IS SUGAR STEALING YOUR HAPPINESS?

Sugar may be sweet, but it’s the most unhappy of pleasures. Sugar addiction can rewire your brain and steal your happiness. Excessive sugar consumption can lead to mental changes that make it hard to find joy in life.

Eating sugar stimulates your brain’s pleasure centres, creating a surge of feel-good brain chemicals dopamine and serotonin. This is what drugs like cocaine do. And just like a drug, your body craves more after the initial high. “You then become addicted to that feeling, so every time you eat it you want to eat more,” explains Gina Sam, M.D., M.P.H., director of the Gastrointestinal Motility Center at The Mount Sinai Hospital. (self.com)

Excessive sugar consumption can overstimulate the brain and lead to mood swings.  Studies have shown that high blood glucose levels reduce our ability to process emotion and can lead to anxiety and sadness. A study conducted on over 20,000 individuals also linked depression with sugar consumption. People with higher levels of sugar consumption are also more likely to be diagnosed with mental disorders, studies show.