Zinc – One of Nature’s Tools To Help Us Be Happy?

zinc

“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life” – John Lennon

You always hear about how important Zinc is. Its the engine behind so many different things our bodies do on a daily basis to keep us functioning and healthy. But some new and reexamined research is suggesting that Zinc may be helping to put a smile on our face. 

One day there were rats (aren’t there always rats in these things?) and these rats were injected with big time amounts of zinc to see just what it would do to the brain. Well, wouldn’t you know it? The rats, under stressful conditions, remained calmer, happier. It wasn’t too much of a shock as zinc was already known to support signals being carried around the brain. (It has the most zinc out of any organ in our body.) One such classic study can be found here.

Another more recent study showed the effects of rats being forced to swim. The rats which had a zinc supplement regiment actually didn’t panic and began swimming faster than those that didn’t reinforcing the belief throughout the scientific community zinc has some anti-depressant qualities.

But the reverse affects were frightening. “Excitotoxicity” begins to happen. Basically that’s when your brain begins to rely on other receptors, shortly called “NMDA receptors,” to do the job. Then scientists began to see all sorts of horrible conditions creep up in regularity:

  • migraines
  • seizures
  • bipolar disorder
  • different forms of depression

Horrible stuff. People with zinc deficiencies in their diets (strict vegetarians, the poor around the world who can’t afford zinc rich foods, people with bad digestion systems for example) for at a higher risk for conditions such as these. 

Making sure you have the daily recommended levels of zinc in your diet can have tremendous benefits to your overall health. Ponder these tidbits.

 Just to review some basics – what do we eat to get this awesome health metal into our bodies? Some choices are wheat germ, seafood, beef, spinach, nuts, pumpkin seeds and poultry. If these choices aren’t included in your diet than a supplement is recommended.

There have been countless studies done that strongly suggest zinc is directly related to the health of our brains (as well as other areas) and how we react to stress and depression. John Lennon famously sang, “All you need is love.” But maybe what we really need is Zinc.

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