Most of us want to feel our best along with staying healthy. You don’t need complicated solutions to improve your mood. Increasing your serotonin levels is key. It is that key that can start your happiness mode and bring you closer to living a rewarding life. Here’s why serotonin matters and how to boost it naturally.
How does serotonin work?
Padmashri Dr Mukesh Batra, Chairman Emeritus and Founder, Dr Batra’s Healthcare, calls serotonin an essential neurotransmitter and is often called the ‘feel-good hormone’. “Balanced serotonin levels help us feel calm, focused, and emotionally stable, while low levels are linked to anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbances.”
In his words, the benefits of having healthy serotonin levels includes improved mood and emotional resilience, better sleep and relaxation, and reduced anxiety and stress. Serotonin helps your body make melatonin, which is important for a healthy sleep cycle. Most serotonin (around 90%) is produced in your gut, where it also plays a role in digestion. It also manages the intestinal activities.
A good amount of serotonin helps cure any wounds by helping in the blood clotting efforts. It also controls bone uptake and keeps the heart properly functioning. It is connected with liver health as it can support its regeneration, but lead to chronic illnesses like fibrosis, tumours, and fat deposits.
Lowering of serotonin results in emotional fluctuations, panic attacks, tiredness, lack of focus, sleep disturbances, digestive troubles, and behaviour troubles like mood swings. To function healthily, you can boost serotonin levels naturally through daily habits and without any extra efforts.
5 habits to boost
Serotonin-boosting diet: Tryptophan, an amino acid, increases serotonin in the brain. Opt for a tryptophan-filled diet. It includes nuts and seeds like pumpkin, walnuts and flaxseeds, oats, fruits like bananas and pineapple, dals and lentils including moong dal and chickpeas, salmon, chicken, eggs, tofu, leafy vegetables like spinach and fenugreek, dark cocoa, and dairy products like cheese and yoghurt.
Exposure to the sun: When the sunlight is low due to the winter season or other reasons, it affects the mood levels. A decent exposure to sunlight is linked to serotonin growth in your body. A healthy 10 to 15 minutes of exposure in the morning, between 8 AM and 10 AM, develops serotonin in the brain and increases vitamin D. It also helps set the daily rhythm and tells the brain to produce serotonin naturally.
Start exercising: Participate in regular physical activities like exercising, aerobics, Yoga, swimming, cycling, jogging, and going for a run. Incorporate these routines on a daily basis for around 30 minutes. The release of serotonin through these activities results in an increase in the tryptophan in the brain. Your mood is uplifted and stress levels lowered. Positive thinking goes a long way to keep the mood up and get your mind to feel happy.
Feel-good activities: Healthy interests relax you and help increase serotonin levels. You can start stress-reducing activities including yoga and meditation. Pick up hobbies like reading, listening to music, journaling, or even knitting. Visit the spa for relaxing therapies. Massage is another fantastic relaxing activity to increase serotonin levels.
Choose supplements: Include herbal supplements in your daily regimen, as natural herbs are known to help your body’s system and functioning. Tests revealed the supplements to be promising in increasing serotonin levels. Try supplements with ashwagandha, ginseng, brahmi, turmeric, and tulsi. They work only after your nutritional and dietary needs are met.
Stay on a healthy note by boosting serotonin levels with natural habits.
