Serotonin is one of four important happiness hormones/neurotransmitters
DOSE is the abbreviation for the happiness hormones/neurotransmitters that most influence your mood. DOSE stands for dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins. In this blog post, we'll discuss serotonin and how you can become happier by increasing serotonin naturally.
About serotonin
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter involved in regulating hunger and satiety, sleep, learning, temperature regulation, memory, behavior, and mood. The amount of serotonin in the brain largely determines how you feel. High levels indicate a sense of satisfaction and contentment. Low levels can make life seem overwhelming.
Symptoms of serotonin deficiency
A serotonin deficiency primarily negatively impacts your mood. You feel down, depressed, and/or anxious. You sometimes have no idea what you're doing or who you even are. You may withdraw from social activities. Yet, you seek happiness and find it in things that provide short-lived happiness. This can lead to addictive behaviors such as food, alcohol, substance abuse, compulsive shopping, gambling, sex, pornography, personal goals, gaming, etc. These addictions only provide temporary relief. They don't increase your serotonin levels, but rather the highly addictive dopamine in a way similar to cocaine—temporarily and with increasing difficulty.
Increase serotonin naturally
- Increase serotonin by doing calming activities. This could include meditation, prayer, or yoga. Some people find it more relaxing to listen to trance music or other genres of music, as long as it has a calming effect.
- Exercise has a serotonin-increasing effect.
- Drink as little alcohol as possible. Remember that half a glass of red wine a day is the maximum a person can drink without causing too much harm.
- Make yourself as tall as possible by holding power poses (like bodybuilders do) for two minutes. This not only increases serotonin but also testosterone.
- Think positively and say positive words to yourself and others. Think of pleasant thoughts and try to share those pleasant thoughts.
- A healthy dose of sunlight for more vitamin D3, serotonin and dopamine
- Avoid empty calories, especially sugars, and replace them with slow carbohydrates from vegetables, for example.
- Avoid Omega 6 fats (vegetable oils) and increase Omega 3 intake (this helps against 90% diseases of affluence)
- Increase your turmeric intake in combination with black pepper. This combination boosts three happy hormones and prevents certain types of cancer.
- Take a good multivitamin. Vitamins B3, B6, and B12 also help boost your serotonin levels.
- The following probiotics also increase your serotonin:
Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei and Bifidobacterium bifidum - Tryptophan supplement that you do not take with other proteins (on an empty stomach is allowed).
As you can see, your thoughts and gut flora have a significant impact on your mood. Most strikingly, the bacteria in your gut influence your mood and behavior by producing or not producing signaling molecules that make you happy or unhappy. So, take good care of your gut and, first of all, ensure you have the right bacteria by taking a probiotic containing one or more of the following strains: Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei and Bifidobacterium bifidum. Then you give those bacteria and yourself the right nutrition and dietary fiber from mainly vegetables, legumes, moderate fruits and some whole grain products such as oatmeal.
Other foods that also help increase your serotonin levels are foods rich in tryptophan. Tryptophan is the precursor to 5-HTP and serotonin. Tryptophan-rich foods include: sourdough bread (whole wheat), oatmeal, nuts, seeds, spirulina, cocoa (pure), sesame seeds, chickpeas, spinach, sunflower seeds, parsley, asparagus, mushrooms, and broccoli.
beans, nuts, seeds, soybeans, parmesan cheese and turkey
Besides these foods, there are also natural MAO inhibitors that slow down the breakdown of serotonin, among other things. These come with a warning: excessive use of MAO inhibitors and/or in combination with psychoactive medications can cause complications. Regular foods like aged cheese, beer, wine, pickled herring, chicken liver, yeast, excessive coffee, citrus fruits, figs, broad beans, chocolate, or cream can cause headaches and nausea and even become toxic. Here are some mild natural MAO inhibitors: seaweed, turmeric, passion flower, and rhodiola.
Warning: Never experiment with the stronger MAO inhibitors yourself, but always seek the expertise of a specialist first, especially if you are already taking psychoactive medication.
You want to live healthier and be happier, but it doesn't work
You're trying so hard to live a healthy and happier life, but it's not working out. If you fall back into old habits, you'll remain stuck in a negative spiral. Low serotonin levels lead to depression, unhealthy eating, and anxiety. This further lowers serotonin levels. We offer behavioral and nutritional counseling services, as well as trip therapy, which can help you break this negative spiral through temporarily elevated serotonin levels and introspection. This can increase your self-esteem and self-love, allowing you to take better care of yourself and those around you. Curious? Then read more about the active ingredient in truffles, psilocybin.