Rebis
Blessed are the hearts that can bend
I want to address the difficulties of forming new habits and eradicating past habits through a process called myelination.
Myelination essentially insulates a nerve's axon (an axon being the bridge between neurons), this insulation allows the electrical signal to be sent at high speeds at a ratio of 100:1. What we know of any neurological transmission is faster is better. Due to the speed of these myelinated axons they are utilised whenever possible. However, this changes when we consider the role of catecholamine transmission such as dopamine.
Myelinated dopaminergic axons are used so the brain can reward the user quickly with a dopaminergic burst. In the role of habit formation in this reward system while Alcohol and High-sugar content have natural addictive properties (Alcohol a functional SSRI, simple carbohydrates hit the dopaminergic system rapidly). So when our habits are related to processes of sugar consumption, alcohol or any other drugs for that matter, or even sex/gambling addicts, if the nerve bindings that produce this dopaminergic response are myelinated, compared to an unmyelinated hobby like reading a book then our brain is going to make the hobby of reading way less pleasurable and it going to seek a more efficient stimulus. This is where habits as a product of myelination can regulate our basic enjoyment of simpler things, instead seeking super-stimulus.
So what can we do to change bad habits? Firstly, increase Myelination by starving previous myelinated dopamine circuits of stimulus. This will make us feel like death as if we're extracting water from a rock. The brain will constantly urge us to rely on previous myelinated circuits so we can feel happy. You feel shit? Brain: Just play a few video games. You hate studying? Brain: Just eat a packet of biscuits, don't stress yourself out. The brain does not want to go through a long and arduous process of myelinated new axons because this is inefficient and neurogenesis is a slower process with age with most people's potential for neurogenesis being capped by stress, along with neuroplasticity to model their day around new activities that finalize as habbits.
Demyelination isn't a process we can effectively switch between like inflammatory diets helping to replicate helathy cells to replace disease ridden ones, unless you want an inselective MS to do your bidding on every axon it finds. So just think next time you feel like shit because you're trying to form a new habit or trying to eradicate an old habit that you're supposed to feel like shit, that is the mechanism for growth. You're starving the brain from using old resources and propegating new circuits.
In addition to myelinated axons, dopamine surges through these quickfire electrical circuits all the time. Super-stimulating events such as eating a buttload of sugar at once, having crazy sex, watching the most fantasical taboo porn video or slowly switching your media content from 6/10 movies to only the best high-production movies in existence can causes an axonal surge, this surge reduces your bodies reabsorption of dopamine by closing the synapses between the axons of a nerve connection which causes less dopamine to be recieved. This dopamine will effect the production of Androgen receptors that affect testosterone production. Testosterone is healthy for males in suppression estrogen production, and anti-androgens are taken by females to suppress testosterone and cause an increase in estrogen.
Mind over matter. No pain no gain. Plan for the long-term not the short-term.
Is anyone forming new habits? Comment below.
Myelination essentially insulates a nerve's axon (an axon being the bridge between neurons), this insulation allows the electrical signal to be sent at high speeds at a ratio of 100:1. What we know of any neurological transmission is faster is better. Due to the speed of these myelinated axons they are utilised whenever possible. However, this changes when we consider the role of catecholamine transmission such as dopamine.
Myelinated dopaminergic axons are used so the brain can reward the user quickly with a dopaminergic burst. In the role of habit formation in this reward system while Alcohol and High-sugar content have natural addictive properties (Alcohol a functional SSRI, simple carbohydrates hit the dopaminergic system rapidly). So when our habits are related to processes of sugar consumption, alcohol or any other drugs for that matter, or even sex/gambling addicts, if the nerve bindings that produce this dopaminergic response are myelinated, compared to an unmyelinated hobby like reading a book then our brain is going to make the hobby of reading way less pleasurable and it going to seek a more efficient stimulus. This is where habits as a product of myelination can regulate our basic enjoyment of simpler things, instead seeking super-stimulus.
So what can we do to change bad habits? Firstly, increase Myelination by starving previous myelinated dopamine circuits of stimulus. This will make us feel like death as if we're extracting water from a rock. The brain will constantly urge us to rely on previous myelinated circuits so we can feel happy. You feel shit? Brain: Just play a few video games. You hate studying? Brain: Just eat a packet of biscuits, don't stress yourself out. The brain does not want to go through a long and arduous process of myelinated new axons because this is inefficient and neurogenesis is a slower process with age with most people's potential for neurogenesis being capped by stress, along with neuroplasticity to model their day around new activities that finalize as habbits.
Demyelination isn't a process we can effectively switch between like inflammatory diets helping to replicate helathy cells to replace disease ridden ones, unless you want an inselective MS to do your bidding on every axon it finds. So just think next time you feel like shit because you're trying to form a new habit or trying to eradicate an old habit that you're supposed to feel like shit, that is the mechanism for growth. You're starving the brain from using old resources and propegating new circuits.
In addition to myelinated axons, dopamine surges through these quickfire electrical circuits all the time. Super-stimulating events such as eating a buttload of sugar at once, having crazy sex, watching the most fantasical taboo porn video or slowly switching your media content from 6/10 movies to only the best high-production movies in existence can causes an axonal surge, this surge reduces your bodies reabsorption of dopamine by closing the synapses between the axons of a nerve connection which causes less dopamine to be recieved. This dopamine will effect the production of Androgen receptors that affect testosterone production. Testosterone is healthy for males in suppression estrogen production, and anti-androgens are taken by females to suppress testosterone and cause an increase in estrogen.
Mind over matter. No pain no gain. Plan for the long-term not the short-term.
Is anyone forming new habits? Comment below.
