Jeff's Thoughts

• What Makes Us Truly Happy

  9 September, 2014

  What Makes Us Truly Happy

  Part of my work includes nutritional consultations and I am often surprised by the amount of people that are either on, or being put on antidepressants. Most of these people would say they are not “depressed”, but they are just having a few current stressful issues. So why does it seem that more and more people are taking antidepressants? Are people not as happy as they used to be? Are those qualified to give such a prescription using it as the first option, rather than looking into other alternatives?

  Firstly lets look at what it truly means for us to be happy. For this we have to understand serotonin. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter.

  “Neurotransmitters are the messenger molecules produced by nerve cells to communicate and control almost every function of your body. This is the way your brain “Talks”…..these are literally the chemical messengers of mood, learning, attention, memory and overall brain function”.

  Mark Hyman – The Ultramind Solution

  The main neurotransimitters are

  Gaba – This neurotransmitter enable us to relax.
  Dopamine – The neurotransmitter responsible for our to focus.
  Acetylcholine – This neurotransmitter which allows us to learn and remember
  Serotonin – The neurotransmitter which is linked to feelings of happiness.

  Low levels of different neurotransmitters can be linked to a variety of conditions such as low levels of serotonin and depression, low levels of dopamine and attention/behaviour disorders, low gaba and anxiety disorders and low acetylcholine has been linked to alzheimers.

  Although there are lots of neurotransmitters, lets focus on serotonin and its relationship with our feelings of happiness. At the basic level serotonin controls your mood. So therefore feelings of depression can be caused by low serotonin, so a better understanding of what causes this and how we can rectify it may give an alternative to reaching immediately for the antidepressants. If we increase serotonin, we increase our mood with no prescription drugs at all. Prescription drugs look to increase your neurotransmitter activity. It just so happens that the number one drug for increasing serotonin is called prozac (I am sure you have heard of it). But surely we should be looking at the natural ways to do this first?

  How do we get more serotonin?

  Serotonin is made primarily from the amino acid tryptophan. Tryptophan is a constituent of most protein-based foods (vegetarians be aware). It is particularly plentiful in salmon, cod, cheddar and parmesan cheese, sunflower and sesame seeds, pork, turkey, chicken and beef. So a high protein diet is key.

  What causes our serotonin to be low?

  High levels of stress (the hormone cortisol) increase the enzymes that break down serotonin. Also a high sugar diet causes inflammation in the body. When the body is inflamed it releases messenger molecules called cytokines. These breakdown tryptophan – less tryptophan – less serotonin – more depression.
  If your deficient in vitamin B6 you don’t make as much tryptophan. A B6 deficiency is often caused by stress, alcohol and medications like the birth control pill. A magnesium deficiency which is caused by stress, caffeine, sugar and alcohol also prevents the body from making serotonin.

  What can you do about it?

  Eat a diet high in protein to increase amino acid intake. Make sure you have protein at every meal (including breakfast). Avoid sugar and refined foods as this causes inflammation which leads to stress. Don’t drink too much coffee or alcohol. Supplements should include a good quality fish oil, a multivitamin that is high in folate and B vitamins and also a good magnesium supplement.

  Maybe one day when someone goes to the doctor for depression, they doctor will refer them to a nutritionist to change their diet and give them a correct supplementation protocol before giving them antidepressants?

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