Having a basic understanding of how your own brain chemicals are affecting your choices can put you firmly in the driving seat of your own life. Once you understand this, you to stop blaming yourself for not being able to stop or change your habits. Neurotransmitters are so incredibly powerful and can make you crazy, depressed, compulsive, impulsive, distracted, obsessed or all of the above. However, if you know how they work, you can start hacking them rather than allowing them to control you. Here’s a a very rudimentary quiz for you to start seeing which chemicals are impacting on your happiness.
Low Dopamine- The Reward Chemical
The signs of low dopamine can differ from person to person, but here are some of the typical ones:
depression
lack of motivation
trouble concentrating
short term memory problems
restless legs
shaking and tremors
spatial awareness, clumsiness and coordination issues
low libido
difficulty feeling pleasure
Low Oxytocin- The Love Chemical
The five classic signs that you are not producing enough of the ‘love or trust hormone’ include:
Seeking and feeling addicted to sugar
Not trusting others or yourself (especially not trusting yourself with sugar intake)
Low sex drive
Not communicating well with your significant others
Feeling reclusive and not wanting to be around people
Low Serotonin- The Mood Stabilizer
There are many complex signs that serotonin is low, how many of these issues can you relate to?
Anxiety, irritability and or depression
Panic attacks
Bouts of aggression
Impulsive or compulsive behaviour
Insomnia
Low self-esteem
Problems with appetite - either loss of appetite or extreme appetite or both. This can lead to bulimia, binge eating or anorexia. Food cravings, nausea, weight gain or loss or fluctuations.
OCD
PTSD
Social anxiety
Fatigue
Poor digestion or irritable bowel
Low endorphins- The Pain Killer
If you suffer from low endorphins, you might experience some of the following symptoms:
Anxiety or depression
Mood swings
General aches and pains and a low pain threshold
Insomnia and trouble sleeping
Addictions
Obsession with exercise
Impulsive urges
If you identified with low oxytocin, do some things to get some more love in your life like touching people or animals. Yoga, meditation and kindness will also help!
If you felt that you could tick a lot of the dopamine boxes, increase your protein, cut back on saturated fat, exercise, sleep more, meditate to help with sleep and do yoga.
Endorphins can be boosted by dancing, singing, moderate exercise, acupuncture, laughing, yummy food, a sauna, massage, meditation or yoga.
Serotonin can be increased through tweaking the diet, Ayurvedic herbs, sunlight, St. John’s Wort, exercise and doing happy things.
While this is over simplified, it is a good starting point to explore these ideas in much more depth if you feel that you are depleted in one or more of these brain chemicals. Many people get into a vicious cycle with bad habits that make the brain chemistry worse and worse. Then when they can’t break the habits, they blame themselves, the habits get worse and so do the brain chemicals.
I have been stuck in this loop and I was so relieved to learn how to create chemical balance in order to get in control of my habits. Stuck habits and addictions were so much easier to deal with once I understood what was going on. I used food, lifestyle habits and some Ayurvedic herbs such as triphala, brahmi, gugle, and ashwagandha to change my brain cocktails. I also reduced caffeine and added in some specific herbs, spices and seeds in my diet. Having a plan and coming back to the habits again and again brought balance and ease and things began to change quite naturally, without having to use willpower.