I like to divide factors that influence my mind into “bottom-up” and “top-down”.
- “Bottom-up” factors are any biochemical changes that influence my mind, including neuropharmaceuticals, sleep, exercise, and hormones. (Most of my blog is about bottom-up effects, except for perhaps community, purpose, and psychedelics).
- “Top-down” factors are primary mental changes that then influence biochemistry but may also have non-biochemical effects.
In the following paragraphs, I describe my experience with top-down factors and the effects they had on my physiology.
On some days I am tired. If I then do something that excites me, such as having a deep conversation with a friend, it is always striking how this increases my energy and mood. In the same way that a good conversation can have a stimulant-like effect on me for a few hours, so can working on a project I burn for stimulate me for weeks to months. Biochemically, this is presumably mediated in part by a top-down mediated increase in a variety of neurotransmitters.
A few more examples:
- A decade ago, I used to be semi-depressed for about half a year or so because I was reducing myself, my thoughts, and my feelings to molecular biology. Then, simply learning about the concept of emergence was quite powerful in terms of boosting my liveliness. In other words, I boosted my liveliness from “within” the mind.
- The few times I fell in love with someone, I was always amphetamine-like stimulated for a couple of weeks, sometimes months. I was euphoric, needed less sleep, was less hungry, and had more energy. The neurobiochemical cascade of falling in love is characterized by higher levels of oxytocin, glutamate, and dopamine, among other things. Interestingly, falling in love is known to increase cortisol secretion by 40-100%. Cortisol is discussed shortly.
- Before meeting my ex-girlfriend, I was in quite a bad place mentally. I was lonely, restless, and my “Urvertrauen” (trust in the Universe that things will be alright) was gone. I then saw somebody I was blown away by. I approached her and asked her out. On our first date, I knew that we would be a couple soon. After this date, my Urvertrauen was restored and all the restlessness, loneliness, and unease – that had been there fore months – was gone immediately, as if somebody had flipped a switch in my brain – even though my hormones or monoamines had not changed much. This change in how I felt was holding up for months. This was quite eye-opening to my bottom-up centered worldview.
- A couple of years ago, after one of my ex-girlfriends broke up with me, I was devastated for many months. In the same way that falling in love with her caused a hypomania-like state, losing her led to a state resembling true biochemical depression. The neurobiology of grief is thought to be characterized by an altered monoamine transmission and a dysregulated neuroendocrine control (hormones), among other things.
- In the past, days before a major exam, I was often super stressed, and many aspects of my mental and biochemical functioning were altered. These included heart rate changes, increased sweating, and even altered gut motility.
A few more non-personal examples:
- The placebo effect is a prime example of a top-down effect. The placebo group in antidepressant studies usually measurably improves in a variety of domains. Similarly, being hopeful or simply believing in something can have measurable physio-biochemical ramifications.
- For many people, unresolved trauma can have massive effects on neurobiology, endocrine function, and physiology – sometimes for years.
- Children that are mistreated or neglected sometimes fail to thrive (to grow properly). This form of “psychosocial dwarfism” can occur even when adequate caloric intake is provided.
- In orangutan tribes (orangutans are somewhat closely related to humans), there is only one alpha male and something about the sheer presence of an alpha male has other male orangutans growth-suppressed (it is thought that his screams play a role). After the alpha male dies, the growth-suppressed young orangutans suddenly go through puberty. This means that puberty was induced from “within the mind”.
In all of these instances, biochemical changes are induced “top-down” (from within the mind) solely due to “information”. It is therefore not too far-fetched to claim that, for example, having a pessimistic or nihilistic mindset can sustainably alter monoamine transmission and hormones, and presumably things that are even “deeper” (e.g., gene expression), negatively (which then in turn favors a nihilistic or angst-ridden mindset).
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On the other hand, it has been shown that positive thinking, gratitude, optimism, or “purpose” can have striking effects on neurobiology, endocrine function, and physiology. (This is not to say that biochemical enhancement is not useful in finding purpose, love, or developing an optimistic mindset in the first place.)
Andrew Huberman and Jordan Peterson discuss the influence of “purpose” and “meaning” on dopaminergic neurotransmission here.
Thus far, I relied heavily on biochemical strategies to solve a variety of problems. While it definitely worked, I feel that I know quite little about “mindset” and other “psychological” strategies that help me to feel and perform better. I plan on changing this in the future.
The main point of this entry is basically that vitality can be quite deeply affected by not just changes that are bottom-up (e.g., altering hormones or neurotransmitters trough lifestyle of exogenous molecules) but also by more “psychological” changes (i.e., information), which eventually affect deep material processes within the brain, and presumably also within individual cells. While this may seem “duh” to most people, for me, a biological materialist at heart, this was quite eye-opening to find out about – even though the biological mechanisms are far from being elucidated.
Purpose
After experimenting with all kinds of molecules, I found that, like human connection, purpose is the best antidepressant (reducing suffering & making me happy) as well as stimulant (giving me loads of energy & motivation) available.
Throughout most of my life, I had a sense of purpose and whenever I was lacking it, vitality enhancement, with a special focus on dopamine always seemed to increase my chances of finding it again. However, out of all of the things on this website, purpose is probably the hardest one to get.
Here I want to specifically mention psychedelics, which helped some of my friends a great deal in this regard. Next to having helped with getting unstuck in the egocentricity loop (“I am the center of the universe”), a friend who was gripped by a sense of meaninglessness came out of one session feeling part of something larger than himself. The effect catalyzed an upward spiral.
However, I also know people who were seriously harmed by psychedelics so they are best approached with the respect they deserve.
I discuss psychedelics in much more detail here.
Sources & further information
- Book: Viktor Frankl – A Man’s Search for Meaning
- Scientific opinion article: New Movement in Neuroscience: A Purpose-Driven Life
- Scientific review: Psychedelics and Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy
Disclaimer
The content available on this website is based on the author’s individual research, opinions, and personal experiences. It is intended solely for informational and entertainment purposes and does not constitute medical advice. The author does not endorse the use of supplements, pharmaceutical drugs, or hormones without the direct oversight of a qualified physician. People should never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something they have read on the internet.