thisoldtown1978
Member
- Joined
- May 29, 2013
- Messages
- 351
Just discovered this in my email folder - not sure if I shared it originally. I've bolded the parts that I found particularly interesting and helpful.
An active large brain uses energy at a very high rate, and it needs lots of support from the body. The liver is the main store of glucose (as glycogen) for mental work, and if it isn't efficient, it can't support prolonged original thinking. (The need for some nutrients, other than calories, can be very high when mental activity is intense.) Thinking while lying down, or sitting in an almost horizontal position, makes less demand on the liver. Familiar physical activities reduce the brain's glucose consumption by stopping the energy-expensive brain processes. (The active brain produces lots of heat, so snacks are helpful. I used to notice that when I was working intensely mentally, even on a warm day my glasses and nearby windows would fog up with condensed water. Oxygen and calorie consumption can be more than twice as high as normal during intense thinking.)
When prolactin is high, thyroid stimulating hormone, TSH, is usually high, too (because the same signals increase both of them), but for commercial-cultural reasons, the "normal range" for TSH isn't realistic--optimally, TSH should be below the range that's called normal. Thyroid hormone inhibits both prolactin and TSH. Thyroid hormone is needed for using glucose fully, and also for storing it as glycogen, so intense brain activity increases TSH, to cause the gland to produce more hormone. Magnesium and thyroid hormone have to act simultaneously in cells for efficiency, and if there's not enough of either of them, glucose is consumed wastefully, increasing the need for calories. Coffee happens to be one of the best sources of magnesium, and that's one of the reasons that it synergizes with thyroid hormone, and caffeine also happens to protect against the over-production of nitric oxide, increasing the ability to use glucose efficiently. Both cortisol and prolactin should probably be at the lower end of the normal range, when there's enough thyroid hormone and magnesium. The well energized cell is able to relax immediately after being active. This makes problem solving easier, but it also makes the transition to rest and sleep easier and quicker.
I think a thyroid supplement, increasing energy efficiency, can make it easier to integrate the two kinds of activity, so that each of them, thought and physical activity, is a little different, possibly with a sense of newness in familiar activity, and more concrete associations in problem solving.
An active large brain uses energy at a very high rate, and it needs lots of support from the body. The liver is the main store of glucose (as glycogen) for mental work, and if it isn't efficient, it can't support prolonged original thinking. (The need for some nutrients, other than calories, can be very high when mental activity is intense.) Thinking while lying down, or sitting in an almost horizontal position, makes less demand on the liver. Familiar physical activities reduce the brain's glucose consumption by stopping the energy-expensive brain processes. (The active brain produces lots of heat, so snacks are helpful. I used to notice that when I was working intensely mentally, even on a warm day my glasses and nearby windows would fog up with condensed water. Oxygen and calorie consumption can be more than twice as high as normal during intense thinking.)
When prolactin is high, thyroid stimulating hormone, TSH, is usually high, too (because the same signals increase both of them), but for commercial-cultural reasons, the "normal range" for TSH isn't realistic--optimally, TSH should be below the range that's called normal. Thyroid hormone inhibits both prolactin and TSH. Thyroid hormone is needed for using glucose fully, and also for storing it as glycogen, so intense brain activity increases TSH, to cause the gland to produce more hormone. Magnesium and thyroid hormone have to act simultaneously in cells for efficiency, and if there's not enough of either of them, glucose is consumed wastefully, increasing the need for calories. Coffee happens to be one of the best sources of magnesium, and that's one of the reasons that it synergizes with thyroid hormone, and caffeine also happens to protect against the over-production of nitric oxide, increasing the ability to use glucose efficiently. Both cortisol and prolactin should probably be at the lower end of the normal range, when there's enough thyroid hormone and magnesium. The well energized cell is able to relax immediately after being active. This makes problem solving easier, but it also makes the transition to rest and sleep easier and quicker.
I think a thyroid supplement, increasing energy efficiency, can make it easier to integrate the two kinds of activity, so that each of them, thought and physical activity, is a little different, possibly with a sense of newness in familiar activity, and more concrete associations in problem solving.