Let’s look at what goes on in the brain during sex and orgasm. Although you may think everything happens between your legs, the experience of orgasm actually occurs between your ears. All thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations you have correlate with specific nerve cells being activated. Orgasm, like all experiences, is brought about by electric impulses flowing along paths of connected nerve cells. Orgasm happens when specific pleasure pathways are turned on, while your defense pathways are turned off.
All this happens by means of chemical messengers and the nerve cell receptors they bind to. These neurochemical changes take place primarily in the limbic system, a very old part of the brain with circuitry that is common to all mammals. These ancient limbic circuits control almost all bodily functions.
The limbic system's job is to keep you alive and reproducing. It does this by avoiding pain and repeating what is pleasurable. The limbic system is the seat of emotions, drives, impulses and desires – including sexual ones. It’s where you fall in and out of love…or lust. Due to the nature of the limbic system, you cannot will your feelings, emotions, falling in love, or staying in love, anymore than you can will your heart to beat, or yourself to digest a meal or sleep. The limbic system has been around for well over 100,000,000 years, lurking right beneath your large, rational neo-cortex.
Rats, apes and humans use the same neurochemicals to operate the same functions in this part of the brain. Keep in mind that scientists aren't studying rodent brains to help them with their addictions and erections! Studying animals and humans, scientists have begun to unravel the neurochemistry of lust, attachment and falling in love. Falling in love involves simultaneous activation and deactivation of discrete parts of the limbic system. For every biological event in your body, there is a biological cause. In this case, the cause is neurochemicals—and the pathways they turn on and off.
The central neurochemical player behind falling in—and out—of love is dopamine. Dopamine is the principal neurochemical that activates your reward circuitry, the centerpiece of the limbic system. Your reward circuitry drives nearly all of your behaviors. In other words, most all roads lead to Rome, or to the reward circuitry, so you can assess things as "good, bad, or indifferent."
At its most basic, this circuit is activated when you engage in activities that further your survival, or the continuation of your genes. Whether it’s sex, eating, taking risks, achieving goals, or drinking water, all increase dopamine, and dopamine turns on your reward circuitry. You can think of dopamine as the "Gotta have it!" neurochemical, whatever "it" is. It’s the "craving" signal. The more dopamine you release and the more your reward circuit is activated, the more you want or crave something.
A good example is food. We get a much bigger blast of dopamine eating high-calorie foods than we do low-calorie foods. It’s why we choose chocolate cake over Brussels sprouts. Our reward circuit is programmed so that "calories equal survival." 
You’re not actually craving ice cream, or a winning lotto ticket, or even a romp in the sack. You’re craving the dopamine that is released with these activities. Dopamine is your major motivation, not the item or activity.
Dopamine is not the only neurochemical involved with reward, but it’s the one that motivates you to go afterthe reward. Dopamine governs the feelings of wanting, yet the experience of liking or enjoying something is probably due to opioids. Opioids are your brain's own morphine and endorphins. Dopamine drives us toward eating or orgasm, but the experience of the actual orgasm or eating chocolate arises from opioids goosing the reward circuit. In essence, dopamine is never satisfied.
Addiction mechanisms are extraordinarily complex, and not fully understood. Yet the one aspect they share is dopaminedysregulation. All addictive substances and activities share one thing – the ability to strongly elevate dopamine levels. Watching porn, accumulating money, gaining power over others, gambling, compulsive shopping, video games…if something really boostsyour dopamine, then it’s potentially addictive for you. Why did Martha Stewart risk everything for more money? She got a thrill from a stock market gamble. She didn’t need the money; she (thought she) needed the dopamine.
Addictive highs mimic the good feelings of the basic activities for which we're actually wired...by hijacking our reward circuitry. Only a few substances (alcohol, cocaine, etc.) have the ability jack up dopamine – that’s why they are addictive. We can also hijack it with extremely stimulating versions of natural behaviors: casinos with hot hostesses, novel porn at every click, tasty junk food filled with fat and sugar, and so forth. Dopamine especially responds to novelty and the unexpected, among natural stimuli.
Don't fall into labeling dopamine as bad. There's no such thing as a bad neurochemical or hormone, although either can become a problem when out of balance. Dopamine is absolutely necessary for your decision-making, happiness, and survival. Yet when it’s too low or too high (or when changes in its receptors alter your sensitivity), it can cause real problems. If you look at this chart you can see some behaviors and conditions associated with dopamine levels or with sensitivity to dopamine. Sensitivity equates with how many receptors a nerve cell has for dopamine.
It's true that some of the conditions listed are at extreme ends of the dopamine spectrum. Nonetheless, dopamine is involved with many aspects of mood, behavior, and perception. Even small shifts in dopamine sensitivity or levels can have profound effects on how you see the world, or your partner.
The key word on the list below is bonding. Bonding is more than a behavior. It is a mammalian program, the program that permits parenting and living in groups. When dopamine drops, you are likely to find your partner less rewarding—and your bond unravels.
| Excess | Deficient | "Normal" |
|---|---|---|
| Addictions | Addictions | Healthy bonding |
| Compulsions | Depression | Feelings of well-being, satisfaction |
| Mania | Anhedonia—no pleasure, world looks colorless | Pleasure, reward in accomplishing tasks |
| Sexual fetishes | Lack of ambition and drive | Healthy libido |
| Sexual addiction | Inability to bond | Good feelings toward others |
| Unhealthy risk-taking | Low libido | Motivated |
| Aggression | Erectile dysfunction | Healthy risk taking |
| Psychosis | Social anxiety disorder | Sound choices |
| Schizophrenia | ADHD or ADD | Realistic expectations |
| Sleep disturbances, "restless legs" | Parent/child bonding | |
| Contentment with "little" things |
The power of dopamine and our reward circuitry are seen in classic experiments done on rats. Consider what happens when sadistic scientists put a starving rat on one side of a grid with electric current running through it and food on the other side. The rat will not cross the pain-producing grid. Yet put a rat with an electrode planted in her reward circuitry on one side of the grid and a lever she knows will stimulate her reward circuitry on the other, and she’ll dash across the grid to tap that lever nonstop. Stimulation of her reward circuitry becomes her top priority, because it’s telling her inner compass that a big reward is just around the corner. She will ignore food, even if starving, or abandon her unweaned pups just to tap that lever until she drops.
If the rat is male, he’ll ignore a receptive female to tap it until he drops. Humans implanted with similar electrodes (decades ago) experienced a constant urge to tap their levers, as well as intense sexual arousal—but not pleasure or orgasm itself. They also reported an undercurrent of anxiety.
Despite the obvious differences between rats and humans, rats have been called "guiding flashlights" for understanding the primitive mechanisms of our own brain.
Sexually-satiated male rats take up to fifteen days to recover their full desire for sex (although they can get it up long before they are back to full steam). Meanwhile, even if they're feeling sexually sluggish, there is a reliable way to jump-start them, which we’ll get to in a moment. (Female rats also show evidence of a similar cycle in the form of predictable surges of prolactin after vigorous copulation, whether or not they become pregnant. A shadow version of this prolactin cycle has now been detected in women, and may be connected with post-sex mood swings in some women.)
Research also shows that male rats experience a reduction in testosterone receptors for up to a week within their reward circuitry. Hormones and neurochemicals dock with receptors on the nerve cells. In this case, fewer receptors mean less sensitivity to circulating testosterone. The result is that the reward circuitry pumps out less dopamine. It's like the reward circuitry's batteries are low. If this happens in females, it would also reduce their sexual desire.
Low testosterone (or decreased sensitivity to it) is associated with irritability and anger. Serotonin and endorphin levels also rise in the reward circuitry of sexually-satiated rats. Most of us have heard that these are "happy neurochemicals," but in this part of the limbic system both function to put on the brakes instead of just producing warm, fuzzy feelings. Keep in mind that sexual dysfunction is a major side effect of taking either antidepressants that raise serotonin ornarcotics that mimic endorphins. When neurochemicals dampen your reward circuitry for a time, your relationship can suffer. See The Passion Cycle for an overview of this neurochemical cycle, and for more recent research see Men: Does Frequent Ejaculation Cause A Hangover? and Women: Does Orgasm Give You a Hangover?Humans, like virtually all mammals, are not naturally monogamous (as in sexually exclusive), although many individuals are. This may not sound very romantic, but no mammals are sexually exclusive. (A few, such as humans, are "socially monogamous." That is, they typically raise their offspring together.) It is therefore likely that our mating neurochemistry is set up to accomplish two goals. It encourages bonding so we co-parent.
Yet there is also a conflicting program to push us out of those bonds—at least far enough to add a novel mate. From chimps to rats, the same neurochemical events drive mammalian behaviors, and they are driving them to be promiscuous. Is it likely that Mr. and Mrs. Rodent are growing apart in their relationship? Could the excitement be gone from their marriage? Perhaps Mrs. Chimp spends too much money, or nags too much. Maybe Mr. Chimp watches too much football or doesn’t help much with housework. Not likely. Just like us, they have a subconscious program, triggered by mating, found in their limbic systems, which biology uses to urge them tire of their mates and move on to new mates.
During the week or two that the hangover from orgasm lingers, our large, rational brain proposes logical reasons to explain our relationship disharmony. Orgasm is natural…absolutely. But it may also be natural for both men and women to sour on a mate, to suddenly find a spouse unattractive, irritating, and wholly unreasonable. It may even be natural to become wholly unreasonable, and thus hasten the departure of a mate.
Now, we know that all of you are wondering about that sure-fire way to jump-start male rats' flagging libido. Perhaps you can already guess. All you have to do is introduce a new, receptive female. That may not be the answer you were hoping for…or perhaps it was!Have you ever heard of the "Coolidge Effect?" Because that’s what we're addressing. Scientists have discovered that—after a frenzy of copulation—a male rat will lose interest in a female. BUT should a new female show up, he’ll perk up long enough to service her.1
This process of presenting novel mates to males can be continued until they practically die of exhaustion—once again proving that biology doesn’t give a rat’s…hindquarters about anything but propelling genes into the future.
The Coolidge Effect has been observed in every species tested, and not just in males. Lady rodents prefer to seduce new guys, too. The Coolidge Effect just might play a role in human affairs as well. Marnia once talked with a man who had stopped counting at 350 lovers. He said, "I really don’t understand it. I lost interest in all of them sexually so quickly—and some of those women are really beautiful, too."
The Coolidge Effect is linked to your post-orgasm hangover. The reason the rat loses interest is that he’s getting a weaker and weaker dopamine surge from Partner No. 1. No dopamine surge, no interest. She is not perceived as "rewarding." The same thing happens to humans. The thrill is gone, and Partner No. 1 looks like Brussels sprouts. Now you’re primed for anything that will jack up your dopamine again. Partner No. 2 appears, and your dopamine soars. As if by magic, your blues are gone, and you have that heady feeling of anticipation, that sense of uninhibited aliveness. In short, No. 2 looks like chocolate cake. (This also has implications for understanding today's binging on Internet porn.)
Assuming we don't learn how to steer for lasting bonds by taming our limbic system, our reward circuitry will push us to do just what it evolved to do (once our temporary honeymoon neurochemistry wears off). We'll get less and less dopamine "reward" during sex with our current mate. Notice that this is similar to what occurs when people use drugs, play intense video games, binge on Internet porn, or gamble. They seek more and more stimulation to get the same high. In short, feelings of sexual satiety do not promote romance—which calls into question a lot of today's relationship advice about producing bigger, better and more frequent orgasms.
The truth has been recognized for thousands of years. Here's a poem from the ancient Greek Anthology.
Once plighted, no men would go whoring.
They'd stay with the one they adore,
If women were half as alluring
After the act as before.
Back to our tale. What if No. 2 doesn’t show up for your tryst, and you’re left in the doldrums? Unlike rats, you have many dopamine-raising possibilities—from Internet porn, gambling and alcohol, to the dopamine agonists drug companies are producing to light a fire under slumbering libidos (not recommended, due to risky side effects). These "fixes" make you feel better briefly, but as far as your well-being goes, they are like eating junk food—a net loss. As biologist Robert Sapolsky observed, there is a price for blasting our reward circuitry too enthusiastically in our efforts to counter the blues.
Unnaturally strong explosions of synthetic experience and sensation and pleasure evoke unnaturally strong degrees of habituation.... Our tragedy is that we just become hungrier." In short, there are advantages to steering for equilibrium initially, rather than always reaching for more stimulation to cope.
Your limbic system is not equipped to understand that there can be too much of a good thing. It just keeps rewarding you to do the same unrewarding things because they register as things that once served your ancestors. A "fix" just positions you for a continuous addictive cycle of highs, more lows, and a search for more highs. Many of us spend much of our sex lives caught in this cycle—with no obvious way out.
We have talked about how roller coaster levels of dopamine can break couples apart, but there’s also something holding couples together. The neurochemical that binds couples together is oxytocin, the "cuddle hormone" or "bonding hormone." Without it, we could not stay in love. Falling in love is associated with a soup of neurochemicals—like adrenaline, which makes your heart race, and, as we have mentioned, dopamine, which makes you crave your beloved, and low serotonin, which can make you obsessed with someone. But the heartwarming, loving, "gushy" aspects of love are probably due to oxytocin.
Oxytocin has various functions in the body, such as inducing labor contractions and milk ejection, but from evolutionary biology’s perspective, its main behavioral function is to bond us to our children for life. It also serves to bond us to our mate…at least long enough to fall in love with our child so that it has two caregivers for its long childhood and adolescence. Friendships are also built on oxytocin, and can be quite deep bonds.
Yet, what happens to friendships that turn into sexual relationships? Often things change for the worse. 
This change is an excellent example of the post-sexual satiation neurochemical shift, or hangover, kicking in. Oxytocin and dopamine are the yin and yang of bonding and love. Dopamine furnishes the kick, oxytocin makes a particular mate appealing, in part by triggering feelings of comfort. You need both acting on the reward circuitry at ideal levels to stay in love. In experiments, if scientists block either oxytocin or dopamine, mothers will ignore their pups.
There's evidence that these two neurochemicals stimulate each other's release, so if one is low, it affects levels of the other. As sexual satiation plays havoc with dopamine, lovers can end up with a double-whammy effect on their precious emotional bonds. Low dopamine (or dopamine receptors) alone interferes with feelings of love, and it may reduce oxytocin levels or the brain's sensitivity to oxytocin. As things go sour, something interferes with oxytocin's bonding effects. It's likely that it's (temporary) low dopamine, or reduced sensitivity to it.
The good news is that making love while avoiding sexual satiation is the loophole in biology’s plan for our love lives. This is the secret that the ancient sacred-sexuality sages stumbled upon. Making love with lots of affection, without the dopamine-driven highs and lows of conventional sex, seems to keep neurochemical levels balanced.
There's some evidence that the more oxytocin you produce, the more receptive to it key nerve cells become. This is the opposite of dopamine. In addicts, dopamine receptors start to decrease as the nerve cells protect themselves from overstimulation. Addicts then need more and more of a drug (more and more dopamine). Luckily you don’t need an ever-increasing "fix" of oxytocin to maintain the sparkle in your romance. Daily bonding behaviors can make your partner look better and better—at least to you. This is why daily affection, with less orgasm, can strengthen your bond with your mate.
Oxytocin is associated with significant benefits, both emotionally and physically. In fact, oxytocin may be the answer to the question, "What is the mechanism by which love and affection positively affect our health?" Consider the following research:
Or speed recovery: wounded hamsters heal twice as fast when they are paired with a sibling, rather than left in isolation (DeVries, 2004).Sure enough, scientists are finally beginning to find the connections between oxytocin, regular affection and successful, long-term pair bonds:
Is Long-Term Love More Than A Rare Phenomenon? If So, What Are Its Correlates?
Sexual Satisfaction and Relationship Happiness in Midlife and Older Couples in Five Countries
However, do not think that spraying oxytocin up your nose, or taking sublingual tabs will in any way reproduce the bonding benefits described here and elsewhere. These effects only occur when precise amounts are released in very specific brain structures. Flooding the blood and brain with oxytocin will cause unwanted side effects and may produce counterproductive mood and perception shifts.
Again, oxytocin reduces cravings and increases sexual receptivity. This allows making love without orgasm to be surprisingly satisfying. The affection is always there, flowing between you and your partner. When we tiptoe around dopamine’s highs and lows, we encourage balance and clear perception of each other. We see each other as sources of safety and pleasure, not as sources of recurring stress with brief moments of sexual pleasure. The real magic of love happens at a neurochemical level—and we can choose balance in order to foil the extremes of our genes' plans for us.
If you would like to learn more about a way to make love that sidesteps humanity's built-in separation mechanism and makes the most of attachment (oxytocin) visit Karezza Korner.
Dr. Robert J. Melamede Ph.D. Chairman of the Biology Department of the University of Colorado:
Conducting Scientific research on Cannabinoids
The Cannabinoid System has been around for over 600 million years. Before the Dinosaurs. The Cannabinoid System is continuously evolutioning and has been retained by all new species. Food and feeding is at the heart of the Cannabinoid System.
1. Cannabinoids are in every living animal on the planet above Hydra and Mollusks, with the exception of insects. Bodies are homeostatically maintained by the Cannabinoid System.
2. Mothers give their babies a booster shot of cannabinoids in mothers milk to give them the munchies because they have to learn to eat. (they've been fed thru the umbilical cord and did not have to know how to eat.)
3. Mice lacking the CB1 receptors don't like any changes. If they are moved to another part of the cage they act upset and when they are put back to the original spot in the cage they relax, but if then put into another part of the cage they get upset again. Comment: I wonder if people, especially drug warriors, had their CB1 receptors blocked then they would resist change and the ones of us that have unblocked CB1 receptors enjoy the benefits of cannabinoids are a lot more relaxed and not paranoid about or over change. Interesting thought. It turns out that that thought is absolutely correct. Many people' brains are not capable of a good connection to the CB1 CB2 receptors.
4. All new species utilize cannabinoids.
5. By being alive and breathing air our bodies produce "free radicals". Cannabinoids help to reverse this action.
6. Cannabinoids do kill brain cells, but the brain cells they kill are called "Glioma" or Cancer of the brain (Tumor). All other brain cells are protected and healed by cannabinoids. (Glioma cells cannot tolerate the action of cannabinoids)
7. Cannabinoids protect against sunburn and skin cancer because of the CB1 receptors in our skin.
8. Cannabinoids slow down the aging process. Mice that their brains respond to cannabinoids live longer and mice that have brains that block the CB1 receptors die younger.
9. Activity in the evolutionary advanced areas of the brain is increased in cannabinoids receptors and promotes higher consciousness levels.
10. Cannabinoids are even found in the white blood cells (CB2 receptors). The CB2 receptors are found predominantly on immunological cells and regulate the shift in the immune system to the anti-inflammatory mode.
11. Cannabinoids protect the heart against Arythmia.
12. The way it works on pain is there is specific nerves that deal with pain. They are called vanilloid-Receptors. Anandamide (sanscript word for "Blissful Amide"), the bodies internally produced marijuana binds with the nerve endings, reducing pain. Anandamides are produced internally by our bodies in response to a whole variety of conditions. As an example, Aspirin prevents the breakdown of Anandamide, the internally produced marijuana to activate & start working at easing pain. How many old lady's say they "WOULD NEVER" use marijuana & are actually using the equivalent of marijuana that their bodies produce as a natural activity, & don't even realize it. And how many politicians and citizens of the US do this also & aren't even aware they are condemning something that their bodies make naturally. Anecdotal evidence is valid because when a person smokes marijuana & it relieves their pain, then they smoke it again & it relieves their pain again it becomes a fact known only to that person, but nonetheless true.
13. In the case of most autoimmune diseases, the bodies immune cells produces free radicals & is destroying it's own body as a foreign object. Cannabis pushes the immune system into anti inflammatory mode & helps slow the progression of that disease, thereby slowing down the aging process.
14. Seizures are controlled by marijuana not only THC, but non-psychoactive cannabidiol.(CBD) The exact mechanism is not known, however HEMP is high in CBD's & can cancel out the psychoactive high of THC & at the same time benefits the user or smoker. Cannabinoids control everything in our bodies including our minds.
15. There are many other things that Cannabinoids do in the body, besides attaching to the CB1 and CB2 receptors, the main cannabinoid receptors in the higher part of our brain. Cannabinoids affect our skin and other parts of our bodies.
16. Pharmaceutical companies are working at sythesizing different cannabinoid components and different types of strains of marijuana. If they can succeed, then there will be more choices for you and I to choose from and we will be able to use what works best for our particular bodies.
17. The natural course for mankind, because of the location of our CB1 CB2 the brains main receptors, is to be more stoned.
18. Drug warriors are not doing what they are doing to us because they are intentionally evil, but because they are more primitive (obtuse comes to mind). They look at the world with fear and hostility not cooperativity and understanding.
19. According to a brain function study of 150 depressed people Cannabis protects the brain against healthy cell death and it also protects Neurons.
20. Cannabinoids dilate our brochial tubes and help asthsma sufferers to breath both in and out. Because of the balance that is maintained in our bodies for good health there are instances where it works backwards, where death is possible, if too much is smoked. This goes back to the effects of cannabinoids on individuals and if it doesn't work for you, you should not use it. There was some old studies that were done back in 1977 where "AEROSOLIZED THC" was used on patients. This is not what the government tells us when they say it's not medicine, but we are all familiar with the 7 government patients that are supplied marijuana to be used as medicine and we know the government is lying.
21. Natural pain eradication by cannabinol used by our receptors.
22. Cannabinoids control how we view the future. If you're loaded with bad experiences you're going to be fearful of the future. Lots of smoking of cannabinoids makes you want to be in the future. Lack of change vs embracing the future and changes. Conservative people might die prematurely, stressed, uptight and fearful (genocide). Open minded people and mice are able to change, whereas; people with defective receptors and knock-out mice (mice that have had their receptors removed) will keep going to the platform after it has been removed. They will be fearful of change.
23. Cannabinoids prevent and treat certain types of Cancer. Glioma (Brain Cancer) along with pheochromocytoma, skin cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, Lymphoma and Leukemia. Cannabinoids may prevent or cure cancer. Cannabinoids have a way of killing the bad cells and protecting the good ones.
24. Cannabis gives relief to Liver Disease & constant uncontrollable itching. Also, lack of sleep and depression and has been doing so for 600 million years.
25. THC in low doses relieves anxiety, while huge doses promote anxiety. (It's too strong like Marinol) Smoking marijuana relieves anxiety. Marijuana promotes sleeping better and normal persons when they are deprived of marijuana would have difficulty sleeping. (One other thing I'd like to add: When ingested, delta 9 THC, on the first pass thru the liver, changes into delta 11 THC. Five times as psychoactive and much longer lasting. I don't know how many people understand that. Ralph)
26. Cannabis protects nerve cells from dying thus protects against Altzheimers Disease.
27. Our bodies make up marijuana like compounds to make us hungry. (gives us the munchies) Then turn off those compounds & we don't have the munchies anymore when it has had enough food. The cannabinoid system first appeared 600 million years ago. Food & feeding is at the heart of evolution & the development of new species.
28. Head injuries cause the body to produce Endo-cannabinoids to protect itself as well as protecting the body against Nerve Gas. Marijuana turns on the bodies Protective Mode, because when you're hungry the body makes Cannabinoids to turn on your hunger. Cannabinoids turn on the expression of a Particular Gene (at the same time it prevents the expression of other Genes). How the Marijuana Receptors change the Integral Bio-Chemistry. Some of the Molecules that are involved or been studied in a Model Organism. There is a worm that people study alot. They have very simple Nervous Systems so you can define what exactly is going on. It turns out this one Particular Molecule regulates what is known as a Transcription Factor (It turns on the Expression of Genes.) It turns out that when you turn on the Expression of this Particular Gene of the Worm Model it actually promotes Mimicking a condition that actually Promotes Longevity of these worms. This Parallels what we've seen in mice. Because Marijuana exhibits Free Radicals so people who've been using Cannabis, Long Term, tend to Live Longer & Look Younger. Marijuana Promotes your Health by affecting your Nerve Cells, by Balancing your Immune System, by Reducing Fat Deposition in your Cardio-Vascular System. It looks as if it helps Burn the Synthesis of things like Cholesterol.
29. New research shows that the argument over outlawing cannabis because it "Causes Cancer" is no longer valid. There are Nicotine Receptors in your throat. There are no Cannabinoid Receptors in your throat. Cells have a Bio-chemical Program known as "APOPTOSIS". This Bio-chemical Program is activated when cells too damaged to repair themselves commit suicide. There is a Bio-chemical Pathway that controls that. Nicotine activates a path that protects the cells from dying. Smoking anything puts Carcinogens into your Air Passage-ways and Cardio-Vascular system. Cells that get damaged by smoke die and that's what you want to happen. Cells to die before they become Cancer Cells.
30. Cannabinoids modulate pain peripherally. In our bodies there are special kinds of pain receptors, known as Vanaloid receptors & they are sensitive to things like heat & excessive pressure & they are responsible for pain. It turns out that a natural regulator of that that down-regulates pain. The endocannabinoid known as Anandamide, the blissful amide, when you combine Sanskrit for ananda & amide for the chemical type. It's clearly known that cannabis can regulate pain, that's been done in numerous studies, but recently , as we learn more about the molecular mechanisms of pain & cannabinoid action what we have now learned is that there is a lot of crosstalk between the cannabinoid system & the morphine, the opioid system. The name of an article that just came out is called Chronic morphine modulates the contents of the endocannabinoid tuorachidonalglycerol in the rat brain. So, tuorachidonalglycerol is another endocannabinoid. We feel pain thru the sensory nerves that are telling us that we're in a painful situation & on the other hand we feel it within our minds because certain areas of our brain subsequently get tickled. What we are seeing now is that the cannabinoid system works both peripherally & centrally & what we are gonna talk about here is this new work that links the cannabinoids more with the opioids in that opioids & cannabinoids are among the most widely consumed drugs of abuse in humans & phenomena of cross-tolerations or mutual potentiation demonstrated between these two drugs. Some of the recent work on pain has come out of England as a result of work done by G.W. Pharmaceuticals which is a company that specializes in producing cannabis plants. They've developed different strains that have different ratios of the cannabinoids & those different plants have different properties. In the past I've mentioned Bi-Polar disorder. Some people who are Bi-Polar & are depressive find Sativa's are good to help elevate them & if they're in an elevated mood & in a manic state they have to be brought down alittle & the Indica's seem to be better for that & likewise they're different ratio's of these cannabinoids that are thought to benefit for example pain, more than others, that are thought to benefit auto-immune diseases. This is being worked out, but what I'd like to go into now is that some of the new links that seem to be occurring in this particular study that I just mentioned, what they are finding is that chronic administration of Opioids is in fact down-regulating the tuorachidonalglycerol which as mentioned, is one of the endo-cannabinoids. Interestingly the Anandamide level seem to be remaining the same, but this other one, tuorachidonalglycerol seems to be down-regulated. In knock-out mice, these are mice where a particular gene is missing, it turns out that you can eliminate alot of the withdrawal systems associated with opium if you have knocked out the receptors. When people go thru withdrawal, they get terribly nauseous & feel horribly sick, well, what we do know cannabinoids control nausea. That's why it's being used by people who are receiving Chemo-therapy or disorders where they are chronically nauseous. Cannabinoids can be very effective for that. So what we are seeing is that morphine turns down the Endogenous cannabinoid Arachidonic acid & that seems to be involved in some of the addictive behavior & this is kind of interesting because we know that cannabinoids themselves other than very twisted circumstances do not show addictive behavior. On the one hand we have the cannabinoid potentiating the morphine, in that people who need morphine for pain can often use 50% of what they normally use by including cannabinoids & on the other hand, we're seeing that the cannabinoid receptor system is involved in addiction & I mentioned a long time ago, that cannabinoids can be beneficial for some people in their attempt to withdraw & now we're seeing support for that in that chronic morphine administration is turning off one of the cannabinoids that's in turn, turning on some of the withdrawal systems.
31. Cannabinoids represent a general class of chemicals, not just cannabis & THC in plants, but rather also cannabinoids that are produced in our bodies. These happen to be Lipid compounds that result from burning & making fats. The thing that is so unique about this system represents how it works so broadly for various health reasons. That is that every single system in our bodies & by system I mean our nervous system or digestive system or reproductive system or immunological system or endocrine system, you name it & the cannabinoids are involved in maintaining what's known as homostasis balance. We need to have the right amount of these components of this system which includes the compounds like THC which is better known as Lygan. They bind to specific receptors & then they are broken down by another enzyme that breaks down these things. So, we have a whole network of bio-chemistry that's influencing everything in our bodies. The question that arises is that the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. The system, the cannabinoid system influencing everything in our bodies & the question is what are the nature of the wholes? What are the greater pictures that emerge out of this cannabinoid systems activity. So we see, for example, regulating reproductive system, digestive system, immune system & when they are all working together in a way that is concertedly modulated by the cannabinoid system what can we expect to see, & I would suggest that what's represented by the influences of cannabinoids & cannabis on our mind, in that it opens up our minds to new ways of thinking, it free's us from being stuck in a single track of thinking & that's exactly the kind of thought processes that are required as we move into the future which is generally composed of the unknown. What the cannabinoid system is doing is giving us a way to peacefully & lovingly adapt to change & be open to change. We see in these mice that we can knock-out the cannabinoid system that they are afraid of change. The implications of this are really profound if in fact we have people that are shifted one way or the other in terms of their ability to modulate & accept change that is of profound importance because we see people that are afraid to look forward, happily embracing the future. There are health ramifications for all of this. The cannabinoid system can help us with cardio-vascular disease where it reduces infarctsize with auto-immune diseases where it helps ameliorate & prevent the development of a whole variety of auto-immune diseases including things like arthritis, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, crones disease & it's also involved with, as a natural regulator of our pain. So we have this holistic medicine that's influencing so many things & I forgot to mention that it regulates our memories & mental pains & in fact, regulates alot of life/death decisions in our cells, nerve cells in particular, which is why it's so beneficial for neurological disorders often associated with the aging, such as Alzheimer's disease. What we're seeing is a holistic medicine & again it has to be used appropriately, too little is no good, & we may be making enough. Individuals may be making enough, but there could be many many people who are not making enough or their system is not active enough who will be able to benefit from the use of cannabis & other cannabinoids. To regulate all of the things we've mentioned that it regulates. So, we've got a holistic health program. To find the balance that's required for our optimum health is something that's totally built into the cannabinoid system. Therefore, it should be readily available to use wisely.
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