Did you know that we have our own pharmacy inside of our brain?
Our brain can produce our own painkillers, our own antidepressants and our own anti-anxiety
medications.
Today I’ll tell you about these substances and how you can activate this inner pharmacy
naturally.
So, let’s talk about the brain’s inner pharmacy today.
First of all, I need to mention that if you take any prescription medication that I will
mention in this video, you should not stop taking them before you discuss it with your
doctor.
There are many people who take these medications and they need them.
There can be serious consequences if you stop taking these medications.
But it is also true that our brain can produce these substances, and there are natural ways
to stimulate the brain to produce them.
So, if you want to learn how to boost your inner pharmacy to produce these substances,
this video is for you.
Some people might be able to reduce the use of prescription medications by using these
natural strategies, but please, check with your doctor before you make any change to
your medications.
In this video I’ll talk about how our brain can release endorphins, which are powerful
painkillers, cannabinoids, which are essential for many functions in our body, how our brain
releases serotonin, the powerful mood neurotransmitter, and last, the dopamine, the feel-good substance.
First, endorphins.
Endorphins are produced in the hypothalamus and pituitary gland.
There are 20 different types of endorphins.
The most studied is the beta-endorphine.
Our brain releases them when we feel pain or when we are under attack, stress or under
a dangerous situation.
The name endorphin means it is our endogenous, or internal, morphine.
When endorphins are released they will activate receptors that block the pain sensations.
So, they reduce pain intensity, they also reduce the sensations that we are in a dangerous
situation, like fear and stress There are some situations that the person
does not produce enough endorphins.
We know that if a person takes exogenous opioids, like prescription opioids for pain, they inhibit
the production of their own endorphins.
It is like the brain takes a vacation and does not need to produce that much.
We don’t know what happens after the person stops taking the prescription opioids, if
they will be able to return the normal production of endorphins or not.
One thing is for sure, people cannot live well without their endogenous opioids.
They are essential for life.
So, what can people do to increase their endorphin levels?
Here is the list of natural methods to boost the production of endorphins:
- Exercises.
Yes, there are people who get addicted to beta-endorphin.
Have you heard of runners’ high?
These people run or do vigorous exercises for hours to boost their endorphins, and they
do get high.
We know that the beta-endorphin is very potent, even more potent than prescription morphine.
Which exercise is better?
We know from research in humans that high intensity aerobics exercises are the best.
These are cardio exercises that pumps your heart and make you sweat and short of breath.
There is evidence that High-Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT also works really well.
These are sessions with a few minutes of extreme effort, alternated with recovery periods.
If the person cannot do high intensity aerobics, then the other options are resistance training,
which are exercises to gain strength, usually with weights.
And other types of exercises that also work are moderate intensity aerobics or cardio,
which includes walking, biking, dance, sexual activity or playing sports.
- Other natural ways of boosting endorphins are: laughing, listening to music, meditation,
and eating dark chocolate.
Yes, I like that one, but do not go crazy with that.
It has to be at least 70% cocoa and just a small quantity per day.
- There are some treatment interventions that stimulate the brain to produce endorphins,
and they include acupuncture, massage, and electrical stimulation like TENS.
Now, when endorphin is released, it will activate the pleasure centres in the brain, which will
then produce dopamine.
That is why, when a person takes prescription opioids they may feel a pleasure sensation,
it is a normal reaction of the body.
In some cases, the person may not notice it because of the side effects of opioids are
so bad, like nausea, vomiting, dizziness, drowsiness or somnolence.
Before I continue, let me remind you that this video is not intended to replace medical
advice.
If you have a condition that needs medical advice, please talk to your doctor.
This video is for educational purposes only.
If there is an emergency, please go to the nearest emergency department or call an ambulance.
Dopamine is the substance involved in the reward system.
It is an important neurotransmitter in life, it is released when we do something that gives
us pleasure.
It is the hormone that our brain releases when we are learning something new and we
get a gesture or words of affirmation, like a pat in the back and “Well done” said
to us.
When a child is learning to walk, to ride a bike, do multiplication tables, learning
to read, to write, they need reinforcement.
Each time they get a positive reinforcement they release dopamine.
Adults also need dopamine to reinforce what they are doing right.
It is an important neurotransmitter for motivation.
That is why there are people addicted to social media, shopping, videogames, gambling, or
pornography.
The reward system will get a boost in dopamine with these activities.
If the person is addicted to social media, every time they get a “like” or a “subscriber”
they release dopamine.
Some people develop addiction to substances like nicotine in cigarettes, alcohol and drugs
like cocaine or heroine, cannabis or opioids.
But it is much easier to stop addiction to social media than it is to stop using substances.
When the person uses substances to get a peak of dopamine, there is a very strong link in
the brain, and it is very hard for them to stop taking these substances, because the
withdrawals are terrible.
But the other problem with addiction is that once the person experiences the dopamine peak
from these substances, they lose the interest in other activities in life because they do
not give the same high peak of dopamine than these substances give.
Dopamine is essential for life, we need dopamine to learn, to sleep, to process painful sensations
and get motivation.
There are some people who have a disease where their brains do not produce dopamine well,
and they develop stiff muscles, depressive mood, and they need to take prescription of
Levo dopa, a drug that will replace the natural dopamine they don’t produce anymore.
An example of a disease like this is Parkinson’s disease.
So, what are the natural ways to make our inner pharmacy to produce dopamine?
Dopamine is made from an amino acid called tyrosine, so eating more tyrosine in our diet
will help our brain to get the nutrients it needs to produce our dopamine: Foods rich
in tyrosine are: avocados, bananas, pumpkin seeds, soy, dairy foods like milk, cheese
and yogurt, and poultry meat.
People who suffer from sleep deprivation or those who have a bad night of sleep tend to
produce less dopamine.
That is why it is important to invest energy fixing your sleep.
I have another video about sleep efficiency if you want to learn more.
Other natural ways to produce dopamine include exercises and meditation.
Yes, the same things that stimulate endorphins.
What about serotonin?
Our brain’s inner pharmacy also produces serotonin from an amino-acid called tryptophan.
Serotonin is an essential substance to maintain our mood.
People with mood disorders may become too sad, or depressed, or too happy, known as
mania.
Serotonin is produced in the brainstem and is important not only for mood, but for memory,
for sleep, to respond to a dangerous situation, and many other body functions.
When a person has depression, I mean, they are not just sad because something bad happened.
This is not depression, this is normal sadness.
I mean depression as a disease; it means that the person has a profound sadness that is
independent of what is happening around them.
It is not because something bad happened, and they don’t get better if something happy
happens to them.
The disease of depression is diagnosed by a healthcare professional after an extensive
examination and exclusion of other health problems.
The disease of depression is related to low serotonin levels.
The depression can be classified into mild, moderate and severe.
Some people will need to take antidepressant medications to increase their levels of serotonin
in the brain.
Other people will need to be admitted to a hospital to receive treatment and to avoid
they do any harm to themselves or other people.
A person taking prescription antidepressants, for any reason, should not stop abruptly,
they need to talk to their doctor, whoever is prescribing their medication and discuss
if they can stop or not.
I have another video that I explain depression.
Check it here.
The treatment of depression involves the 6 Ps: pillow for sleep, plate for foods, physical
exercises, psychological therapy and pills for antidepressants.
Sleep hygiene is very important to regulate the production of serotonin.
Watch my other video about sleep efficiency.
Foods like complex carbohydrates, which are found in vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole
grains are excellent source of tryptophan.
Triptophan is also found in protein-based foods like meats and dairy.
There are other natural ways to increase the levels of serotonin, like exposure to nature,
sunlight and meditation.
The last substance that we will mention today are the endocannabinoids.
Our brain and brain stem produce endocannabinoids, and the most studied is anandamide.
I talk about anandamide in another video of cannabis for pain.
We still do not fully understand the endocannabinoid system.
We know that these endocannabinoids have a structure like the THC found in the cannabis
plant.
The endocannabinoid system is important in memory, learning, sleep, to tell us when we
are hungry, to relieve pain, to boost our mood and regulate fear and anxiety.
The endocannabinoid system is closely related to the endogenous opioids, dopamine and serotonin
substances that we talked before.
So, watch my videos of exercises here, to activate your inner pharmacy today.
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Good bye