You might not know it, but there is a chemical in your brain that has the power to make you happy. It’s called serotonin and a lack of this neurotransmitter can lead to depression. Knowing how serotonin works can help you understand why some people are more prone to this mood disorder than others.
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter (brain chemical) that plays an important role in mood regulation. Someone with low serotonin might feel irritable and moody, for example, while someone with high levels of the hormone could be sad without knowing why. Serotonin also affects appetite and sleep patterns, as well as sexual desire and muscle contractions. Most people have a balance of both happy-promoting feelings and unhappy-feeling ones like anger or sadness.
But when the ratio becomes skewed toward negative emotions, it may signal depression – one possible outcome from too little serotonin production over time. Unlike other conditions where there are chemicals to counteract these symptoms- such as antihistamines for allergies -there’s no way to stop excessive nerve cell.
