subject: Boost Your Happy Hormones to Improve Your Health! [print this page] Feeling blue? Right now, an estimated 35 million Americans feel down in the dumps, which-along with draining energy, hope and drive-raises the risk of insomnia, weight gain and more! And new studies prove that unless your depression is severe, medication won't help! Boosting your "happy" hormones by:
Turning on a smile with L-tyrosine. This amino acid is an essential building block of epinephrine and norepinephrine, pleasure-promoting, energizing hormones that also improve concentration. "L-tyrosine is helpful is you're under a lot of stress, because that's when your body's need for epinephrine and norepinephrine skyrockets," say Richard Firshein, D.O. author of The Vitamin Prescription. The study-proven dose: 1,000 mg. daily. Like any amino acid supplement, L-tyrosine should be taken on an empty stomach so it doesn't have to compete with the amino acids in food for its absorption. Important: As always, check with your doctor before starting a new supplement.
Praying aloud to reverse a slump. This mood fix works by slowing breathing to the ideal six breaths per minute, which stimulates the brain to produce more of the calming, get-happy hormone oxytocin, reveals new research. No wonder studies suggest 10 minutes of spoken prayer daily can help women recover 70% faster from blue moods, plus cut their risk of relapses by more than 80%. Another option: Spend 15 minutes daily singing your favorite inspirational songs. "Combining a daily reminder of your spirituality with music can be very healing," says Harvard mood researcher Herbert Benson, M.D., author of Relaxation Revolution.
Feeling positive by donating. When you make even a modest donation to charity, it raises your brain's production of the depression-fighting hormone dopamine, a recent NIH study reveals. And, surprisingly, it's folks who have the least chance of their good deed being noticeslike those who slip change into a donation box or make a quick drop-off at Goodwill-who get the most uplifting dopamine boost!
Sending stress packing by sewing. Feeling constantly frazzled is bad enough, but when stress hormone levels are chronically high, they dampen the brain's production of serotonin, and that can double your risk of depression! Luckily, researchers have found that spending just 20 minutes doing something that requires fine motor controllike knitting or scrap-bookinghelps you enter a light meditative state that can reduce your production of cortisol, adrenaline and other mood-dampening stress hormones by 45% for three hours straight.
Energizing your brain with dance. It took only nine weeks of dancing, in a recent study, to lower women's depression scores 67%-an improvement that's tough to match with any other form of exercise or even antidepressant medications! "Physical activity prompts the brain to produce feel-good chemicals called endorphins for up to five hours straight," explains Marie-Annette Brown, Ph.D., professor of nursing at the University of Washington. "Plus, dancing incorporates mood-boosting rhythm and music." The study-proven strategy: Dance for 20 minutes, four times weekly, either with others or alone with a dance workout video if you're shy or have two left feet!
Preventing relapses with onions. They're a great source of chromium, and studies suggest that this mineral can improve mood, cutting your risk of a depression relapse by up to 50%. Chromium helps the brain produce mood-lifting norepinephrine and serotonin, researchers say-and it also stabilizes blood sugar, which is one of the keys to preventing fatigue irritability and blue moods.
