L-Theanine in Green Tea Stimulates Neurotransmitter Production & Reduces Anxiety

Capable of generating higher consciousness, the human brain is truly impressive in its complexity. The brain not only controls how we feel and what we think, but also manages all aspects of our health. To understand the fundamentals of a healthy brain, we ought to first take the time to understand how it works.  In so many ways, our understanding of brain function evolved from studies on…


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A Dynamic Duo: When to Test Neurotransmitters with Sex Hormones

The nervous system and its communication with peripheral organs is under the continuous dynamic influence of hormones, neuroactive steroids, and neurotransmitters. This is why the underlying pathology of mood disorders can often be varied and complex. The hormonal piece is critical to our understanding of the imbalances when it comes to the complete neurotransmitter assessment. Hormones regulate…


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How to Address Low Libido in Peri-Menopausal Patients

Providers routinely call ZRT for support in addressing low libido for their patients during the menopausal transition. Busy lifestyles, everyday stress, not enough or poor quality sleep and many other factors can all contribute to putting sex at the bottom of the to-do list, well after laundry, scrubbing the floor, and taking the dog to the vet. Low libido is a multidimensional issue that can have a…


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The Distinction Between DHEA and DHEA-S & Why Both Are Important For a Healthy Brain

Everything we do, feel, think – it all starts with the brain. A balanced, healthy brain helps lay the essential foundation for optimal wellbeing. A small but significant aspect of brain health is regulated by a specific class of steroid molecules called neurosteroids. That the brain is a steroidogenic organ is widely accepted, and neurosteroids are woven into its very fabric. In fact, the term…


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Goodbye 2016! Comfort Foods for Your New Year’s Celebration

When you think of comfort foods, what comes to mind? For me, it’s all about the firsts of the season. Sitting on the floor by the fireplace with its warmth permeating the room, it’s that first sip of eggnog – yes, the real stuff made from scratch. It’s the time when my house fills with the sweetness of a baking apple pie for the first time in many months. It’s also about the unending damp drizzle…


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Diurnal Fluctuations in Norepinephrine & Epinephrine as Part of the Healthy Stress Response

Stress has become a synonymous, integral even, accompaniment of life in our fast-paced world. Generally regarded as "distress," our bodies struggle to re-establish physiological integrity at certain times, such as after working long hours, or when we have insufficient exercise, sleep and nutrition. Driven by persistent exposure to stressors, the body begins to lose its dynamic resilience and fails…


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The Black Cat(echolamine)s of Halloween

Do you enjoy feeling scared? Not in a life-threatening way. In a safe, controlled environment, scared in a "fun way," without any consequences? The mechanisms of thrill-seeking evolved from the very same mechanisms that allowed us to survive as a species – the fight or flight response, wired into our biochemistry. This time of year we scare ourselves with the sole purpose of experiencing the blurry…


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Fermented Drinks – A Fun Way to Feed Your Gut Microbiome!

Our society is on high bug alert these days. There are those who fear microbes (the germaphobes) and those who swoop in with exciting cutting edge research for why germs are important for our wellbeing. The rest of us fall somewhere in between. Whatever our feelings are, the gut-brain axis – the imaginary line between the brain and the gut – undeniably is one of the new frontiers of neuroscience.…


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Clinical Utility of Urinary Neurotransmitter Testing

The brain orchestrates the delicate interplay between the body and the mind. Structural brain units, the neurons, discharge neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitters provide a communication platform for the brain to fuel internal systems with information. Anything the body senses, feels, hears, smells, touches, or ingests serves as an input that prompts an astoundingly fast…


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Feel Awful at "That Time of The Month"? It's More than Just Your Hormones.

Historically a taboo subject, menstruation has long been stigmatized as unclean and negative; provoking multiple complex cultural values. Since starting to talk publically about periods, we know so much more about the biochemical basics and physical aspects of menstruation. We are now also beginning to better understand the underlying interplay of sex-hormones with neurotransmitters that create…


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