The Medical Science Background

The body's autonomic nervous system has two branches.

The Stress Response (or sympathetic nervous system) has the job of protecting us when we're in danger. It mobilizes energy, using adrenaline and other stress hormones, to produce states of vigilance, alarm, freeze, fight, or flight. It's job, basically, is to find out what's wrong and do something about it.

The Relaxation Response (or parasympathetic nervous system) does all the basic housekeeping chores, like digestion and circulation. It builds and stores energy, using digestive, growth, and repair hormones, producing states of peace and calm.

There are variations and degrees of each. The Stress Response is not just fight or flight, but ranges from a vague uneasiness to breath-holding vigilance to all out bear-chasing-us-through-the-woods panic. The Relaxation Response ranges from ease to serenity to bliss. When one turns up, it turns the other one down.

So far, so good, but here comes the problem. The Relaxation Response is supposed to be on most of the time, with the Stress Response in reserve for emergencies. It happens, however, that if we spend long periods of time in stressful surroundings, the Stress Response becomes habitual, and we end up living in a chronic low-grade stress response (acronym: the Clogster), in a state of vigilance, worry, irritability, or guilt ("something somewhere is wrong, I can feel it").

Originally, the perception of trouble activated the Stress Response; but now, the habitually turned on Stress Response activates the perception of trouble, whether there's any there or not. (See bear --> excitement) has become (chronic excitement --> see bears everywhere). The mind dwells on an endless parade of problems, it can be hard to get to sleep at night, we get very tired, and we overeat (because eating any kind of food turns on the digestive system, a part of the Relaxation Response, and this tends to turn down the Stress Response and calm the worried mind. And because the need to escape worry and fear will overwhelm will power every time, if we have no other way to calm ourselves, then come hell or high water or the best of resolutions, we will not be able to stop ourselves from eating).

When our energy level is high, we can override the stresses. But as our energy level falls, as it usually does through the day, we become easier prey for worries and the quick emotional responses. One minute we're calm, patient, friendly, and the next minute we're snapping at somebody, or we're fearful and worried, and we wonder what happened to us; who are we, anyway?

This is not because we're weak or bad people. We're as strong and good as anyone, and we want and deserve peace and love and joy as much as anyone. But when the Stress Response is on and our brains are full of adrenaline, like a lighthouse they are supposed to scan everything for danger. That's their job. They always do that and they can't think for very long in any other way. "What's wrong?" says the brain, about anything and everything. "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with these people? What's wrong with the world?"

When this goes on for too long, we get worn out and start to get sick a lot, so from a medical point of view, it's really important that we learn to turn down the Stress Response by lowering tension and raising energy.

As we do, medical studies show, this is how our bodies respond:

• muscles relax; posture is lifted and balanced

• breathing is deep and free and easy

• heartbeat slows; blood pressure drops

• stress hormones decrease; growth & repair hormones increase

• digestive system increases efficiency

• right and left hemispheres of the brain tend to synchronize

• brain waves drop toward alpha and theta

• brain waves tend to entrain with heartbeat, pulse, and breath, so the whole body moves into sync with itself

• face has a pleasant expression; eyes soften

• movements are fluid and graceful

• mind is calm or creative; attitude is positive

Further medical studies show that increasing relaxation decreases our chance of or the severity of:

If any of these run in you or your family, you may have more than a passing interest in lowering tension and raising energy.

And as if all this weren't enough, ponder the implications of this:
sexual arousal is mediated by the relaxation response, and as the stress response rises, sexual arousal falls.

The Medical Benefits of Laughter

The muscles -- especially the abs, diaphragm, and shoulders get a workout and release tension. Afterward they, and all the other muscles, too, are more relaxed than before the laughter.

The muscles around the eyes squeeze drops out of the tear glands, which carry away bio-chemicals associated with depression in the brain, a big reason why laughter (and crying) lift our mood.

The lungs expel stale air. Oxygen replaces carbon dioxide. Heart rate and blood pressure rise slightly, and then, after the laughter, fall below the pre-laughter levels.

The adrenal glands release catecholamines, which stimulate the nervous system, causing greater cerebral functioning and mental alertness.

The body produces endorphins, which kill pain and produce a natural high.

Whether the laughter is real or faked doesn't matter to the body, so we can receive all these benefits by making ourselves laugh (which often seems funny in itself and we start really laughing).

Sometimes we notice that we're not breathing too well, and we take a few deep breaths, but then we forget and the breath returns to shallow and hesitant. That's because the breathing muscles are locked up, and there is no better way to unlock the breathing muscles than to laugh.

Start the day with a good laugh for several minutes (e.g., at "my plans for perfection and the righteousness of all my opinions about everything"), and the body has a natural stimulation and high, and there's not so much need for caffeine.

Natural Breath

The brain weighs 2% of the total body weight but uses over 20% of the oxygen, so if there's oxygen deprivation, the brain is the first to know about it. The result is worried thoughts, not about oxygen, but about whatever is on our minds at the time: the job, the family, the state of the world. One good breath can often scatter worried thoughts and return us to calm and sanity.

No two breaths are just alike, and there is no "right" or "correct" way to breathe, but here is some information about general tendencies of breathing.

1. A high breath (chest expands, shoulders rise) energizes and excites. A low breath (belly expands, and also the lower sides, lower back, and pelvic floor; the whole abdomen expanding like a balloon) calms, soothes, and relaxes. A full breath (belly expands first and then the chest) both relaxes and energizes. High is good for exercise and other exertions, but otherwise is a great cause of anxiety. Full is good for work-time. Low is the one for peace of mind.

2. Inhalation occurs when the diaphragm tenses and flattens down (massaging the abdominal organs), exhalation when it relaxes and rises back up into its dome shape. Inhalation should feel like an easy glide, and exhalation an utterly effortless letting go.

3. The slower the tempo, the more likely we are to relax. Medical studies show that the rhythms of breath, heartbeat, and brain waves tend to synchronize, and thus by slowing and deepening the breath, we can calm both the heartbeat and brain activity. The average number of breaths per minute for men is 12-14, for women 14-15. Many of us breathe even more quickly, and even the average is not very restful. 8-10 breaths a minute is a nice, easy tempo, and in states of deep meditation, people will sometimes breathe only 3 or 4 big, low breaths per minute, which is very restful.

4. At the end of each exhalation, there's a rest. It may last a second or a few seconds, depending on the body's need for oxygen. Let it be; the body will breathe again when it needs to. Some say that this rest is the body's moment of deepest relaxation.

Thus, how we want to breathe depends on our circumstances and our goals. But it's nice to know that we can influence our mood and attitude in such a natural way