Lift mood with feel-good food and herbal remedies
The gut–brain axis goes both ways. Sure, treat the gut; but treat the mind too. Remedies and recipes loaded with herbs to elevate mood or calm anxious tendencies are an essential consideration as we strive for happiness through health.
The mind—that is to say, the nervous and endocrine systems—responds particularly well to herbal medicine. For that reason, this chapter has more teas and tinctures than the others, ready for you to boil and brew yourself a tonic at a moment’s notice.
Low mood? Antidepressant herbs like St John’s wort have been rigorously tested and their benefits are thought to be due to increasing the availability or action of serotonin, one of our ‘happy hormones’.
Of course, to consider only one neurotransmitter—those are the chemical messengers in the brain—is an overly simplistic view. The mind is complex, and an increase or decrease in activity of one neurotransmitter invariably has effects on others.
Dopamine, for example, is another hormone necessary for healthy mood. It is involved in motivation and reward-based behaviours, but also impacts mood, memory and sleep. Oxytocin is a peptide hormone involved in feelings of connection, bonding and intimacy. But the two are linked, with a decrease in oxytocin being associated with disorders of low dopamine. This is one reason why social connection and love are frequently touted as natural antidepressants and essential factors in human happiness.
But with high-stress modern lifestyles, social connection and intimacy seem to be two of the things suffering most. Not only that, but these lifestyles demand near-constant activation of the sympathetic ‘fight or flight’ nervous system. This not only disrupts how the gut’s own enteric nervous system functions, but it also leads to chronic hyperactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis that manifests in circulating high levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Imbalances of the HPA axis and higher levels of cortisol have been implicated in both depression and IBS.
Allowing time for rest, for social activity and to nurture relationships—both romantic ones as well as friendships—is a vital part of achieving good mental health.
You can see why then, for sustained mental wellbeing, you simply cannot ignore lifestyle. Allowing time for rest, for social activity and to nurture relationships—both romantic ones as well as friendships—is a vital part of achieving good mental health.
Interestingly—although perhaps not surprisingly, now that we are aware of the link between the gut and the brain—it was recently found that the consumption of a particular lactobacillus strain could lower blood cortisol levels. Again, the bidirectional relationship of the digestive system and the mind is highlighted.
From a naturopath’s point of view, there are also many herbs to help support dietary and lifestyle changes to achieve better mental health. We’ve already discussed St John’s wort and serotonin, but there are others too. Valerian, for example, has been investigated for its potential interactions with another neurotransmitter called GABA, which is implicated in anxiety. Valerian may also have effects on the function of adenosine, a molecule in the body that impacts alertness. The combination of these two actions could potentially explain valerian’s sleep-inducing properties, an effect which is particularly pronounced when the herb is combined with hops and lemon balm.
The reality is that just as the endocrine system is complex, so too are herbal medicines. Each herb is a cocktail of beneficial molecules, not a single one in isolation, and so it’s likely that our remedies work on multiple levels to create change. In the following teas and tinctures, I’ve paired each herb with one or two complementary ones for best effect.
Beyond the herbal remedies, this chapter also contains some of my favourite food-as-medicine recipes loaded with therapeutic ingredients. Many of them are sweet treats that mean you won’t even notice you’re taking your medicine.