Serotonin (5-HT)
⤢ 3D
Serotonin is a monoamine that regulates mood, emotion, appetite, and sleep, and is the primary target of SSRI antidepressants. Although famous for its brain role, roughly 90% of the body’s serotonin resides in the gut, where it governs motility. It shapes emotional stability, impulse control, and satiety, and dysregulation is implicated in depression, anxiety, and OCD.
Too little may be associated with
Depression, anxiety, migraines
Too much may be associated with
Serotonin syndrome (usually from medications), agitation
Informational only — not medical advice.
Stimuli that influence it
Functions
- Anxiety Regulation
- Appetite Regulation
- Behavioral Control
- Cognitive Flexibility
- Decision Evaluation
- Decision Making
- Emotion Processing
- Emotional Regulation
- Impulse Control
- Inhibition
- Menopause
- Moral Reasoning
- Perimenopause
- Risk Assessment
- Self-Control
- Social Cognition
- Temperature Regulation
Dysfunctions
- Antisocial Personality Disorder
- Avoidant Personality Disorder
- Borderline Personality Disorder
- Dependent Personality Disorder
- Depression
- Histrionic Personality Disorder
- Narcissistic Personality Disorder
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder
- Paranoid Personality Disorder
Substances
- 5-HTP (↑)
- Ashwagandha (↑)
- Bacopa monnieri (↑)
- CBD (↑)
- Chocolate (dark) (↑)
- Cocaine (↑)(HARMFUL)
- Curcumin (↑)
- Fermented foods (↑)
- Fish oil (↑)
- Folate (↑)
- Food (↑)
- Green Tea (↑)
- Ketamine (↑)
- L-theanine (↑)
- LSD (↑)
- MDMA (↑)(HARMFUL)
- Omega-3 fatty acids (↑)
- Probiotics (↑)
- Psilocybin (↑)
- Rhodiola (↑)
- Rhodiola rosea (↑)
- Saffron (↑)
- SAM-e (S-Adenosylmethionine) (↑)
- Tryptophan (↑)
- Vitamin B12 (↑)
- Vitamin B6 (↑)
- Vitamin D (↑)
- Alcohol (↕)(HARMFUL)
Behaviors
- Aerobic exercise (↑)
- Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (↑)
- Cycling (↑)
- Gambling (↑)
- Gratitude journaling (↑)
- Helping others (↑)
- Massage (↑)
- Meditation (↑)
- Mindfulness practice (↑)
- Morning bright light (↑)
- Nature exposure (↑)
- Petting a dog or cat (↑)
- Playing music (↑)
- Prayer (↑)
- Quality sleep (↑)
- Receiving praise (↑)
- Running (↑)
- Sex (↑)
- Social bonding (↑)
- Sunlight exposure (↑)
- Swimming (↑)
- Tai Chi (↑)
- Volunteering (↑)
- Walking outdoors (↑)
- Yoga (↑)
Books (93)
A First-Rate Madness
Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress Relief
Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas
Alcohol Explained
Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book 4th Edition
Allen Carr's Easy Way to Quit Cocaine
An Unquiet Mind
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Anxiety and Depression in the Classroom: A Teacher's Guide to Fostering Self-Regulation in Young Students
Appetite and body weight regulation
Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
Behavioral self-control
Blow: How a Small-Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellín Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All
Borderline personality disorder
Borderline Personality Disorder For Dummies
Brain Food
Brain Lock: Free Yourself from Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior
Change Your Brain, Change Your Life
Change Your Gambling, Change Your Life
Chemical Dependency and Antisocial Personality Disorder
Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in Central America
Podcasts
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- Adventures Through The Mind
Long-form conversations on psychedelics and consciousness.
- All In The Mind
ABC RN's exploration of the mind, brain, and human behavior.
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- Huberman Lab
Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman on physiology, stress, sleep, and self-regulation.
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- Psychedelic Medicine Podcast with Dr. Lynn Marie Morski
Clinical conversations on the medical use of psychedelics.
- Psychedelics Today
Interviews and news across psychedelic science, therapy, and culture.
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- Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris | 5 minute podcast summaries
Dan Harris on meditation, the mind, and handling emotions.
- The One You Feed | Personal Growth, Emotional Resilience & Purpose
Practical wisdom for building better habits and mental health.
- The Science of Happiness
Research-tested strategies for a happier, more meaningful life.
Research (465)
- Assessment of diverse deep brain stimulation targets uncovers a common neural pathway for instantaneous antidepressant effects in rats Liu et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- Ruminal 5-hydroxytryptophan increases serum serotonin and peripheral vasodilation in growing beef cattle Matos et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- Intratumoral serotonin and antidepressants in glioblastoma patients: narrowing the uncertainties Wu et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- Lack of association of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism and brain serotonin transporter or receptor in healthy individuals: bayesian and frequentist meta-analyses Hong et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- The milk fat globule membrane increases bacterial serotonin and exopolysaccharide production for maintenance of intestinal cell differentiation Miller et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- Dopamine transporter and beyond: evolving targets and combination strategies in stimulant use disorder de et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- Nitric Oxide-Mediated Minimally Invasive Neuromodulation through Gut-Brain Axis via a Bioelectronic Microdevice for Relieving Depressive Symptoms Zhang et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- Stress as a Neuroendocrine Modulator of the Reproductive Axis: Roles of Glucocorticoids, Kisspeptin and Serotonergic Signalling in Animal Models Chisupa et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- The influence of light on suicidality: A narrative review Sarzetto et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- The oscillatory biology of sleep: Linkage to dementia Nedergaard (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- Diagnosis and Management of Resistant Hypertension: A Review Azizi et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- Sleep disturbance triggers aberrant activation of vagus circuitry and induces intestinal stem cell dysfunction Li et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- Peripheral Neuropathy: A Review Mauermann et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- Amphetamine Toxicity Vasan et al. (2026) PubMed ↗
- Biochemistry, Tyramine Burns et al. (2026) PubMed ↗
Links
- 0 Wikipedia: Antisocial personality disorder
- 0 Wikipedia: Borderline personality disorder
- 0 Wikipedia: Chicago P.D. season 13
- 0 Wikipedia: Decision-making
- 0 Wikipedia: Obsessive–compulsive disorder
- 0 Wikipedia: Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder
- 0 Wikipedia: Risk assessment
- 0 Wikipedia: Serotonin
- 0 Wikipedia: Social cognition
Recovery resources
For stimuli that influence Serotonin (5-HT). Not medical advice — see all recovery resources.
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (US) · crisis
☎ 988Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · crisis
☎ 741741National Problem Gambling Helpline · crisis
SAMHSA National Helpline (US) · crisis
Adult Children of Alcoholics & Dysfunctional Families (ACA/ACoA) · family & friends support
Al-Anon Family Groups · family & friends support
Co-Anon Family Groups · family & friends support
COSA · family & friends support
CoSLAA · family & friends support
Families Anonymous (FA) · family & friends support
Gam-Anon · family & friends support
Nar-Anon Family Groups · family & friends support
- Celebrate Recovery · general recovery
SMART Recovery · general recovery
Dual Recovery Anonymous (DRA) · mental & emotional health
- Emotional Health Anonymous (EHA) · mental & emotional health
Emotions Anonymous (EA) · mental & emotional health
Compulsive Eaters Anonymous - HOW (CEA-HOW) · process addiction
Food Addicts Anonymous (FAA) · process addiction
- Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA) · process addiction
Gamblers Anonymous (GA) · process addiction
Overeaters Anonymous (OA) · process addiction
Porn Addicts Anonymous (PAA) · process addiction
Sex Addicts Anonymous (SAA) · process addiction
Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA) · process addiction
Sex and Porn Addicts Anonymous (SPAA) · process addiction
Sexaholics Anonymous (SA) · process addiction
Sexual Compulsives Anonymous (SCA) · process addiction
- Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) · substance abuse
Cocaine Anonymous (CA) · substance abuse
- Marijuana Anonymous (MA) · substance abuse
Narcotics Anonymous (NA) · substance abuse