3 Somethings About Serotonin That Are Good by Joan Kent, PhD
Much has been said and written about serotonin. It’s a neurochemical that performs a number of functions in both body and brain.
The following list is not meant to be exhaustive, just illustrative of some of the ways serotonin can benefit us. We often hear about serotonin’s connection with mood, but the following items are somewhat less well-known.
- Relaxation & sleep
Serotonin increases the feeling of relaxation. It can also help us fall asleep at night, since it is a precursor of melatonin, the sleep hormone.
- Satiety
The feeling that we’ve had enough food and don’t need more for a while is a true benefit of serotonin. Serotonin’s effect on satiety can be both general and specific: We may feel either that we don’t need as much food in general or that we don’t need as much carbohydrate at the next meal.
- Resisting food cravings
Low serotonin may bring on food cravings – often for carbs (including sugar). Interestingly, it can also make us more susceptible to giving in to those cravings. Serotonin has the effect of “opening the space” between thought and action. When serotonin is low, it’s easy to have a craving and simply act on it, to just grab that food and eat it without thinking.
Higher serotonin opens that thought/action space, giving us a chance to evaluate how we want to handle the craving, not just eat mindlessly.
How To Increase Your Serotonin
To increase serotonin, make sure you eat protein foods throughout the day, so you have an adequate store of tryptophan, the amino acid from which serotonin is made. Next, eat some starchy foods, such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, pasta, or beans, preferably without other food. To use it as a sleep aid, just eat a small portion of starchy food (alone) about 60 to 90 minutes before your bedtime.
And don’t miss my next post: 3 Somethings About Serotonin That Are Bad.
For more specific help with your nutrition and your health, just visit LastResortNutrition.com and grab your free Boost My Brain Chem Consult. Discover how easy it is to feel great now with just a few simple tweaks.
Brought to you by Dr. Joan Kent, best-selling author of Stronger Than Sugar.
