It activates the same chemicals in your brain as cocaine! not-built-for-this

Well, yeah, there are only three[1] a few neurotransmitters. That’s not saying much.

You know what else activates those chemicals? Practically everything. When scientists breed “knockout” mice without dopamine, the mice just stand there until they die of thirst, because there is no reward for… living.

It contains more germs than a toilet seat! NOOOOO

Germs like moist surfaces. We don’t want germs on our toilets, which is why we make them out of porcelain, which is hard, dry, non-porous, and easy to clean.

If it had more germs than your colon, then I would be concerned.

  1. @Neuromancer49@midwest.social corrected me ↩︎

  • Neuromancer49@midwest.socialEnglish
    14·
    1 month ago

    That’s a surprising statement to me. Honestly, those aren’t even the most important. Glutamate is the most common neurotransmitter in the brain. But dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin are responsible for some very “classic” bodily functions like reward, adrenaline, and sleep.

    Now, hormones are typically separate from the brain - there’s a barrier between neurons and your circulating blood maintained by astrocytes. This is the so-called blood-brain barrier. I do not know if there are examples of Oxytocin and Epinephrine crossing the BBB, as I did not study it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood–brain_barrier?wprov=sfla1

    • SchillMenaker [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      3·
      1 month ago

      Although I’ve never thought much about it I would think that neuropeptides that are produced in the brain would likely have local activity. Orexin is an endogenous neuropeptide that can be administered in an inhaled form with a very potent effect. I listened to a talk on it once and apparently you can be going on 20+ hours awake and barely able to keep your eyes open to immediately awake like you slept for 12 hours. He said that the air force uses it for B-2 pilots and other extremely long range missions.