Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that would love us to be lying in the sunshine on some grass

and the floor of a forest, looking up at the trees, chatting with someone we love, eating some

fruit and drinking some water from the river. It's a neurotransmitter that when it gets low as a

result of less of these beautiful natural behaviors that we had for so long.

Our brain begins to race a bit.

We think a bit quicker.

We overthink.

We get a bit more anxious.

And then as a result of that real fast brain activity, we begin to get quite exhausted.

So then we go through these periods, we think, I'm so tired.

I'm so tired.

Particularly in the winter months as a species, with less sunlight, less time

outdoors, maybe more comfort food, we begin to get lower in the serotonin. T.J. Power is a neuroscientist,

and he reckons that during these darker days, we can hack our brain chemicals to create more motivation and a

brighter mood. This is the Lizelle Well-Being Show, the podcast helping us all have a better

second half. I'm Liz Earl, the woman on a mission to find ways for all of us to thrive in our

later life by investing in our health and our well-being today. So the days are

continuing to get shorter, aren't they? And I don't know about you, but I think around this time

of year, we can end up feeling pretty sluggish, tired, lower motivation, maybe even lower in mood.

Maybe we're chasing quick fixes to give us energy. So I really want to talk

to T.J. Power about some of the simple ways that we can get on neurochemicals to work harder

for us so we can live healthier, happier lives day to day. T.J. is a neuroscientist. He's

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