A recent study published in The British Journal of Psychiatry gives new meaning to the hackneyed expression: you are what you eat.

A study conducted by British and French epidemiologists revealed a startling connection between junk food and depression. The study assessed the dietary patterns of 3,486 men and women using a ‘daily intake’ questionnaire to determine nutritional value, calculate portions and gauge frequency of meals. Five years later, the participants were asked to complete a new survey. This time the questionnaire was designed to assess depression. The results were tallied and adjusted to accommodate variables such as age and lifestyle factors (smoking, lack of exercise, etc.). The scientists discovered that participants who followed a healthier diet (daily servings of fruits, vegetables and whole grains) had a significantly lower rate of depression than those who regularly snacked on junk foods (fried foods, foods high in refined sugars and carbohydrates, processed meats, high-fat dairy products, and carbonated beverages).

We all know what junk food can do to our bodies, but many of us are unaware of the role that our diet plays on our mood. Until recently, we assumed that depression was the result of a psychological disturbance thought to be brought on by some sort of chemical imbalance. However, new studies have determined that certain foods lower the production of the neurotransmitter serotonin and interfere with the body’s natural ability to regulate mood, sleep and can also cause cognitive impairments such as memory loss and foggy thinking. Serotonin-lowering foods include salmon, milk, eggs, avocado, apples and horsemeat.

Low-carbohydrate foods should also be avoided at all costs. Carbohydrates aid in the production of serotonin – eating ‘low-carb’ options deprive your body of essential carbohydrates and in turn diminish the production of serotonin. Some low-carb foods that play a role in lowering serotonin include berries (raspberries and cranberries), mushrooms and eggplant. Tryptophan also helps normalize the production of serotonin. Foods that are low in the essential amino acid known as tryptophan should be consumed in moderation to avoid feelings of depression. Foods with low tryptophan include lean meat, fish and turkey.

Another huge catalyst for depression is alcohol. Alcohol is widely known as a depressant and has been linked to a variety of diseases including diabetes, atherosclerosis and cancer and has also been known to lead to heart attack and stroke. Alcohol has been proven to lower not only serotonin but also the chemical norepinephrine. In addition, alcohol destroys essentials vitamins, causing premature decay of tissues, organs and organ systems. Alcohol can also inhibit the effects of stress hormones on the body. This is why hangovers leave you feeling physically, emotionally and mentally drained. 

Triad of symptoms:

Cognitive effects: mental confusion, hypomania, hallucinations, agitation, headache, coma
Autonomic effects: shivering, sweating, hyperthermia, hypertension, tachycardia, nausea, diarrhea.
Somatic effects: myoclonus (muscle twitching), hyperreflexia (manifested by clonus), tremor.

As the holiday draws near, I am reminded how stressful the holidays can be and the fear of gaining weight becomes.

The best way to fight this is to keep your energy up.  Choose foods that regulate your blood sugar and as you may know, blood sugar affects mood swings.  You want to remember that sugary and starchy foods are the white foods, such as rice, white breads, white flour products and desserts.  These spike your insulin and cause a sugar high.  After the sugar high, you crash.  You feel cranky and hungry and the  cycle starts over once again.

This year, choose foods that absorb slowly in your body and keeps the blood sugar steady.  This keeps your energy high and levels the blood sugar for sustained energy.  The foods that slowly digest in your body are fairly widespread and they are foods that contain whole grains either in bread or cereal.  Select brown rice, chicken breasts, salmon, almond butter, omega 3 foods, nonfat milk, spinach, selenium and B12.  Omega 3 is not only found in salmon but also in sardines, mackerel and tuna.  Studies are still out on how selenium aids in mood swings, but we know it has many other health benefits.  So, make your selection of foods such as seafood, nuts, lean meat, whole grain, beans and low fat dairy products.

As a diabetic, these are the foods you should be eating and for anyone wishing to be healthy, these are the foods to incorporate in you diet everyday.

If you balance your proteins, low glycemic carbs and good fats with each meal, you balance the serotonin which affects mood swings.  With mood swing changes and with mounting stress, the highs and lows are so prevalent that you feel like you’re on a yoyo string and there is temptation  to start with the sugary foods once again.

Take time this holiday for a little relaxation for yourself each day.  Do some deep breathing, allocate work loads to others, eat breakfast, drink plenty of water.  Keeping your cells hydrated gives you more energy.  Enjoy the holiday by putting some thought into all of the aspects of a busy time so that you and your family enjoy it.

Start this holiday by substituting a traditional dish with a more healthful dish.  The possibilities are endless for good recipes.  Be creative.  Do it for a couple of years, and then, you have started a new tradition of your own.

For holiday gift-giving for the diabetic, there is a cute basket full of goodies low in sugar at www.sourcesandbeyond.com

Shirl Raphael
Xocai™ Distributor and
Health for Life Advocate

http://mxi.myvoffice.com/shirleyraphael/index.html

www.sourcesandbeyond.com

Most Antidepressants Miss Key Target of Clinical Depression, Study Finds

ScienceDaily (Dec. 9, 2009) — A key brain protein called monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) — is highly elevated during clinical depression yet is unaffected by treatment with commonly used antidepressants, according to an important study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry. The study has important implications for our understanding of why antidepressants don’t always work.

Researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) used an advanced brain imaging method to measure levels of the brain protein MAO-A. MAO-A digests multiple brain chemicals, including serotonin, that help maintain healthy mood. High MAO-A levels excessively remove these brain chemicals.

Antidepressant medications are the most commonly prescribed treatments in North America, yet 50 per cent of people do not respond adequately to antidepressant treatment. Dr. Jeffrey Meyer the lead investigator explains, “Mismatches between treatment and disease are important for understanding why treatments don’t always work. Rather than reversing the problem of MAO-A breaking down several chemicals, most antidepressants only raise serotonin.”

Understanding the Problem of a Persistent Illness

Depression ranks as the fourth leading cause of disability and premature death worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Recurrent illness is a major problem. Even under the most optimal treatment circumstances, recurrence rates for clinical depression are at least 20 per cent over two years.

The new study also focused upon people who had fully recovered from past episodes of clinical depression. Some people who appeared to be in recovery actually had high levels of MAO-A. Those with high levels of MAO-A then had subsequent recurrence of their depressive episodes.

This new idea of high levels of MAO-A lowering brain chemicals (called monoamines), then falling into a clinical depression is consistent with the historical finding that medications which artificially lower monoamines can lead to clinical depression as a side effect. In the 1950’s some medications to treat high blood pressure also lowered monoamines and people began to experience depressive episodes. When the medications were removed, people recovered.

From Technology to Treatment

VP of Research Dr. Bruce Pollock highlights the study’s use of advanced brain imaging technology. “CAMH has the only positron emission tomography (PET) centre in the world that is dedicated solely to mental health and addiction treatment and research. As a consequence, we were able to develop this new technology to measure MAO-A levels.”

Virginia Wilson knows first-hand the struggle it can be to find effective medication. After being diagnosed with depression, eight years passed before a medication was developed that worked well for her. “During this time I was on every type of antidepressant available. This process was enormously frustrating, painful — and took a great toll on my personal life.” The current research into depression gives Virginia hope for others who struggle as she did. “Understanding of the biochemical mechanisms behind depression is so important and can really improve the treatments that are available — it can save lives.”

Some early antidepressant medications did target MAO-A, but these MAO-A inhibitors fell out of favour in the 1970s due to adverse interactions with certain foods. There have been advances that overcome these problems, but the vast majority of antidepressant development and use has overlooked the MAO-A target.

According to Dr. Meyer, “Since most antidepressants miss MAO-A, we are counting on the brain to heal this process of making too much MAO-A, and that doesn’t always happen. The future is to make treatments that tell the brain to make less MAO-A, even after the antidepressant treatment is over, to create better opportunities for sustained recovery.”

Dr. Meyer is a Canada Research Chair in the Neurochemistry of Depression and the Head of the Neurochemical Imaging Program in Mood Disorders. The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Ontario Mental Health Foundation, and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation.

Adapted from materials provided by Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091208132724.htm

Antidepressant May Change Personality While Relieving Symptoms

ScienceDaily (Dec. 7, 2009) — Individuals taking a medication to treat depression may experience changes in their personality separate from the alleviation of depressive symptoms, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Two personality traits, neuroticism and extraversion, have been related to depression risk, according to background information in the article. Individuals who are neurotic tend to experience negative emotions and emotional instability, whereas extraversion refers not only to socially outgoing behavior but also to dominance and a tendency to experience positive emotions. Both traits have been linked to the brain’s serotonin system, which is also targeted by the class of antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

Tony Z. Tang, Ph.D., of Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., and colleagues studied the effects of one particular SSRI, paroxetine, in a placebo-controlled trial involving 240 adults with major depressive disorder. A total of 120 participants were randomly assigned to take paroxetine, 60 to undergo cognitive therapy and 60 to take placebo for 12 months. Their personalities and depressive symptoms were assessed before, during and after treatment.

All participants experienced improvement in their symptoms of depression. However, even after controlling for these improvements, individuals taking paroxetine experienced a significantly greater decrease in neuroticism and increase in extraversion than those receiving cognitive therapy or placebo. “Patients taking paroxetine reported 6.8 times as much change on neuroticism and 3.5 times as much change on extraversion as placebo patients matched for depression improvement,” the authors write.

The findings provide evidence against a theory known as the state effect hypothesis, which proposes that any personality changes during SSRI treatment occur only as a result of alleviating depressive symptoms, the authors note. Several alternative explanations could be considered. “One possibility is that the biochemical properties of SSRIs directly produce real personality change,” they write. “Furthermore, because neuroticism is an important risk factor that captures much of the genetic vulnerability for major depressive disorder, change in neuroticism (and in neurobiological factors underlying neuroticism) might have contributed to depression improvement.”

SSRIs are widely used to treat depression, but understanding of their mechanisms are limited, the authors conclude; they have also been shown effective in treating anxiety disorders and eating disorders, conditions for which high neuroticism and low extraversion may also be a risk. “Investigating how SSRIs affect neuroticism and extraversion may thus lead toward a more parsimonious understanding of the mechanisms of SSRIs,” they conclude.

The data set of this study came from a clinical trial supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Md. GlaxoSmithKline of Brentford, England, provided medications and placebo pills.

Adapted from materials provided by JAMA and Archives Journals, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091207164846.htm

I hope most of you out there are still floating on a warm, post-Thanksgiving high after pigging out on too much turkey. Tripping in a mellow sea of tryptophan, eyes glazed over in reverie like soft candied yams. A welcome sense of euphoria acting like a soothing balm placed over the lingering malaise of worry and exhaustion that has been gnawing at our bones for quite a while now.

Tryptophan is euphemistically known as “nature’s own prozac”. It is an amino acid found in large quantities in the indigenous bird we have coincidentally chosen as the centerpiece for our distinctly American feast day. When digested into the bloodstream it has the magic effect of releasing large amounts of serotonin into our brains. And with more serotonin cascading through our synapses…well… events cascading around us in the middle of the biggest recession since the great Depression don’t really seem so “immediate” or “overwhelming” anymore.

Better living through modern chemistry. The more we consume, the better we feel. Hmmm. That sounds vaguely familiar… Let me chew on the meaning of that in between mouthfuls.

Meanwhile, just ignore the 5,000 pound turkey buzzard still circling over the marketplace. It can decide how dead or alive real estate really is later on. We’ll continue to relax and go with the flow of the slow. Give ourselves permission to sink deeper into the lazy bubble of couch world where we can grab second helpings of leftovers and watch brightly costumed characters on TV beating the stuffing out of each other and dishing out concussions. Who needs bread and circuses when there’s turkey and football available in Hi Def!

This is the perfect time for real estate to take a recess from the recession. Real estate can officially declare itself on holiday until well after the first of the year – or in the case of you wanna-be sellers biding your time – until that surge in the market you are so desperately hoping to see next spring either arrives in full bloom or decides to pull a no-show of conspicuous non-consumption.

For now at least, there aren’t going to be a lot of expectations about the state of real estate. If higher sales numbers don’t materialize, if prices don’t keep edging up over the next few months. – that’s ok. We are all conditioned to believe that they aren’t supposed to. Part of the holiday tradition is that nothing happens in real estate around Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Years. Everyone just figures that everyone else is staying home for the holidays rather than running around trying to buy one or sell one.

The only significant buying and selling supposed to happen is up to small time shoppers and big box retailers. Black Friday was yesterday, I’m assuming you got off the couch long enough to do your patriotic duty to shop till you drop and spend the economy back into existence. Today is Black Saturday. Get busy. Only real estate is on vacation.

This year’s Thanksgiving has been a tough one to figure out how to carve. It isn’t easy to rattle off a long list of things we should be eminently thankful for after going cold turkey from the all-you-can-eat, buffet of debt that everyone had such an inexhaustible appetite for not so long ago. These are leaner times.

But maybe these are the best kind of times to give thanks in. Thanks we have to think about. Thanks we have to tweak our perspectives to see. There are all the obvious little thank you’s: Thanks for the extension and expansion of tax credits. It is great to get paid to buy a new home. Thanks for extending the conforming jumbo loan limit for another year. Maybe more higher end sales can happen. And special thanks for the low interest rates that soften the sad fact that prices haven’t really fallen into the range of more first time buyers yet.

And thanks for the bigger things too: I’m thankful that the entire real estate market didn’t collapse like a house of cards along with the entire global financial system. I’m thankful that this time of trial and testing gives us a chance to re-vision what it important in our lives and how our relationship with the world can change.

And now, finally, it’s time for the best part of the Thanksgiving ritual – the wishbone. Before you make any split decisions, close your eyes and dream up a few new things that will be good for everyone. Not just Buyers. Or Sellers. Or you. Let’s imagine and wish for a very different kind of market than the one we’ve had. Then we’ll start talking turkey again when real estate resumes after the first of the year

Many stories abound about how the tryptophan in turkey or a glass of milk before bed will help you sleep.  Is this true or not?  Let’s look at the information.

Tryptophan is an amino acid found in foods.  Many amino acids combine to make a protein.  These proteins are then digested and broken down into the amino acids.  Amino acids are carried by the blood throughout the body.  When we think about sleep, the important organ is the brain.  There is a “blood-brain barrier,”  which substances in the blood need to be transported across.  Tryptophan uses the same transporter as several other amino acids.  If those amino acids are in the blood at the same time, they will compete with tryptophan, so less tryptophan will cross into the brain.

Why is tryptophan relevant to sleep?

Several of the neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) of sleep rely on tryptophan for their production.  Among these are serotonin and melatonin.  Melatonin has been discussed in other blog posts here.  Increasing tryptophan by taking tryptophan supplements does help treat insomnia.  These supplements provide higher doses of tryptophan than can be found in food.  Cottage cheese has the most tryptophan per serving, at 400mg tryptophan in 1 cup.  A 3oz serving of turkey provides 283mg of trytophan, and 1 cup of milk 110mg.

Does the tryptophan in our Thanksgiving turkey help sleep?

Thinking about the tryptophan basics we first discussed above, the tryptophan in turkey probably doesn’t help you sleep.  This is because there are other amino acids in the turkey, some of which may compete with tryptophan to be taken into the brain.  That said, enjoy the sleepy reverie that often follows the Thanksgiving feast!

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, todays post will deal with tryptophan and if it makes you sleepy.  We all know thanksgiving as a holiday of food.  A veritable cornicopia of various dishes.  What most people complain about is the feeling of sleepyness after eating lots of turkey.  Most of us like to blame the copious amounts of food we consume on causing what we colloquially call “food coma.”   However there is known evidence over the last 20 years that shows that in fact its turkey’s higher levels of L tryptophan (an essential amino acid) that creates that sleepy feeling. Tryptophan is converted into Seratonin via a biochemical pathway. Since seratonin is a neurotransmitter often responsible for sleep/ tiredness one can infer that more turkey = more tryptophan = more seratonin= more sleepy.

So now, knowing what we know, lets take a look at these two molecules.  When you look at the molecular structure of Tryptophan and the structure of Seratonin, its not suprising that one turns into the other.

A molecule of Tryptophan

A molecule of seratonin

Seratonin can be found in neurons of the central nervous system (CNS) where it functions in several ways.  Its been found to process in  regulation of mood, appetite, sleep, muscle contraction, and some cognitive functions including memory and learning.   When excess tryptophan is eaten more seratonin is produced by the body.  This means that more seratonin is present in the neuronal synapses and thus with a constant level of neurotransmitter reuptake more neurotransmitter is creating action potentials (or firing of neurons) at the post synaptic gap.  In other words you can state that more seratonin means an increase in mood,a decrease in appetite, an increase in sleep and relaxed muscles in the sympathetic nervous system and an increase in the para-sympathetic nervous system leading to digestion.

So this thanksgiving lets all go eat some turkey, and while we sit an begin to doze off we can think about how tryptophan and seratonin are playing a role in our drowzyness. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!

I would like to start this article with a few statistics:

Prevalence of Depression:

Estimated 5.3% adults (United States Sentencing Guidelines); 17 million people; approximately 4% of adolescents get seriously depressed (National Institute of Mental Health); annually 12% of women ; 7% of men; lifetime risk of an episode for women 20%. 3-4 million men USA.

Prevalence rate for Depression:

Approx 1 in 18 or 5.30% or 14.4 million people in USA

So many people all around the word suffer from depression and the stats keep on growing. Why do 1 in 18 people suffer silently under this black cloud and more importantly what can be done about?

L-TRYPTOPHAN (Trp)

L-Tryptophan is an Amino Acid (building block for protein biosynthesis) and is one of the eight essential AA, meaning our bodies cannot synthesize Trp and must be supplied through diet. Trp is broken down in the body first into 5HTP and then into Serotonin and then to Melatonin. How many people suffering from depression do you know of who struggle with sleep?

Trp is often referred to as the runt of the AA, poor Trp is pushed  aside while other AA are assimilated quite easily. Tryp is found in animal protein and unfortunately very little is found in grains, fruits and vegetables. Our diets today predominantly consist of refined grains and low quality meat products so it’s no wonder people all around us are suffering from depression! Now I know that a lot of people choose not to eat animal protein and that choice is fine by me but just be aware that supplementing with Trp and at the very least the other seven essential AA is, well, essential. There was an email going around last year about how one should eat bananas to keep the blues away, in order to get the same amount of Trp as there is in, lets say a 100g piece of Beef (top sirloin, separable lean and fat, trimmed to 1/8″ fat, choice, cooked or pan-fried) you will need to eat 35 medium-sized bananas in one sitting. I don’t know about you but I don’t like bananas that much. Other fruits and vegetables are much the same.

Serotonin deficiency can manifest in a multitude of ways, depression being one in the list of many:

• Insomnia
  
• Anxiety
• Irritability (PMS)
• Sensitivity to pain
• Obsessive compulsive disorders
• Sugar cravings
  
• Phobias/irrational fear
• Low self esteem
  
• Constipation
  

I would like to briefly touch on the last point. A little known fact about serotonin is that majority is utilized by the gut and NOT the brain. Only about 10% of our bodies production of serotonin is used by the brain and a whopping 90% by the gut. So if your toilet has become a foreign object to you might like to consider Trp supplementation.

Studies have shown Trp to be very safe and if you need added proof go to Google Scholar and do some further research.  In some studies doses of as high as +3000mg have been given per day but of course the dose will vary depending on the severity of the symptoms. My suggestion however is start slowly and figure out a dose that suites you.  If you feel good on 500mg a day then stick to it but you can go higher if you need to. The amazing thing about this kind of supplementation is that your body will tell you when it’s back in sync. If you start having the symptoms that you were trying to avoid in the first place, some symptoms include groggyness, fatigue, irritability then all you need to do is stop taking the supplement. The trick is to listen and be aware of your body. Trp should be taken at night, away from food and a little sugar or any carbohydrate will help with its assimilation.

Conventional antidepressants recycle serotonin.  So your serotonin gland produces serotonin which moves into the brain, gut, muscled etc and then is recycled again when you are sleeping. Trp helps the serotonin gland to function normally and produce enough of those precious ‘Happy Hormones’.

There is no need for so many people to suffer from depression. Through the correct supplements and diet your body and mind can be transformed and you will move out of the dark cloud and into the Light.

You’ve heard the statistics before…two-thirds of Americans are overweight and almost one-third are obese…at any one point in time, 30-40% of men and 50-60% of women are dieting…the list goes on and on.  If I had to make up a statistic, I’d say 98% of us all have been on some sort of diet at some point in time (the remaining 2% are anomalies and probably aren’t reading this blog anyway).  So, what’s the deal?  Why do people jump from weight-loss program to weight-loss program with varying success?  Being in the health and fitness industry, before medicine, I’ve concluded it’s partially due to being uneducated about our bodies.  Even as a personal trainer, putting people through dozens of different programs, I didn’t truly understand how weight-loss worked.  I was first taught that it was a simple equation: burn more calories than you consume and you’ll lose weight.  Simple, right?  Maybe in theory, however, reality was a totally different story.  It wasn’t until medical school that I started putting more of the pieces of the weight-loss puzzle together.  This blog entry will be the first of a series that will address different aspects of weight-loss and how to make you more successful at it. 

First I’ll start with serotonin.  Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that influences regulation of mood, appetite, sleep, muscle contraction, and some cognitive functions including memory and learning.  Our bodies make serotonin from the amino acid tryptophan.  When people go on low-carb diets (which are low in tryptophan), their serotonin levels drop and the brain interprets this as starvation.  So, the natural thing to do is for the brain to signal that it needs more carbs (thus the craving for a large pizza all to yourself).  My approach to this dilemma is to slowly drop the grams of carbohydrates one takes in, while at the same time slowly titrating up a dosage of 5-hydroxy-L-tryptophan (5HTP).  5HTP is a precursor to serotonin.  It sits in between L-tryptophan and serotonin in the serotonin metabolic pathway.  Therefore, it’s a great way to keep your serotonin levels up (carb cravings down) while you’re learning to diminish the amount of carbs (simple carbs especially) in your diet. 

Some patients have asked why they couldn’t just take L-tryptophan instead of 5HTP (L-tryptophan tends to be a cheaper supplement than 5HTP) since it’s on the same pathway.  The short answer is that you add more variables to the equation.  L-tryptophan can’t cross the blood-brain barrier without a transport molecule.  Once it does get across, it must be converted to 5HTP using an enzyme (tryptophan hydrolase) that can be inhibited by stress, insulin resistance, vitamin B deficiency, magnesium insufficiency, and oxidation associated with age.  So, it’s just easier and more effective to use 5HTP. 

Remember: let your doctor titrate your dosage!  It can be tricky and optimal doses for weight-loss are on the high-end, so it should take a while to get your dosage up to that optimal area.  Also, 5HTP in combination with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) like Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, etc., could potentially (though never documented) cause serotonin syndrome.  This can manifest as agitation, confusion, delirium, fast heart rate, sweating, and blood pressure fluctuations.  Just because you can buy it over-the-counter doesn’t mean it can’t harm you if used improperly.  Be safe.

In pursuit of health,

Dr. May 

This one’s dedicated to my new favorite snack – brought up in 180 Kitchen, recipe #83.  This time, Aurora and I have gotten crazy and added a little nutritional yeast to our coconutty favorite.  Aurora, by the way, is the popcorn princess.  She makes it the best.  Her recipe.  Not mine. 

I must say, there is no finer use for coconut oil.  Say what you will about butter on popcorn, but a light, expeller-pressed coconut oil shatters my best friend butter.  It defies reason I know, but try it sometime, especially if you’re seeking out the metabolic advantages of coconut oil but have failed to find a way to consume it that doesn’t make you gag. 

In the following recipe, I:

1) Place a jar of coconut oil into hot water to liquefy it.

2) Cook about a half cup of Steinke’s heirloom popcorn (awesome) in an air popper.

3) Pour lots of coconut oil (5-6 Tablespoons), 2T nutritional yeast (optional), and some sea salt over the popcorn and mix it all up a bit. 

That’s about all there is to it.  Does anyone really not have time to do this at home?  Makes a great post-dinner snack.  Get’s that ol’ tryptophan across the blood-brain barrier where happy serotonin gets made and transformed into melatonin for a long, dreamy night’s rest. 

Enjoy.

Click on the pictures below to enlarge. 

What is the role of serotonin in causing aggression? – evaluate studies

• Cases 1995- serotonin in normal levels inhibits neuronal firing, low levels particularly in the prefrontal cortex makes individuals less able to control their impulsive and aggressive responses.
• Brown et al 1982- major metabolite (waste product) of serotonin tends to be low in the cerebrospinal fluid in impulsive and aggressive people.
• Mann et al 1990- gave drug dexfenfluramine known to deplete serotonin levels and in a questionnaire found in males hostility and aggression had increased after treatment with the drug.

Evaluation:

• Arora and Meltzer 1989- not caused by low levels of serotonin but low serotonin metabolism leading to increased numbers of receptors, they found a relationship between violent suicide and elevated serotonin receptor density.
• Mann et al 1996- amongst suicide victims those with increased numbers of pre-frontal cortex serotonin receptors had chosen more violent methods of suicide.
• Badawy 2006­- explains link between alcohol and aggression as acute alcohol intake causes a major disturbance in the metabolism of brain serotonin, leading to depleted serotonin levels, possibly leading to violence.
• Ferrari et al 2003- rats allowed fighting at same time every day for 10 days, on 11^th day not allowed to fight but in anticipation of imminent fight lead to decreased serotonin levels, experience has changed the brain chemistry consistent with the onset of aggressive behaviour.
• Davidson et al 2000- serotonin is not the only influence on behaviour, research on animals suggests serotonin inhibits aggressive tendencies; tame domestic pets have much higher levels of serotonin than rats.
• Raleigh et al 1991- vervet monkeys fed diets high in tryptophan (increases serotonin levels) exhibited decrease aggression. Low tryptophan diets led to increased aggressive behaviour.
• Popova 1991- in animals bred of domestication and docile temperaments there is an increase over generations in concentrations of serotonin in the brains.
• Bond 2005- antidepressant drugs that elevate serotonin levels reduce irritability and impulsive aggression.

What is the role of dopamine in causing aggression? – evaluate studies

• Lavine 1997- increases in dopamine activity is associated with increases in aggressive behaviour.
• Buitelaar 2003- dopamine antagonists (reduce dopamine activity in the brain) has been successfully used to reduce aggressive behaviour in violent delinquents.
• Couppis et al 2008- dopamine production plays a reinforcing role in aggression, people carry out aggressive acts in order to increase their dopamine levels like the way stimuli like food, sex and recreational drugs do.

Evaluation:

• Ferrari et al 2003- rats allowed fighting at same time every day for 10 days, on 11^th day not allowed to fight but in anticipation of imminent fight lead to increased dopamine levels, experience has changed the brain chemistry consistent with the onset of aggressive behaviour.
• Couppis et al 2008 – lack of dopamine leads to not being able to move due to dopamine’s role in coordination of movement so it is difficult to explain any drop in aggressive behaviour as if could be due to lack of motivation to be aggressive or  difficulty moving hence difficulty in responding aggressively.

What is the role of testosterone in causing aggression? – evaluate studies

• Males produce testosterone in the testes, women produce less by converting dehydropiandrosterone (DHEA) in adrenal glands.
• Testosterone marks aggressive behaviour more likely to be expressed.
• Archer 1991- meta analysis of 5 studies  found low positive correlation between aggression and correlation
• Book et al 2001- meta analysis of 45 studies found correlations of 0.14
• Olweus et al 1980, 1988- very slight increase of testosterone in institutionalized delinquent boys than that of non-delinquent male students.
• Kouri et al 1995- gave men either dose of testosterone or placebo. Told pushing a button reduces the amount of money given to another person and told somebody was doing the same to them. Those with the extra testosterone pushed the button more times.
• Pope et al 2000- carried out same experiment as Kouri et al but gave the testosterone of a six week period, and also found the same results.
• Bone et al 2006- testosterone is more often to linked to dominance, which can sometimes lead to aggression, the testosterone itself doesn’t lead straight to aggression.

Evaluation

• Bain et al 1987- found no difference between testosterone levels between men who had been charged with violent crimes and men who had been charged with non-violent crimes.
• Kreuz and Rose 1972- no different between 21 young prisoners who had been classified as fighting or non-fighting while in prison. However 10 with histories of violent crime in adolescence had higher levels of testosterone than those without violent histories.
• Zitzmann 2006 – only really relevant to strength athletes who supplement excessively high levels. In most cases testosterone is positive, a lack of testosterone can lead to depressive disorders.
• Barrett-Connor et al 1999 –found depression levels increase with age due to decreasing levels of testosterone.
• McNicholas et al 2003- increase in positivity corresponds with testosterone replacement therapy.

What is the role of cortisol in causing aggression? – evaluate studies

• Van Goozen et al 2007- cortisol is part of the body’s reaction to stress. Lower levels of cortisol are associated with high levels of aggressive behaviour.
• Virkkunen 1985- low levels of cortisol in habitually violent offenders.
• Tennes and Kreye 1985- low levels of cortisol in aggressive school children.
• Having low ANS arousal (and therefore low leves of cortisol) is unpleasant so aggressive behaviour is an attempt to cause raise and raise these levels.
• Cortisol plays a mediating role by inhibiting the likelihood of aggressive behaviour.
• Popma et al 2006- interaction between cortisol and testosterone in relation to over aggression. Positive relationship between testosterone and overt aggression in participants with low cortisol levels.

Evaluation

• Gerra et al 1997- lack of consistency in results of studies. Reported higher cortisol concentrations in aggressive participants.

Researchers at Princeton University recently made a remarkable discovery about the brains of rats that exercise…

The “cells born from running,” the researchers concluded, appeared to have been “specifically buffered from exposure to a stressful experience.” The rats had created, through running, a brain that seemed biochemically, molecularly, calm.

From a great NYT story on “Why Exercise Makes You Less Anxious.”

NaNo is half way there; am I boring you?

So I thought I’d do a little tangential reading about other authors: in particular those first-timers who hit it with an amazing débût work and then go on to clean up on Amazon.

I’m thinking of one particularly fortunate author, Laura Schaefer from Madison, Wisconsin, who got her start as a contributor to the University of Wisconsin’s student paper The Daily Cardinal and went on to write regularly for The Princeton Review and Match.com. Laura lives in Madison, Wisconsin, where she can usually be found dancing the lindy hop or book signing her second novel for young readers, The Teashop Girls.

Love is a many-splendored thing …according to Laura in her first book: Man with Farm Seeks Woman with Tractor (Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2005). And she’s come up with some quite surprising facts about love. If you need proof of this, there follow 25 funny little statistics about love. Study them, scratch your head over them, and share them with someone you fancy.

1. Men who kiss their wives in the morning live five years longer than those who don’t.

2. People are more likely to tilt their heads to the right when kissing instead of the left (65 percent of people go to the right).

3. When it comes to doing the deed early in the relationship, 78 percent of women would decline an intimate rendezvous if they had not shaved their legs or underarms.

4. Feminist women are more likely than other females to be in a romantic relationship.

5. Two-thirds of people report that they fall in love with someone they’ve known for some time versus someone that they just met.

6. There’s a reason why office romances occur: The single biggest predictor of love is proximity.

7. Falling in love can induce a calming effect on the body and mind and raises levels of nerve growth factor for about a year, which helps to restore the nervous system and improves the lover’s memory.

External stimulation of the synapses can trigger happiness or fear

8. Love can also exert the same stress on your body as deep fear. You see the same physiological responses — pupil dilation, sweaty palms, and increased heart rate.

9. Brain scans show that people who view photos of a beloved experience an activation of the caudate — the part of the brain involving cravings.

10. The women of the Tiwi tribe in the South Pacific are married at birth.

11. The “Love Detector” service from Korean cell phone operator KTF uses technology that is supposed to analyze voice patterns to see if a lover is speaking honestly and with affection. Users later receive an analysis of the conversation delivered through text message that breaks down the amount of affection, surprise, concentration and honesty of the other speaker.

12. Eleven percent of women have gone online and done research on a person they were dating or were about to meet, versus seven percent of men.

Love song from a 4,300-year old Egyptian tomb of the Sixth Dynasty

13. Couples’ personalities converge over time to make partners more similar.

14. The oldest known love song was written 4,300 years ago and comes from an Egyptian tomb of the Sixth Dynasty. Others were found in modern Iraq between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

Archduke Maximillian gave diamonds

15. The tradition of the diamond engagement ring comes from Archduke Maximillian of Austria who, in the 17th century, gave a diamond ring to his fiancée, Mary of Burgundy.

16. Forty-three percent of women prefer their partners never sign “love” to a card unless they are ready for commitment.

17. People who are newly in love produce decreased levels of the hormone serotonin — as low as levels seen in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Perhaps that’s why it’s so easy to feel obsessed when you’re smitten.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter as well as a happiness hormone

18. Philadelphia International Airport finished as the No. 1 best airport for making a love connection, according to an online survey.

19. According to mathematical theory, we should date a dozen people before choosing a long-term partner; that provides the best chance that you’ll make a love match.

20. A man’s beard grows fastest when he anticipates sex.

21. Every Valentine’s Day, Verona, the Italian city where Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet took place, receives around 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet.

22. When we get dumped, for a period of time we love the person who rejected us even more, says Dr. Helen Fisher of Rutgers University and author of Why We Love. The brain regions that lit up when we were in a happy union continue to be active.

23. Familiarity breeds comfort and closeness … and romance.

24. One in five long-term love relationships began with one or both partners being involved with others.

25. OK, this one may not surprise you, but we had to share it: Having a romantic relationship makes both genders happier. The stronger the commitment, the greater the happiness!

Laura Schaefer is the author of Man with Farm Seeks Woman with Tractor. If you want to read her blog, click here.

And, oh yes, thanks to Amazon, not only for making available some amazing books, but for being the sponsor of NaNoWriMo [Sorry, had to bring it up; it's becoming an obsession] lol

11 WAYS TO SLEEP BETTER  

 Listen to White Noise or Relaxation CDs. Some people find the sound of white noise or nature sounds, such as the ocean or forest, to be soothing for sleep. An excellent relaxation/meditation option to listen to before bed is the Insight audio CD.

Avoid before-bed snacks, particularly grains and sugars. This will raise blood sugar and inhibit sleep. Later, when blood sugar drops too low (hypoglycaemia), you might wake up and not be able to fall back asleep.

Sleep in complete darkness or as close as possible. If there is even the tiniest bit of light in the room it can disrupt your circadian rhythm and your pineal gland’s production of melatonin and serotonin. There also should be as little light in the bathroom as possible if you get up in the middle of the night. Please whatever you do, keep the light off when you go to the bathroom at night. As soon as you turn on that light you will for that night immediately cease all production of the important sleep aid melatonin.

No TV right before bed. Even better, get the TV out of the bedroom or even out of the house, completely. It is too stimulating to the brain and it will take longer to fall asleep. It is also disruptive of pineal gland function for the same reason as above.

Read something spiritual or religious. This will help to relax. Don’t read anything stimulating, such as a mystery or suspense novel, as this may have the opposite effect. In addition, if you are really enjoying a suspenseful book, you might wind up unintentionally reading for hours, instead of going to sleep. 

 Avoid using loud alarm clocks. It is very stressful on the body to be awoken suddenly. If you are regularly getting enough sleep, they should be unnecessary. I gave up my alarm clock years ago and now use a sun alarm clock. The Sun Alarm™ SA-2002 provides an ideal way to wake up each morning if you can’t wake up with the REAL sun. Combining the features of a traditional alarm clock (digital display, AM/FM radio, beeper, snooze button, etc) with a special built-in light that gradually increases in intensity, this amazing clock simulates a natural sunrise. It also includes a sunset feature where the light fades to darkness over time – ideal for anyone who has trouble falling asleep.

Journaling. If you often lay in bed with your mind racing, it might be helpful keep a journal and write down your thoughts before bed. Personally, I have been doing this for 15 years, but prefer to do it in the morning when my brain is functioning at its peak and my coritsol levels are high 

 Get to bed as early as possible. Our systems, particularly the adrenals, do a majority of their recharging or recovering during the hours of 11PM and 1AM. In addition, your gallbladder dumps toxins during this same period. If you are awake, the toxins back up into the liver, which then secondarily back up into your entire system and cause further disruption of your health. Prior to the widespread use of electricity, people would go to bed shortly after sundown, as most animals do, and which nature intended for humans as well.

Eat a high-protein snack several hours before bed. This can provide the L-tryptophan need to produce melatonin and serotonin. Also eat a small piece of fruit. This can help the tryptophan cross the blood-brain barrier.

Reduce or avoid as many drugs as possible. Many medications, both prescription and over-the-counter may have effects on sleep. In most cases, the condition, which caused the drugs to be taken in the first place, can be addressed by following the guidelines elsewhere on this web site.(mercola.com)

Avoid caffeine. A recent study showed that in some people, caffeine is not metabolised efficiently and therefore they can feel the effects long after consuming it. So, an afternoon cup of coffee (or even tea) will keep some people from falling asleep. Also, some medications, particularly diet pills contain caffeine.

(adapted from Dr Joseph Mercola)