    21

    But the extent to which the need for control is stitched into our

    biology did not become apparent until roughly forty years later, when

    it was discovered that lab animals who are given control live longer,

    have higher antibody counts and fewer ulcers.28   Jay Weiss, at New

    York's Rockefeller University, put two groups of rats in cages with

    electrically wired floors.  When the current was turned on, the rats'

    unprotected pink feet would receive a painful shock.  One group of

    rats could neither stop nor escape the onset of the electrical charge.  A

    second group was granted a modest privilege.  Its cages were outfitted

    with a switch that allowed these rodents to turn off the electricity.  The

    group with the switch, in short, had control.

    The rats who had been able to control their punishment emerged

    from the experiment in relative health--despite their heavy dose of

    electrical torment.  But the group that had no control came out of their

    ordeal with a high incidence of stomach ulcers.  The difference

    occurred despite the fact that the two groups of rats received precisely

    the same amount of electrical shock at precisely the same time.  What's

    more, in similar studies at the University of Colorado, after only a short

    exposure to uncontrollable pain, the immune defenses of helpless rats

    crumbled, leaving the creatures highly vulnerable to infection and to

    cancer-causing drugs.29  Control protected the health of the rats with

    the switch.  And the lack of control stripped their hapless brethren of

    even their own internal protectors.  Numerous additional experiments

    have confirmed control's benefits to physical health.30

    Control is also the magic ingredient that keeps us alert in the face

    of danger.  It does so by suppressing the output of endorphins.

    Endorphins are chemicals produced by the body to soothe our pain.

    They are similar in molecular construction to morphine31, and they

    have morphine's ability to smother suffering.  Endorphins have been

    glorified in popular literature as blessed biological benefactors.  In

    reality, however, they are seductive poisons.  Endorphins' power to

    anesthetize is great.  But they cripple us in the bargain, shuttering our

    perceptions and cutting our resistance to disease. 32

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