Your highest-impact upgrade is: MOOD

Your moods can give you forward momentum, or they can stand in your way. Happiness can feel out of your control (especially if you’re unhappy), but you actually have a lot more influence over your mood than it may seem. With a few well-placed biohacks, you can take your happiness to new levels.

Practice Gratitude

Gratitude is one of the strongest predictors of happiness. In a 2003 study, participants wrote down things for which they were grateful at the end of every day, things that annoyed them, or neutral things. After two weeks, the grateful participants were happier, more positive, more socially courageous, more likely to help others, and more emotionally open. They even slept better.

It seems so simple, but gratitude is seriously powerful. Keep a notebook next to your bed, and scribble down three good things in your life and positive moments in your day, every day.

5-HTP

Your body naturally makes 5-HTP from the amino acid tryptophan. From there, 5-HTP is converted into serotonin, neurotransmitter responsible for boosting mood and emotional well being, and melatonin.

Your body can sometimes struggle with turning 5-HTP into that all-important happy neurotransmitter. Supplementing with 5-HTP — which readily crosses the blood-brain-barrier — is the easiest way to organically support your levels of the mood-lifting neurotransmitter serotonin.

Get 5-HTP here

Exercise

Short bursts of vigorous exercise naturally increase BDNF, a compound that increases the production of new neurons and neuronal connectivity. This is likely just one of the ways exercise reduces stress and improves depressive symptoms. And if high-intensity intervals aren’t for you, there’s plenty of evidence that running and lifting can help alleviate anxiety and depressive symptoms. Some forward-thinking doctors are even prescribing exercise instead of antidepressants, taking into account the poor risk-to-benefit in patients with mild depression. In other words, exercise is more effective and safer, at least for people with mild depression.

Meditation

This finding supports the notion that meditation enhances emotional stability by down regulating the amygdala — the “fight or flight” response center that interferes with higher-order thought processes.

Studies out of the University of Exeter are finding that daily 30-minute mindfulness meditation sessions are better than drugs or counseling alone for depression. Three-quarters of patients in one study felt good enough to stop taking antidepressants after four months with no other intervention besides MBCT.

The science is young, but mindfulness and meditation studies are showing promising results alleviating symptoms like stress, anxiety, depression, and anxiety-related problems like disordered eating.

Zen Mode

Zen Mode is the culmination of countless hours of research and experimentation with one goal in mind: Create a natural feeling of Zen. Picture the most time-tested and studied herbal remedies, married with cutting-edge neuro-nutrients. The result is a unique formula that delivers stress-relief when you need it most. Here are a few of the many ingredients worth a look:

• Holy Basil Leaf Extract – traditionally used to reduce nervous tension because it has been shown to support a healthy stress hormone response
• Ashwagandha – supports normal adrenal function, which mitigates stress because the adrenals produce stress hormones
• Saffron Extract – supports balanced moods
• Sceletium tortuosum – used for stress relief, clarity, and focus
• L-Theanine – increases alpha brain waves while decreasing beta waves, resulting in an alert state of relaxation without causing drowsiness
• 5-HTP – read about 5-HTP in the section above!

Get Zen Mode here

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