Shortly after the genetic testing service, 23andMe, launched, I signed up. A recent podcast ad mentioned one condition the company tests for that I had missed: misophonia. Having suffered from this psychological phenomenon my entire life, I didn't realize 23andme had pinpointed a predisposition.
Turns out I'm at average risk for misophonia, reminding me once again that while genes are destiny, as Siddhartha Mukherjee noted, they are not the only factor in your future (as Mukherjee also noticed). Yet this raises an interesting question: If I knew I was genetically predisposed for misophonia, would this increase the likelihood I'd suffer from it?
Mind over matter is a longtime expression suggesting that the power of thought can override physical processes. This sentiment is misguided. "Mind and matter" or "mind with matter" might be more appropriate considering that "mind" relies on a body to set it in motion. The "over" part places too much emphasis on mental activity. We're not trying to bend spoons, but align our mental and physical worlds.
We already know mind influences matter: mindset is the catalyst for action, which sets into motion subsequent reaction. Viewing it as a battle is not the healthiest affective attitude to cultivate. A new study at Stanford, published in Nature Human Behavior, has discovered that mind indeed has a profound effect on how our body's chemistry operates:
In a study examining what may be a novel form of the placebo response, psychologists have found that just telling a person they have a high or low genetic risk for certain physical traits can influence how their body functions when exercising or eating, regardless of what genetic variant they actually have.