Better Living Through Better Chemistry
by Barbara Bartlein, R.N., M.S.W.

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• Do you feel blue on a rainy day?
• Do you feel lethargic and moody in the winter?
• Are you too tired to do physical activities?
  

Clinical depression takes place when there is a significant drop in serotonin. Many of the modern anti-depressants act to raise this neurotransmitter. Recent treatment advances include the serotonin selective reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s) which slow the "using up" of serotonin so that the level slowly rises to normal. The more famous examples of drugs in this class include Prozac, Paxil, and Zooloft.

People who do not have a clinical depression can also benefit from the research on serotonin, however. Many people demonstrate less acute symptoms from decreased serotonin including "winter blues," referred to as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), irritability, poor self-esteem, or lack of energy. A decreased serotonin level affects your mood, outlook, confidence and attitude that you display to the world.

WHAT AFFECTS SEROTONIN?

LIGHT–A lack of sunlight allows the serotonin to decrease. This is why so many more people become depressed in the winter. It is also the reason you may feel lethargic on a rainy day.

STRESS–Stress slowly depletes serotonin. Chronic stress where there is a feeling of loss of control or helplessness results in long-term damage.

POOR DIET–To produce positive chemicals, your body needs the raw materials. A diet that is inadequate and not balanced leaves the body (and the mind) struggling to make the components necessary for health.

LACK OF EXERCISE–During exercise, your body releases a substance called endorphins which result in positive brain chemistry. Endorphins also decrease the sensations of pain your body may be feeling and increase a sense of feeling good. Exercise also gives you a "mental break" where you may forget–at least for a while–your day-to-day activities.

GENETICS–Genetic make-up may be a significant factor in how your body handles serotonin. Just as cholesterol values vary based on heredity, there is a genetic determination to serotonin production and depletion. The National Institutes of Health identified a gene in 1996 on chromosome 17 that affects serotonin level. The gene comes in short and long forms. It makes transporter or protein that sweeps away the brain chemical serotonin from between neurons. A long form of this gene removes too much serotonin, thus resulting in a "blue mood."

INCREASE YOUR LIGHT

• Sit by a window
• Take a walk on your lunch hour
• Don’t wear dark glasses in winter
• Get a light designed for SAD if you work in an enclosed space all day.
  

• Prepare for morning the night before. Set the table, get the coffee pot ready to plug in, and check to see if the clothes you plan to wear need pressing.
• Unclutter your life. Anything you can do to simplify your life helps reduce stress.
• Do not put up with anything that doesn’t work properly. No one needs the aggravation of malfunctioning alarm clocks, key rings that lose keys, radios that buzz and squeak or appliances that smoke.
• Allow extra time. If it usually takes thirty minutes to get to the airport, allow an hour. It’s better to arrive well ahead of schedule than to fret over every stoplight or traffic tie-up along the way.
• Find the humor in it. Every disaster has something funny about it if you look for it. Seeking a taxi in the rain, for example, used to put us out-of-sorts. But now, we remember the passerby who told us,"New York taxis are water soluble," and we hardly mind at all.

• Relax your standards. Doing everything perfectly is not only unnecessary, it’s boring. Life is a lot easier if you ignore a little diet, take more shortcuts in the things you do, and don’t be so hard on yourself.
• Establish a serene place of your own–even if it’s a comfortable chair in a quiet corner. If the sound of your teenager’s stereo or the neighbor’s barking dog still penetrates, wear earplugs.
• Count your blessings. No disaster is so bad that it couldn’t be worse–and it helps to remember that. After all, you could have burned the entire dinner instead of just the rolls. The doctor could have kept you waiting two hours instead of only twenty minutes. You might have lost a thousand dollars instead of ten.