Serotonin is a neurotransmitter, which essentially means the brain uses it to send information back and forth between the nerves in the body and the neurons in the brain. The brain naturally creates neurotransmitters like serotonin. It is mostly found in the central nervous system (particularly the brain), blood platelets, and the gastrointestinal tract. It is also highly linked to mood stabilization and a sense of well being—depression is commonly suspected to be caused by a lack of serotonin.
What does serotonin do in the brain?
Serotonin is found with other neurotransmitters, where it affects how strongly neurons react to the other neurotransmitters. When you have too much serotonin, it may make you sleepy. Too little serotonin can impact mood and cause psychiatric disorders, like depression. However, those are extreme amounts of serotonin in either direction. In most cases, when you have plenty of serotonin production in the brain, it makes you a little happier than normal. When you don’t have enough, you’re a little sadder than normal.
What does serotonin do in the bowels?
Serotonin is also responsible for keeping our bowels moving smoothly. Most of the serotonin in your body is in specific cells in the gastrointestinal tract. Down there, it’s in charge of making sure your gut is processing food at a proper speed and signaling to the rest of your body when something goes wrong.
If you eat something that makes you nauseous, your bowels release more serotonin than usual to induce diarrhea and empty everything out. And when there’s way too much released, the serotonin gets into your blood and starts making you vomit as well. Serotonin may also play a role in hunger and in feeling full.
