Beyond Good Days and Bad: The Neurochemical Secrets of Our Daily Moods

Some days are better than others. (period!)

It’s so simple, it almost goes without saying – of course there are good days, not so good days, and all kinds of days in between. Some days, the car breaks down on our way to work. Some days we spend on the beach with our families. Good days make bad days more bearable, and bad days make good days more meaningful – life is balanced in this way.

But did you know that some days are better than others regardless of what happens to us?

Some days you wake up feeling great. Maybe your car breaks down, but it doesn’t bother you – the air smells sweet, anyway.

Other days it feels like a cloud is hovering overhead, darkening even the brightest of beach vacations.

Of course, a positive perspective makes a world of difference. But so much of our emotions begin and end in the same place as everything else we do, think, feel, or desire: the brain.

Neurotransmitters – chemicals that carry signals across your nerve cells – are like the brain and body’s delivery systems. They make it possible for the different parts of your brain to make things happen throughout the rest of your body, and they play a huge role in your emotional experience.

The neurotransmitter serotonin, for example, helps you regulate healing, excrete waste, and sleep. But beyond that, it is one of the most important components of mood regulation… so much so that researchers have found a link between low levels of serotonin, and mental health disorders like depression.

Dopamine, another neurotransmitter, is central to intellectual functions like learning and concentration, as well as coordination and movement. It has also been nicknamed the “pleasure hormone,” as it’s responsible for the rush of exhilaration we get when eating a food we enjoy or hearing our favorite song. A lack of dopamine can leave us feeling listless and irritable, and it has also been linked to depression.

GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), on the other hand, has a calming effect on our nervous system. One of its main functions is to relax your cells and keep them from a state of excess stress. And as I’m sure you can imagine, when we don’t produce enough of it, we may feel anxious, and we can even be prone to anxiety disorders.

Now, some might take this to mean that whether their days are good or bad is beyond their control. But in fact, I’m here to tell you quite the opposite! There are a number of things we can do to naturally improve our neurotransmitter production…

1. Monitor your diet. Poultry and fish, nuts and seeds, and dairy products are rich in tryptophan and tyrosine, helping to stimulate production of both dopamine and serotonin. Leafy greens, mushrooms, and cauliflower, can help you produce GABA, as well as fermented foods.
2. Exercise regularly. A daily walk or jog is an excellent source of dopamine – so much so that it even has its own nickname (the “runner’s high”). Regular exercise also helps you with my next tip –
3. Practice mindfulness. Meditation and deep breathing exercises have been shown to improve GABA production, which contributes to their effectiveness as stress management techniques.
4. Get good sleep. You’ve heard that there’s no cure-all, no wonder drug, but sleep is as close as we come. There is no overstating the importance of a good night’s sleep – not just for our mood and daily performance, but for our overall health, physical and mental.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: your brain is your best friend. Every happy memory you have, every meal you’ve ever enjoyed, every job well done, every hug you’ve ever given, your brain has made it possible. What are you doing to take care of it so that it can continue to take care of you for years to come?

As we approach the new year, we find ourselves in front of the perfect opportunity to assess our health, our habits, and how we’d like them to improve. How do you plan to keep your brain chemistry balanced in 2024? Feel free to let me know 🙂

Make today your masterpiece!

Florina