xinetr's review against another edition
4.0
This audiobook may turn into a 5-star (=life-changing for me) but for now I guess I was hoping it would tell me more about how to *change* my subconscious mind in order to improve my physical body. Of course that isn't what the title actually says. One observable proof of the title is that folks with multiple personality disorders actually have differences in their body for each personality (one persona may be near-sighted while another is far-sighted and one may have extreme allergies while another is fine). Pert is a scientist famous at first for discovering some receptors and it seemed like a lot of this book was talking about neuropeptides and how every cell on your body has (receptors for) them. While these chemicals affect how your body feels, they seem to be generated by your consciousness. I also found it interesting that she says every cell/receptor knows how many times it has been "hit," so it also knows it has been over- or under-stimulated. That's why she says drug users are actually narrowing their responsiveness. She said a large percentage of people on dialysis got there from overuse of sugar. Overuse of sugar is the aspect of my life I have got to change! Maybe I will learn this in my next read, _The Gift of Our Compulsions._
Other interesting claims in the book. She said cancer is almost entirely a result of environmental pollutants. She said how ironic it was that foods and drugs supposedly have to go through months of rigorous testing, but you can put anything you want in a milk carton liner, or in carpet glue that thousands of people in an office building will breathe for months.
Like Laurel Mellin, she also said our brains are wired for joy, and talked about some ways to increase this including sex (studies of monogamous behavior in other animals or intimacy after disasters--human relationships formed after disasters seem to be very long-lasting), but also connecting with Nature--she mentioned that the brain & body are about 30,000 years old and at the time they evolved people lived naturally-- eating, exercising, and thinking in nature. This thinking in nature part I think will be explained more in another book I am currently reading, _The Open-Focus Brain_.
Other interesting claims in the book. She said cancer is almost entirely a result of environmental pollutants. She said how ironic it was that foods and drugs supposedly have to go through months of rigorous testing, but you can put anything you want in a milk carton liner, or in carpet glue that thousands of people in an office building will breathe for months.
Like Laurel Mellin, she also said our brains are wired for joy, and talked about some ways to increase this including sex (studies of monogamous behavior in other animals or intimacy after disasters--human relationships formed after disasters seem to be very long-lasting), but also connecting with Nature--she mentioned that the brain & body are about 30,000 years old and at the time they evolved people lived naturally-- eating, exercising, and thinking in nature. This thinking in nature part I think will be explained more in another book I am currently reading, _The Open-Focus Brain_.
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