Serotonin, The Key To Depression?
Do you feel permanently in a low mood? Do you have an irrepressible desire to eat sweets? Do you have trouble falling asleep? Do you change your mood a lot? If the answer is yes, perhaps there is a biochemical imbalance in your brain and the neurotransmitter responsible is serotonin.
Serotonin or 5-HT is a transmitter substance or neurotransmitter that belongs to the group of monoamines. This substance has an important role in the regulation of the state of mind, in the food intake, in the regulation of pain and in sleep.
Serotonin and depressive states
By influencing or participating in the regulation of mood, serotonin has been linked to depressive disorder, going so far as to affirm that when a person is depressed, they maintain low levels of this substance in the brain.
This has been learned after analyzing the brains of depressed people who had committed suicide. When the person is alive, an analysis can be done to see if their blood levels of neurotransmitter are low, but it is not yet known with certainty if these blood levels are related to the brain.
On the other hand, it has also been possible to verify that certain drugs that help serotonin act longer in the brain are useful to combat major depression. They are the so-called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or as we commonly know them, antidepressants.
The most widely known antidepressant or SSRI is fluoxetine, but its brand name, prozac, is much more popular and will surely sound familiar to you. Well, this is how prozac works, preventing serotonin from being eliminated and helping it to remain in the brain, which makes our mood rise.
The origin of serotonin deficiency
But… stop and think for a moment… Is it serotonin deficiency that leads to depression? Or is it depression that causes serotonin levels to drop? Depression and serotonin are linked, but we cannot know for sure which causes which.
However, it has been scientifically proven that psychotherapy is highly effective in depressive disorders, which means that simple changes or modifications of thought and emotions already help us to feel better emotionally without the need for antidepressants. .
Obviously, not all cases are the same and many do need medication, but as many patients who take psychotropic drugs, perhaps with a good psychotherapy they could do without them, which would free them from undesirable side effects, possible dependence, etc.
Can endorphin production be favored?
Another thing you should know is that serotonin comes from tryptophan. And what is that? Tryptophan is an amino acid, the precursor to serotonin.
Tryptophan is acquired through the diet, especially from protein, although it is also obtained from some vegetables, legumes and nuts. Milk, meat, eggs, sunflower seeds, spinach, or asparagus are examples of foods rich in tryptophan. On the other hand, foods with refined sugars, coffee or alcohol reduce their levels.
Another thing that can help you increase serotonin in your brain is doing sports on a daily basis. Physical exercise is a natural antidepressant that also increases the level of endorphins, responsible for pleasure.
Relaxation also helps, whether it is based on breathing, yoga, mindfulness … And along with this, motivating yourself with something new, maintaining an optimal level of activity or having a satisfactory social life are aspects that can favor the production of serotonin.
As you can see, medication helps, but it is not the only solution. If you suffer from depression, antidepressant drugs can give you that “push” so you can start to get active, move, get out of the house and discover all the things that life has to offer.
However, if you really want to get out of that dark well that is depression, you have to force yourself to give yourself that desire, to activate yourself. It is difficult, of course, and requires a lot of effort, but it is possible. You can.
