Mental Energy

During a long workout the balance of blood concentrations of amino acid precursors of neurotransmitter synthesis can become altered, favoring increased serotonin production in the brain. Serotonin is an inhibitory neurotransmitter best known for causing a feeling of sleepiness and fatigue—definitely not what you want during a workout!

For this reason, you’ll want to supplement with an amino acid formula with a balance of essential amino acids that counters the normal increase in the precursor of serotonin (tryptophan). The ideal amino acid formula will inhibit the brain’s uptake of the amino acid tryptophan, and subsequently reduce serotonin levels.

Check the formulation carefully, however, because many amino acid supplements target serotonin but don’t also increase the amino acid precursor of dopamine, the major excitatory brain neurotransmitter. In order to boost mental energy so you can sustain focus during a workout, an amino acid supplement must decrease the ratio of serotonin to dopamine in the brain. It should be formulated to increase the brain’s uptake of the amino acid tyrosine so that dopamine levels also increase. This is one reason why amino acid supplements formulated with only branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) don’t give you all the benefits listed above. Compositions that rely entirely on the BCAAs to modulate serotonin (but not dopamine) production in the brain just can’t boost mental energy to as favorable of a degree. 

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