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supplements that seem to help limbic hyperactivity best are DL-phenylalanine
(DLPA), L-tyrosine, and S-Adenosyl-Methionine (SAMe).
I find it fascinating that the parasympathetic off-switch vagus turns on
activating neurotransmitters in the emotional memory systems...obviously this is a
big factor in the reward/punishment building of our response system. One of the
contributors to the tenacity of PTSD as well no doubt, and you know they give
norepinephrine blockers to trauma victims to block the vividness of their memory.
Because stimulation of the vagus nerve activates the memory centers in the brain it
is apparent that sex would be good for improving memory ability. Since memory is
primary to our sense of meaning and to cognition in general, it is apparent that sex
has the potential of improving intelligence and quality of life through improved
brain function and freedom from depression. The counter argument to this is that
the endorphins produced during sex would reduce mental alertness.
retraining the Vagus—Lie flat on your stomach with your head to one side.
Progressively relax your jaw by imagining it dropping down toward your feet.
Feel the sense of your tongue dropping into your belly. You will notice that this
stimulates breathing, for you get the sense of oxygen hunger. Obviously a tight jaw
is tied into the neural circuits for the suspension of breath and shallow breathing.
Repeating this exercise and making this more jaw-contraction more conscious will
help to retrain the medulla and vagus toward deeper breathing and change the set
point of the nervous system toward greater relaxation.
mechanism of the Freeze—Animal hypnosis, catalepsy, tonic immobility or
the freeze response, is an inborn defensive behavior characterized by a temporary
quiescencent state of profound and reversible motor inhibition elicited by danger.
Cholinergic stimulation of the dorsal periaqueductal gray matter (PAG) decreases
the duration of the Tonic Immobility episodes, while stimulation of the ventrolateral
region increases it - lesions of the ventrolateral PAG can greatly reduce conditioned
freezing. PAG is the midbrain grey matter that is located around the cerebral
aqueduct within the midbrain. It plays a role in the descending modulation of
pain, in the ascending pain and temperature fibers. Neurons of the PAG are excited
by endorphins (endogenous opioid neurotransmitters) to produce analgesia.
Stimulation of the periaqueductal gray matter of the midbrain activates enkephalin
releasing neurons that project to the raphe nuclei in the brainstem. Some animal
studies indicate that alterations in the levels of cerebral serotonin modulate the
analgesic effect of the dorsal periaqueductal gray matter (PAG) stimulation. The
EEG activity in animal studies of tonic immobility was characterized by low voltage
fast activity. Tonic immobility was always preceded by long bursts of both cortical
and amygdaloid alpha range EEG activity which characterized an “awake-alert-
fixation” state of behavior. This alpha activity may be a necessary but not sufficient
condition for the onset of tonic immobility.