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I was interested in expanding/further exploring Tuesday's conversation on set-points in relation to hibernating animals and human body weight. Prof. Grobstein suggested that set-points may be responsible for humans being overweight or underweight- that obese individuals have a higher set-point and their body's desire to maintain this set-point makes it very difficult for them to lose weight. There seem to be several problems/questions with this conception. First, why is it so easy for most people to gain weight? Perhaps the set point is not an exact number, but simply a physical state-for example, one of excess weight or having a drive to gain. In contrast, anorectics may have a set-point of being underweight or having a drive to lose. Perhaps a person could be classified as someone who either "stores" or "burns." But that can change... overweight individuals have become anorectic. What explains that shift? In addition, people who are normally "burners" are often able to gain weight for pregnancy (although they may gain much less than someone with the tendency to store). How much control do I have over my set point? It seems that eating/exercise habits may be partially rooted in the subconscious (for example, emotional eating or individuals who just cannot get the motivation to exercise), so maybe the set point is embedded in that part of our brain. Therefore, individuals who decide to lose thirty pounds are only changing their conscious set point. How might one change the unconscious? What is the purpose of the unconscious set point existing? Why would it be evolutionary advantageous?

I'm wondering if set-points might play a role in other areas of homeostatic regulation. For example, mental states like happiness or depression. Might people have a sort of mood set-point? Does medication change that set point or simply ignore it? Perhaps only therapy, which might bring the unconscious into the conscious, can actually change the set-point.

 Finally, what does the idea of set-points say about the mind-over-matter suggestion? Do we have more control over our physical selves than we imagine or less because we need access to our unconscious to achieve this control?