Of all brain areas, the most fascinating one is the hypothalamus. This is where the nervous system and the endocrine (hormonal) system interact.
The hypothalamus is less than two centimeter in diameter, and it is belittled by its name (which sounds as if it were a minor appendix of the thalamus).
The cerebellum may contain more than a thousand times the number of neurons, and it is of supreme importance for anything that has to do with timing, but appropriate timing is a self-understood property of a functioning organism.
The hypothalamus (especially the preoptic area), in many ways determines our sexuality. And the hypothalamus ultimately determines how much testosterone circulates in our bodies.
But not only that. The hypothalamus controls circadian rhythm (at its suprachiasmatic nucleus), hunger (lateral hypothalamus, ventromedial hypothalamus, paraventricular hypothalamus), thirst (lateral preoptic area), and body temperature (preoptic area).
Many of the functions that the hypothalamus regulates have to do with motivation: the motivation to eat and drink, the motivation to have sex.
Wouldn抰 it be great to interfere with the hypothalamus in order to enhance sexual motivation, and to counteract the decline in sexual motivation that happens in the process of aging?
A separate member article investigates some options.
