Live data from Hacker News

Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

alphagalileo.org

81–90 of 293 posts

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#81
post #57

Something in our industrial processes must be screwing with people's serotonin levels because Psychedelics and other serotenergic drugs are becoming the defacto treatment method for a whole host of ailments. I personally suffer from IBS, migraines, sleeping problems, and mood swings, if I haven't taken a dose of psychedelics in the last 6 months. Now, getting regular exercise, eating well, staying hydrated, sleeping…

> Now, getting regular exercise, eating well, staying hydrated, sleeping 8 hours a night, spending time with friends, sexual and emotional fulfillment, and performing fulfilling labor, that will get you 80% or even 100% towards fixing most, if not all your problems. Each of those is quite harder to achieve these days (due to work pressure, everpresent and ever-promoted processed foods, screen time, a borked dating sc…

Like a gamer that will optimize the fun out of a game if given the option, we've optimized fulfilment out of our lives.

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#82
post #69
post #12

A note for people not familiar with the terminology - "functional connectivity" is a specific technical term that really just means temporal correlation between brain areas, as opposed to "structural connectivity" which refers to the actual neural pathways that are formed between brain areas. If you rephrase the headline as "Serotonin booster leads to increased correlation between activity in different brain areas" i…

Oh, that's disappointing. I was hoping for a drug that will finally help me understand how monads are just simply monoids in the category of endofunctors.

Maybe LSD or mushrooms?

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#84
post #76
post #12

A note for people not familiar with the terminology - "functional connectivity" is a specific technical term that really just means temporal correlation between brain areas, as opposed to "structural connectivity" which refers to the actual neural pathways that are formed between brain areas. If you rephrase the headline as "Serotonin booster leads to increased correlation between activity in different brain areas" i…

Does functional lead to structural?

This is what I was wondering. There's the idea of "neurons that fire together wire together" which would imply so. But that's a super reductionist take on a very big field.

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#85
post #82
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, that's disappointing. I was hoping for a drug that will finally help me understand how monads are just simply monoids in the category of endofunctors.

Maybe LSD or mushrooms?

This guy monoids.

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#86
post #73

I’ll probably be downvoted for pointing this out but I feel like it’s important. 90% of the comments at the time of my posting this are great examples of the logical fallacy a lot of intelligent people fall into where they think their intelligence in one area means they’re qualified to make assessments or reach conclusions in fields outside of their own. This would be the same error in judgment that’s turned the noot…

Yeah I keep seeing this behavior here in the comments section. There are some real experts here for sure, but I think assuming you understand anything about something as complex as this without extensive prior studies about the subject is just stupid. I'm tired of reasonably intelligent people extrapolating new information about any possible subject based on their very limited basic level knowledge combined with some new cool research paper headlines.

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#88

Is this substance known in nootropic circles?

Big time, it's often included in the introductory "stacks" for new members. I haven't really dabbled with nootropics since college, but I do remember 5HTP being suggested.

I'd link the reddit wiki where it's mentioned, but we're still mid protest it seems! :)

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> to me this just highlights the impacts it can have. I believe it also highlights that the body cannot regulate its conversion to serotonin, as it does with L-tryptophan (which needs to be converted to 5HTP) for instance, which can result to these issues. Also, the body does not regulate where in the body the conversion happens, you _really_ do not want it do be converted to serotonin in peripheral tissue (as it can…

>> Heart palpitations is a very common side effect due to it. This is the first time I've heard that, but - at some point in my life I found a technique for triggering mass bursts of seratonin when I want them. It's not that complicated; when I'm depressed and really need it, I just focus on a time when I felt my brain flooded with it. I habitually live with very low happiness but I'm familiar with the feeling of ove…

I wouldn't necessarily call it totally undocumented. I think there's some form of meditative practice documented somewhere that would describe this. It kinda reminds me of loving-kindness meditation, but taken in a slightly different direction.

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#90

I wish we stopped treating serotonin as a button that automatically improves mood. It is bullshit. Let's recognize the complexity of neural signaling. Whenever people call serotonin the happiness hormone I want to throw up. Such people would probably never believe that if you inject serotonin, the result is extreme pain at the injection site.

Anecdotal, but I had depression episodes on weekly basis for 4 years, then started to microdose mushrooms for completely different reasons, and it is almost 2 years now, when I barely had a single such episode.
Post reply on HN