anti-inflammatory | Sofa King Next Level

Nov 18 2014

The Feeling: Oxytocin Tingle Porn

Grooming

Imagine if you could trigger a powerful release of oxytocin in your body, along with other feel-good hormones like serotonin, without taking anything or inadvertently messing with your body chemistry or tolerance levels? Well read on, people!

As a kid, I used to periodically experience a feeling of tingling euphoria, which I aptly named “The Feeling”. The first time I strongly remember it happening, I was playing with our cleaning lady’s daughter Maria, and she was the dentist and I was the patient. Maria had a very gentle voice and a Portuguese accent, and as the dentist she made me lean back in a reclining chair as she poked at my mouth and inspected my teeth with a flashlight.

As far as games went, this one was deadly boring. And yet I wanted it to last forever! Why? Because it triggered “The Feeling”, which I can only describe as a tingling sensation along my scalp, down the back of my neck and into my shoulders, accompanied by very strong feelings of euphoria and calm relaxation.

Cut to twenty five years later when I was given Pitocin to help my labour along. Wow! I went from insanely painful labor cramps to totally relaxed euphoria. My husband wanted to go home to sleep for a while, and I was like, Sure! NBD! I’m just gonna lie here and enjoy this! I was unbelievably high with euphoric feelings, and my pain was gone.

Pitocin is a synthetic oxytocin, but where oxytocin is beneficial to newborns – Pitocin can actually be quite damaging. The natural birthing cocktail is a combo of hundreds of different factors, not just oxytocin – so pushing one, let alone a synthetic version, at the expense of all the others sets up an imbalance from the start.

WHAT IS OXYTOCIN

Oxytocin is a neuropeptide made of nine amino acids which acts as both a hormone and a neurotransmitter. Most oxytocin is produced in the hypothalamus and released by the posterior pituitary gland to create reactions throughout the body.

If you really like the feeling of oxytocin and Pitocin, it’s not hard to buy on the internet as sublingual drops or a nasal spray. But what would be the point? You would quickly build up a tolerance to it and soon it would be nearly impossible to get “The Feeling” at all. Plus coming down from pure Pitocin creates the opposite effects – feelings of isolation, loneliness, unworthiness etc. Total shame spiral.

But the internet has once again changed everything.

THIS IS A HALLELUJAH MOMENT

I’m here to tell you that I can trigger a totally natural release of oxytocin just by watching a certain type of YouTube video. This is freaking bananas. And since it works for me, it might work for you too.

These videos are tagged as “ASMR”, which is a recently made up term that stands for “Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response”. There are thousands of ASMRtists creating videos that average 20 minutes and consist mostly of gentle whispering, light tapping that rolls from ear to ear, hair brushing sounds, and then diversify into triggers as specific as folding towels and cutting hair.

Many of the videos simulate what I classify as Primate Grooming Triggers. These are simulated hair brushing, eye exams, various other white-coat procedures, shoulder massages and near-ear whispering. In primates, grooming is an incredibly successful behavior which promotes bonding within social groups. If you ever have a chance to experience “The Feeling”, a let-down of oxytocin, you will understand with so much greater clarity why and how these primate grooming sessions work.

White Cheek Gibbons grooming in Vietnam, photo from National Geographic. The male looks hella relaxed.

THE VIDEOS

Here is an example of one of the most viewed Primate Grooming trigger videos, by an ASMRtist who calls herself GentleWhispering: Watch this ASMR video first to see if any of these triggers work for you. (I will post these videos again at the bottom because you know how much I hate embedding links within the body of posts because embedding makes us all dumber! I made this exception because I’m weak.)

You need to wear headphones to really make this work, because there is something about the way sound travels from one ear and then around the head to the next ear that is a strong trigger. I think this ear-to-ear intake of sound closely simulates the way we would have processed sound while grooming back when we lived in trees. You don’t remember those days, but your cells still do and they like it.

If you watch that whole video and don’t get a definitive “feeling” of euphoria and tingling, then these triggers do not work for you. We are not looking for a general feeling of relaxation or calmness. This is something more dramatic, and you will just know it when it happens. You will also know it if it doesn’t happen.

But maybe you trigger to different things. For me, I trigger much more strongly to the sound of someone tapping gently on a piece of cardboard. How crazy is that??? Here is an example of another ASMRtist named Dimitri who really knows how to play a piece of white card: This particular video also has nice visualizations. And if you only want a quick 2-minute fix: this “layer cake” gets me every time.

Again, this video does not just relax me. I am talking about something different. I think I am a “strong responder” to oxytocin in that it feels like a total phase change when that peptide is emitted into my system. The feelings I get are so strong they are sometimes nauseatingly euphoric. You may not get as strong a reaction as me (until you find your own trigger), but for it to be defined as an ASMR event, it has to be more than just relaxing or calming.

HOW IS THIS LIKE MEDITATION

benefits I worked with a meditation coach for a couple years and I really owe her a lot for clarifying the responsibility I needed to take over my moods, thoughts and perceptions. Not all of us are lucky enough to learn those skills from our families or from school, despite the fact that they are critical to living with any presence at all.

My main takeaway from my meditation practice is that it’s not all about carving out some time to sit cross-legged. It’s also about turning every day moments into opportunities to become present. Long line at the bank? Rather than complain about it in your head or fantasize about your bucket list, why not still your mind and focus on your breathing? Look at the long line as a gift, a chance to practice a standing meditation and become fully present. Once you change your perspective this way, you can find opportunities to be grateful for all the most infuriating irritations in life.

However it’s hard to get to a deeper level of meditation without putting in the time to do some sitting. It takes practice, repetition and habit building to be able to release attachment to your thoughts. Finding this “sitting” time was always a challenge for me, and I assume for most meditators. One early hack I took advantage of was a device from HeartMath which connects your ear to your iPhone and gives you real-time feedback about whether you are “in the zone” or not. As you breathe in through your heart and create intentions to feel open and loving, the screen either glows green to show your heart and breath are in coherence, or it glows red to show they are in dissonance. By subtly letting go of attachments to outcomes and thoughts, your heart and breath can make the screen change to green. That’s some powerful feedback! (I will post a link to the device at the bottom).

People who meditate consistently literally change the physical shape of their brains: MRIs reveal a cortical thickening in the part of the brain that is associated with emotions and perception; also revealed is a minimizing of the physical part of the brain associated with worry, anxiety and depression. You actually build a different brain which interacts with your environment in a more positive way. In addition, meditation up regulates the immune system and reduces your chance of heart attack.

MEDITATING DEEPER

Even if you can get “in the green” with the HeartMath device and application for a solid hour, you will be achieving some remarkable health benefits but you still might not reach a truly euphoric state. At best you might reach a calm and tranquil disposition unless you have the dedication of a proper Zen monk. Deep meditators can open the sensory gating channels in their mind and see the world in a different way, also known as approaching enlightenment. However there are some shortcuts to opening those sensory gating channels, which is why sometimes people give up on meditation and turn to ayahuasca, ecstasy, LSD and hallucinogens.

ASMR IS NEXT LEVEL MEDITATION

Well I’m here to say I’ve found a middle ground between basic meditation and psychoactives. Watching an ASMR video with appropriate triggers for your particular disposition can take you to a place where you will get the health benefits of meditation, the “everything is connected” awareness of psychoactives, and a bonus of purely pleasurable physical sensations in your head, neck and shoulders (but not limited to those areas). This is oxytocin, baby!

BENEFITS OF OXYTOCIN

When I’m talking about the benefits of oxytocin, I really mean the benefits of the flood of wonderful chemicals that comes when you breastfeed, when you first fall in love, after you orgasm and when you watch an ASMR video with your unique triggers. This natural flood of chemicals cannot be limited to oxytocin, and at least also includes serotonin, but the comprehensive package is still not really understood. It is better to experience the “full flood” rather than pure Pitocin/oxytocin in the same way it is better to get your vitamins from food than from pills. The full flood of chemicals works together synergistically to create an enhanced experience, and also one that you have specifically evolved to benefit from.

But it sounds weird and complicated to describe it that way, so I am just going to shorthand this list as the Benefits of Oxytocin:

Facilitates mother-child bonding. Without it, all those crying and sleep-robbing newborns would probably be abandoned. Every positive interaction between mother and baby releases new oxytocin, which creates a physical association between the flood of good feelings and the relationship, and in turn fosters an association with general social behavior.
Facilitates father-child bonding. In the same way, fathers can be induced to release oxytocin through skin-to-skin contact with their babies, which creates the same physical feedback loop relationship.
Higher levels of oxytocin drives new oxytocin receptors in the brain, which confers greater ability to manage social stress and aggression. Conversely, abandoned infants have far fewer oxytocin receptors and are susceptible to stress, and prone to hostility and aggression. See: history of Russian orphanages.
Regulates all of our social interactions. People with more oxytocin receptors are better at making and keeping friends, and defusing conflicts.
Reacts with the opiod and dopamine systems in the brain. The release of these other positive-feeling chemicals is part of the synergistic flood experience. An increase of serotonin hormone drives a further release of oxytocin. This seems to create a virtuous loop of good feelings.
More oxytocin receptors in the amygdala still allow you to detect and process fear when applicable, but allow the fears to be mollified more quickly once the threat has passed or proved to be benign. A person with more receptors in this area will have better sleep, less phobias and less feelings of social isolation.
More oxytocin receptors in the ventromedial hypothalamus provides a stronger feeling of satiety after eating, and is associated with less issues of eating disorders and better regulation of body weight. It also facilitates better “play” in women due to enhanced feelings of security and safety, which translates to better sexual response.
More OT (oxytocin) receptors in the hippocamus increase memory and spatial orientation.
More OT receptors in the pineal gland better modulate production of melatonin for more pronounced sleep and wake cycles.
More OT receptors in the brain stem mean better regulation of the whole central nervous system, including cardiac and respiratory function, sleep cycles, and consciousness itself.
OT receptors are also found in the septum, spinal cord, the nucleus accumbens, the adrenal medulla, pancreas, kidneys, ovaries, uterus, testicles as well as other organs or parts of organs which lead to various other associated improved responses.
OT increases both sex drive and sexual arousal, and ability to climax.
OT increases trust, empathy and understanding within a group. However it can foster distrust of outsiders, which makes sense from an evolutionary perspective when outsiders were frequent marauders and rapists, as well as carriers of plagues and pestilence.
OT helps with microcirculation by stimulating the production of nitrous oxide, which vasodilates blood vessels. People without adequate OT levels tend to have cold hands and feet, as well as recurrent headaches.
OT decreases certain cytokines, which decreases inflammation and allows for speedier wound healing.
OT increases pain threshold. Applicable in people with chronic pain or who are going into labor or other procedures.
OT stimulates osteoblasts which build bone, and inhibits the osteoclasts which break down bone. People with low OT receptors develop osteoporosis.
There is a link between OT and glucose metabolism that could contribute to Type 1 Diabetes and the impaired glucose metabolism on the spectrum of metabolic disorders.
There is a link between OT and regulation of cell proliferation. In breast cancer patients, OT helped inhibit estrogen-induced tumor growth.
High levels of OT are associated with mental clarity, concentration and memory. Low levels contribute to a feeling of “brain fog”.

TAKE AWAY

While the natural and evolutionarily preferred methods of increasing oxytocin are ideal, they are not always practical anymore. You can’t breastfeed forever. You can’t fall deeply and madly in love with a new person every month. It’s too expensive to get your hair blown out by a whispering empath every day. You probably have to go to work instead of hosting drum circles and holding hands with friends all day long. So we have lost a lot of our opportunities to create oxytocin release due to the modern way we have organized our society.

Like I said before, supplementing with synthetic or even bioidentical oxytocin is only going to lead to tolerance and addiction – until it no longer does anything for you at all. You will desensitize your oxytocin receptors to boot, which will leave you with the opposite effect than intended. Such is the tyranny of pharmaceutical intervention!

If you can find a couple ASMR videos or audio tracks that actually work for you, then you will always have a natural way to stimulate oxytocin release in your body, which will lead to increased production of oxytocin receptors, which will lead to greater mental and health benefits.

Having said that, I’m not sure that it is a great idea to watch or listen to Tingle Porn all the time. In order to maintain a strong reaction, you may need to keep the novelty alive a little bit. I would consider saving these videos for times of stress, insomnia, grieving, anxiety and disease. That is my recommendation for a healthy person, anyway.

Having said that, if you are suffering from a chronic condition, by all means consider this a form of therapy and work towards increasing your oxytocin receptors. You may have to cycle videos, but fortunately there are many ASMRtists creating new ones all the time – and often they will take suggestions and create experiences based on your own personal triggers.

I know this just got weird, but you will totally thank me once on-demand access to The Feeling changes your whole quality of life forever.

Beet Kvass NBD

Seriously, let’s not make a big deal about this. A couple organic beets, some water, some salt and an air-lock jar. It’s like 5 minutes and then you forget about it for 3 weeks.

Beet Kvass is a 10th century Ukranian probiotic sports drink, essentially, in that it’s full of electrolytes and is super hydrating. It also claims to be an anti-inflammatory blood tonic, to cleanse the liver, lower blood pressure, to oxygenate the blood and spare oxygen when exercising. The Ukranians call it a “Cure All”, and there’s a rumor that the only people who didn’t develop blood poisoning after the radioactive Chernobyll explosion are those that religiously consumed beet kvass. As such, beet kvass and juice are frequently recommended for cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy.

There are complicated ways to make it, and then there is THE EASIEST, most traditional method which is obviously my preference.

BEET KVASS DIRECTIONS

Boil your kettle or whatever.
Wash 2 BIG BEETS or 3 medium beets to get any major mud off of them. Don’t go nuts scrubbing because what we are looking for here is the Lactobacillus bacteria that is on the surface of the beets. Some recipes call for peeling the beets and then adding a whey starter culture. But in this recipe, we are acknowledging that the beet skin already contains the exact starter culture we want (isn’t nature cool?) and so we are going to work with the beets and not against them. Again it’s important to use raw, organic beets here because conventionally farmed root vegetables absorb all the toxic fertilizers and neuro-toxin pesticides that are needed to grow them – furthermore, conventional root vegetables are grown in mineral-starved and mostly dead soil so there’s really no point in eating them anyway.
Cut up the beets, LEAVING THE SKIN AND SKETCHY HAIRS on, into rough cubes – smaller than an ice cube but much larger than dice. If you make the beet cubes too small, they will release too much juice and sugar and you will get a different type of bacteria involved that works too quickly, creating more alcohol than lactic acid, and the whole thing will be wrecked. Bigger cubes mean the work will be slow and encourage the right kind of bacteria.
Add 1 heaping TBS of good SEA SALT (or Himalayan salt) into the bottom of a large (say a quart) jar that has an air-lock, or those clamps that compress a rubber seal. The jar is important because a lot of carbon dioxide is going to be created and it needs to escape; at the same time you don’t want to let any oxygen in. (Oxygen will encourage the wrong type of bacteria, which will then “spoil” your kvass).
Pour about half a cup to a cup of boiling water from your kettle into your salted jar, and swirl it around until it dissolves. The only reason you boiled the water is to help the salt dissolve.
Fill up half of the jar with cold FILTERED WATER. You don’t want the water to be hot anymore or else it will “cook” the beets and their bacteria and enzymes. We need a lot of live action for this process.
Shove in all the cut up beets you have just prepared. Hopefully they will all fit. If you need to add more cold water to cover the beets, do it. Try to leave an inch of airspace at the top of the jar. I’m lousy at leaving space, and usually pay for it a few weeks in when my kvass seeps out of the jar all over my marble countertop. Major fail.
Seal the jar up, leave it out of direct sunlight at room temperature or slightly warmer and forget about it for 3 weeks. Lactobacillus prefers temperatures between 70-75 degrees F, and likes just this amount of salt, no less and not much more. You could add another 1/2 TBS of salt if you don’t mind the salty flavor, but that’s the limit for a quart jar and 2-3 beets.

OTHER FLAVORING OPTIONS

Maybe add a clove, a cardamom pod, a star anise, a bit of orange peel, a knob of ginger or anything you think will go nicely with the earthy flavor of fermented beet juice. The lactic acid will also work its magic on these ingredients, unlocking beneficial polyphenols.

IN THREE WEEKS TIME

During this time the Lactobacillus have been converting the carbohydrates in the beets into lactic acid, carbon dioxide and small amounts of acetic acid and ethyl alcohol. The carbon dioxide displaces any oxygen in the jar, creating an anaerobic environment suitable for subsequent species of Lactobacillus to propagate.

After three weeks, strain out the pink liquid and put it in a serving bottle, preferably with a flip-top airlock style lid, and keep in the fridge. Drink at your leisure – but start slow. Just half a cup a day is all you really need to get the benefits. You might not dig it at first, but you’ll get used to it. Like all the other weird stuff, you’ll end up craving this earthy, salty elixir too.

BONUS PROJECT

Leave about a cup of the liquid in the bottom of the beets, fill again with water and another TBS of salt, and ferment the same beets again for another three weeks.

After that point, you can strain out a second batch of kvass and also eat the slightly tangy beets on their own or in a salad. These 6 week old beets will have much less sugar in them, a slightly tangy taste and will be teeming with beneficial bacteria.

While beets are a pretty starchy, high carbohydrate vegetable for anyone on an LCHF (Low Carbohydrate High Fat) diet or similar – fermented beets are much lower in carbohydrates so totally acceptable. (Whereas if you just “pickle” beets the conventional way by boiling and dumping them into sugary vinegar, they will actually have a much higher level of carbohydrates and sugars. Don’t do that, silly!).

YOU’RE SO WILD, GIRL

When you ferment vegetables (or anything) without adding a starter culture, it’s called doing a “Wild Ferment”. You’re getting your starter culture from the very thing you are culturing. You can use wild yeasts when making bread and beer; you can use wild bacteria when fermenting vegetables and fruits – and cheeses, wines and meats etc. And that’s just way cooler and more natural. Let’s always do it wild. Less fuss, less muss: more WOW factor. Got it?

BODACIOUS BACTERIA

The bacteria in our body outnumber our own cells by a factor of ten, which has to make your jaw drop.

What that essentially means is that over the last couple billion years, Earth bacteria has been co-evolving with us – you might even say “designing us” – in ways to make itself more mobile, virulent and imaginative. Consider that bacteria used to be stuck to a rock underwater; now it can walk around, drive, fly airplanes and be exposed to all manner of exciting cuisines and experiences.

It’s not like we are just the hapless host; we have benefitted immensely from bacteria. Bacteria protects our skin membranes, gives us immunity to diseases, helps digest our food and even creates essential nutrients for us out of food that would otherwise be useless to us. Although there are hundreds of bacteria that are on our side, there are also bacteria that totally suck for us. By encouraging and cultivating the bacteria on our team, they will keep the bad bacteria at bay. It is totally heavy-handed for a human to go after bacteria in general, by means of anti-bacterial wipes and sprays. It’s not our job to try to target bad bacteria – we are too big and clumsy to figure it out. Our job is to promote the health and propagation of our good bacteria so that it can take care of the bad bacteria on our behalf. This is symbiosis, baby! Our good bacteria has been engaged in this dance for billions of years, so there no point presuming we can do it better just because Louis Pasteur figured out how to boil stuff.

Lactobacillus bacteria in particular inhibits the growth of diarrhea-related bacteria such as Shigella, Salmonella and E. Coli. In addition, Lactobacillus competes with pathogens for receptor sites at the mucosal cell surfaces (nose, mouth, underpants region and entire digestive tract), making it more difficult for us to get sick. What this means is that our body is meant to be teeming with Lactobacilli, and has evolved to thrive in its presence. However our modern, sanitized environments and dead, overly fibrous or rancid foods create conditions that deplete Lactobacillus along with other beneficial bacteria. So stop doing that.

Making and drinking beet kvass is too easy not to do. I know you have a couple beets down there in your fridge drawer that you have been too lazy to cook. So just spare five minutes of your time and get on with it. This is a great winter project, and much needed in this season of flu and cold.

Super Matcha Fragilista

Oh brother, another drink. The thing is, I just assumed that everybody was already doing this but it turns out I need to hammer this message home:

YOU NEED TO DRINK MATCHA EVERY DAY

I’m talking tea ceremony! Fancy whisk! Drinking from a bowl!

Matcha is finely stone-ground, high quality shade-grown, steamed green tea leaves. You spoon about 1/2 teaspoon into a lovely bowl, add some water just south of boiling (60-70 degrees Celsius), and whisk it until frothy and dissolved. If it doesn’t froth well, then what you’ve got is crappy powdered green tea, not matcha. The whisk is supposed to be bamboo (called a “chasen”), and your whisking style is supposed to be in a Z pattern. Think Zen. Hey, if no one’s watching: whisk how you like.

GREEN TEA VS MATCHA

Green tea has a ton of benefits; we all know that. But see if you can get through this next paragraph without having a FOMO panic attack and brewing yourself a preventative cup:

Green tea increases the metabolism while also reducing appetite. Polyphenols work to intensify fat oxidation. Green tea regulates glucose levels, preventing high insulin spikes. It relaxes blood vessels so changes in blood pressure don’t lead to heart attacks; also, reduces high blood pressure and protects against blood clotting. It rebalances cholesterol ratios – more good, less bad. It targets cancer cells without damaging the surrounding cells. It delays Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s deterioration, protects brain cells from dying and restores damaged brain cells. Catchetin in green tea is an antioxidant which destroys bacteria and viruses that cause throat infections and cavities. L-Theanine in green tea is an amino acid that imparts tranquility and eases depression. Green tea is full of antioxidants and anti-inflammatories, so will protect against aging and disease in general. Phew, tell me you’re drinking some already!

The problem is, you need to regularly drink at least 2 cups a day for these benefits, and probably a lot more. Drinking that much tea is so exhausting.

SO LET’S CUT TO THE MATCHA

Matcha has all the benefits of green tea (catchetins, amino acids), but possibly 137 times more. That’s kind of a huge multiple, so let me back it up with this study from the University of Colorado in 2003. To break it down, the antioxidants in a bowl of matcha tea are 137 times stronger than in a cup of the green tea specifically available at Starbucks, which is to say: stronger than low quality green tea. Most of the green tea available in the West is low quality. So if you can get your hands on some really fancy imported high quality green tea, and if you infuse the leaves at least 3 times, then possibly matcha is only 3 times richer in antioxidants than your custom import. But why go to all that trouble when high quality, organic matcha powder is readily available at health food stores, tea shops and high end groceries – and is usually sold right next to the bamboo whisk.

Matcha powder was invented by a Buddhist monk, Eisai Myoan in the late 1100’s. He introduced it to his fellow monks as an early biohack – using it helped the monks calm down and prepare for meditation. The secret weapon: L-Theanine. This is an amino acid and a glutamic acid which crosses the blood-brain barrier and induces changes in brain alpha waves and reduces mental and physical stress. Combined with caffeine, L-Theanine improves cognition, promotes faster reaction times, and increases working memory.

You only need one cup a day, and should start with a small amount of matcha powder (1/4 tsp). I’ve been using it for a pretty long time, so I tend to shovel the powder in. But I pay for it. There is A LOT of caffeine in matcha powder, and even though it is slow-release and alkalizing (rather than fast release and acidifying like coffee), you are still going to feel it. Don’t drink this at night unless you are trying to catch up on a whole season of Breaking Bad.

There are also warnings about drinking matcha with milk, as a latté, as conventional dairy milk can reduce the antioxidant effects of the tea. So try almond or cashew milk, especially homemade from soaked organic raw nuts. But I’m not terribly worried about a bit of steamed milk, especially if it gets you to start enjoying matcha. Something is better than nothing.

RITUAL NOT CONVENIENCE

Drinking matcha tea should be a ritual, not a fast-food convenience. See if you can keep a little bowl, a whisk and a small tub of matcha powder at your office or place of work, and enjoy this every morning.

When I’m out and about, I am often tempted to order a Matcha Latté from Starbucks or the Whole Foods café – but be warned that these chains use a matcha powder that is really low quality and diluted with sweeteners. Always ask for unsweetened (it will still be sweetened, just less so), and know that you are having a treat, not a healthful beverage.

Finally, a shout out to my cousin Kyra who forgot her matcha tea ceremony set at my cottage six years ago, which turned into me appropriating it and discovering a new love. THANKS!

Tagged amino acids, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, Buddhist monks, caffeine, cancer, catchetins, chasen, coffee, glutamic acids, green tea, matcha, meditation, phytonutrients

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