Executive Function
Planning, switching between tasks, and holding back a response you are about to make. The last of those is the one that matters here: reported aggression on these compounds is often better described as a failure of the brake than as an increase in anger.
Relationships
5 connectionsExecutive Function reduces risk of
Executive Function stimulates
Anterior Cingulate Cortex
Where conflict is detected and effort is allocated. In long-term users this region shows a chemical signature of altered glutamate handling, which is the closest thing in the human literature to direct evidence of a neurotoxic process.
Cortical Thickness
How thick the outer layer of the brain is, measured on MRI. It thins with normal ageing and faster in several dependencies. In steroid users the thinning is regional, and it is concentrated in exactly the areas that handle inhibition.
Prefrontal Cortex
Planning, judgement and the brake on impulse. Relevant here because the reported behaviour change on these compounds is often better described as a weaker brake than as a stronger drive, and those two have different consequences.
Serotonin Signalling
How strongly serotonin is signalling. The system most often named when 19-nor androgens are linked to impulse control, irritability and sleep. Almost all of the evidence is rodent work; nothing has been measured at these receptors in a human on these compounds.
Beyond this page
Executive Function also connects to 4 entries in the applied modules, covering supplements, compounds, hormones and food sources. Those carry the mechanism and the evidence tier behind each link, and they are part of client coaching.
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