Mental health is an increasing health concern that affects all of us in one way or another, whether we experience it personally or watch a loved one go through it. In the last year alone the percentage of adults experiencing mental health symptoms such as anxiety or depression increased from 36.4% to 41.5% (Vahratian et al., 2021). With this increase comes the need for more preventative measures to look after our mental health and wellbeing.
Turn that frown upside down
With the fast paced and busy lives that everyone leads, things can get a little stressful, so how do you keep your mood up during the best and worst times?
There are so many things you can do to keep your brain producing all the good neurotransmitters that keep you feeling happy, calm and content. From getting a good night’s sleep, to exercising regularly, to eating a healthy and balanced diet, all these factors play a major role in helping your brain produce neurotransmitters.
What are neurotransmitters?
According to the Queensland Brain Institute neurotransmitters are the body’s chemical messengers that transmit messages between the neurons and muscles in the nervous system. They influence neurons in excitatory, inhibitory and modulatory ways (The University of Queensland Australia). Basically, they are the communicators responsible for helping us to feel happy, relaxed, calm, sleep well as well as giving our body its fight or flight response. Here is a quick breakdown of what each neurotransmitter does:
| Neurotransmitter | What it does |
| Glutamate | Acts as an excitatory neurotransmitter, stimulating neurons to fire commands. Glutamate is present in 90 percent of synapses, acting as the main excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system. The brain uses glutamate to build pathways between neurons that reinforce your memory and help you learn. |
| GABA | GABA is a main inhibitory neurotransmitter. It reduces the activity in the central nervous system and blocks certain signals from your brain. GABA produces a calming effect that slows you down. It lowers your heart rate and blood pressure, helps you relax and fall asleep. |
| Dopamine | Plays a major role in your brain’s reward system. Dopamine floods the synapse between neurons when something rewarding happens. It’s responsible for that rush of joy when you accomplish a goal or succeed at a task, perks your brain up and brings feelings of pleasure. |
| Adrenaline | Adrenaline is your body’s defence mechanism against stress and responsible for your body’s fight or flight response. Adrenaline is produced by adrenal glands located above your kidneys. The chemical messenger works throughout the central nervous system to ramp up your heart rate and bring oxygen to your muscles quickly. |
| Serotonin | Serotonin in your digestive tract promotes feelings of satisfaction after eating and keeps your appetite in line. When a food you eat doesn’t sit well with your stomach, serotonin helps your body get rid of it. In the brain, it influences your mood, promoting feelings of wellbeing and happiness. Serotonin also helps you achieve more restful sleep and sets your body’s internal clock. |
| Oxytocin | Oxytocin helps your brain form strong connections of loyalty and trust to create important relationships. Your body needs oxytocin for its physical and social health, to live and love. This same chemical messenger fosters the bond between mother and child immediately following birth, induces labour and helps to produce milk for breastfeeding. |
| Acetylcholine | Acetylcholine works at the neuro-muscular junction, when it is released from neurons, receptor proteins on muscle fibres take hold of it. Then the presence of acetylcholine triggers an action potential or command in the muscle fibre, making your muscles contract. Your brain’s learning and memory functions are also impacted by this neurotransmitter. |
(Ask the Scientists, 2022)
A natural way to boost neurotransmitters?
The amazing thing about neurotransmitters is that they can be naturally boosted! Believe it or not one natural and easy way to support the production of neurotransmitters is by consuming a superfood. Ginseng is a root from the panax genus of plants that has been used for centuries for its therapeutic health benefits. Research on ginseng and its antidepressant properties have shown that the hydrolysate component of ginsenosides (active component of ginseng) significantly increased hippocampal serotonin levels, contributing to antidepressant effects (Hou et al., 2020). Ginseng has also been shown to reduce stress, and improve mood and energy levels, which can all be associated with an increase in serotonin.
Food as fuel
By adding ginseng into your daily food intake, you can fuel your body to support production of neurotransmitters that help you to feel your best! If your body is filled with feel good brain communicators you are more likely to handle stress better and reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety.
References
Ask the Scientists. (2022). 7 Neurotransmitters Involved in the Brain-Body Connection. Accessed on 23/08/22, <https://askthescientists.com/neurotransmitters/>
Hou, W. Wang, Y. Zeng, P. Cui, R. (2020). Effects of Ginseng on Neurological Disorders. Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2020.00055
The University of Queensland Australia, What are neurotransmitters? Accessed on 22/08/2022, <https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain/brain-functions/what-are-neurotransmitters>
Vahratian, A. Blumberg, S. Terlizzi, EP. Schiller, JS. (2021). Symptoms of Anxiety or Depressive Disorder and Use of Mental Health Care Among Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic — United States, August 2020–February 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2021;70:490–494. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7013e2
