podast:: [[Lex Fridman Podcast]] guest:: [[Andrew Huberman]] topic:: [[sleep]] discussed:: [[Fasting]] discussed:: [[psychedelics]] discussed:: [[MDMA]] discussed:: [[Neuroplasticity]] discussed:: [[hormones]] discussed:: [[../www-old/neurotransmitter]]
The longer we stay awake, the more [[adenosine]] accumulates, this makes us sleepy. How sleepy we get also depends on where we are in the [[circadian cycle]], which is 24hrs, give or take one hour.
[[testosterone]], [[dopamine]], norepinephrine, [[../www/prolactin]] Closely related in the pituitary system. [[The major effect of testosterone is to make effort feel good]]
[[Testosterone is synthesized from cholesterol]] Cholesterol can be made into either testosterone or cortisol. Cholesterol gets diverted either towards stress, or towards making effort feel good. The anger pathway → more cholesterol towards cortisol. We need sleep to replenish testosterone eventually, but sleep deprivation does not deplete testosterone.
[[tyrosine]] is made into dopamine through [[l-dopa]], and is found in red meat.
If you can enjoy yourself you will maintain, or ideally increase testosterone levels. With neuroplasticity… this becomes automatic. And that's the holy grail. When effort feels good, life just gets way better.
[[androgen]] are hormones and linked to the will to live. Mentions anectode about a friend with terminal cancer who said he would not make it to over new year. Put on some androgen cream, ten minutes later he wants to live after all. These hormones – for mammals – promote the will to live.
The opposite of [[testosterone]] is not oestrogen, but prolactin. Estrogen makes feelings feel ok.
The level of [[epinephrine]] determines determination during a task. Anecdote about experiment with animals that were given stimuli to believe they did not progress while running. After a while they gave up. When then given dopamine they kept going, when dopamine got down, they were helpless, they were like "this isn't going anywhere, this isn't worth it" What determines whether they quit is the threshold level of epinephrine.
Humans can extract from the past and extrapolate into the future. So we can draw strength/motivation from past experiences and in anticipating future rewards.
[[intermittent fasting]], or [[Eating when the sun is up is best]]: Improved metabolic markers, less liver disease, less body fat etc. (in mice). Food spread out during the 24hr period results in weight gain and sickness.
Low carb diets tend to focus on high amino acid foods (like meats), which keeps us satiated longer than vegetable carbs do. Mainly because of the quicker insulin response to carbs, which makes us hungry quicker.
[[Low amounts of complex carbs increases alertness]] If you want to keep alert, keeping complex carbohydrates to a minimum, or fasting, is valuable. Has to do with our ancestors becoming alert and ready to hunt when food in belly is getting low.
[[If you want to get sleepy eat food with a lot of tryptophan]], like rice, grains, turkey, white meat. [[Tryptophan]] is a precursor to [[../Notes/serotonin]]
Any time you have a full gut you will feel sleepy, as the body diverts blood to the digestive system. Once-a-day eating can make you very tired, if you eat a lot, so it might be counter-productive.
If you ingest complex carbs, you replenish glycogen, but they take up a lot of space, and you can feel bloated. This can get uncomfortable, especially when performing physically.
Anecdote about a military guy who on day 5 or 6 of fasting reached a whole other level of focus and performance.
Full [[ketosis]] – done properly – can give extraordinary focus. Lex had anecdote about, in jujitsu, other people moving slowly and just dominating them completely. Huberman thinks he had entered ketosis.
[[Salt is great]]! (provided you drink enough water and don't have hypertension).
[[1 000mcg of fish oil works as well as an SSRI antidepressant]]
Compounds are now developed to achieve the neuroplasticity increase of psychedelics, but without the psychedelic experience. UCD Davis research.
[[LSD]] etc. promote very heavy [[../Notes/serotonin]] release, and lateralised connections ramp up.
[[mdma increases dopamine and serotonin]], which is a higly unnatural state, and [[never before in human history has there been an opportunity to open up serotonergic and dopaminergic pathways at the same time]] What to do with a state like that? Develop self love? Love for another person? Forgetting hate?
Related:: [[../www/neuroscience]] related:: [[huberman lab 3 – using science optimize sleep learning and metabolism]]
Transcript: Thumbnail Read Transcript #164 – Andrew Huberman: Sleep, Dreams, Creativity & the Limits of the Human Mind