Word: serotonin
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...that may explain the association. Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the findings suggest that depression contributes to heart disease indirectly - by fostering unhealthy behaviors like smoking - rather than directly. Certain biological factors linked with depression, such as inflammation and the levels of brain chemicals like serotonin, may play some role in heart health, researchers say, but the new study found that the factors that most increased heart disease risk in depressed people were the ones you might expect: lack of exercise and smoking...
...patients filled out regular questionnaires to determine their mood state, and were asked yearly to report on any heart-related events. Researchers took blood and urine samples to measure their levels of omega-3 fatty acids, cortisol and the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein, as well as the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine - all agents that may be involved in both depression and heart disease. In all, about 20% of the participants reported depressive symptoms; over five years, those patients had a 50% higher rate of additional heart problems, compared with their non-depressed peers...
...overlap of mental and physical boosts makes sense, given the biochemistry that's in play when your body is massaged. Levels of feel-good neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine spike, while measures of the stress hormone cortisol drop. This is the same phenomenon that's at work when you feel the fabled runner's or exerciser's high, and it's also one of the things that makes a post-workout massage particularly satisfying. For people whose workouts lead to neck and back pain - or whose existing neck and back pain prevent them from exercising at all - massage...
...body to its adult contours. At the same time, testosterone-like hormones released by the adrenal glands, located near the kidneys, begin to circulate. Recent discoveries show that these adrenal sex hormones are extremely active in the brain, attaching to receptors everywhere and exerting a direct influence on serotonin and other neurochemicals that regulate mood and excitability...
...body is still a mystery. There are two theories, Lightfoot says: Genes may affect either the way muscles work - perhaps causing them to use energy more efficiently and preventing fatigue - or some higher-order biochemical circuit in the brain, such as levels of the neurotransmitters dopamine or serotonin. Researchers have examined the muscle tissue of the mice in the study, however, and early data, which has not yet been published, suggests that there's no difference in their function. So the researchers' best guess is that the drive to exercise is at least partly influenced by brain chemicals - a reasonable...