It’s Not All Sunshine & Rainbows: How Weather Affects Your Mood
Episode 128
In today’s episode of Integrative Wellness Radio, Dr. Nicole Rivera will discuss the MANY contributing factors that affect your mood. As we head into the colder months, the impacts of Seasonal Affective Disorder could be on the horizon for you. But a S.A.D diagnosis isn’t telling the whole story. You will learn how blood sugar, brain health, diet, and the environment directly affect your mental health and what you can do today for a happier tomorrow (cheesy but true). Dr. Nicole will dig deep into the difference between serotonin and dopamine issues and explain the trickle-down effect your cortisol levels could be having on your “happiness”. She will also debunk the common myths associated with mood imbalances. This episode is packed full of actionable tips and will really help you understand the importance of leveraging better testing to identify how your biochemistry and mental health are connected. Interested in working with IWG? Book a complimentary consult call to learn more using this link: https://bit.ly/IWRcall2021 Noteworthy Time Stamps: 3:44 Why are so many people being failed by conventional (or even functional) medicine? 12:57 The true definition of S.A.D. and a real-life example 15:05 The blood sugar crisis that’s affecting 90% of the population. 19:56 The huge difference between serotonin and dopamine’s impact on your mood 20:11 What a TRUE serotonin issue looks like 24:03 Feeding our dopamine deficiencies 26:20 Sleep issues and “cortisol stimulating” activities are another piece of the serotonin puzzle 30:59 You can have the most fantastic gut in the world but it’s not the end all be all 33:26 Lack of vitamin d or lack of social interaction? 36:22 Blue light and your diet’s impact on your mood. 40:23 Better testing and better solutions (therapy and antidepressants are not the only options) 45:50 The differences between functional and integrative medicine
Topics: mood, unknown, integrative, health, medicine, testing, today, cortisol
Key takeaways from this episode
- Nick and Dr. **Unknown:** Nicole to learn more about the top trends in integrative medicine to learn about what the limitations are with testing and what you can do to start your health journey.
- That was really relevant. **Unknown:** It really got me asking better questions to figure out, okay, what do I not know, and how can I continue to evolve into what we now classify as integrative medicine?
- I didn't have the story that my health failed, and I was saved by functional medicine or integrative medicine or the, you know, the holistic doctor. **Unknown:** That wasn't my story.
- We are kicking off an awesome podcast all about seasonal affective disorder and how the weather affects your mood.
- He was supposed to be here today, but he is dealing with some family stuff, so we will love him from afar but, um, he is really our, uh, mental health and human behavior specialist.
Pull quotes
Imagine if medicine actually looked at you as a whole opposed to looking at you as a bunch of separate systems.
Nick and Dr. **Unknown:** Nicole to learn more about the top trends in integrative medicine to learn about what the limitations are with testing and what you can do to start your health journey.
We are kicking off an awesome podcast all about seasonal affective disorder and how the weather affects your mood.
Transcript
**Unknown:** I've been up all night, no sleep. Imagine if medicine actually looked at you as a whole opposed to looking at you as a bunch of separate systems. Dive into Integrative Wellness Radio with Dr. Nick and Dr.
**Unknown:** Nicole to learn more about the top trends in integrative medicine to learn about what the limitations are with testing and what you can do to start your health journey. Sometimes I tend to lose myself when- Hi, everyone. Welcome. So I am Dr.
**Unknown:** Nicole. We are kicking off an awesome podcast all about seasonal affective disorder and how the weather affects your mood. Uh, so today we're talking about why this happens and some of the things that could be going on physiologically that are completely off of your radar, uh, 'cause that is one of the things that we showcase is what you do not know about your health, the things that are not necessarily being revealed through your conventional tests. But if you stay till the end, uh, send us your email so that we can shoot you over our Good Mood Foods.
**Unknown:** So back in the day when I used to do these webinars by myself, I didn't have all these goodies for you, so now that I have an amazing team , they actually create these amazing PDFs that you guys get to benefit from. So we actually have a guide on how to boost your mood through food and supplements, and it is quite beautiful, I shall say. So props to Lauren who put it together for us. So we have anything and everything you can imagine, maybe for yourself, maybe for loved ones, or maybe for others that you know that are struggling with their health.
**Unknown:** But today is all about how the weather affects our mood, and how when you hit the March-April realm of the year, you're probably just over it. And you're like, "Let's go. Why don't I live in Florida? Let's run away to an island.
**Unknown:** I need a vacation," so on and so forth. So obviously there are aspects of this that are completely normal, and then there are aspects of it that are actually dictated by things that are happening internally in your body. And this is for the extremes. This is for the person that's like, "I really don't even wanna get out of bed because I feel so low." And don't beat yourself up about that.
**Unknown:** It's really just understanding that this is happening for a reason. Everything is happening for a reason. So we have really prided ourselves on asking better questions, digging deeper, um, and also just leveraging better testing. Uh, one of the primary things that we do in our office is DNA-based testing which really allows us to get down to the nitty-gritty of what's going on and what is being overlooked by common testing.
**Unknown:** So this is my partner in crime, Dr. Nick. He was supposed to be here today, but he is dealing with some family stuff, so we will love him from afar but, um, he is really our, uh, mental health and human behavior specialist. So we're very, very grateful for him because he is bringing a completely different element to our practice which is helping people to work through the emotional adversities that potentially are contributing to them not being well.
**Unknown:** And that is a whole separate topic that we're not gonna dive too deep into today, but if you're looking for more information about how different things that we've gone through, different traumas and PTSD contribute to our health, definitely check out the podcast. It's on iTunes, it's on Podbean and a variety of other platforms. So as I've said is that one of the biggest components as to who we've become today and why we hop on webinars and talk about what we talk about is the fact that we really just kept pressing the envelope to ask better questions and figure out, you know, why were so many people being failed by conventional methods. But honestly, a lot of people were being failed even through the functional medicine realm.
**Unknown:** And what I mean by that is we started to work with patients that are like, "I've done the elimination diet, I've done the supplements, I've done the detox. I'm still not better. What else you got?" And that was a... That was really relevant.
**Unknown:** It really got me asking better questions to figure out, okay, what do I not know, and how can I continue to evolve into what we now classify as integrative medicine? And this is just looking at the body from a variety of different lenses, and bringing that information together, and always making sure to, to troubleshoot as you go along the path. And, you know, what's interesting for myself, and I, I think this is really important, is I always talk to people about, like, how I got into this because I remember specifically when I was in school, I felt very guilty about the fact that I didn't have the story. I didn't have the story that my health failed, and I was saved by functional medicine or integrative medicine or the, you know, the holistic doctor.
**Unknown:** That wasn't my story. My story was I wanted to help people, and this sounded like a better option than working in a hospital. And when I got into this world, I was fascinated by all of the learnings and the philosophy and the science. But it wasn't until I got out of school, and I did my own testing and really became a product of everything that I learned, and I thought my testing was gonna come back perfect.
**Unknown:** I thought that I was in good shape. I worked out. I ate healthy. Healthy, quote, unquote, and I do the air quotes because you don't know what you don't know.
**Unknown:** In my mind, I was eating healthy. When I... With what I know now, I wasn't healthy. But overall, my testing revealed that I had a lot of issues.
**Unknown:** I had very severe mercury toxicity. I had severe gut issues. I had parasitic infections. And I remember almost pausing and thinking like, "Is this right?"Do I really have these issues?
**Unknown:** But then when I really reflected, I realized so much of what I was dealing with was my normal. And I think that this is so important for people to understand is that your lack of sleep is your normal now. Your occasional stomach aches is your normal. Your anxiety is your normal.
**Unknown:** Your low mood in the winter is your normal. These things are your normal. But what you- no one's telling you is that they're not normal, and there is a solution once you figure out what the heck is causing them. So it's not settling for just thinking, "Oh, this is it for me, and this is what I have to deal with." Um, someone's asking why mercury poisoning.
**Unknown:** Um, so what's interesting for my mercury toxicity is that, uh, mercury, by the way, comes from, uh, fish consumption, and it also can come from a lot of, uh, fillings in the teeth, specifically the silver amalgam fillings. I've actually never had a filling in my whole life, so that was even more to, you know, being confused about the results. Um, but at the same time, I was a pescatarian for ten years, meaning that I only ate fish. Um, canned tuna was healthy in my mind.
**Unknown:** Uh, you know, tuna steaks that were grilled was another thing that I al- was eating often. So these are things, again, that I was quote unquote "being healthy" compared to my friends eating pizza and baked ziti. Um, that's a thing here in Jersey is we all ate pizza and baked ziti. But, uh, you know, I was eating sushi thinking I was making the better choice, having no idea that there was a difference between, say, your five dollar buffet sushi and, you know, more high-quality fish.
**Unknown:** So listen, we've all been there, but the most important thing is that you can overcome it, um, because i- there's always a solution, as I've said. So I know that there's a lot of things going on right now, and I'm gonna get into the meat of everything. So I wanna give you guys a moment to tell your kids to, like, be quiet, give you the next, like, twenty minutes for yourself, or tell your husband he's gotta go make dinner himself, so on and so forth. So just be able to kinda give this your attention because this is not even just about the seasonal affective disorder.
**Unknown:** But I'm gonna piece together some things that you may have never heard in relation to why you maybe are not feeling your best. But as we get into that, first and foremost, what I want you to all soak in is that you don't know what you don't know. And we are living in a huge sea of information. And you guys have probably tried to google what's wrong with you.
**Unknown:** You've probably tried to google the solution. You've tried maybe supplements. Maybe you've cut out certain foods. Maybe you've tried the fad diet, and you're not getting the results that you hope for, and you are getting discouraged, and then you give up.
**Unknown:** Listen, I get it. It's confusing. But it's just a matter of if you don't know what the root of the problem is, you might really just be, you know, throwing darts at a board and not really getting super targeted on what you actually need. So that's the beauty of the testing is you can figure out what the heck you actually need.
**Unknown:** So some foundational principles that you need to understand, I've already kind of said this, is that first and foremost, when I am talking about some of these topics today, what you need to understand is that no one else is talking about this in conventional medicine because everything is segregated out as specialties and subspecialties. So no one is looking at all of the pieces and how they come together. So one of the things we're gonna talk about today is your blood sugar and how that relates to your mood. Blood sugar technically is your pancreas, which is an endocrinologist, maybe an internal doctor or internal medicine doctor.
**Unknown:** Anything neurological would be either a neurologist or a psychotherapist or a psychiatrist, and those individuals are usually not talking to each other or even knowing that there is potentially a connection with your blood sugar and your mood. And this is really just ignoring basic physiology. And just the fact that ninety to ninety-five percent of your serotonin, your primary feel-good hormone, is actually made in your gut. So in medicine, we have a huge emphasis on chemistry, chemistry, chemistry, and we are not always considering what is outside of chemistry.
**Unknown:** What about the physical body? What about the lymphatic system? What about the neurology? You know, what about the energetic system?
**Unknown:** What about, you know, the traumas that we've had and the emotional adversities? So these all need to be considered when we're truly trying to understand the person. So some of the specifics of tonight. One is we are talking about the difference between having an issue with your neurotransmitters that could make you feel low in the winter.
**Unknown:** And there is a very big difference between truly having a serotonin issue or having a dopamine issue. The reason why I'm talking about this is because when you feel low, the first recommendation is an antidepressant, which is something to promote more serotonin. But what if you don't have a serotonin issue? We're gonna get into that.
**Unknown:** Blood sugar. So I am going to tell you the story that usually has people's jaws drop because it's the unknown blood sugar crisis that ninety percent of America is in, including it was me a couple of years ago. Not all stimulation is created equal, so there is a lot of daily negative stimulation that you are all doing to your neurological system. And this is unfortunately, you know, has its-- it's a double-edged sword.
**Unknown:** It's one of the ways that we run. We run on technology. But there are some drawbacks, and I'm gonna just give you some insight on how to balance that outInfections. There are a lot of us walking around with infections, and these are not things that are necessarily coming up on your physical or your regular blood work.
**Unknown:** But there are infections that could be affecting your mood, affecting your gut. Your diet can affect your mood, and we're gonna talk about some really specific foods today that can actually help to boost your mood. And your environment can affect your mood. And I think that we're all feeling that right now.
**Unknown:** We're feeling that, you know, if we're in a toxic environment or we're in an isolated environment, that we are not- definitely feeling the negative ramifications of that. So talking a little bit more about why that happens and how to balance that. So when it comes to SAD, seasonal affective disorder. So the true definition of this is that we start to see a decline in how we feel, and this is more prevalent in females, and we see this specifically in the gray, cold winter months.
**Unknown:** So I will say that I lived in Seattle for eight months. That is all that I could last, and this is very real. This is very re-real for females especially, because again, this is something that's more prevalent in females. And this is...
**Unknown:** There's, there's a double-edged sword when it comes to, hey, listen, some people are just not cut out to live in that type of weather. And then there's other people that are like debilitated from that type of weather. So we have to be able to figure out, you know, which is it, or is it a combination? For me, I would love to just live on an island where it's always sunny.
**Unknown:** That's just me. So specifically a story that I want to start with is twenty-six-year-old, um, female, specifically, always chasing the sun due to massive effect on her mood and her mental health. With this being said, there was a couple of specifics that was not being acknowledged for this individual. So one was the fact that this individual, um, had a lot of different cravings that came up mainly in the winter.
**Unknown:** And it was attributed to the fact that it was just winter, we were sitting inside, and, oh, this person just wanted to, you know, eat more ice cream and things because they were bored. Yes, probably relevant. But it was also because there was a massive blood sugar issue that was really catapulting in the winter months because of the lack of vitamin D as well as the lack of outdoor exercise. So that's something that we're gonna get into in the next minute or so, because I really want you guys to understand this topic.
**Unknown:** So we have diabetes and pre-diabetes, and this is something that's very evident when you go get your blood work. And the doctor might say, "Hey, you know, you gotta keep an eye on this, and we really gotta make sure that, you know, this doesn't get worse." But the thing that's being overlooked is low blood sugar. And this is, like I said before, ninety percent of the population. Okay, so you wake up in the morning, you're not super hungry.
**Unknown:** And maybe it's because you used to be super busy, and you had to run out the door, and, you know, now you work from home. But you're so used to not eating breakfast that you're like, "Eh, I really don't wanna eat." Or you're the person that wakes up and you're like, "Oh, I can't even think about food," or, "I can't even look at food. That would make me nauseous." Then maybe you have your cup of coffee. Now your cup of coffee, you know, gets you a little revved up, and then it also suppresses your appetite.
**Unknown:** So now, you know, a couple hours go by, and you realize, you're like, "Oh my gosh, it's noon, it's one, it's two o'clock. I haven't eaten. Oh, I am starving. I really need to eat something." And you may not be conscious of this, you may be, is that you crave carbohydrates intuitively.
**Unknown:** Maybe it's a beautiful acai bowl. Maybe it's a smoothie with a bunch of fruit in it. Maybe it's pizza. Maybe it's a rice bowl.
**Unknown:** Maybe it's a sushi w- roll with rice. But your body's blood sugar is so low at this point that you are going to crave things to spike it. But that's the problem is now you spike, and you crash, and now you have a midday lull. And now you're looking for either some chocolate or a midday coffee, maybe a mocha, so you get that chocolate and coffee together.
**Unknown:** And now we're getting close to dinner time, and you're starving again. You're snacking on your cheese and crackers. Then you eat dinner, and then an hour goes by, and you're looking for something sweet. So I often describe this to people, and they relate to either part or all of it.
**Unknown:** And I know it very well because it was me. And what you need to understand is that when this is your pattern on a day-to-day, you are in a blood sugar crisis because what's happening is you are spiking and crashing violently. And if you keep spiking and crashing, what happens is you create an issue with your insulin. Keep it simple.
**Unknown:** I'm not trying to get fancy with you guys. Insulin tells your cells to use sugar. Your brain runs on sugar. So it says, insulin goes to your brain cells and says, "Hey, brain cells, use the sugar.
**Unknown:** Hey, liver, use the sugar. Hey, muscles, use the sugar." If you have the spike and crash, then what happens, it's like the boy who cried wolf. So now your pancreas is not producing the insulin anymore, or your cells have become resistant to insulin, and now none of your cells, including your brain, can use sugar. So what happens from here is now you have a bunch of sugar floating around in your bloodstream, which makes you puffy and inflamed and achy, and you get headaches, and you can't lose weight, and your hormones get messed up.
**Unknown:** And now you also start to have mood imbalances.So blood sugar is something that most of, I would say majority of my patients are dealing with some issue with their blood sugar. And this is a huge contributing factor to why people are seeing a lull in their mood in the winter months. Because the less you exercise, the less activity you're doing, then the more, it's more probable that you're feeding into your blood sugar issues and you're eating more carbohydrate and sugar rich foods, which is creating more of the blood sugar spike and crash, which is now completely altering how your brain uses sugar. AKA, you can make the serotonin in your gut, but your brain can't actually use it.
**Unknown:** One other side note that I wanted to make sure I threw in here is traumatic brain injuries also alter how your brain uses glucose. And I'm throwing this in here because this is a topic that I feel like is more popular. And it's because there are so many individuals that are now having these different neurological issues later down the line after a career of football or after, you know, a career of lacrosse, field hockey, really sports they, you know, you're all getting banged up in the head. Um, I know that I personally had a very bad brain injury after snowboarding.
**Unknown:** I don't even actually remember what happened. It was that bad. So, you know, with that being said, is that if you have a blood sugar issue, but then you're also having a lot of mood instability, and I'm not just talking about feeling sad. I'm also talking about like anger, rage, like flying off the handle.
**Unknown:** Then this might be this, um, compounding effect of brain injury on top of blood sugar instability. So myth number one that I want you guys to understand and decipher between is there is a huge difference between your mood being affected by serotonin and dopamine. What I want you to understand is that when you feel low and you feel sad or you feel lack of motivation, we often think like, "Oh, I'm depressed," and your practitioner, you know, if it's a, a psychiatrist, a, you know, your primary, they're going to say, "Oh, maybe you should recommend or use a antidepressant." An antidepressant is going to be an SSRI, a serotonin reuptake inhibitor. So what that means is it's trying to flood your brain cells with extra serotonin in hopes, in hopes, no guarantee, that your brain uses the extra serotonin.
**Unknown:** So serotonin is not the only thing that can affect our mood and make us feel low. So if you have a true serotonin issue, you have lack of joy. You have loss of enjoyment in the things that you once loved. Perfect example, you loved this restaurant.
**Unknown:** It was your favorite restaurant. You always wanted to go there on your birthday, and now you're like, "I don't wanna go. I don't even care. I don't even like it anymore.
**Unknown:** Like, I'm not gonna enjoy it if I go." Like something that you used to really, really feel passionately about that you don't anymore. That is a true serotonin issue. You have a lot of trouble finding joy in things that you do, let alone things you used to do. In addition, when you have issues with your serotonin, you very likely can have issues with your sleep because serotonin converts into melatonin.
**Unknown:** A lot of people don't know that. Um, so the other problem is if you start taking serotonin, um, or I'm sorry, if you start taking like a, an antidepressant, you can actually start screwing up your melatonin levels and have sleep issues. For those of you that have been on long-term SSRIs, it's something to consider. But the difference between dopamine is the person who is having a lot of trouble with motivation.
**Unknown:** They can't finish things that they start. They often have a lack of concern for others. They're just like, "I don't even care what people think of me. Like, I don't care that this person's upset with me." Um, they have a tendency to kind of lose their cool, lose their temper, and they're having a lot of feelings of feeling just hopeless.
**Unknown:** Hopeless, not motivated. It doesn't matter if I finish this. So this is very, very significant because as we're navigating through these winter months and we're calling it seasonal affective disorder, seasonal affective disorder is, is attributing a serotonin deficiency. So if you're getting diagnosed with SAD, and then you're getting put on an antidepressant, and then it turns out you truly have a dopamine issue, you're being treated incorrectly.
**Unknown:** So that was the main reason I wanted to bring this to light for you, um, because this is, it's a, it's two completely different approaches. So for those of you that are here because you are having shifts in your mood, tell me, which one do you relate to? Do you rel- relate to the serotonin or do you relate to the dopamine? 'Cause I know that a lot of my patients, they talk about lack of motivation and, "I can't finish things, and I just don't even care about certain things." And I'm like, "You don't have a serotonin problem.
**Unknown:** You have a dopamine problem." Another thing too is with serotonin is if your serotonin is too high, so again, you've been on the long-term antidepressant or maybe you're taking a supplement called 5-HTP and you're ramping up your, your serotonin too high, you can actually induce anxiety. So when you're on this antidepressant and then, you know, a couple months later now you're like, "Oh, you have anxiety too. Here's a Xanax," sometimes it's because the medication is not suitable for you or maybe you're revving up into what's called serotonin syndrome. So this is very, very important for people to know.
**Unknown:** So another specific thing too is if you have issues with your frontal lobe, so meaning kids, young kids that keep hitting the front of their head, this can also be a contributing factor to why you're having issues with your serotonin levels.Dopamine. Um, dopamine issues, long-term dopamine issues can actually be related to addictive behaviors. And guys, I'm not talking about drugs and alcohol per se. Of course, that could be one thing, but addicted to video games, addicted to sex, addicted to working out, addicted to work, being a workaholic.
**Unknown:** These are specific things that we have to consider with addictive behaviors. So dopamine deficiencies, what we do is we try to do things to give us a short-term dopamine high. So this is gonna sound so silly, but my dopamine high was a mocha latte from Starbucks all through college, all through high school. I was in the worst mood.
**Unknown:** I can drink that mocha latte, and it would bring a pure smile to my face. Yeah, an hour later, I wanted to kill people again. But I was obviously not educated on the fact that I had a major dopamine issue. So there were different things in my life that I was l-leveraging and using to fulfill that dopamine high.
**Unknown:** Um, at points in time, it was working out, points in time, it was that mocha latte. And yes, guys, I'll admit, I smoked cigarettes when I was a kid. Don't judge me. But yes, there were times that I was even leveraging things like that.
**Unknown:** So it's understanding that if you have these different patterns or these vices in your life, it sometimes is not because there's something wrong with you or you have poor discipline, it could be because you have a lack of dopamine. Um, another thing too is dopamine does regulate prolactin levels. So prolactin is very huge. Um, elevated prolactin is huge in women that are having trouble with fertility.
**Unknown:** So again, like, this just shows how interconnected the body is and how it's not always just like, "Oh, you're... You know, if you have bad eggs or you don't... You know, you just have to do IVF." You know, maybe there's a major neurotransmitter issue that's contributing to the fertility issues. So another big thing that I wanna bring to light when we are trying to understand, you know, why is my mood taking a dip.
**Unknown:** And this is not just in relation to seasonal affective disorder, but this is really in general. And when you have issues with your sleep or you just constantly feel like you're wired, what a lot of people call anxiety nowadays, is that there is a very, very fine balance between your cortisol, which is a stress hormone, and your melatonin. So your cortisol, I don't want you to think, "Oh, stress hormone bad." Cortisol is actually what gets you out of bed in the morning. It's what makes you feel awake enough to get out of bed.
**Unknown:** So for those of you that are like, "I'm not awake in the morning, and I can't get out of bed," that's because you have a cortisol crisis. And chances are your cortisol and your melatonin are not balanced. So let me give you, like, the normal rundown of how this works. So in the morning, your cortisol is elevated.
**Unknown:** So this is what wakes you up, it gets you out of bed, it gives you energy to start your day. As you go through your day, your cortisol gets lower and lower and lower, and then your melatonin starts to rev up in the evening hours so that ideally by, you know, nine, ten, eleven PM, you are tired enough to sleep. Melatonin also is the master detoxifier of your brain. So what's gonna happen is when you go to bed, your body goes into a rest, repair, and detox mode.
**Unknown:** So what happens to people is that we have all of these cortisol-stimulating things that we do all day. So we get on TV, or not get on TV, we start watching TV at night. We sit on our laptop. We read on our Kindle.
**Unknown:** We maybe play video games. We sit on our phone. And all of the blue light from all of these devices, let alone if you're reading or watching things that are stressing you out, this is revving up your cortisol, depleting your melatonin. So if you remember what I said before, guys, is that melatonin is made from what?
**Unknown:** It's made from serotonin. So if you have a melatonin crisis because you have a major cortisol issue, you also are gonna have a major issue with your serotonin levels. So it's all very intricately in balance or out of balance. So if you are the person that has all of this stimulation revving up your stress hormones and revving up your cortisol levels, or, like, you just hate your job or your home life is super stressful and a variety of other things, you're gonna be in this chronic high cortisol state, completely altering your melatonin, which then completely depletes your serotonin.
**Unknown:** So sleep is just as important as the blood sugar, and it's just as important as, you know, doing different things dietary-wise and lifestyle-wise. So we have to start thinking about our daily behaviors and how this contributes. So this was an interesting test that I put in here. Um, this is something I normally only give to doctors when I teach, but I figured, um, some of you might be taking this stuff already.
**Unknown:** So for those of you that have anxiety, um, and that's maybe coinciding with you feeling depressed or low or having seasonal affective disorder, um, a lot of times we do our research, and we realize, "Oh, there's this hormone called GABA that's supposed to calm me down. Maybe I should take it, and maybe it'll help." So if you've taken GABA in the past and it helped you, it's because you have a leaky blood-brain barrier. And I'm not trying to freak everybody out, but I'm saying this primarily because of the whole conversation we've already had. We had a conversation that if you've had a traumatic brain injury in the past or a concussion in the past, you probably have poor blood sugar handling of your brainIn addition to that is that if you have scar tissue that is affecting different parts of your head, that can also contribute to why your mood is off.
**Unknown:** So if you've taken GABA and it has benefited you, then you might have a completely different problem on your hands. So with that being said, is the leaky blood-brain barrier challenge is if you take a thousand milligrams of GABA and it calms you down, then you should definitely seek out just getting better testing to figure out what else can you do to balance your system. Okay, so I've already said this. So head injury does not compromise your serotonin production.
**Unknown:** False. It does. Your brain has this master detoxification system. It has these glial cells that gobble up bad stuff and get it out of there.
**Unknown:** You have a whole drainage system. So for those of you that get headaches and migraines, this is sign number one that you have poor drainage in your head. Number two, if you wake up with bags under your eyes or pressure in your head, maybe a low-grade headache, if you wake up with a low-grade sore throat, or you wake up so foggy that you can't even think until you have your cup of coffee, that is all indicating that you do not have proper drainage of your brain. So what this means is that you could have the most fantastic gut in the world, because every functional medicine doctor talks about the gut, the gut, the gut, and it drives me fucking nuts.
**Unknown:** Sorry, F-bomb. But the gut is huge, and it's important, but it's not the end-all be-all. So you could have the best gut with all the serotonin, but if your brain can't use it, it doesn't matter. So if your brain is not uptaking that serotonin and using it, and maybe it's because you've had a brain injury, maybe it's because you have a bunch of lymph nodes that are clogged in here, maybe it's 'cause you have scar tissue or polyps in your sinuses.
**Unknown:** Any of those things are possible. And, you know, when I teach other practitioners this type of work, they're, like, so fascinated on how I have such a focus on anatomy because I'm like, "If someone's having a neurological issue, yeah, we can do all these fancy-schmancy tests," but what if it's the fact that they just have a boatload of inflammation in their sinuses, in their throat, and they also had, like, ten neck injuries with a bunch of scar tissue. Guess what? Blood can't go in, and it can't drain out.
**Unknown:** So that's gonna cause a lot of issues on how well their brain is working. So again, I'm saying this because I don't want you guys to just think, "Oh, I just have seasonal affective disorder, and I just need an antidepressant, and that's gonna be great," or, "I just need to move away to an island, and that's all I need to do," is that all of these things contribute, and they're all important because they can all be contributing factors. So when it comes to, you know, the gray and the cold and the winter months, you know, I know that kind of the elephant in the room is vitamin D. Okay.
**Unknown:** You're not outside. You're not in the sunshine, so there's a vitamin D issue. So vitamin D does play a very specific role in, uh, a variety of different organs, but thyroid being one, so you could feel more sluggish. Vitamin D does play a role in how well your body is using serotonin and dopamine, so yes, this is very relevant.
**Unknown:** But something that is also relevant that I feel like a lot of people don't talk about, 'cause it's always about the biochemistry of the body, is what about the social isolation, especially in this day and age, is that we're not outside. We're not talking to people. You're not necessarily running into your neighbor and having a short conversation. You're not, you know, taking a walk, um, you know, i- in a park or on the boardwalk or wherever you live.
**Unknown:** So you tend to be indoors a lot, and you tend to be on these different platforms and social media or watching TV, which can be toxic in itself, um, because there, there's a lot of... there's power of suggestion with social media is, "Oh, well, what if they mean that?" or "What's that supposed to mean?" and "Look at how this person's life looks amazing, and mine's shit." And there's a lot of that, that happening, and we get in our own heads, and then we don't always ha- or we're not always meeting up with different people on a regular basis, which is then allowing us to, to talk and have quality conversation. So we need to understand that we might have to take more time or, or make more of an effort to reach out to people and hop on a call or, you know, even hop on a Zoom to create more of that social interaction so that we're not feeling overly isolated, which is then causing us to indulge in different behaviors that might be even more toxic to our psyche. And in addition to that is the stimulation is we're having a decrease in our endorphins because we're not necessarily exercising as much, and we're not, um, you know, just even as active because we're not getting out and walking around and doing different things.
**Unknown:** So I wanted to make sure to put this in here because I don't want you to think like, "Oh, if I just eat these foods and I take these supplements, I'm good to go." Yes, that's important, but what about your behaviors? Are you totally isolating yourself in the winter months, and what can you do to maybe do less of that and also just not have as much of the toxic stimuli, you know? I think that social media has a lot of positive benefits. I've made friends.
**Unknown:** I've had-- I've networked with really amazing people. But then at the same time, like, we all kind of know when we're on there too much, and we're just, like, pissing ourselves off almost. And it's just like, just shut it down. Just, just close the app.
**Unknown:** Just, like, you know, power down for a couple days and just, like, allow yourself to reset. Um, so I've already mentioned this, but, um, I didn't talk about the one specific. So I was mentioning before that being indoors, we're gonna have more TV, more iPads, more iPhones, video games, you know, so on and so forth. One of the major reasons why this stimulation can be negative is because of the blue light.So blue light is going to ramp up your stress hormones and your sympathetic nervous system.
**Unknown:** So for those of you that don't know what the hell I'm talking about, all I'm saying is fight or flight. Your body thinks you're going to fight a tiger or run. So you can ramp up your fight or flight by having extended amount of hours of blue light. Get blue light blocking glasses.
**Unknown:** It's not rocket science. I'm not telling you to, like, live in a tree house and never, you know, be on technology again. It's just a matter of little things that you can do to modify. There is also a really amazing app, um, F dot Lux, F dot L-U-X, that you can actually download into or on your computer, on your iPhone, and it will remove the blue light out of the device, or you can get the glasses.
**Unknown:** Um, and nowadays, you can actually have the blue light built into your prescription glasses as well. So I actually wrote an article for Mind Body Green a couple of years ago, and the primary focus of this article was actually in relation to diet, the diet effect on seasonal affective disorder. And the primary focus was actually talking about a ketogenic diet, and the reason was because of the blood sugar conversation that we had. So a ketogenic diet can be very beneficial.
**Unknown:** But guys, I don't want you to go Google a ketogenic diet and pick the one you like because there's a lot of different versions, and there's, like, the bacon cheeseburger version that, like, you could just eat that and remove the bun, and you're good to go. Um, obviously, it's all about balance, but making sure that you're having heavier on clean proteins, fats that are quality, like avocados, nuts, and seeds. But then also, you know, really steering away from some of the carbohydrates that spike your blood sugar, like rice and wheat and gluten. But also, one of the primary foods that is going to be the best for stimulating more serotonin production is foods that are rich in tryptophan.
**Unknown:** Uh, some of you have heard of tryptophan because that's what they say makes you sleepy at Thanksgiving. I'm gonna bust that myth right now, so hold on to your seats, everyone. It's not the tryptophan that makes you sleepy. It's the amount of carbon monoxide that's in your turkey meat because of how long you cooked it.
**Unknown:** Ooh, sorry. Hate to tell you that. So with that being said, tryptophan is actually very beneficial for stimulating more serotonin levels. Don't get me wrong.
**Unknown:** If you eat a boatload of turkey during Thanksgiving, you can definitely ramp up your serotonin to then convert into melatonin, but that process takes hours. So the people that say, "I ate the turkey, and now, like within ten minutes, I'm sleepy," it's either your blood sugar totally sucks or you just consumed a lot of carbon monoxide because of the length of how long you cooked it, and you probably have a shitty stove. Sorry. So but turkey, salmon, um, certain types of cheeses, quality cheese, um, eggs are the top foods that are very high in tryptophan that can give you a lot of benefits, uh, when it comes to improving your serotonin levels, which can definitely improve your mood.
**Unknown:** So one big thing, uh, as we're kind of getting into more of the logistics here, is that a lot of people think like, "Okay, well, there's really not a lot of testing out there for, uh, seasonal affective disorder or really just mood in general." And I really wanna bust that myth right now because you're, you're not going to figure out what is going on with your mood and your neurotransmitters by doing basic blood work, and you're not gonna figure it out through an MRI or a CT scan. But there are neurotransmitter testing. There is something called a qEEG brain map which maps out what parts of your brain are over-firing, under-firing. How does that play into your brainwaves?
**Unknown:** There are even blood panels that look at your blood-brain barrier. Do you have infections in your brain? Do you have proper blood flow to your brain? There are markers that indicate, do you have anything autoimmune that is targeting your neurotransmitters or targeting different parts of your brain?
**Unknown:** So these are all things that are really, really huge when it comes to understanding why the heck do you feel the way that you do. Um, dizziness, if that was in relation to my blood sugar conversation, a hundred percent low blood sugar can cause dizziness, yes. You know, another big thing that a lot of people are told is that therapy or antidepressants are really the only option when it comes to improving your mood. And again, myth busted.
**Unknown:** No. There are a lot of different ways to go. But this slide is not here for you guys to start winging it and trying all these different things. I really, really suggest and empower you to figure out what your body actually needs.
**Unknown:** Because there are different things like craniosacral therapy, which is a hands-on therapy that actually helps you to process different emotional things that you're dealing with. It also helps you to get more blood flow to your brain so that your brain can use serotonin and dopamine better. There are things like neurofeedback. Neurofeedback is, you know, exercise for the brain based off of that qEEG brain map.
**Unknown:** That's not for everyone. Um, it's definitely for someone who has a lot of significant imbalances. You know, being able to get your gut healthier 'cause maybe you have depression, anxiety, but you also have IBS. So there's no way that you're gonna improve your mood-Unless you actually get your gut to function better because ninety to ninety-five percent of your serotonin is made in your gut.
**Unknown:** All right, so I kind of dove into this already a little bit, but you are gonna get this if you stay to the end or if you DM your email, you're gonna get our good mood foods as well as supplements. But here's the cheat sheet. Um, five HTP is something very beneficial when it comes to boosting up those serotonin levels. You have to take it with cofactors, magnesium, methyl B12, P five P.
**Unknown:** Um, very often if you look at our guide, you're gonna get the specifics on which ones are best that have all of those goodies inside. Um, tryptophan is a supplement you can also buy on its own, or you can ramp up your intake of chicken, scallops, spinach, turkey, lamb, beef, liver, salmon. Sorry if you're a vegan or a vegetarian. Um, and one of my personal favorites is an herb called St.
**Unknown:** John's wort, but you cannot take this if you are already taking, um, any type of pharmaceutical, uh, when it comes to antidepressants or really even, uh, anti-anxieties or, um, even birth control. So, uh, definitely if you are planning on taking supplements, uh, consult with your practitioner, your naturopath, your chiropractor, your primary, whomever you're working with and really trust. So for those of you that have been here the whole time, uh, I think that it's safe to say that you don't know what you don't know. Um, you know, I think that a lot of individuals are not even connecting the dots when it comes to how their blood sugar is contributing to their mood, and how maybe a history of concussions when they were fifteen years old is playing into their mood, and even how their diet is playing into their mood.
**Unknown:** But overall is just do not accept things as your normal and don't accept that you just have to live with it and deal with it, and that pharmaceuticals are your only option. You know, the biggest reason why I do these webinars is to show you that there is another way, and very often things don't match the textbook. And I want to be very, very clear about that, is that when I went to school and I learned the textbook and then I got into clinical practice, it didn't look the same. And if you don't match the textbook, then that means your treatment shouldn't match the textbook either.
**Unknown:** So to think like, "If I just take this pill, then all the problems will go away," is really a band-aid approach. And I think that a lot of us that are here on both Instagram and the webinar, you're sick of the band-aid approach, and that's why you're here. You're trying to learn more. You're trying to be an advocate for yourself, which is very, very, very important.
**Unknown:** So I hope you take this information and you utilize it because it's, it's invaluable, and it's a starting place. And for those of you that are like, "Listen, I've been on the hamster wheel and I'm so tired, and I just wanna know exactly what's wrong with me," you know, that's where we come in. And it's a matter of we do the testing, we figure it out, and we e-- are able to really get super specific and targeted on your healing approach so that you're not wasting time and you're also not wasting money. Like I wanna show you the definitive differences between functional and integrative medicine.
**Unknown:** So functional medicine is where I started as a practitioner, and it gave me really valuable testing, and I was able to do better testing and figure out what was going on with the patient. But the tools that I were tau- was taught was diet and supplements. And the more patients that I worked with and the more complex the cases were coming through my doors, they were like, "Been there, done that. What else you got?" And I was like, "Wow, you know, this is really significant." And one of my personal mentors said to me, "If you do not call yourself integrative," which the name of our business is Integrative Wellness Group, "Do not call yourself integrative if all you do is diet and supplements." And that really shifted me into this integrative model.
**Unknown:** And the integrative model is really, it's still leveraging really amazing testing, but it's having more tools in the toolbox when it comes to therapies. So we do everything from scar tissue release to s- emotional work, to human behavior work, to goal setting, figuring out your values, neurological work, um, you know, chiropractic work, rehab work. You name it, we have it, we do it. And not everybody does everything.
**Unknown:** It's a matter of what do you need? And what have other practitioners missed that allow us to remove, you know, the, the subjectivity and allow us to get super, super, super specific. So for those of you looking to learn more about Integrative Wellness Group, what we do, how we do the testing, all that fun stuff, definitely pop out a call totally free. You can talk to our team and learn a little bit more about our process.
**Unknown:** Um, so that is definitely something that's open to you guys, and you can access that call, um, anytime on our website as well. Um, but as we are wrapping up, I just wanna say thank you so much for being here. Um, you know, this is really my pleasure, uh, doing this. It's really a breakthrough experience when you're able to figure out what is actually going on with you and what do you need to heal.
**Unknown:** Um, and maybe it's outside of just diet and supplements and, you know, maybe it's just that. So, um, thanks Ramona, always keeping it real over here. That's the Jersey in me, that's for sure. Um, but I thank you guys for being here.
**Unknown:** Um, again, check out the podcast. We have more webinars coming at you this, um, this year. We have a bunch of things that are going to be, um... Also, Dr.
**Unknown:** Nick is gonna be doing a series on a lot of things that we're just dealing with. Everything from judgments to resentments. Why are we getting triggered? You know, why do we have these cycles that keep reoccurring in relationships?
**Unknown:** I'm super excited about some of those podcasts that are coming out. Um, so definitely keep your eye out, and we will see you guys soon. We thank you for being a listener and subscriber to Integrative Wellness Radio. If you're looking to learn more about Integrative Wellness Group as well as Dr.
**Unknown:** Nick or Dr. Nicole, you can check out integrativewellnessgroup.com. All night, no sleep. 'Cause I feel like I'm always dreaming.
**Unknown:** Wide awake, that's okay
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About Integrative You Radio
Integrative You Radio is a root cause medicine and integrative medicine podcast hosted by Dr. Nicole Rivera and Dr. Nick Carruthers — two integrative doctors who build personalized wellness protocols from your DNA, minerals, hormones, gut, and nervous system rather than from a population template. Looking for an integrative doctor who reads your labs together instead of in isolation? This is the show.
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