Jonathan Wilhoite Blog: Feeling Down? Activate Your Happy Hormones

Friday, April 1, 2016

Feeling Down? Activate Your Happy Hormones

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Now who does not want to feel good? Of course everyone does and when there are times that you think you are feeling down but could not really understand the reason why, then it’s time to step back and try to tap into your biological mood changers.

The human body is unique in the sense that if some part may not function properly, other parts would function together to help compensate and here are some proven tips on what to do the next time you start to feel under the weather.

You may want to start your day with activating your serotonin or your ‘happiness’ hormones that regulates our memory, mood and behaviour.

The body requires an amino acid to called tryptophan to produce enough serotonin hormones in the brain to help you feel ‘happy’ and natural foods that help activate tryptophan are cashews, free range or organic whole eggs, legumes, lentils, grass fed meat, tempeh, tofu, chia seeds, oily wild-caught fish, organic cheese, buckwheat and oats.

If you may have a little room to spare for some additional carbohydrates in your body, you may want to add these into your diet as well as these helps increase your serotonin hormones as well.

Studies have proven that carbs help the brain’s uptake tryptophan and increase serotonin levels that affect your mood.

The lack of vitamin D is known for its link to Seasonal Affective Disorder which ails people who were subjected to long periods of winter months and have little exposure to sunshine and makes for gloomy dispositions and depressing moods.

Soaking some sunshine into the body is highly beneficial and is strongly recommended. Food sources of vitamin D are oily fish, liver, full fat dairy products and egg yolks.

You can also increase your serotonin levels by moving around, be it a short walking activity or a regular exercise routine, outdoor walks give you the chance to interact with your environment and allowing you some time to break the monotony of a daily humdrum.

Also make sure to get some sleep. This may help out a lot in allowing the body to rest and allow the brain to also recharge. So when you start to feel down, try clearing your schedule to take some rest, maybe cook dinner early and turn off your phones and spend some ‘me’ time to catch up on reading and unwind, then try to get a full length of uninterrupted sleep and surely you will feel better the following day.

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