I've started teaching my small section of the introduction to psychiatry class for the medical students again, which has added a measure of increased chaos to the week. Not always a bad thing. However, blogging frequency may diminish for the fall (but who knows - depends upon what I see that interests me, and the class time for the lectures I don't teach does give me time to catch up on some journals, as I'm not taking a test at the end of the semester, I don't always need to pay attention…)
A few weeks ago I recorded a podcast with Superhuman Armi Legge and Bulletproof Exec Dave Asprey. Here is the podcast, so enjoy! I'm not entirely certain I am a paleo "brain hacker" - I'm more into emulating the evolutionary milieu(™)* than throwing MCT oil and butter into coffee for a kickin' breakfast, but that could be my likely dairy intolerance talking. We all share enthusiasm and interest in human health - the search for optimization of human health and performance is preliminary but intriguing. Thanks for the opportunity, Armi and Dave! Very happy to be on your podcast.
I also have another post up on Psychology Today about vitamin D, birth weight, and schizophrenia. All clicks are very helpful and help me finance my textbook addiction.
A few interesting articles in the queue - stay tuned for brand new posts. In the mean time, here's a boppin' rock tune (can't get enough of it):
Brooklyn is Burning by Head Automatica
*lovin' Kurt Harris's new picture.
Really enjoyed the PT article! I've never understood the never-let-the-sun-touch-your-skin mantra from dermatology; we evolved to live a large part of our lives out of doors, so it doesn't make sense to now live like voles. The beauty angle seems to be the driver as much as fear of skin cancer.
ReplyDeleteHmm, my Promethus/23andme results listed increased schizophrenia risk about 10 times; some people think I'm sociapathic; I do "abstract" math.
ReplyDeleteEmily, are you familiar with direct effects on dopamine (or serotonin) by vitamins D3 or A (or I guess other micros)? I think I've seen that D3 increases homovanillic acid before and that vitamin A (maybe retinoic acid) lowers 5-HT. Masterjohn has an old but good article, "The Pursuit of Happiness," with many dopamine/D3/A refs.
John,
ReplyDelete"There is evidence that vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy increases the risk of the child developing schizophrenia during their adult life. There is also evidence that vitamin D receptors exist in the brain, and that the active form of vitamin D, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, will stimulate the production of serotonin, and, thus, may help reduce depression."
more:
http://evolutionarypsychiatry.blogspot.com/2011/09/back-to-school-again.html#comment-form
Sorry, wrong URL for the vit D3 and serotonin quote:
ReplyDeletehttp://vitamindhealth.org/2009/03/dr-holick%E2%80%99s-responses-to-participant-questions-during-the-december-5-2008-live-webinar-presentation-%E2%80%9Cvitamin-d-chronic-disease-risk%E2%80%9D/
Gabriel,
ReplyDeleteIt's tricky though when effects are observed with chemicals like calcitriol or retinoic acid and not with sunlight or liver consumption (or things may just not be tested with the two latter).
There's a 40+ page paper/article called "Vitamin D3 and Brain Developement" that's very informative: http://www.direct-ms.org/pdf/VitDGenScience/Mcgrath%20brain%20development.pdf