Meditation and Brain Chemistry

I've been using a meditation program that utilizes CDs with a technology that induces certain brain wave patterns and supposedly causes your brain to form new connections, particularly between the hemispheres. This program is called The Holosync Program and it's offered by Centerpointe.com. This is the website: http://centerpointe.com/  So far, (and I've been using the program for about a month), I'm very pleased with the results. The CD's are very pleasant and relaxing, and seem to put me into a fairly deep space. Since I'm a certified hypnotherapist, I know a lot about trances and altered states. Some of the materials that came with the program mention actual changes in brain chemistry as a result of meditation. I googled "meditation and brain chemistry" and found the following helpful summary. This is from the site of a Holosync competitor called Equisync: http://www.eocinstitute.org/dhea_gaba_cortisol_hgh_melatonin_serotonin_endorphins_s/48.htm

The following material is completely consistent with the Holosync booklet, but offers a little more detail (The quote is italicized):

The Positive Effects Meditation Has on Your Body‘s Natural Chemistry

GABA 

People who regularly meditate have considerably increased levels of the neurotransmitters GABA. What is GABA and why is it so important? GABA (gamma aminobutyric acid) is one of the major inhibitory neurotransmitters in your central nervous system. It‘s best known for stabilizing mood disorders. Anxiety, tension, insomnia, and epilepsy are believed to be due to the failure to produce adequate levels of GABA. In a study at Yale University, people with panic disorder were found to have 22% less GABA than people without panic disorder. Addicts, including those addicted to alcohol, drugs, tobacco, caffeine, food, gambling, and even shopping, all have one thing in common: not enough GABA. As you can see, GABA is very important!

DHEA

Meditation provides a dramatic boost in DHEA hormone levels. We now know that low levels of DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) are strongly associated with the risk of heart attack, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, obesity, and chronic fatigue. On the positive side, DHEA enhances memory, alleviates depression, and causes a remarkable improvement in a person's sense of psychological and physical well-being. It also provides strong support to your immune system—so much that many scientists are convinced that a deficiency in the DHEA hormone is what contributes to the collapse of our immune systems during old age. 

Melatonin

Melatonin is a hormone manufactured in the brain by the pineal gland, from the amino acid tryptophan. Levels of melatonin in the blood peak before bedtime and its function is to create restful sleep. Research has also revealed that it is a powerful antioxidant. Stress, however, significantly lowers melatonin levels. People who meditate are able to maintain healthy levels of melatonin by reducing stress and restoring balance. As a result, they sleep more soundly and wake up feelingrefreshed each morning.


Serotonin

Meditation also increases the production of serotonin within our brains. Serotonin is a main neurotransmitter and has profound influences over your mood and behavior. Depleted serotonin levels are directly linked to depression, obesity, insomnia,narcolepsy, sleep apnea, migraine headaches, premenstrual syndrome, and fibromyalgia. In treating anxiety and depression-related disorders, drugs such as Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft help to restore healthy levels of serotonin. But why put yourself through the adverse side effects of these costly medications when you can achieve the same results by using Equisync audio technology?

Endorphins

Endorphins are a category of neurotransmitters that the body uses as an internal pain killer. These compounds are also responsible for the all-encompassing sense of happiness we sometimes feel. Endorphins are thought to reduce blood pressure and have been linked in the fight against cancer. People who exercise know endorphins well, as they produce what is known as 'runner's high'. These same pleasant feelings are also experienced by people who meditate, and studies show this is due to the higher levels endorphins that meditation elicits.

HGH 

Deep meditation dramatically boosts levels of human growth hormone (HGH), which your body naturally produces. It stimulated your growth throughout your childhood and sustains your tissues and organs all the way through your life. Starting in your 40s, your pituitary gland, the pea-sized structure at the base of your brain where growth hormone is produced, gradually decreases the amount of HGH it creates. The body's diminishing supply of HGH causes the frailty that comes with aging—decreased bone density, decreased muscle mass, increased body fat, weakening heart contractions, poor mood, lack of motivation, and poor exercise capacity. This is why so many people nowadays spend lots of money to take HGH. It‘s a very important hormone when it comes to our overall health and well-being.

Cortisol 

Cortisol is the one hormone you want less amounts of and meditation is proven to significantly decreasethis harmful hormone. Higher and more prolonged levels of Cortisol, an age accelerating hormone, in the bloodstream has been found to have effects such as decreased bone density, elevated blood pressure, suppressed thyroid function, weakened cognitive performance, chronic stress, blood sugar imbalances such as hyperglycemia, decrease in muscle tissue, lowered immunity and inflammatory responses in the body, increased abdominal fat (which is related to many more health problems than fat deposited in other areas of the body), heart attacks, strokes, increased levels of "bad" cholesterol (LDL) and decreased levels of "good" cholesterol (HDL), which lead to other health problems. Too much cortisol is very damaging to your body and meditation can help reduce the risk of its many harmful effects.



Here is what Bill Harris and Holosync have to say about these levels after using meditation:


"Holosync's beneficial effect on key hormones: In a before an after study of people using Holosync audio technology, the following changes were noted in levels of DHEA, cortisol and melatonin:
> In just three days, over 68% had increases in DHEA levels, with an average increas of 43.77%. Several people had incrases of 50, 60, even 90%.
> 68% of the people had their Cortisol levels drop an average of 46.47%, and serveral more people had Cortisol descreases of up to 80%.
> Melatonin levels increased an average of 97.77%, with positive changes happening in over 73% of the people. Many had improvements of 100, 200, even 300%...


What does this mean to you? It means that listening to CDs containing Holosync technology not only dramatically lowers stress by regulating the biochemical source of stress, it also means that Holosync slows the aging process and increases both longevity and well-being!


I will continue to report on my progress and results in this blog, and in my companion blog: http://robertpostsreality.blogspot.com/


In my next post, I'll give you the recipe for my Lifeforce happy shake...

Drinking Happiness - Part II

So, if it's possible to take a pill that releases Dopamine and that is entirely natural and beneficial...and if that pill reduces the cravings of women who are on diets, might it not also help people in breaking away from other addictions, like alcohol and cigarettes? I realized that Dr. Hart's pills contained basically three things: Tryptophan, an amino acid; Tyrosine, another amino acid and Glutamine. I went out and looked in my cupboard and took down a canister of Life Force "Amino Charge." A scoop of that powder, in "pre-digested form" (your digestive system doesn't have to break the proteins in e.g. turkey into amino acids) contains 140 mg. of Tryptophan, 285 mg. of Tyrosine and 1420 mgs of Glutamic acid, together with dozens of other amino acids and nutrients. Dr. Hart may get Tryptophan from Velvet Bean extract, which is listed as the other main ingredient. These amino acids are Dopamine precursors, that is, they turn into or trigger the release of Dopamine in the body.

Years ago, I remember that I put a bunch of Life Force stuff into a smoothie before I went skiing. That shake contained some blueberries, cranberry juice, Body Balance, True Greens, Amino Charge, strong green tea and an herbal concoction called Sunbright. I remember feeling unreasonable happy all day. I went halfway across town and remembered that I had forgotten my ski jacket. Instead of being upset driving back home, I was just mellow and cheerful. I had a great day. I named that recipe my "Feel Like A Kid Again Shake." I researched Velvet Beans and found that they have traditionally been used as an aphrodisiac in both men and women, due to their Dopamine inducing properties. They have been found to have antidepressant properties and have shown promise as a treatment for Parkinson's Disease. In fact, the seeds contain high concentrations of Levodopa (L-Dopa), seratonin, nicotine and other stuff. Holy Cow. I ordered a bottle of Velvet Bean extract pills online. I'll take one with my shakes and see what happens.

I've been drinking the shake every morning for several days now. My mornings have been really luminous and cheerful, despite my current, personal financial crisis. See my companion blog, http://robertpostsreality.blogspot.com/

If it's possible to trigger an avalanche in Dopamine in the brain just by using totally organic and healthful stuff like the ingredients in my shake, maybe I have stumbled onto something that could be used to alleviate depression. Maybe I could use this natural beverage in conjunction with some other modalities....More on that in my next post.

Drinking Happiness

This last Tuesday, July 19, 2011, I was doing some surfing on the web, and somehow I came across an article pointing out that a recent study reported in the journal Biological Psychiatry demonstrated that men are twice as likely to become alcoholics as women. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1321767/Why-men-twice-likely-alcoholics--drinking-sparks-pleasure-male-brains.html  The reason appears to be that when men drink their brains release almost twice as much dopamine, a "feel good" chemical and neurotransmitter, as do women's brains. Nothing in my study of alcoholism heretofore had revealed that alcohol releases dopamine. This triggered a day of internet research which resulted in some fairly stunning discoveries. 


Here, in the order of discovery, are what I found that day:
1. The above discovery about dopamine and male brains.
2. What alcohol gives, in terms of pleasure, it later takes away. http://scienceblog.com/community/older/1999/A/199900066.html "In particular, dopamine appears to be a primary neurotransmitter of reward in the nucleus accumbens and hippocampus areas of the brain. Serotonin is believed to have an additive or synergistic effect on dopamine. Alcohol is known to initially lead to an increase in dopamine release, which supposedly enhances reward/pleasure. However, chronic and/or high levels of alcohol will eventually lead to a decrease in dopaine release. This disruption of intercellular interactions or "chemical imbalance" can result in negative feelings such as anxiety, anger or in a craving for a substance, such as alcohol, that can alleviate the negative feelings. Yet because chronic drinking releases a continuously reduced amount of dopamine, more and more alcohol is needed to feel "normal." ...Morrisett says "When a person starts to drink and is experiencing the reinforcing aspects,...that's when 'we're having a little engine misfire.' At the point of full-blown alcoholism, he said, "we're addicted, we're dependent, we're drinking fifths of whiskey a day, the car is wrecked."
3. Both alcohol and nicotine result in a cascade of chemical and electrical events in the brain. http://www.macalester.edu/psychology/whathap/UBNRP/Dopamine/alcoholtobac.html (By the way, the foregoing webpage is even animated) It asks: "Why is it that some people are so easily enticed into the wrath of alcohol, cocaine, nicotine and other addictive substances, while others can literally take them or leave them? Many scientists are convinced that the answer may be simpler than any of us has dared imagine. What ties all these mood-altering drugs together, they say, is a remarkable ability to elevate levels of a common substance in the brain called Dopamine....However, researchers admit that although dopamine probably plays a vital role in the reward and reinforcement of behavior associated with addictive substances, other neurotransmitters and factors most likely play an important role as well."
4. Modern psychiatry utilizes two primary types of anti-depressants: SSRIs or selective seratonin reuptake inhibitors and drugs of which Bupropion ("Wellbutrin") is the prime example, that is Dopamine reuptake inhibitors. (My doctor prescribed the latter for my depression) Wikipedia discusses both types of drugs in extensive articles. 
Recently, a lot of doubt has been cast on SSRI's such as Prozac and Zoloft, as "silver bullets" against depression. Wikipedia says: "Efficacy of SSRIs for the treatment of depression compared to placebo is disputed. Two meta-analyses of clinical trials found that in mild and moderate depression, which constitute the vast majority of depression cases, the effect of SSRI is very small or none compared to placebo, while in very severe depression the effect of SSRIs is clinically significant. However, treatment by either placebo or SSRI may have significant effect in lower-severity depression vs. no treatment at all."
In other words, in cases of moderate to low-severity depression, any treatment that the patient believes in is likely to have some effect. However, sugar pills are a lot cheaper than SSRIs.
5. It is entirely possible that Dopamine, not Seratonin, is responsible for the success of SSRIs, when they succeed. http://www.mcmanweb.com/dopamine.html
John MacManamy says: "Enter the new generation antidepressants such as SSRIs. Ironically, as the authors point out, when SSRIs work well it may be due to interactions between the serotonin system and the dopamine system. The authors cite a 1996 German study that found that those who responded to SSRIs - but not those who failed to respond - "exhibited increased dopamine binding to D2 receptors in the striatum and that the degree of increase in D2 binding correlated with improvement in Hamilton Depression Scale score." In other words, dopamine may be serotonin’s secret weapon. It’s still way too soon to draw this conclusion, but we definitely have the basis for a strong hypothesis, not to mention "Neurotransmitter of the Year" distinctions for years to come."
6. There are natural, nutritional supplements out there that rapidly boost Dopamine levels in the brain. http://www.powersupplements.com/craniyums-less5.html  An M.D. has developed a supplement called CraniYums for her patients. Read all about it at the above website. She claims: "In a double-blind, placebo controlled study, the group that took CraniYums demonstrated an average 819% rise in serotonin and 425% rise in dopamine levels. The placebo group had no significant rise in serotonin or dopamine. All this after just 2 hours!" 
In a second study of patients with neurotransmitter deficiencies, the results were as follows: 

In conclusion, use of CraniYums as directed over a six week period affects the symptoms of neurotransmitter deficiencies in the following ways: improves eating satisfaction, improves mood, lowers anger and irritability, lessens fatigue, lowers anxiety and fearfulness, relieves achy muscles, improves sleep, lessens appetite and cravings especially for starchy or sweet carbohydrates; and improves motivation, mental focus and muscle strength.

"CraniYums were developed by Dr. Cheryle R. Hart, M.D. Dr. Hart is a 1984 graduate of the Mayo Clinic and is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology as well as bariatrics, the specialty of medical weight management. She held appointments as associate clinical professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota and the University of Washington School of Medicine. She is currently the medical director of the Wellness Workshop in Spokane, Washington, a preventive health and weight loss clinic, having treated over 5000 weight loss patients since 1996.She and her clinic were featured in the September 2002 Time magazine cover story on weight loss in America.


She co-authored the best selling diet book, The Insulin-Resistance Diet and is currently completing her book on neurotransmitter precursor therapy. She is a frequently requested national speaker, radio and television guest and co-hosted her weekly health talk radio program, Hart of the Matter."
Dr. Hart uses CraniYums in support of weight loss and dieting programs to reduce cravings, etc. Could this or a similar supplement help with cravings for alcohol, tobacco and other addictive substances?
What's in CraniYums? Are there other supplements that contain the same things? I found some in my cupboard. More on these questions in my next post.