I'm glad I messed around with this neurotransmitter

  Hey {NAME}, You know those days when you just feel amped up, you can't really explain why? It's like you're excitable, your brain is all over the place and it’s so difficult to maintain smooth, steady focus. But then you have the days where slow is smooth, smooth is fast. You're able to articulate, your brain isn't all over the place. You can focus clearly and stay in the zone. What I'm describing here is the balance between GABA and glutamate. These are two neurotransmitters, and they are crucial to how we function, how we think, and even how we perform in the gym. Glutamate is excitatory, and GABA helps put you in a calm, focused state. So let’s cut right to the chase: How do we influence GABA? How do we become more GABA-centric? And more importantly, do GABA supplements actually work? I don't think there's anyone out there that doesn't want to be calm, cool, and collected, right? Do GABA Supplements Work? There was a study published in [Frontiers]( in Neuroscience. This was a systematic review that looked at 14 placebo-controlled human trials observing the effects of GABA supplementation. I’ll just directly quote the study : “There is limited evidence for stress and very limited evidence for sleep benefits with oral GABA intake.” GABA is critical for stress and critical for sleep. If oral supplementation was working, it would have improved sleep and it would have improved stress. And we didn’t see that in any of these human studies. This tells us we have a problem with absorbing GABA when it’s taken in supplement form. But here’s where it gets interesting : If you know about GABA-ergic drugs (like pharmaceuticals), you know that they actually work. We can influence GABA in the pharmaceutical world. So how the heck are they doing it? There’s three ways pharmaceuticals are successfully influencing GABA : 1. They’re using positive allosteric modulators, which increase GABA sensitivity. (I’ll talk about these more in a sec…) 2. They’re influencing reuptake inhibitors, which make GABA stay in its receptor for longer, increasing active GABA. 3. They’re using GABA agonists, which directly activate the GABA receptor. So how can we utilize these pathways via either supplementation, food, or lifestyle? The thing that we're starting to realize is that GABA may not cross the blood-brain barrier. If it did, we would be using these more, even in the pharmaceutical world. In a 2002 study, they were able to find amounts of GABA in the cerebral spinal fluid when they injected GABA into rats and dogs. indicating that GABA was crossing the blood-brain barrier. However, when they injected GABA, there was a 33% increase in GABA in the brain. But when they combined it with L-arginine, a simple amino acid, it went up 65%. This opened up a whole new can of worms. They assumed that arginine, being a precursor to nitric oxide, increased blood flow, allowing more GABA to get to the brain. But again, this was done in rats and dogs. We have not seen this replicated in humans. TLDR : If you want the benefits of sleep, focus, and lower stress, I wouldn’t recommend GABA supplementation. Compounds that Influence GABA So we know GABA supplementation doesn't really work, but what about using ways to influence GABA? One of the most powerful GABA-ergic amplifiers is Kava. Kava is one of those positive allosteric modulators that I talked about earlier. It binds to a slightly different receptor site on the GABA receptor, increasing the binding potential for GABA itself. It amplifies the GABA that you do have circulating around. It doesn’t directly influence GABA, but amplifies how it works. Kava has been talked about as an alternative to alcohol. It can influence GABA without overloading the brain with GABA. If you combine Kava with something else called Nicotinoyl-GABA and vitamin B3 (niacin), GABA crosses through the blood-brain barrier. Once it gets through, the GABA and the niacin separate. I personally use [Kava and Nicotinoyl-GABA]( quite a bit. It keeps me calm and helps me sleep like a baby. I like to use it before going to the airport and in other places as well. There’s a company called Troscriptions, they created a product called [TroCalm]( which has all of these compounds already in it. They use troches, which are little square blocks you put between your gum and teeth and let your mouth absorb the compounds so they don’t get disrupted by the gut microbiome. What's interesting is they use kava and Nicotinoyl-GABA. What I like to do is stick one in my lower lip as I’m going through TSA when I know I'm gonna get frazzled. By the time I'm on the plane I'm as calm as ever. Speaking from anecdotal experience with TroCalm, this is the only supplement that has ever influenced my personal level of anxiousness. Regular exercise, meditation, and sauna has been the biggest lever by far, but as far as supplements go, this is the only one that has actually had an impact. I get an effect in 15-20 minutes after popping one of these in my mouth. It’s quick, simple, and it legitimately works. There’s so many supplements that you just can’t tell any real difference when taking them. This one makes a difference. They figured out how to get GABA to the brain the right way, benefitting sleep, stress, feeling flustered, and tilting yourself back to a calmer state. [Here’s a link for a 10% discount off TroCalm]( (use code TD10 at checkout). How to Naturally Influence GABA Limit Alcohol Use. The reason you feel so calm and cool while drinking is because of alcohol’s influence on GABA. But if you drink too much, you’ll downregulate and literally desensitize yourself to GABA. That’s the last thing you want to happen. A study published in [NeuroImage]( found that heavy drinkers had significantly lower levels of GABA in the brain. They also found there was a hyper excitability with people who drank too much. It's why an alcoholic might feel antsy until they drink. It calms them down. They need it because it disrupted their natural balance of GABA. Consistent, Higher Intensity Exercise Consistently exercising at 80% of your maximum heart rate for 15-20 minutes will increase baseline GABA levels. The rule of thumb here is get your heart rate high. You can't just go lift weights and pump iron. I love that stuff just as much as you, but you've got to get that heart rate high if you want the focus, sleep, and stress benefits. Meditation Mediation has the potential to have a huge impact on GABA. A study published in [Brain Stimulation]( found that people who regularly meditate had a 27% increase in cerebrospinal fluid (directly correlated with GABA) vs. those who didn’t regularly meditate. The bottom line here is that people who are regular meditators got an impact from meditation, and people that were not regular did not. So you've got to be consistent with it. Foods That Increase GABA Fermented foods Kimchi, Sauerkraut, Fermented milk, Cottage cheese, Yogurt. It is hypothesized that some of our GABA is produced in the gut possibly as well. This is a bit speculative, but fermented foods and taking care of the gut have a huge impact on the enteric nervous system that could be allowing that communication of GABA to the brain. Increasing fermented foods made a huge difference in my life, and you won’t go wrong by doing it. Shrimp and halibut These are two of the most GABA-rich foods that you can consume. Eating shrimp and halibut somewhat consistently could be good for your GABA levels, especially if you're taking them in tandem with TroCalm or even just straight Kava. I’d say shrimp and halibut once a week is really good. Cocoa Some of the effects of cocoa in making you feel calm is from the GABA influence there. Cocoa is calming. Even though there's theobromine and a smidgen of caffeine, it’s powerful for calming effects. A good idea would be to mix a tablespoon with hot milk, you might notice a big difference, even if it's before sleep. Fava Beans They’re a food people don't talk about a lot, but fava beans not only have GABA in them, they also have L-DOPA. So you get a dopamine precursor and GABA. Whether or not those can get through the bloodstream or through the blood-brain barrier, that's a little bit up for debate. But we do know that if you were to consume it with some protein, like arginine or straight up L-arginine, you can increase how that could get through the bloodstream. Tomatoes You can get this straight from the tomato sauce too. All right, so tomato sauce, definitely a good source of GABA. Usually what I would do is make a bolognese with ground chicken or ground beef and tomato sauce. I don't eat straight up raw tomatoes, but I love cooked or stewed tomatoes or tomato sauce. NO Raw Spinach Now, people will tell you spinach is very high in GABA. I do not recommend you eat raw spinach. Oxalates are a real thing. They can develop and form microcrystals in the kidneys and in our joints. So I do not recommend raw spinach. Go with fava beans, shrimp, or halibut. Important Takeaways 1. Take Kava instead of alcohol. If you do drink alcohol, reduce your consumption as much as possible. The more you reduce your alcohol, the better your GABA is going to be. 2. Lifestyle matters. Get in the sauna, exercise, get your heart rate up over 80% of your max consistently. (If you don’t know your max heart rate, a good rule of thumb is to subtract 220 from your age. So, if you’re 30 years old, your max heart rate would be around 190 bpm) Get yourself up to 80% of your max heart rate a couple times per week. Watch what it does to your calm sense of being. Hope these tips help! [Don't forget to check out those Troches from TroCalm, Troscriptions.]( - Thomas Sent to: {EMAIL} [Unsubscribe]( Thomas DeLauer, PO Box 1120, Stateline, NV 89449, United States