Module 4 – Serotonin

This section will be short and sweet.

Most people believe that high serotonin is good for you and supports mental health. This is what we have been told time and time again right? What if I told you high serotonin was not good and you want to lower it as much as possible if you want good strong mental health.

Take a read of this article I did a few months ago, this topic is definitely one of my more controversial ones;

Is Serotonin good or bad?

Myself and Georgi Dinkove also spoke in depth about serotonin in the first 30-40 minutes of this podcast episode too;

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7203SvCm536PKkS9gGUv1L?si=zpwLaxM9SqedvDGGyCG7oQ

High levels of serotonin are associated with depression, anxiety, psycosis, psychopathy, schizophrenia, bipolar and serial killers.

What causes high serotonin?

So what causes us to have high serotonin? Before I go on, I want you to think of a food hangover. So you know you have had a refeed day or cheat day, lets say its on a Saturday. And depending on what you ate, you may have some body soreness/inflammation the next day and maybe some gut issues. But the following day, Monday, thats when you start to experience mental health issues like feeling malaise, feeling down and not yourself, feeling like a failure and even experiencing self doubt. Some people will also experience anger and irritability. Well this is all from high serotonin in the gut caused by your food choice on the Saturday/2 days before!

Because yes most of our serotonin IS made in our gut but not in a good way like we have been told!

 

Causes of high serotonin include; 

E

alcohol

E

PUFAs including greasy and deep fried foods

E

Junk food (again containing PUFAs)

E

gut inflammation and dysbiosis

E

birth control and estrogen dominance

E

anti depressants or SSRIs

E

low thyroid function/hypothyroidism

E

sucralose, aspartame, acesulfame, and MSG

MOLECULES THAT REDUCE SEROTONIN;

N

progesterone

N

T3 thyroid hormone

N

aspirin

N

vitamin D3

N

GABA

N

DHEA

N

glycine

N

collagen (and powdered bone broth)

N

methylene blue

N

akkermansia probiotic

N

apple cider vinegar

N

anti histamines including quercetin and over the counter antihistamines

 

One of the first things we want to do to reduce serotonin is REDUCE GUT INFLAMMATION!

 

 

Next - IMMUNITY.