YOU: The Owner’s Manual for Teens by Michael F. Roizen & Mehmet C. Oz

Author:Michael F. Roizen & Mehmet C. Oz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scribner

Emotional tears come out during moments of intense feelings: sometimes joy, but more often sorrow. Unlike basal tears and irritant tears, they carry stress hormones as a way of getting rid of them. But are the tears caused by the stress hormones? One major hormone that increases with stress is also associated with crying: prolactin. Higher levels of prolactin are found when you experience emotional crying; as a whole, women cry more often than men (perhaps four times as often, according to one study), and also have 60 percent more prolactin. Although crying may embarrass you, it signals that you have reached a level of stress that is detrimental to your health if you don’t find ways to let it out. It’s okay to cry; it may be therapeutic. III

So if serotonin levels are low when I’m in a bad mood, is there a way that I can boost them?

Exercise may cause a release of natural opioids, other feel-good hormones. Skipping meals, missing food groups over the course of the day or days, and eating erratically lower your serotonin levels. Prayer, meditation, exercise, and positive visualization can boost serotonin. There are also foods that can help. (See below.) And heck, it’s even worth surrounding yourself with some irritatingly good-mood friends to see if a little of their vibe can rub off.

So there is such a thing as mood foods?

Certain foods increase serotonin levels, such as turkey and chocolate (not necessarily together—yuck!). That’s why people feel so good and satisfied after Thanksgiving dinner. Another good food to boost your mood is bananas, which help enhance the effects of serotonin. One supplement that appears to help anxiety and depression is the DHA (a three-letter abbreviation, not DH EA) form of omega-3 fatty acids, which is so safe that taking it should be a no-brainer. It helps make you brainier, too; 600 to 900 milligrams a day for adults makes a big difference. Carbs, especially chocolate, also boost serotonin, but if you tend toward being overweight and you eat too many without exercising enough to burn off the excess calories, you may need to go easy to avoid depression from a poor body image.

You mentioned medication. What’s the deal with antidepressants?

Antidepressant drugs should rarely be given without psychotherapy (talking to a professional) because they may “activate” you before they get you feeling better, and you still need long-term coping strategies that a pill cannot provide. To give one example, if you are so depressed that you can’t get out of bed and are thinking about suicide several times a day, giving one category of antidepressant—an SSRI, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor—can get you moving a week or weeks before it actually gets you feeling better. This creates a period when you are up and moving (and now able to actually do something dangerous to yourself) without yet feeling better. The good news is that when you reach the right serotonin level, you will start feeling better, but it can take a bit of

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