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Melatonin is a natural chemical that is produced in our body but it is also found in certain foods such as meat and vegetables as well as dietary supplements. We all have a natural biological clock that regulates our sleep and waking cycle. Melatonin is produced based on this biological clock. Melatonin helps you to sleep; hence it is high at night and its level drops during the day when there is light. Melatonin is also associated with looks of youth and looking fresh, that is why sleep is termed as beauty sleep. Light affects how much melatonin is produced, that is why staring at the bright lights of your phone before bed is not good for your melatonin levels and your beauty sleep. Whenever there is a drop in melatonin levels or any disturbances in the biological clock as-as shortening of days in winter, melatonin release gets disturbed which causes depression and the feeling of jet lag. That is why balanced melatonin levels is important for preventing jet lag and curing winter depression as well as looking youthful.
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This is an important brain neurotransmitter which is also found in peripheral nerves. Glutamate is in charge of exciting neural cells into developing an action potential and firing about their impulse to transmit an electrical message, therefore, we must have sufficient glutamate levels in our body. Low glutamate levels have been associated with depression as well as other diseases of the brain. However, excess glutamate can cause toxicity and nerve damage by overexciting the neurons as they become extra sensitive to it. This prolonged excitation eventually kills the nerve cells, cutting down the pathway to important neural signaling tracts. Having a healthy diet, rich in proteins will ensure you have enough glutamate levels as it is an amino acid.
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This brain hormone is one of the main brain chemical that affects our lifestyle. It also affects many of our actions and our motives as it is the main driving force in terms of motivation, reward enforced behavior and even the mechanism of addiction. Anything that provides us with Dopamine, which is a happiness hormone gives gets registered as a desirable action that gets repeated, therefore, drugs that increase our dopamine becomes addictive as people crave the dopamine flush. It is also responsible for healthy voluntary movement. Therefore, dopamine is necessary to drive our physical movement as well as our mental movement via the reward system, if you pair happiness and the feelings of reward (by increasing dopamine through doing something that you love such as eating chocolate) every time you study a chapter, you will be motivated to study as you are seeking the reward. However, be careful to avoid dopamine flush with bad habits as they would be harder to quit. Dopamine also plays an important role in your sleep, creativity, and memory.
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This hormone is the most significant hormone in maintaining your wakefulness state. There are other molecules involved in maintaining your mind and body in an alert state but it is orexin that is the boss of them all. It is also responsible for maintaining your sugar craving balance and fatigue levels and metabolism regulation. If you start feeling cold and tired, your orexin must be suppressed. There are a number of causes to a suppressed orexin, for example, having a chronic inflammation due to untreated infections or an unhealthy lifestyle. Fix those issues to treat your inflammation and release the inhibition on your orexin levels. Exercising and constant exposure to bright light also helps in increasing orexin levels.
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