[00:00:01] Vesna: Welcome to the Peak Revival podcast. My name is Vesna. Today I'm gonna talk about the four neurotransmitters that stress destroys and how to restore them.
[00:00:11] So if you've been in a chronic state of stress, you will notice some changes physically, mentally, emotionally, focus-wise as well, and there's a reason for it. It's because chronic stress does break down our brain chemistry or our neurotransmitters. So I have a question for you to begin. Have you ever looked at your life which looks great on paper and wonder why you feel nothing?
[00:00:32] Or where you can't switch off, but you also can't switch on? So these are very much symptoms related to neurotransmitter depletion, and I'm gonna go into more detail with it. So basically we have different types of neurotransmitters and they are either, one, excitatory, so they rev the brain up, or they're inhibitory, and so they calm the brain down.
[00:00:58] so we need to have a balance, right? So the excitatory ones give us focus and drive and motivation and brain energy and our passion for work. We go into a flow state. We can work for long periods of time and keep our focus and motivation. So these are things like your dopamine and norepinephrine.
[00:01:15] And then we have the inhibitory neurotransmitters which help to calm the brain down, so kind of put on the brakes. They prevent anxiety and overwhelm and all that looping kind of worry and negative thinking and concentration and clarity. And so the ones that we're thinking about here are, like, your serotonin and your GABA.
[00:01:34] Now, your excitatory is like the, the gas, the accelerator, and the inhibitory neurotransmitters are like the brake. And so obviously we need a balance of both because if we have, you know, we go too much into one, our brain starts to get too revved up, or if we go tip into the inhibitory, then it's too calm and we've got very low mood and poor focus.
[00:01:57] And so I'm gonna explain which [00:02:00] ones do what, and without looking at it from a supplementation, because a lot of what drives the imbalance in the neurotransmitters is chronic stress, so chronic sympathetic nervous dominance where our body's producing adrenaline and cortisol long-term, which is actually causing the disruption of these brain neurotransmitters.
[00:02:19] And so really the longer we're in stress, the more of these neurotransmitters we use up. It's just like when we're stressed, we use up a lot of B vitamins, but we also burn off a lot of these neurotransmitters. And unless we're putting things into place to switch off that stress response and start to restore those neurotransmitters, it's going to be very hard to rebalance them and to start to feel like ourselves again.
[00:02:42] So firstly, high stress burns off a lot of our inhibitory neurotransmitters, our serotonin and our GABA. So they keep the brain calm. And so then we start to feel anxious and overwhelmed. You can find it very hard to switch out of work mode, right? Or to switch your brain off. You get stuck in negative [00:03:00] thought loops, so you're, you're stuck on the negative.
[00:03:02] Your mind's looping around, especially at nighttime. You've got low mood that's hard to explain or to even shake. You've got heightened sensitivity, so things that never used to really trigger you, trigger you now, and there's also a craving for sugar and carbohydrates because of this low serotonin.
[00:03:18] So that's when you've burnt out a lot of your serotonin and GABA, right? Those inhibitory neurotransmitters. So when they're burnt out, those are the symptoms that you get, but we also get symptoms when we burn out a lot of the excitatory ones as well.
[00:03:33] those are the things that rev the brain up. So we're looking at loss of passion in our work, low motivation. Low motivation even for our purpose, if that's your work or if your work feels like your purpose. We get brain fog that feels like dementia.
[00:03:44] We're procrastinating. Nothing feels like it's worth starting or doing, and you can't explain why. You feel mentally dull despite being intelligent. You've got endless scrolling because you're looking for that hit of neurotransmitters through your social media apps. You're looping. You've [00:04:00] got unproductive thinking, and you just feel flat, and you can't really quite put your finger on why.
[00:04:05] So these neurotransmitters don't deplete in isolation, so it's kind of like a cascade effect. you know, as stress becomes chronic, so anything over three months, we're going to start using a lot of those neurotransmitters, and naturally they become low, okay? So if we're not doing anything to kind of rebalance our lifestyle out, they are not going to replenish, and they'll just get lower and lower, and our symptoms get worse.
[00:04:26] So if this is you, if you've been in a state of chronic stress and you recognise some of these symptoms and you really can't understand why you're feeling like this, maybe you're judging yourself because you're normally quite high achieving and you, you can push through certain emotions, but you're in a place now where you can't push through this, and this is why.
[00:04:45] And so it's very hard to beat our biochemistry. So when there is imbalances, we just simply don't have the chemistry or the nutrition there to rely on these things to keep us calm and keep us, you know, high achieving [00:05:00] because we've burnt through them all. Okay, and so if this is you, then n- you know, use this information and this episode as a permission or even the warning that you need to take your depletion seriously.
[00:05:12] Because we have… You know, one of the things I grew up with in my family was that when it comes to mental wellbeing, don't… Like, we, we have this thing in my family. We say, “Don't ever let, allow yourself to fall too low that you can't get out of the hole,” like you can't pick yourself back up, right? So if you're noticing you've got these patterns of low mood or loss of passion, low motivation, you're unhappy even though your life looks pretty good, then really start to take those symptoms seriously as a depletion and something that requires support.
[00:05:41] Okay, so before I go through them, this is not about hacking one neurotransmitter at a time because we're all very much related, and it's due to chronic stress, chronic stress hormones, and a dysregulated nervous system. And so a lot of these habits will start to help to regulate the nervous system. So the first neurotransmitter is dopamine, okay?
[00:05:58] It's gonna [00:06:00] reignite your drive without feeling burnt out, right? So give you a nice healthy dose of drive. And so dopamine is triggered when we set a goal and we achieve a goal. So what often happens in high-performing women is that they're achieving goals all the time. They don't stop to acknowledge them, and so therefore we're not getting that dopamine hit when you don't acknowledge it.
[00:06:20] So I talked about this on, the Winning Effect, another podcast, but not so much about dopamine. So if this is you, if you find yourself, you've achieved a lot, but you don't actually stop to acknowledge and really enjoy the win, the success, and the achievement, then you're not allowing your brain to spike that dopamine.
[00:06:38] So you're not, it's not gonna restore itself. It's not gonna restore that circuitry. And so if you're feeling that state where you're really burnt out, now you don't have to set big goals. It can be such micro goals, but to still stop and acknowledge that you've achieved it. Like, done. I've finished that piece of work.
[00:06:53] I'm closing down that tab. Yes, I'm done. I feel good about that, right? So it's not about pushing harder. It's about just [00:07:00] acknowledging the achievements that you're making right now
[00:07:03] So doing task completion rituals, so anything that hel- makes you to feel good that once you've completed a task, at the end of the day, crossing something off your list, yelling out, “I'm done,” whatever it is, right? Does help to trigger dopamine. You also want to have some novelty in your day. Don't have your day completely the same routine.
[00:07:23] Like, mix it up. Wake up in the morning, go for a walk in a different location, get your coffee somewhere else, pick your laptop up, take it and work somewhere else. Whatever it is that can add some novelty to your day.
[00:07:34] And then the last thing which is really important is reducing the things that drain dopamine. So we know that being on social media apps absolutely drains dopamine, but so does alcohol and ultra-processed foods. As our dopamine becomes low, we can tend to more addictive behaviors because of that low dopamine, okay?
[00:07:52] So be really wary of that. Make sure your diet's really good. You're not eating out. You're cooking at home. You're eating, you know, natural whole foods that you're [00:08:00] preparing yourself. Minimize or completely reduce the alcohol, and really minimize being on the apps as well.
[00:08:05] So the next one is serotonin, and it's about building your steadiness, your strength, and your sense of belonging. And so serotonin is really responsive to your lifestyle, and one of the symptoms that I see for women who have low serotonin and may not realize it is that they can't receive a compliment, they can't acknowledge a win, and they can't let somebody help them, okay?
[00:08:25] So if you, this is you, then you may have low serotonin, and it's really easy to start increasing your serotonin. Number one, seeing some morning sunlight, okay? Very underrated, but probably more popular now, but so important, right? We're not designed to have no sunlight, and we're certainly not designed to get on our phone first thing in the morning and check our emails or social media.
[00:08:48] We are designed, via our brain and our circadian rhythm, to see morning sun immediately. And so this is one of the ways that we can start to replenish our serotonin. Along with movement, walking, [00:09:00] yoga, any kind of movement does help to create more serotonin. Number three, a really important one is gut health.
[00:09:07] So most of our serotonin is produced in our gut. And so this is one of the ways that we help women in our programs is by restoring gut health so you are having that proper serotonin production. And so a lot of the times when women are stressed, they feel bloated, they feel not good in their bellies because of that stress component, because of cortisol, but also because of low serotonin production.
[00:09:30] And then social connection, so making sure that you have your community, your friends or people that you catch up with, because being in those circles actually helps us to produce more serotonin.
[00:09:43] Okay, so we've covered dopamine and serotonin. The next one is GABA. And so we are looking at these individually, but they do work as a whole, and you'll see that there is some overlaps, and I'll summarize this at the end. So you're looking at to restore GABA. GABA is like the brakes. And so you can take a GABA supplement or a glycine supplement to increase GABA.[00:10:00]
[00:10:00] But GABA helps to prevent or reduce anxiety, so it's like the brakes on the brain when we need it. And so the way that we increase GABA naturally is through slow breathwork, box breathing, meditation, yoga, slow movements, anything that slows us down, right? Because cortisol is burning through, um, a lot of our GABA, and so therefore our brain just becomes more prone to anxiety.
[00:10:24] And the final one is norepinephrine. So this is a neurotransmitter that's, um, released by the brain and the nervous system due to sympathetic state. So it's, it's telling the rest of the body that you're going into a fight or flight mode. And so small amounts are actually, okay because it's excitatory.
[00:10:43] It helps to restore our focus. But high amounts will put us into a fight or flight mode, right? Most of this is about reducing demand on our system. And so when we do that, we can restore our focus. And so little things like single tasking, not multitasking. Multitasking will burn off more of your neurotrans- uh, more of [00:11:00] your norepinephrine. Whereas if you're doing one thing at a time, completing that one thing at a time, mapping out your day.
[00:11:05] The way I do, I map out my day With the times and how long it's gonna take me to do something. And it may take longer, and then I adjust my schedule. But I have it down on paper, not on my l- calendar because then I'm going back to look at my computer every time and get sidetracked by something else. But, you know, a pad and paper next to me with exactly what I need to get done for that day, and then crossing off my list and just being very single tasking or single focused.
[00:11:33] Couple of dietary ones for norepinephrine is making sure that you have protein at breakfast. Protein, such as eggs, Greek yogurt, and things like that help to increase tyrosine, which helps with norepinephrine production. So making sure that your breakfast is not just carbohydrates, but you are including some protein with it, even a protein smoothie, protein powder or a collagen powder with- mixed with fruits.
[00:11:57] But also reducing your caffeine because that will [00:12:00] again deplete your nor- norepinephrine. So I always recommend caffeine later if you're gonna have it, but make sure you have the breakfast first.
[00:12:08] And then the last one for that is getting out in nature because your brain really restores norepinephrine when you're out in nature and you're slowing down and you're in the fresh air, right? So a lot of these habits, as you can see, really do overlap. And so if we were to overlap… You know, if I was to give you a plan and say, “Look, this is what you would need to do to increase or replenish your neurotransmitters.”
[00:12:32] I won't say increase. Replenish. One would be movement, so getting out there walking, doing something different. Don't do the same routine. Don't go to the, on the same walk every day. don't do the same thing at the gym, whatever. Just mix it up, right? So movement, especially outdoors. Making sure that you get good quality sleep.
[00:12:49] So when we sleep, our body is in restorative mode, okay? Our brain, uh, resets. Our brain detoxifies. We have the ability to start replenishing our [00:13:00] neurotransmitters. Get social connection. Don't just be all about work. Don't be antisocial. Even if you don't have the energy or the mood to go out and see your friends, absolutely do it.
[00:13:09] It will start to replenish your neurotransmitters. Avoid artificial stimulation. Blue light in the morning when you wake up. Go out and get some natural sunlight. Too much blue light during the day without enough sun breaks, okay? And so when you go out in the sun, it has to be without glasses. It can't be behind glass either, right?
[00:13:28] You've gotta be in the sun to get the benefits of that. And the last thing is completing small tasks, single tasks, and acknowledging them, right? So really acknowledging your wins to get that boost in your circuitry. is what we evolved doing, okay? This, this is not rocket science, okay? But we have moved so far away from nature.
[00:13:47] We have moved so far away from our environment because we live in chronic states of stress, we live on devices all day long, we don't see the sun, we eat processed foods, we drink alcohol then to calm us down. So [00:14:00] we've moved so far away from our environment that we can no longer rebalance ourselves, okay?
[00:14:06] So as we move back to our normal evolution of being a part of nature more, our body can rebalance itself automatically without so much intervention because that's what we were designed for.
[00:14:19] So I know that was a lot to take in, and I'm gonna give you a PDF to take away with you just to kind of, walk through those neurotransmitters and how you can increase them or replenish them, and the difference that it's gonna make to the way that you show up each day, right? You don't wanna be showing up each day feeling low and can't be bothered, and you can't really put your finger on it, right?
[00:14:38] There is a way to rebalance that, and it's really important because I see a lot of burnt-out women who think that because there's so much mental stuff going on here, right? The low moods, the low motivation, the low drive, and the negative looping, uh, with the thoughts, it looks like a mental problem, right?
[00:14:57] So maybe you go to talk therapy, or you [00:15:00] set more boundaries, or you change your job completely, or you quit your career, right? Which I'm hearing a lot of. But really you need to restore these neurotransmitters in order for you to feel back at 100%. Okay? So I hope this was helpful.
