Mind, Body, Sleep

It is no secret that state of mind plays a critical role in how you feel – not just emotionally but physically.  A person can say of a negative experience, “That made me ill,” and they may not be exaggerating.   Stress affects health:  it is a medical fact that it can kill you.  But while it kills you it makes your life miserable, attacking all parts of your body and making life itself an unhappy experience.

One cancer patient said that when she was treated by a doctor who had a negative attitude and a cold bedside manner, her immune system reacted in a measurably negative way, and when treated by a physician who was empathetic and positive, her immune system reacted by rising to the challenge.  All this happened inside her body because of negative or positive emotional stimuli.

“What can I do about it?”  We feel that we are victims of our circumstances:  that he, she or this or that makes us feel bad.  However, we can have great influence over the way we react to life.  In fact it is possible to completely control the way you feel – not that you would necessarily want to.  Nevertheless you may want to condition yourself to default to a positive reaction rather than a negative one so that you will be feeling good most of the time.

In Dr. Herbert Bensen’s milestone book, “The Relaxation Response,” Dr. Bensen outlines the positive physical effects of a daily meditation practice, which, over time, changes the pathways in the brain so that it reacts with relaxation instead of stress to life’s challenges.  Almost immediately, one can feel the effects of meditation as it moves blood flow away from the stress response centers in the back of the brain – where emotional responses like fear and anger are generated – and into the pre-frontal cortex regions that govern executive functioning and creativity.  It’s like taking the decision-making away from the angry mob and giving it to the cool-headed leader:  the response is more relaxed – and effective.

Dealing with life from a default position of relaxation, stress is greatly reduced.  So where does the sleep piece fit in?

Sleep both affects and is affected by stress.  Inadequate sleep directly affects the brain’s ability to make new connections, impairs basic brain function and actually accelerates brain aging symptoms like memory loss.  Stress, on the other hand, can make it difficult to sleep or reduce the quality of sleep.

Researchers at Tel Aviv University, in a study of student performance, found that test subjects who busied themselves with other things rather than focusing on their emotions while experiencing stress slept much better than those who focused on their emotions.  By keeping themselves busy and thereby avoiding stress, they managed to avoid negative impact on their sleep.  Since their minds were focused, the blood flow in their brains was concentrated forward in the executive functioning areas and away from the emotional and stress centers.

Other research shows that REM sleep greatly enhances memory retention, learning and decision-making capabilities whereas sleep deprivation has the opposite effect.  As these higher brain functions are impaired by lack of sleep, it becomes harder to redirect or focus to avoid stressful negative emotions and their accompanying negative impact on our physical well being.

The stress-sleep relationship is a cycle.  Focusing on stressful thoughts prevents sleep.  Lack of sleep gives you a predetermined tendency to focus on stressful thoughts.  To cultivate a healthier, happier life, avoid stress by redirecting your thoughts and get adequate sleep.  Redirect your negative by clearing your mind through meditation or redirect your negative energy from stressful situations into positive action.

Sleep well and live busy and happy.