The UltraMind Solution (44 page)

Do you have to live on coffee in the morning and a few glasses of wine at night just to wake up, and then calm down every day?

If you do, you are not alone. In fact, this is how most Americans feel, because we are living out of harmony with our natural biological rhythms. Small molecules in our body that we depend on to keep us in balance are running haywire.

These messenger molecules are involved in almost every function of the body in one way or another, and they are critical to our well-being.

There are three main communications systems in your body. They direct all the traffic and messages from your nervous system (including the gut, the site of your second brain), your endocrine or hormonal system, and your immune system. Each of these systems is part of a larger integrated system called the “psycho-neuro-endocrine-immune” system, or PNEI.

The three main communication systems are:

1.
Neurotransmitters—Messengers of the Nervous System (The most important are dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, serotonin, GABA, and acetylcholine. I discussed these in chapter 6.)

2.
Hormones—Messengers of the Endocrine System (This chapter will focus on these important molecules.)

3.
Cytokines—Messengers of the Immune System (I will discuss these in the next chapter, when we talk about inflammation.)

All of your hormones and your brain and immune messenger chemicals work together in a symphony. Understand how and why these three systems get out of balance and you will go a long way toward understanding why Americans run around tired, depressed, stressed, forgetful, unfocused, and overweight!

In this chapter, we will focus specifically on hormones. To adequately explore the role of hormones in your mood and brain function would require a textbook. Here, I want to give you a road map that will help you understand how key hormones play a role in your health, why they get out of balance, and how to get them back in balance.

The Command and Control Center for Your Whole Body

Health is good communication. All your cells talk to each other. They do so through many different messengers and “languages.” There is the endocrine language, or hormones; the immune language, or cytokines (see page 175 for more on these); and the nervous system language, or neurotransmitters.

Your hormones are produced and controlled by your endocrine glands. And the conductors or the command and control centers for all your endocrine glands happen to be located in your brain. They are the
hypothalamus
and the
pituitary
gland.

These glands send signals to distant parts of the body to control:

Your stress response through your adrenal glands.

Your blood-sugar balance through your pancreas.

Your thyroid hormone via your thyroid gland.

Your sexual behavior, which functions through your reproductive organs.

Your growth, sleep, mood, and much more.

This network of glands (the hypothalamus, pituitary, pineal, adrenal, thyroid, parathyroid, pancreas, ovaries, and testes) both send and receive messages in a finely orchestrated symphony and have their effects through the whole body.

Figure 10: The hormone system: bidirectional communication between your brain and your endocrine glands

There are three big epidemics of hormonal problems in America today—too much
insulin
(from sugar), too much
cortisol and adrenalin
(from stress), and not enough
thyroid hormone.

These all interconnect with and affect the other major category of hormones—
our sex hormones.

Imbalances or disturbances in any one of these interconnected systems can influence the way our brain functions and lead to everything from depression to dementia, from anxiety to ADHD, and, of course, are linked to the other major epidemic we face in the twenty-first century—overweight and obesity.

For now we will look at the role that insulin, thyroid, and sex hormones play in your mood and brain function. We will also briefly look at the role
of melatonin and growth hormone, which are also important. We will leave cortisol and DHEA to chapter 12, because they are intertwined with stress and your experience of the world.

If you focus on just these few—insulin, thyroid, sex hormones, melatonin, growth hormone, and cortisol (the stress hormone)—all the rest come into balance.

Don’t Panic, It’s Just Your Blood Sugar : Insulin and Your Brain

Do you have problems with unstable blood sugar and are you at risk for insulin resistance? Take the following quiz to find out.

In the box on the right, place a check for each positive answer. Then find out how severe your problem is using the scoring key below.

INSULIN QUIZ*
I crave sweets, eat them, and though I get a temporary boost of energy and mood, I later crash.
I have a family history of diabetes, hypoglycemia, or alcoholism.
I get irritable, anxious, tired, and jittery or get headaches intermittently throughout the day but feel better temporarily after meals.
I feel shaky two to three hours after a meal.
I eat a low-fat diet and can’t seem to lose weight.
If I miss a meal, I feel cranky and irritable, weak, or tired.
If I eat a carbohydrate breakfast (muffin, bagel, cereal, pancakes, etc.), I can’t seem to control my eating for the rest of the day.
Once I start eating sweets or carbohydrates, I can’t seem to stop.
If I eat fish or meat and vegetables, I feel good, but seem to get sleepy or feel “drugged” after eating a meal full of pasta, bread, potatoes, and dessert.
I go for the bread basket at the restaurant.
I get heart palpitations after eating sweets.
I seem salt sensitive (I tend to retain water).
I get panic attacks in the afternoon if I skip breakfast.