GABA-A Receptor

3-alpha-Androstanediol

A metabolite of DHT with no androgen receptor activity of its own. It acts on the GABA-A receptor instead, which is how an androgen ends up changing anxiety and sleep without touching the androgen receptor at all.

Limbic System

The emotional core of the brain, and androgen-receptor rich. This is where mood, threat response and aggression are set, and where steroid mental effects are thought to land.

Anxiety

Restlessness, racing thoughts, a wired feeling. Multiple routes reach it: neurosteroid changes at GABA-A, glucocorticoid signalling, sleep loss and thicker blood.

Neurosteroid Production

Steroids made or converted inside the brain that act on ion channels rather than on nuclear receptors. The route by which an androgen changes anxiety and sleep without touching the androgen receptor.

Sleep Quality

How restorative sleep is, as opposed to how much of it there is. Deep and REM sleep are where growth hormone is released and where memory is consolidated, so this is the measure that connects a sleep effect to a memory effect. A person can sleep eight hours and get almost none of this.