You feel what you think

I read an interesting research today. It was selected the 23rd important discovery of 2005 by Discover. The magazine has been sitting on th shelf for almost a year. Someone happened to be reading it and left it open at that page, when I was making a chocolate drink.

A team of neuroscientis in University of Michigan measured the so-called "placebo-related brain chemistry" the first time in history. They injected a salt solution into the jaws of 14 men to produce an ache. Then each of them was given a placebo, which is an injection said to be an experimental pain medication. Nine of the men said the pain subsided.

Then, the researcher scanned the brain activity of these people with positron emission tomography scanning. It turns out that those nine people have increased activity in parts of the brain that modulates pain. Radioactive trace also showed that binding occurred at receptors for endophins, naturally occuring pain-fighting sustances.

The conclusion from the neuroscientists: "If somebody believes something will work, that positive expectation by itself, through different connections in the brain, activates mechanisms that suppress pain."

So, now we know that there is a biochemical basis of hope.

If you are in difficult time, think positive. You don't know what the brain is doing, but it can make you go through the difficult time easlier. If you feel you are restricted by the environment, do something to make the environment favorable to you. In another word, make yourself comfortable.

Look around. Hope may be right at your shoulder. You feel what you think after all.

CAPE ANN, MA; Nov 7, 2004