Today we return to another advertisement article by the supplement industry shill Chris Shugart of T-Nation, as he simplifies the topic of mental health in order to sell you his shitty, unnecessary and toxic supplements. Let’s see what he came up with this time and I’ll straighten things out as we go.
What the Heck is a Habenula?
“It’s a teeny part of your brain, not much bigger than a grain of rice. Although tiny, it has two subregions: the medial and lateral habenula (LHb). An overactive LHb is associated with everything from loss of motivation to mood problems, addiction, sleep issues, and even overeating. If overactivity is the problem, you need to tell this little sliver of the brain to calm down.”
Actually, the habenula is a small epithalamic structure that plays a crucial role in regulating the main monoaminergic systems, which include neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin, which are strongly associated with anxiety disorders and avoidance behaviors. In terms of mental health, the habenula influences various aspects of behavior and cognitive functions. It is implicated in reward processing, motivational behavior, behavioral adaptation, and has been linked to depression, memory problems, and addiction.
With that said, while the lateral habenula (LHb) has been implicated in sleep-wake regulation, sleep is a complex process involving multiple brain regions and systems, including the homeostatic processes and the circadian rhythm, which regulate the sleep-wake cycle. So, an “overactive” LHb will not really cause sleep problems.
And for overeating, while the habenula influences feeding behavior by modulating the balance between homeostatic and hedonic signals, increasing the cravings for palatable foods, it is not the underlying cause for overeating. That is a crude and false simplification. Overeating is the result of nutrient deficiencies which causes hunger to return once a meal has been digested as the nutrient requirements have not been fulfilled. Nutrient deficiencies will also cause food cravings in order to increase the likelihood of the body being nourished, hence the overactivity of the habenula — it is the survival response of malnutrition, as in nutrient deficiencies, that upregulates the activity of the habenula to make you seek out more food. However, if you eat crap, you will simply continue to overeat in desperation to find these missing nutrients and you will instead end up as a fat bastard.
With that being said, if you do not have nutrient deficiencies, you will not get tempted to eat, and the habenula will not become overactive in a desperate measure to save your life by actually getting you to eat something nourishing. Hence, it is nutrient deficiencies that are the underlying cause of overeating and also the cause of an overactive and dysfunctional habenula. Simple logic and common sense.
“Think of the habenula as the “hub” for your mental health. It helps regulate how we respond to rewards and punishments, acting as a bridge between emotional and reward systems.”
No, not the hub for “mental health,” as that is a very complex subject, influenced by multiple factors, including biological-, environmental-, and social elements, and especially nutritional status and toxicity levels. No need to exaggerate, Shugart, just because you want to sell the magic pill in a bottle that “cures all mental health issues.”
It can however be called a “hub of sorts” for “emotional- and reward systems,” as it regulates dopamine and serotonin — but that’s about it.
“By influencing the release of dopamine and serotonin, the habenula dampens the brain’s reward system during disappointing or aversive events, helping us learn from mistakes and avoid negative outcomes. But, if it’s overactive, it over-suppresses positive feelings, leading to depression, anxiety, and lack of motivation.”
It can only become “overactive” due to bodily stress, usually from nutrient deficiencies and/or toxicity (including substance abuse and drugs.) So, focus on fixing these issues and the habenula will return to its normal state.
“What causes your habenula to become overactive? Chronic stress, repeated exposure to negative or disappointing outcomes (which “trains” the habenula to become overactive), neuroinflammation caused by systemic inflammation, glutamate dysregulation, neurotransmitter imbalances, addictive substances, early-life trauma, and possibly genetic predispositions.”
No, as I just mentioned, it is caused by bodily stress. You cannot train the habenula to become dysfunctional. Our physiology does not work that way, as it will do everything it can to keep you alive, not causing harm. If your habenula has become dysfunctional, it’s due to your crappy diet and toxic exposure.
How Do We Fix Habenular Overactivity?
“Treatments aim to restore balance in brain circuits governing reward, aversion, and mood regulation. Ketamine seems to reduce habenular overactivity by blocking NMDA receptors, which mediate excitatory glutamate signaling. As you can imagine, this treatment is controversial. Ask your Friends.”
Do not use idiotic, dissociative and toxic drugs as a band-aid — something that will really cause damage and can f**k you up for life. Fix your shitty diet and lifestyle.
“Early trials of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), where electrodes are implanted near the habenula to modulate its activity, show promise, as does psychedelic-assisted therapy. More practically, cognitive therapy, meditation, and exercise help calm the habenula.”
More idiotic nonsense. DBS can cause permanent damage. Meditation and such are only a band-aid for a very temporary and short-lived effect. The underlying problem is nutrient deficiencies and/or toxicity. Fix your shitty diet and lifestyle.
“Researchers are also looking into nutrition. The science is limited so far, but nutritional intervention looks like the healthiest way to chill out this spastic brain region. The most impactful nutritional strategies and preventatives are those that influence the neurotransmitter systems (dopamine and serotonin) or reduce neuroinflammation.”
There you go. Nutrition. As in animal-based nutrition, which is the only way to get bioavailable nutrients, as in bioactive nutrients that the body can actually use.
And “neuroinflammation” is simply detoxification and healing of tissues within the brain region, so as the brain detoxifies and heals, inflammation will eventually go down and disappear once the healing is finished. And again, this can only be accomplished by lowering or preferably removing the toxic load and providing all the nutrients that the body needs for detoxing and repairing damaged tissue (healing.)
Remember, you do not want to stop inflammation, as it is the healing response. You want to assist this inflammation process so it can run its course, which means that the inflammation disappears naturally as the healing has finished.
After this, Chris Shugart touts his useless supplements, of which all are extremely toxic and will not help with the underlying problem of nutrient deficiencies and toxicity causing a dysfunctional habenula.
With that said, as with all mental health problems we come back to that of nutrient deficiencies, usually animal fats such as saturated fats, cholesterol and omega-3 fatty acids, but also the very important B vitamins, which also only can be found in animal-based foods. And no, you cannot supplement them as dietary supplements are chemically artificial bleak copies of something they think is a vitamin. It will cause a lot more damage than it will ever do good. I’ve covered this in-depth in several articles, backed by real science within the fields of biochemistry, physiology, and biology.
If you need help with any kind of health problems or transitioning from your current way of eating to our natural species-appropriate, species-specific way of eating, I’m available for both coaching and consultation.
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