The Biology of Belief Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter, & Miracles by Bruce H. Lipton

Author:Bruce H. Lipton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Adobe Acrobat 9.0 Paper Capture Plug-in
Published: 2008-11-24T05:00:00+00:00

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THE CHEMISTRY OF SURVIVAL 271 as in the neurological response, similar physiological changes are occurring in the body in response to the presence of these chemicals that are being released. The slow-track chemicals are made through the hypothalamus-pituitary peripheral gland axis, and their activity takes minutes or hours to transpire. One of the ways to think of the two different responses is that the first is more immediate and direct, like the express lanes on an interstate. The second involves more “exit” and “entrance” ramps and consequently is akin to the local lanes. They both get us to Survival City, but one (relatively speaking) does it much faster: Figure 8.2 illustrates the slow track. Stress Defined When we are living in survival mode, our neocortex becomes attuned to functioning as a kind of radar sweeping the environment. When it perceives a threat, we are immediately on alert. We move into a heightened state of antici pation (or even expectation) that something potentially harmful could (or will) happen. Unlike most other vertebrates, we can signal this response by our reac tion to the environment or just by expectation, through thought alone. Whenever we are in the presence of a stressor or we anticipate being in the presence of one, and any of our normal levels (blood pressure, heart rate, pupil dilation, chemical balance, and the like) change, we're experiencing stress. As we can imagine, based on our understanding of homeostasis and the body's innate desire to return to a state of order, the body will always react in response to that stress by releasing high amounts of adrenaline and glucocorticoids. All the changes in the chemical balance in the body during the stress response are due to the release of adrenaline and glucocorticoids from our adrenal glands. Humans share this response with many other life forms, but because of our enlarged brains with their huge memory bank (that is, because we're so smart) and our evolved social structures, we experience very different types of stress inducing stimuli, environments, and behavioral responses. As humans, we're subject to three categories of stress: physical, chemical, and emotional! psychological.

272 EVOLVE your BRAIN • Physical stress includes events like a car accident, a fall, an injury due to overexertion, and exposure to harsh environmental conditions such as extreme cold or heat, lack of sleep, and lack of food or water. • Chemical stresses are an increasing concern for many people today. In our environment, we are exposed to a host of toxins, allergens (includ ing certain foods), pollutants, and many other chemical stresses. • Emotional/psychological stresses include concerns about time, money, career, and loss of a loved one. An important thing to remember is that when we are exposed to any of the three categories of stress, the body will respond to each type in the exact same fashion as with an autonomic reaction (see chapter 3 for more on the autonomic nervous system). For the most part, all other species, except for some social primates,

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