When your brain’s emotional equipment needs a tune-up, you get clues:
you do not sleep well, you worry too much, you start feeling overwhelmed,
you lose your enthusiasm or your ability to concentrate.
by Julia Ross, M.A.
If you are often feeling depressed,
anxious or stressed, you are not
alone. We are in a bad-mood epidemic,
a hundred times more likely
to have significant mood problems
than people born a hundred years
ago. And these problems are on the
rise. Adult rates of depression and anxiety have
tripled since 1990 and over 80 percent of those
who consult medical doctors today complain
of excessive stress. Even our children are in
trouble, with at least one in 10 suffering from
significant mood disorders. Our mood problems
are increasing so fast that by 2020 they
will outrank AIDS, accidents and violence as the
primary causes of early death and disability.
It is clear that our moods are deteriorating
at unprecedented rates. What is not clear is
why. What is this tidal wave of emotional
malaise all about? Are our lives so much more
unhappy than they were one hundred years
ago or even 10 years ago? It is true that we are
facing some unprecedented adversity in the
21st century. But even if it is the high pressure
or the absence of family support or the terrorist
threat, for example, why are we now so
unresponsive to traditionally reliable remedies
like long vacations, psychotherapy and spiritual
counsel? Why are we forced to turn more
and more to medication for solace?
I propose that much of our increasing emotional
distress stems from easily correctable
malfunctions in our brain and body chemistry—
malfunctions that are primarily the result of
critical, unmet nutritional needs. More important,
I propose that a complete yet easy-toimplement
nutritional repair plan can actually
start to eliminate in 24 hours what I call our
“false moods.”
Some negative feelings are unavoidable and
even beneficial. They are what I call “true emotions.”
These true, genuine responses to the
real difficulties we encounter in life can be
hard to take. They can even be unbearable at
times, depending on the kinds of ordeals we
face. But they also can be vitally important.
True grief moves us through our losses, true
fear warns us of danger, true anger can defend
us from abuse and true shame can teach us to
grow and change. These true emotions typically
pass or diminish naturally and even when
they are repressed or misdirected, they can
usually be relieved through counseling. But
when we suffer for no justifiable reason; when
the pain of a broken heart does not mend like
a broken bone; when rest, psychotherapy,
prayer and meditation can make little
impact—then we must suspect the emotional
impostor, the meaningless biochemical
error—the “false mood.”
You should not have to live with these
kinds of distorted moods on a regular
basis. It is like having an engine that
sputters, preventing you from having a smooth
emotional ride. When your brain’s emotional
equipment needs a tune-up, you get clues: you
do not sleep well, you worry too much, you
start feeling overwhelmed, you lose your
enthusiasm or your ability to concentrate. You
might also start depending on chocolate, wine
or marijuana to get some relief. If you experience
these kinds of symptoms frequently, you
may have just come to accept them, assuming
them simply to be unfortunate features of your
basic personality. But chances are you are
wrong. Now you have an opportunity to discover
your true emotional nature.
Your brain is responsible for most of your
feelings, both true and false. In concert with
some surprisingly brain-like areas of your heart
and gut, it transmits your feelings through
four highly specialized and potent kinds of
mood molecules. If it has plenty of all four, it
keeps you as happy as you can possibly be,
given your particular life circumstances. But if
your brain runs low on these mood transmitters
—whether because of a minor genetic
miscue, because it has used them up coping
with too much stress or because you are not
eating the specific foods it needs—it stops producing
normal emotions on a consistent basis.
Instead, it starts hitting false emotional notes,
like a piano out of tune.
After more than 30 years of intensive,
worldwide investigation, most of the false
moods and their causes have been identified by
one of the fastest-growing fields of science—
neuroscience, the field that studies the workings
and effects of the brain. Drug companies
have been using this information to create
products that can give our emotional equipment
a quick charge. But that is not the same
thing as a real repair job. Fortunately, the emotional
tune-up that we need so badly now is
readily available. In fact, the repair tools we
need for this crucial effort are shockingly
simple.
They are specific foods and nutrient supplements,
particularly amino acid supplements,
that are so exactly what the brain needs that
they can begin to correct emotional malfunctions
in just 24 hours.
This is the secret: There are 22 different
kinds of amino acids in high-protein
foods like chicken, fish, beef, eggs
and cheese. You may have heard them referred
to as the building blocks of protein. Each
amino has its own name and unique duties to
perform but only a few very special aminos can
serve as fuels for the brain’s four mood engines.
Just five or six of these amino acids, taken as
supplements, can effectively reverse all four of
the brain deficiencies that cause false moods.
Each of the four mood engines in your
brain needs a different amino acid fuel. The
lower your access to amino fuel, the more false
mood symptoms you can develop. The tion is how much “gas” do you have in each of
your engines? How do you know when you
have run too low? How can you fill them up?
Which amino brain fuels do you need? Where
can you get them? How long will it take? You
will soon learn what the best brain foods are for
you and how to find and use the amino acid
supplements that will jump-start all of your
emotional engines and keep them fired up.
The four emotion generators in your brain
are called “neurotransmitters.” Some of their
specific names will probably be familiar to you:
serotonin, catecholamines, GABA and endorphin.
Each of these four neurotransmitters has
a distinctly different effect on your mood,
depending largely on the supply of its particular
amino acid fuel available.
A well stocked brain produces true emotions.
Depending on your life circumstances,
you will generally feel emotionally positive, if
your key neurotransmitter levels are high.
A poorly stocked brain produces false
moods. If you drop too low in any of the key
neurotransmitters, you will tend to develop a
specific set of defective moods as a result. If
you are high in serotonin, you are positive,
confident, flexible and easygoing. If you are
sinking in serotonin, you will tend to become
negative, obsessive, worried, irritable and
sleepless.
Let us take a close look at the mechanics of
this mood type. The brain’s serotonin quadrant
needs to be brimming with molecules at
all times. When it is, your brain can cheerfully
fire away with this ready fuel supply, transmitting
positive feelings and thoughts. If not,
these happy reactions are blocked. But that
does not simply leave you feeling emotionally
blank. Unfortunately, a decrease in serotonin
can produce the reverse of every warm, happy
feeling that adequate serotonin would normally
allow you to experience: instead of
seeing your glass as half full, you see it as half
empty. Instead of feeling proud of your accomplishments,
all you can think of is what you
have not accomplished. Instead of a sound
sleep, you get insomnia. Instead of enjoying
your family members, you are irritated by
them. Instead of peace, you have anxiety.
Instead of looking forward to life, you may
regard it with dread and even have thoughts of
suicide.
Symptoms of serotonin deficiency include:
experiencing dark, pessimistic thoughts; often
feeling worried, anxious, self-critical or guilty;
abusive behavior; being a perfectionist, neatnic
or control freak, a computer, TV or work
addict; a dislike for dark weather or clear-cut,
fall-winter depression (SAD); anxiety or panic attacks (your heart races, it is hard to breathe);
PMS or menopausal moodiness (tears, anger,
depression); are you a night owl or do you find
it hard to get to sleep even though you want
to? Have you had fibromyalgia (unexplained
muscle pain) or TMJ (pain, tension and
grinding associated with your jaw)? Have you
had suicidal thoughts or plans? Do you find
relief from any of the above symptoms
through exercise?
Precious serotonin is synthesized in your
body from tryptophan, an amino acid (protein
building block) found in foods like turkey,
beef and cheese. Tryptophan first converts into
a substance called 5-HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan),
which then coverts directly into serotonin.
This crucial three-step process can be a
short-step process and can be short-circuited
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When we suffer for no justifiable reason • When the pain of a broken heart does not mend like a broken bone • When rest, psychotherapy, prayer and meditation can make little impact •
We must suspect the emotional imposter—the false mood |
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by a number of things. For example, if there is
not enough tryptophan in your diet—a
problem for many of us—your body cannot
manufacture enough 5-HTP or serotonin to
keep you happy. Or your natural production
of serotonin may be inhibited by chemicals in
your food such as caffeine, alcohol or the arti-
ficial sweetener aspartame. Your serotonin production
can even be disrupted if you are
pregnant or not getting enough sunlight or
exercise. Bouts of extreme stress can also dry
up your pool of this emotionally vital brain
chemical. Finally, you may have inherited a
genetic tendency to under produce serotonin,
one that can be aggravated by all of the above.
No matter what the cause of your drop in
serotonin, it does not mean that you are
doomed to languish in this particular mood
pit for the rest of your life. Even the saggiest
serotonin levels can be quickly elevated,
allowing you to experience the full range of
emotion that nature intended for you.
The 24-Hour 5-HTP Transformation
The inexpensive nutrient supplement 5-HTP,
made from an African bean, is the almost
instant solution to most low-serotonin problems.
It can be found in every health food store and many pharmacies in America. Your body
can make its own 5-HTP to convert into serotonin
but here is one catch: It must have
enough tryptophan on hand from food to
make it out of and chances are it does not. If
you take a 5-HTP supplement though, your
serotonin production will no longer be
dependent on the tryptophan you may or may
not get in food. That means that you can
quickly, yet naturally, replenish your serotonin
stores and begin to feel the return of your true
emotional self in minutes.
Although 5-HTP has been studied and used
extensively in Japan and Europe since before
1980, our clinic began using it only when it
became available in the United States in 1997.
Since then we have seen hundreds of almost
instant transformations in mood as a direct result of its use.
As an antidepressant, 5-HTP is so effective
that is has repeatedly matched or outperformed
many of the most established antidepressant
drugs, including Prozac, without the
negative side effects so often associated with
these drugs. In a 1980 study of 99 patients who
had been deeply depressed for an average of
nine years, almost half achieved complete
recovery while others experienced significant
improvement after being given 5-HTP supplements.
The study’s author, Dr. J. J. Van Heile,
had this to say about the benefits of 5-HTP: “I
have never in 20 years used an agent which (1)
was effective so quickly; (2) restored the
patients so completely to the persons they had
been and their partners had known and (3) was
so entirely without side effects.” Numerous
other studies also attest to 5-HTP’s remarkable
safety and effectiveness, even when compared
to prescription antidepressants.
My staff and I have been amazed at how
quickly 5-HTP can lift the spirits of clients who
had been depressed for so long that they had
forgotten what it was like to be cheerful and
optimistic. Within a day or two after starting
their 5-HTP, they typically report that their
feelings of anxiety and negativity have rated, that their sleep has improved and that their self-esteem has been restored. Amazingly, we have seen these 5-HTP
transformations take place before our very eyes in as little as
10 minutes. We have watched as surly teens turned into
friendly humans, cranky adults turned into comedians and
shy, self-conscious people turned into real charmers.
At first when you take 5-HTP you will feel the difference,
typically within 15 minutes, but your mood will be noticeably
elevated for only a few hours. That is why most people
need to take these supplements at least twice a day. Middle or
late afternoon and nine or 10 P.M. are usually the best times to
take them but take them earlier if your symptoms trouble
you in the morning. I recommend 50 mg as the initial dosage
of 5-HTP. If you need more, increase the dosage to 100 mg
then 150 mg—not to exceed 150 mg per dose.
As you nourish your brain’s serotonin zone with these
amino fuels, your serotonin levels will rise, eventually to
capacity. After that you will be able to count on improved
moods all the time, yet you won’t need any more supplements
to keep them that way. At some point in the next few
weeks or months, your brain will give you a signal to let you
know that you have done it—you have filled up on serotonin.
How will you know? Maybe you will get too relaxed,
even sleepy during the day; maybe you will have a mild
headache after a dose. Most people, though, just forget to
take their 5-HTP or other supplements after a while and
realize that they feel fine without them.
Editor’s Note:
Information from this article is from The Mood Cure by Julia
Ross, M.A. Copyright© Julia Ross, 2002. Reprinted by
arrangement with Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin
Group (USA) Inc.
For a comprehensive four-step program to rebalancing
your emotional chemistry and rediscovering your natural
sense of well-being, we recommend you acquire a copy the
book. It not only details the problems but provides mood
type questionnaires and “tool kits” to help you identify
symptoms and confront conditions, details diets critical to
building and maintaining adequate serotonin levels, helps
you build a master supplements plan and importantly alerts
you to potential contra interaction between supplements
and medication.
The author also stresses that individuals on medication or
experiencing serious mood or personality problems consult
with a qualified health care professional.
Julia Ross, M.A., author of The Mood
Cure: The 4-Step Program to
Rebalance Your Emotional Chemistry
and Rediscover Your Natural Sense of
Well-being and the bestseller, The
Diet Cure, has been directing San
Francisco Bay area counseling programs
since 1980. Ross is executive
director of Recovery Systems in Mill
Valley, California, a clinic that treats mood, eating and
addiction problems with nutrient therapy and biochemical
rebalancing.
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