The human physiology of well-being: A systematic review on the association between neurotransmitters, hormones, inflammatory markers, the microbiome and well-being
To understand the pathways through which well-being contributes to health, we performed a systematic review according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines on the association between well-being and physiological markers in four categories, neuro...
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Published in | Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews Vol. 139; p. 104733 |
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Main Authors | , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
Elsevier Ltd
01.08.2022
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | To understand the pathways through which well-being contributes to health, we performed a systematic review according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines on the association between well-being and physiological markers in four categories, neurotransmitters, hormones, inflammatory markers, and microbiome. We identified 91 studies. Neurotransmitter studies (knumber of studies=9) reported only a possible positive association between serotonin and well-being. For the hormone studies (k = 48), a lower momentary cortisol level was related to higher well-being (meta-analytic r = −0.06), and a steeper diurnal slope of cortisol levels. Inflammatory marker studies (k = 36) reported negative or non-significant relations with well-being, with meta-analytic estimates of respectively r = −0.07 and r = −0.05 for C-reactive protein and interleukin-6. Microbiome studies (k = 4) reported inconsistent associations between different bacteria abundance and well-being. The results indicate possible but small roles of serotonin, cortisol, and inflammatory markers in explaining differences in well-being. The inconsistent and limited results for other markers and microbiome require further research. Future directions for a complete picture of the physiological factors underlying well-being are proposed.
•Higher blood levels of serotonin could be related to higher well-being.•Faster decrease of cortisol levels over the day is associated with higher well-being.•The levels of different inflammatory markers are negatively related to well-being.•An association between the microbiome composition and well-being is suggested.•More research to the physiological factors underlying well-being is needed. |
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Bibliography: | SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Review-1 ObjectType-Article-3 ObjectType-Undefined-4 |
ISSN: | 0149-7634 1873-7528 |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104733 |