Sunlight serotonin and Endorphin boosts

Serotonin, maybe a word we have all heard of but have never actually understood the science behind it.

So let’s dive into the science and gain an understanding of what endorphins actually are. The process starts when your body feels pain, anxiety or stress and will subconsciously release these endorphins, (chemicals), released during enjoyable activities and anytime when something makes you feel happy. Essentially, these hormones are an instant mood booster sent from the pituitary glands in the brain, Cleveland, and allow any pain felt within our body to be blocked. Consequently, if your body is not producing enough endorphins you are exposed to increased body pain, anxiety, depression and maybe even insomnia.

Moving onto serotonin, it is important to stress that serotonin is not an endorphin. Yes, both endorphins and serotonin work to boost your mood, but serotonin does this in a different way from the endorphins that we have just read.

So now let us learn the basics about serotonin. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter. What is this you may ask? A neurotransmitter works by passing messages to your body from the nerve cells in your brain, telling your body how to work, Cleveland.

How does serotonin positively control my body?

• IT REGULATES YOUR MOOD- Imagine a spectrum, low levels of serotonin relate to an unstable mood potentially reaching depression, high levels of serotonin will make you feel on a happiness high and normal levels of serotonin will keep your mood stable and calm.
• IMPROVES DIGESTION- A large percentage of the body’s serotonin is found in the digestive system as serotonin helps within the process of digesting what we eat.
• HELPS THE QUALITY OF SLEEP- Serotonin helps and has a large impact on how long our body allows us to sleep for and the quality of this sleep. It also helps with the production of melatonin which is a regulator of our sleep cycle.
• HEALS WOUNDS FASTER- Serotonin helps with slowing down the blood flow and consequently forming blood clots, meaning that any open wound can be healed faster.
• STRENGTHENS OUR BONES- Too much serotonin can actually make our bones more fragile, so our body controls the levels of serotonin here perfectly to ensure we are not prone to fractures or broken bones.

Now focusing on the first 2 words of this article; Sunlight serotonin. The amount of serotonin in our body can actually be increased by what we do in our day to day lives, one example being exposure to sunlight.

There are actually many ways sunlight boosts serotonin, one being through the circadian rhythm, which controls our sleep cycle. When this is boosted, simultaneously serotonin levels increase. A second way sunlight boosts serotonin is through the exposure to the UV rays which within the body is converted to vitamin D, a vitamin we know is essential for our health.

A clinical trial in 2023 showed that 9 minutes of direct sunlight exposure per day drastically reduced signs of depression, Brown. As previously explained, due to the increase of serotonin which regulates our mood.

Now there are many more ways for serotonin to be boosted, all of which can be found with a bit of research online. But for now, get outside and enjoy that 9 minute blast of sunlight and feel the serotonin work its magic. Then why not treat yourself to a self-care evening with the help of FOREO. The serotonin and endorphins will be practically radiating from you!

More about regulating our hormones can be found in one of my previous articles Happiness Hormone, let’s engage it.

Our experts:

Cleveland clinic, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/23040-endorphins

Cleveland clinic, Serotonin: What Is It, Function & Levels (clevelandclinic.org)

Brown, How to Increase Serotonin Naturally: 10 Remedies (verywellhealth.com)