Obsessive compulsive disorder, or OCD, is an anxiety disorder which, like many anxiety disorders, is marked by low levels of serotonin. Serotonin, a type of neurotransmitter, has a variety of functions that make a deficiency a serious and anxiety producing issue.
本文将讨论血清素在体内的各种功能以及它们如何影响强迫症。
Serotonin Levels Can Be Controlled
血清素是焦虑症中的鸡/蛋争论。不可能区分哪一个先来的-焦虑，还是低血清素。但科学所知道的是，你可以用适当的应对工具和技术同时治愈这两种疾病。
血清素的许多作用
Serotonin is a highly useful neurotransmitter to have in your brain and body. It has all kinds of important jobs that, all together, help to make us the balanced and healthy people we are - or want to be. People suffering from anxiety disorders like OCD are often low in serotonin.
Serotonin is thought to be at least partially responsible for regulating the following functions within your body:
- Mood特别是被认为能大量改善情绪的血清素水平在我们是否感到高兴、悲伤、焦虑或愤怒方面起着关键作用。当强迫症患者的5-羟色胺水平较低时，会使他们比平时更加急躁，对环境更加敏感，从而导致强迫症相关行为的增加，如强迫性洗手、数数或组织。
- Aggression血清素被认为是控制攻击性反应的部分原因。虽然攻击性不是强迫症的重要组成部分，但易怒是焦虑的副作用，如果体内血清素不足，更容易导致攻击性。
- 学习我们的学习能力是由血清素调节的，这意味着当我们的血清素水平处于平衡状态时，我们能更快更有效地处理新的信息。当他们失去平衡时，学习就会变得更加困难，这会导致工作和/或学校环境中的挫败感和糟糕表现。
- Memory记忆也被证明受到血清素的影响。记忆问题可能由血清素缺乏引起，血清素缺乏会造成不必要的压力，并在各种关系和环境中影响表现。
- 食欲食欲也由体内的血清素调节，血清素大部分存在于肠道而不是大脑。过量的血清素实际上会降低食欲，而缺乏血清素则会增加食欲。
- SleepSerotonin plays a role in regulating our circadian rhythms, or the regularity with which we fall asleep and wake up again. Both anxiety disorders such as OCD and the medications associated with it tend to be associated with sleeplessness.
5 -羟色胺明显影响各种不同的functions, and when you suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder, any of these issues may be affected.
How Serotonin Causes OCD
不幸的是，血清素导致强迫症的确切方式还不清楚。众所周知，低血清素与强迫症有关。但是由于血清素在大脑中起着化学信使的作用，大脑中可能有一些成分被告知有更多的消极想法和强迫行为。
强迫症也可能导致血清素水平降低。由于控制OCD可以培养血清素，这也需要考虑。
Antidepressant medications called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs are the most commonly prescribed medications for OCD.
SSRI通过限制神经元或脑细胞对血清素的再摄取或再吸收来增加大脑中的血清素。血清素通常在细胞间跳跃，传递与许多工作有关的各种信息。在血清素水平自然偏低或耗尽的人群中，过多的血清素被神经元重新吸收，阻止了它在神经元之间传递应有的信息。
SSRIs使5-羟色胺在神经元之间的突触空间徘徊，这样它们就可以在不被重新吸收的情况下完成工作。
How to Naturally Increase Serotonin
However, medications are not the ideal treatment for any anxiety disorder - even one caused by low serotonin. Serotonin can be naturally increased and mood regulated through engaging in the following activities:
- 锻炼When you exercise, your body automatically produces hormones and neurotransmitters to compensate for the hard work that your cardiovascular and muscular systems are having to undergo, making you feel better than you otherwise would. Regular exercise will encourage the brain to create additional receptors for serotonin, allowing for more serotonin to be processed and promoting better moods and lower stress.
- Eating Healthy FoodsEating healthy foods means ensuring that your body has all the vitamins and nutrients that it needs to run smoothly, thereby putting you in a better frame of mind. Eating unhealthy foods, by contrast, causes your brain to alert you to your body's lack of essential nutrients by increasing stress and discomfort. In order to keep your stress levels as low as possible and your serotonin levels high, focus on getting a wide variety of nutrients and cutting out junk food from your diet.
- 享受越来越好的睡眠Getting enough sleep is very important in keeping your body well-rested and healthy, which, by turn, will help you to maintain a healthy mind. Your body actually replenishes serotonin when you sleep. To ensure that you get enough sleep, even when anxiety makes it difficult for you, there are several strategies you can employ. First, you can choose a regular bedtime. Doing so will eventually train your brain to automatically get tired at that time. Second, you can make sure that all lights in the room are either turned off or covered when you go to sleep, and all electronics turned off. Light and noise will disrupt your REM sleep and cause you to feel less refreshed upon waking. Lastly, you should try and do any non-sleeping activities, such as working, reading, texting or surfing the web anywhere but your bed. If your brain associates activities with your bed other than sleeping, it will be less likely to sleep there.
另外，记住，通过学习正确的方法来控制你的焦虑通常也被证明在提高血清素方面是成功的，所以一定要治疗你的焦虑，不要只关注血清素水平。
可信来源