witch

The effect of Prozac is to raise serotonin levels to a constant ridiculously high level. Bother. I'm not sure where people here are getting their science, but the biochemistry assumptions here are no better than the physics assumptions. Do you know what is raised by "meditation, relaxation, taichi, yoga, prayer, qigong, contemplation, monasteries, seclusion"? Dopamine. Here is some science on raising serotonin: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2077351/ Vigorous exercise, bright natural spectrum light, taking tryptophan supplements (not food).

Here's more on our culture pushing serotonin-dominated personality http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20851 Testosterone is under attack on all sides, from BPA to female hormones in our drinking water.

The pop culture places value on serotonin and adrenaline. Our society is driven by serotonin and adrenaline.

Can't watch at work, but I have no problem with the reward system of the body. I'm not a Buddhist, and I think the body is pretty smart. I love dopamine. And I don't like the value our culture places on serotonin.

Dayum. I stand corrected! Hmmm...I have some people to talk to about that article.

I skimmed through that pdf--you understand that I agree that bacteria can harm the vagus nerve and interfere with its correct functioning, but that doesn't mean the vagus nerve actually transports bacteria. Some of his points seem rather far-fetched, although I do have an open mind. Certainly jaw health probably has something do with headache frequency and severity.

Wow! Good to know!

Just thought I'd ask, thanks for checking!

Try curling your bottom lip down so the inside is showing and then stick your tongue out up towards your nose. Anything?

I was thinking more along the lines of planetary energy. I think what you are saying is kind of silly--why invent a new chemistry when the real actual chemistry exists? We aren't in the Dark Ages, we already know the chemical properties of neurotransmitters. At a guess Mars--adrenaline/epinephrine Venus--acetylcholine Jupiter--serotonin That's all I've got so far. I think dopamine might be Pluto, but it might also be Neptune, not sure yet.

I went out and bought some Choline/Inositol and took a rather large amount. I also bought Acetyl-L-Carnitine, will take that tomorrow morning. I'm feeling very much like a coiling dragoness right now, but that might just be the placebo effect. Definitely like the idea of qigong in a pill! very lazy

Boo!

My two cents, and bear in mind I'm a witch--if your girlfriend has the great good sense to desire your jing, you should give it to her. Of course refrain from ejaculation during masturbation! To everything there is a season, and at some point it's very likely that you will have 100 days of celibacy to practice in. I think there is a way to cultivate while having sex. I know that when I had sex with Betty Dodson's boyfriend, that he told me he had been practicing some kind of sexual qigong thing? At any rate, he could send his sexual energy into me when he ejaculated, and it felt like a grenade going off inside me. Being able to transmute the energy, I pulled it up and gave it back to him through the heart chakra so that we could continue to have sex. He's the only man who outlasted me when he finally made me ejaculate. Then I was done in.

I think they mean sexual as in sexual social status. For example, when the females of a group pick a special male, they groom him and increase his serotonin levels, making him in effect the alpha male. But when it comes to actual sexual performance, too much serotonin is a bad thing. Now it's true people with very low serotonin, depressed people, are too depressed to be interested in sex, so a baseline is necessary. People with very high serotonin levels are the exact opposite of what one would think a qigong master would be like. They are self-centered, with impaired ability to feel emotion, and seem like very gregarious used car salesmen. wait, you tested it and had increased electromagnetic light output as a result? oy oy oy

I talked to him on the phone a while back, he's a nice guy! Thing never worked for me though.

You should prove to yourself whether this is serotonin or not. I'm thinking very much not--you wouldn't be as sexual as you are if it were. What you should do is for a week take an herbal that raises serotonin like 5 HTP and see if it amplifies or decreases the effect you feel. Because we are not electric eels!

Although I have to say that we are the same, guinea pigging ourselves! You've given me an idea, I'm going to try the qigong diet. My idea of one anyhow. I'm going to try boosting my acetylcholine for a month with eating eggs, liver and taking supplements and see what happens. I'm female so I don't have to worry about wandering around with visibly wayward erectile tissue!

The vagus nerve was being electrically stimulated, causing lung constriction. They were testing aerosols applied to the lungs--it was testing lung things, not vagus nerve things. If anything that proves that serotonin counteracts vagus nerve stimulation.

WTF! Seriously. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Loewi The very first neurotransmitter discovered, acetylcholine, was discovered with a vagus nerve experiment. The vagus nerve is a nerve. Yes, you can stimulate it with serotonin. But it's not a neurotransmitter receptor, it's not that picky.

Three cups of vinegar a day!!!!! Be careful with your teeth! Why on earth are you... oh never mind. Hopefully you mean cups of water with a tablespoon of vinegar or something like that. ANYhow, to increase acetylcholine you need to have sufficient choline in the diet, from egg yolks, liver, fatty meats, soy products, nuts. Interestingly lots of salt interferes with acetylcholine's activities. Turmeric and asparagus and apples help acetylcholine. If you are vegetarian, you can get choline from soy-derived lecithin.

Just to be clear, I have no quarrel with the idea that qigong activates the parasympathetic nervous system. Whether the pineal gland is part of that system in humans is under debate: http://tinyurl.com/yknepur This one is more positive about the link: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qi...04172301AA935cv But if you are somehow activating your pineal gland through your parasympathetic nervous system by the full lotus and other practices you do, the neurotransmitter involved would have to be acetylcholine, not serotonin.

so you are saying norepinephrine is adrenaline? Here: http://medicguide.blogspot.com/2008/07/wha...adrenaline.html oy oy oy oy oy Also, don't know much about the parasympathetic nervous system, but I found this: "The parasympathetic nervous system uses only acetylcholine (ACh) as its neurotransmitter," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasympathetic_nervous_system so not sure where you are getting the idea that serotonin will affect it. And here's research with bloodwork on the effects of qigong exercise on dopamine levels--it raises them! Sheesh http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2401029

OMG, where to start. Almost every food we eat nowadays raises serotonin. Any food that is primarily carbohydrate-based raises serotonin. Read my book! Coffee, fat, alcohol and salt all raise dopamine, but only initially with a sharp spike and then drop. Coffee long-term raises serotonin, not dopamine. BTW, meditation raises dopamine. And so does sex of course. Omega-3 fatty acids do mildly raise serotonin, but they raise dopamine more-it's a balancing act. Just like the antidepressant Welbutrin raises both, and so it's pro-sexual unlike most antidepressants. I followed your link and did not see where it says dopamine is made from adrenaline. Please quote the relevant passage. And I still don't get the testosterone thing And that other link you provided is from a junk science penis-pill-hawking website. And the full link to the mesomorphosis.com link is not displayed so I can't read it.

Oh screw Dr. Fisher. If someone has lots of dopamine from consuming omega-3 fatty acids, their level of aggression and violence decreases, this also is proven from studies. People with low dopamine self medicate by picking fights (to raise dopamine) just like they self medicate by smoking cigarettes (very temporary high dopamine followed by drop) or taking street drugs. I'm still not buying the testosterone-->adrenaline-->dopamine thing you say happens.