Being stressed about stress is risky

A study examining more than 7000 civil servants concluded that those people who feel that their health is affected "a lot or extremely" by stress have double the risk of having a heart attack or dying from it compared with those who does not feel that stress has an effect on their health. There can be two possible reasons for that.

First and more viable explanation for doctors is that people may have an ability to feel the limits of their bodies and have an innate alarm system that alerts when the owner of that body should stop undertaking more stress. Second, people who are worried about living a stressful life can multiply the burden of stress by constantly focusing on it. This may induce negative feelings and attitudes which indeed may lead to a deteriorating health. At the same time those people who experience stress but are not anxious about its effects on their well-being may have a higher chance of getting away without negative consequences.

In either case the interconnectedness of body and mind seems obvious. Advocates of relaxation and meditation techniques usually emphasize that if you cannot solve a problem in your life, at least try not to focus on it all the time, you are still better off with that. These new findings may prove the validity of this concept.
Read more about the research here.

Epileptic seizures causing orgasmic bliss

Ecstatic epilepsy is a rarely occurring medical condition. Its symptoms are similar to ordinary epileptic seizures but with a twist - this uncommon disease gives people an intense feeling of indescribable bliss. Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky was famous for having this condition and some historians assume that ecstatic seizures were responsible for the divine visions of Joan of Arc as well.

In this state of mind one can experience overwhelming insight, the feeling of hyperreality, tranquility, harmony with the world, and leaving behind their own self for a few moments. These experiences show striking similarities to those undertaken by meditators and psychedelic drug users.

Yesterday the NewScientist reported the story of a young woman who had this condition. She described the general psychological symptoms mentioned above but she also recalled a case when she was trapped into this pleasant state and felt that she could not escape. The feeling of helplessness made her panic. Beginner meditators occasionally have the same experience when the feeling of egolessness reaches them too early and unprepared. Artists who draw inspiration from beauty and sensory impressions can also suffer from the same kind of overexcitement. Does it mean that eternal bliss can be too much of a good thing? If it is so, it seems that those joyful moments that we constantly seek in life can only have value if they do not last too long.