monomer/program_peace · Datasets at Hugging Face

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Douyon P Neuroplasticity Your brains superpower zzard Ink Publishing
Panksepp J December The riddle of laughter neural and psychoevolutionary
underpinnings of joy Current Directions in Psychological Science
Chapter Optimal Quality of Life Training
Gleitman H Fridlund A J Reisberg D Psychology th ed W W Norton
and Company
Lorenz K On aggression Methuen Publishing de Waal F The bonobo and
the atheist In search of humanism among the primates WW Norton Company
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body
Chapter Persistent Adaptation to Chronic Stress
Being defeated is often a temporary condition Giving up is what makes it permanent Marilyn vos Savant
b
Our Bodies Compensate in Response to Suboptimal Environments
Although our bodies are capable of finding peace they were never designed to do so Rather
they developed to internalize environmental hardship to ensure the perpetuation of our genes
Harmful experiences cause organisms to promptly deviate from otherwise optimal body plans
restricting growth and mobility while reducing their quality of life The focus of this chapter is to
explain why we retain stress in the form of bodily trauma
From microorganisms to monkeys all life forms respond to stressors with innate biological
programs They are prepared to alter their bodies and life strategies if they encounter adverse
environments To be clear this is a form of nonmutational adaptation that takes place without
natural selection during an individuals lifetime We all have the potential to become highly
stressadapted and this could happen to you in a matter of weeks if you were exposed to
extreme hardship The DNA genotype does not change however the genes that are
expressed change and cause the body phenotype to change Your genes specify the blueprint
and the foundation but the environmental circumstances influence how soundly your structure
is built
The changes bodies make allow conformation to occasional but regularly recurring
environmental pressures faced by the species These are usually stressors Changes can be
either transient or permanent and are examples of a scientific concept called developmental
plasticity How you responded plastically to your environment results in a unique
developmental trajectory For instance if you were a sad child growing up you are more likely
to be a melancholy adult Certain developmental windows close early in life but we retain a
great deal of plasticity even in old age This means that your fundamental nature dominant
submissive calm anxious etc is in the process of being determined even as you read this
Developmental plasticity is any change in the body good or bad mediated by changes in
gene expression as a response to the environment When say gene expression am referring
to the process where the bodys cells determine that a particular protein is needed they find
the gene that encodes the protein from within the DNA in the cells nucleus and use it to build
the protein For example when you exercise consistently genes that encode the proteins
needed for muscle tissue become highly expressed resulting in muscle growth Thats a clear
case of developmental plasticity your body responds to exercise by building new muscle to
make the lifting easier
The same thing happens on a faster scale when your eyes adapt to darkness Cells in the
retina use the rhodopsin gene to build the rhodopsin protein necessary to see better in low
light The production of breast milk involves expressing milk proteins within the breast tissue
that are not expressed before pregnancy Tanning involves the production of the protein
pigment melanin The formation of longterm memories neuroplasticity involves physical
changes to brain cells that necessitate protein expression Each of the genes in the
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body
human genome codes for a protein that performs a specific function within our bodies when
needed Some of these genes and their proteins contribute to anxiety
The Tradeoffs of Adapting to Adversity
Simple singlecell organisms respond to stress excessive heat starvation and abrupt chemical
changes in their environment by tweaking their body plan Molecular cues that they pick up
cause them to express genes that may otherwise remain dormant causing changes within their
cell walls to respond to the demands at hand Even in the simplest organisms like bacteria and
protists these emergency alterations have costs Resources are funneled toward responding to
the crisis rather than to longevity and upkeep Over time this negatively affects the health of
the microbe
Humans also make unhealthy changes in response to bad environments Constant muscle
strain incites protein expression that changes the muscle making it hard inflexible and limiting
its range of motion Shallow breathing becomes persistent because the body uses gene
expression to retune the breathing apparatus to become maximally efficient at shallow
breathing The heart is similarly retuned to beat rapidly Threatsensing areas of the brain are
reinforced after threatening experiences Stress stimulates the expression of a large variety of
different proteins in organs throughout the body and brain that would not otherwise be
expressed These proteins are used in defensive structures defensive maneuvers and the
creation of a defensive mind state The effects of developmental plasticity can be lifelong or
even multigenerational Recent findings have found that many of the negative effects can be
reversed but the longer you wait the harder it will be
These changes might be useful for instance if your environment is filled with predators
But they can produce drastic bodily changes especially if they are triggered early in
development This is easiest to see in nonhuman examples like certain species of horned
beetle The beetles body type can vary sharply based on food availability Visually the two
versions look very different Even many scientists at first assumed these two morphs were from
different species When they dont have enough food developing males become smaller and
weaker and never develop their characteristic horns Their metabolism is reduced and they
utilize sneaky reproductive tactics rather than the direct combat typical of their betterfed
peers This morph is adaptiveit has better reproductive successbut only in environments
where food is scarce and larger beetles cannot feed themselves Outside those environments
a hornless horned beetle has no real chance to compete
A similar thing happens to the water flea Daphnia If exposed to the smell of their natural
predators early in life they develop a large protective covering that helps them resist being
eaten However this armor also makes it harder to move and feed These examples of plasticity
involve fundamental tradeoffs The same kinds of responses occur in mammals although the
effects are usually less obvious Still sometimes you can visually recognize the ravages of stress
in people who are extremely anxious highly traumatized drugaddicted or on the bottom of
the social totem pole What these people share in common is that their stress system has been
turned up too high for too long For the beetle the environmental cue predictive of adversity is
malnutrition For the flea it is the smell of its natural predator Can you guess what ours is It is
distressed breathing Shallow thoracic breathing drives the threat system and a cascade of
harmful cellular modifications that change our physical body plan
Chapter Persistent Adaptation to Chronic Stress
Ze yo
va Qa VA
XY SS
v
illustration A Horned beetle and smaller hornless beetle B Water fleas with and without protective armoring
How Mammals Adapt to Chronic Stress

Douyon P Neuroplasticity Your brains superpower zzard Ink Publishing

Panksepp J December The riddle of laughter neural and psychoevolutionary

underpinnings of joy Current Directions in Psychological Science

Chapter Optimal Quality of Life Training

Gleitman H Fridlund A J Reisberg D Psychology th ed W W Norton

and Company

Lorenz K On aggression Methuen Publishing de Waal F The bonobo and

the atheist In search of humanism among the primates WW Norton Company

PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body

Chapter Persistent Adaptation to Chronic Stress

Being defeated is often a temporary condition Giving up is what makes it permanent Marilyn vos Savant

b

Our Bodies Compensate in Response to Suboptimal Environments

Although our bodies are capable of finding peace they were never designed to do so Rather

they developed to internalize environmental hardship to ensure the perpetuation of our genes

Harmful experiences cause organisms to promptly deviate from otherwise optimal body plans

restricting growth and mobility while reducing their quality of life The focus of this chapter is to

explain why we retain stress in the form of bodily trauma

From microorganisms to monkeys all life forms respond to stressors with innate biological

programs They are prepared to alter their bodies and life strategies if they encounter adverse

environments To be clear this is a form of nonmutational adaptation that takes place without

natural selection during an individuals lifetime We all have the potential to become highly

stressadapted and this could happen to you in a matter of weeks if you were exposed to

extreme hardship The DNA genotype does not change however the genes that are

expressed change and cause the body phenotype to change Your genes specify the blueprint

and the foundation but the environmental circumstances influence how soundly your structure

is built

The changes bodies make allow conformation to occasional but regularly recurring

environmental pressures faced by the species These are usually stressors Changes can be

either transient or permanent and are examples of a scientific concept called developmental

plasticity How you responded plastically to your environment results in a unique

developmental trajectory For instance if you were a sad child growing up you are more likely

to be a melancholy adult Certain developmental windows close early in life but we retain a

great deal of plasticity even in old age This means that your fundamental nature dominant

submissive calm anxious etc is in the process of being determined even as you read this

Developmental plasticity is any change in the body good or bad mediated by changes in

gene expression as a response to the environment When say gene expression am referring

to the process where the bodys cells determine that a particular protein is needed they find

the gene that encodes the protein from within the DNA in the cells nucleus and use it to build

the protein For example when you exercise consistently genes that encode the proteins

needed for muscle tissue become highly expressed resulting in muscle growth Thats a clear

case of developmental plasticity your body responds to exercise by building new muscle to

make the lifting easier

The same thing happens on a faster scale when your eyes adapt to darkness Cells in the

retina use the rhodopsin gene to build the rhodopsin protein necessary to see better in low

light The production of breast milk involves expressing milk proteins within the breast tissue

that are not expressed before pregnancy Tanning involves the production of the protein

pigment melanin The formation of longterm memories neuroplasticity involves physical

changes to brain cells that necessitate protein expression Each of the genes in the

PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body

human genome codes for a protein that performs a specific function within our bodies when

needed Some of these genes and their proteins contribute to anxiety

The Tradeoffs of Adapting to Adversity

Simple singlecell organisms respond to stress excessive heat starvation and abrupt chemical

changes in their environment by tweaking their body plan Molecular cues that they pick up

cause them to express genes that may otherwise remain dormant causing changes within their

cell walls to respond to the demands at hand Even in the simplest organisms like bacteria and

protists these emergency alterations have costs Resources are funneled toward responding to

the crisis rather than to longevity and upkeep Over time this negatively affects the health of

the microbe

Humans also make unhealthy changes in response to bad environments Constant muscle

strain incites protein expression that changes the muscle making it hard inflexible and limiting

its range of motion Shallow breathing becomes persistent because the body uses gene

expression to retune the breathing apparatus to become maximally efficient at shallow

breathing The heart is similarly retuned to beat rapidly Threatsensing areas of the brain are

reinforced after threatening experiences Stress stimulates the expression of a large variety of

different proteins in organs throughout the body and brain that would not otherwise be

expressed These proteins are used in defensive structures defensive maneuvers and the

creation of a defensive mind state The effects of developmental plasticity can be lifelong or

even multigenerational Recent findings have found that many of the negative effects can be

reversed but the longer you wait the harder it will be

These changes might be useful for instance if your environment is filled with predators

But they can produce drastic bodily changes especially if they are triggered early in

development This is easiest to see in nonhuman examples like certain species of horned

beetle The beetles body type can vary sharply based on food availability Visually the two

versions look very different Even many scientists at first assumed these two morphs were from

different species When they dont have enough food developing males become smaller and

weaker and never develop their characteristic horns Their metabolism is reduced and they

utilize sneaky reproductive tactics rather than the direct combat typical of their betterfed

peers This morph is adaptiveit has better reproductive successbut only in environments

where food is scarce and larger beetles cannot feed themselves Outside those environments

a hornless horned beetle has no real chance to compete

A similar thing happens to the water flea Daphnia If exposed to the smell of their natural

predators early in life they develop a large protective covering that helps them resist being

eaten However this armor also makes it harder to move and feed These examples of plasticity

involve fundamental tradeoffs The same kinds of responses occur in mammals although the

effects are usually less obvious Still sometimes you can visually recognize the ravages of stress

in people who are extremely anxious highly traumatized drugaddicted or on the bottom of

the social totem pole What these people share in common is that their stress system has been

turned up too high for too long For the beetle the environmental cue predictive of adversity is

malnutrition For the flea it is the smell of its natural predator Can you guess what ours is It is

distressed breathing Shallow thoracic breathing drives the threat system and a cascade of

harmful cellular modifications that change our physical body plan

Chapter Persistent Adaptation to Chronic Stress

Ze yo

va Qa VA

XY SS

v

illustration A Horned beetle and smaller hornless beetle B Water fleas with and without protective armoring

How Mammals Adapt to Chronic Stress