The UltraMind Solution (87 page)

Lowers growth hormone.

Reduces slow wave sleep.

Reduces social interactions and sexual receptivity.

Increases abdominal fat and insulin resistance.

Interferes with thyroid function.

Activates pathways (BAX and p53) that lead to death of the mitochondria and loss of energy production.

Increases the release of fats into the bloodstream.

Raises triglycerides, lowers HDL (“good”) cholesterol, and raises LDL (“bad”) cholesterol.

Increases stickiness of blood and platelet aggregation, leading to clots (which lead to heart attacks and strokes).

Causes loss of muscle.

So, as you can see, stress is a major problem that clearly affects the health of your body and your brain. But can we do anything about it?

Just reading this list of harmful events that happen as a result of a chronic stress response may make you want to join a Tibetan monastery.

But then again, you might be thrown into a gulag. So that’s not the answer. What the Tibetan monks know how to do is to modulate the effects of stress. They have learned how to control something most of us have no awareness of—our vagus nerve, or the antidote to the stress response. This is our body’s natural balancing system.
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The vagus nerve is the nerve that comes from the brain and controls the parasympathetic nervous system, which controls our relaxation response. And this nervous system uses the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, as its main method of communication with the rest of the body.

Tibetan monks didn’t do this intentionally, but engaging in practices such as meditation and the study of the nature of the mind, perception, and consciousness allowed them to move into a different state of awareness. That awareness gave them the ability to slow down their experiences, develop compassion, and break down the sense of separateness between self and others that leads to feelings of disconnection, loss of control, powerlessness, and lack of self-esteem.

Monks don’t practice these ancient techniques to improve their memory, fight depression, lower blood pressure or heart rate, or boost their immune systems, although all of those things happen.