How Healthy is My Brain?

Dr. Scott Fogle

Executive Director, Clinical Information & Laboratory Services

From your mood to your memory to whether you remember your neighbor’s dog’s name, neurotransmitters play a key role in brain health. Not in the mood to exercise? Unable to sleep because your brain won’t “shut off”? Dr. Fogle explains how neurotransmitter testing can reveal what makes us tick.

Q: What can we learn from taking a neurotransmitter test?

A: A neurotransmitter test is a global assessment of your mental and emotional well-being. When your neurotransmitters are in balance, your mood is stable, your sleep is refreshing and you’re thinking clearly. Learning where you might not be in balance is important so that you can take steps to improve your overall mental state.

Q: What will a neurotransmitter test tell me about my mood?

A: If you’re anxious and exhausted yet unable to sleep, excitatory neurotransmitters such as epinephrine may be too high and the calming, inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA will be low. Meanwhile, if you’re feeling blue, those “feel good” neurotransmitters, dopamine and serotonin, likely will be low.

Q: Why is it important to address out-of-balance neurotransmitters?

A: We get into ruts when our neurotransmitters are out of balance: we aren’t motivated to work out, so we’re not producing feel-good neurotransmitters, and maybe we gain weight and feel even worse. Once you test, you can start taking the steps to reestablish balance!

Dr. Scott Fogle graduated with academic honors from the National College of Naturopathic Medicine, where he was a clinical faculty member. He joined Life Extension in 2004.