Rinse & rePeat
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- Mar 10, 2021
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"Curt Richter already in 1957 had described the "hopelessness" phenomenon in rats (“a reaction of hopelessness is shown by some wild rats very soon after being grasped in the hand and prevented from moving. They seem literally to give up,”) and even how to cure their hopelessness, by allowing them to have an experience of escaping once (Richter, 1957, 1958). Rats which would normally be able to keep swimming in a tank for two or three days, would often give up and drown in just a few minutes, after having an experience of "inescapable stress." Richter made the important discovery that the hearts of the hopeless rats slowed down before they died, remaining relaxed and filled with blood, revealing the dominant activity of the vagal nerve, secreting acetylcholine." -Ray Peat