Why YSK: There is a lot of cortisol going on right now. A lot of people are stressed, angry, and afraid. Those emotions all deserve to be felt, but over time, cortisol becomes neurotoxic (inflicting permanent damage on the hippocampus).
Oxytocin (responsible for feelings of love, attraction, affection, etc) is a perfect foil to cortisol. If you notice yourself feeling angry or afraid for an amount of time that bothers you, adding some oxytocin to the situation might be helpful.
Luckily for us, our biology makes oxytocin pretty easy to come across. Different activities work better for different people, but cuddling with a pet or loved one, watching cute cat videos, or having sex work for a lot of people.
Here are a few interesting sources for further reading, if you are curious.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33632072/ https://www.nature.com/articles/srep30187 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5619133/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33632072/
What in the four humors?
This is not how human brains work. It’s a wild oversimplification of one of the most complex hunks of meat on the planet, to the point of silliness.
Meh. We know cortisol is bad, OP is suggesting ways to lower cortisol levels. I’m not sure why your immediate reaction is so inflammatory, pun intended, but maybe your complex hunk of meat should take OPs advice and chill out.
Cortisol is awesome for many things though!
them:
you:
checks out
It is an oversimplification for the study of neurochemistry, psychiatry, or neuro pathophysiology, yes. This is a casual YSK forum, where medical jargon is not useful, and plain language casual understanding is much more apropos. But thanks for the condescending comment!
So why not just say “stress is bad for you” instead of “cortisol is bad for you”, if plain language is better?
It would be more accurate, too.
You’d have to ask OP. I find that the average person has cursory knowledge of what cortisol is, and the 175 upvotes on the post seem to support that.
And as we all know, popularity is the ultimate measure of good taste and scientific accuracy. /s
Just keep moving those goal posts buddy
It’s not an oversimplification to suggest countering negative and hostile thoughts/feelings by doing something that makes you happy. In fact, that’s one of the first things my therapist asked me about: what do you enjoy doing for fun?
It is a wild oversimplification to suggest that oxytocin is love/happiness and cortisol is stress/anger/fear.
I’m not saying picking yourself up emotionally when you’re down is bad, it’s like, the most obvious advice that almost anyone would give.
I’m saying the science here is shit. It’s woo-woo masquerading as brain chemistry knowledge by co-opting a few key words and phrases.
If you’re gonna give cliche advice, just own it instead of dressing it up as science when it isn’t. It’s insulting to the audience’s intelligence.
I’m gonna suggest, as someone who feels a bit ahead of the curve, very unhappy she was duly a “paranoiac” over the last 6 years … that simple things like meditation and congregating w. intentional community at regular intervals, have been studied and proven to elongate lifespan and reduce stress-related health risk factors. That plus 8-9h sleep are things too many of us sacrifice.
I totally follow that your criticism of what’s published is about it’s lack of adherance to scientific rigor…and what I’m suggesting is this Yes, AND: Sieze the opportunity to encourage those who arent welcome or inclined to be church going, to have secular, extracurricular gatherings with regularity. It is a rare opportunity to talk about sleep debt without being preachy because that is a more tangible offering tham the publication in question.