First let's discuss the similarities and differences between the two neurotransmitters. Both of these act as chemical messengers that are released from a nerve ending and pass through a synapse and bind to specialized receptors on a different nerve cell, which causes it to fire an impulse. The two neurotransmitters are known as two of the most important, but they both play very different roles in the brain. Dopamine regulates motor activity, motivation, and pleasure. Dopamine primarily affects the neurons in the midbrain and it interacts with five receptors in nerve cell membranes (named D1-D5). A person who suffers from Parkinson's Disease have too little dopamine while people who suffer from Schizophrenia have too much dopamine. Serotonin regulates appetite, sleep, memory, mood, hunger, and temperature. Serotonin interacts with 15 receptors and it primarily affects an area called the rap he nucleus and the neurons in the center of the brainstem as well as in the pons. Some people who suffer from depression have too little serotonin.
So, dopamine regulates pleasure and serotonin regulates our mood. Sounds like we could really use some of that stuff, right? Well, my friends, the time has come to biologically pursue happiness. Below I have listed ten ways to increase your serotonin or dopamine.
1) Eat foods rich in tyrosine or tryptophan
These foods will increase your dopamine levels because your body needs tyrosine (a hydrophilic amino acid) to make your dopamine and tryptophan to make serotonin! Some examples of foods that are high in tyrosine, no pun intended, are bananas, avocados (join me in buying the all new mini guacamole cups at Kroger), meat, poultry, lima beans, sesame seeds, and pumpkin seeds. Examples of foods with tryptophan include proteins like turkey, fish, chicken, nuts, eggs, and cheese. It is best to eat tryptophan with some carbohydrates, though. It helps to make sure your brain processes the tryptophan in the protein correctly.
2) Exercise!
Physical activity leads to higher levels of the molecules 5-HIAA and tryptophan which is used to produce serotonin. Exercising also increases dopamine concentration in the brain as well as dopamine receptors. Exercise is often used as a treatment for people who suffer from depression and Parkinson's disease due to its affect on the production of serotonin and dopamine in the brain.
3) Get Exposed to Bright Lights
Yeah, this one was a surprise to me too, but I find it pretty interesting. An article written in 2007 by Simon N. Young which was published in "The Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience" basically proves that the exposures to bright lights, like sunlight, increases your serotonin levels. This theory is used to explain why more people nowadays suffer from some sort of depression: since most people work indoors now while people in the past worked more outside (farms, agriculture).
4) Deal with your stress!
We've all heard it before..'stress is bad for you'..'just chill'..'relax, man'..
Well, that hippie you're imagining in your head is right. Stress is known to get rid of the dopamine in your brain. Stress also might affect sleeping and mood patterns which also has an affect on serotonin and dopamine levels. If you're feeling stressed, then you gotta find some way to deal with it. Meditation or yoga has been known to help out with that kind of stuff. I also like tea.
5) Do things that make you happy!
That same article by Simon Young also talks about a correlation between "levels of happiness and the amount of serotonin the brain synthesizes." This brings psychologists to the conclusion that "self-imposed" changes to the mood, meaning doing things to make yourself happy, increases your level of serotonin. So, go ahead and eat some ice cream or go out with friends, your serotonin needs you!
If you're looking for more ways to increase your serotonin or dopamine levels, I recommend Google. After all, aren't we supposed to take what we learn in school and apply it to our lives?
I hope this has made your lives a little bit happier.
Have a happy weekend, folks.
Sources:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/serotonin-boosters/#axzz2gtphdhua
http://www.livestrong.com/article/301434-how-do-i-increase-serotonin-dopamine-levels/
http://www.wikihow.com/Increase-Dopamine
Very creative blog post- I like! Sounds like a plan, Stan.
ReplyDeleteThough most of these things are common knowledge (even though most people don't know the scientific principles behind it), what you wrote about tyrosine and tryptophan was news to me.
What I want to know is: if somebody is depressed, will increasing all these things help him or her? Or, rather, is it possible to be depressed while eating foods rich in tyrosine or tryptophan, excising, being exposed to bright lights, dealing with stress, and attempting to do things that make you happy?
Nice post! As you said, we are supposed to take what we learn in school and apply it to our lives. I knew that some of these things make us happier, but I didn't know about the food or bright lights. I find it interesting that happiness can be broken down into such basic biological components like what we eat and how much we exercise. It should be obvious to me and to most people that doing things we enjoy makes us happier. However, in today's world of constant movement and business, posts like these are certainly necessary reminders that we can make ourselves happier easily.
ReplyDeleteRachel - if you think of all of these things as antidepressants, then these things might or might not work depending on the person. If your brain is lacking too much serotonin, then there is only so much food and exercise can do. In this course, we have already started to touch upon the topic of the power of the mind in the form of placebo. If your mind thinks that it is receiving medication, then it will respond as if it were getting the medication. Similarly, if a person is in an extreme bout of depression, I doubt that these things would help. If the depression is less severe, then these things might help. Also, scientists don't actually know if serotonin drops cause depression or if depression causes serotonin drops. Either way, I think your question is a little too complicated to be addressed in a blog comment.
Source: http://www.webmd.com/depression/features/serotonin
Alyssa,
ReplyDeleteVery interesting blog post. I was also unaware of the effect of the foods and the bright lights (clever color choice) on influencing our happiness. The fact that our body's happiness relies on such basic elements is truly amazing. However, sometimes we really do not stop and realize that we do not need some fancy new technological object to obtain happiness; it is right in front of our eyes!
SOOOOOOO true about the effect that sunlight has on you. On a perfectly sunny day all I want to do is frolic in a field of puppies and daisies. Seriously. Weather (HA! No pun intended) it is sunny and breezy outside or cloudy, dark, and cold has an incredibly significant affect on my mood. I am sitting here dreading the inevitable- a couple months from now I will be getting out of school after the sun sets, walking home with my heavy winter coat wrapper around me, shivering and cursing the world for being such a dark, dreary, hopeless place..
ReplyDelete