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Enjoy a Better Mood AND a Better Memory --
All at One Go!
Your brain can’t function without neurotransmitters – chemicals that help brain cells communicate. Neurotransmitters affect your mood as well as your ability to learn new information and retain memories.
One of the most intriguing of these brain chemicals is gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA ) whose main task in the brain is to slow down the firing of electrochemical signals from neurons.
It’s kind of a paradox, but even though GABA holds neurons back from releasing impulses, having a higher level of GABA in the brain can improve your ability to acquire knowledge.
For instance, a study in Germany that investigated "tactile" learning (such as learning how to play a musical instrument) found that the amount of GABA you have in the part of the brain called the primary somatomotor cortex is a strong indicator of how successfully you acquire a new skill.1
Perhaps of more interest is what GABA can do for your emotions. . .
Studies show that GABA can subdue depression.
Research at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine demonstrates that GABA in the brain may boost your optimism and resilience and protect you from feeling disappointed in your daily life.
"The idea that some people see the world as a glass half empty has a chemical basis in the brain," says researcher Roberto Malinow, who teaches neurobiology. "What we have found is a process that may dampen the brain's sensitivity to negative life events."
The lab tests in California show that certain neurons connected to the brain’s thalamus release both GABA and glutamate – a neurotransmitter that stimulates neuronal activity.2
Other experiments have shown that these specific neurons become very active during an unhappy experience – like expecting a job promotion and then not getting it. (That’s why these neurons are sometimes called the "disappointment pathway.")
When the neurons are continually overactive it can lead to depression. GABA limits this activity.
How to Make More GABA
Exercise is one reliable way to boost GABA in your brain – exercise boosts the brain’s production of both GABA and glutamate.
Researchers at the University of California Davis Health System examined the puzzle of why, when you exercise, not only your muscle cells but also your brain cells take in a lot of extra blood sugar. They found that the brain is using all that glucose to fuel production of GABA and glutamate.3
"From a metabolic standpoint, vigorous exercise is the most demanding activity the brain encounters, much more intense than calculus or chess, but nobody knows what happens with all that energy," says researcher Richard Maddock, M.D. "Apparently, one of the things it's doing is making more neurotransmitters."
And all the extra production of GABA and other neurotransmitters is probably the reason that exercise can improve your mood.
"Major depressive disorder is often characterized by depleted glutamate and GABA, which return to normal when mental health is restored," says Dr. Maddock. "Our study shows that exercise activates the metabolic pathway that replenishes these neurotransmitters."
Can Supplements Help?
As you may know, GABA supplements are widely available. However, despite reports that these supplements help improve people’s mental health, some experts argue that the GABA supplements are worthless because GABA can’t cross the blood/brain barrier (the membranes that keep substances from traveling from bloodstream to brain).
But German researchers believe that even if GABA taken by mouth can’t get into the brain (and nobody knows for sure), it still offers benefits by influencing the nervous system that connects your digestive tract to the brain – nerves that also produce neurotransmitters. The digestive tract contains a massive number of neurotransmitters.
You can get GABA from foods like bananas, nuts, spinach and organ meats, but supplements offer higher doses.
Best Regards,
Lee Euler
Publisher
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