20 Things You Need to Know About Serotonin

1. Serotonin is a compound used in the chemical transfer of information from one cell to another. Serotonin also plays a role in the state of relaxation or constriction of blood vessels. All of the serotonin normally in the blood is stored in the platelets and is released by platelet aggregation.
   
   - Michael T. Murray, N.D., Joseph E. Pizzorno, N.D., Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine, Revised Second Edition
2. The neurotransmitters most commonly associated with mood are dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. When the brain produces serotonin, tension is eased. When it produces dopamine or norepinephrine, we tend to think and act more quickly and are generally more alert. At the neurochemical and physiological level, neurotransmitters are extremely important. These substances carry impulses between nerve cells. Serotonin, for example, plays a role in mood, sleep, and appetite.
   
   - Phyllis A. Balch, CNC, Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 4th Edition: A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs & Food Supplements
3. Low levels of serotonin contribute to depression.
   
   - Michael T. Murray, N.D., Joseph E. Pizzorno, N.D., Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine, Revised Second Edition
4. Because the manufacture of serotonin in the brain depends upon how much tryptophan is delivered to the brain, in experimental studies researchers can feed subjects a diet that lacks tryptophan and then note the effects of such a diet. The results from these sorts of studies have contributed greatly to our understanding of just how vital proper levels of serotonin are to a positive human experience. The lower the level of Serotonin, the more severe the consequences.
   
   - Michael T. Murray, N.D., Joseph E. Pizzorno, N.D., Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine, Revised Second Edition
5. Steroid drugs and oral contraceptives may cause serotonin levels in the brain to drop. Prozac and other selective serotonin uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) work to increase the activity of serotonin, while 5-hydroxy L-tryptophan (5-HTP) works to boost the body's production of serotonin.
   
   - Phyllis A. Balch, CNC, Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 4th Edition: A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs & Food Supplements
6. Disturbances in serotonin levels are associated with most headaches. In migraines, serotonin levels increase before onset and then decrease during the headache phase. In chronic tension headaches, serotonin levels remain low all the time. As a result of lower serotonin levels, nerve impulses move along the trigeminal nerve to blood vessels in the meninges, the brain's outer covering. This causes blood vessels in the meninges to dilate and become inflamed and swollen. The result is a headache
   
   - Phyllis A. Balch, CNC, Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 4th Edition: A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs & Food Supplements
7. The story of serotonin and headaches began in the 1960s, when researchers noted an increase in the serotonin breakdown product 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) in the urine during a migraine. Initially it was thought that serotonin excess was the culprit. However, newer information indicates that the factor responsible for the increase in 5-HIAA is probably increased breakdown of serotonin as a result of increased activity of monoamine oxidase (MAO). Because migraine sufferers actually have low levels of serotonin in their tissues, this led researchers to refer to migraine as a "low-serotonin syndrome."
   
   - Michael T. Murray, N.D., Joseph E. Pizzorno, N.D., Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine, Revised Second Edition
8. This natural substance, [5-HTP], (its full name is 5-hydroxytryptophan) boosts the levels of serotonin. When you're low in serotonin, you have a lower threshold of pain. You experience pain more quickly, more severely, and for a longer period of time than people who have normal levels, says Dr. Braly. Plus, higher levels of serotonin help you sleep more deeply. "Deep sleep is an anti-pain phenomenon," Dr. Braly says. "People who sleep poorly are more prone to chronic pain." Doctors have used 5-HTP to end the pain of fibromyalgia, migraine headaches, and arthritis-like symptoms.
   
   - Bill Gottlieb, Alternative Cures: The Most Effective Natural Home Remedies for 160 Health Problems
9. Carbohydrate cravings for foods such as bread, pasta, chips, and sweets stem from the lowered levels of the brain chemical, serotonin, in women right before and during their menses. Those who suffer from intense PMS symptoms report the most acute problems dealing with food cravings, which can be attributed to the same source: low serotonin.
   
   - Doreen Virtue, Ph.D., Constant Craving: What Your Food Cravings Mean and How to Overcome Them
10. Your brain must produce serotonin on a daily basis. You can't store it or save it from the previous day (like your car's gas tank does!). We produce serotonin at night, while we're dreaming. That's right, during the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) state, we're busily producing enough fuel to ensure an even mood and steady energy level for the next day. Under normal conditions, where we've maintained a reasonable level of life stress, a balanced nutritional diet, and been exposed to sunlight and exercise, we sleep well and wake up feeling refreshed.
    
    - Doreen Virtue, Ph.D., Constant Craving: What Your Food Cravings Mean and How to Overcome Them
11. Studies with rats show that long-term caloric restriction alters and lowers the concentration of serotonin in the brain. In other words, if you've dieted for years, your body may be craving foods (primarily carbohydrates) that will increase the serotonin level.
    
    - Doreen Virtue, Ph.D., Constant Craving: What Your Food Cravings Mean and How to Overcome Them
12. Vitamin B6 is needed for the body to make serotonin, an important brain chemical. In fact, serotonin is the focus of intense research right now among scientists seeking biological explanations for depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
    
    - Patricia Hausman & Judith Benn Hurley, The Healing Foods: The Ultimate Authority on the Curative Power of Nutrition
13. What counts in raising serotonin levels are the first few bites of sugar. In some persons, sugar acts as an antidepressant drug. Experts have found that people with less sugar-induced serotonin in the brain tend to be depressed and even to commit suicide. Dr. Norman Rosenthal at the National Institute of Mental Health has studied a particular group of people who suffer from a type of depression called SAD (seasonal affective disorder), apparently brought on by the decrease in daylight during winter months.
    
    - Jean Carper, The Food Pharmacy: Dramatic New Evidence That Food Is Your Best Medicine
14. Even negative emotions and so-called sour moods can stimulate the secretion of cortisol and adrenaline and reduce the production of serotonin. Brooding about bad things that have happened to you in life, being irritable, or harboring resentment and anger all help sustain a stress-hormone response. In the long term, such bad moods can suppress normal DNA synthesis, reduce production of new brain cells, and reshape brain-cell connections in undesirable ways, helping set the stage for chronic depression or anxiety.
    
    - Jack Challem, Feed Your Genes Right: Eat to Turn Off Disease-Causing Genes and Slow Down Aging
15. Foods can boost serotonin naturally. Foods that are high in carbohydrates —breads, pasta, potatoes, or fruits — can increase the amount of serotonin in the brain.
    
    - Neal Barnard, M.D., Foods That Fight Pain: Revolutionary New Strategies for Maximum Pain Relief
16. Serotonin is a powerful arterial constrictor and further reduces blood supply to the brain. Reduced blood flow decreases the brain's supply of oxygen. Symptoms signaling a headache, such as distorted vision and speech, may then result. Reacting to the reduced oxygen supply, certain arteries within the brain open wider to meet the brain's energy needs, and this dilation eventually affects the neck and scalp arteries.
    
    - David Hoffman, FNIMH, AHG, Medical Herbalism: The Science Principles and Practices Of Herbal Medicine
17. Fish oil also raises levels of serotonin. Serotonin can be thought of as a morality hormone. The line between savage and compassionate behavior is a thin one. The less serotonin in the body, the thinner the line. Fish oil is one of the few drugs that can raise both serotonin and dopamine, the hormone in the brain that produces a sense of well being, and of focus. Fish oil is so effective in these clinical studies because it treats not only ADD; it simultaneously treats depression with serotonin.
    
    - APC Books, Healing Our Planet, Healing Our Selves: The Power of change Within to Change the World
18. St. John's Wort is the largest selling antidepressant in Germany, and does indeed work on mild to moderate depression by elevating the levels of serotonin in the brain, much like the SSRIs such as Lexapro and Prozac. You'll recall that sugar increases serotonin levels, making us temporarily less depressed; conversely, dieters get grouchy because their serotonin levels fall. When supplementing with St. John's Wort, some of my patients—and I-report diminished sugar urges; others didn't notice such an effect.
    
    - Dr. Steven R. Gundry, Dr. Gundry's Diet Evolution: Turn Off the Genes That Are Killing You - And Your Waistline - And Drop the Weight for Good
19. Research by Dr Leslie Hawkins at the University of Surrey, UK, showed that levels of the hormone serotonin in the blood, brain and other tissues seemed to be reduced by negative ions. Serotonin is a substance that plays a part in brain chemistry, and imbalances in it lead to depression and other mental disturbances. Dr Hawkins suggested that air rich in negative ions has a stimulating effect while too many positive ions, and thus high levels of serotonin in the body, are depressing. This may explain why ionisers help in cases of irritability and stress.
    
    - Dr Ron Roberts, Asthma Controlled Naturally: Techniques That Work
20. If you get up late in the morning, the resultant lack of exposure to sufficient amounts of daylight reduces your serotonin levels during the day. Moreover, since melatonin is a breakdown product of serotonin, this habit of rising late also lowers the levels of melatonin during the night. Any deviation from the circadian rhythms causes abnormal secretions of the important brain hormones melatonin and serotonin. This, in turn, leads to disturbed biological rhythms, which can upset the harmonious functioning of the entire organism, including metabolism and endocrine balance.
    
    - Andreas Moritz, The Liver and Gallbladder Miracle Cleanse: An All-Natural, At-Home Flush to Purify and Rejuvenate Your Body

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