These 6 Supplements Promote Mood, Motivation, Focus & More*

Neurotransmitters, often referred to as the body's "chemical messengers," are crucial molecules that facilitate communication within the nervous system. They enable neurons, muscle cells, glands, and other body parts to coordinate their functions, ensuring that every cell, organ, and tissue performs its designated role.

While they are especially important for mood regulation and cognitive processes, neurotransmitters also significantly impact muscle movement, heart function, and numerous other physiological activities.

Maintaining healthy levels of neurotransmitters is key to our whole-body health, as levels that are too high or low can affect our neurological and physiological health in a myriad of ways.

Today, we'll focus on five major neurotransmitters that primarily affect our emotional well-being, cognitive function, and sleep health:

1. Dopamine

One of the more well-known neurotransmitters, dopamine heavily influences our ability to focus, concentrate, make decisions, learn, and motivate ourselves. Dopamine is a part of the brain's reward system, meaning we can experience a "dopamine rush" after sex, smelling or eating delicious food, shopping, and even receiving a phone notification or like on social media (which is precisely why mbg recommends a tech detox or other form of dopamine fast from time to time).

2. Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)

GABA is most commonly associated with sleep health because its inhibitory (i.e., not excitatory) neuronal pathways before bedtime help the body and mind relax so you can fall (and stay) asleep.* It's also known as the "learning chemical" for its role in facilitating learning and development—specifically, an individual's ability to perform mental tasks1 that require considerable concentration.*

3. Norepinephrine (aka noradrenaline)

This neurotransmitter affects mood, energy, memory, attentiveness, and concentration. Norepinephrine is also a stress hormone and plays a big role in both regulating the sympathetic nervous system and triggering the fight-or-flight response. Essentially, it helps you think quickly and mobilizes the body, sending energy where it needs to go so you can take action. Having healthy, balanced norepinephrine levels is crucial for stress management and overall well-being.

4. Oxytocin

Commonly known as the "love" or "cuddle" hormone, oxytocin is involved in a number of emotions associated with love, sex, and relationships. The butterflies you get on a first date or the feeling of satisfaction you feel after an orgasm are both a result of a rush of oxytocin, for example. Warm, fuzzy feelings aren't all it's good for, though—oxytocin is essential for reproductive organ function as well. Its main function is to facilitate labor and childbirth, but it also plays an important part in breastfeeding, testosterone synthesis, and sperm transport (i.e., toward an ovulated egg in the female reproductive tract). 

5. Serotonin

So now that we've reviewed some of the most important neurotransmitters that have profound impacts on cognitive function, mood, and mental well-being, let's look at some targeted nutrients, bugs (the good kind), and bioactives in supplements you can use to promote their production:*

1. Vitamin D

If you've been keeping up with mbg's vitamin D content, you already know how vital this essential vitamin is to whole-body health and overall well-being.* Considering vitamin D receptors are found in just about every cell in the body (including the brain), it's no surprise that the sunshine vitamin has a profound role in neurotransmitter synthesis2.*

When it comes to mood regulation, vitamin D influences serotonin production3 to maintain healthy levels of the happy chemical in the brain and in surrounding tissues.* A 2016 Neuroscience animal study4 suggests that vitamin D also has an impact on dopamine regulation as well, which checks out, considering dopamine and serotonin often work together in the central nervous system.* 

2. Omega-3s

Cardiovascular health may be omega-3's claim to fame, but in case you haven't heard, let me be the first to tell you—these fatty acids certainly aren't slacking off when it comes to cognitive function and brain health.* 

Marine omega-3s (i.e., EPA and DHA), in particular, are touted (with evidence to boot) for supporting working memory, problem-solving skills, verbal learning, and a number of other cognitive functions.* With all the incredible things a fish oil supplement can do to bolster our brains, it's no surprise that omega-3s support neurotransmitter function as well.*

Though research on the exact mechanisms is ongoing, it's clear that low levels of omega-3 fatty acids affect the brain's dopamine system5, and omega-3 EPA, especially, has been shown to affect the brain's ability to increase both dopamine and serotonin levels6.*

3. Probiotics

The connection between gut health, brain function, and mental well-being is a bizarre one—how is it that the state of our gastrointestinal tract can have such a profound effect on our brain health? According to scientists, neurotransmitters play a big role. 

The gut-brain axis is a complex and intricate communication system between the brain and the gut, and as it turns out, gut microbiota have a profound effect on neurotransmitter synthesis, especially the production of serotonin (aka the happy chemical) and GABA (the "calming" neurotransmitter that helps us sleep). In fact, the body's highest concentration of serotonin is found in the gut, so suboptimal gut health isn't ideal for your overall mood and emotional well-being. 

4. B vitamins 

At mbg, we're big fans of B vitamins. These awesome essential nutrients affect growth and development, promote healthy methylation, help us convert food into energy, and help our brain health in myriad ways.* While B vitamins aid cognitive function, they're especially helpful in supporting stress management, a balanced mood, mental well-being, and—you guessed it—neurotransmitter synthesis.*

B vitamins—specifically, thiamin, pantothenic acid, vitamin B6, folate, and vitamin B12—help produce a number of vital neurotransmitters.* This is largely due to their important role in the methylation cycle, which requires bioactive forms of riboflavin, vitamin B6, folate, and vitamin B12 to function optimally.*

5. Vitamin C 

If you haven't noticed, essential vitamins are key to neurotransmitter production and brain health—and vitamin C is no exception.* This powerhouse antioxidant micronutrient converts dopamine to norepinephrine11 and is required for the synthesis of oxytocin12 (aka the love hormone) as well, making it crucial for healthy levels of a number of neurotransmitters.* These critical actions play a vital role in brain function13, affecting everything from learning and reward to memory, trust, and mood regulation.* 

6. Magnesium 

Last but not least, we have magnesium. This essential macromineral provides numerous health benefits, affecting everything from bone health and blood pressure to memory and, perhaps most famously, sleep health.*

Magnesium is involved in the synthesis of a number of neurotransmitters14—including serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and norepinephrine.* This means magnesium can promote stress management, mood support, and more.* However, thanks to the restful and relaxing benefits of magnesium, its production of one particular neurotransmitter is most researched: GABA.*