Serotonin: The Steady Hand in the Storm

How your body builds calm, mood, and inner steadiness, one molecule at a time.

You don’t always notice serotonin when it’s working. It’s not loud like adrenaline. Not motivating like dopamine. It doesn’t spike or crash. It steadies.

It’s the quiet sense that things are okay, even when they’re not perfect. It’s feeling emotionally buffered, not brittle. It’s the sigh you take when the house is finally quiet. The softening that lets you enjoy your own company. The feeling of being okay in your skin.

That’s serotonin.

Serotonin isn’t about happiness. It’s about stability.

It’s the neurotransmitter that smooths your mood, regulates your sleep, buffers your appetite, keeps your gut calm, and softens the hormonal edges.

It keeps your nervous system from swinging too wide. It helps you process emotion without getting stuck in it. It makes rest feel restful, and food feel satisfying.

But like all the good things, it can be depleted. Quietly. Gradually. Until you don’t even notice what’s missing.

You just notice you’re tired. Irritated. Disconnected. More brittle than you used to be.

Low serotonin feels like:

• Waking at 2–4am and not falling back asleep

• Feeling emotionally raw or reactive

• PMS that hits like a wall

• Craving carbs and sweets constantly

• Digestive sensitivity

• Social withdrawal or disinterest

• A body that feels uncomfortable even when nothing’s technically wrong

• That quiet but persistent sense of flatness

It doesn’t always feel like sadness. Sometimes it’s just… unease. A nervous system without its anchor.

So where does serotonin come from?

You make it from an amino acid called tryptophan. Which turns into 5-HTP, then serotonin, then eventually melatonin.

And that process needs:

• Magnesium, B6, folate, and iron

• A calm, functioning gut (where over 90% of serotonin is made and stored)

• Stable blood sugar

• And enough sunlight, especially in the morning

This is why serotonin support is about rhythm, not quick fixes. It needs:

• Light in the morning

• Protein and complex carbs

• Meals you digest well

• Sleep that actually lands

• Movement that feels like grounding, not depletion

• Nervous system inputs that say, “You’re safe now".

What depletes serotonin?

• Chronic stress and high cortisol

• Inflammation (especially in the gut)

• Low-carb or low-protein diets

• Lack of sleep

• Nutrient deficiencies

• Genetic variations (like MAOA, TPH2, or SLC6A4) that affect synthesis, breakdown, or transport

Some people feel fine on five hours of sleep and fasted workouts. Others lose their buffer in a week. Knowing where your serotonin system runs gently, or needs more, changes everything.

It’s not a flaw. It’s a rhythm. One you get to learn, and work with.

Supporting serotonin isn’t about control. It’s about care.

Your body doesn’t want to feel anxious. It’s responding to what it’s sensing.

When you restore safety through food, rhythm, sleep, light, and nutrients, you’re not “hacking” anything. You’re speaking the language your nervous system understands.

And serotonin responds.

You might not feel it in a flash. But one day you’ll catch yourself laughing more easily. Sleeping more deeply. Feeling less thrown by the things that used to take you out. And you’ll realise: Something softened.

That’s serotonin. The steady hand in the storm. Still there, still holding.

Before the food—remember this:

Serotonin isn’t just about eating the “right” thing. It’s about what your body can absorb, convert, and feel safe enough to use.

You need the building blocks, yes. But you also need a gut that’s not inflamed, a nervous system that’s not on high alert, and a rhythm that lets those nutrients land.

This table isn’t a fix. It’s an example of foods that support serotonin.

But as always: what supports one body might not land well in another.

Your needs, sensitivities, and responses matter more than a list.

These aren’t prescriptions. They’re possibilities. A starting point for noticing what may help your body feel more steady, more clear, or simply more like you. One you can come back to, gently, consistently, until steadiness starts to feel like your baseline again.

Foods That Support Serotonin

Because mood is built, not manufactured.

Food	Key Nutrients	Why It Helps
Eggs (esp. yolks)	Tryptophan, B2, B12, choline	Supplies the raw materials + cofactors for serotonin production
Salmon & sardines	Omega-3s, B6, vitamin D	Supports neurotransmitter balance + brain-gut communication
Turkey & chicken	Tryptophan, iron, B3	Tryptophan-rich proteins for serotonin synthesis
Pumpkin seeds	Tryptophan, magnesium, zinc	Portable serotonin precursors + calming minerals
Lentils & chickpeas	B6, iron, plant protein	Gentle, gut-friendly serotonin-building foods
Bananas (esp. just ripe)	Natural sugars, B6	Help transport tryptophan into the brain when paired with protein
Leafy greens	Folate, magnesium	Cofactors for serotonin metabolism + gut lining repair
Fermented foods	Probiotics, postbiotics	Support gut health where serotonin is mostly made + stored
Oats + sweet potato	Complex carbs	Help shuttle tryptophan across the blood-brain barrier (especially with protein)
Dark chocolate (min. 70%)	Polyphenols, magnesium	Boosts serotonin precursors + supports mood and microbial diversity

The Soil Connection

Serotonin isn’t just shaped by sunlight and protein. There’s another source you may not expect: soil.

Certain microbes in soil, especially Mycobacterium vaccae, have been shown to stimulate serotonin pathways in the brain. And not through a supplement or a lab, but through something much simpler: touching the earth.

Gardening. Pulling herbs. Running your hands through living soil.

It’s not just grounding in the emotional sense. It’s biochemical. Studies suggest that exposure to these microbes may influence mood, resilience, and even inflammatory balance through the gut–brain–immune axis.

It’s not magic. It’s co-evolution.

You were built to interact with the world around you, not just through food and light, but through contact. And serotonin is one of the ways that relationship is recorded.

That said, this isn’t about breathing in soil dust or skipping handwashing.

Play, plant, connect, but wash your hands when you’re done. And if you’re buying soil, especially for indoor or raised bed use, look for organic blends without synthetic antimicrobials. The microbes matter.

Because in more ways than one, how we treat the ground beneath us shapes the chemistry within us.

Want to see where the science comes from? For the extra curious, the references are here.