When you are sick, stressed, and hypothyroid, it can be difficult to muster the motivation for routine tasks, much less for long term projects like pursuing a degree, developing a new skill, assuming new responsibilities at work or at home, improving relations with loved ones, or repairing your body.
This thread will discuss some Peaty methods for enhancing motivation, which for many people will entail overcoming "learned helplessness."
In the words of psychologist Martin Seligman, learned helplessness is "the giving-up reaction, the quitting response that follows from the belief that whatever you do doesn't matter" (Seligman, Learned Optimism, p. 15). One of the papers cited in Peat's article, "Intelligence and Metabolism," calls learned helplessness "a behavioral depression caused by exposure to inescapable stress."
Here are Peat's thoughts about the origins of learned helplessness:
Peat mentions coffee, LSD, and anti-opiates as possible remedies for learned helplessness.
In the fibromyalgia thread, Birdie said that she thinks low dose naltrexone (another anti-opiate) helps with learned helplessness. (Birdie: Please jump in if I'm misquoting you.)
Given serotonin's important role in promoting learned helplessness, I would be remiss if I did not include a link to the thoroughly fabulous thread on serotonin removal:
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=249
OK, my coffee just wore off, so I'll stop now.
Relevant articles by Ray Peat include the following:
"Serotonin, Depression, and Aggression: The Problem of Brain Energy" (http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/seratonin.shtml)
"Intelligence and Metabolism" (http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/intelligence.shtml)
"Intuitive Knowledge and Its Development" (http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/in ... edge.shtml)
"Caffeine: A Vitamin-Like Nutrient, or Adaptogen" (http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/caffeine.shtml)
This thread will discuss some Peaty methods for enhancing motivation, which for many people will entail overcoming "learned helplessness."
In the words of psychologist Martin Seligman, learned helplessness is "the giving-up reaction, the quitting response that follows from the belief that whatever you do doesn't matter" (Seligman, Learned Optimism, p. 15). One of the papers cited in Peat's article, "Intelligence and Metabolism," calls learned helplessness "a behavioral depression caused by exposure to inescapable stress."
Here are Peat's thoughts about the origins of learned helplessness:
("Serotonin, Depression, and Aggression: The Problem of Brain Energy")Ray Peat said:Learned helplessness is a biological condition that is created by inescapable stress. In this state, animals that would normally swim for hours will stop swimming after a few minutes and allow themselves to drown. They simply don't have enough mental or physical energy to overcome challenges.
In learned helplessness, the level of serotonin is high, and an excess of serotonin helps to create the state of learned helplessness.
Serotonin activates glycolysis, forming lactic acid. Excess lactic acid tends to decrease efficient energy production by interfering with mitochondrial respiration.
("Intelligence and Metabolism")Ray Peat said:Stress early in life can impair learning, cause aggressive or compulsive behavior, learned helplessness, shyness, alcoholism, and other problems.
Peat mentions coffee, LSD, and anti-opiates as possible remedies for learned helplessness.
("Caffeine: A Vitamin-Like Nutrient, or Adaptogen")Ray Peat said:Serotonin excess causes several of the features of depression, such as learned helplessness and reduced metabolic rate, while coffee stimulates the uptake (inactivation or storage) of serotonin, increases metabolic energy, and tends to improve mood. In animal studies, it reverses the state of helplessness or despair, often more effectively than so-called antidepressants.
("Intuitive Knowledge and Its Development")Ray Peat said:Since LSD shifts the balance away from serotonin dominance toward dopamine dominance, its effect can be to erase the habits of learned helplessness.
("Intuitive Knowledge and Its Development")Ray Peat said:Stress and pain also leave their residue in the endorphin system, and the anti-opiates such as naloxone can relieve depression, improve memory, and restore disturbed pituitary functions...
In the fibromyalgia thread, Birdie said that she thinks low dose naltrexone (another anti-opiate) helps with learned helplessness. (Birdie: Please jump in if I'm misquoting you.)
Given serotonin's important role in promoting learned helplessness, I would be remiss if I did not include a link to the thoroughly fabulous thread on serotonin removal:
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=249
OK, my coffee just wore off, so I'll stop now.
Relevant articles by Ray Peat include the following:
"Serotonin, Depression, and Aggression: The Problem of Brain Energy" (http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/seratonin.shtml)
"Intelligence and Metabolism" (http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/intelligence.shtml)
"Intuitive Knowledge and Its Development" (http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/in ... edge.shtml)
"Caffeine: A Vitamin-Like Nutrient, or Adaptogen" (http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/caffeine.shtml)