Mental Illness.
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A very important topic and one we can all relate too. Apologies if already mentioned but I found Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke very interesting.
Basically, her theory is we all have dopamine as a reward system that makes us feel good. When we get high, play games, sex etc we get a release of dopamine to encourage us to do that activity again.
What is largely unknown is that it is not an unlimited resource, you only have so much of it. She uses the analogy of a see saw, your body wants to be in homeostasis or balance. If you have too much dopamine, i.e play too many video games your see saw tips into the pleasure zone too much. Stop playing video games and your brain will quickly try to get that balance back.
So, what does it do, well the opposite of pleasure is pain, so when you stop doing your addiction or pleasure activity you will experience some pain, discomfort, craving and withdrawal until you get back to balance.
Obviously, the level of pain will be dependent on just how hard you hit the pleasure side, but this idea is very easy for me to relate to, and I am sure we have all experienced this or seen it in others.
I think if we take video game addiction for example. If you play hours and hours of video games you deplete your dopamine for pleasure, to get more pleasure you have to play more and more. As soon as you stop playing games, any other activity is painful and unenjoyable as you have no more dopamine left and your body is trying to get back into balance.
She said the only real solution is to try balance the amount of pleasure we give ourselves. Or try to purposely deny yourself dopamine as if you have a deficit then the opposite will happen, you will get pleasure from less obvious things.
This is why she thinks Ice baths are very effective as its painful, is actually a dopamine negative activity, when we get out, we now have more room to do pleasure. This is also potentially why exercise or hard exercise whilst physically painful often results in better mood.
Anyone relate to this?
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@chimoaus not enough struggle in modern life.
No challenges to survive on limited food. No sabre-toothed tigers. Our bodies grow older than perhaps they were supposed to.
Perhaps this also hooks into the mental illness thing? Without the right stimuli for our monkey brains, we invent our own demons...
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@NTA said in Mental Illness.:
@chimoaus not enough struggle in modern life.
No challenges to survive on limited food. No sabre-toothed tigers. Our bodies grow older than perhaps they were supposed to.
Perhaps this also hooks into the mental illness thing? Without the right stimuli for our monkey brains, we invent our own demons...
First world problems
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@NTA said in Mental Illness.:
Perhaps this also hooks into the mental illness thing? Without the right stimuli for our monkey brains, we invent our own demons...
And when we decide to use our brains, we find we can use tech to do the thinking for us.
I got back into electronics a few years back and re-learned a lot of RF design theory. It was great to get my old HP15 calculator being used again. That didn't last - I found a website which did it for me...
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@taniwharugby said in Mental Illness.:
Some great stuff, just had this pop up on SM, mentions the gut and depression.
Had also watched something the other day called "how to not get cancer" and they mentioned the gut alot too.
Full episode
Finally watched this entire episode today, fascinating stuff.
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@nzzp said in Mental Illness.:
@dogmeat said in Mental Illness.:
@nzzp Brew more beer?
yeah, that only gets so far and sucks up so much time.
Ok, what have you done with the real @nzzp?
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@taniwharugby said in Mental Illness.:
@taniwharugby said in Mental Illness.:
Some great stuff, just had this pop up on SM, mentions the gut and depression.
Had also watched something the other day called "how to not get cancer" and they mentioned the gut alot too.
Full episode
Finally watched this entire episode today, fascinating stuff.
Got half way through,it's interesting. Makes sense, just trying to fill in the why's and why nots. Will watch the rest soon
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@taniwharugby said in Mental Illness.:
@taniwharugby said in Mental Illness.:
Some great stuff, just had this pop up on SM, mentions the gut and depression.
Had also watched something the other day called "how to not get cancer" and they mentioned the gut alot too.
Full episode
Finally watched this entire episode today, fascinating stuff.
I’m 4 minutes in and he’s just bragged without any shame about his study and qualifications - does he become more likeable or do I need to learn to tolerate this arrogant twat?!
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@voodoo said in Mental Illness.:
@taniwharugby said in Mental Illness.:
@taniwharugby said in Mental Illness.:
Some great stuff, just had this pop up on SM, mentions the gut and depression.
Had also watched something the other day called "how to not get cancer" and they mentioned the gut alot too.
Full episode
Finally watched this entire episode today, fascinating stuff.
I’m 4 minutes in and he’s just bragged without any shame about his study and qualifications - does he become more likeable or do I need to learn to tolerate this arrogant twat?!
Well the host did ask him what his qualifications were....
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@canefan said in Mental Illness.:
@voodoo said in Mental Illness.:
@taniwharugby said in Mental Illness.:
@taniwharugby said in Mental Illness.:
Some great stuff, just had this pop up on SM, mentions the gut and depression.
Had also watched something the other day called "how to not get cancer" and they mentioned the gut alot too.
Full episode
Finally watched this entire episode today, fascinating stuff.
I’m 4 minutes in and he’s just bragged without any shame about his study and qualifications - does he become more likeable or do I need to learn to tolerate this arrogant twat?!
Well the host did ask him what his qualifications were....
@voodoo just wants to get to the scat chat
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@NTA said in Mental Illness.:
@canefan said in Mental Illness.:
@voodoo said in Mental Illness.:
@taniwharugby said in Mental Illness.:
@taniwharugby said in Mental Illness.:
Some great stuff, just had this pop up on SM, mentions the gut and depression.
Had also watched something the other day called "how to not get cancer" and they mentioned the gut alot too.
Full episode
Finally watched this entire episode today, fascinating stuff.
I’m 4 minutes in and he’s just bragged without any shame about his study and qualifications - does he become more likeable or do I need to learn to tolerate this arrogant twat?!
Well the host did ask him what his qualifications were....
@voodoo just wants to get to the scat chat
I'm currently reading The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck. Among the concepts the author discusses was the fact that we as a society have become addicted to outrage and being overly trigger-happy, and that it is like a sugar high, energizing but ultimately fruitless. Maybe just a weak moment but it did make me think of that...
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@canefan said in Mental Illness.:
@voodoo said in Mental Illness.:
@taniwharugby said in Mental Illness.:
@taniwharugby said in Mental Illness.:
Some great stuff, just had this pop up on SM, mentions the gut and depression.
Had also watched something the other day called "how to not get cancer" and they mentioned the gut alot too.
Full episode
Finally watched this entire episode today, fascinating stuff.
I’m 4 minutes in and he’s just bragged without any shame about his study and qualifications - does he become more likeable or do I need to learn to tolerate this arrogant twat?!
Well the host did ask him what his qualifications were....
and he opened with "well, where do I start" !!!
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@taniwharugby said in Mental Illness.:
@taniwharugby said in Mental Illness.:
Some great stuff, just had this pop up on SM, mentions the gut and depression.
Had also watched something the other day called "how to not get cancer" and they mentioned the gut alot too.
Full episode
Finally watched this entire episode today, fascinating stuff.
Sounds like he's not the only one who thinks he's onto something
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This is a really interesting chat and it brings to mind a lot that I've been through in the last few years.
Twice I've had lengthy periods where my work routine more or less disappeared. Once was related to COVID shutdowns, and the other to leaving my job in April of last year.
Both times my early experiences were great. Free time to catch up with friends, sleep in, watch TV and generally do whatever. But after a couple of months things began to shift and my mental health really suffered. I didn't have anything to occupy my brain and so my wheels just started spinning. Insomnia, anxiety, medical fears (any tummy ache was definitely cancer).
It wasn't debilitating but it wasn't much fun. So I've had a few stints on antidepressants, which has certainly helped, but the main thing has been getting back into healthy work routines. It's just so critical to keep your brain moving, and for me doing the sudoku every morning isn't nearly enough.
Which is why the retirement discussion is so interesting. My dad has been retired a few years, as has my father-in-law, and I've seen them struggle with purpose. They both still work 1-2 days a week, and busy themselves with this and that, but I can certainly see how it could be hard to deal with.
It's gotten to the point where everytime my father-in-law comes to stay with us I make sure to ignore most household chores in the lead-up weeks. And over the week he's with us the lawn gets mowed, doors get fixed, light bulbs replaced etc. I could do these myself but I think he really enjoys helping us, there's something more in it for him than me. Maybe that's slightly condescending, I don't know.
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The retirement discussion is similar to what my wife went through when being at home with the boys when they were young. She did an amazing job with them, but changing nappies and interacting with babies and toddlers all day wasn't nearly stimulating enough for her, so her mental health suffered as a result. We've since realised that she really needs to keep her mind busy with something that challenges her, and working does that. In modern society i think women can become quite isolated when being at home like that. She did what she could to meet with friends regularly etc so that she had some adult interaction during the day, but that wasn't really enough. I know some women really enjoy being at home like that, but I'd say just as many will suffer mentally as a result. Not quite sure where I'm going with this, but it did give me perspective on my job, as I felt like the lucky one being able to do a challenging job that I (mostly) enjoy and then come home and have quality time with the boys. Felt I had the much more balanced life during that period.
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NQ I thought during my recent work hiatus it would be so great to be a SAH dad for a few months. And while I love my kids I learned that I could never do it full time, the lack of mental stimulation drove me insane. So I understand where your wife is coming from.
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@barbarian yeah my wife stayed at home until #2 turned 3 s then started work, more for her sanity
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