According to WebMD.com, more than 20 million American adults have a mood disorder and 40 million suffer from an anxiety disorder-and these numbers don’t include the average worrier or someone who suffers from an occasional bout of sadness. For depression alone, the annual cost for treatment and lost wages may be as high as $52 billion. Statistics show the suffering in cost; but as modern stress-soaked citizens, we are at once victims and also potential heroic players in our own destiny. This article talks about the basic successes we could be having.
Our body and brain are up to the highly challenging act of living life successfully. Our wonderful mechanism is able to regulate the length of signals so that our brains and nervous systems can respond to walking, eating, talking, sleeping, loving, working, resting and grooving. For generations we did not know what “reuptake” was; now we do. Knowing about it helps us understand why food, mood, behaviors and mental and emotional control are so important. Reuptake is a process that our brain and neurological systems undergoes to keep us balanced and in the moment.
Reuptake, or re-uptake, is the reabsorption of a neurotransmitter by a neurotransmitter transporter of apre-synaptic neuron after it has performed its function of transmitting a neural impulse.
Reuptake is necessary for normal synaptic physiology because it allows for the recycling of neurotransmitters and regulates the level of neurotransmitter present in the synapse and controls how long a signal resulting from neurotransmitter release lasts. Much research, both biochemical and structural, has been performed to obtain clues about the mechanism of reuptake. I allude to reuptake to demonstrate that the challenge of mood enhancement is a daily, yes hourly challenge. When science discovered this, they came up with the now ubiquitous usage and prescribing of Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors for those suffering from mild to severe depression.
Behaving and Living to Help Yourself!
This article is a brief survey of Foods, Neurotransmitters, Amino acids and a certain Steroid Hormone that are deeply involved in mood enhancement. Let’s start first with the Neurotransmnitters. Ultimately, you want to boost neurotransmitters that will better regulate your body’s natural sleep rhythms, prevent glandular atrophy and even reduce the inflammation that has been linked to depression.
There are 3 significant among 50 Neurotransmitters: Messengers that Impact How You Feel.
There are about 50 identified neurotransmitters, but the most important and most widely recognized ones are serotonin, noradrenaline and dopamine.
Serotonin: The brain’s “feel-good” neurotransmitter, it promotes feelings of wellbeing, resilience, calm, personal security, relaxation, confidence and concentration.
Many people suffer from various degrees of brain serotonin deficiency. This deficiency leads to a wide range of mental, emotional and behavioral problems, including depression. Serotonin deficiencies have been linked to a number of conditions, including anxiety, suicide, alcoholism, violent behavior, PMS, obesity, compulsive gambling, insomnia, carbohydrate craving, SAD (seasonal affective disorder), and migraine headaches.
Noradrenaline: Promotes motivation and drive. Derived from dopamine, noradrenalin impacts great state of minds, such as being in love.
Dopamine: The primary neurotransmitter involved in the reward pathways in the brain. Drugs that increase dopamine signaling may create feelings of euphoria . This neurotransmitter can be very powerful when using recreational drugs such as cocaine. Dopamine neurotransmission impacts many disorders, including Tourette’s syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and drug and alcohol dependence.
A Three Partner Waltz
These three neurotransmitters work together in a delicate balance. Serotonin counterbalances the tendency of noradrenaline and dopamine, which encourage over-arousal, fear, anger, tension, aggression, violence, obsessive-compulsive actions, overeating, anxiety and sleep disturbances. Certain supplements may enhance and rebalance these mental interactions. Supplements, along with the eating the right foods and exercise, will go a long way toward experiencing optimum state of mind.
Potent Mood Enhancer – Tryptophan
Yes, food greatly impacts mood. And by making a few simple adjustments to your diet, you can elevate your mood which will produce profound benefits. Believe it or not, maintaining a good mood will help you stick to a healthy diet, as well as help you be more productive and increase your self-esteem.
Interestingly, changes in diet do not have to deprive you of the foods you love. The essential amino acid Tryptophan is one of the most potent mood enhancers and found in some of the following great tasting and healthy foods:
· whole grain pasta
· figs
· fish
· chocolate
· peanuts
· milk
· turkey
· chicken
· cottage cheese
· avocados
· bananas
A Mood Supplement that is: Oh What a Beautiful Fat! Yes, Fish Oil is an aid to circulation and heart health, But what a Mood Enhancer!
As previously mentioned, millions of American adults have a mood or an anxiety disorder. These highs and lows can significantly impact your life as well as the lives of family, friends and colleagues. We all strive to live happy and balanced lives, and there is a strong basic mood enhancer – Omega-3 Fatty Acids.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids:
Overfed and overweight, it seems unlikely that most Americans would be deficient in fat. But there is one fat many Americans sorely lack: this is the Omega-3s. It is thought that this “deficiency” may cause or worsen depression symptoms in some people. Studies have shown that the Omega-3s found in fish oil not only help to prevent depression, but also fight heart disease, cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, ulcers, diabetes, and hyperactivity, among other diseases. While Omega-3s can be found in flaxseed, walnuts and a few other foods, the most beneficial form of Omega-3, containing the fatty acids EPA and DHA, and can only be found in fish.
The “Cuddle” Hormone
Oxytocin is another feel good hormone often called the “cuddle hormone”. Oxytocin is released when we feel love, trust and comfort. It can be even more powerful than serotonin. If you need a lift, remember the power of simply spending time with your significant other or family members and friends.
Until 10 years ago, we didn’t even know that the brain contained oxytocin receptors. These receptors mediate these numerous behavioral responses, Dr. Diane Witt of Binghamton University says.
Since Oxytocin Receptors were only recently discovered in the human body, thus inciting new studies, research and professional postulating about all of those wonderful and profound and overwhelming human states that previously did not have a real specific, known antecedent in the human bio system. Happy marriages, exultant relationships, passionate play and just plain old couples having fun now are being studied meaningfully for how oxytocin plays its role in our systems. As the decades pass more and more will be known, but it certainly is exciting and heart-warming to know that there is a way to have “cuddling” and loving grow in our lives and have a “biological” basis for the feelings that sometimes comes so close to overwhelming us.
Oxytocin – Gonads, Cuddling, Make out Sessions and Bonding are Involved
Although oxytocin plays an instrumental role in childbirth, it is actually secreted by both men and women, indicating that oxytocin accomplishes another function; oxytocin actuallyfacilitates social interaction and bonding. In both men and women, oxytocin is secreted during sexual orgasm, and because of this it is believed that oxytocin “may be involved in adult bonding” (UCSF, 1999). Oxytocin has long been a hormone associated with increased sexual receptiveness and a desire to engage in cuddling behaviors. The fact that it is secreted not only by mothers during the late-gestational period and during childbirth, but also by both men and women during sexual orgasm points to its role in creating and maintaining intense emotional bonds.
From an evolutionary perspective, these intense emotional bonds form the basis for the nuclear family unit. It explains why there is a tendency (even if it is influenced by social constraints and norms) amongst humans to form stable partnerships from which the partners draw strength in their ability to properly care for their young. Oxytocin also acts as a reinforcing agent to ensure that mothers have a vested interest (in the form of an intense emotional bond) in caring for their young, as human neophytes are incapable of caring for themselves until several years after birth. This is also an excellent example of the brain’s ability to interpret, and respond to, signals before the I-function even recognizes the resultant behavior as its own.
For example, Dr. Diane Witt of Binghamton University says “that since the release of oxytocin can be classically conditioned, after repeatedly having sex with the same partner, just seeing that partner could release more oxytocin, making you want to be with that person all the more” (Is Oxytocin, n.d.). In this case, the I-function would be asserting to the individual that they are in love with their partner, whereas the brain is actually just producing this perception in response to its interpretation of the heightened levels of oxytocin present in the blood stream as a result of the association between the partner and previous sexual stimulation. This subconscious recognition of an intense emotional bond, and the initial ability to form this emotional bond, all point to oxytocin as a major facilitator of social interactions and intense emotions associated with bonding.
Positive Mood Affects Not Only Your Day, But the Good Mood Leads to Longevity.
The constitution of the World Health Organization states “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” This may sound exaggerated but positive mood within the normal range is an important predictor of health and longevity. In a classic study, those in the lowest quartile for positive emotions, rated from autobiographies written at a mean age of 22 years, died on average 10 years earlier than those in the highest quartile. Even taking into account possible confounders, other studies “found the same solid link between feeling good and living longer.” In a series of recent studies, negative emotions were associated with increased disability due to mental and physical disorders, increased incidence of depression, increased suicide and increased mortalityup to 2 decades later.
Positive emotions protected against these outcomes. A recent review including meta-analyses assessed cross-sectional, longitudinal and experimental studies and concluded that happiness is associated with and precedes numerous successful outcomes. Mood may influence social behavior, and social support is one of the most studied psychosocial factors in relation to health and disease. Low social support is associated with higher levels of stress, depression, dysthymia and posttraumatic stress disorder and with increased morbidity and mortality from a host of medical illnesses.
The rhyming title might sound pedestrian, but there is a great deal of scientific data, study results and research that go to a good basic understanding. Eat good foods that will keep your brain nourished with the right neurotransmitters and amino acids; and recognize that you have steroid hormones in you that encourage you to live stable, warm and affectionate love lives. Sounds like a Great Mood, Right Food, Cuddle Nude, Brain Not Stewed kind of solution.
