WIL Weekly Review #23

Breathwork for testosterone, testosterone makes you honest and more…

This is my free weekly newsletter covering 5 interesting points from the week. Subscribe (if you haven’t already) if you’d like to get it in your inbox each week!

1. Does Breathwork increase testosterone?

Six years ago, I did a video on the Wim Hof breathing technique. The breathing technique which is more or less hyperventilating and then holding your breath leads to a “profound” increase in epinephrine. The long breath hold induces a temporary state of hypoxia- slight oxygen deprivation. It’s thought that this short term deprivation of oxygen acts like a hormetic stressor. Hormesis is essentially referring to “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Just like there are benefits to stressing the body by overheating it in the sauna or over-chilling it in an ice bath, the idea is that there may be benefits to brief, controlled oxygen deprivation. (No, sleep apnea isn’t good for you.)

Interestingly, a 2019 paper found that intermittent hypoxia can induce testosterone production in the testicles.

The paper says: “Taken together, acute hypoxia may induce T production but long-term continuous hypoxia may decrease the T level.”

2. Testosterone makes you more honest?

From Testosterone Administration Reduces Lying in Men (2012):

“In a double-blind placebo-controlled study, 91 healthy men (24.32±2.73 years) received a transdermal administration of 50 mg of testosterone (n=46) or a placebo (n=45). Subsequently, subjects participated in a simple task, in which their payoff depended on the self-reported outcome of a die-roll. Subjects could increase their payoff by lying without fear of being caught. Our results show that testosterone administration substantially decreases lying in men. Self-serving lying occurred in both groups, however, reported payoffs were significantly lower in the testosterone group.”

3. Ultra-Processed Foods are healthy (says The Guardian)

July 11th, 2023

November 13t

4. Interest in Meditation

I wrote this post in advance and scheduled it to posted later (now) because I’m currently on a ten day silent meditation retreat. In my Why the Mind makes you Suffer post, 82% of 330 of you said “Yes” to the question Do you think ‘Enlightenment’ experiences are real?

So, I’m curious, how many of you have done a meditation retreat?

5. Addicted to video games in just 5 days?

A 2015 paper titled Altered Brain Reactivity to Game Cues After Gaming Experience found that just 5 consecutive days of gaming for 2 hours a day induced brain changes that coincided with increased cravings to play the game. So, the people weren’t “addicted” in just 5 days, but it illustrates how quickly the process unravels.