Hypervigilance.....what to do about it?

I know you won't hear this kind of talk from doctors, but your diet has a profound influence over how resilient your body will be when the next episode of vigilance comes over you. The excited state that we call vigilance changes body chemistry. You can feel that change. It is my belief that you can dampen the physiological feeling of vigilance, which can in turn dampen the psychological feeling of vigilance. With diet, you can sometimes turn the brittle tension into flexible resiliency. At least, in terms of the trend. It's really hard to describe, in words.

To enhance flexibility at membranes/receptors, fish oil. Long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, in their preformed state. Not equivalent to vegetable sources. You need the EPA and DHA ready for use.

To protect that membrane, you need antioxidants. Vitamins E (mixed tocopherols), C (ascorbic acid), and alphalipoic acid. Isn't it interesting that mammals that retain the ability to synthesize vitamin C (e.g. rats) would produce about 16 grams a day if they were the size of humans, which have lost the gene encoding the enzyme that forms vitamin C. 16 grams. Yet, the medical wizards say that we need only 60 mg/day. We only need 4% of what nature provides other mammals? Evidence? Oh, dear, I'm getting distracted. These three antioxidants work as a team, so take all three.

At the systemic level, your body needs magnesium to twist receptors into the proper shape for neurotransmitters to activate them. This is especially true for the GABA-A receptor, the one which is influenced by benzodiazepine tranquilizers. Chronic stress depletes magnesium. If you're deficient, you can't relax. You can get magnesium from taking a bath, if you include epsom salts (magnesium sulphate). A warm epsom salt bath might be just the ticket. But taking supplements would be better.

There are also alternative pathways to dampen the feeling of excitation, apart from GABA. Taurine is a derivative of methionine, but it's produced via a lengthy biochemical pathway which is also adversely impacted by stress. Taurine functions almost exactly like GABA. There are dedicated taurine reuptake pumps in all of your brain's synapses. But it doesn't get any notice. I don't know why that is. Unlike GABA, oral taurine readily crosses the blood/brain barrier. It works in minutes. It has a mild flavour, and is very inexpensive. I would describe the effect of using taurine as not needing a benzo, rather than as feeling like I had taken one. I hope you understand the difference.

Niacinamide is one form of vitamin B3. It not only assists in the GABA-A receptor conformation thing, but it is also a mild agonist at that receptor. Niacinamide is calming. It also inhibits release of histamine, so it is an excellent augmentative in the treatment of hayfever and asthma. Asthma also responds to magnesium intake, btw.

There are so many ways you can nudge the trend into a better likelihood of feeling less uncomfortable. It puts control back into your own hands, even if the effect is mild. It's empowering.

Food for thought. Food for feeling.

Lar