Spring has sprung I have been talking about how sunlight regulates our physiology, the rhythm of light and dark and the neurotransmitters serotonin and melatonin.
This has led me wanting to share more about these two neurotransmitters.
If you struggle with sleep, or looking to improve your sleep this blog may help to understand better how we make serotonin (a precursor to our sleep hormone melatonin), the key nutrients involved as well as the primary drivers of imbalance.
Serotonin and melatonin are intrinsically linked chemically; one is used to make the other.
Serotonin, referred to as the happiness neurotransmitter, provides a sense of bliss, its associated with joy at being in the ‘hear and now’. Dopamine is much more associated with the achieving future goals, motivation, pleasure and pain.
Serotonin is made in the gut and the nervous system.
Serotonin in the gut regulates gastrointestinal movements the rest is made in the central nervous system. Serotonin affects mood, sleep, and functions in memory and learning, it also affects our digestion and appetite, when its low we can feel hungry and crave foods.
Cravings are a real thing and neurotransmitters play a role including dopamine. We crave foods to feel better, or comfort eat, and these foods are usually high sugar or high fat that activate the dopamine pathway (more about dopamine another time).
When thinking about neurotransmitters balance is everything, we want to support the body to make and use the right amount well, not too much and not too little.
How do we make serotonin to make melatonin?
It’s complex, so I am going to try and keep it simple.
Production of serotonin in the brain is made from the amino acid tryptophan. It cannot be produced in the body so we must feed our brains daily.
Several foods contain tryptophan both from plant and animal protein sources, including chia seeds, milk, sesame seeds, plain organic yoghurt, pumpkin seeds, edamame seeds, raw cacao, tofu, chicken, salmon and turkey.
Amino acids complete against each other, so the body can sometimes find it harder to convert tryptophan to serotonin.
Eating tryptophan rich foods with carbohydrates can help tryptophan cross the blood-brain barrier, essentially increasing absorption. Did you ever have warm milk before bed as a child? There is some truth in this.
Make sure you are eating a good amount of quality protein daily.
Ok, so we have the tryptophan, now what?
We need co-factors, these are the core vitamins that are essential to convert tryptophan to serotonin, without them tryptophan availability is compromised. Deficiencies in these vitamins can impact mood and sleep.
These co-factor nutrients are:
Vitamin D
Iron
Magnesium
B6
Zinc
Supplementing with these nutrients may not be the answer.
It’s important to start with a well balanced diet with minimal processed foods, and then to identify if you have any nutrient deficiencies with the help of a heath care provider.
Vitamin D is essential and should be supplemented especially over the winter months, however to address a deficiency blood levels should be known. Unnecessary supplementation can cause imbalances and this is true with zinc, iron, and vitamin D. Please seek professional advice.
Always lead with food, below I have detailed the top food sources of the key co-factor nutrients:
Food sources of B6 include:
Pistachios
Garlic
Sunflower seeds
Salmon
Sweet potatoes
Leafy greens
Food sources of magnesium:
Pumpkin seeds
Chia seeds
Almonds
Spinach
Cashews
Brown rice
Black beans
Food source of iron:
Organ meats
Oysters
Tofu
Soybeans
Lentils
Spinach
Pumpkins seeds
Food source of zinc:
Oysters
Meat
Bakes beans
Pumpkin seeds
Cashews
Test your vitamin D & Iron levels, and eat plenty of foods in the day rich in B6 and Magnesium – primarily nuts, seeds and leafy greens.
We have the building blocks. What can get in the way?
There are a number of factors that can drive imbalances.
Stress
An imbalance in cortisol rhythm can causes sleep disturbances.
Cortisol begins to rise rapidly upon first morning awakening for about 60mins, to help wake us up, cortisol then drops and continues to lower throughout the day to be at its lowest at night.
Raised cortisol during the day and at night can cause sleep disturbances activating excitatory neurotransmitters and inhibiting sleep hormone melatonin, leading to sleep fragmentation & shortened sleep time. In turn disturbed sleep can activate the stress response, exasperating the cycle.
Stress can also impact blood sugar metabolism, mobilising sugar with the aim to provide us with energy to fight or flee. On-going this can result in poor blood sugar management, which can impact sleep at night, whereby a sudden drop in blood sugar spikes cortisol and can wake us up. Nutrition is important here to help regulate blood sugar throughout the day.
Cortisol can also cause tryptophan to be diverted down another pathway, sometimes called the ‘tryptophan steal’ – meaning there is less available tryptophan to synthesise serotonin.
Managing stress is important and ensuring adequate light during the day, and down time at the end of the day.
Relaxing before bed is the first place to start, preparing for sleep is a ritual to learn and to practice daily to make sure you get sleep.
Stress is complex and very personal, what stress is for one person is different for another. I will be sharing more on this subject another time.
Inflammation
Inflammation is a broad term; it’s a process in the body that activates the immune system and can be caused by injury, bacterial or viral infection, toxins from the environment and poor nutrition. These factors can activate the immune system, whereby the body is trying to remove something unwanted. The process of inflammation results in the production of cytokines (chemical messengers that the body uses to fight a threat), these cytokines can impact hormones and well they function.
Inflammation has a similar impact to stress, diverting the tryptophan down another pathway, meaning there is less available to make and use serotonin.
Its also important to consider gut health and the microbiota as is essential in supporting inflammation and also supporting the nervous system.
Nutrition rich in antioxidants can help to keep inflammation at bay and support the gut microbiota, cruciferous vegetables, an array of colourful vegetables and plenty of herbs and spices.
Thyroid
An underactive thyroid can imbalance sleep.
The thyroid is a small butterfly-shaped gland in the neck, just in front of the windpipe.
It’s role is to determine how fast or how slow every cell in the body works.
If the gland is under-active, therefore not producing enough thyroid hormone which means everything slows down too much this can contribute to low metabolism, and lead to symptoms of fatigue (plus other manifestations), which can have a knock-on effect and cause irregular sleep hormones at night.
If sleep has been an ongoing issue for you, it may be worth speaking to a health professional to discuss thyroid function.
Histamine
Histamine is a neurotransmitter, although often forgotten about.
Histamine has a role in regulating our sleep either causing sleepiness or too much sleep. That’s often why anti-histamines cause doziness.
Histamine is most active when we are awake. Histamine promotes wakefulness in general and has an influence on our biological ‘clock’ that regulates our circadian rhythm. Having too much histamine can lead to poor sleep.
Some people benefit from avoiding high histamine foods in the evening and avoiding late night eating, which can further increase histamine as well as disrupt blood sugar, increasing the body temperature which can also impact poor sleep.
Avoiding food for at least 3-4 hours before bed is recommended to optimise sleep, metabolism and repair mechanism in the body.
High histamine foods include: fermented foods, pickles, wine and beer, tomatoes, spinach, aubergine, vinegar and tomato ketch-up to name a few.
Too many stimulants
We all know that too much coffee can impact sleep at night. The more caffeine drunk the poorer the sleep quality especially reducing the time in REM sleep which is the restorative detoxifying sleep stage.
Why does caffeine affect sleep? Caffeine impacts adenosine a sleep-regulating molecule located in your central nervous system, it helps get you sleepy as the day winds down and caffeine blocks the adenosine receptors.
Avoiding coffee in the afternoon as well as caffeinated green tea. Dark chocolate at night may also impact sleep as contains caffeine, particularly important if you are sensitive to caffeine.
Alcohol is a toxin, the liver converts it to a highlight toxic substance that needs to be removed from the body, it puts a lot of pressure on the body and the liver, impairs blood sugar, raises body temperature and reduces the quality of sleep.
Unnatural Light Exposure
This is widely known now, artificial light at night stimulates the brain and blocks the production of melatonin. Stopping all technology at least 2 hours before bed, or consider buying blue light blocking glasses.
When it comes to optimising serotonin to support mood and sleep context is everything. Firstly looking at your lifestyle and your nutrition. What you do in the day impacts sleep. Making sure you have the building blocks to make serotonin and melatonin, eating a whole food diet low in sugar and stimulants.
Try my morning chocolate smoothie bowl, contains all the key nutrients to make serotonin:
2 x tablespoons of chia seeds
1 x tablespoon of raw cacao powder
1 x tablespoon of pumpkin seeds
2 x handful of spinach
Handful of berries
200-300ml of a plant based milk
Topped with pistachio nuts
Optional - a little raw honey or 1 x date to sweeten
Make time to access daylight first thing and several few times throughout the day.
Manage stress and build boundaries around your day that allow appropriate recovery from work, exercise and other stressors both physical and mental. We are built on a 24-hour clock, 12 hours ‘on’ and 12 hours ‘off’.
During the ‘off’ time this should include sleep and down time, time away from work and intense exercise, this is time for joy, rest and pleasure.
Make time to prepare for sleep, finding your ideal wind down routine and practice it daily.
We live in a busy world, we are overactive and don’t recognise the impact on our functioning.
Give your body a chance to optimise its natural endogenous chemicals. What you do in the day helps prepare you for sleep.
Keep your room temperature low, turn off your Wi-Fi at night, make sure your room is dark (melatonin is triggered by darkness), minimise noise, ensure your bed is comfy and wind down to a reading book with no screen.
There are a number of other factors that can impact sleep that are not discussed here.I hope with this post I mostly inspire you to get the basics right, eat the co-factor foods which are super nutritious on many levels and find some simple practices to help you wind down well in the evenings.
If sleep is a concern please do seek the advice of a professional healthcare provider.
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