Getting regular exercise and making sure you can soak in some sunshine are easy ways to make sure your serotonin level maintains a healthy balance.

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The importance of the neurotransmitter serotonin in affecting mood has been widely acknowledged in numerous studies linking low brain levels of this key chemical with depression, anxiety, and irritability. Now, scientists are reporting another significant role the neurotransmitter plays in the brain—that of promoting memory and cognition.

Inadequate brain levels of serotonin (also known as 5-hydroxytryptamine, or 5-HT) may be responsible for declines in cognitive function associated with aging, as well as the development of certain psychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), according to recent data. (See “Serotonin Deficiency Symptoms That You Can Identify Yourself.”)

Serotonin Research Details

The research, published online in May 2016 in Translational Neuroscience, is a review of 189 studies dealing with serotonin’s role in cognition. Researchers concluded that developing drugs that reverse cognitive deficits by acting on serotonin targets in the brain “would result in the substantial improvement of the quality of life of patients with age-related cognitive impairments and other diseases with a significant component of memory dysfunction, such as AD… .”

“Although researchers have not definitively proven a cause-and-effect relationship between low brain levels of serotonin and problems with mood and cognition, they have found significant links between an insufficiency of the neurotransmitter and these problems,” says David Mischoulon, MD, PhD, Director of Research and Alternative Remedy Studies at MGH’s Depression Clinical and Research Program. “The data suggest that to function optimally, people need adequate brain levels of this chemical, which interacts with brain cells and stimulates receptors that have to do with memory and mood. Fortunately, research indicates that there are a number of actions people can take to help boost brain levels of serotonin.”

Boosting Serotonin

Scientists have identified a number of natural ways to increase serotonin levels. Here are five easy-to-adopt strategies.

1. Exercise. Vigorous aerobic exercise delivers a double benefit. It raises brain levels of a growth factor called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which stimulates serotonin production. It also enables a precursor to serotonin, tryptophan, to enter the brain in larger amounts, where it promotes the manufacture of more serotonin. The benefits of exercise last long after your workout, elevating mood and sharpening your brain.
2. Meditation. Spending about 20 minutes a day in peaceful meditation—during which time you attempt to relax fully, concentrate on your breathing, and empty your mind of all thoughts and feelings—has been shown in multiple studies to increase brain serotonin levels.
3. Exposure to sunlight. Exposure to sunlight through the retina of the eye sets off positive hormonal reactions that lead to increases in serotonin. Sunlight also prompts the production of serotonin in human skin, increasing overall levels of the neurotransmitter. So significant is sunlight’s effect on the brain that too little exposure to sunlight—which may occur, for example, in many northern climes in winter—has been linked with a form of depression called seasonal affective disorder (SAD). SAD is often addressed with daily full-spectrum light therapy provided by lamps capable of delivering brightness comparable to that of full daylight.
4. Diet. Although up to 95 percent of the body’s serotonin is manufactured in the gut, much of this supply does not reach the brain. Still, what you eat appears to have a significant effect on brain serotonin levels. For example, certain gut bacteria appear to help increase brain levels of serotonin. Probiotic foods that supply these bacteria include pickles, sauerkraut, yogurt with active cultures, and kefir. Another food—the spice turmeric, which contains curcumin—has been shown to increase the concentration and prolong the activity of serotonin in the brain. Foods containing high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, such as cold-water fish, flaxseed oil, and walnuts, are also thought to boost serotonin levels. (Alcohol, in constrast, is known to reduce serotonin levels.)
5. Mental attitude. Research suggests that working to replace negative thoughts and reactions with more positive thoughts and reactions helps boost the production of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin levels also appear to rise if you make an effort to adopt more self-confident body postures and facial expressions.