For the past twenty-five years, I’ve been studying and writing about ancient cultures-the Spartans, the Athenians, the Romans, the Macedonians under Alexander the Great … and the one thing that comes through over and over is the ideal of the Warrior, not just externally in battles and clashes at arms, but internally in the codes of honor and ethics and the aspirational principles that these ancient peoples lived by and that still influence us powerfully today.
#Endorphin warrior series
If you’ve been following my Instagram series recommending books on leadership … I’ve decided to expand and deepen the project. The Spartans do not ask how many are the enemy, but where are they. And it’s also very “Spartan” in the sense that it’s short, lean and mean, and the meat of its message is left unsaid. I love it because it brilliantly encapsulates what I would call the Warrior Archetype. This is a quote from Plutarch, two thousand years ago. Find us on Facebook.“The Spartans do not ask how many are the enemy, but where are they.” Pass it on: Drinking alcohol triggers a "feel-good" response because it releases endorphins.įollow MyHealthNewsDaily on Twitter MyHealth_MHND.
"This points to a mechanism that you see working, based on the release of endorphins.” "A lot of people drink alcohol, but we don’t know how it affects the brain," he said. But overall, he said the findings were intriguing. "The study was too small, and it wasn't clear whether these same mechanisms hold true in males and females," he said. Martin Paulus, a psychiatrist at the University of California San Diego, thought the study revealed “a precise mechanism of how people get drunk."īut the study had a few limitations, noted Paulus, who was not involved with the work. "Experts have speculated that in addiction, both of these areas or either are dysfunctional in a way that leads people to drink too much," she said.ĭr.
"Both the nucleus accumbens and the orbitofrontal cortex may be working together on how you feel about alcohol, and what makes you drink," Mitchell said. When released, they produce feelings of pleasure and reward, which signal the brain that it likes what you're doing and wants you to do it again. In the new study, researchers performed brain scans of both groups of drinkers, which allowed them to track the immediate effects of alcohol in the brain.Įndorphin activity increased in brain regions including the orbitofrontal cortex, the front area involved with reasoning and decision-making, and the nucleus accumbens, also known as the "pleasure center."Įndorphins are produced naturally in brain cells. Mitchell said she hopes the study's findings will bring researchers a better understanding of how endorphins control drinking, and could lead to a better drug for people who want to drink less or quit.Īreas of the brain may lead people to drink too much But prescription drugs such as naltrexone are considered the most effective treatment, and they come with certain side effects. 11) in the journal Science Translational Medicine.Ībout 79,000 deaths in the United States each year are caused by excessive alcohol use, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Īccording to one study, a third of Americanadults have experienced alcohol abuse or alcoholism.įor some people undergoing treatment, 12-step programs, detox treatment, or group therapy seem to help.