Poor sleep? PMS? Sugar cravings? 5HTP is a natural remedy that helps increase your serotonin levels, which in turn improve your mood, sleep and appetite.
5HTP is useful if you need a little help boosting your serotonin levels.
Serotonin is ‘the happy hormone’ you normally synthesize from the amino acid tryptophan in food via a complex chain of chemical reactions.
Serotonin has a role in how you feel in yourself, what you want to eat (and how often), and how much you sleep – all of the things which go awry when you have PMS.
Boosting serotonin using 5HTP tablets (sometimes also sold as Serotone) is also useful to even out the ups and downs of perimenopause – because when estrogen levels drop, so too, I’m afraid, does serotonin.
What is 5HTP and how does it work?
5HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan) is an extract of the seeds of an African shrub called griffonia. It’s what’s termed a precursor to the neurotransmitter made in your brain called serotonin.
Low levels of serotonin have been linked with depression, fibromyalgia, insomnia, headaches and PMS.
As luck would have it, we women generally have lower levels of serotonin than men – which may go part of the way to explaining why we tend to suffer more from conditions like depression.
5HTP for Better Mood
A number of properly designed (i.e. double-blind placebo-controlled) clinical trials have proven the effectiveness of 5-HTP in the treatment of depression, making it an effective natural alternative to antidepressant drugs.
After all, antidepressants such as Prozac are selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), meaning that they too work by increasing the amount of serotonin available to the brain. 5HTP can also help if you suffer from panic attacks.
5HTP for Sugar Craving
Low serotonin (or poor metabolism of serotonin) leads to increased sugar cravings – which I’m sure you’re familiar with during PMS.
Eating simple carbs like white bread or chocolate actually does boost your brain’s serotonin levels (that’s why it feels so good) and food cravings are often your body’s way of telling you need a serotonin ‘hit’.
But getting relief in this way is only temporary and leads to the vicious cycle of blood sugar levels going up and down – leaving you feeling worse than before.
So by balancing serotonin using 5HTP – together with all my other PMS tips, – you can control appetite and beat food cravings.
5HTP for Insomnia
5-HTP helps with relaxation, and is also converted into melatonin. Melatonin is the hormone which regulates your sleep cycle.
How to Use 5HTP
It’s a good idea to take 5HTP with a small carbohydrate snack for absorption.
5-HTP can make you feel a bit drowsy or ‘floaty’, so it’s best taken at night, with a small carbohydrate snack.
Start with 50mg a day, and see what how you feel. That dose may be enough. However, a dose of 100mg a day – if you need it – is also safe.
But whichever dose you take, be sure to take a break from taking 5HTP from time to time to prevent the build-up of tolerance, which will make it much less effective.
Caution
Do NOT take 5HTP if pregnant or taking antidepressants or tranquilisers, and take medical advice if you are considering taking 5HTP with any other prescribed drugs.
Recommendations
Remember that 5HTP is just one tool in an holistic program to synthesize serotonin and beat PMS by naturally balancing hormones.
So for a knock-out anti-PMS plan, add 5HTP into a program which includes as many of the follow recommendations as you can manage:
1. Eat complex carbohydrates for natural serotonin sythesis
2. Eat a healthy breakfast to prevent your blood sugar levels crashing later in the day
3. Choose healthy snacks
4. Choose plant-based foods which are full of fiber, antioxidants and phytonutrients to balance your hormones
5. Get regular and varied exercise – preferably in the fresh air
6. Get enough exposure to light – whether from natural sunshine or full spectrum light therapy
7. Do whatever you can to reduce stress (because it raises cortisol levels) – whether that’s meditating, dancing, painting or having sex!
This article is graciously provided by PMS Warrior. She lives in England and is an advocate for fighting PMS with plant-based food and supplement. You may also be interested in check outing her article: Maca, A Top Natural Remedy for PMS.
Any research on taking 5-htp along with Maca?
Can I take 5-htp just 15 days before my menstrual cycle? Since I suffer from a severe PMS only those days.
Personally 5-HTP has worked well for me over the past 3 or so years, without any noticeable side-effects, and when I stop taking it (which I do for a couple of weeks every 3-4 months) I feel fine. I prefer taking patches to tablets though as they release a more balanced amount of 5-HTP over a longer period of time.
In my psychology class, my teacher spoke about taking pills to boost serotonin levels. She said that if you take meds to boost serotonin, then your body will begin to produce less and less, and your body will become dependent in order to produce any serotonin at all. What are your thoughts on this?
Karena, I agree with what your teacher said. Natural chemicals in plants may be different. Some are adaptable, which increases the level when it’s low and lowers it when it’s high. It would be interesting to look into the research on 5HTP.
Well if your body isn’t making an adequate supply to begin with that you need a supplement, then safe to say stick with the supplement, That’s like when your Thyroid doesn’t produce enough hormone, you are prescribed a supplement. Not taking it isn’t going to make the Thyroid function better, it will just make you feel sicker. People only seek out supplements if there is a need because the body is deficient. So take the 5 HTP and feel healthy and don’t be concerned about what your body wasn’t producing anyway.