How far can the control of the mind over the body go? It is a controversy that does not end and that runs between the obvious and the incredible.
The decision on the food we eatfor example, concerns the conscious mind and repercussions on healthbut sometimes we eat following irrepressible impulses that defeat the most rational purposes.
When talking about the effect of the mind, reference is usually made to unconscious or deep, mysterious, not well-known processes. However, every day more is known about which are the mental attitudes or habits that help prevent diseases or cure them.
There is even a new scientific specialization, psychoneuroimmunology, which investigates the links between the psyche and the nervous and immune systems in relation to the onset of diseases.
This science shows that we can do some things to that the mind participates in the daily health care. We show you 7 factors that influence the self-healing capacity of the organism.
1. Emotions and hormones
The relationship between emotions and health was known to traditional healers a thousand years ago.
The shamanic treatments or those that were carried out in the temples of Asclepio, in the Classic GreeceFor example, they were designed to make a deep impression on the patient’s mind in order to bring about a change in the course of his illness.
The Chinese traditional medicinehe ayurveda of India or modern homeopathy they have also always taken into account the emotions involved, as one more symptom and an aspect of therapy.
Besides, We all have the intuition that when we are not feeling well emotionally, we are more likely to fall ill.
The relationship between emotions and health is scientifically provenalthough this knowledge has not yet been transferred to conventional medical practices.
Experts in psychoneuroimmunology have verified that Emotions influence the functioning of the pituitary gland, the gland that regulates the production of hormones.
They have observed, for example, that negative emotions increase blood levels of stress hormones that suppress the immune system.
It is even known that each feeling (sadness, joy, anger or fear) causes a characteristic chemical response in the brain.
Antonio Damasio, from the University of Iowa (United States), has demonstrated through scanners that sadness stimulates the insula and brain stem and deactivates the posterior cingulatewhile happiness activates the posterior cingulate and a different area of the insula.
Through the brain, emotions trigger a series of reactions in the body and thus favor the development of certain diseases.
The MacArthur Research Network on Mind-Body Interactionswhich participates in the Integrative Neuroimmune Program, organized by the National Institute of Health of the United States (organization equivalent to our Ministry of Health) has been raised as main objective to advance in the knowledge of mind-body relationships in multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease or degenerative nervous disorders.
Other objectives of this scientific organization are to better understand the relationships between depression and immune diseases, as well as the effects of stress and beliefs about arthritis, allergies and infections.
The connections between emotional factors and vulnerability to disease have come to light in research on the evolution of people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Depressed mood, hopelessness, or feeling helpless cause a rapid decline in T helper immune cells.
In contrast, people who remain symptom-free for longer of the disease despite being infected, and those who survive longer once the syndrome has started, do not allow themselves to be dominated by negative emotions and they don’t get so upset.
2. The personality
Whether emotions influence health and disease It is logical to think that the type of personality can be decisive.
Already in the 1960s Friedman and Rosenman related the insecure, active, perfectionist, impatient, competitive, controlling and aggressive personality (the call ) with an increased risk of heart problemssuch as angina pectoris or myocardial infarction.
On the other hand, it has not been confirmed that a certain personality predisposes to cancer, although the hypothesis goes back to the origins of psychoneuroimmunology, in the middle of the last century. Cancer has often been associated with the “type C” personalitycharacterized by resignation, submission and renouncing the expression and satisfaction of one’s own needs in favor of others.
However, although there are scientific studies for all tastes, most oncologists currently believe that Personality is not a risk factor for cancer, but it may influence survival from the disease once it has been contracted.
Regardless of personality type, stress, which impairs the functioning of the immune system, is considered a major risk factor that favors the development of any disease, including tumors.
According to psychologist Lary LeShan, many cases of cancer are related to the feeling of having lost something or someone dear to them.
3. Stress
According to carmen guazaresearcher at the Cajal Institute, dependent on the Higher Council for Scientific Researchany stressful life eventsuch as the loss of a loved one, a marital separation, the exam period, work pressure, physical fatigue or mental health problems, such as anxiety or depression, alters the effectiveness of the immune system and favors the development of infections and other diseases.
The skin is an organ that is quite sensitive to emotional disturbances. Dr. Amparo Marquina, Head of Dermatology at the Doctor Peset University Hospital in Valencia, explains that seborrheic dermatitis, psoriasis, alopecia and even some diseases of autoimmune origin such as systemic lupus erythematosus can worsen depending on the level of stress highly strung.
For example, the alopecia areatawhich causes the appearance of hairless circles, is suffered by some children and adolescents during the academic year and disappears during the holidays.
digestive disorders such as diarrhoea, stomach ache, flatulence or irritable bowel syndrome They may also have nervous origins.
The discomfort of gastric ulcersalthough they are suffered by people infected with the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, They are exacerbated when there is emotional stress.
High blood pressure, asthma attacks or even musculoskeletal injuries are other disorders conditioned by emotions.
4. A positive mindset
In the same way that negative emotions can cause an imbalance in the body that leads to disease, positive ones promote healing.
director of the Integrative Neuroimmune Program, has written a book on inner balance (The Balance Within. The Science CORBIS Connecting Health and Emotions), in which he states that people who enjoy emotional well-being are less likely to get sick.
Even those aspects that have been considered very separate from health, such as creativity, ethics, religion or politics, can exert a decisive action through their influence on emotions.
That certain thoughts and emotions can favor diseases shouldn’t make us believe that as in theory they are under our control we are actually guilty of the diseases we suffer from.
It isn’t true. Genetic constitution, environmental conditions and even chance are also very important.. Our organism is very complex and does not obey only the will of the conscious mind.
Omnipotence is more of a mirage of the ego. Perhaps part of the secret of health is to become self-absorbed, to let communication flow between conscious and unconscious, between ourselves and others, and between the personal and the universal.
The joy of sharing, love and hope are authentic preventive medicines that are not sold in pharmacies.
Optimism may seem like a naive attitude in the face of a pessimism that is believed to be more realistic, but If what we want is to preserve our well-being, trust indicates the ideal path.
5. Social relationships
According to neurobiologist Michael Meaney, child abuse, family quarrels, insecurity, poverty or affective deficiencies in childhood correspond to later health problemsfrom depression to drug addiction through diabetes or coronary diseases.
Meaney asserts that the characteristics of the environment in that determine the organic, cognitive, behavioral and emotional responses to stressful situations.
But not everything is decided in childhood. The lifestyle adults choose to lead also influences their resistance to disease.
Loneliness, comparable to smoking, high blood pressure, obesity or little exerciseaccording to John Cacioppo of the University of Chicago.
“social contacts -says this specialist- are fundamental to human biology. We have a fundamental need to belong to and support a group, and that need directs our thoughts, feelings and behaviors“.
isolated people although they are freer, they live with less spirit, they tend to feel what happens in the environment as a threat and his health suffers.
The , from Stanford University, show that positive social relationships help to overcome stressful situations and promote the functioning of the immune systemas demonstrated by the increased survival of breast cancer patients who attend support groups.
The need for relationships is not important just to prevent serious illness. Research by Ronald Glaser and Janiece Kiecolt showed that lonely students suffered more from colds.
6. The placebo effect
Every day there are more researchers convinced that you cannot try to cure a person without knowing their beliefsher expectations or the image she forms of herself.
Taking these factors into account, it could be design a therapy that uses attitudes and emotions to reverse the effects of stress.
However, the way medicine is practiced today wastes the self-healing potential of the patient. The proof is that the so-called placebo effect is underestimatedthat is, the one that produces a…