whygetfat on Nostr: Dr Stu: "Here's a really important question. If people believe in evolution over ...
Dr Stu: "Here's a really important question. If people believe in evolution over time, things that are beneficial stick around, things that are less beneficial disappear. In every mammal, labor is painful. Why is labor painful? Why wouldn't that go away? What purpose does it serve biologically that labor remains painful?
"Now, putting the biblical explanation aside, when a wild animal is in labor, it's not crying out and moaning and saying, 'fuck.' It's not doing those things. But it's painful. OK? We know that because we've done experiments on animals in labor and they can see that their catecholamine levels rise every time they have a contraction, so we know they're having discomfort.
"Maybe labor is painful because there's a benefit to it, because if there was no benefit to it, then over time, you would think it would evolve away. But it hasn't. What could that benefit be?
"When you have a surge and you're uncomfortable, you're putting out neurotransmitters and hormones that help you cope with that. You're putting out cortisol, which is your stress hormone. You're putting out adrenalin, which helps you because it helps to space the contractions out a little bit and prepares your body to fight or flight. You're putting out endorphins, which are your body's own opiates to help you deal with pain. And you're putting out oxytocin, obviously, a surge of oxytocin every few minutes, which not only makes your uterus contract, but also makes you feel warm and love and connection to your baby, connection to your partner. It's the hormone that helps with milk let-down, although that's not relevant at that time.
"You're putting out that whole cocktail of hormones. Every three minutes or so, you put out a surge. Then you have a couple of minutes to recover and the receptors recover and regenerate. Then you put out another surge and another surge of these hormones.
"But think about this. When you're having discomfort, you're not the only person having discomfort. Your baby is also experiencing something for the first time that it's never experienced before. Its whole world is changing, because its whole world has been living inside of mom, minding its own business, floating around, doing its thing, communicating with mom back and forth. When mom is happy, baby is happy. When mom is nervous, probably baby gets the same hormones that mom's putting out and baby gets a little nervous. When mom eats food that's not so good, baby knows it. When mom eats sugar, baby knows it.
"So there's a communication going on between mom and baby throughout the entire time. Baby is giving mom some of its own cells. Every mom is a chimera of cells from every child she's ever conceived is living inside that woman.
"There's a communication and a beautiful symphony that's going on between mom and baby. Every time that baby is getting squeezed every three minutes that baby is getting a waft of mom's hormones. There's mom's oxytocin: mom is there, mom loves me, I'm feeling warmth. There's mom's adrenaline: that's helping me cope with my contraction. There's mom's endorphins: wow, that feels pretty good. OK? And it's coping fine.
"Then the woman gets an epidural. Suddenly, all those hormones are shut off, because she's no longer in pain. Yet her contractions are still continuing, and maybe even they've spaced out a little bit from the epidural so now they add pitosin. Now the baby is getting squeezed without any help from mom anymore. Then the baby's heart rate changes that we've discussed earlier.
"Maybe labor is painful for a reason. Maybe we're supposed to try to deal with that pain in a way every other mammal does and not artificially make it go away with gas or an epidural.
"I'm not saying that epidurals aren't a godsend; of course they're a godsend for some women. But an 80% epidural rate for women who labor is crazy. Let them move."
Dr Stuart Fischbein with Jerm @ 34:51—38:32 (recorded in 2024, posted 2025-03-06) https://podbay.fm/p/jerm-warfare-the-battle-of-ideas/e/1741328385?t=2091
"Now, putting the biblical explanation aside, when a wild animal is in labor, it's not crying out and moaning and saying, 'fuck.' It's not doing those things. But it's painful. OK? We know that because we've done experiments on animals in labor and they can see that their catecholamine levels rise every time they have a contraction, so we know they're having discomfort.
"Maybe labor is painful because there's a benefit to it, because if there was no benefit to it, then over time, you would think it would evolve away. But it hasn't. What could that benefit be?
"When you have a surge and you're uncomfortable, you're putting out neurotransmitters and hormones that help you cope with that. You're putting out cortisol, which is your stress hormone. You're putting out adrenalin, which helps you because it helps to space the contractions out a little bit and prepares your body to fight or flight. You're putting out endorphins, which are your body's own opiates to help you deal with pain. And you're putting out oxytocin, obviously, a surge of oxytocin every few minutes, which not only makes your uterus contract, but also makes you feel warm and love and connection to your baby, connection to your partner. It's the hormone that helps with milk let-down, although that's not relevant at that time.
"You're putting out that whole cocktail of hormones. Every three minutes or so, you put out a surge. Then you have a couple of minutes to recover and the receptors recover and regenerate. Then you put out another surge and another surge of these hormones.
"But think about this. When you're having discomfort, you're not the only person having discomfort. Your baby is also experiencing something for the first time that it's never experienced before. Its whole world is changing, because its whole world has been living inside of mom, minding its own business, floating around, doing its thing, communicating with mom back and forth. When mom is happy, baby is happy. When mom is nervous, probably baby gets the same hormones that mom's putting out and baby gets a little nervous. When mom eats food that's not so good, baby knows it. When mom eats sugar, baby knows it.
"So there's a communication going on between mom and baby throughout the entire time. Baby is giving mom some of its own cells. Every mom is a chimera of cells from every child she's ever conceived is living inside that woman.
"There's a communication and a beautiful symphony that's going on between mom and baby. Every time that baby is getting squeezed every three minutes that baby is getting a waft of mom's hormones. There's mom's oxytocin: mom is there, mom loves me, I'm feeling warmth. There's mom's adrenaline: that's helping me cope with my contraction. There's mom's endorphins: wow, that feels pretty good. OK? And it's coping fine.
"Then the woman gets an epidural. Suddenly, all those hormones are shut off, because she's no longer in pain. Yet her contractions are still continuing, and maybe even they've spaced out a little bit from the epidural so now they add pitosin. Now the baby is getting squeezed without any help from mom anymore. Then the baby's heart rate changes that we've discussed earlier.
"Maybe labor is painful for a reason. Maybe we're supposed to try to deal with that pain in a way every other mammal does and not artificially make it go away with gas or an epidural.
"I'm not saying that epidurals aren't a godsend; of course they're a godsend for some women. But an 80% epidural rate for women who labor is crazy. Let them move."
Dr Stuart Fischbein with Jerm @ 34:51—38:32 (recorded in 2024, posted 2025-03-06) https://podbay.fm/p/jerm-warfare-the-battle-of-ideas/e/1741328385?t=2091