopamine

2.  Oxytocin

3.  Serotonin

4.  Endorphins

Dopamine:  

Dopamine is often referred to as our 'reward or pleasure' neurotransmitter.  It is actually a survival chemical...our motivator!  For example as cavemen/cavewomen it was released when we caught our food.  This encouraged us to do it again and again and again.  We still release dopamine when we eat and because our natural instinct is to do more and more of what makes us feel good this can sometimes mean we turn to snacking or overeating in a bid to feel better.  Unfortunately this can be counter productive and there are better ways to feel good.

We also produce dopamine when we have sex which encourages to reproduce. That is why sometimes when we meet someone new we get those butterfly or excited feelings! 

We can produce dopamine by completing something you enjoy for example an excersise class, gardening or even better by being kind and helping others.  Also to ensure that your brain increases dopamine naturally, you’ll want to make sure that you’re getting enough sleep.  Lack of sleep has been shown to reduce concentrations of neurotransmitters, including dopamine, and their receptors.  Some research shows that listening to music that we enjoy can release dopamine.

Stress can also have a negative effective on dopamine so trying to reduce stress can help, solutions focused hypnotherapy can be effective in reducing stress and some research shows that trance can even help us produce more dopamine! 

Unfortunately a lack of natural dopamine can often lead to addictions such as gambling, gaming, phone addiction etc. 

We get one of these little pings on our smartphones, and we get a little hit of dopamine as well. We get excited. We feel anticipation. As we feel this, we want it more and more. So we spend more and more time looking at our phones.
— Kim Stolz

 

 

Oxytocin

Oxytocin is often referred to as our 'bonding' or 'love' neurotransmitter.  It's the chemical we would have released when we were fed milk as a baby, the brains of new mothers are usually flooded with oxytocin to help the bonding process as well.

We still release oxytocin when we have cuddles, kiss or when we trust someone! We can even release it when we shake hands with someone.

Oxytocin is the neurotransmitter that gives us that warm fuzzy feeling...so go on have a cuddle, even cuddling a pet with produce oxytocin!! 

 

It is important to understand that while oxytocin may be the hub of the evolution of the social brain in mammals, it is part of a very complex system. Part of what it does is act in opposition to stress hormones, and in that sense release of oxytocin feels good - as stress hormones and anxiety do not feel good.
— Patricia Churchland

Serotonin

Serotonin is often known as our 'happy chemical' it is one of the most important neurotransmitters we have! Serotonin is believed to help regulate mood and social behavior, appetite and digestion, sleep, memory, and sexual desire and function.

 

A lack of serotonin is also thought to have a negative effect on confidence and self esteem.

To produce serotonin we need the three P's Positive Interaction,  Positive Action and Positive thoughts!  

 

Brain wave tests prove that when we use positive words, our “feel good” hormones flow. Positive self-talk releases endorphins and serotonin in our brain, which then flow throughout our body, making us feel good. These neurotransmitters stop flowing when we use negative words.
— Ruth Fishel

Endorphins

Have you ever heard of 'runners high'?  This is an endorphin rush in the brain.  Endorphins can masks pain with euphoria, this is why sometimes you will hear about someone who has been able to continue walking with a broken leg! Endorphins only mask pain for a short period of time luckily as we need to feel the pain response to stop us causing more injury. 

We can create more endorphins through exercise, laughing and smiling! 

 

STRESS

Unfortunately the chemical we release when we feel stressed or anxious 'Cortisol' has a negative effect on most of these chemicals, that is why the most effective things we can do is reduce stress and do more of what we enjoy.  Solutions focused hypnotherapy is a really effective way of reducing stress and feeling, happier, more in control and more confident.