The UltraMind Solution (18 page)

Why don’t zebras get ulcers? According to Dr. Robert Sapolsky from Stanford, they spend their days grazing in the savanna until a lion comes along, run like crazy until one gets caught, and then they all go back to grazing while the lion has his dinner.

Relax, sudden stress, relax. That’s why they don’t get ulcers.

They don’t live in a state of chronic stress. We do. We stew in our own stress juices—namely cortisol, which kills brain cells, shrinks the brain, and leads to dementia. It also causes crippling depression and other mood disorders.
¹¹

Any chronic psychological or emotional stress damages your brain: a divorce, a fight with your spouse, worrying about finances, or your job. Most of us don’t even know we are stressed—it’s like not realizing someone is standing on your foot until the person gets off.

The good news is that relaxing is good for your brain and can increase BDNF. People who meditate regularly actually have increased brain size and cortical thickness,
¹²
along with better mood and cognitive function.

But drinking a beer, watching TV, or practicing retail therapy in the mall won’t do the trick. You have to learn tools to actively relax such as meditation, yoga, deep breathing, hypnosis, laughter therapy, biofeedback, making love, exercise, and sleep.

All these can reduce stress hormones and burn off excess braindamaging cortisol. Practice at least one of these activities daily. I will teach you how to do that in Part III of this book.

The four top things purchased in American supermarkets are all mood-altering drugs. They are:

Sugar—(see this chapter for effects)

Caffeine—which increases anxiety and depression
¹³

Alcohol—large amounts (four glasses a day or more) can double your risk of dementia.
^14
;
15
Small amounts such as a few glasses a week (but
not
daily) may reduce the risk of dementia by
35 percent.
¹⁶
Alcohol also depletes mood-boosting B vitamins, is a brain toxin, and slows down brain metabolism.
¹⁷

Nicotine—constricts blood flow to the brain; cigarette smoke contains four thousand toxins
¹⁸
and leads to depression.
¹⁹

All these drugs damage your brain. Addiction to any of them
seriously
damages it. The more often you partake of these mood-altering substances, and the longer you use them, the more damage you do. Occasional, moderate use is harmless. Regular use is a guarantee of premature brain aging and mood disorders.

Newer brain-imaging studies such as SPECT scans, which look at brain function and blood flow, clearly show the harmful effect of substance abuse.
²⁰
Dr. Daniel Amen, who has pioneered this work, is responsible for the famous images of “your brain” and “your brain on drugs.” All substances like cocaine, methamphetamines (speed), heroin, inhalants, marijuana, LSD, ecstasy, and more have adverse effects on short-and long-term brain function.

This is a SPECT scan of a normal brain.

Figure 3: SPECT scan of a normal brain

This is a SPECT of a brain on methamphetamines (the same class of drugs as Ritalin).

Figure 4: SPECT scan of a brain on methamphetamines

Any questions?

Eighty-one percent of Americans take at least one medication per week. Are you one of those people who pop an acid-blocking pill for indigestion, a cholesterol-lowering medication, acetaminophen for your joint pain, ibuprofen for your headaches, or a birth-control pill? Or are you getting the flu vaccine every year?

We are a pill-popping society and we believe drugs are safe and have been adequately tested for long-term effects.

Remember that most drugs go on the market after being tested for a few months on only a few hundred to a few thousand people. Long-term effects don’t become apparent, except of course in the long term, after millions have been exposed.

We know that drugs have many
effects.
The ones we like, we call “drug action.” The ones we don’t, we call “side effects.” In fact they are all “effects” of the drugs. And many of these effects damage your brain.