Nexus - 1302 - New Times Magazine-pages

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At the University of Melbourne, E. Marilyn Wintour's research illustrates the interdependent relationship between parents and on pregnant sheep, which physiologically are quite similar to their unborn child. In this video, a mother and father engage in a humans, has found that prenatal exposure to cortisol eventually loud argument while the woman is undergoing a sonogram. You leads to high blood pressure. (Dodic et al., 2002) Foetal cortisol can vividly see the foetus jump when the argument starts. The levels play a very important regulatory role in the development of __ startled foetus arches its body and jumps up as if it were on a the kidneys' filtering units, the nephrons. A nephron's cells are trampoline when the argument is punctuated with the shattering of intimately involved with regulating the body's salt balance and glass. The power of modern technology, in the form of a sono- consequently are important in controlling blood pressure. Excess gram, helps to lay to rest the myth that the unborn child is not a cortisol absorbed from a stressed mother modifies foetal nephron sophisticated enough organism to react to anything other than its formation. An additional effect of excess cortisol is that it simul- nutritional environment. taneously switches the mother's and the foetus's system from a growth state to a protection posture. As a result, the growth- Nature's Head Start Program inhibiting effect of excess cortisol in the womb causes the baby to You may be wondering why evolution would provide such a e born smaller. system for foetal development that seems so fraught with peril Suboptimal conditions in the womb that and is so dependent on the environment of the lead to low-birthweight babies have been parents. Actually, it's an ingenious system inked to a number of adult ailments that that helps ensure the survival of your off- Nathanielsz outlines in his book Life In The The lesson for people spring. Eventually, the child is going to find Womb, including diabetes, heart disease and itself in the same environment as its parents. obesity. (Nathanielsz, 1999) For example, who want to be parents Information acquired from the parents' per- University of Southampton has found trata | ____ 18 that you can centa and primes the prenates physiology, male who weighs less than 5.5 pounds at radically short-change preparing it to deal more effectively with birth has a 50 per cent greater chance of i i future exigencies that will be encountered dying of heart disease than one with a higher the intelligence of your after birth. Nature is simply preparing that irthweight. child simply by the child to best survive in that environment. Harvard researchers have found that However, armed with the latest science, par- women who weigh less than 5.5 pounds at way you approach ents now have a choice. They can carefully irth have a 23 per cent higher risk of cardiovascular disease than women born eavier. And David Leon (ibid.) of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has found that diabetes is three times more common in 60-year- old men who were small and thin at irth. The new focus on the influences of the prenatal environment extends to the study of IQ, which genetic determinists and racists once linked simply to genes. But in 1997, Bernie Devlin, a professor of psychiatry at the University of But no matter how "good" one's genes Pittsburgh School of Medicine, carefully may be, if an individual's nurture analysed 212 earlier studies that compared the IQs of twins, sib- experiences are fraught with abuse, neglect or misperceptions lings, and parents and their children. He concluded that genes then the realisation of the genes' potentials will be sabotaged. account for only 48 per cent of the factors that determine IQ. And For example, performer Liza Minnelli acquired her genes from when the synergistic effects of mingling the mother's and father's her superstar mother Judy Garland and her filmmaker father genes are factored in, the true inherited component of intelligence Vincente Minnelli. Liza's career, the heights of her stardom and plummets even further, to 34 per cent. (Devlin et al., 1997; the lows of her personal life are scripts that were played out by McGue, 1997) Devlin, on the other hand, found that conditions her parents and downloaded into her subconscious mind. If Liza during prenatal development significantly impact IQ. He reveals had the same genes but was raised by a nurturing Pennsylvania pregnancy. reprogram their limiting beliefs about ife before they bring a child into their world. The importance of parental programming undermines the notion that our traits, both positive and negative, are fully determined by our genes. As we have seen, genes are shaped, guided and tailored by environmental learning experiences. We have all been led to believe that artistic, athletic and intellectual prowess are traits simply passed on by genes. These IQ changes are not accidents: they are directly linked to altered blood flow in a stressed brain. that up to 51 per cent of a child's potential intelligence is con- Dutch farming family, that environment would have trolled by environmental factors. Previous studies had already epigenetically triggered a different selection of genes. The genes found that drinking or smoking during pregnancy can cause that enabled her to pursue a successful entertainment career would decreased IQ in children, as can exposure to lead in the womb. have likely been masked or inhibited by the cultural demands of The lesson for people who want to be parents is that you can radi- her agrarian community. cally short-change the intelligence of your child simply by the A wonderful example of the effectiveness of conscious parent- way you approach pregnancy. These IQ changes are not acci- ing programming is superstar golfer Tiger Woods. Although his dents: they are directly linked to altered blood flow in a stressed father was not an accomplished golfer, he made every effort to brain. immerse Tiger in an environment that was rich with opportunities In my lectures on conscious parenting, I cite research but I also to develop and enhance the mindset, skills, attitudes and focus of show a video from an Italian conscious parenting organisation, a master golfer. No doubt, Tiger's suc s also intimately con- Associazione Nazionale Educazione Prenatale, which graphically nected with the Buddhist philosophy that his mother contributed. illustrates the interdependent relationship between parents and their unborn child. In this video, a mother and father engage in a loud argument while the woman is undergoing a sonogram. You can vividly see the foetus jump when the argument starts. The startled foetus arches its body and jumps up as if it were on a trampoline when the argument is punctuated with the shattering of glass. The power of modern technology, in the form of a sono- gram, helps to lay to rest the myth that the unborn child is not a sophisticated enough organism to react to anything other than its nutritional environment. pregnancy. 32 = NEXUS The lesson for people way you approach a stressed brain. www.nexusmagazi ne.com FEBRUARY — MARCH 2006