My fiancé recently came across an article in the New York Times and suggested it would make a good blog post. As usual, he is right.
“Brain is a Co-Conspirator in a Vicious Stress Loop” by Natalie Angier (New York Times, August 17, 2009) discusses how not only can stress affect us physiologically (raising blood pressure, weakening the immune system, increasing depression, etc.), but stress can also cause our brain to rewire in such a way that we recreate that stress and cause it to persist.
Nuno Sousa and his colleagues of the Life and Sciences Health Institute at the University of Minho in Portugal reported earlier this summer on experiments working with “stressed” rats. These rats were made stressed by undergoing electric shocks, being dunked under water, or put in the same cage with dominant rats. Like the non-stressed rats, these rats were taught how to push a lever to get food. However, unlike the non-stressed rats who knew when to stop pressing the lever and would do other activities, the stressed rats would keep doing it over and over in a compulsive sort of way and without any intention of eating the food. The stressed rats would naturally fall into patterns of familiar routines and rote responses.
Neurobiologists studying the brain’s response to stress have found that parts of the brain associated with decision-making can actually atrophy under stress while other areas associated with habitual behaviors can become overgrown. According to Robert Sapolsky, a neurobiologist at Stanford School of Medicine, these studies with the stressed rats show us a “great model for understanding why we end up in a rut, and then dig ourselves deeper and deeper into a rut.”
So what does all of this have to do with Massage Therapy of Boston? Well, recently, my fiancé and I were discussing how my business has been a touch slow in August. I’ve seen lots of clients go on vacation and others who are taking a break from their exercise routines and just sort of taking it easy. This article puts a very interesting perspective on the need for vacation and how essential it is for recharging the brain. The brain is an extremely resilient organ. Just as parts of the brain can atrophy and overgrow, so can those same areas resprout and retreat. Going on vacation is an essential means of rewiring and remodeling our brains! While we miss seeing you at Massage Therapy of Boston, enjoy your vacation! Take a break from the stressors of your life and let that break re-invigorate you and your brain!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/science/18angier.html?_r=1