Opiates and benzodiapines: Restore naturel opiate receptors
In the episode with Dr. Gina Poe, you talked about opiates and benzodiapines and how they destroy the natural opiate receptors, leading to a hyperactive locus careuleus when you stop taking them. Is there any way to restore them or are they lost forever?
circadian rythm/ time to go to sleep
Does it matter what time we fall asleep? To clarify, I'd like to know if regularly going to bed at 2pm and waking up at 9:30am can cause adverse psychological effects (e.g. anxiety, stress). I also talk about it as a long-term habit (few years with no exceptions!). Finally, is it healthy to go to bed earlier (10pm/11pm)? Thank you in advance for your answer
Possible DNA Demethylation Protocol for treatment of PTSD/Anxiety/Depression?
Hi Dr. Huberman! I'm a psych student at Wake Forest. My professor told us a few days ago about ongoing clinical trials into histone deacetylase inhibitors as a possible treatment for PTSD chiefly, and possibly anxiety and depression. She said results have been promising thus far but more research is required before they can be prescribed. The central idea is that PTSD is correlated with epigenetic changes which interfere with gene expression through over-methylation in response to stressful conditions (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30503303/) (https://clinicalepigeneticsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13148-020-0820-0) (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2021.738347/full). HDAC Inhibitors have shown promising results thus far (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24646280/) (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7540814/#:~:text=Histone%20deacetylase%20inhibitors%20(HDAIs)%20have,for%20the%20treatment%20of%20PTSD.) and it got me wondering what else I could find about it. The acetyl groups they promote are able to, by my understanding, remove the methyl groups in question from DNA, allowing them to be expressed properly. The mechanism reminded me of NAD+ supplementation, which I know is being popularized by celebrities right now. NAD+ has been found in seemingly reliable studies (Harvard scientists) to inhibit the DMNT1 Gene, which is responsible for maintaining methyl groups during DNA replication. This reduces DNA methylation over time as during replication they don't maintain the methylation (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8616462/). Do you think that, in lieu of being able to access/prescribe HDAC inhibitors at this time, it could be worthwhile to take NAD+ (which by my understanding is otherwise safe -- you probably know better than me on this issue) in conjunction with a methyl donor supplement (to prevent long term reductions in methylation which could be problematic), in order to basically standardize your DNA methylation and help the heterochromatin become euchromatin that can properly express? I asked my professor about this and she said she wasn't able to answer my question but that I would want to do more research into it. Obviously you can't give medical advice but I might be working in a Post-Traumatic Growth lab next fall and I wanted to know if you think this has any value before I embarrass myself in front of my professor haha. I also thought it could be effective as a possible low-cost (relative to other therapies like ketamine) treatment for PTSD, allowing people to regain their normal stress responses. Thank you for your time and contributions to science! Love your podcast.