9 Methods to Optimize Neurotransmitters for Higher Mind Well being (Half 2)

October 15, 2024

Neurotransmitter imbalances can manifest as continual anxiousness, deep-seated despair, persistent sleep disruptions, and cognitive struggles that hinder your focus and reminiscence.

When these points come up, they’re not simply minor hiccups in your well being and wellness—they’ll disrupt each side of your life.

Welcome again to Half 2 of my collection on restoring and optimizing your neurotransmitters—the biochemical messengers that affect your temper, vitality, focus, and general well-being. In Half 1, you explored how neurotransmitters influence your well-being, recognized your neurotransmitter dominance, and found sensible steps to handle imbalances, similar to avoiding extreme antidepressants and stimulants and steering away from environmental toxins.

These foundational methods are simply the beginning, although—there’s far more to uncover about sustaining neurotransmitter stability that can assist you improve your focus, enhance your temper, and expertise higher general well being.

In Half 2, you’ll get to dive into six *further* methods designed to fine-tune your neurotransmitter well being. I will reveal cutting-edge methods for optimizing your mind’s chemistry, together with breakthrough dietary supplements, dietary changes, and strategic way of life modifications. For those who’re grappling with persistent temper swings, mind fog, or unexplained fatigue, these insights are absolute game-changers. Moreover, this text will lay out actionable steps to sort out your points head-on, offering a transparent roadmap to enhanced stability and psychological readability. By integrating these superior strategies, you can unlock new ranges of well-being and psychological sharpness.

Able to dive in? 

Ben Greenfield’s High Suggestions for Optimizing Your Neurotransmitters (Continued From Half 1)

4. Keep away from Sensory Overload

Eighteen years in the past, I walked out of the horror flick Noticed, palms trembling with adrenaline, and swore beneath my breath that I might by no means watch one other scary film at night time.

Since making that oath, my sleep has drastically improved, as have my day by day focus and vitality.

Within the twenty-first century, most of us are bombarded with sensory info day by day. We’re uncovered to all the next:

• Loud sounds, like honking automobiles and ringing telephones
• Speedy visible and auditory results in video games and films
• The digital flickering of screens and screens
• Radio and EMF waves
• Fluorescent lighting
• Extreme working hours
• Violent leisure like horror flicks

All this sensory publicity overloads your central nervous system and might result in extreme neurotransmitter imbalances. Your mind has to calm itself down from these stimuli with greater ranges of calming neurotransmitters like serotonin and GABA than it could usually require. You might be overloaded for those who:

• Take heed to loud music whereas exercising
• Have a gradual food regimen of fast-moving, thrilling, or violent films and video video games, particularly earlier than mattress
• Spend a lot of your day looking at a pc monitor
• Continually play music within the background
• Are uncovered to synthetic fluorescent lighting all day

Listed beneath are just a few of my prime methods for avoiding sensory overload:

• Cut back sensory enter: To rebalance your neurotransmitter ranges, take pleasure in silence and stillness by turning down loud music throughout exercises, avoiding extreme display screen time, and choosing actions like leisurely walks within the park, sitting on the porch with chamomile tea or biodynamic crimson wine, or training twenty minutes of conscious deep respiratory and meditation.
• Handle expertise use: If utilizing expertise at night time, dim your display screen, put on blue light-blocking glasses, and maintain the amount low to guard your senses and enhance sleep high quality.
• Use GABA-supporting compounds: After publicity to intense stimuli, think about compounds like ardour flower extract, which promotes wholesome GABA exercise and reduces anxiousness; lemon extract and CBD for GABA-mediated antistress results; and phenibut, which crosses the blood-brain barrier to help GABA operate. A dose of melatonin (you’ll be able to be part of Dr. Lieurance’s MitoZen Membership to snag the type I take advantage of) may also counteract melatonin suppression attributable to vivid lights at night time.
• Contemplate melatonin for sleep: In brightly lit environments, similar to Las Vegas, utilizing a 100 to 300 mg melatonin suppository earlier than mattress could be an efficient technique to enhance sleep.

5. Repair Your Intestine

You’ve a second mind, and that second mind is just not in your head. Suppose decrease. Okay, fellas, not that low. Up a bit greater.

Sure, the second mind is in your intestine.

The enteric nervous system (ENS) is a web of neurons that controls your intestine and operates semi-independently out of your mind. It makes use of greater than thirty neurotransmitters, identical to the mind, and as much as 95 % of your physique’s serotonin is definitely produced in your intestine. This is smart when you think about that within the 9 meters out of your esophagus to your anus, there are greater than 100 million neurons, greater than in your spinal wire or your whole peripheral nervous system! Irritable bowel syndrome, which afflicts practically each energetic particular person at times, arises partly from a serotonin imbalance in your intestine. That is additionally why SSRI antidepressants, which alter the stability of serotonin in your physique in addition to your mind, can result in severe intestine points.

Neurotransmitters are produced in your intestine lining and by the billions of micro organism in your intestine. So in case your intestine lining is broken or your intestine flora is out of stability, then you might be at severe threat for neurotransmitter deficiencies and imbalances. This may increasingly even be why probiotics, fiber that will increase small-chain fatty acids that heal the intestine lining and suppress irritation, and the consumption of all kinds of fermented meals could be extremely efficient pure cures for despair.

Primarily based in your newfound data of the brain-gut axis, first step in addressing neurotransmitter imbalances is a intestine reboot, which includes:

• 4 to eight weeks of a squeaky-clean vitamin protocol—two of my favorites are the Autoimmune Paleo (AIP) food regimen and the low-FODMAP food regimen)
• Beneficiant quantities of glutamine, colostrum, bone broth or collagen, all kinds of fermented meals, and a well-formulated probiotic
• The inclusion of polyphenol-rich compounds similar to blueberries, plums, cherries, black currants, black olives, darkish chocolate, black tea, espresso, black walnuts, and even done-for-you “crimson powder” dietary supplements
• Akkermansia, a singular probiotic that additionally assists with blood sugar management, could be helpful as effectively.

6. Substitute Your Constructing Blocks

Amino acids work so effectively to stave off central nervous system fatigue as a result of they’re the first constructing blocks— together with vitamin B and minerals—of neurotransmitters.

First, study your food regimen to make sure you are consuming enough protein. I like to recommend a minimal of 0.55g per pound of physique weight per day or, for muscle upkeep or acquire and joint or intestine restore, ideally nearer to 0.8g per pound, particularly for those who’re above the age of forty.

A few of the best-quality amino acid sources are:

Many individuals who battle with sleep or motivation points tied to neurotransmitter issues may also profit from 10 to 20g every day of important amino acids, which mix 9 important amino acids to provide all the mandatory neurotransmitter precursors.

EAAs and BCAAs

Not all amino acids are created equal.

Branched-chain amino acid dietary supplements (BCAAs) comprise solely three of the 9 important amino acids (EAAs) that the physique cannot make itself: leucine, isoleucine, and valine.

Folks take BCAAs hoping to stimulate muscle protein synthesis, struggle fatigue, and enhance focus throughout exercises. Sadly, these claims about the advantages of BCAAs are based on outdated research performed on rats. However newer research have proven that BCAAs don’t have any vital impact on muscle development and should as an alternative trigger a spike in blood glucose or insulin, together with an imbalance of the extra necessary EAAs. The most recent, extraordinarily complete paper on EAAs, by the Worldwide Society of Sports activities Diet (ISSN), demonstrably exhibits that EAAs stimulate muscle protein synthesis greater than another protein supply and might help with muscle upkeep and development even within the absence of weight coaching!!

In distinction, dietary supplements that comprise the proper stability of all 9 EAAs—that are costlier than BCAAs however much more efficacious—have been proven to enhance the retention of lean muscle, enhance metabolic charge, and optimize mind and liver operate, with no deleterious unintended effects and a really low-calorie load.

Certain, you possibly can merely eat a steak or suck down a whey protein shake to get all of your EAAs, however the protein from meals should first be digested after which damaged down into amino acids, so food-derived amino acids not solely include much more energy than EAA capsules or powders but in addition take longer to be absorbed. It’s additionally tough to eat and digest an considerable quantity of protein from actual meals instantly earlier than or throughout train—say, a exercise or race.

A current paper by the Worldwide Society of Sports activities Diet on the results of EAA supplementation on efficiency highlighted the necessary position of EAAs in stimulating muscle protein synthesis (MPS) and turnover. MPS stimulation by EAAs happens with as little as 1.5g per day and turns into particularly vital at round 20g per day. Even when fasting, in a calorie deficit, or in a situation when food-derived protein sources aren’t accessible, EAAs enable for straightforward muscle upkeep and muscle constructing. My most popular model of EAA dietary supplements is Kion (GetKion.com), which is the closest to the precise amino acid composition of human muscle, with none nasty fillers or sweeteners.

For the nervous system to synthesize and flow into the neurotransmitters fashioned by amino acids, you additionally have to have an enough consumption of B-complex nutritional vitamins. Nutritional vitamins B6, B12, and folate (vitamin B9) are particularly necessary. Meals sources of vitamin B6 embody bell peppers, turnip greens, and spinach. Folate is present in broccoli, beets, turnip and mustard greens, romaine lettuce, lentils, calf’s liver, asparagus, parsley, and spinach. B12 sources embody calf’s liver and snapper. For vitamin B supplementation, look into full-spectrum vitamin B blends that use solely the extremely bioavailable type of vitamin B referred to as 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF) whereas avoiding that all-too-common, inflammatory artificial folic acid as a lot as you’ll be able to (you’ll discover this isn’t as straightforward because it appears, since a ton of cereals, grains, vitality drinks, and different processed meals at the moment are “fortified” with artificial folic acid).

7. Lube Your Nerves

Ever since I sat slack-jawed within the viewers at a well being convention and listened to writer Nora Gedgaudas current proof that levels of cholesterol decrease than 200 are related to decrease IQ, I’ve gone out of my approach to shun a phobia of dietary fat.

In spite of everything, ldl cholesterol performs a job in forming and sustaining cell membranes and buildings; growing membrane fluidity; serving to cells modify to modifications in temperature; making a variety of vital hormones, together with cortisol, testosterone, progesterone, and estrogen; forming bile, a fluid that performs an important position within the processing and digestion of fat; making vitamin D; and importantly, insulating or “lubing” nerve cells.

On the flip facet, ldl cholesterol generally is a contributory issue to coronary heart illness if sure dangers are current, similar to excessive ApoB (a protein that helps carry ldl cholesterol all through the physique, ideally beneath 100 mg/dl), familial hypercholesterolemia (genetically elevated ldl cholesterol), excessive ranges of proinflammatory cytokines, a triglyceride-to-HDL ratio above 2 (additionally known as your “atherogenic index”), a excessive calcium scan rating, or elevated unstable plaque as proven on a CT angiography rating similar to a CLEERLY scan. However usually, I don’t advocate you make a mad, blind sprint to cut back ldl cholesterol with out making an allowance for these different elements. 

As a result of a food regimen wealthy in wholesome animal meals like meat, dairy, and eggs is related to greater levels of cholesterol, vegans and vegetarians usually tend to have decrease ldl cholesterol—and the unintended effects that include it.

So I warn vegans and vegetarians to be cautious with a strictly plant-based food regimen, particularly one that’s low in dietary fat and cholesterols. In a large physique of analysis, vegetarians have been proven to have elevated charges of depressive issues, anxiousness issues, and different cognitive malfunctions.

Although plant-based eaters are sometimes unaware of the potential darkish facet of this food regimen, vital proof suggests a hyperlink between going meatless or low-fat (a prevailing attribute of a plant-based food regimen) and an elevated threat of psychological issues. Many vegetarians and vegans really feel stellar on a plant-based food regimen for months and even years. However ultimately, they have an inclination to expertise nagging aches and pains as a result of amino acid deficiencies and cognitive decline as a result of fats and vitamin B12 deficiencies, which might trigger dementia, despair, and different psychological issues. Certain, for those who’re hypercautious and really thorough in addressing dietary deficiencies, you’ll be at decrease threat of those points, however that can require loads of meals combining, slow-prep cooking strategies, fermentation, soaking, sprouting, supplementation, and taking nice care to eat enough amino acids and fatty acids. 

Creatine and Reminiscence

Creatine is a vital compound that’s discovered principally in meat, so it’s largely lacking from plant-based diets. David Benton, a psychology professor who focuses on food regimen and habits, studied the reminiscence of omnivores and vegetarians each earlier than and after they consumed a placebo or creatine complement. Earlier than taking the capsules, the omnivores and vegetarians had related efficiency on a reminiscence check. Then every group was divided into two smaller teams, one taking a placebo, and the opposite taking creatine.

Per week later, all 4 teams took one other reminiscence check. The omnivores’ outcomes didn’t change from the earlier week, whether or not they took a placebo or creatine. The vegetarians who took the placebo additionally carried out the identical because the week earlier than. Nonetheless, the vegetarians who took creatine not solely improved from the week earlier than but in addition outstripped the entire different teams by way of cognitive efficiency.

Curiously, this means that vegetarians might doubtlessly have higher recollections than omnivores—probably as a result of their excessive consumption of antioxidant-rich vegetation and comparatively low consumption of overcooked or processed meat—however the identical food regimen that provides them these benefits additionally offers them the drawback of a creatine deficit. It additionally means that creatine consumption, both by way of supplementation, enough meat (notably beef) consumption, or each, can deal with a few of these deficits. Whereas 5g per day is the beneficial creatine consumption for muscle energy and energy, 10g and as much as 20g per day is beneficial for cognitive efficiency, reminiscence, sleep deprivation, and different nervous system–associated targets. 

Learn how to Supercharge Your Mind & Defend (and Nourish) Your Nerve Well being

In the case of fat, one other superb approach to improve the pace with which your mind communicates with the remainder of your physique is to look after the well being of your nerves themselves.

Your nerves are wrapped in insulating myelin sheaths, sleeves of fatty tissue that shield your nerve cells and help with the transmission of messages between your mind and the remainder of your physique.

A food regimen for a wholesome nervous system must be wealthy in vitamins that help the formation of those sheaths. In spite of everything, it doesn’t matter what number of neurotransmitters you make if the motion potentials they propagate can’t be adequately transmitted as a result of you’ve gotten damaged down, degraded myelin sheaths. Omega-3 fatty acids, notably docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), are necessary for the formation of myelin sheaths, so a neurotransmitter-supporting food regimen ought to embody a excessive consumption of omega-3s.

Flax seeds, walnuts, kale, collard greens, and winter squash comprise excessive ranges of omega-3 fatty acids, however the quantity absorbed from them could be comparatively low as a result of they convert poorly from the omega-3 fatty acid ALA to extra helpful EPA and DHA. Sources of extra available omega-3 fatty acids embody salmon, sardines, cloves, grass-fed beef, halibut, shrimp, cod, tuna, and algae or algal oil.

As well as, anthropological proof exhibits that lengthy earlier than people found cashew cheese and tofu, animal flesh and organ meats might present not solely most of the omega-3s essential to help myelin sheath well being but in addition the calorie-dense meals essential to gasoline the energy-hungry human cerebellum. Many anthropologists consider that with out the flexibility to make use of cooking to make uncooked meat extra digestible, people would by no means have matured past the psychological capability of herbivores like gorillas. At this time, stronger brains are nonetheless powered by most of the vitamins generally present in animal proteins, together with B nutritional vitamins, zinc, iron, and tryptophan, which is discovered nearly completely in poultry.

That’s to not say {that a} plant-based food regimen can’t be neurotransmitter-friendly.

Vegans and vegetarians can receive myelin sheath–selling vitamins and oils by consuming soaked, sprouted, and fermented seeds, nuts, legumes, and grains; vegan-friendly algae-based DHA dietary supplements like chlorella, spirulina, and marine phytoplankton; and meals containing the monounsaturated fats oleic acid (which might comprise as much as 30 % of the myelin sheath!), similar to olive oil, almonds, pecans, macadamia nuts, and avocados.

With every meal, embody not less than one supply of oleic acid, similar to olives, olive oil, or avocados, and not less than one supply of DHA, similar to cold-water fish, fish oil, algae, or DHA-enriched eggs. My private technique is to maintain a bottle of extraordinarily high-quality extra-virgin olive oil available within the kitchen always and to journey with a fish oil excessive in DHA.

Plasmalogens are additionally protecting of the myelin, which is very vulnerable to oxidative stress. Very similar to glutathione and catalase, plasmalogens assist neutralize the reactive oxygen species which can be produced throughout ATP manufacturing. Myelin is wealthy in plasmalogens, that are made within the peroxisomes inside our cells, however our ranges decline quickly as we age, resulting in a breakdown within the myelin and growing the probabilities of buying a degenerative situation. Whilst you can’t complement plasmalogens instantly, as they’re destroyed by the abdomen acid, you’ll be able to complement with plasmalogen precursors. 

8. Know Your Genes

When I interviewed Dr. Ben Lynch on my podcast about his guide Soiled Genes and his genetic testing service, StrateGene, he defined to me that there’s an necessary record of so-called soiled genes—gene variants that instantly have an effect on not solely neurotransmitters but in addition a number of different necessary metabolic features. Probably the most notable of those gene variants are:

• MTHFR, which helps methylation, a vital course of concerned in additional than 2 hundred of your physique’s important features
• GST/GPX, two gene variants accountable for regulating your physique’s vitality ranges in addition to your glutathione ranges, thus impacting your pure antioxidant responses
• COMT, which impacts the metabolism of dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine, thus regulating your temper, vitality ranges, and skill to settle down, sleep, and focus
• DAO, which impacts your physique’s response to histamines from meals and micro organism, thus affecting your vulnerability to meals allergic reactions and intolerances
• MAOA, which impacts your relationship to dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, thus governing your temper, vitality, sugar cravings, and skill to sleep
• NOS3, which impacts your circulation and nitric oxide ranges and helps decide your cardiovascular well being and vulnerability to coronary heart assaults, circulatory points, and stroke
• PEMT, which impacts your cell partitions, mind, and liver, impacting a spread of well being points, similar to gallstones, fatty liver illness, intestine issues, and a spotlight and focus deficits

You’ll be able to check for these genes by taking a reasonable salivary DNA check by an organization similar to StrateGene, SelfDecode, or The DNA Firm. As soon as you might be armed with the data of which soiled genes you possess, you’ll be able to go about fixing them.

For instance, for those who uncover you possess the MTHFR gene sample that instantly impacts methylation, you’ll be able to complement with 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF) whereas avoiding folate or folic acid. For those who uncover you’ve gotten impaired DAO genes, you should utilize a pure antihistamine previous to consuming wine or consuming fermented meals or canned fish. Or, for those who uncover that you’ve impaired nitric oxide pathways, you’ll be able to prioritize way of life methods similar to infrared sauna, breathwork, and citrus fruit and darkish chocolate consumption.

9. Concentrate on Antioxidants

Antioxidants can play a vital position in stabilizing cognition and decreasing general mind irritation.

For instance, a number of research present the significance of 1 explicit antioxidant, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), for decreasing the neuronal injury and degeneration related to extra ranges of excitatory neurotransmitters like glutamate (similar to from the MSG megadose in that field of Chinese language takeout meals you polished off final night time).

NAC can also be acknowledged as a vital nutrient for treating neurological issues similar to schizophrenia and bipolar dysfunction. As an antioxidant, NAC neutralizes many free radicals earlier than they trigger injury in neural cells, and by inhibiting extra excitatory exercise of glutamate receptors within the mind, it may also be very efficient at treating habit to every thing from nicotine to cocaine to meth to playing.

It additionally works fairly effectively for habit as a result of it impacts dopamine reward pathways within the mind.

Any addictive substance or habits prompts these pathways, which ultimately creates a dopamine imbalance. Together with reducing glutamate, NAC balances these reward pathways, which might cut back or eradicate cravings.

Different necessary antioxidants for the mind are alpha-lipoic acid (ALA), which protects the memory-friendly neurotransmitter acetylcholine and dampens mind oxidation and irritation; glutathione, which protects the mind and improves methylation whereas stopping dementia; and nutritional vitamins A, C, and E, that are all related to decreasing Alzheimer’s threat.

You can too use sure plant extracts to extend your physique’s pure manufacturing of antioxidants, which embody glutathione, catalase, and superoxide dismutase, all of which decline as we age. When taken in greater doses in a complement, these extracts put stress in your cells, which reply by upregulating the Nrf2 transcription pathway (the grasp regulator of the antioxidant response) and growing antioxidant manufacturing.

Whereas there are actually 1000’s of plant extracts that may be utilized, the 2 I like greatest are curcumin and milk thistle, as they’ve many different well being advantages, together with anti-cancer, anti-inflammation, and bettering intestine and liver well being.

Two different antioxidants—luteolin and diosmin—have been proven to cut back ranges of beta-amyloid, which is strongly related to Alzheimer’s illness. Lemons are wealthy in diosmin, and luteolin is plentiful in inexperienced peppers and tomatoes. Research have additionally proven that flavonoids referred to as anthocyanins—notably these present in crimson berries—additionally play a key position in mind well being and Alzheimer’s prevention.

Reviewing the Key Methods for Optimizing Neurotransmitter Operate and Psychological Effectively-Being

From understanding the position of sensory overload in disrupting neurotransmitter operate to exploring the profound influence of intestine well being on neurotransmitter manufacturing, it’s clear that sustaining stability requires a multi-faceted strategy.

By figuring out and addressing these key areas, you’ll be able to start to revive stability and regain management over your temper, vitality ranges, and cognitive efficiency.

To recap Half Two of this text collection (and for those who missed Half One, you could find it right here), right here’s how one can restore the stability of your neurotransmitters:

• Keep away from sensory overload: Fixed publicity to stimuli can overstimulate your nervous system, resulting in elevated stress and anxiousness. Easy practices like deep respiratory, decreasing display screen time, and supporting GABA exercise might help restore stability and calm your nerves.
• Optimize intestine well being: A wholesome intestine is essential for neurotransmitter manufacturing, as a good portion of those chemical substances are produced within the digestive system. Supporting your intestine with clear vitamin, probiotics, and polyphenol-rich meals can considerably improve your psychological well-being.
• Guarantee ample amino acid consumption: Neurotransmitters are constructed from amino acids, so consuming sufficient high-quality protein is important for psychological and emotional well being. If mandatory, supplementing with important amino acids can additional help neurotransmitter synthesis and general mind operate.
• Stability wholesome fat: Wholesome fat and ldl cholesterol are important for correct nerve operate and neurotransmitter manufacturing. Whether or not following a plant-based or omnivorous food regimen, it’s necessary to watch fats consumption to stop cognitive decline and temper issues.
• Complement with creatine (particularly for vegetarians): Creatine supplementation can help reminiscence and cognitive efficiency, particularly in these following a plant-based food regimen. It addresses potential deficits which will come up from decrease pure creatine consumption in vegetarian diets.
• Know your genes: Genetic variants can considerably influence neurotransmitter operate and general metabolic well being. Testing for variants similar to MTHFR, GST/GPX, COMT, DAO, MAOA, NOS3, and PEMT can present insights into your genetic predispositions. As an example, in case you have the MTHFR variant, supplementing with 5-methyltetrahydrofolate and avoiding folic acid could also be helpful. Equally, in case you have impaired DAO genes, utilizing pure antihistamines earlier than consuming histamine-rich meals might help.
• Concentrate on antioxidants: Antioxidants play a vital position in stabilizing cognition and decreasing mind irritation. Key antioxidants like N-acetylcysteine (NAC), alpha-lipoic acid (ALA), glutathione, and nutritional vitamins A, C, and E can shield the mind and help neurotransmitter operate. Moreover, plant extracts similar to curcumin and milk thistle, and antioxidants like luteolin and diosmin, can additional support in decreasing oxidative stress and supporting general mind well being.

By combining these methods with an understanding of your genetic predispositions, you’ll be able to extra successfully work towards restoring and sustaining a balanced neurotransmitter system and general well being.

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