Selenium Can Improve your Mood
Selenium helps improve mental stability and slows down mental deterioration in old age that often results in Alzheimer’s disease or senility. Every cell in the body needs selenium to stay healthy. As a result, selenium helps protect and preserve the nervous system and slows down neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s. Selenium supplements are definitely the old person’s friend.
But selenium is also needed by young developing bodies. A healthy woman needs selenium the most when she is pregnant or breast feeding. When a baby is growing inside the placenta, the fetus needs selenium as it adds millions of cells each day. Selenium is especially needed for growth of the nervous system and the brain. Once a baby is born the mother starts giving her immune system to the nursing baby through the white blood cells in mother’s milk. That puts additional strain on the nursing mother’s immune system and that requires additional selenium.
Although almost all foods contain traces of selenium, it is in such tiny amounts that most people do not get enough. In fact a majority of people across Southern Africa are slightly to moderately deficient in this essential mineral because it is deficient in the soil and the food chain. This weakens immunity and contributes to higher disease burdens including cancer.
Supplementing children with very low amounts of selenium, 20-30 micrograms a day can help them grow and develop.
Many mothers have experienced children in their “terrible twos” when infants often throw temper tantrums. Frequently toddlers are distressed when they can’t yet express themselves, are anxious because they don’t understand what is going on, or they just want attention. 20-30 micrograms a day of selenium often can reduce outbursts common in two year old toddlers.
It can also improve their appetite and help them grow. However it is important not to give them adult supplemental doses that normally range from 100 to 200mcg per day. For babies, selenium tablets can be broken into a child size dose of a quarter tablet, crushed and mixed with food or milk.
As children grow older they are sometimes diagnosed with ADD – attention deficit disorder – or ADHD – attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. At that age – 6 to 12+ - a dose of 50mcg per day may help calm children down slightly and improve concentration in school. Be careful not to give children or infants adult doses of selenium. They only need a little.
No one can guarantee happiness in life and no one can ever be one hundred percent perfectly happy all the time. But if a selenium tablet a day can reduce stress, depression or worrying about things just a little, and also improve concentration, maybe that can make you and your family both healthier and just a little bit happier. It even gives a person more energy. In the end no one can put a price on good health or happiness. Luckily selenium supplements are very affordable. Why not give this health supplement a try and see for yourself.