SPIRITUALITY AND CANCER
Dr. Yeshi Dhonden, formerly the personal physician to the Dalai Lama, came to New York, a friend called me. "He's specializing in breast cancer treatment," she said.
"I think you should go see him." I was surprised. Not that the Tibetans were treating cancer, but that word of it hadn't got out on the cancer grapevine.
"All disease is caused by ignorance," he said, when the conversation took a philosophical turn. "As long as you haven't achieved enlightenment, you're going to be driven by anger, ignorance and desire.
Those three act on phlegm, bile and wind to produce illness."
"What he meant was, stop collecting bad deeds. Start praying. Be at peace -- because we believe in reincarnation. Become ready for your next life."
ARTIFICIAL LIGHT AND CANCER
By keeping night at bay, the electric light fostered today's round-the-clock society. But now scientists are asking whether there might be a dark side to so much brightness. Until the 20th century, sundown invariably brought darkness, and with it, the release of melatonin, a hormone that typically peaks in the blood between 1 A.M. and 3 A.M. Produced by the brain's pineal gland, melatonin plays a crucial role in regulating sleep-wake cycles and reproduction. It also dampens the effects of estrogen, a hormone that can spur the growth of breast cancer, leading scientists to think that melatonin might help protect against the disease.
To researchers, interfering with melatonin release is no trivial matter. "We consider the use of light too casually," said Dr. Russel Reiter, a professor of neuroendocrinology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio and an expert on melatonin. Shift work, staying up late in a well-lit environment or turning on a bright light at night can dramatically reduce melatonin production, Dr. Reiter said.
Because nerve pathways connect the eye directly to the pineal gland, the tiny organ is exquisitely sensitive to light. Even sleeping in a bedroom bathed in the glow of a nearby street lamp, scientists speculate, could potentially inhibit pineal secretions.
The immediate effects of disrupting melatonin's daily ebb and flow are daytime grogginess, cognitive impairment and vulnerability to infection -- familiar circadian disturbances. But the long-term consequences may be more serious.
One early clue that melatonin suppression might be linked to cancer emerged from studies of rats whose pineal glands had been surgically removed. In these experiments, conducted in the 1970's and 80's, the rodents developed a plethora of malignant breast tumors. By contrast, animals operated on in the same way, but given melatonin supplements, developed far fewer cancers. Subsequent studies showed that keeping rodents in constant light had the same effect as removing the pineal gland: The animals sprouted many malignant breast tumors. In search of further proof that "light pollution" contributes to human cancer, circadian researchers are studying blind women. Studies of blind women in the United States, Sweden and Finland appear to support the theory. But they do recommend simple, practical steps for preserving the body's melatonin cycle.
"Get plenty of sleep, use thick blinds to block out stray light, and if you need to get up in the middle of the night for any reason, don't turn on a bright light," Dr. Reiter said.