What is Serotonin, and Why do you Want More of it?
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter – a tiny chemical used by the neurons in your brain and throughout your body to “talk” to each other. The brain, the gut, and the skin all produce serotonin, and this chemical is vital to regulating your body’s basic physical and mental processes. In particular, increase serotonin levels are involved with the most basic need of all: relaxation. Every time you’ve felt happy, relaxed, and in-tune with yourself, increase serotonin levels are responsible for these sensations. It’s the “relaxation” and “contentment” chemical in your brain, and it is vital to bringing out your best self every day. Let’s explore what serotonin does for you, and how you can make sure that you always have enough.
What Does Serotonin do For You?
Serotonin helps you keep to a natural rhythm of sleep, encourages you to eat a healthy amount, and allows you to digest your food efficiently, keeping weight down and nutrient absorption up. It helps regulate breathing and body temperature, keeping us alive. It also is involved with boosting mood, bringing calm and happiness to your mind and body. However, many people don’t have enough serotonin. People can have low serotonin levels for many reasons, but it usually boils down to not being able to produce enough. Heavy metal poisoning and some drugs can damage the neurons that produce serotonin. Genetics can cause a person to need more serotonin in their bodies than usual, and stress or low light levels can cut back serotonin production. But whether the cause is stress, toxins, low light, or a serotonin-poor diet, the result is the same: depression, anxiety, and insomnia are associated with low serotonin levels. Diabetes and other metabolism problems also involve low serotonin – it’s a vital brain chemical, and we need to make sure that we get enough.
How do you increase serotonin?
Fortunately, it isn’t difficult to raise serotonin levels in your body. Many antidepressant medications are designed to make more serotonin available to the body by increasing serotonin levels in the body. Some medications also work by preventing serotonin levels from decreasing. Both have the same effect – keeping your serotonin levels high. But you can increase serotonin naturally, without a prescription by using:
Diet
Bananas and protein-rich foods like meat (especially turkey) are full of tryptophan, which the body turns into serotonin. Chickpeas (garbanzo beans) and corn (especially when cooked in traditional ways) is also a good source of tryptophan. Eating full, balanced meals three times a day can naturally increase serotonin levels. If you eat meat, though, be sure to have starch or carbohydrate-rich foods, too. Carbs and starch encourage your body to release insulin, which helps separate and process the proteins in the meat. This food hack allows your body to focus on turning the tryptophan into serotonin more efficiently.
Light Therapy
Serotonin is a big part of the circadian rhythm, which is how your body tells time. Your body uses its natural sense of time to determine when it needs to go to sleep, wake up, or get ready to eat. In order to set this natural clock, the body uses the light that it sees with its eyes to tell the time of day. If you aren’t getting outside and in the sun often enough, using a light lamp can help your body reset its clock and increase serotonin production.
Far infrared therapy
Far infrared therapy is a type of light therapy that uses only the wavelengths of light that produce heat. In studies comparing light therapy to far infrared therapy (without any visible light) both were equally effective at improving mood. Some researchers believe that this is because, while the brain produces serotonin in response to visible light, the skin – the other source of serotonin – feels the heat that the light gives off instead. The gentle, controlled heat of far infrared light is well known to increase serotonin in the skin, which is then transported throughout the body to boost mood.
Can the FIT Bodywrap System Increase Serotonin?
The FIT Bodywrap has several advantages over a light lamp or even a far-infrared lamp for increasing serotonin. The wrap system applies constant, gentle pressure against the skin. Much like a hug, this combination of warmth and pressure is scientifically proven to nudge the body to produce more serotonin in the skin. Unlike the irreplaceable but short-term pressure of hugs, FIT Bodywrap sessions give you a constant embrace over a long period of time. This pressure maximizes the benefit of the far infrared light. Because FIT sessions happen in a quiet treatment room, it also reduces stress. FIT Bodywrap sessions also help remove the toxins holding you back from your best mood. As a bonus, they smooth the skin, moisturize it, and even help the body drop those extra pounds. So, at the end of a session, you not just feel good, but look good. So, if you want to give yourself a serotonin-boosting treat without putting on the pounds of turkey, visit our You won’t regret it: check out our articles on the health benefits of far infrared therapy here, and see what else FIT can do for you.
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