Monday, April 11, 2011

Happiness Hormone?

Have you heard of serotonin? Well if not this is something worth learning more about. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that affects your overall well being. It performs its job so well that people often refer to it as the “happiness hormone” despite being a hormone. Serotonin regulates our body and plays a crucial role in the way we behave. Healthy levels will promote feelings of joy and happiness. When our serotonin levels are irregular it can affect a person’s mood and behavior. However some people are deficient in their serotonin production. A deficiency occurs when the body cannot produce adequate levels of serotonin that is needed to support feelings of happiness. Deficiencies in serotonin can be connected with mood and emotional disorders such as; depression, anxiety, and obsessive compulsive disorder to name a few. Individuals that suffer from a mood disorders deal with real issues such as loss of happiness, overall well being, ambition and drive. The good news is that there are medications and natural approaches that can increase and balance your brains production of serotonin. As always for more information about serotonin contact your doctor. Tens of millions of people suffer from various forms of mood disorders. So if you or someone you love is suffering from depression or anxiety, know that you are not alone. Some of this material was collected from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin

3 comments:

  1. This is a great post! I always thought serotonin was a hormone. I guess not. It also makes sense that something else, inside out bodies is controlling our happiness and not necessarily the parking ticket or fabulous hair day. Its more that the circumstances surounding us.

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  2. I really liked how infomative this post was. It is really interesting to find out how much of an effect that irregular serotonin levels can have on mood and feelings of happiness.

    Ian

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  3. I really liked the happiness test. I didn't know I was pretty content with myself despite the fact that sometimes I don't like myself or if something is going on I feel unhappy. But most of the time I like knowing that I am happy even when things don't really go my way.

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