00:00 Today's episode discusses the sense of self or interoception, which involves sensing our internal landscape and has important implications for bodily and brain health, as well as overall performance in life.

06:41 The sense of self involves sensing internal bodily information, such as mechanical and chemical signals, and is crucial for regulating stress, healing, and overall well-being.

13:11 Properly regulating the mechanical and chemical environment of your body, particularly in organs like the gut, spleen, and lungs, can significantly improve brain function and overall health.

19:47 By emphasizing exhales, you can slow down your heart rate and promote calmness, while emphasizing inhales can increase alertness and adrenaline levels.

26:14 Piezo receptors inform the brain about pressure in the lungs, and there are also neurons that register carbon dioxide levels in the bloodstream and trigger the impulse to breathe when levels get too high.

32:43 By exhaling all your air and holding your breath, you can shift the chemistry of your bloodstream and hold your breath for longer periods of time, achieving a state of alertness and calmness, which can be useful for improving focus and entering states of relaxation.

39:11 The mechanical pressure and chemical status of the gut communicate with the brain to control feeding behavior, with pressure receptors signaling the brain to stop eating when the gut is full and piezo receptors signaling the brain to eat when the gut is empty.

45:35 Developing a sense of how full or empty our gut is can help override the signals of gut fullness or emptiness, which can be beneficial for practices like intermittent fasting and modulating hunger for healthy foods.

51:53 Neurons in the gut respond to nutrients like amino acids, fatty acids, and sugars, signaling to the brain to continue eating or drinking, and replacing sugary foods with high omega-3 or amino acid-rich foods can reduce sugar cravings.

58:08 Maintaining proper gut chemistry by balancing acidity and alkalinity can enhance brain and body health, as the gut microbiome plays a powerful role in regulating mood, immune function, and inflammatory markers.

01:05:00 Ingesting fermented foods on a daily basis has a greater impact on the gut microbiome and inflammatory markers compared to a high fiber diet, and can improve digestion of carbohydrates and overall brain and body health.

01:11:41 Ingesting fermented foods on a regular basis can help prevent leaky gut, improve gut health, and enhance overall brain and body function.

01:18:21 Vomiting is a reflex triggered by certain chemicals in the blood sensed by neurons in the brainstem, and these neurons can also respond to consciousness, thoughts, beliefs, and memories, which is why some people feel nauseous or vomit when they see or think about negative things.

01:25:33 Ginger, peppermint, and cannabis can reduce nausea, and fever is an adaptive mechanism triggered by neurons in the brain to cook and eliminate harmful substances in the body.

01:32:02 The OVLT neurons release inflammatory cytokines in response to toxins in the bloodstream, and fever is an adaptive mechanism triggered by the pre-optic area of the hypothalamus to cook and eliminate harmful substances in the body, but cooling the neck or back of the neck is not an effective way to reduce fever as it can further heat up the brain and organs, instead, cooling the bottoms of the feet, palms of the hands, and upper part of the face is recommended for systemic cooling, and while the vagus nerve is often associated with calming, it is actually stimulatory and involved in various bodily functions, including the release of dopamine in response to ingesting certain foods, and stress can disrupt the communication between the gut and the brain by blocking the vagus nerve.

01:38:50 Enhancing interoceptive awareness, or the sense of one's internal landscape and the ability to perceive the internal states of others, can be achieved through simple exercises such as focusing on the heartbeat, which can quickly strengthen the connections between the body and the brain, leading to improved mood, better navigation of challenging life phases, and an enhanced overall experience of life.

01:45:40 Increasing interoceptive tone through simple exercises like focusing on the heartbeat can have significant positive effects on the brain-body relationship, including improved engagement with others, better focus at work, and the ability to regulate emotions and physiological states.