Mind doesn’t dominate body; it becomes body. –Candace Pert, Molecules of Emotion

For centuries, we’ve known that the mind and the body are tightly linked. Ever had a gut feeling about something? The gut produces 80% of the body’s serotonin, a chemical believed to improve our mood. We’ve also found that the heart releases norepinephrine and dopamine, both brain chemicals. Even our white blood cells produce stress hormones. The brain and the body are so strongly connected that if we’re stressed, our bodies can’t help but suffer.

We’re just like gazelles fleeing from a lion

Imagine a gazelle that just spotted a lion. As the gazelle starts fleeing for its life, its body kicks into high-stress mode. Its heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar go up. Sugar and fat are released. The gazelle’s digestion and the immune systems shut down.

If you’re stressed at work, your body responds the same way as the gazelle’s. Here’s the problem: instead of the short-term stress that ends once the gazelle has escaped, our chronic stress endures for as long as we’re worried about our work, families, and the daily grind. This could be months, years, or even decades of being locked in fight-or-flight mode. Our immune and digestive systems shut down. And over the years, the stress response wears down our bodies and promotes all the chronic diseases so common these days — diabetes, heart disease, strokes, and chronic pain.

My Recommendations for Managing Stress

Some interesting research shows that distress can speed up the aging process by affecting little structures in our cells called telomeres. These structures allow our cells to multiply. Every time a cell multiplies, its telomeres get a little shorter. When telomeres get too short, our cells cannot duplicate, and eventually they die off. We need our cells to multiply in order to heal ourselves and keep our organs in good working order. It turns out that a person who has distress gets shorter telomeres compared to a person who just has stress. The two people may have identical stresses in their lives — the only difference is that one of them finds those stresses overwhelming.

Practice: Mindful Breathing

Here’s a breathing technique I recommend to my patients.

Sit upright in a comfortable position. You will use your right thumb and ring finger to close your nostrils alternately. Put your right ring finger on your left nostril to close the air passage. Breathe in through your right nostril. Pause at the end of a deep inhalation. When you are ready to breathe out, release your index finger and close your right nostril with your thumb. Breathe out fully through your left nostril. Pause. Inhale through your left nostril. Press your left nostril closed with your ring finger and release your thumb and breathe out through your right nostril. Continue for as many minutes as you can spare. Each exhale should be about twice as long as the inhale. This yogic breathing practice can calm you, clear your mind, and give you energy.

The Science-based Approach to Reducing Stress

Harvard’s Herbert Benson was astonished when he studied Tibetan monks who lower their blood pressure and heart rate just by meditating. He even realized that, as a cardiologist, he could sometimes provide better care to his patients by teaching Tibetan Buddhist meditation techniques than by more drastic cardiac interventions. Calm minds lead to healthy bodies.

Heart rate variability (HRV) monitors

My favorite new gadget is a heart rate variability monitor. Our heartbeats aren’t as regular as most of us think – in fact, this variability is actually a sign of good health. The gap between the beats and the pattern of that variation can tell you a lot about your stress level and health. In premature newborns and the elderly, HRV can accurately predict survival.

My HRV monitor attaches to my smartphone and trains me to reach optimal HRV, or ‘the zone’. Being in the zone tells me that my stress system (sympathetic nervous system) and anti-stress system (parasympathetic system) are in optimal balance. If you are inclined towards monitoring your health data, an HRV monitor can be a good investment.

Chew on this

Relax. Try breathing deeply when you’re waiting at the bus stop or for the kids to get in the car. Stay mindful and look forward to less pain and more peace.