If you need to make quick decisions, this
is why you need GABA.
Hi. I'm Dr. Chris Masterjohn of
chrismasterjohnphd.com. And this is
Chris Masterjohn Lite, where the name of the game is
"Details? Shmeetails. Just tell me what works!"
And today we're going to talk about using
GABA supplements to make better
decisions and faster decisions
under pressure.
So, GABA is a neurotransmitter,
and it's an inhibitory neurotransmitter,
which means that it turns neurons off.
So, you would think that taking GABA would
slow you down, but in fact, there's a
study showing that using 800 milligrams
of GABA, in the 30 to 60 minutes following
taking the GABA on an empty stomach,
people make quicker decisions, and they
better adapt quickly to changing rules
of an experimental game. Why would that be?
Well, when you need to pay attention
to something, GABA shuts off everything
that's a distraction, and so when you
need to switch what you're paying
attention to, and make quick decisions,
and react quickly, GABA helps shut down
all the competing noise
that would grab your attention and make
it harder to determine exactly where to shift.
So, it's a little counterintuitive
because it seems like GABA should slow
you down, but in this case, we have
evidence that GABA can speed you up.
Now, when would you need to make quick
decisions under pressure? Well, a few
things come to my mind: day trading
stocks, being the CEO of Amazon, doing any
kind of competition in a video game or a
professional sport, picking up girls at
the bar. But don't let me define the
possibilities for you. I'm sure you can
draw plenty of examples from your own
life about times where you would need to
make quick decisions under pressure.
Now, although when you take a GABA supplement
the levels in your blood peak 30 to 60
minutes after you took the supplement,
I don't know when the effect on your brain
peaks, and in fact, I don't even know how
it has this effect in your brain.
Every time I post something about GABA,
I always get people in the comments
saying, "But does GABA cross
blood-brain barrier?" I don't know.
The evidence is controversial, but there's
evidence from human studies that GABA
does things to your brain. So, either it's
getting into the brain, or it's getting
into the brain sometimes and not others,
but it's getting in there when it
matters in certain contexts, or it's doing
something inside the gut that's
communicating through the nerves in your
gut all the way up into the brain. But it
doesn't matter how it's doing it. All
that matters is that the effect is there,
so it's something that you can try. So, if
you do want to try this,
I wouldn't take it all the time because
you don't want to become dependent on
supplements like this for your brain
health, in my opinion, so I would use it
when it matters, and what I would try is
start with 800 milligrams, although if
you've never tried GABA before, you might
want to start with a lower dose and just
ease your way up to the 800 milligrams, just
in case you have a reaction that you
don't like to it, but the studied dose is
800 milligrams, so try 800 milligrams
30 to 60 minutes before it starts really
mattering, and then just see if there's
an effect, see how long it lasts, and see
if it's something that you need to
retake over time. And let me know what
kind of results you get.
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All right, I hope you found this useful.
Signing off, this is Chris Masterjohn of
chrismasterjohnphd.com. This has
been Chris Masterjohn Lite.
And I will see you in the next episode.