Serotonin: an important link in (un)happiness

Serotonin is one of four important happy hormones/neurotransmitters

DOSE is the acronym for the happy hormones/neurotransmitters that have the greatest influence on your mood. DOSE stands for dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins. In this blog, we are going to discuss serotonin and how you can become happier by naturally increasing serotonin.

Serotonin excess

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter and is involved in the regulation of hunger and the feeling of satiety, sleep, learning, temperature regulation, memory, behaviour and mood. The amount of serotonin in the brain therefore largely determines how you feel. When levels are high, you feel fulfilled and content. When levels are low, life can feel like a real struggle.

Symptoms of a serotonin deficiency

A serotonin deficiency mainly has a negative effect on your mood. You feel down, depressed and or anxious. Sometimes you have no idea what you are doing and who you actually are. You may withdraw from social activities. Yet you are looking for happiness and you find it in things that provide fleeting happiness. This can lead to addictive behaviour in the form of food, alcohol, substance use, shopping addiction, gambling, sex, porn, personal goals, gaming, etc. These addictions only provide a good feeling temporarily. That is because they do not increase your serotonin level, but rather the highly addictive dopamine in a way that cocaine also does, namely temporarily and with increasing difficulty.

Increasing serotonin naturally

1. Boost serotonin by doing activities that are calming for you. This can be meditation, prayer or yoga. Some people feel better listening to trance or other genre music as long as it has a calming effect.
2. Exercise has a serotonin-boosting effect.
3. Drink as little alcohol as possible. Bear in mind that half a glass of red wine a day is the absolute most a person can drink without doing too much damage.
4. Make yourself as big as possible by striking power poses (like bodybuilders do) for 2 minutes. This not only increases serotonin but also testosterone.
5. Think positively and say positive words to yourself and others. Think about nice things and try to share those pleasant thoughts.
6. A healthy dose of sunlight for more vitamin D3, serotonin and dopamine
7. Avoid empty calories, particularly sugars, and replace them with slow-release carbohydrates from sources such as vegetables.
8. Avoid Omega 6 fats (vegetable oils) and increase Omega 3 intake (this helps against 90% of lifestyle diseases)
9. Increase your turmeric intake in combination with black pepper. This duo already boosts 3 happy hormones and prevents certain types of cancer.
10. Take a good multivitamin. For instance, vitamins B3, B6 and B12 also help to boost your serotonin levels.
11. The following probiotic also increases your serotonin:
    Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus houses en Bifidobacterium Bifidum
12. Tryptophan supplement that you do not take in combination with other proteins (on an empty stomach is fine).

As you can read, your thoughts and your gut flora have a great deal of influence on your mood. The most striking thing is that the bacteria in your gut influence your mood and behaviour by producing or not producing signalling molecules that make you happy or unhappy. So look after your gut and, first of all, make sure you have the right bacteria in your gut by taking a probiotic containing one or more of the following strains: Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus houses en Bifidobacterium bifidum. Afterwards, you give those bacteria and yourself the right nutrition and dietary fibre, mainly from vegetables, pulses, moderate amounts of fruit and a little wholegrain produce such as porridge.

Other products that also help to increase your serotonin are tryptophan-rich foods. This is because tryptophan is the precursor to 5-HTP and serotonin. Foods rich in tryptophan are: sourdough bread (wholemeal), porridge oats, nuts, seeds, spirulina, cocoa (dark), sesame seeds, chickpeas, spinach, sunflower seeds, parsley, asparagus, mushrooms, broccoli
beans, nuts, seeds, soybeans, Parmesan cheese and turkey

Alongside these foods, there are also natural MAO inhibitors that ensure, among other things, that serotonin is broken down less quickly. These come with a warning. If there is an excess of MAO inhibitors and/or in combination with psychoactive medications, complications can arise. Normal foods such as mature cheese, beer, wine, pickled herring, chicken liver, yeast, lots of 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 on your own, but always consult a specialist's expertise first, especially if you are already taking psychoactive medication.

You want to live more healthily and be happier, but you can't manage it

You go to a great deal of effort to live a healthy life and be happier, only it is not going well. If you relapse into your old pattern, you remain in a negative spiral. Too little serotonin causes depression, poor eating and anxiety. This causes an even lower serotonin level. We offer a service with behavioural and dietary advice as well as a trip therapy so that you can break this negative spiral via a temporarily high serotonin level and introspection. Your self-esteem and self-love can thereby increase, so that you will also take better care of yourself and your environment. Curious? Then read more about the active substance in truffles called psilocybin.