What Do VIZR, Cold Plunge, Microdosing, Old Wild Ginseng & Humor Have in Common?

Garnet > Lucid Studios
January 4, 2024

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EUSTRESS & DISTRESS

It is best to start with a Hungarian-Canada researcher, Hans Selye. Selye is known more commonly as the Father of Stress Research. His relentless work ethic was evident in his publications, which numbered more than 1,600 scientific articles and about 40 books. He was a nominee for the Nobel Prize in 1949, won many accolades, and published his best-known book, The Stress of Life, in 1956.

Today, the concept of stress and the word itself have a strongly negative connotation. In 1939, Selye introduced his landmark theory of stress. He saw “stress” in more complex ways and was very inventive in his exploration. He is most famous for what is known as the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS), but here we will focus on a few of his more fundamental understandings.

These are the factors that link Selye, stress, and neurology to VIZR, Cold Plunge, Microdosing, Old Wild Ginseng & Humor.

1. Selye #1 – Stress in and of itself is neither good nor bad; its nature depends on a number of related factors.
2. Selye #2 – Some type of “agent” acts to introduce challenge into the system. If the degree of challenge (aka “stress”) is sufficient to match and slightly exceed the minimal level of excitation, it will result in an arousal of the adaptive response in the system.
3. Selye #3 – The stressor “agent” perturbs the “status quo” of the system. The agent acts to disrupt or de-stabilize the system and provoke an adaptive response.
4. Selye #4 – The stress “agent” is not the main factor. Instead, it is the degree or amount of challenge that is at the core of its action.
5. Selye #5 – Depending on the context, the challenge may be either a “eustress” (positive) or a “distress” (negative).
6. Selye #6 – As much as distress is definitely negative, eustress is not only positive—it is critical for growth, learning, adaptation, and even survival itself.
7. Selye #7 – Eustress occurs when the gap between what one has and what one wants is slightly pushed, but not overwhelmed. The goal is not too far out of reach but is still slightly more than one can handle.

This fosters challenge and motivation since the goal is in sight. The function of challenge is to motivate a person toward improvement and a goal.

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These insights from Selye help clarify the first step in linking VIZR, Cold Plunge, Microdosing, Old Wild Ginseng & Humor to our innate neurology:

1. An adaptive response in our system is triggered fundamentally by the degree of stress and not the type of stressing agent.
2. A small degree, or low-level/micro amount, of any stressing agent is capable of eliciting a positive eustress response.
3. The eustress response will drive the system towards positive new growth and adaptive change.
4. Any stressor “agent” that can be calibrated into lower or higher degrees of challenge can act to induce a eustress response.
5. Psychedelic compounds at higher levels can significantly disrupt or de-stabilize common neurological activities in the brain. The article proposes that the same compounds may also be capable of very gentle destabilizing “eustress” actions at much lower, “micro” levels.
6. Following this principle, any stressor “agent,” rather than its type, that can be calibrated to low levels of “dose” can also trigger similar neurological adaptive responses.

HORMESIS

Hormesis is defined as a biphasic dose response to an environmental agent, with low-dose stimulation showing beneficial effects and high-dose stimulation showing inhibitory or toxic effects. Within the “hormetic zone,” the biological response to low-dose amounts of stressors is generally favorable.

It is easy to see that the “eustress” principle of Selye and the concept of “hormesis” are, at their core, essentially the same. Hormetic responses have been reported in the literature since the late nineteenth century, but the term hormesis was first used in the 1940s by Southman and Erlich.

In biology and medicine, hormesis is defined as an adaptive response of cells and organisms to a moderate, usually intermittent, stress. Examples include ischemic preconditioning, exercise, dietary energy restriction, and exposure to low doses of certain phytochemicals.

To illustrate the point, let’s take a brief look at ginseng. Ginseng, one of the most widely used traditional herbal medicines and dietary supplements, has historically been recognized as a tonic herb and adaptogen that can enhance the body's tolerance to various adversities.

Ginsenosides are a diverse group of steroidal saponins that comprise the major secondary metabolites of ginseng and are responsible for its multiple pharmacological effects. Emerging evidence suggests that hormetic phytochemicals produced by environmentally stressed plants can activate moderate cellular stress-response mechanisms at a subtoxic level in humans, which may enhance tolerance against severe dysfunction or disease.

The factor of environmental stressors is the key as to why very old wild ginseng is considered so valuable compared with young and cultured ginseng. The reason is the increase in “ginsenosides” that have developed in the root over long years of environmental “hormetic insults.”

When taking a broader view, it becomes easier to see that the principle of “hormetic” challenges can unite VIZR, Cold Plunge, Microdosing, Old Wild Ginseng & Humor. We will leave the Humor aspect until the end— after all, they say it’s all about the timing.

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NEUROPLASTICITY

Donald Hebb was a Canadian psychologist who was influential in neuropsychology, where he sought to understand how the function of neurons contributed to psychological processes such as learning. He is best known for his theory of Hebbian learning, introduced in his classic 1949 work The Organization of Behavior. He has been described as the father of neuropsychology and neural networks.

Hebbian Learning is now called “neuroplasticity.” Neuroplasticity is the concept that the adult human brain is capable of positive neurological growth, change, and new adaptive learning.

Adult brain neuroplasticity occurs predominantly in the hippocampus, an area of the brain associated with learning, long-term memory formation, and memory retrieval.

The basis of the theory is that when our brains learn something new, neurons are activated and connected with other neurons, forming a neural network. These connections start off weak, but each time the stimulus is repeated, the connections grow stronger and the action becomes more intuitive.

It is fair to ask the basic question now: What does Hebb and “neuroplasticity” have to do with VIZR, Cold Plunge, Microdosing, Old Wild Ginseng & Humor?

These are the factors that link Hebb, neuroplasticity, and neurology to the topic:

1. Hebb #1 – The adult brain can change in positive ways if it is induced to change with effective stimulation.
2. Hebb #2 – To get the neurology to change you must “fire it to wire it”, which goes nicely with “use it or lose it.”
3. Hebb #3 – In neuroplasticity, “the brain changes what matters.” This means you have to “get the attention” of the brain by inducing a disruptive or de-stabilizing challenge, or “stressor.”
4. Hebb #4 – The challenge must not be too great all at one time. It must act at a low level and create just “marginal demand.” This relates to Selye #7: “Eustress occurs when the gap between what one has and what one wants is slightly pushed, but not overwhelmed.”
5. Hebb #5 – A “eustressor” is a gentle but effective trigger for neuroplastic adaptation and positive change. Beyond the low level of stimulation, regular repetition and reinforcement are mandatory for actual integration—the “firing” must repeat for the “wiring” to stabilize.
6. Hebb #6 – Repeating the low-level stressor at regular periods will slowly move the “short-term state change,” which relies on the stimulus being present, toward a “long-term trait change,” which is habituated and does not require the stimulus to be present. This is the State to Trait principle of new neurological learning.

From these understandings of neuroplasticity, the article further clarifies the proposed relationship between VIZR, Cold Plunge, Microdosing, Old Wild Ginseng, Humor, and innate neurology:

1. Actual neuronal connections and growth can change toward positive new learning and behaviors. This is described as a natural and innate capacity of the adult human brain.
2. Repeated low-level, “marginal demand” eustress agents are capable of gently and reliably triggering positive neuroplastic change.
3. “Eustressor agents” include psychedelic compounds while also including a wide range of other “drug free” agents such as light/sound and temperature that are capable of triggering the “marginal demand” aspect of neuroplastic change.
4. With repeated “doses” of the eustress agent as stimulation combined with reinforcement, the process will lead to progressive integration of the new positive neuroplastic change—a State to Trait transformation.

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THE BRAIN & PREDICTIVE CODING (& Humor)

Predictive Coding is a popular concept that explains how the brain functions. In the Predictive Coding model, the brain is considered a kind of “anticipation machine,” “pattern generator,” or “prediction organ.”

Fundamentally, the model assumes that there is too much data entering the brain at all times. In order to save energy, the brain attempts to compare the characteristics of incoming information with previous patterns. Raw, bottom-up sensory information is therefore held up for top-down review of possible similarities.

If the raw data is similar enough to information from the past, the brain decides that it is “close enough” to call it “the same.” In this model, the brain is always “jumping to conclusions.”

The brain is also sensitive to “prediction errors.” These occur when a prediction fails because new, ongoing bottom-up sensory information contradicts the prediction. In Predictive Coding, the brain attempts to limit prediction errors and thereby avoid surprises.

The bottom-up raw data of sensation can be full of surprises. In storytelling, what we call humor or comedy, the punchline is the surprise—the “prediction error.”

Humor can be defined as a “benign violation of expectation.” It is “benign” because it is not intended to do harm. It is a “violation of expectation,” or surprise, because it represents a prediction error.

Humor therefore acts as a “eustress,” a form of “low dose hormesis,” and a delightful mild “shock.” It represents the “marginal demand” that triggers neuroplastic adaptation and expands the boundaries of belief through its “novelty.”

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VIZR

The light/sound VIZR Experience activates neuroplastic change and adaptation in the brain by introducing “hormetic eustress” stimulation at levels of “marginal demand” that delight and “surprise” our minds.

The “novelty” draws attention, which the article describes as the “Universal Psycho-Active Agent” when it comes to increasing and expanding consciousness and brain neuroplastic adaptation.