Tag: serotonin

Natural Compound Boosts Serotonin Levels, Supports Healthy Weight, New Study Suggests

Health Viewpoints According to the Centers for Disease Control, a shocking 73 percent of American adults are currently either overweight or obese—setting the stage for soaring rates of Type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. In addition, experts report that the incidence of major depression—with symptoms of fatigue, anxiety, and insomnia—is on the rise…


A Dance to the Music of Spring

For some folks, spring cleaning means stowing away the boots and heavy coats of winter and boxing up items from the closet for a run to the thrift shop. They deep-scour kitchens and bathrooms, wash windowpanes and screens, and run a damp rag along the baseboards. The energetic throw open the garage and separate the…


Patients Taking Antidepressants Become Emotionally Numb, Researchers Investigate Why

Commonly-prescribed antidepressants can cause patients to become emotionally numb by affecting a key cognitive function that allows people to learn from their actions, a new study suggests. A class of antidepressants, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), is widely used to treat patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). These drugs…


Natural Ways to Balance Hormones at Any Age

Your hormones can take you for a ride. Men often worry about low testosterone contributing to fatigue and more, while much of the focus on women’s hormonal challenges surround reduced estrogen. But those only represent a couple of hormones. And although they can influence your body and how you feel in big ways, there are…


Study Reignites Debate on the Chemical Imbalance Theory of Depression

Based on a systematic review of 17 medical studies, a recently published paper has raised questions and sparked debate about the chemical imbalance theory of depression. Although the study did not perform additional research, after synthesizing and evaluating evidence in the principal relevant areas, the authors conclude the longstanding theory is unproven. Serotonin is a…


How We Have Been Misled About Antidepressants

Commentary Our umbrella review that revealed no links between serotonin and depression has caused shock waves among the general public, but has been dismissed as old news by psychiatric opinion leaders. This disjunction begs the questions of why the public has been fed this narrative for so long, and what antidepressants are actually doing if they are not reversing…


Depression Is Probably Not Caused by a Chemical Imbalance in the Brain: New Study

For three decades, people have been deluged with information suggesting that depression is caused by a “chemical imbalance” in the brain – namely an imbalance of a brain chemical called serotonin. However, our latest research review shows that the evidence does not support it. Although first proposed in the 1960s, the serotonin theory of depression started to be…