Sun Simiao Turns Gremlins into Mogwais
Sun Simiao, often dubbed the "King of Medicine" in Chinese history, was a prominent physician, pharmacist, and author during China's Tang dynasty. He developed a method for maintaining mental health that involved adhering to 11 principles:
minimal thinking (少思), minimal obsession (少念), minimal desire (少欲), minimal activity (少事), minimal speech (少語), minimal laughter (少笑), minimal worry (少愁), minimal happiness (少喜), minimal anger (少怒), minimal love (少好), and minimal evil (少惡).
* "Shao" (少) implies the avoidance of excessiveness.
While advising against excessive anger (少怒), hatred (少惡), or desire (少欲) seems reasonable, one may find the prescription for minimal laughter (少笑), happiness (少喜), and love (少好) puzzling. An old Chinese saying, "A laugh makes one younger, while anger makes one older" (一笑一少 一怒一老), even indicates the homophonic relationship between laugh and younger, and anger and older in Chinese.
Dr. Anna Lembke, currently serving as the Medical Director of Addiction Medicine at Stanford University, is a leading figure in the contemporary field of addiction medicine, also author of the best-selling book "Dopamine Nation". She has provided valuable insights into neuroadaptation. According to Dr. Lembke, pleasure and pain are processed in the same part of the brain, functioning like opposite sides of a balance. Every pleasure has a cost, and that cost is pain. When we experience pleasure, such as when eating a piece of chocolate, our brain works diligently to restore homeostasis. It does so not just by leveling the balance but by tipping it an equal and opposite amount to the side of pain. This after-effect or comedown can be visualized as neuroadaptation gremlins hopping onto the pain side of the balance to level it.
""If you imagine that in your brain there is a teeter-totter like in a kids' playground, that teeter-totter will tip to one side when we experience pleasure, and the opposite side when we experience pain. But no sooner has that balance tipped to the side of pleasure, for example when I eat a piece of chocolate, then my brain will work very hard to restore a level balance or what neuroscientists call homeostasis. And it does that not just by bringing the balance level again but first by tipping it an equal and opposite amount to the to the side of pain, that is the after-effect, the come-down. I imagine that as these neuroadaptation gremlins hopping on the pain side of the balance to bring it level again.
Now, if we wait long enough, the gremlins hop off and homeostasis is restored as we go back to our baseline tonic level of dopamine firing. But if we continue to ingest addictive substances or behaviours over very long periods of time, we essentially accumulate so many gremlins on the pain side of our balance that we are in a chronic dopamine deficit state, and that is essentially where we get when we've crossed over into the disease of addiction."
- Dr. Anna Lembke, ABC podcast, All in the Mind
Listen: www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/allinthemind/pleasure-pain-dopamine-and-the-brain/14043764
Over time, if we continually indulge in addictive substances or behaviors, we accumulate so many gremlins on the pain side of our balance that we find ourselves in a chronic dopamine deficit state, essentially crossing over into the realm of addiction.
Dr. Lembke advises waiting until the gremlins hop off and homeostasis is restored. After four weeks without feeding these gremlins, our body's normal equilibrium can return to a neutral state. By following Sun Simiao's method of minimal laughter (少笑), happiness (少喜), and love (少好), we can effectively manage these gremlins.
For instance, patients with high blood pressure are encouraged to follow a low-sodium diet in hospitals. While this may initially prove challenging due to their preference for stimulating flavors, they gradually adapt over a month, finding the taste of their family’s meals or restaurant food too salty.
"We are craving because we are in a dopamine deficit state, it's the gremlins jumping up and down on the pain side of the balance. But if we can just wait a few more moments, they will get off, homeostasis will be restored and that feeling will pass. (.....)
30 days is about the minimum amount of time it takes for the brain to restore baseline dopamine firing. Another way of saying this is 30 days is about the minimum amount of time it takes for t(he gremlins to hop off the pain side of the balance so that homeostasis or balance can be restored.
- Dr. Anna Lembke, ABC podcast, All in the Mind
It is essential to lessen the pursuit of pleasure in our daily lives and spend more time in a more neutral state. This is where the concept of meditation comes into play. By quietly observing ourselves and allowing both hatred and affection, joy and pain, to subside peacefully, we practice meditation. Minimizing behaviors that instantly trigger dopamine secretion, such as using a cell phone, drinking alcohol, watching Netflix, or eating a chocolate bar, is also part of this meditative practice. In terms of traditional medicine, moderation- "Zhong Yong" (中庸) is what matters at the end.
It is advisable to take a moment to let everything go and wait patiently for tranquility to return. This is the essence of Sun Simiao's method and the neuroadaptation proposed by Dr. Lembke, representing a balance between ancient wisdom and modern neuroscience.
Why don't you put down your phone now, and do nothing, dopamine free 4 weeks?
耳必遠聽 目必大視 鼻必廣嗅 口必深味, 耳目鼻口之用 深遠廣大則 精神氣血 生也, 淺近狹小則 精神氣血耗也 - 東醫壽世保元
귀는 먼 소리를 듣고, 눈은 큰 것을 보고, 코는 넓은 냄새를 맡고, 입은 깊고 확실함을 맛본다. 이목비구를 본래대로 분화하면 정신기혈이 고양되나, 분화를 게을리 하면 정신기혈이 소모된다.
- 동의수세보원(장부론)
The ears must listen far, the eyes must see largely, the nose must smell widely, and the mouth must taste deeply. Using your senses (ears, eyes, nose, and mouth) to perceive the vastness, distance, and depth of things, will foster vitality, spirit, and energy. However, if your perception is shallow, close, and narrow, it will drain your vitality, spirit, and energy. - Lee Jema