The brain does a lot of things, mostly body functions that involves regulating a number of activities like the way a person goes to sleep and gets up, the sort of food he eats and the general disposition of that person. There are a lot of chemicals that are active in the brain which reflect the various mood factors of a person and the most important of all these chemicals is Serotonin.

The level of chemical Serotonin has a direct impact on the kind of stress one would come under the influence of, the kind of sleep or the lack of it he or she gets. You will find that the amount of exercise you are getting or not getting has a direct impact on the levels of Serotonin and that starts affecting the general mood of a person. Exercising has a direct influence on a person’s food intake and hence serotonin has a certain amount of control over how well a person eats and digests food.

It is quite remarkable how all of the above are connected and intimately related to each other. For instance, say your food intake has come down to abnormally low or high levels. As a consequence you are either exercising less or not exercising at all. Both the unusual food patterns as well as exercising patterns affect the normal levels of Serotonin and once the level of Serotonin goes off the normal level, your mood starts getting affected. That is some complicated chain of events here, though the end result is always same. Your general disposition i.e. mood is simply not normal and that is never a good sign.

It is not just sleep issues and lack of exercise that leads to depression. You will find other activities also have a say on the levels of Serotonin in your brain, for instance consumption of coffee as well as beverages that are alcoholic in nature. It has been proved medically from multiple research reports that both alcohol and coffee consumption have a negative effect on the level of serotonin found in the human brain. So, anyone who has really gone off the scales when it comes to drinking alcohol will find that eventually, if not overnight, his brain would start getting seriously worried about the lowering levels of serotonin.

Having understood the variety of methods by which the levels of serotonin can come down, what are its long terms effects. For starters, one finds that as the level of serotonin goes beyond the minimum threshold the person will start experiencing serious mental symptoms. He or she will start experiencing problems relating to managing anger and self-control, a substantial downgrade in the interest displayed towards everyday tasks and hobbies, a seriously lower number in the amount of self-esteem and all of this eventually concluding with the onset of one of the most serious mental health issues ever, Depression!  This is all that happens. Along with depression, a person will experience a high rate of anxiety attacks and serious lack of being able to sleep with a sleep pattern that is not unlike anything that the person had before things went south.

Once things have unfortunately resulted in the dreadful situation that is depression, there are a lot of things that can actually happen. Depression is not a fixed state of mind but rather a varying level of emotional response to the state of mind. So, if things are not really that bad, a person may enter a quiet state of melancholy which only lasts a few hours or perhaps a couple of days after which he would be back to normal. This is the best case scenario for entering depression where things are still manageable and there is not much cause to concern but caution is advised.

On the far end of the spectrum, we have deep depression, which is probably the worst thing that can happen and absolutely everyone should avoids things from getting that bad. When deep depression sets in, the person will have constant attacks of anxiety in reaction to practically any event and occurrence that are happening in his daily life. Let us not forget that all of this is being caused by the acute shortage of the brain chemical, Serotonin.

These problems don’t just stop at that yet. However, things could be remedied quickly enough, especially if the symptoms are caught early on and the person takes up the necessary initiatives when he or she can. For example, if the depression is still on a smaller scale, two things could turn things around and get rid of any traces of depression. The first step to do is a change of lifestyle. Earlier we had mentioned about coffee intake and alcohol consumption that is the main cause for depression.

Well, then the person could reduce coffee intake and consuming alcohol and let the brain recharge its levels of Serotonin. Once serotonin is back to normal levels, it will bring with it an improved state of mind. The same logic applies to exercise as well. If you have been running low on exercise for a while, perhaps it is time you hit the gym and went for a ride on your bike to get the required quota of weekly exercises and help yourself in increasing levels of Serotonin.

However, these regular methods may not be convenient for everyone or these steps are a little slow and they need some kind of a serotonin boost, so to speak. That is when discussing with doctors will help. Until the levels of serotonin are brought back up to normal levels, a physician can always prescribe some form of medication that will help the brain get the level of Serotonin.

At the end of day, prevention is always better than cure, which is something one could attach to any form of health issues. Understanding the variety of activities that lead to lowered level of Serotonin is of the highest importance. Avoiding those activities remains the key to a healthy mind that is always in good spirits. If things do go bad, there are a variety of solutions available.