Stress And Happiness In The Human Bio-Computer

OVERSTIMULATION
Life in 2008 is built on speed, convenience, consumption, and entertainment. This quartet demands that we keep up financially, energetically, physically, and emotionally. We are stimulated to the max, even if we don't buy the program--it's in the air. Also in the air these days is a palpable level of world anxiety over war, terror, and the threat of environmental disaster. Overstimulation and stress are facts of life these days. (Don't worry, there's hope. We're here to overcome this.)

To get reved up for this life, many of us use caffeine. To come down from the effort many of us use alcohol, muscle relaxants, sleep aides, or just "veg-out" in front of the TV. A quick scan of TV commercials shows that, at least in the United States, we are a culture that uses a host of pharmaceuticals to cope with the effects of our stress. Neck and back pain, migraines, digestive disorders, insomnia, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, these are just a few symptoms of our chronic stress.

Yet, we often don't see that our ailments, our pains, and our symptoms are caused by stress. Instead, we have medical conditions. Often our symptoms will mysteriously come and go. If these were structural conditions or diseases, this would not be the case. If, instead, these symptoms are indeed caused by stress, we will find that conditions of happiness, inner peace, and relaxation will help these symptoms.

What I want to do in this article is to introduce a metaphor for our physical experience, the human bio-computer, and to talk about how we can affect our experience in this bio-computer by creating conditions of stress or conditions of happiness. Most importantly, I want to show how our experience of life as stressful or happy is something over which we can gain control. n
THE HUMAN BIO-COMPUTER
Let's begin with our metaphor. This conception and the quotes that follow are taken from the book, "The Biology of Belief" (2005), written by cell biologist Bruce Lipton, Ph.D. Lipton's work begins with research into the behavior of individual cells.

In his studies of cells, Lipton found that, "When I provided nutrients, the cells would gravitate toward those nutrients with the cellular equivalent of open arms. When I created a toxic environment, the cultured cells would retreat from the stimulus in an effort to wall themselves off from the noxious agents." (p.136)

In other words, a cell would either be in an "on" or "off" orientation depending upon its recognition of helpful or harmful elements in its environment. This is analagous to a computer information system in which the gates are open or closed to dictate the flow of information along certain channels or pathways.

A cell's perception of the conditions in its environment determine if the cell is switched on or off. More so even than our genetics, a cell's response to the conditions in the cellular environment determines which of that cell's potentials are activated or deactivated.

Lipton found that not only individual cells exhibited this behavior, but groups of cells did the same. In fact, the body as a whole exhibited this type of behavior in the presence of a toxic environment. The organism as a whole could either be in a receptive or a protective mode in response to its perception of positive or negative stimuli in its environment.

Healthy cells would generally be open and receptive to receive the good things in their environment and to working with other cells as a community. Unhealthy, especially cancerous, cells have been shown to be walled off and non-cooperative or aggressive toward surrounding cells and the environment.

THE FIGHT/FLIGHT RESPONSE
Our human bio-computer scans our internal and exte
al environment and responds by selectively activating and inhibiting physiological systems based upon the perceived information. On a systemic level, we have heard how stress puts us into a "fight or flight" mode.

When our bio-computer perceives threats to our well-being, our body releases stress hormones that communicate to our system to divert nerve conductivity, energy, and blood flow from the internal organs to the extremities. The body is prepared for action. Our muscles tense, our heart rate is elevated, our digestive process is muted, and our immune response is compromised so that we can put all resources toward resolving the perceived threat at hand.

If there is no appropriate action that can relieve the perceived threat, our body remains on alert. This can become a chronic condition. Most importantly, it can become a habit that is locked into the body, so that we are, in effect, always "on guard." In this state, we have chronic muscle tension, high blood pressure, limited digestive ability, and limited immune response. In other words, the host of symptoms that we mentioned earlier start to appear as a direct result of stress.

Cells under stress wall themselves off, so that they neither receive nutrients nor release toxins. Our bodies become increasingly toxic. As Lipton says, "Almost every major illness that people acquire has been linked to chronic stress." (p. 152)

Fortunately, most of our stress is self-induced: it is caused by our perceptions of events or by the way we receive and process information. We don't often encounter real predators that we have to fight off (the origin of the "fight/flight" response). We simply perceive events as dangerous and outside our control and feel stress because of how we are looking at things.

When we acknowledge that it is the way that we are looking at things that is causing stress, we see that conversely, if we looked at things differently we could have a different experience.

As Lipton says, "Through self-consciousness, the mind can use the brain to generate 'molecules of emotion' and override the system." (p.132) Our cellular environment is influenced by outer conditions, but is affected even more strongly by the internal environment created by the thoughts and emotions that we maintain as well as the nutrients that we ingest. "Thoughts, the mind's energy, directly influences how the physical brain controls the body's physiology." (p.125)

We create a positive cellular environment by thinking good thoughts, feeling positive emotions, and eating healthy foods. Think of nourishment more broadly as thoughts, feelings, and nutrients: reading good books, watching inspiring movies, holding positive intentions, and eating healthy foods. Also, think of cellular toxins as negative or violent thoughts, feelings, and images, and unhealthy food, water, and air. We create our internal environment by what we take in on all levels.

MEDITATION AND THE RELAXATION RESPONSE

The effect of positive thoughts and feelings along with physical relaxation has been demonstrated by recent meditation research.

According to several studies, meditation elicits "the relaxation response" which is positively correlated with:nn-deeper, slower respirationn-slowed heart rate and lower blood pressuren-improved immune responsen-increased oxygen flow to the brainn-relaxation of chronic muscle tensionn-feelings of inner peace, emotional balance, and well-beingn-improved mental clarity and focus

In other words, meditation produces effects that are opposite to the effects of the fight/flight response.

Longtime meditators have also been shown to have an integrated neuro-physiology that is much less dependent upon exte
al stimuli and much more dependent upon internal self-determination for their internal state of being. For instance, loud noises in the presence of someone deep in meditation have almost no effect on any physiological response, while the meditator's concentration on meditative cues produces the profound effects listed above.

Through practices such as meditation we can learn to be selectively influenced by our internal focus rather than by exte
al stressors. We can feed ourselves positive intentions, thoughts, emotions, and sensations and inhibit the effect of negatives in the outer and inner environment. We can put ourselves in a state conducive to health and happiness. We can create our internal environment and choose only those inputs from the exte
al and internal environment that are supportive of health and well-being for ourselves and others.

Lipton describes how we can either be in a state conducive to health and growth or one of sustained protection. "To fully thrive we must not only eliminate the stressors but also actively seek joyful, loving, fulfilling lives that stimulate growth processes." (p.147)