• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

everywomanover29

Food, Mood and Women's Health – Be your healthiest, look and feel great!

  • Blog
  • About
  • Services
  • Store
  • Resources
  • Testimonials
  • Media
  • The Book
  • Contact

happy

5-HTP can raise salivary cortisol: does this cause a “wired-tired” feeling?

August 14, 2020 By Trudy Scott 8 Comments

5-htp salivary

Are you aware that 5-HTP – an amino acid supplement that supports serotonin levels – can raise cortisol levels and leave you feeling “wired-tired”? You may be able to relate to this if you’ve ever used 5-HTP to help with anxiety and insomnia and ended up feeling more anxious and more wide-awake despite your exhaustion and need for sleep. You feel “wired-tired” and it’s not pleasant at all.

Both 5-HTP and tryptophan, used as supplements, help to boost serotonin levels so you can feel happy, calm, sleep well and not crave carbs in the afternoon/evening. They also help with panic attacks and phobias, lack of confidence, depression, negativity, imposter syndrome, PMS, irritability, anger issues, pain/fibromyalgia, TMJ and anger. I typically have my clients with low serotonin symptoms start with a trial of tryptophan because I see such excellent results with this amino acid. That being said, some people simply do better on one versus the other and you may do better with 5-HTP.

However there is one big caveat with 5-HTP. I don’t recommend 5-HTP when a client has elevated cortisol levels because we know that it can raise cortisol levels in certain individuals. This can leave you feeling agitated, cranky, as well as wired and yet tired at the same time.

In this 2002 study, L-5-hydroxytryptophan induced increase in salivary cortisol in panic disorder patients and healthy volunteers

Salivary cortisol levels were measured in 24 panic disorder patients and 24 healthy volunteers, following ingestion of 200 mg L-5-hydroxytryptophan or placebo.

The experiment was carried out in the afternoon, “when basal cortisol secretion is more stable.” The first saliva sample was obtained at 1pm and the subjects ingested the 200mg 5-HTP at 2pm. Additional saliva samples were obtained at 2:30pm, 3:00pm and 3:30pm.

They report the following:

A significant rise in cortisol was observed in both patients and controls following ingestion of L-5-hydroxytryptophan. No such effects were seen in the placebo condition.

Here are a few additional comments and my thoughts:

  • This study was done to find evidence for “serotonin receptor hypersensitivity in panic disorder” and not specifically to test for the effects of 5-HTP on cortisol levels but it serves this purpose rather nicely (and it’s one of many similar studies, some of which measure plasma cortisol levels)
  • Keep in mind 200mg of 5-HTP is a large starting dose. It’s typical to start with 50mg so may be a factor to consider
  • In this study they did not assess cortisol levels beyond the 1.5 hours from ingestion of the 5-HTP. It would have been useful to see when levels started to go down
  • We would want to consider the ramifications of using 5-HTP for weeks (whether it’s 50 or 200mg). What impact would that have on cortisol and the adrenals? (I am not aware of a study like this having been done)
  • I’m also not aware of a study being done with 50mg but if you feel worse and feel “wired-tired” with 5-HTP and switch to tryptophan (the equivalent starting dose is 500mg) and your anxiety and other low serotonin symptoms resolve then you have found your solution
  • You may be wondering: “could I use 5-HTP to raise my low cortisol levels”? Theoretically yes and possibly very short-term. But I would question the timing since 5-HTP and tryptophan are best dosed mid-afternoon and later. This is when we would expect our cortisol levels to be on the downward slope as we end our day. I’d also want to nourish the adrenals with B vitamins and herbal adaptogen and remove the trigger/s that are leading to low cortisol.

If you suspect low serotonin symptoms and are new to using the amino acids and do not have my book I highly recommend getting it and reading it before jumping in to taking supplements: The Antianxiety Food Solution – How the Foods You Eat Can Help You Calm Your Anxious Mind, Improve Your Mood, and End Cravings.

There is a complete chapter on the amino acids and one for pyroluria, plus information on real whole food, sugar and blood sugar, gluten, digestion and much more.  If you’re not a reader there is now also an audible version.

Here is the Amino Acids Mood Questionnaire from The Antianxiety Food Solution and additional information on Anxiety and targeted individual amino acid supplements: a summary

Please also read and follow these Amino Acid Precautions.

This lists The Antianxiety Food Solution Amino Acid and Pyroluria Supplements that I use with my individual clients and those in my group programs.

Have you used 5-HTP with success? Or have you used it and felt “wired-tired”? Have you correlated the success or failure of your 5-HTP use with your salivary cortisol levels?

If you switched from 5-HTP to tryptophan did you have success with that?

If you’re a practitioner is this something you see with your clients/patients and take into consideration?

Feel free to post your questions here too.

Filed Under: Antianxiety Tagged With: 5-HTP, adrenals, amino acid, anger, anger issues, calm, cortisol, depression, Fibromyalgia, happy, Imposter syndrome, irritability, L-5-hydroxytryptophan, negativity, pain, panic attacks, Panic disorder, phobias, PMS, serotonin, sleep, TMJ, tryptophan, wired-tired

Green tree-lined streets reduce anxiety, making you feel more positive and calm, improving your attention and help with recovery from stressful situations.

January 11, 2019 By Trudy Scott 8 Comments

I’m a nature-lover and don’t need to be told that seeing trees or walking under them or driving along a tree-lined street has research supporting their benefits. I just feel the sense of wonderment, the calming effects and a heightened sense of joy and pleasure as soon as I’m in amongst trees in a street like the one above.

This is a quiet side street in the small town of Richmond in NSW, Australia. It runs perpendicular to a really busy road that heads up to North Richmond and beyond. Now the traffic doesn’t come close to comparing with Los Angeles traffic but for a small town it can be rather hectic from 4pm. If we happen to be heading towards North Richmond, we always take a detour along this wonderful tree-lined road and other similar tree-lined roads to get to where we’re going. As well as avoiding the bumper to bumper traffic we get this sense of ahhhhh!

I mentioned that I don’t need to be told there is research supporting the calming effects of tree lined-roads. But you know me: I’m always curious about the science so when I heard there was research I was of course intrigued about it and wanted to understand why they make us feel so good.

Here is some of the research I found: In Benefits of nature: what we are learning about why people respond to nature we discover that in general we respond in a positive way to nature and to trees in particular, especially “trees with spreading forms” reminiscent of trees on the African savanna. I was born in Africa and spent 32 years there so I find this so interesting! This paper also reports that

all colors were calming, but bright green trees were more calming than other tree colors, including less bright greens and oranges

and that

Adult responses to plants are also influenced by their childhood interactions with nature. We have shown that the more interaction people have with nature as children, the more positive are their attitudes towards nature as adults.

In this study: Stress recovery during exposure to natural and urban environments, the 120 participants were exposed to “color/sound videotapes of one of six different natural and urban settings” after watching a stressful movie. Watching the natural settings had a measurable impact on parasympathetic measures such as heart rate and muscle tension and they felt more positive, experienced improved attention and had better stress recovery.

In another study The View From the Road: Implications for Stress Recovery and Immunization, drivers were presented with a stress-causing stimulus and their reactions measured as they recovered from the stress. The Safe Streets report from the University of Washington summarizes the outcome:

Those viewing built-up, strip-mall-style roadside environments in a simulated drive after the stressful experience showed a slower and physiologically incomplete recovery and reported more negative feelings. Study participants seeing more natural roadside scenes (forests or golf courses) returned to normal baseline measures faster. An “immunization effect” was also detected, as initial exposure to a natural roadside setting decreased the magnitude of response to a subsequent stressful task.

And finally, the research about forest-bathing (known as Shinrin-yoku), although not directly related to stress-reduction from driving along tree-lined streets is worth mentioning. Just the word “forest-bathing” makes me smile.

Research on forest-bathing shows how spending time in forests can lower high blood pressure, and help ease modern-day “stress-state” and “technostress”. In one study, Effects of Short Forest Bathing Program on Autonomic Nervous System Activity and Mood States in Middle-Aged and Elderly Individuals:

The Profile of Mood States negative mood subscale scores of “tension-anxiety”, “anger-hostility”, “fatigue-inertia”, “depression-dejection”, and “confusion-bewilderment” were significantly lower, whereas the positive mood subscale score of “vigor-activity” was higher.

In summary, in this study, the 128 middle-aged and elderly individuals spent only 2 hours in a forest setting and felt less tense, had reduced anxiety, experienced less anger and hostility, felt less fatigued, were not depressed or dejected, felt less confused/bewildered and had more vigor and energy. This was after only 2 hours of forest-bathing!

Here are some ways you can get the most out of this information for your own sense of calm:

  • Take a detour like we do if at all possible and enjoy the calming effects of driving along a tree-lined street. Better yet, take a moment to get out the car and soak in the beauty while walking down the road. And best of all, take a full-day hike on a weekend or go camping for 2 days.
  • Plant a tree (or more than one) outside your home or get involved with a tree-planting committee at your child’s or your grand-child’s school or place of work to do the same
  • Talk to your local mayor and council members to make tree planting in your community a priority
  • If you live in a built-up city and can’t do any of the above, make an effort to spend quiet time in a nearby park
  • Find a tree-planting charity that is a good fit and make a donation in the name of a loved one in lieu of a gift or just do it for yourself
  • If you’re housebound (with agoraphobia for some other reason), find some pictures or a poster of green trees or dig out some old photos. Just looking at pictures of nature and greenery have a stress reducing effect.

On that note here is the bigger version of my Richmond tree-lined street image so you can enjoy looking at it while reading this blog AND get some of the stress-reducing benefits…until you’re in your own tree-lined street or out in nature.

Tree-lined street stress-reducing

 

I hope this motivates and inspires you to drive down more tree-lined streets and to do something tree-related in your life in addition to all the nutritional changes you’re making to eliminate your anxiety!

We’d love to hear how much you love trees and the outdoors. Do you have a favorite tree-planting charity? Feel free to share your feedback and questions too.

Filed Under: Anxiety, Nature Tagged With: anxiety, attention, calm, green, happy, positive, recovery from stressful situations, streets, stress, tree-lined

Smile and laugh to de-stress, calm down and boost your mood

June 14, 2013 By Trudy Scott 15 Comments

 laughter

My biggest stress-relief and mood-boosting tip is to smile and laugh! It is one of the many things I encourage my clients to do! And I personally love a good comedy and opportunity to smile and laugh! I almost feel like I need my “fix” of laughter by the end of the day. It really relaxes me, boosts my mood and helps me sleep better.

I was further inspired to make a commitment to laugh each day when I read all the research supporting the many and varied health benefits. Many days I’ll just take a break and engage in spontaneous laughter for no reason at all – just the act of laughing leaves me feeling SO good. I do food-mood presentations around the country and typically end my talks with a laugher session with the audience! It’s a great hit and they leave my talk feeling great!

A 2012 research paper in Physiological Science actually showed that if you smile, you feel less stressed. Also in a 1999 study, “Personality traits such as warmth, calmness, extroversion, and low anxiety were closely related to an attractive smile.”

Laughter falls into a similar category as smiling and is wonderful for improving mood and reducing anxiety and stress and pain. This 2012 paper. showed that laughter “is associated with feelings of wellbeing” and improved mood, likely related to “the release of endorphins.” The release of endorphins also reduced pain levels.

Recent research also shows that the “combination of a laughter and exercise program might have physiological and psychological health benefits for the elderly”. Laughter may also “be an effective strategy to motivate the elderly to participate in physical activity.”

Laughter is actually good for the heart as indicated by the title of a 2009 paper: “The effect of mirthful laughter on the human cardiovascular system.”

Here are some things to make you chuckle: a fun post I did awhile ago about a wonderfully funny and romantic blog called The Musings of a Romantic Comedy Girl and a video of a laughing baby. Enjoy!

And of course, the added bonus: if you eat foods that raise serotonin (like grass-fed read meat and wild fish like salmon), you’ll be happier and more inclined to smile too – and feel even less anxious and less stressed. Tryptophan or 5-HTP will help boost your serotonin levels and are wonderful if you do have low serotonin. You can check for low serotonin levels using this Amino Acids Mood Questionnaire from The Antianxiety Food Solution. 

Filed Under: Antianxiety Food Solution, Anxiety and panic, Depression, Food and mood, Joy and happiness, Pain, Stress Tagged With: Antianxiety Food Solution, anxiety, calm, de-stress, happy, laughter, pain, smiling, stress

Eat to be Happy and Calm in Chatelaine Magazine!

July 2, 2012 By Trudy Scott 8 Comments

 

What do these have in common? grass-fed red meat, pumpkin seeds, real food, oysters and home-made salad dressing? They are all foods that are part of the Happy Diet, and featured in the July edition of the Chatelaine Magazine. I’m thrilled to have contributed to this super article and am happy to share it with you here! I really enjoyed working with Kat Tancock. I hope you enjoy it – and enjoy the wonderful pictures too!

Eating real foods like this, and doing things like treating a friend to lunch can bring you great joy and happiness, as well as keep anxiety and stress at bay.

(Click on each image below to enlarge.)

The author Kat Tancock (www.kattancock.com) holds the copyright to this article. Please contact her regarding reproduction or any questions you may have.

Filed Under: Antianxiety Food Solution, Anxiety and panic, Food and mood, Joy and happiness, Real whole food Tagged With: anxiety, calm, Chatelaine magazine, happy, joy

Primary Sidebar

FREE REPORT

9 Great Questions Women Ask about Food, Mood and their Health

You’ll also receive a complimentary subscription to my ezine “Food, Mood and Gal Stuff”

Success! Check your inbox for our email with a download link.

Connect with me

Recent Posts

  • Imposter syndrome and neurotransmitter support: I feel like the person I’m supposed to become
  • Tryptophan for my teenager: she laughs and smiles, her OCD and anxiety has lessened, and she is more goal oriented and focused on school.
  • The Thyroid Reset Diet: Reverse Hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s Symptoms with a Proven Iodine-Balancing Plan by Dr. Alan Christianson
  • The effect of emotional freedom technique on nurses’ stress, anxiety, and burnout levels during the pandemic
  • Outsmart Endometriosis by Dr. Jessica Drummond

Categories

  • AB575
  • Addiction
  • ADHD
  • Adrenals
  • Alzheimer's disease
  • Amino Acids
  • Antianxiety
  • Antianxiety Food Solution
  • Antidepressants
  • Anxiety
  • Anxiety and panic
  • Anxiety Summit 5
  • Anxiety Summit 6
  • Autism
  • Autoimmunity
  • benzodiazapines
  • Bipolar disorder
  • Books
  • Caffeine
  • Cancer
  • Candida
  • Children
  • Cooking equipment
  • Coronavirus/COVID-19
  • Cravings
  • Depression
  • Detoxification
  • Diabetes
  • Diet
  • Drugs
  • EFT/Tapping
  • EMF
  • EMFs
  • Emotional Eating
  • Environment
  • Essential oils
  • Events
  • Exercise
  • Fear of public speaking
  • Fertility and Pregnancy
  • Fish
  • Food
  • Food and mood
  • Functional neurology
  • GABA
  • Gene polymorphisms
  • General Health
  • Giving
  • Giving back
  • Glutamine
  • Gluten
  • GMOs
  • Gratitude
  • Gut health
  • Heart health
  • Histamine
  • Hormone
  • Immune system
  • Inflammation
  • Insomnia
  • Inspiration
  • Introversion
  • Joy and happiness
  • Ketogenic diet
  • Looking awesome
  • Lyme disease and co-infections
  • Medication
  • Mental health
  • Mercury
  • Migraine
  • Mold
  • Movie
  • MTHFR
  • Music
  • NANP
  • Nature
  • Nutritional Psychiatry
  • OCD
  • Oxalates
  • Oxytocin
  • Pain
  • Paleo
  • Parasites
  • People
  • Postpartum
  • PTSD
  • Pyroluria
  • Questionnaires
  • Real whole food
  • Recipes
  • Research
  • serotonin
  • SIBO
  • Sleep
  • Special diets
  • Stress
  • Sugar addiction
  • Sugar and mood
  • Supplements
  • Teens
  • Testimonials
  • Testing
  • The Anxiety Summit
  • The Anxiety Summit 2
  • The Anxiety Summit 3
  • The Anxiety Summit 4
  • Thyroid
  • Thyroid health
  • Toxins
  • Tryptophan
  • Uncategorized
  • Vegan/vegetarian
  • Women's health
  • Yoga

Archives

  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • July 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • November 2009

Copyright © 2021 Trudy Scott. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy | Terms of Use | Refund Policy