Feeling motivated, driven and focused in our day-to-day lives depends on a number of environmental circumstances and influences in addition to your mood, energy and stress resilience status. Dopamine is a modulating neurotransmitter synthesised in the brain (as a monoamine), and the adrenal medulla (as a catecholamine), which governs motivation of positive reinforcement and reward, cognition, focus and working memory, motor functions, addiction and mood.1
Dopamine is at the core of pleasurable sensations and desire. Without it, we experience anhedonia – the inability to feel joy, lack of desire, low libido, fatigue, poor concentration and memory retention and a general sense of apathy.
The ‘monoamine hypothesis’ suggests that the development of behaviour, mood and energy disorders occurs when monoamines, such as the neurotransmitters dopamine, noradrenaline or serotonin, are imbalanced or insufficient in the synaptic cleft due to impaired neurotransmitter synthesis, release, breakdown or activation. The cause of this is often multi-factorial including:
- nutritional deficiencies,
- chronic exposure to stressors,
- neuroendocrine dysfunction and
- neuro-inflammation.
Therefore, symptoms and conditions associated with compromised mood, energy, behaviour and stress resilience can be improved by using a combination of multi-targeted nutrients and herbal adaptogens that modulate the neuroendocrine system, central nervous system (CNS) and neurotransmitters, down-regulates the immune system and neuroinflammation, and regulate the hypothalamic-pituitary -adrenal (HPA) axis and metabolism.
For a personalised assessment and individualised advice, call True Medicine on 07 5530 1863.