Here’s a real puzzler about that. Years ago it was noted that people with Schizophrenia have a greater than normal amount in their blood; but people with Alzheimer’s have almost none.
And — that’s it. No other correlation despite intense research.
My understanding of alzheimer’s is that its another variation on the theme of high sustained sugar levels in the blood which induces inflammation—which causes cardiovascular diseases—and also neurodegenerative brain diseases. So too little nitric oxide would make for more breaks all over the cardiovascular system.
Naturally, I’m of two minds about Schizophrenia—but I’ll bet that special ops warriors have few cases of Schizophrenia. My theory has always been that these guys are people who like to dilute high levels of testosterone with adrenaline. That is, the pressure helps them regulate their internal chemistry. But it could be that they’re also trying to dilute nitric oxide with adrenaline. The work forces them to stay focused. My wag is that there are whole groups of people who thrive under pressure because the pressure enables them to to regulate their own chemistry.