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Serotonin Deficiency: Symptoms and Treatment

Serotonin (also referred to as 5-hydroxytryptamine or 5-HT) is a chemical messenger that helps the nerve cells in the body communicate. While serotonin was discovered by scientists over 60 years ago, the study of its importance to healthy body function continues to evolve. A serotonin deficiency has been linked to a variety of physical and mental health issues, making it important that you recognize and treat the problem. Here are a few things to know about this neurotransmitter that may help shed light on potential health issues as well as ideas on how you can boost serotonin levels naturally.

Why is Serotonin Important to Overall Well-being?

Your body produces serotonin from the essential amino acid tryptophan. The body sends signals between nerve cells through this vital neurotransmitter. While serotonin is primarily found in the digestive system, it is also present in various areas of the central nervous system, such as the brain, as well in blood platelets.

Getting adequate amounts of nutrients like tryptophan, vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids and certain B vitamins is necessary for your body to produce adequate levels of serotonin. Tryptophan is especially important when it comes to serotonin production. Without enough tryptophan in your diet, you may experience lower-than-desired levels of serotonin.

Serotonin is instrumental in a variety of bodily functions. This chemical modulates almost every behavioral function in the human body, including mood, aggression, memory, appetite, sexual function, anger and more. This means that serotonin plays a critical role in achieving adequate amounts of sleep, enjoying a positive mindset, experiencing good digestive support, having a rewarding sex life and much more. In fact, it is easier to find something that serotonin does not have a hand in than to try to list all of the functions that it touches.

What Causes Serotonin Deficiency?

There are a number of factors that may lead to a deficiency in serotonin. Because serotonin comes from tryptophan, a deficiency in this amino acid may cause serotonin levels to drop below an acceptable level. When a deficiency is present, it can be difficult to ascertain what is causing it precisely because serotonin has so many functions.

Scientists know that some of the most common causes of seroconin deficiency include changes in the brain related to age, not eating the right mix of healthy foods, chronic stress, poor exercise habits and inadequate amounts of natural light exposure. While it is possible to test serotonin levels, most physicians will try to evaluate possible conditions related to low levels of the neurotransmitter.

What Are the Symptoms of Serotonin Deficiency?

Low levels of serotonin can manifest through both physical and mental health issues. Some of the most common physical symptoms that may indicate a deficiency in this crucial chemical include problems with movement or balance, sexual issues as such as premature ejaculation and difficulties with digestion and incontinence. Individuals with low serotonin may also experience problems with wound healing because of poor blood clotting ability as well as unexplained chronic pain.

Low serotonin levels may also present through mental health problems. Some of the most common indicators of this deficiency include unexplained depression or anxiety, issues with memory or concentration and schizophrenia. Because serotonin helps to regulate sleep patterns, you may have problems falling or staying asleep if you are low on this neurotransmitter. Other symptoms of a deficiency include hyperactivity and issues related to sexual function such as changes in desire and the ability to find pleasure in sexual activity.

How to Boost Serotonin Levels Naturally

The good news is that there are many things that you can do to boost your serotonin levels naturally. Here are just a few ideas to consider if you or your doctor suspect serotonin deficiency.

Seek Out Natural Light

In addition to treating various types of seasonal depression, exposing yourself to natural light can help to boost serotonin levels. If this is a challenge for you because of your climate or lifestyle, you may want to consider using a light therapy lamp.

Focus on Emotional Well-being

Because serotonin levels and mental health are linked, it is recommended that you make your emotional well-being a priority. You can do this by being diligent about reducing chronic levels of stress in your life. Some people also find success in boosting serotonin through the use of psychotherapy. Engaging in these types of cognitive or behavioral therapies can have a positive effect on serotonin levels so that you feel better emotionally.

Get Moving

As with many health conditions, a little exercise can go a long way in helping to combat a myriad of issues. Regular exercise has been shown to raise serotonin levels, giving you just one more reason to commit to a consistent routine.

Watch Your Diet

Focusing on good nutrition can play a pivotal role in encouraging the production of serotonin. In addition to general nutritional guidelines with whole foods as the base, be sure to include foods rich in tryptophan such as turkey, pineapple, tofu, nuts, and chickpeas.

Take a Natural Supplement

Taking a high-quality natural supplement like Tryptochron® can help support healthy serotonin levels in the brain. Tryptochron® provides L-tryptophan, 5-HTP and vitamins B3 (niacin) and B6 (pyridoxine) in a patented formulation to help relieve certain symptoms of serotonin deficiency.

If you feel as if you are not quite yourself lately, it may be a prudent idea to get your serotonin levels checked out. Getting to the root of any possible deficiency will help you to live a healthier and happier life.

Research Update: Probiotics Reduce Symptoms of Depression

Jul 29 by Ewcopywriting

It has been a well-known medical fact for years that probiotics are effective at treating a variety of gut-related issues. What has not been studied as much until recently is how this treatment may also be able to help those individuals who experience mental health challenges. When you understand how the gut and brain are so closely connected, it makes sense that a healthy gut would also promote a healthy state of mind. As more research becomes available regarding the closely connected gut-brain axis, many experts now believe that probiotics reduce symptoms of depression.

Defining Depression

The National Institute of Mental Health defines depression as a mood disorder that lasts more than two weeks. It is important to understand that there is a difference between acute sadness related to a specific event and true depression. Signs of clinical depression include difficulty concentrating, challenges sleeping, disinterest in usual hobbies and activities and fatigue.

Because depression is a highly personalized issue, there is no set treatment to help sufferers. Most physicians will initially recommend natural treatment options such as exercise and healthy eating. If this does not help the problem, a doctor may prescribe medication to help the patient.

Getting the Most Out of Probiotics

Probiotics are actual living microorganisms that can provide many benefits to the body when ingested. While most probiotics are classified as bacteria, they can also involve certain types of yeast. You can nourish your body with probiotics through the use of supplements or by ingesting foods that have been prepared through the process of bacterial fermentation. Foods that are high in naturally occurring probiotics are yogurt, sauerkraut and kimchi.

Probiotics help the digestive tract to function properly by reducing the prevalence of diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome and other inflammatory diseases that are associated with the gut. Maintaining a healthy gut is essential if you want to feel better overall. Without good gut health, you will likely feel uncomfortable and dragged down.

It is important to not confuse probiotics with prebiotics. While both prebiotics and probiotics can be helpful in encouraging healthy bacteria and other organisms in the gut, they are not the same. Prebiotics are a specific type of fiber that the human body is not able to digest. Their function is to serve as food for their probiotic counterparts.

How Can Probiotics Reduce Symptoms of Depression?

One thing that scientists know for a fact is that there is a bidirectional relationship between the gastrointestinal tract and the brain. This relationship is referred to as the gut-brain axis. New evidence shows that gut microbiota is related to both gastrointestinal and extragastrointestinal diseases. Increasing research shows a link between inflammation of the gut and mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety.

Because probiotics can be instrumental in restoring a healthy microbial balance, it is not a surprise to learn that they can also help treat and prevent depression and anxiety. By learning more about how the gut microbiota develops, scientists and medical researchers have zeroed in on the applications of using probiotics to help to reduce the symptoms often associated with depression.

What the Studies Have Shown Us

A recent review article helped shed light on the question of how probiotics can be a powerful ally in the fight against depression. The authors of this review looked at seven published studies between the years of 2003 and 2019. Through the extensive review, the authors were able to discern that there was a clear benefit to using dietary probiotic intervention to help alleviate the symptoms of depression. This benefit was present despite the different controlling factors of each study.

The review also found that intervention involving both prebiotics and probiotics also proved advantageous for treating depression. However, the review noted that the exclusive use of prebiotics did not deliver any meaningful advantages. In order to achieve measured benefits, probiotics must be a part of the support of the gut-brain axis.

Another key finding of the review is that the combination of prebiotics and probiotics did not seem to be helpful in reducing anxiety in individuals. In addition, the review found that there is increasing evidence that improving the gut microbiome can reduce the risk of chronic health problems that sometimes go hand in hand with depression. In short, the far-reaching effects of the usage of probiotics to treat depression could go well beyond the benefits to the overall emotional and mental state.

Because there is no cure for depression, it is important that doctors and scientists examine all of the factors that feed into this serious mental issue. A comprehensive treatment and prevention plan will ensure that no stone is left unturned in fighting this illness. As more research continues to emerge about the use of probiotics, it is clear that this angle can play a significant role in the battle against depression.

Social Activity Benefits Memory and Other Cognitive Abilities

Jul 10 by Ewcopywriting

Dementia is a condition that affects millions of people in the elderly population, as well as their loved ones. While you can never entirely prevent dementia, new evidence shows that making an effort to stay social in your later years will help to lower your risk of dementia by 12 percent. Here is what you need to know about social activity benefits and how they relate to your overall mental health and cognitive acuity.

Understanding Dementia

Many people think that dementia is a specific disease, however, it is actually an umbrella term used to describe a variety of symptoms of cognitive decline, including forgetfulness and other types of memory and communication impairments. One of the most prominent health conditions that falls under the classification of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. Other types of dementia include Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

Risk Factors of Dementia

Although there is no one underlying cause of dementia, there are elements that can boost your risk of suffering from mental impairment as you get older. Post-traumatic dementia is the result of brain cell death at the hands of an acute injury. This is particularly common in athletes who receive repeated blows to the head. Some forms of dementia can also be traced back to strokes, brain tumors or other types of diseases and infections.

Symptoms of Dementia

While it is important to not believe that every minor memory slip is a sign of impending dementia, knowing the most common symptoms can help you to spot possible signs. Some of the most common symptoms of early dementia include recent memory loss, issues with communicating, disorientation and changes in mood. As dementia progresses into the later stages, individuals may need full-time care because of their inability to perform basic life functions.

Protecting Yourself From Dementia

Because brain cell death cannot be reversed, there is no permanent cure for degenerative dementia. However, there are available treatments that can slow down the progression of the disease and prevent further damage. The use of cholinesterase inhibitors has shown promise in reducing the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, natural formulas like Neurochron provide brain-nourishing ingredients that help maintain healthy brain function and cognition.

Social Activity Benefits – What the Studies Say

Emerging research continues to demonstrate that social activity can play an instrumental role in protecting the brain from memory loss. A new study out of Ohio State University showed that having a big social network had a positive effect on cognitive function. The study examined the cognitive function of two groups of mice. One group did not socialize with other mice while the opposite group was put into social situations necessitating that they interact with other rodents at more complex levels. The group of mice that had been housed with other mice performed significantly better on memory exercises.

In another study out of the University College London in the United Kingdom, researchers went through a retrospective analysis on a group of people over a period of three years. The researchers collected data from the subjects outlining their social activity while assessing their cognitive abilities through a myriad of memory, fluency and reasoning tests. The results of the study indicated that more frequent contact with friends had a strong correlation with a lower risk of dementia.

Difficulty Staying Social During a Pandemic

Despite your best intentions to be social, the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic has made it challenging to connect with others and enjoy social activity benefits. The good news is that with a little creativity, you can still find ways to be social and boost your overall sense of well-being. Here are a few ways that you can connect throughout this period of self-isolation.

Join an Online Community

In today’s modern digitized world, it is easy to build your own community online. Regardless of it is a community dedicated to your favorite hobby, your college alumni association or a cooking group, you can find your people online.

Plan a Virtual Hangout

Virtual hangouts are the new happy hour these days. Simply choose your platform, pick a date and time, invite all of your favorite people and let the fun begin. The best thing about this is that you can now connect with all of your friends and family, regardless of where they live.

Volunteer

You do not have to be in-person to volunteer. There are a variety of ways that you can give your time and talents through the comfort of your own home. You can challenge your friends for a fundraiser, spread awareness about an issue important to you and more. By doing so, you will feel good about yourself and connect with others at the same time.

It is clear that it is worth your investment to be diligent about the upkeep of social connections. In addition to the obvious benefits of surrounding yourself with the people that you love, being intentional about maintaining these relationships may have a positive effect on your cognitive abilities as you age.

Vitamin D and COVID-19: Could Adequate Levels Protect Your Health?

Jul 08 by Ewcopywriting

As new research reveals a link between vitamin D and COVID-19, finding natural ways to get sufficient levels of vitamin D becomes more vital to our health.

Why is Vitamin D Important?

In some areas of research, the to endeavor to prove the efficacy of vitamin D in promoting physical and emotional health is still underway. For instance, we know that there’s a relationship between depression and vitamin D, but research still seeks to confirm that vitamin D is effective in boosting the mood.

Even if it does not turn out to be useful in treating depression, vitamin D has been proven to benefit human health in a variety of other ways. Here are just a few ways that getting sufficient daily doses of vitamin D can help people live healthier and happier lives.

Protects Against Viruses

In a recent Japanese study, it was found that supplemental vitamin D drops administered to school-aged children reduced their likelihood of developing the flu and other wintertime illnesses. This led the researchers to confirm that the vitamin plays an important role in building up or maintaining the immune system.

Positively Impacts Multiple Sclerosis

In simple terms, multiple sclerosis (MS) is the result of the immune system attacking the central nervous system. Although there is no cure, there have been some breakthroughs in developing treatments that reduce the symptoms. One study found that maintaining a sufficient supply of vitamin D can help prevent individuals from developing this condition. Additionally, those who already have MS can reduce the severity or frequency of symptoms by taking vitamin D supplements.

Reduces Certain Cancer Risks

Studies have found that the risks of developing colon, prostate and breast cancer are decreased by getting enough vitamin D. Those risks are further lowered when the supplement includes calcium.

Protects the Bones

The primary role of vitamin D is to help protect against bone-density loss. As people age, their bodies lose the ability to create more bone to replace that which is lost naturally over time. Increasing your intake of vitamin D can help combat this problem, which is why those suffering from osteoporosis and osteomalacia are advised to get more vitamin D.

The Link Between Vitamin D and COVID-19

Reviewing past reports from various countries around the world has led researchers to find that mortality rates among hospital patients are higher in those suffering from a vitamin D deficiency. They also found the opposite to be true, meaning that patients with higher vitamin D levels were more likely to recover from their illness. These previous findings have led researchers to establish a link between vitamin D and COVID-19 in a more recent study.

The new study found that vitamin D can help prevent an overload of cytokines, which are released by the immune system and attack healthy cell tissue in the often-mentioned “cytokine storm” associated with serious COVID-19 cases. Since these are the first findings of this kind, more research is needed to confirm the effect that of vitamin D on immune functioning.

An observational study in the U.K. found that that there was also a significant instance of vitamin D deficiencies in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The researchers in that study also confirmed that patients lacking sufficient amounts of the vitamin were more likely to die from the virus.

Here in the United States, a Northwestern University study found that an insufficient intake of vitamin D raised the risks of contracting COVID-19 by 17 percent. There was a 14 percent risk of getting the virus for those who had good levels of vitamin D. Meanwhile, researchers in Louisiana and Texas found that 11 of the 20 patients admitted to hospital ICU wards for COVID-19 also had insufficient vitamin D. Conversely, there were only four patients with optimal vitamin D levels admitted for COVID-19. An Indonesian study added more observational proof that there was a link between vitamin D levels and the novel coronavirus. They reported that most of the 780 COVID-19 fatalities also showed evidence of insufficient vitamin D levels.

Natural Ways to Get More Vitamin D

While more research is needed to confirm that vitamin D does have a positive effect in the treatment of COVID-19, getting more vitamin D is still beneficial to your health. Here are a few ways you can naturally boost your vitamin D intake.

Spend More Time Outdoors

Exposure to the sun is the best way to get more vitamin D. While too much exposure to the sun should be avoided, getting sun exposure in short bursts will help you maintain your vitamin D levels for longer.

Eat More Seafood

Adding more seafood to your diet is another good way to boost vitamin D levels. In particular, fatty fish, such as tuna, oysters, shrimp, sardines and anchovies, provide higher amounts of the nutrient. Even wild-caught salmon provides a hearty supply of the nutrient.

Take a Daily Supplement

If you are concerned that you’re not getting enough vitamin D through sun exposure and your diet, you can take a supplement. A daily vitamin formula with a sufficient supply of vitamin D can help you boost your exposure to healthier levels.

Look for Fortified Foods

Vitamin D is also added to certain foods that you can buy in any grocery store. In addition to fortified cereals, you can also find vitamin D in orange juice, milk, yogurt, tofu and milk alternatives. It’s important to note, however, that many fortified foods contain vitamin D2, not the more ideal form of vitamin D, which is vitamin D3. As you shop, be sure to check the ingredient lists of each product to ensure it is a good source of vitamin D.

Do You Suffer From a Melatonin Deficiency?

Jun 26 by Ewcopywriting

It’s commonly known that healthy melatonin production is an essential to a restful sleep. As nighttime comes and we prepare for bed, our internal clock, or circadian rhythm, signals the brain that it’s time for sleep. In response, the brain releases melatonin, a hormone that’s used to regulate sleepiness and wakefulness. If you have trouble sleeping, a melatonin deficiency may be to blame. Learn how to recognize the signs and how to get more of this sleep hormone.

How Does Melatonin Benefit Human Health?

While setting the stage for slumber is one role of melatonin, it does much more than just help people fall asleep. Even after you fall asleep, melatonin acts as a powerful antioxidant, assisting the body in maintaining health and repairing damage throughout the night.

As melatonin helps regulate sleep, it also influences metabolism by telling the body when it should be active. During sleep, the body enters into a fasting period, so one of the roles melatonin plays is to slow the metabolism and make the body more insulin resistant. This helps store energy for the waking period, when that extra energy will be needed. As the individual awakens and starts their day, the brain stops releasing melatonin and, as a result, the metabolism speeds up and the body becomes hypersensitive to insulin.

As a powerful antioxidant, this sleep hormone also helps to fight free radicals in the body. In this way, sufficient melatonin levels also help protect against unhealthy cell growth throughout the body. It helps guard against heart disease by promoting better cardiovascular health and also strengthens the immune system.

Looking at the way melatonin helps to maintain a healthy immune system, researchers recently found that the hormone may also help protect people from contracting viruses like COVID-19. In addition to being a powerful antioxidant, melatonin possesses potent anti-inflammatory processes, and can help maintain healthy inflammatory processes throughout the body.

In recent studies, melatonin has been found effective in modulating the lung inflammation that results from coronavirus infection. It also has been found to limit the production of proinflammatory cytokines and to keep immune cells in the lungs from becoming infected. Some research suggests the lung tissue damage that COVID-19 causes can also be prevented by the presence of melatonin. While researchers continue to investigate the possibility of using melatonin as a possible COVID-19 treatment, there’s already enough evidence to suggest a sufficient supply of melatonin is beneficial to our overall health.

What Causes a Melatonin Deficiency?

Unfortunately, many people experience a melatonin deficiency without realizing that’s the source of their health problems. While insomnia and similar sleep disorders are one sign that the brain isn’t producing sufficient quantities of melatonin, there are other indications that you may lack a sufficient supply of this hormone.

In addition to having difficulty falling asleep, it may also be difficult to stay asleep. Even if someone with an insufficient supply of melatonin stays asleep throughout the night, they will likely experience a restless sleep. A melatonin deficiency may also cause an individual to awaken too early and find that they can’t get back to sleep.

People with insufficient melatonin levels will often experience symptoms in their waking hours as well. They may awaken feeling fatigued or they won’t feel as refreshed and energetic as they should. They may experience depressive episodes and suffer cognitive impairments, such as forgetfulness and confusion. Hypertension and increased sensitivity to stress can also be signs of insufficient melatonin levels, which can also expose them to a higher risk for heart disease.

Boosting Melatonin Production Naturally

A doctor can help confirm whether you’re suffering from a melatonin deficiency. Once you know your brain isn’t producing enough of this hormone, there are some steps you can take to resolve the problem. Here are a few suggestions.

Shut Down One Hour Before Bed

Melatonin production relies on the circadian rhythm to tell the brain when it’s night, but the blue light that the screens of electronic devices emits disrupts that process. The light tricks the brain into thinking it’s still daylight, so it won’t produce melatonin when it should. Research suggests that shutting down devices one hour before going to bed will solve this problem.

Boost Daylight Exposure

If you spend the majority of your day indoors, you may be inhibiting the way your circadian rhythm functions. By spending some time outside, where you can benefit from direct sunlight exposure, you’ll be helping your brain adjust to the 24 -hour cycle. Getting that sunlight earlier in the day will help kick start the production of melatonin earlier in the evening.

Take a Melatonin Supplement

You can also add an evening supplement to your routine. For example, Melachron is a supplement that’s engineered to help you fall asleep sooner and stay asleep throughout the night. This supplement uses chronobiology to provide a steady supply of melatonin, so you’ll be able to sleep throughout the night. The seven-hour supply of melatonin will help you sleep at night without leaving you feeling groggy or fatigued in the morning.

Darken Your Bedroom

Just as getting sunlight in the day will help you fine-tune your biological clock, keeping your bedroom dark will also help. Eliminating light as much as possible will make the melatonin response in your brain that much more powerful, so you’ll feel sleepier in your bedroom at night. A darker bedroom will help you relax better, so you’ll also have a more restful sleep throughout the night.

Mitochondria: The Missing Link Between Stress and Anxiety?

Jun 24 by Ewcopywriting

In recent years, there has been a slew of new findings that demonstrate the link between mitochondrial function and stress and anxiety. Understanding the scientific tenets of mental health issues and learning more about mitochondrial function can help you to understand how boosting the health of your mitochondria may help reduce the risk of developing a serious anxiety disorder.

Understanding the Complexities of Anxiety

It is normal to experience anxiety at various times of your life. While a certain level of anxiety is healthy, it can quickly spiral into a serious medical disorder. It can often be challenging to distinguish between typical feelings of anxiety and an anxiety disorder that can become debilitating if not treated correctly.

Healthy anxiety is often the result of an acute event or worrisome trigger. However, severe anxiety is defined as anxious feelings that are vastly out of proportion to a normal stressor. When the level of anxiety does not match the event triggering it, you may be dealing with a mental health issue which may be diagnosed as a serious problem that necessitates medical intervention.

Common Symptoms and Causes of Anxiety

Severe anxiety can present itself in a variety of ways. Some of the most common symptoms include increased blood pressure, nausea, rapid heart rate and the inability to participate in everyday life functions. Those individuals with generalized anxiety disorder may also have difficulties sleeping and concentrating on tasks.

It can be difficult to pinpoint the exact causes anxiety. It is also possible for numerous factors to work together to lead to anxiety disorder. Individuals with anxiety often have a genetic disposition to developing the disorder. Environmental stressors, such as work issues and family problems, may also cause an anxiety disorder to develop. Other causes include medical factors, problems with brain chemistry and withdrawals from addictive substances. If anxiety is negatively affecting your life, it is important that you seek the help of a trained medical professional to address the issue.

What are Mitochondria and Why Are They Essential?

In order to fully understand the relationship between anxiety and mitochondrial function, you need to know more about mitochondria and their function in relation to overall health. Known as the cells’ powerhouses, the primary function of the mitochondria is to turn food into energy that the cells can harness and use. In addition to providing crucial energy, mitochondria also decide when old and malfunctioning cells should be destroyed. Mitochondria also absorb calcium ions and release them to the body when needed.

Your cells’ mitochondria will gradually start to deteriorate as you age. Malfunctioning mitochondria have been demonstrated to be contributing factors to a variety of health issues, including diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Mitochondria that are not functioning at optimal levels may also cause extreme fatigue and muscle weakness.

Are Stress and Anxiety Linked to Mitochondrial Function?

A recent study has found that the cells’ mitochondria may also affect an individual’s risk of developing anxiety as well as susceptibility to stress. In the study, two strains of mice — one of which was genetically more resilient to stress and another that was less resilient — were subjected to stressful stimuli for ten days.

At the end of the study, noticeable changes in protein levels and gene expression were observed in both groups of mice in the BNST (bed nucleus of the stria terminalis), a portion of the brain linked to stress-related mental health conditions. Specifically, in the strain of mice who were more susceptible to stress, certain genes were expressed at lower levels, while in the stress-resistant mice, those same genes were expressed at higher levels. The genes in question happened to be intrinsically linked to mitochondrial function.

Another human study examined 21 participants who suffered from panic disorder. Researchers triggered panic attacks in the participants, drawing blood prior to the panic attack, one hour after the panic attack and 24 hours later. Upon examining gene expression in each of the blood samples, they noted mitochondria-associated changes similar to the mice who were susceptible to stress; namely, a reduction in the level of certain mitochondrial genes.

This suggests that a lower expression of these important mitochondrial genes just may be one of the biological mechanisms behind stress-related anxiety.

How You Can Support Mitochondrial Health

Whether or not you currently experience a higher susceptibility to stress or anxiety symptoms, the good news is that there are a number of ways that you can boost overall mitochondrial health.

Get Moving

Like most health issues, a regular exercise routine can go a long way in helping you to support optimal body function. Physical activity is an exceptional way to boost mitochondrial biogenesis in muscles as they grow older. This will help to mitigate the risks of age-related decline in the mitochondria, improving overall muscle health and function.

Rest and Relaxation

Getting adequate rest assists the brain in keeping mitochondrial functioning at optimal levels by ridding toxic by-products that may prove harmful to the cells. In addition, being mindful about practicing relaxation techniques, such as yoga, meditation and breathing exercises, will also help to improve mitochondrial health.

Calorie Restriction

Medical care providers have found the most success in enhancing the longevity of mitochondria through the process of caloric restriction. Fasting diets trigger the mitochondria to adapt in ways that encourage healthy mitochondrial function on many levels.

Soak Up the Sun

Although you want to take care to protect yourself from the sun’s harmful UV rays, a healthy amount of vitamin D will support the mitochondrial oxidative capacity in the body’s muscles.

Nourish the Body

There are also a host of nutrients that may encourage superior mitochondrial function by enhancing the cellular antioxidant defenses and guarding against oxidation. Nutrients that support healthy mitochondria include the family of B vitamins, creatine and various minerals and polyphenols.

Supplements Targeting Mitochondrial Function

In addition to the above lifestyle changes, there are also supplements that you can take to support healthy mitochondrial function. Supplements like Mitochron supply the mitochondria with crucial enzymes and vitamins that help to guard against burnout while also protecting against cellular oxidative damage.

While the exact connection between mitochondrial health, stress and anxiety is still unclear, understanding what research has already demonstrated can go a long way in helping you to support healthy mitochondrial function for better mental health.