Function of Serotonin

Best known function of serotonin is its ability to balance your mood and to help you feel better.

• Appetite, memory, learning, muscle movement, sexual behavior and reproductive system, sleep, endocrinal, renal, immune and gastrointestinal functions, body temperature regulation are also among the other major functions controlled by serotonin in your body.

• Serotonin is one of the many different types of neurotransmitters in the brain that communicate with each other constantly by sending and receiving molecules.

• In the human body, serotonin is formed from amino acid tryptophan and is present in the digestive tract, pineal gland, intestinal membranes, brain and the central nervous system.

 

• An adult human contains approximately 5 to 10 mg of serotonin, 90% of which is in the intestine.

• Serotonin neurotransmitters have a much bigger impact on your brain than other neurotransmitters as every single serotonin neuron is believed to regulate the functioning of half a million neurons in your brain.

• Decrease in the levels of these mental health neurotransmitters may result in psychological problems and behavioral changes such as aggression, pain sensation, anxiety and depression.

• Men have slightly higher levels of serotonin than women, the difference is very small but studies showed that the reaction to reduction of serotonin in men and women can be quite different, which may explain why a lot more women experience anxiety, depression and mood disorders than men.

• Alternative supplements and herbal medicines such as St. John’s Wort are shown in different studies to make serotonin more available in the brain by crossing over the blood-brain barrier into the central nervous system.

• Possibly one of the easiest and the most natural ways to benefit from function of serotonin in your body is to exercise regularly. Working out at a gym, cycling or going for walks will certainly help but practices like meditation and yoga aimed directly at making you feel better physically and mentally will have a bigger impact on your mood.

Serotonin and Mental Health:

• Bad mood, guilt, loss of appetite and disturbed sleep are among the symptoms of low serotonin. Depression is proven to be a direct result of a decrease or a dip in serotonin in your brain and several studies have shown that serotonin levels are reduced in depressed patients.

• Many antidepressants as well as herbal supplements and alternative medicines work on your mood through affecting your serotonin levels.

• With such major impact on the brain, serotonin is gaining recognition intreatments of more serious mental health problems such as severe anxiety and depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and schizophrenia.

Serotonin and Appetite:

• Another function of serotonin is shutting off your appetite. Remember how you sometimes turn to food and want to eat so much when you are bored or stressed, it is because of the low serotonin levels in your brain. And the foods that you choose probably aren’t the healthy vegetables or fruits, but more like chocolate, ice cream, cookies, donuts or crisps.

• It is commonly believed that eating carbohydrates is bad for your waistline or health, but this is so not true. Low fat carbohydrates allow the brain to make more serotonin after triggering an insulin release and causing any amino acids in the blood to be absorbed into the body, making you feel better and even helping you with your weight issues.

• Eating carbohydrates on their own is a good idea to increase serotonin levels as fat and protein can interfere with the serotonin making process. Low carbohydrate dieters are more likely to suffer from lack of energy and low moods and high protein foods tend to lower brain tryptophan which in turn will lessen serotonin levels.

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