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The STreSS/Aging ConneCTion Whether a person has recently been diagnosed with a medi- cal condition, is suffering from a chronic condition, or would simply like to reduce stress and enhance quality of life, pro- grams offered by the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital can help. Utilizing the "relaxation response," developed by Dr. Herbert Benson ( see profile), the institute offers the state's most com- prehensive repertoire of evidence-based treatments aimed at helping people manage stress. "Anywhere from 60 to 90 percent of visits to doctors today are mind-body stress related," says Benson, who adds that in the United States, these complaints are often inappropriately treated with drugs or surgery. "Optimal healthcare is like a three-legged stool," he explains: medication, surgical inter- vention, and self-care. The institute staff guides patients in self-care, using a variety of methods. Relaxation response, exercise, nutrition, cognitive approaches (learning to direct your thoughts to serve you better), and any belief that pro- motes health, including spirituality, are all utilized in a range of programs, such as the Mind Body Program for Women, and the Stress Management and Resiliency Training (SMART) program, which addresses anxiety, sleep disorders, pain, and a host of other issues. Beyond the walls of the institute, Benson and his team have developed a number of programs: Some, offered at inner-city schools as well as Andover and Exeter, help teenagers deal with stress. Others help employees deal with stress, like the meditation classes Mass General offers its staff. Still others have been tailored to meet the needs of players for the Red Sox and other athletes ( John W. Henry, owner of the Red Sox, offered generous support to establish the institute). A variety of techniques can augment a person's potential, says Benson. "When you break everyday thoughts and leave behind daily worries—it's when runners experience the 'run- ners high' or what other athletes call 'being in the zone.'" He adds: "It's nothing new. Zen warriors used to tap into it." 151 Merrimac St., 617-643-6090; bensonhenryinstitute.org BrAin FiTneSS = BrAin YouTh Many people are used to heading to a local gym for a workout. In that same vein, Dr. Alvaro Pascual-Leone and his team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have designed a revolu- tionary program, called the Brain Fit Club, which develops workout routines aimed at promoting brain health. Tailored for each patient, brain-specific exercises help aging brains stay nimble, injured brains heal faster, and fit brains stay that way. "We used to think that once the brain was developed it was Clinicians in the Brain Fit Club use imaging technologies to measure the function and plasticity of the brain. MIND-BODY PIONEER In the late 1960s, as a young cardiologist at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Herbert Benson started investigating a scientifc basis for the mind-body connection. That led Benson to establish the Mind Body Medical Institute, now the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Benson and his colleagues have pursued important research investigating the links between stress and physical health. Meditation, he found, can help reduce heart rate, metabolism, rate of breathing, and brain activity. Calling the changes "the relaxation response," Benson went on to record them in his best-selling 1975 book by the same name. Since then, an increasing number of studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of meditation and other forms of mind-body medicine to counteract the harmful effects of stress, addressing everything from headaches to infertility. The most recent study, he says, found that people who meditated over a long period of time showed altered expression of the genes involved in the stress response. "What we're doing is demystifying meditation," Benson says. "Some still think of it as woo-woo, but the patients know it [works]." photography by patrice6000/ShutterStock; colm o'molloy (brain Fit) "Anywhere froM 60 to 90 percent of viSitS to doctorS todAy Are Mind-body StreSS relAted." —dr. herbert benson 108 bostoncommon-magazine.com HEALTH Advances in Anti-Aging