Hormones

Biological Influences On Sex, Sex Differences & Preferences | Huberman Lab Podcast #14

Basic Components

• Hormones affect the brain and spinal cord, which affect the body.

• Hormones are a substance released from an area of the body (glands, neurons) that travel and affect themselves and other parts of the body.

• Gonadal sex

  • testies - male

  • ovaries - female

• Within the XY chromones, the Y chromosome suppresses ovaries’ development.

• There is a significant distinction between chromosomal sex and gonadal sex.

• Hormonal sex - Affects of estrogen and testosterone on the Morphological sex.

• Morphological sex - The physical characteristics of the fetus.

• Hormones can be fast or slow

  • Cortosl or Adrenalin - Fast

  • Testosterone or Estegoen - Slow/Fast

• Demasculation and defeminisation is an important component to masculisation and feminisation.

Testosterone and Dihydrotestosterone

• Primary sexual characteristics (genitalia)

  • Testerone is not responsible for creating the “correct” genitalia

  • Dihydrateststorone has powerful effects on the embryo.

    • Responsible for the onset of penis growth.

• Secondary characteristics

  • In puberty, testosterone is produced by kisspeptin.

  • Growing facial hair, larger penis, etc.

• The masculinization of the brain is not achieved testosterone

• Testosterone can be converted to estrogen by aromatase (enzyme).

  • This happens later in life for boys; they can develop breast buds.

• It is estrogen that gets created by testosterone which masculinizes the male brain.

Protocols

• The environment can have a profound effect on testosterone and estrogen.

• Evening Primrose oil can increase estrogen levels in males and females.

• Atrazine can have several testicular abnormalities.

  • On the gonads themselves (testes)

• Male sperm count and volumes have decreased in the US and western Europe.

• These herbicides are drastically affecting estrogen and testosterone.

Female Development

• Androgen insensitivity disorder

  • Having XY chromosomes, but they appear female.

  • These are profound effects of testosterone and development.

Variables for Developments

• Marijuana

  • THC and other chemicals in cannabis increase aromatase activity (BAD).

  • Pot smokers have higher chances of having Gyno

  • Increases estrogen

  • In pregnant women, it can promote estrogen circulation and inhibit the masculinization of the brain.

• Estrogen is essential for both males and females for sexual activities.

• Alcohol

  • Not suitable to drink during pregnancy.

  • Alchohol and grain alcohol can increase estrogen activities.

    • Particularly in teenagers.

• Cell Phones

  • No quality studies indicate that holding a cell phone to the head is bad for the brain.

  • Cell phones near the gonads can have abnormal effects on the gonads.

  • Decreases in cortisol, thyroid, testosterone, and prolactin.

  • It might be a good idea not to have your phone in your pocket.

External Components

• Dihydrotestosterone is responsible for

  • Promotes facial hair growth

  • Decreases hair on your head.

  • Aggression in men

  • Lots of effects on male

• Creatine can inhibit DHT –> testosterone.

• Speed of entry and exit of puberty is an exciting metric for growth and development.

• Plants have found a way to increase estrogen to keep the population of the animals that eat them low.

Effects of Hormones in Utero

• Young ears in males make more sounds than females.

  • Females that self-report as lesbians make more auto acoustic emissions than straight females.

• Gay men tend to have higher testosterone than straight males.

• Finger length ratios of men and females can indicate sexual preferences

  • D2 - D4 ratio is more significant in females than males on the right hand (average).

  • The more androgen you are exposed to in utero, the ratio is lower.

  • Gay men can have an average or hyper-masculine D2 - D4 ratio.

  • Lesbians can have a smaller D2 - D4 ratio.

  • Just a window of androgen exposure during utero.

• Brain difference for people who report homosexuality in a part of the hypothalamus.

• Probability of males reporting as homosexual increases with the number of older brothers they have.

The Science of How to Optimize Testosterone & Estrogen | Huberman Lab Podcast #15

• Salutogenisis - Taking steps to better your health instead of avoiding the negative implication.

  • A mental model for moving towards wellness and mindfulness.

  • Keeping in mind, the positive effects of our actions increase their benefits.

• The ratio of estrogen and testosterone has effects on our day-to-day lives.

• Different glands produce hormones

  • Gonads create sex hormones

• Enzymes play a part, too, especially aromatase

  • For men, excess testosterone is converted to estrogen via aromatase

• Women produce low estrogen before puberty, then a significant spike during and post-puberty, estrogen levels cycle based on menstruation, and they decrease during menopause (age 45-60).

• Men produce low testosterone pre-puberty, then it skyrockets, post-puberty it comes down 1% a year, although this data can vary. Some men in their 90s have the same testosterone levels are boys during puberty.

• Adrenals produce testosterone and estrogen.

Competition

• Most males in most mammalian species don’t get the opportunity to reproduce. There is a direct correlation between testosterone and its access to females.

  • More testosterone == More access to females.

• Males with higher testosterone will fight harder and longer for access to females.

• Amygdala is used for threat detection.

  • Testosterone binds to the amygdala and lowers the threshold of stress and anxiety (primarily in men).

• More testosterone == more novelty-seeking, competition, and foraging.

• The competition itself can increase testosterone.

• Winning promotes more dopamine which increases testosterone, and the opposite is true.

• But competition itself will increase testosterone.

Testosterone and Estrogen for Libido

• An increase in testosterone within females will increase their libido.

• In females

  • Testosterone promotes the seeking of sex

  • Estrogen encourages the action of having sex

• In males

  • Testosterone encourages the seeking of sex

  • Estrogen in males is essential for libido. Testosterone without estrogen will lower libido.

• Sex itself promotes testosterone… kind of.

• Prolactin after ejaculation decreases libido.

• Sexual behavior itself can increase testosterone.

  • Ejaculation will not decrease testosterone. But it will increase prolactin

  • Sex without ejaculation in males for a week or more will increase testosterone by up to 400%

• DHEA will increase both testosterone and estrogen.

Behaviors that Decrease Testosterone

• Becoming a parent decreases testosterone for expecting children.

  • Expecting fathers have 50% less testosterone, double estrogen, 3x less cortisol.

    • Due to an increase in prolactin

  • The thought is that your body produces more fat when you become a parent to prepare for long sleepless nights.

  • The availability of parents will affect their testosterone.

    • Increases in testosterone and estrogen are associated with wanting to seek sex.

    • Decreases in testosterone and estrogen are associated with not wanting sex, AKA parenting.

• Illness

  • Inflammatory cytokine - IL-6 will decrease sexual desire.

Behavior Practices for Modulating Sex Steroid Hormones

Pheromones

• Why can behaviors affect hormones?

  • Smell (possibly pheromone) can affect hormones in humans.

• Many studies within animals can see their effects on their pheromones.

  • Urine, smell, etc…

• Sweat and pheromone of human females can modulate the menstruation of other females.

• Girlfriends can detect their boyfriend’s t-shirts that have been washed.

Apnea

• Apnea - Under breathing and build-up of carbon dioxide

  • Plays an effect on lower estrogen and testosterone levels based on age averages.

• Mostly sleep apnea

  • People hold their breath when sleeping and then suddenly wake up.

• Patterns of breathing can moderate hormones.

• People who are obese are usually affected by apnea.

• Nose breathing is better, period.

  • Better looking face and jaw.

  • Promotes the positive gas exchange

  • Moderate neuromodulators and hormones

  • It can make you a better sleeper.

• Good Breathing → Good Sleep → Good Hormone affects.

  • Good sleep decreases cortisol during sleep, which increases testosterone and estrogen.

  • Getting breathing right during waking hours and during sleep decreases cortisol, increasing testosterone and estrogen.

• Taping your mouth shut can help you be a nose breather during sleep.

• Breathe more using your nose, and you’ll get better at it.

  • This will open up your sinuses over the long run.

Light

• Bright lights during wakefulness.

• Light viewing effects have hormonal effects on many things.

• Seasonal breeding animals

  • The color of fur relates to the tendency to breed.

  • Many pathways that are related to dopamine releases are related to skin pigmentation.

    • Animals breed more during summer and spring, less during fall and winter.

    • They are also seen in humans, happier in summer and spring because of more summer.

  • Increase viewing of sunlight → Increase dopamine in the brain → Increase pigment in the skin and hair which also increase testosterone and estrogen → More sex

• If you want to optimize testosterone and estrogen, get bright light for 2-10 minutes at the start of the day.

  • Increases dopamine

• No bright light intake in the middle of the light.

  • Decreases dopamine, estrogen, and testosterone.

Temperature

• Temperature and day length are related (sunlight)

• Cold, ice showers can increase testosterone

  • Cooling the neurons which control vascular restriction

  • When the gonads warm up again, they receive a rebound amount of hormones which create more testosterone.

• The vascular system is controlled by neuron

Exercise

• Heavy weight training but not training until failure will have the greatest testosterone increase

  • 1-6 Reps

• Endurance activity → Weight training

  • The endurance activity will decrease testosterone for the weight training.

• Weight training → Endurance activity is the way to go

• High intense endurance workout will increase testosterone

  • More than 75 minutes of high-intensity cardio will lower testosterone.

Estrogen & Menopause

• Menopause is very disruptive

  • Mood swings, headaches, etc…

• Black cohosh - A substance to increase estrogen (minor)

  • modest decreases in menopause symptoms

• Various substances are being explored to decrease the effects of menopause symptoms.

Nutrients That Optimize the Foundation for Hormones

• Vitamin D, Zinc, Magnesium

  • Deficiencies in these can negatively impact libido and sex hormones.

• Opioids are terrible for sex hormones.

Supplements/Steriods

• Creatine can increase DHT.

  • It can cause baldness because of the increase in DHT

• Boron is sometimes used as well

• Ecdysteroids

  • Banned substances which are very powerful, similar to androgens.

Cancers

• Too much testosterone and estrogen can harm sex organs. Too much androgen can cause cancer.

Brain Optimizing Hormones

• Luteinizing hormones

  • Created in the pituitary gland and travels to the gonads

  • Can increase fertility

  • Fadogia agrestis

    • A supplement that can increase luteinizing hormones

• You want to make sure everything is balanced and in the correct ratios. Be careful when trying to modify things.

How Our Hormones Control Our Hunger, Eating & Satiety | Huberman Lab Podcast #16

Basics

• Hormones don’t control appetite alone; they work closely with the nervous system.

• Hypothalamus does a lot of things

  • Sex, circadian rhythm

• Ventromedial Hypothamelus - Disruptions can make people hungry or not want to eat.

  • Insular Cortex

    • Powerful control regarding how you feel about what you are eating

    • The mouth does this.

    • Some people love chewing.

    • There are more touch tactile sensors in the mouth.

Arcuate Nucleus

• This part of the brain releases accelerators for feeding, appetite, or breaks.

• PMOC neurons

  • Creates Alpha MSH - This reduced appetite and is a potent molecule. This goes up once we have eaten.

  • agRP neurons - Stimulates eating. This goes up when people haven’t eaten for a while

    • If you decrease these neurons, people won’t eat.

    • If you increase these neurons, people will eat like crazy.

Alpha MSH - Makes Us Want to Eat Less

• Activated by ultraviolet light to the light.

  • Keeps appetite in check.

  • People in spring and summer eat less.

  • Sunlight to the eyes signals MSH, and MSH can bind its receptors. This allows us to control our hunger.

• Some people inject MSH - Not advised

  • Reduces appetite.

  • Makes people tanned

  • Sends libido through the roof

    • Cronic erections

Ghrelin - Makes Us Want to Eat More

• Released from the GI tract to increase your desire to eat.

  • Stimulates parts of your brain that make you want to eat.

  • Stimulates parts of your system to anticipate food coming in.

• Ghrelin is like a clock for eating at specific times of the day.

  • It uses glucose to do this.

  • If glucose is too low, ghrelin is released.

• Ghrelin secretion will match when your usual eating patterns

  • It does this by syncing the clock in your liver with the clock in your hypothalamus.

  • It is used to motivate you to eat at your scheduled time.

• Ghrelin stimulates the agRP neurons.

Intermittent Fasting

• Satchin Panda has done a lot of work in this field and deserves a lot of credit.

  • He wrote a great book called the Circadian code.

• We can exercise on an empty stomach just fine.

• Ghrelin secretion, on average, can be shifted by about 45 minutes per day.

  • Some people have more willpower.

  • If you want to shift your feeding window, you can try to shift it for about 45 minutes each day until you reach your goal. Or you can just take the dive.

• Some people keep their ghrelin system shocked.

• Belief and willpower are very powerful.

• Regular eating means regular secretion of ghrelin, leading to regular feelings of hunger.

CCK (Cholecystokinin)

• Potent in reducing our levels of hunger.

• When leased at normal by your gut has powerful effects for surprising appetite.

• The GI tract releases CCK

  • Simulated by fatty acids, amino acids, and sugar.

  • Fatty acids

    • Omega-3

    • CLA

  • Amino Acids

    • We are eating for amino acids

    • If we get the proper amount of amino acids, we don’t overeat.

• When we eat, we eat for fats and amino acids.

  • Most people will stop feeling hungry when they get the proper amount of fats and amino acids.

    • Other reasons we will stop eating.

• Glutamine

  • An essential amino acid for releasing CCK.

  • Supplementing with glutamine can reduce sugar craving.

  • It can also increase blood sugar.

• CCK helps decrease agRP

Things to Avoid

• Avoid highly processed food.

• Dr. Robert Lustig has a great talk on the history of processed food.

Emulsifiers

• Lots of emulsifiers in processed foods. These emulsifiers allow certain chemical reactions to occur, increasing the shelf life of many processed foods.

• Emulsifiers in food strip the mucosal lining of the gut. This causes the neurons that innervate the gut to retract deeper in the gut.

  • This prevents the release of CCK.

  • If you try to eat non-processed foods afterward, your body is not as good at identifying the amino acids in them.

  • Emulsifiers do actual structural damage at a micro level to the gut.

    • This can be repaired if we stay away from processed food.

• Emulsifiers from highly processed foods limit your gut’s ability to detect what’s in the food you eat and therefore deploy the satiety signals (the signals that shut down hunger).

• Neurons in the gut sense sugar and send signals to the vegas nerve, creating dopamine.

  • Messing up your gut’s ability to sense sugar is no good.

• Try to stay away from highly processed foods.

A Calorie is Not a Calorie

• People lost the same amount of weight regardless of their diet, as long as they stuck to their diet (omnivore, vegetarian, vegan, carnivore, etc.)

• Adherence is critical in determining if a plan is going to work.

• A study of people who ate processed food and non-processed food, but the same amount of calories, had negative effects on the people who ate processed food.

Insulin/Glucose

• Shuttles glucose to where it needs to go.

• High levels of glucose can kill neurons

• We want to manage our glucose.

Foods We Eat

• Carbs –> Glucose goes up

• Fats → Glucose goes up (less than carbs)

• Proteins → Glucose goes up but then evens out.

• Glucagon - A hormone that is secreted when you are hungry

  • Pull stores of energy from the liver and muscles. When that energy is depleted, you will tap into body fat.

• Insulin system managing glucose

• Order of what you eat impacts glucose increases

  • Carbs at the start of the meal sharply increase glucose, promoting hunger.

  • Fibers first will blunt the release of glucose. But it will also blunt the effects of increases in glucose from carbs.

  • If you are starving, it’s OK to eat carbs first or mix everything up.

  • If you want a modest increase in glucose or blunt the increase in glucose, eat the fibrous food first.

    • You will reach satiety faster.

• Alcohol will increase blood sugar.

Movement

• Blood sugar can be modulated by moving.

• If you get movement before eating, your glucose will not increase as dramatically.

• Walking after the meal will also help blunt the levels of glucose.

Stable Blood Sugar

• Some people can go a long time without eating and still have stable blood sugar.

• Exercise, particularly zone two exercises, 30 - 60 minutes, can positively affect managing blood sugar levels.

• High-intensity interval training will help with the repackaging of glucose to glycogen.

• An extended period of positive effects post-workout.

Fats/Lipids

• LDL/HDL

  • LDL - You don’t want it to be too high

  • HDL - These are good.

• Fats don’t like water.

  • HDL and LDL coat fats to get to where they need to be.

  • HDL allows fats to where they need to be.

  • High LDL will prevent fats from getting to where they need to be.

• Keeping LDL/HDL in a ratio

  • Consuming too much sugar can negatively impact this ratio.

Prescription Compounds

• Metformin

  • Reduces blood glucose by changing mitochondrial action in the liver via the AMPK pathway. It increases insulin activity overall.

  • Many people seek it out who are non-diabetic.

    • Can make people hypoglycemic

• Berberine - Poor man’s metformin

  • Not a prescription drug

  • Mimics metformin

  • It comes from tree bark

  • Very powerful, which also works through the AMPK pathway.

  • Dosages are typically higher than needed.

    • It can make you hypoglycemic.

    • Can causes headaches

  • Can murder canker sores.

• AMPK activates a pathway associated with fasting and low blood glucose.

• Chromium

  • Minor effects in reducing blood glucose

• Caffeine

  • Increases blood glucose just a little bit.

• Magnesium

  • A modest reduction in blood glucose

• Stevia

  • Lower blood glucose slightly.

  • Unsure if Stevia impacts the gut microbiome

• Acids

  • Lemons, lime, apple cider vinegar - lower blood glucose

• Many things will lower blood sugar.

Ketogenic Diet

• Twenty-two studies indicate the thyroid’s ability to digest carbs after a long time of being in ketosis.

Diabetes and Urine

• Diabetes has been known since 1500 BC.

• Ants noticed “diabetes” in people’s urine and didn’t drink it.

• Your urine is filtered blood.

• Until 1674 people were measuring blood glucose in urine by tasting it.

Yerba Mate

• Increases GLP1 and increases leptin levels.

• Glucagon is the opposite of insulin.

• GLP1 is an appetite suppressant, gives you alertness, provides electrolytes.

• Useful for fasting.

Thyroid, Estrogen, Testosterone

• High estrogen decreases appetite

• High testosterone increases appetite.

How to Control Your Metabolism by Thyroid & Growth Hormone | Huberman Lab Podcast #17

Stevia

• Stevia does not seem to impact the gut microbiome negatively.

• It does not have a drastic increase in glucose as long as you don’t consume too much.

Metabolism 101

• Thyroid hormone (TH) and growth hormone (GH) greatly affect metabolism.

• Metabolism is the use of energy in the body’s cells for growth, repair, and day-to-day maintenance of function.

  • 75% of metabolic needs come from the brain (on average).

• Metabolism isn’t just about losing weight.

• Having a high metabolism is usually a good thing.

  • Can be done by increasing muscle and reducing fat.

• TH and GH are critical for muscle repair and cognitive functions.

• Neurons in the hypothalamus release releasing hormones.

  • Releasing-Hormones - Sends a signal to the pituitary, releasing hormones to various organs.

Thyroid

• The thyroid is right above the Adam’s apple.

  • The thyroid releases two hormones into the blood to stimulate different tissues and their metabolism, T4, and T3.

    • T3 is more active.

• The primary role of T3 is to promote metabolism. Not just the consumption of energy but the utilization of energy, including the build-up of tissues.

  • It acts on all parts of the body.

  • Not just for the utilization but also the conversation of energy.

• Higher thyroid is associated with lean bodies.

Supplements

Iodine

• Most common in sea salt.

• Most people get enough from what they eat.

• The thyroid needs iodine.

• Iodine combines with L-Tyroise (usually from meats and nuts, the precursor of dopamine).

  • Creates T3 and T4.

• Historically, people far from the ocean had issues with thyroid cause they didn’t have enough iodine.

• You don’t need a lot of iodine. Most people get enough.

• People who breathe ocean air can get enough iodine.

• Positive effects of iodine

  • Reduces C-reactive proteins

  • Reduces Interleukin 6 (IL-6)

L-Tyrosine

• Needed for the creation of T3 and T4.

Selenium

• Essential to create thyroid hormone. It’s needed to bind L-Tyrosine and iodine.

• Most people don’t get enough selenium.

• Brazil nuts are the heavyweight champion for getting selenium. 6-8 contain 550 micrograms; nothing else is even close to the portion to selenium ratio.

• Recommended amount

  • 14 years or younger - 30-40 micrograms of selenium

  • ~55 micrograms of selenium for everyone else

• Other non-thyroid effects

  • Reduces preeclampsias - Seizures around childbirth.

  • Reduces prostate cancer risk.

  • Reduction in acne.

Clean Eating Downsides

• Diets that don’t provide enough iodine

  • Too many meats and not enough veggies.

  • Too many veggies and not enough meats.

    • Cruciferous vegetables will not provide enough iodine.

    • Also can lead to insufficient L-Tyrosine.

• Make sure you are getting enough iodine and L-Tyrosine regardless of your diet.

Why and How Thyroid Increases Metabolism

• The thyroid increases glucose uptake by various tissues, particularly muscles and bones.

  • Can increase bone mineral density.

• You can recover faster from injuries if you have a healthy thyroid and healthy thyroid pathways because you can consume energy. Then the energy is diverted to bone and muscle.

• Iodine, selenium, and L-Tyrosine keep thyroid levels at healthy levels, so TH can take glucose in the blood and divert it to tissue.

• Nutrients support hormones and biological pathways that support the body and brain.

  • Keeping your brain healthy is critical as 75% of metabolization occurs in the brain.

Menstruation

• TH levels can fluctuate for people who menstruate during their cycle.

• During the first half of the cycle, people crave carbs and sugars more.

  • TH increases as you consume more carbohydrates.

• Craving carbs during the first half of the cycle is an indication that you have a healthy cycle.

Growth Hormones

• Follows similar logic as thyroid hormones.

• GH releasing hormones (released from the brain via pituitary)

• GH works in parallel with TH

  • Increases metabolism and repair and grow tissues.

• Some people with too much GH at a young age grow very big; others with too little growth hormone can be small in stature.

• Some people might want to increase GH; others might not.

• As we age, we make less GH.

  • This is why we recover slowly, gain more weight, etc.

• A significant risk with injecting GH: If it’s in levels that are too high, it increases all tissues, including vital organs (heart, liver, lungs, kidney, etc..)

Powerful Increase in GH

• Unless you have an overproduction of GH, this will be beneficial to you.

Sleep

• GH is released every night during slow-wave sleep.

  • You need low blood insulin levels. Don’t eat 2 hours before bed.

  • Slow-wave sleep secrets GH through the pituitary because of increased delta waves.

    • Delta waves are large waves that are associated with slow-wave sleep.

• You can release GH by increasing delta waves, even if you aren’t sleeping.

  • Low melatonin levels can be beneficial for delta waves (500 micrograms of melatonin).

Meditation

• Has two lines of effects

  • State - Meditation can change your state

  • Trait - Personality can change over long bouts of meditation.

• A meditation practice can allow you to get into a slow wave delta wave frequency can be beneficial. It gates GH release.

• Binaural Beats - No peer-reviewed study indicates that binaural beats can increase delta waves.

• NDSR - No data for delta waves.

Exercise

• Type of exercise and duration is critical for exercise to release GH after exercise and during the following night’s sleep.

• Weight training or endurance training

  • Must be limited to 60 minutes, not longer.

    • Going too long increases cortisol which leads to lower levels of testosterone.

  • A proper warm-up seems to accelerate GH during exercise. It is not just warming the limbs, but heating the body.

  • High-intensity exercise that brings you to the brink of failure, but not to the failure point.

    • Can drastically increase GH

  • Having low blood glucose is needed for secreting GH.

  • Drastically decreasing temperature after exercise will drastically increase your chances of secreting more GH the following night.

  • Don’t exercise too long or too hard.

• The Liver

  • Releases IGF-1 can increase the ability to learn and memory. IGF-1 is released after exercise.

  • Sex dependant effect

    • Women could access more GH and IGF-1 in the first 30 minutes.

    • Men were able to access more GH and IGF-1 later in the exercise.

      • Must work out for an hour (damn).

    • Sex-dependent hormones impact GH and IGF-1 releases.

Supplements for Growth Hormones

• Arginine (amino acid) -

  • Pill form, IV, or food

  • Need lots of arginine for actually increasing GH levels (3-10+ grams)

    • More is not better (9 grams of arginine can be counterproductive).

  • Low blood glucose is needed.

  • Can have a massive increase in hormones (up to 600%).

  • Exercising while on arginine can be decreased because of arginine (before exercise).

  • Taken before sleep.

  • Taking arginine is not the best way to increase arginine due to how the body processes it.

• L-Citrulline

  • Has powerful effects on GH via arginine.

  • It can drastically increase arginine, more than just taking arginine.

  • Dilates blood vessels lowering blood pressure

• Ornithine

  • It can also increase GH levels

  • Done by an indirect pathway

  • No longer researched.

• Think about the arginine pathway for increasing GH, but arginine isn’t the best supplement to take.

Heat and Cold to Increase GH

• Warm temperatures

  • Warmer animals have higher GH.

  • Higher temperate can also be dangerous if not done correctly.

  • Saunas can increase GH levels.

  • 176 - 210 degrees Fahrenheit (df).

  • Effects of high heat

    • The bigger stroke volume of the heart

    • Dilate blood vessels

    • Increase in arginine

  • 20-30 minutes of 175-210 df can increase growth hormone release by 16x.

• Actions

  • 20-minute sauna → 30 minutes of cooling → 20 minutes of sauna led to a 5x increase in GH.

    • On the third day, you might see up to 16x increases.

  • Replacing sauna

    • You can use plastic bags to work out.

    • Hot steamy baths with plastic bags.

• This more than likely occurs from increased activity of the neurons in the hypothalamus that stimulates GH from the pituitary.

Changes of GH as we Age

• As we age, GH levels change as well.

• Between 30-40, the reduction of GH each night is 2-3x.

• People in the 30-60s age don’t make as much GH as people in their 20s.

• The increases in GH from exercise can offset the age-related decrease in GH.

Prescription Medication

• Most hormones that we make have been synthesized.

• Always talk to a physician.

• Anytime you inject something, you will shut down your hormone production.

• Peptide - Strings of amino acids

  • GH is made up of many amino acids.

  • Peptides in short sequences resemble a hormone enough to achieve similar effects when you inject them.

• Sermorelin - A part of the peptide sequence for GH releasing hormone.

  • Stimulates the release of GH

• Secretagogue - Causes the secretion of the hormone they want.

• Some peptides can change gene expression. This can be good or bad.

Using Cortisol & Adrenaline to Boost Our Energy & Immune System Function | Huberman Lab Podcast #18

Intermittent Fasting for Increasing Growth Hormone

• Fasting does increase GH.

• Ghrelin binds to receptors GH releasing hormone, releasing GH.

• Fasting can increase GH during the waking state quite substantially.

Adrenaline (Epinephrine -EP) and Cortisol

• Adrenaline and epinephrine are the same.

  • Epinephrine is the term used when it’s in the brain. Adrenaline is the term used within the body.

• Cortisol is a steroid hormone that is derived from cholesterol.

  • Cholesterol is the precuroses to cortesol, testosterone and estorgen. All these hormones compete for cholesterol.

  • If you a stressed, you will use up more cholesterol to create cortisol.

• Cortisol is essential; you just want to make sure it’s at the right level at the right time.

• Epinephrine is very important for learning and immunity.

Cortisol TLDR

• The brain creates releasing hormones; the pituitary then releases ACTH, which causes your adrenals to release cortisol.

• Don’t think of cortisol as a stress hormone; think of it as an energy hormone that makes you want to move, not rest, and not eat (at first).

EP TLDR

• When you sense a stressor, your body is hosed with EP.

• Increases the sizes of arteries and blood vessels.

• You release EP from your adrenals in pulses.

Tool - Get High Levels of Cortisol in the Morning

• You will have to have an increase in cortisol (non-negotiable) at least once a day.

• Make sure this is in the morning.

• Get outside for 2-10 minutes to view some sunlight.

• This will help you time your cortisol released in the morning. This has great benefits.

• You don’t want that cortisol bump later in the day - It’s a signature of depression.

• Getting outside even when it’s overcast is essential within the first hour.

Increases in Cortisol and EP

• Cortisol and EP will increase based on stressors throughout the day.

  • These blips need to be brief.

• If you find yourself getting stressed and staying stressed, you need to address that.

• Some practices can assist in increasing or decreasing EP and cortisol secretion.

• Cold Shower, high interval training, exercise, deep breathing - Deliberate stress activity (DSA)

  • These will give you releases of cortisol and EP.

  • Increase your level of energy and alertness.

• The body doesn’t differential stress, good or bad. You can’t mentally tell yourself this is good for you.

• EP is made from dopamine. If you tell yourself something is good, you can get more dopamine and thus create more EP.

Increase Energy Without Stress

• Make one adjustment with your deliberate stress activities.

• Mechanism

  • Cortisol can bind to receptors in the body and brain.

  • Cortisol can cross the blood-brain barrier; EP cannot. This is why EP is released in two parts (body and brain).

  • Getting an increase of adrenaline from the body is ideal.

  • You want to stay calm in your mind but stressed in the body.

  • You want EP released from the adrenals, not from the brain.

  • Shift your brains focus to the body.

• Practice

  • Find ways to soothe and calm yourself while practicing deliberate stress activities.

Enhancing the Immune System

• Brief bouts of stress can improve immune functionality.

• EP tells your immune organs to create killer cells.

  • EP released from the adrenals, not the brain.

• Use deliberate stressors activities (DSA) 2-3 times a week at a minimum.

Memory and Performance

• If EP is low, you don’t perform too well; if EP is high, performance goes way up.

  • If EP is released from the brain, you might be too stressed out.

• You want EP high after learning. This will help engage neuroplasticity of the information learned during sleep.

• Don’t increase EP and Cortisol too much before learning, do it afterward.

• It might explain our ultradian cycles.

• Optimal learning

  • 90 minutes of learning

  • Follow it up with DSA

  • Then nap or NSDR

Nootropics: Smart Drugs

• Usually, increased blood glucose

• Some nootropics don’t raise blood glucose.

Licorice

• Licorice can increase cortisol and blood pressure while reducing testosterone.

Chronic Stress

Comfort Foods

• Long-term stress is not good.

• High sugar foods cause the brain and pituitary to shut down cortisol.

• Chronic stress changes the relationship between adrenals and the brain.

  • Now high stress will trigger more stress.

• Short bouts of stress suppress hunger; long-term stress triggers hunger in the form of comfort foods.

  • Bombesin is a peptide that suppresses hunger.

Blunting Chronic Cortisol

• Any stress that lasts for more than 2-3 days is considered chronic.

• Good sleep can reset that metric.

• Ashwagandha can be used to decrease stress.

  • Use for a lot of things.

  • Can decrease cortisol drastically.

Apigenin: Anti-Cortisol

• Found in Chamomile. It can reduce anxiety and decrease estrogen.

• Calms the nervous system.

Protocols to Optimize Energy and Immune System Functions

• Meal timing

  • Fasting or timing your meal affects neural energy (cortisol and EP).

  • When blood glucose is low, EP will go up.

  • Fasting will cause stress.

  • Circadian eating - Only eat when the sun is up.

  • More extended fasting increases cortisol and EP throughout the day.

    • This will allow you to be more alert throughout the day.

• If life is very stressful and you are fasting, this might trigger chronic stress.

  • Be careful of DSA and life stressors. Don’t over-stress yourself.

Practices for Accessing Alert and Calm

• Add DSA to your regiment.

• Separate the brain and body stressors.

  • Stay calm in the mind when the body is stressed.