Andrew Huberman· PhD
Now, locus coeruleus has a lot of different functions in the brain, but when we are going to eat let's say we walk into a restaurant, we sit down or we're preparing a meal, locus coeruleus is known to release noradrenaline in the brain. It's creating a kind of alertness. This has ancient utility, but it's creating this alertness. And for many people, they experience that as they approach food as stress as anxiety. But what's interesting is that as we approach food locus coeruleus is releasing all these molecules that make us feel more anxious and alert sometimes it's felt as excitement. And that asks probably to do with how we feel about food generally, are we happy with our relationship with food? Are we trying to restrict our relationship to food, are people coming over for dinner, all that will play in of course, but there's a certain stress and anxiety upon approach to food. And as we approach food and we feel that anxiety locus coeruleus activates the lateral hypothalamus in a way that inhibits feeding that makes us not want to eat.