News - The Chopra Foundation

Sleep: A mystery at the crossroads of neuroscience (Part 1)

By Deepak Chopra, M.D., FACP, P. Murali Doraiswamy, MBBS, FRCP, Professor of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina

Sleep crops up in unexpected places medically, as in the recent finding that for people suffering from bouts of depression, irregular sleep is often the first sign of an attack, and conversely, getting a good night’s sleep can help prevent the onset of depression. But the importance of sleep has become more global in recent years, involving it in obesity, for example, where bad sleep throws off the hormonal balance that tells the body when it’s hungry. (more…)

The Best New Year’s Resolution: Be Good To Your Genes

By Deepak Chopra, MD and Rudolph Tanzi, Ph.D.

Image: hiddenlighthouse

The New Year occasions all kinds of resolutions (which only 8% of people keep, according to Forbes magazine), but almost no one, I imagine, resolves to improve the function of their genes. The fact that this is even possible sounds mystifying, since the specific genes you’re born with remain the same throughout your lifetime (except in certain cells as we age, e.g. in tumors). But now geneticists increasingly appreciate that the output of our genes varies considerably, not just from year to year but from minute to minute. The genetic read-out of two identical twins is quite similar at birth, but looks very different by age seventy. This understanding, still in its infancy, belongs to a growing field known as epigenetics. In the coming years research projects are set to reveal just how deeply a person can affect the activity of their individual genome – the findings so far are very promising. (more…)

What Is Consciousness & Where Is It?

[youtube]http://youtu.be/vXC0RUH1axE[/youtube]

What is the fundamental activity in the universe? Although neuroscience has made enormous progress in looking at the brain correlates of subjective and objective experience, there is still no theory on how we experience mental or perceptual reality.

This is known as the “hard problem” in consciousness research.

• Is there a scientifically viable way to explain consciousness?
• Does mainstream science have the methodologies to address this question?
• How do we explain intention, insight, intuition, imagination, creativity, or free will?
• Is free will an illusion?
• Are there states of consciousness that go beyond waking, dreaming and sleeping?

Wisdom traditions speak of higher states of consciousness such as soul consciousness, cosmic consciousness, divine consciousness, and unity consciousness. Is there a way of understanding these states or validating them scientifically? Is our current science which is based on a subject/object split equipped to answer these mysteries? What is the nature of the universe? What is the of nature awareness that makes it possible for us to experience the universe?

Deepak is addressing in this talk these questions as well as others cosmic riddles.

A Better Answer to “Who Am I?”

By Deepak Chopra, MD, FACP

image credit: h.koppdelaney

It’s strange that we use the word “I” more often in a day than any other word except “a” and “the” without really knowing who “I” is. Ancient thinkers, both East and West, considered the self to be the highest mystery. The ultimate question, then, is “Who am I?” For most people, however, the question isn’t something they dwell on. But think of the bedtime prayer that every child learns, the one that begins “Now I lay me down to sleep.”

When you get to the phrase “if I should die before I wake,” you’ve hit upon something incredibly urgent. Your “I” arrived on the scene when you were born, but will “I” disappear when you die? In the Indian tradition nothing is more urgent than to reverse the wording. “If I wake before I die” is all-important. It expresses the state of enlightenment, and with it the assurance that “I” is more permanent than death.

The issue isn’t just Indian but universal. Let’s see if we can get the experience of intellectual enlightenment right this minute, simply by redefining “I.”

The casual belief that “I” is very easy to define comes from everyday life. Everyone uses the word all the time, which gives a false sense of security. “I” is the first person, the experiencer. We hang all kinds of labels on it: I am Indian, a doctor, a male, a father, husband, and brother. But in times of personal crisis, such as severe grief or depression, these labels become hollow. “I” feels desolate and alone, owning nothing but a handful of ashes. (more…)

Health Tip: Get checked for Colon Cancer!

By Sanjiv Chopra, M.D., MACP, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Frank J. Domino, M.D., Professor of Family Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School

Colon cancer is the 3^rd most common cancer in men and women in the US, and the 3^rd in causing cancer death. This last statistic is sad, as colon cancer screening works; it prevents death from cancer, and is the most effective of all screening tests. Colon cancer screening should be initiated at age 50 years in both men and women.

Colonoscopy is the most effective method to address colon cancer. The bowel is prepared by taking some liquid and laxative to cleanse the colon. The patient is given gentle sedation administered intravenously, a fiber optic scope is inserted and the entire colon (large intestine) is examined thoroughly. It is usually performed by an experienced gastroenterologist. Another form of screening, called the “FIT” test, has the patient collect a small amount of stool. If positive, it could signal bleeding from a polyp or a cancer, and leads to a colonoscopy.

(more…)