Serotonin – How Daylight Shapes Our Balance
Serotonin is more than happiness , it’s sunlight translated into balance. Discover how this neurotransmitter connects light, mood, and sleep in the delicate rhythm that begins each morning.
When Light Awakens
Each morning, light enters through the eyes and sets the body in motion. Serotonin rises — a current of clarity and calm that threads through the brain. Often called the ‘happiness molecule’, it is in truth the quiet translator of sunlight, turning brightness into focus, patience, and steadiness. As day unfolds, serotonin sustains the mind’s gentle alertness; as twilight arrives, it yields to darkness, passing its torch to melatonin — the chemistry of night. In that silent relay, the cycle of renewal begins again.
The Rhythm of Balance
Serotonin and melatonin speak the same language in different tones: one for wakefulness, one for rest. Together they shape our circadian rhythm, the body’s inner tide that moves with the rising and setting sun. When stress, poor nutrition, or little daylight disturb this harmony, the mind grows noisy and the night loses depth. Sleeplessness, more than sadness, is often the first whisper of imbalance.
Beyond the Brain
Most of the body’s serotonin — almost ninety-five percent — lives not in the mind but in the gut. There it guides digestion, blood flow, immunity, and the rhythm of the heart. The same molecule that lifts our mood also moves our breath and steadies our pulse. Within us, light takes many forms.
The Chemistry of Calm
Research shows that serotonin promotes wakefulness and can quiet the dream phase known as REM sleep, yet its influence changes across the brain — reminding us that equilibrium, not intensity, is the essence of health. Formed from the amino acid tryptophan, found in foods like turkey, eggs, dairy, nuts, and bananas, serotonin grows from the simple acts of nourishment. A walk in sunlight, a meal rich in color, a breath taken slowly — these are small experiments in harmony.
To care for serotonin is to tend to daylight itself.
Because the story of rest does not begin in darkness; it begins in the morning — in the first moment the world asks us to open our eyes.
Biography
Monti J.M. Serotonin control of sleep-wake behavior. Sleep Medicine Reviews. 2011.
Harvard Health Publishing. Serotonin: The Natural Mood Booster.
Nutritional Elements in Sleep – PMC. Nutrients and sleep: A review of the evidence.
Kautz A. et al. Dietary Intake of Nutrients Involved in Serotonin and Melatonin Synthesis and Prenatal Maternal Sleep Quality and Affective Symptoms. Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism. 2024.
Content reviewed and adapted in collaboration with Gabriela Suárez, Biochemist and MSc in Neurobiology, specialized in nutritional neuroscience and sleep physiology.