stress

Prenatal stress ups serotonin, which causes autism and mental disease in offspring

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Another good study, which not only corroborates the causative role of elevated serotonin in a number of behavioral disorders in children (which extend into adulthood) but demonstrates the key role of endotoxin (LPS) in that process. Namely, the pregnant animals exposed to stress who had sterile guts were immune to the pro-inflammatory effects of stress … Read more Prenatal stress ups serotonin, which causes autism and mental disease in offspring

Reducing stress may reverse greying of hair

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Just a few weeks ago I made a post about yet another study linking grey hair to increased stress. The mechanism of action described in that study was increased HPA activity and specifically elevated norepinephrine levels. Other studies have also implicated tryptophan/serotonin, which is still consistent with the stress hypothesis as serotonin is perhaps the … Read more Reducing stress may reverse greying of hair

Drop in dopamine behind giving up

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I would have much preferred if the authors of the study below investigated the level of serotonin and its relation to giving up (“learned helplessness” anyone?), but I suppose the dogma of serotonin is still too “sacred” to be questioned in biomedical research. So, instead of saying that elevated serotonin causes despair and giving up, … Read more Drop in dopamine behind giving up

Long Work Hours Linked to Hypothyroidism

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The connection between stress and health issues is perhaps the best kept “public secret”. As the saying goes, the only people who do not believe in the pathology of stress are doctors…and the dead. I would add to this category the profession of statisticians who publish studies like the one below. Despite demonstrating “dose-dependent” relationship … Read more Long Work Hours Linked to Hypothyroidism

The government knows stress causes “learned helplessness” / depression

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I have had discussions with numerous psychiatrists about the concept of “learned helplessness” (LH) and its relation to chronic stress. All of those doctors flatly denied that LH is a concept relevant to humans and argued that it is nothing more than a useful model of depression in animal studies, designed to evaluate animal exposure … Read more The government knows stress causes “learned helplessness” / depression

COVID-19/SARS may be due simply to serum PUFA and its peroxidation

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During the last podcast with Danny Roddy, Dr. Peat and I discussed the role of elevated free fatty acids (FFA) in the blood as facilitators of viral infection. I opined that the hydrophilic nature of PUFA circulating in the blood increases the permeability of cells and allows for easier viral entry inside the cell and … Read more COVID-19/SARS may be due simply to serum PUFA and its peroxidation

Studies in animals often use stressful methods that produce invalid results

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Back in 2012, when I first started writing about the benefits of steroids such as pregnenolone, I often got emails quoting the study below as evidence that pregnenolone and related steroids amplify instead of mitigate the stress response (HPA axis). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17928160 “…We chose IP injection to assess neuroactive steroids effects at the central level because … Read more Studies in animals often use stressful methods that produce invalid results

Stress (cortisol) can cause ANY autoimmune condition by disrupting gut barrier

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A great new study that is not afraid to point out the paradox between mainstream medicine’s claims of beneficial effects of cortisol and the reality of “autoimmune” conditions more often than not being associated with elevated levels of CRH, ACTH and cortisol. The role of CRH as a causative factor in a number of chronic … Read more Stress (cortisol) can cause ANY autoimmune condition by disrupting gut barrier

How chronic stress (cortisol) causes disease

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Back in 2018 I did a post on a neat study that demonstrated how the presence of cellular (mitochondrial) fragments in the blood stream acts identically to the pituitary hormone ACTH and as such activates the HPA axis. The more cellular fragments are in the bloodstream the more intense the stress response from the adrenals. … Read more How chronic stress (cortisol) causes disease