Genes - you have more control than you think
What I like about Ethan Kross, through his book Chatter, is his experience with his chatter. Chatter by his definition is our inner voice or voice in our head which consists of cyclical negative thoughts and emotions. The book is about him, as an experimental psychologist and neuroscientist using his research on himself, working through his existential crisis that occurred one fateful day. The day his world turned upside down.
It was after he released his research findings on social pain, on TV, that he had a direct threat made on his and his family’s life. It was a threat sent to him via an anonymous letter. Kross made a police report and did everything ‘logically’ possible, but his emotions and imagination did otherwise. His chatter went into hyperdrive.
It wasn’t just research for Kross anymore. Which makes the book very readable and relatable. It has more than just research data. Kross made it real by talking about his experience and relating it to his work. Kross’s research found that the brain processes social pain the same way it does physical pain.
Last week’s article, “say your name”, was about how Kross snapped himself out of his mental fog in the days after he received the anonymous letter. He wasn’t eating, sleeping, or engaging with the world or his family. His limbic system, which looks out for our safety, was on high alert. He kept vigil through the nights with a bat in his hand looking out the window for any suspicious person.
The anonymous letter had triggered a threat (stress) response in Kross and vivid chatter in his brain. We have all been there! When an action, outcome, or event derails us, making our chatter very dark very fast. And it can take a while to gain distance and return to ‘normality’. “Say your name” was how Kross regains control of his chatter.
Because nothing in his environment had changed. The police had not apprehended anyone. They told him that anonymous letters were typically empty threats. But Kross didn’t think so. It was personal for him. I would think that too. He didn’t employ personal bodyguards for himself and his family, which he considered. ‘Everything’ was still the same. What changed was his chatter!
This week, as promised last week, I want to talk about the impact of chatter on our genes, something that I wholeheartedly believe in. Kross writes succinctly about this, and I summarise it below.
We can create a chronic psychological stress response just by thinking. And when our chatter fuels that stress it can be devastating to our health. When our stress or panic response is prolonged, the gradual psychological erosion it causes can harm more than our ability to fight sickness and keep our body running smoothly. It can change the way our DNA influences our health!
New research data shows that just because we have a certain type of gene, does not mean that it will affect us. What determines whether we succumb to those genes is whether those genes are turned on or off. Kross uses the analogy of a piano. Our DNA is like a piano buried deep in our cells. The keys on the piano are our genes and some are pressed more regularly and some never. That is our gene expression – the genetic recital within our cells that plays a role in how our body and brain work.
Our inner voice likes to tickle our genetic ivories and the way we talk to ourselves can influence which keys get played!
Having chatter-fuelled chronic threat influences how genes are expressed. Research by UCLA’s Steve Cole shows that inflammation genes are expressed more strongly in people who experience chronic threat whether it is hypothetical or not. Because the brain processes social threat the same as physical threat.
When our chatter activates our threat system frequently over time, they trigger the expression of inflammation genes which protect us in the short term but cause harm in the long term. At the same time, cells carrying out normal daily functions of fighting off viral pathogens are suppressed, opening the way for infection and illness.
And there you have it, the cause and effect of our chatter!
Much food for thought.
As always, you can reach me at yoga@yoganesadurai.com