Dr. Anna Lembke

With time, the craving goes away. And once we are in that arena where we're not constantly craving, we might have something that triggers the craving, right? but like stress, but generally we're not dealing with a craving. If we were then to re-expose our brains to a little bit of sugar, immediately back in the vortex of craving. And there's an experiment I love that illustrates this.

It's an experiment in rats. where rats were injected with cocaine, the same amount of cocaine, every day for seven days. And over the course of those seven days, the rats went from kind of hiding in the shadows of the cage to progressively running a little bit more and a little bit more.

It's an experiment in rats. where rats were injected with cocaine, the same amount of cocaine, every day for seven days. And over the course of those seven days, the rats went from kind of hiding in the shadows of the cage to progressively running a little bit more and a little bit more.

And by day seven, they were in a running frenzy, right, as measured by these beams of light that they were crossing. Then there was no more cocaine injected after seven days, and no cocaine or any addictive substance administered to the rats for a year, which is a rat lifetime, a really long time that would make you think, oh, you know, that there's no more cocaine in the system, none of that.

And by day seven, they were in a running frenzy, right, as measured by these beams of light that they were crossing. Then there was no more cocaine injected after seven days, and no cocaine or any addictive substance administered to the rats for a year, which is a rat lifetime, a really long time that would make you think, oh, you know, that there's no more cocaine in the system, none of that.

And then the rats were injected with a single dose of cocaine, and immediately they were plunged back into that running frenzy that you saw on day seven.

And then the rats were injected with a single dose of cocaine, and immediately they were plunged back into that running frenzy that you saw on day seven.

really important information because it tells us that there's some kind of permanent latent echo in our brains once we've been exposed to, and especially if we become addicted to, a particular substance, such that even with sustained abstinence on the order of years and decades, if we are re-exposed to that drug, we can immediately be plunged into the depths of our addiction.

really important information because it tells us that there's some kind of permanent latent echo in our brains once we've been exposed to, and especially if we become addicted to, a particular substance, such that even with sustained abstinence on the order of years and decades, if we are re-exposed to that drug, we can immediately be plunged into the depths of our addiction.

There's no ramp-up period that happens. And, of course, we see this all the time, you know, people with alcohol addiction who are then exposed to alcohol and right back to their max use or even exposed to something like opioids. And alcohol also works on our endogenous opioid system, so there's some homology or similarity between alcohol and opioids.

There's no ramp-up period that happens. And, of course, we see this all the time, you know, people with alcohol addiction who are then exposed to alcohol and right back to their max use or even exposed to something like opioids. And alcohol also works on our endogenous opioid system, so there's some homology or similarity between alcohol and opioids.

And then immediately being plunged into opioid addiction, which then leads them back to their alcohol addiction system.

And then immediately being plunged into opioid addiction, which then leads them back to their alcohol addiction system.

Yeah, it's all true, which is why a big focus of the addiction medicine field is prevention and trying to make sure that we protect kids' brains from the harms of these addictive substances and behaviors.

Yeah, it's all true, which is why a big focus of the addiction medicine field is prevention and trying to make sure that we protect kids' brains from the harms of these addictive substances and behaviors.

From sugar to digital media, video games, pornography, social media, or any other drug, you know, nicotine. So many kids are vaping now, you know, taking 50 plus puffs a day on their nicotine vape, cannabis, alcohol.

From sugar to digital media, video games, pornography, social media, or any other drug, you know, nicotine. So many kids are vaping now, you know, taking 50 plus puffs a day on their nicotine vape, cannabis, alcohol.

So essentially at age five, we have more neurons and neuronal connections than we have in the rest of our adult lives, about 50% more neuronal connections than we'll have as adults, which is what makes us such good learners when we're kids. Kids can just absorb anything because they're sort of like these totipotent sponges with all these neurons and all these neuronal connections.

So essentially at age five, we have more neurons and neuronal connections than we have in the rest of our adult lives, about 50% more neuronal connections than we'll have as adults, which is what makes us such good learners when we're kids. Kids can just absorb anything because they're sort of like these totipotent sponges with all these neurons and all these neuronal connections.

But as we age through adolescence to about age 25, we cut back or what's called prune the neural circuits that we don't use and we myelinate or make more efficient the neural circuits that we use most often, such that by age 25, we are left with the neurological scaffolding that will serve us for the rest of our adult lives.