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Kava Fact of the Day Kava Intoxication

The Kap'n

The Groggy Kaptain (40g)
KavaForums Founder
In this study the researchers compared the performance of people who have become intoxicated by kava using saccade function and cognitive tests. Saccade is defined as the rapid movement of the eye between fixation points. These participants were allowed to drink as much as they found necessary for intoxication. Amounts of kava ranged between 75-375 grams with an average consumption of 205g of kava powder each. This was a group session which continued for 14.4 hours. The amounts of kavalactones consumed were approximately 25 grams or 150 times the clinical dose. Intoxicated drinkers showed saccadic dysmetria which is continual abnormal eye movements. They also showed slowing and reduced accuracy in visual search tasks as the complexity increased. Reaction time and difficult memory tasks showed no issues in chronic kava consumers. It was found kava intoxication was known to produce abnormalities in coordination of movement and visual attention but did not affect complex cognitive function in chronic users.



Cairney S, Clough AR, Maruff P, Collie A, Currie BJ, Currie J. Saccade and cognitive function in chronic kava users. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2003 Feb;28(2):389-96. doi: 10.1038/sj.npp.1300052. PMID: 12589393. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12589393/
 

neeko b

Kava Curious
205 GRAMS OF KAVA in 14 hours, AVERAGE! Wow....usually when you see studies like this they under-do the kava dose. I might have to up my dosage!
 

AlexisReal

Kava Enthusiast
This is like testing the extent to which alcohol impairs straight line walking, and each participant drinks 50 units of Vodka!

I have to see it as "skewed" for purpose, or unrepresentational.
 

kavakarma

Kava Enthusiast
Half a day is plenty of time to work a half pound of kava into your system. Kava beverage adds to my view of the world and in perception itself after a shell. Listening to the kava can bring me very close to a meditative practice. The large servings of kava can catch me off guard with some real deal sleepiness.

The entourage effect of kava is landing on stepping stones along the river of a kava ceremony, and feeling as though they are islands. The kavain surge, or the heavy legs a few hours later. Drinking kava for many hours allows all stages to be felt during all other stages. Knowing how well kavalactones work from experience makes this an intetesting read. It is almost twenty years old though, right?

When I drink kava I find a sense of guidance towards an altruistic and self sustaining view. I feel the shift of energy patterns that comes from my body making the best use of the kava, and I believe this treasured root does more for me than I am aware of. It makes me happy to know I am not the only one finding benefit and appreciation with kava in life.
 

Jacob Bula

Nobody
Bumping this thread, because I finally realize why the anti saccade portion of this intrigued me so much. I have Visual Snow Syndrome and one of its symptoms is that it decreases the filter in the thalamus that would normally filter out saccade function towards visual stimuli. So my eyes are always darting around to novel stimuli, which is interesting because you are tuned in to the present moment and notice more of here and now; however, it can be exhausting after a while-- which explains why I've always said that with kava it feels like my vision is zoomed in to whatever I'm doing and everything is much more visually focused.

 
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