We have all experienced the sequence: a traumatic event, and the next thing we know, we're sick.
Experts have long postulated a connection with the immune system, and this new study shows what that connection is. Stress brings about the production of a neuropeptide called NPY, which hinders the effective call to arms of the immune systems foot soldiers through the lymphatic system.
Scientists see this as an opportunity to develop new drugs; I promote it is an opportunity to avoid the ill consequences of daily, unrelenting stress on our physical selves by learning more about supporting our immune system, both nutritionally and through meditation.
Researchers Wallace and Benson discovered that meditation causes measurable physical changes. “There is a reduction in oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide elimination and the rate and volume of respiration; a slight increase in the acidity of the arterial blood; a marked decrease in the blood-lactate level; a slowing of the heartbeat; a considerable increase in skin resistance; and an electroencephalogram pattern of intensification of slow alpha waves with occasional theta-wave activity” (Wallace & Benson, 1973, p. 266).
