As you go through the breakout process, a chemical called nitric oxide that counters stress hormones appears to be released. Nitric oxide consists of message-carrying puffs of gas that course through your body, including your central nervous system. Its release can provide a wide range of benefits to your health.
For instance, nitric oxide may enhance memory and learning by functioning as a neurotransmitter between brain synapses. It may also enhance the output of chemicals that promote a sense of well-being regulate blood flow throughout the body and widen vessels to increase blood flow to the heart.
And increasingly, evidence points to nitric oxide as an important integrating factor in the operation of some of our highest mental operations. In fact, the whole nitric oxide mechanism may somehow be connected with what we think of as the “mind”. – Herbert Benson, M.D., and William Proctor
