Thursday, November 25, 2010

Frankincense It's A Good For You

Happy Thanksgiving! As we celebrate our abundance let's remember in our prayers: the unknown, the destitute, the lonely, the forgotten, the nameless, the homeless, the prisoners, the sick, the lost...

If you suffer with or struggle with a depressed mood or anxious affect get to church and breath deep! Remember to breakout the charcols and insence daily at home too. Go 'oldschool' on this one.

Research comming out of  John Hopkins University and The Hebrew University in Jerusalem suggest that buring insense has psychotropic effects. Specifically burning resin from the Boswellia plant (frankincense) activates particular ion channels in the brain which seem to relieve depression and anxiety. These scientists studied the effects on mice finding a protein called TRPV3 is activated when exposed to incense. Who knew...the Church knows.

2 comments:

Leftmost said...

"Who knew...the Church knows."

*cough* *cough* Sure does. *cough* *cough* *cough* *cough* *cough* *cough* Yep good ol' incense. *cough* *cough* *cough* *cough* *cough* *cough* *cough* *cough*

But seriously though, there must be more to it. I don't remember incense ever getting me to feel a lot better.

Angela Damianakis, LCSW said...

i have always thought the feel good emotion i got from incense was the result of classical conditioning. however this study did identify the protein in rats. BYT most people don't burn frankincense but other resins. you have to do something about your cough. :)