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thealesstudiesmed · 3 years

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Know your Neurotransmitters

You’ve probably heard about oxytocin in relation to hugging, dopamine in terms of addiction and serotonin in relation to depression. Neurotransmitters are crucial for all sorts of operations in your brain, including mood, appetite and movement. When dysregulated they can lead to undesirable outcomes, including mood disorders like depression and bipolar disorder, addiction and substance use disorders, and psychosis.

You may hear that ‘people with depression have a serotonin shortage’ or ‘addiction is caused by dopamine dysregulation’, and whilst that has some basis in science, the workings of these chemical messengers are somewhat mysterious and definitely more complex than that. Disorders are caused by a number of interactions and neurotransmitters, but for the sake of understanding, let’s keep it simple! In this article we’ll focus on those that are most commonly associated with mood and mental health: serotonin, dopamine, GABA, norepinephrine, oxytocin, and endorphins.

What are neurotransmitters?

Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that communicate between the neurons in your brain. Whenever you think, move, learn, feel, perceive or do pretty much anything at all (even when you think you’re doing nothing), electrochemical impulses are rushing along pathways of neurons to make things happen. There are approximately 86 billion neurons in the brain and they do not actually touch each other! Instead they have small synapses where they ‘connect’, gaps of about 40 nanometres between them. For context, there are one million nanometres in a millimetre! The presynaptic (sending) neuron releases these neurotransmitters into the gap, which are picked up by the postsynaptic (receiving) neuron, triggering a response. All this happens a LOT faster than you can say ‘Give me the happy ones please brain!’

Serotonin: The Moody One

We mostly hear about serotonin with regard to mood, particularly that low levels cause depression. People who take antidepressant drugs, are likely to be taking SSRIs — Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors — which work by preventing presynaptic neurons from taking back the serotonin they release into the synapse so there is more available for the brain to use. As well as mood, serotonin is involved in appetite, sleep, memory, impulse inhibition and sexual desire. If you’re low on it, you might experience depression, anxiety, aggression, irritability, impulsivity, insomnia or poor appetite.

How to get enough

The essential ingredient for serotonin is tryptophan, found in salmon, eggs, spinach and seeds, or available as a supplement. Other players in the synthesis and regulation processes include magnesium, zinc, vitamins D, B6, B12 and L-methionine, and deficiencies in any of these could affect your serotonin availability.

How to ‘hack’ it for happiness

Giving, receiving or even witnessing an act of kindness boosts your serotonin, as does sunlight, exercise, and getting a massage.

Dopamine: The Hedonistic One

Dopamine is most commonly discussed for its role in pleasure, reward and motivation. The neurons in your brain that go crazy when you eat cake, have sex, or take drugs are full of dopamine receptors. It is involved in motivation, satisfaction and reward-driven behaviour, as well as movement, sleep, mood and learning. Too much dopamine is linked to aggression, poor impulse control, binge eating, addiction, and has been linked to psychosis and hallucinations in schizophrenia. Low dopamine is seen in movement disorders like Parkinson’s Disease, and may also result in low motivation, energy and sex drive, brain fog, and mood swings.

How to get enough

Dopamine is made from Tyrosine, which your body creates from phenylalanine, which can be found in meat, fish, eggs, tofu, almonds, avocadoes, milk, nuts and seeds. Tyrosine is also available as a supplement. Other players in the dopamine game that you’ll want to get enough of include copper, iron, and vitamins B3, B6, B9, and C. When you eat food that is high in sugar you’ll get a surge of dopamine, however this can lead to the same kind of desensitisation and tolerance as a drug addiction, with your brain needing more and more to get the same dopaminalicious reward. Poor sleep and chronic stress will also deplete your dopamine.

How to ‘hack’ it for productivity

Dopamine’s main purpose is actually motivation rather than pleasure, making sure you enjoy activities like eating and reproducing so you continue to do them. Think about how enjoyable it is planning a holiday, or clothes shopping for a hot date you’re excited about. Set goals, and use your pleasurable dopamine-surge activities as rewards instead of distractions.

GABA: The Chill One

Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA) is that neurotransmitter that walks into the chaos and reminds everyone to relax. It is inhibitory, produces a calming effect, reducing anxiety, stress and fear, and helping you sleep. Benzodiazepines like Valium work by enhancing the effect of GABA. If you don’t have enough you may suffer from panic, anxiety and even seizures. GABA is produced naturally in the brain, and low levels can be caused by an inadequate diet, genetics and prolonged stress.

How to get enough

Vitamin B6 is essential for GABA production. You can buy GABA as a food supplement, but scientists aren’t convinced it actually does anything.

How to ‘hack’ it for relaxation

It probably won’t surprise you that yoga, meditation and deep breathing improve your GABA functions. You’ll get the best results if you incorporate them as a regular practice, rather than just when you need them.

Norepinephrine: The Alert One (also known as noradrenaline)

Multitasking norepinephrine functions as a neurotransmitter and a hormone, released into the blood in response to stress. It is involved in attention and alarm response, including the body’s fight or flight response, to help mobilise you for action in the face of danger. It is also implicated in emotions, sleeping, dreaming and is important for memory and learning. Low levels are associated with lethargy, lack of focus and attention, and depression. Overactivity can amplify our normal stress reactions and cause symptoms like anxiety, insomnia, irritability and mood swings.

How to get enough (and regulate it)

Norepinephrine is made from dopamine! It starts with phenylalanine, and goes one step further than dopamine, requiring all the ingredients dopamine requires, and then oxygen and vitamin C to undertake that next transformation. Chronic stress causes prolonged activation of the norepinephrine system, which uses up all your resources, stealing energy from your healing and maintenance systems to prepare for this apparent ongoing threat. Finding ways to reduce stress (see GABA: The Chill One) will regulate your norepinephrine.

How to ‘hack’ it for attention and memory

Coffee’ll do it!

Oxytocin: The Loving One

Oxytocin is both a hormone and a neuropeptide. A neuropeptide is like a large-sized neurotransmitter, and is usually associated with slow, prolonged effects instead of quick ones. Oxytocin is known as ‘the love hormone’ and induces feelings of affection and trust, while inhibiting the brain’s fear response. There you go… this is probably the scientific basis for that hippy notion of fear being the opposite of love! It plays a crucial role in childbirth, breastfeeding, and parental bonding.

How to get enough of it

You can purchase oxytocin as a nasal spray, and it has been shown to promote trust, kindness, emotion recognition and sensitivity. But beware the ‘dark side’ of the cuddle chemical… a 2009 study has shown it can also increase aggression, envy, jealousy and gloating!

How to hack it for those loving feelings

Some studies have shown you can increase oxytocin by meditating, patting your dog or hugging.

Endorphins: The Feelgood One

Most famous for their part in the ‘runner’s high’, endorphins are another neuropeptide. When you feel amazing after a good workout, that’s your endorphins in action. They act as a natural pain reliever, working on the same neuroreceptors as opiates like morphine. They are released as a response to stress or pain, and also during eating, exercising and sex. They improve your mood, lower your stress and boost your self-esteem.

How to get enough of them

Endorphins are produced naturally in the body. We don’t know a lot about endorphin deficiency, but some studies have shown they can become depleted through habitual alcohol use or after traumatic experiences.

How to ‘hack’ them for good feels

You can give yourself a boost of endorphins by eating dark chocolate or something spicy, having a glass of wine, creating music, dancing, doing a workout, meditating, getting a massage, having a sauna or volunteering. Even just having a good laugh will get them working, so watching a good comedy might give you what you need.

Just to reiterate, this is a simplistic explanation and neurotransmitters work in complex ways with each other, with hormones, and with various parts of the body and brain to create different moods and psychological states. We still have a lot to learn about the true nature of these interactions — the brain is a fun and complicated thing to study! But there’s nothing to lose in friending up with your neurotransmitters and giving them the nutrition and stimulus to encourage them. They might even reward you with those oh-so-good brain feels we like so much.

By Larissa Wright (Medium). Gif by AnatomyLearn. Illustration by Compound Interest.

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thealesstudiesmed · 5 years

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Como hacer apuntes en Ipad o Tableta :)

Hoy en dia, el avance tecnológico nos ha permitido incluso dejar de usar papel para muchos campos, los periódicos, libros y revistas están disponibles digitalmente, por eso, si estas pensando en adquirir un iPad o Tablet para tomar tus apuntes, aquí una guía de como hacerlo, aprendido por medio del ensayo y error :) Antes de todo debes saber esto:

Compra una buena tablet y un buen lápiz digital

Esta compra no puede ser facil para nosotros, como estudiantes no todo el tiempo contamos con los recursos necesarios para adquirir un buen dispositivo, pero si tu objetivo es tomar apuntes para tu universidad/trabajo/colegio, es mucho mejor que ahorres para un buen equipo, recuerda los gastos de papeleria que ahorraras, tu espalda no cargara pesados cuadernos, la facil personalización de tus apuntes (insertar imagenes facilmente, cambiar el color, hacer lineas sin regla,etc...),ademas de ayudar al medio ambiente. Es una compra muy util, por eso debes invertir tu dinero en un dispositivo que te ofrezca calidad. Yo me compre un iPad new de 9.7¨ diseñado para estudiantes junto al apple pencil que te ofrece un trazo muy preciso, hasta ahora he tenido una excelente experiencia.

No sera facil acoplarse

El papel es a lo que todos estamos acostumbrados, y puede llegar a ser incomodo sentir una pantalla fria o que tu mano no se deslice con tanta facilidad como en el papel, por eso es necesario que antes de tomar apuntes en clase con tu tablet hagas varios intentos en casa, con calma, para irte acostumbrando y moldeando :)

Compra una app para tomar apuntes

Personalmente recomiendo comprar una app para tomar apuntes, las apps gratuitas pueden ser de utilidad pero no te ofrecen las mismas herramientas que una app de pago, recomiendo mucho goodnotes y noteshelf, haces un solo pago, tienes la app por siempre y cuentas con todo tipo de herramientas, resaltadores, bolígrafos, borrador etc..

Ahora que ya sabes esto, puedes comenzar a aprender a tomar apuntes, te enseñare como lo hago yo, y así tendrás un ejemplo que seguir para complementarlo con lo que mejor te funcione!

1.Escoge el papel

La app que compres tendrá varios tipos de papel, en todos los tamaños posibles, el mas común es el A4, es por esto que debes tomar en cuenta en que tipo de papel te sientes mas cómoda, sientes que tus apuntes quedan mejor y aprovechas el máximo espacio posible, si es el papel rayado, con cuadros, o mi favorito el papel punteado. Recuerda que esto definirá la calidad de tus apuntes por ejemplo, yo pierdo mucho mas espacio al anotar en papel rayado que en cuadriculado!

2.Diseña el titulo

Puedes descargar apps que tengas fuentes predeterminadas y hacer el titulo aparte, te recomiendo Over y Canvas, tambien puedes ir a dafont.com buscar la fuente que mas te guste, tomarle un screenshot a la vista previa y recortar a la forma con la app de notas y por ultimo puedes inspirarte en pinterest y hacerlo a mano, ya sea simple o dándola con el lettering. Tu decides :)

3.Decide como vas a anotar

En mi caso me tomo un tiempo aprender que si quiero aprovechar el máximo espacio debo anotar a dos columnas, puedes hacerlo así, o anotar en una sola columna, también puedes hacer una plantilla como el papel japones, para imprimirlo y que se vea lo mas kiut posible (lol)

4.Ten a la mano el buscador

En el sistema ios, basta con deslizar el dedo para que el buscador aparezca a un lado de los apuntes, con esto puedes hacer búsquedas rápidas de información que necesites, o incluso arrastrar imágenes de google directamente a tus apuntes de forma rápida, esto mejorara tus apuntes considerablemente y tu manera de entender un tema.

5.Abre la información que necesites en la misma app

En goodnotes también puedes exportar pdf así, si tienes el libro que necesitas en formato pdf, abrirlo en la app es muy sencillo, podrás hacer recortes del libro y copiar imágenes o texto directamente del libro a tus apuntes! marcarlo, o abrir 2 pestañas y hacer el resumen al mismo tiempo que lo lees todo en el mismo dispositivo!

6.Comienza a anotar!

Ahora que ya sabes todo el provecho que les puedes sacar! te animo a que disfrutes de esta experiencia, las posibilidades son infinitas y con el tiempo iras perfeccionando tu técnica para anotar hábilmente en el papel digital, te sera muy util! Te lo recomiendo! Gracias por leer :) sigueme en instagram como @ the.alestudies

#study #studyblr #study blog #student #studyinspo #ipad #study notes #notes #notas #apuntes #blog #inspiration

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