Breaking the Train of Everyday Thinking

ant to be more productive? Stop working. WNot permanently, of course. As little as 10 minutes a day will do, but during that time, you need to “break the train of everyday thinking,” according to Herbert Benson, MD, founder of The Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine (BHI). He will explain how during “The Relaxation Response: How to Counteract the Harmful Effects of Stress,” a Special Webinar Series webinar to be held at 12:30 p.m. on April 8, 2015. To register, click here. Stress is a physiological response to change that alerts the “fight- Herbert Benson, MD or-flight” response in the brain. It can be unhealthy and, in fact, is responsible for scores of illnesses, costing the economy hundreds of What happens in the mind affects the billions of dollars a year, according to Benson. body. But stress can also be good. Athletes, artists, and other top In fact, mental stress plays a role in a performers learn to channel majority of physical illnesses, as roughly “eustress,” or positive stress, 60 to 90 percent of doctor’s visits are for which helps them perform to conditions related to stress. their best potential, to think more clearly, and to be more But stress can be good, too. Herbert creative. Benson, MD, a pioneer in mind-body The seemingly medicine and one of the first Western contradictory impact of stress physicians to bring spirituality and healing into medicine, will explain how to control was discovered more than a century ago by Robert Yerkes stress to lead a healthier life, and be more Yerkes-Dodson Curve productive and creative. and John Dodson, who found that as stress increases, so does performance and proficiency, but only to a certain point, and beyond that point it has a negative impact. They Click here to register for created the Yerkes-Dodson curve to illustrate the impact of stress. The Relaxation Response: How to The key to suppressing bad stress is what he calls the “relaxation Counteract the Harmful Effects of response,” which can be used to prevent stress from affecting a person’s Stress health. While it will not be covered in his presentation, Benson also 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. developed the “breakout principle,” which converts stress into a Wednesday, April 8, 2015 positive force, improving a person’s ability to think and perform to his or her best ability. Meditation, Not Medication The Breakout Principle Different people use different Benson sees health and well-being techniques, including diaphragmatic breathing, repetitive prayer, qi gong, tai While the relaxation response can as a three-legged stool, with self-care chi, yoga, progressive muscle relaxation, relieve stress, the “breakout principle” complementing the use of medication uses a four-step process to enable and surgery. jogging, and even knitting. Exercising a person to use stress to enhance His epiphany about taking or listening to music can also work. performance. advantage of the mind-body connection Whether you’re repeating “Om” or came in the late 1960s, when a group “Shalom,” or reciting the “Hail Mary,” Step One. Get stressed. of practitioners of Transcendental the key is to disconnect yourself from Those who use the breakout principle Meditation asked him to study their your source of stress. start by pushing themselves to the blood pressure, because they believed “The relaxation response evokes top of the Yerkes-Dodson curve. meditation had lowered it. changes in your genes’ activity and They work hard at something or think As a cardiologist, Benson was changes in your genes’ expression,” about a stressful situation, such as skeptical, but, after much deliberation, Benson says. “It creates immediate a personal conflict with a boss or he consented—and found that their results, but genetic changes build with an employee. Stress can result from blood pressure was lower. He also time.” work, family issues, financial problems, found that meditation reduced a Benson’s research has found or other sources. person’s metabolism, rate of breathing, that relieving stress can help prevent or reduce anxiety, depression, Signs that you’re at or close to the top heart rate, and brain activity. hypertension, stroke, heart attacks, of the Yerkes-Dodson curve: Coincidentally, in the same room at Harvard Medical School where and all forms of pain. The relaxation • Unpleasant feelings, such as response can provide relief from anxiety, fearfulness, anger, or Walter B. Cannon discovered the body’s “fight-or-flight” response 50 insomnia, headaches, bowel problems, boredom and menstrual cramps. According to • You feel like procrastinating years earlier, Benson and co-researcher Robert Keith Wallace developed a a soon-to-be-published study, patients • You develop physical symptoms, who use the stress management such as a headache method for coping with stress called the “relaxation response,” which is a form programs at BHI have been able to Once you exhibit any of these of meditation. reduce their medical usage by more symptoms, you’re stressed out Their discovery led to the founding than 40 percent. enough to continue. of the BHI. Benson has also written or Benson believes that if his methods co-authored 12 books and more than for reducing and controlling stress Step Two. Get unstressed. 190 articles on the relaxation response were more widely used, they could Do something completely detached help control the costs of healthcare and from whatever is causing your stress, and related topics, and more than five million copies of his books have been increase productivity. as you would when you use the He would also like to see his printed in various languages. relaxation response. methods introduced into school “By bringing the brain to the height of systems, so children could learn to deal The Relaxation Response activity and then suddenly bringing it with stress, as even schoolchildren are into a passive, relaxed state,” Benson Benson suggests that by learning to use not too young to “break the train of says, “much higher neurological the relaxation response as part of a daily everyday thinking.” n performance can be achieved.” routine, a person can be healthier and feel better. Step Three. Break out. Only two things are necessary Click here to register for Re-immerse yourself in what you need to create the relaxation response––a to do and prepare to be insightful and The Relaxation Response: How to passive setting and the repetition of a productive. Counteract the Harmful Effects of sound, word, phrase, prayer, or Stress movement. It doesn’t matter how Step Four. Carry on. 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. you’re dressed or even whether there is Return to your new normal state with Wednesday, April 8, 2015 background noise. your self-confidence intact.

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