what is the science behind it? how can you get symptoms of sickness without actually being sick? why does your body respond that way?
In: Biology
Here is a great snippet of an NPR segment about homeostasis.
“When we do something that’s pleasurable, for example, when I eat a piece of chocolate, then my pleasure-pain balance tilts just a little bit to the side of pleasure, and I experience release of dopamine in my brain’s reward pathway. But one of the governing principles regulating this balance is that it wants to remain level, which is what neuroscientists call homeostasis. It doesn’t want to be deviated for very long, either to the side of pleasure or pain – so that when I eat a piece of chocolate, immediately, what my brain will do is adapt to the presence of that pleasurable stimulus by tipping my balance in equal and opposite amount to the side of pain. And that’s the after effects or the comedown or, in my case, that moment of wanting a second piece of chocolate. Now, if I wait long enough, that feeling passes, and homeostasis is restored.”
Another snippet from that same interview:
“So the way that I think about it or visualize it in my brain is that after I have a pleasurable experience – like, I have a piece of chocolate – then these little gremlins hop on the pain side of my balance to bring the balance level again. But the gremlins really like it on the balance. So they don’t get off. Again, they stay on until my balance is tipped an equal and opposite amount to the side of pain. And again, that’s the aftereffect or the hangover or the comedown. Now, with waiting, the gremlins hop off, and balance is restored, but the gremlins never entirely go away. They’re sort of left in our brain. They’re the neuroadaptation gremlins, which means that if I do eat a second piece of chocolate, my gremlins are ready to go, right? I Don’t need to create them. They hop right on the balance. And in fact, they tip that balance harder and longer to the side of pain. So what that means is, with repeated exposure to any pleasurable experience, the initial stimulus of pleasure gets weaker and shorter, and the aftereffect of pain gets stronger and longer, which means that over time, I need more and more of the initial stimulus to get the same effect. And this is what’s called tolerance, needing more of the drug to get the same effect or finding that over time, the same dose of the drug has less of an impact.”
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