Power Up Your Brain by David Perlmutter M. D., Alberto Villoldo Ph.d.
Authors: David Perlmutter M. D., Alberto Villoldo Ph.d.
Ads: Link
sitting quietly for ten minutes every morning and counting his breaths. I told him to ask himself, “Who am I?” and to discard every answer that came to him. One morning, in a sudden moment of insight, Chris realized that the people he worked for were not “demanding” of him or “demeaning” him as he had thought; rather, they simply expected the best from him because they saw a potential that he himself had not yet been able—or ready—to recognize.
My work with Chris then consisted of crafting a map for his future that would guide him to new beliefs, new behaviors, and a new direction in life founded on a deep and trusting relationship with the world.
The Seven Deadly Sins
In early Christian times, many people feared being consumed by the Seven Deadly Sins: wrath, greed, lust, sloth, envy, gluttony, and pride. These instinctual emotions were recognized as being so powerful that Peter Binsfeld, a 16th-century German theologian and bishop, attributed each one of these sins to a particular demon: Satan (wrath), Mammon (greed), Asmodeus (lust), Belphegor (sloth), Leviathan (envy), Beelzebub (gluttony), and Lucifer (pride). He explained his theory in his influential book, De confessionibus maleficarum et sagarum (Of the Confessions of Warlocks and Witches). Had Bishop Binsfeld been not so inclined toward a purely demonic analysis of human error and more versed in the anatomy of the brain, he might have come up with a more scientific message instead of blaming human “sins” on such a hellishly colorful cast of characters. Alas, the study of the brain’s physical anatomy through dissection was not possible at that time because, without preservation, the brain turns to the consistency of a milkshake a few hours after death.
Yet, Bishop Binsfeld, a relative moderate who, unlike other inquisitors, believed children should not be burned at the stake, was not far off the mark when he claimed that demons can tempt humans away from a life of grace and into eternal damnation. You see, while inquisitional wisdom, such as it was, believed that demons seduced humans with lust, greed, gluttony, wrath, envy, sloth, and pride, these human “weaknesses” actually arise from ancient and outdated programs in the limbic brain.
CHAPTER 6
HOW STRESS HARMS
THE BRAIN
From an engineering standpoint, stress can be defined as the amount of resistance a material offers to being reshaped and reformed. When you place a load on a steel beam, the beam resists, keeping the building from collapsing. If the load is great enough, the beam gives way and the structure suffers damage or collapses. Psychological stress is similar. When we can no longer resist forces that are trying to shape and mold us, whether they are our spouse’s behavior or our nation’s economic decline, we break down, becoming anxious and depressed, unable to cope.
SOCIETAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS
Sources of stress are everywhere. The rate of technological change has never been as accelerated as it is today. College students are training for jobs that don’t yet exist. Americans in the workforce today can expect to go through at least three career changes in the course of their professional lives. Even thinking about this is stressful.
And while societal stressors affect our emotional health, biochemical stressors are also wreaking havoc inside our bodies. For example, many pesticides kill insects by destroying mitochondrial function, thus raising the obvious question: could pesticides contribute to the development of Parkinson’s in the general population? The answer has proved to be a resounding yes, with studies, beginning in 2000, showing a significant increase in the risk of developing Parkinson’s from even casual use of pesticides such as rotenone. Joan Stephenson, Ph.D., reported in the widely respected Journal of the American Medical Association, “Handling or applying insecticides also was linked with significantly elevated rates
My work with Chris then consisted of crafting a map for his future that would guide him to new beliefs, new behaviors, and a new direction in life founded on a deep and trusting relationship with the world.
The Seven Deadly Sins
In early Christian times, many people feared being consumed by the Seven Deadly Sins: wrath, greed, lust, sloth, envy, gluttony, and pride. These instinctual emotions were recognized as being so powerful that Peter Binsfeld, a 16th-century German theologian and bishop, attributed each one of these sins to a particular demon: Satan (wrath), Mammon (greed), Asmodeus (lust), Belphegor (sloth), Leviathan (envy), Beelzebub (gluttony), and Lucifer (pride). He explained his theory in his influential book, De confessionibus maleficarum et sagarum (Of the Confessions of Warlocks and Witches). Had Bishop Binsfeld been not so inclined toward a purely demonic analysis of human error and more versed in the anatomy of the brain, he might have come up with a more scientific message instead of blaming human “sins” on such a hellishly colorful cast of characters. Alas, the study of the brain’s physical anatomy through dissection was not possible at that time because, without preservation, the brain turns to the consistency of a milkshake a few hours after death.
Yet, Bishop Binsfeld, a relative moderate who, unlike other inquisitors, believed children should not be burned at the stake, was not far off the mark when he claimed that demons can tempt humans away from a life of grace and into eternal damnation. You see, while inquisitional wisdom, such as it was, believed that demons seduced humans with lust, greed, gluttony, wrath, envy, sloth, and pride, these human “weaknesses” actually arise from ancient and outdated programs in the limbic brain.
CHAPTER 6
HOW STRESS HARMS
THE BRAIN
From an engineering standpoint, stress can be defined as the amount of resistance a material offers to being reshaped and reformed. When you place a load on a steel beam, the beam resists, keeping the building from collapsing. If the load is great enough, the beam gives way and the structure suffers damage or collapses. Psychological stress is similar. When we can no longer resist forces that are trying to shape and mold us, whether they are our spouse’s behavior or our nation’s economic decline, we break down, becoming anxious and depressed, unable to cope.
SOCIETAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS
Sources of stress are everywhere. The rate of technological change has never been as accelerated as it is today. College students are training for jobs that don’t yet exist. Americans in the workforce today can expect to go through at least three career changes in the course of their professional lives. Even thinking about this is stressful.
And while societal stressors affect our emotional health, biochemical stressors are also wreaking havoc inside our bodies. For example, many pesticides kill insects by destroying mitochondrial function, thus raising the obvious question: could pesticides contribute to the development of Parkinson’s in the general population? The answer has proved to be a resounding yes, with studies, beginning in 2000, showing a significant increase in the risk of developing Parkinson’s from even casual use of pesticides such as rotenone. Joan Stephenson, Ph.D., reported in the widely respected Journal of the American Medical Association, “Handling or applying insecticides also was linked with significantly elevated rates
Similar Books
