I just finished teaching my last class of the 2025/2026 school year. Next week I give sight-singing quizzes, and I will give the final dictation exams during the 1st week of May.
So, it's over but it's not quite fully over.
I still have to put together the sight-singing quizzes and create practice exams for the students to use to study. Plus, I will have a lot of grading to do. I'll be fully done by May 12.
The rest of this portion of the newsletter might come as a surprise to you since it is clear that I normally and naturally have a LOT of energy.
But the last two weeks have been kinda rough. Teetering on burnout. I have been feeling "sick" although I am not sick. But I have felt the way you do when you're physically sick and do not have energy for anything. Like watching TV is too much work. Scrolling social media is too much work.
It has taken all I've had to muster enough energy to do the minimum amount of work I need to get done.
The other day, I went to be almost an hour early because I just couldn't.
I wasn't even feeling physically tired, but my brain could not handle anything but being in the dark and cuddling with a kitty.
Then, the next night, I went to bed early again, for the same reason!
So, what's this all about? Am I just getting old?
No, not exactly, but age is part of it. Let me explain.
Since I am "of a certain age," Facebook has been showing me different ads and I saw this one that said brain zaps were related to a drop in estrogen.
I said, "WHOAH! There's a name for those things???"
Have you ever had a brain zap? BZZZZZ!!!
I've been experiencing them sometimes when I lay down to go to sleep. Perhaps they happen at other times, too, but I am not aware of them. It feels like a mild electric shock, like static electricity, inside my brain. ZAP!
My research revealed that brain zaps are most often related to withdrawal from SSRIs. Well, I am not withdrawing from SSRIs, so I wondered if maybe brain zaps are related to low serotonin. And then I wondered if serotonin drops when estrogen drops.
Yes, to both questions!!!
This explained my low energy and brain fog, since both (along with the brain zaps and other things) are symptoms of low serotonin.
So, yes, it is about age. But it's also about lifestyle.
I have not been getting in any hiking or spending much time at all outdoors.
Natural light increases serotonin.
I have not been practicing.
Repetitive motion, like practicing, increases serotonin.
If you ask my cats, I haven't been around enough. Too much work, too much traveling. Not enough time in the chair where they climb onto my lap.
Cuddling with pets increases serotonin.
So, basically, I've overdone it and NOT done the things I need to do to keep up my serotonin. (And turning 50 didn't help.)
What's interesting to me is that I have naturally done most of the things I need to do to keep my serotonin levels high. There's that inner knowing of "this makes me feel good" even if you don't have a scientific explanation of why. Things like hiking, practicing the piano, and eating whole grains and plenty of protein, especially sources of tryptophan, which the body uses to make serotonin.
It has become clear that going out for a hike or practicing is not a WANT. It is a NEED.
So, you know what I will be working on scheduling into my weeks from here on out, in order to keep up this crazy schedule.
If YOU need to increase your serotonin levels, consider taking up the piano... And if you need help learning, see the next section!
