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Our thoughts and feelings influence the body via two kinds of
mechanisms: the nervous system and the circulatory system. These
are the pathways of communication between the brain and the rest
of the body.
The brain reaches into the body via the nervous system. This
allows it to send nerve impulses into all the body's tissues and
influence their behavior. The brain can thus affect the behavior
of the immune system with its nerve endings extending into the
bone marrow (the birthplace of all white cells), the thymus, the
spleen, and the lymph nodes.
It also reaches into all the glands of the endocrine system, all
the bones, muscles, all the internal organs, and even the walls of
veins and arteries. It can influence the behavior of the heart
with its nerves penetrating the heart tissue, affecting heart rate
and other aspects of the heart's functioning. The entire body is
literally "wired" by the brain.
The brain is also a gland. It manufactures thousands of different
kinds of chemicals and releases them into the bloodstream. These
chemicals circulate throughout the body and influence the activity
and behavior of all the body's tissues. The brain could be
described as the ultimate apothecary, producing many more drugs
than science has ever invented.
The cells of the body have receptors on their surfaces that
function somewhat like satellite dishes. These receptors receive
the chemical messages being released by the brain and respond
accordingly.
Finally, the mind/body connection is a two-way street. In addition
to sending messages into the body's tissues, it also receives
feedback, both in the form of nerve impulses and its own receptors
that sense what chemicals are being released by other tissues in
the body.
Research into how the brain can influence immune responses has
given rise to the new field called psycho-neuro-immunology (PNI).
Findings in this field have brought great hope to people dealing
with such difficult illnesses as cancer, AIDS, CFIDS (chronic
fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome), and other immune-related
diseases.
It is only a matter of time before similar acronyms are defined
for other fields such as psycho-neuro-cardiology (PNC), the study
of the mind-heart connection, or psycho-neuro-hematology (PNH),
the study of how the mind can influence bloodrelated disorders,
such as clotting problems in hemophilia.
The Power of the Mind/Body Connection
One of the most stirring stories about the power of the mind/body
connection concerns a man diagnosed with terminal cancer. Reported
by Dr. Bruno Klopfer in the Journal of Projective Techniques in
1957, it involved a man with metastatic cancer and tumors that had
spread throughout his body. The patient had tried every available
form of medicine and his condition had hopelessly deteriorated to
the point where he was bedridden and gasping for air. His doctors
agreed that he had only a few days to live.
Then the man heard
about an experimental drug called Krebiozen, which was in the
process of being tested. He insisted on being included in the
experimental trials. His doctors, feeling he had nothing to lose
and would soon be dead anyway, out of compassion agreed to give
him the experimental drug. To their amazement, the man's tumors
soon began to shrink dramatically and he was discharged from the
hospital.
Two months later, the man read news accounts of the research on
Krebiozen that reported serious doubts with the drug. Within a
matter of days, the man's tumors had returned and were again
threatening his life. His doctor cleverly convinced him that new
and more potent shipment had been received and proceeded to give
him injections of plain water. His tumors once again began to
shrink dramatically. He remained healthy for seven more months
until another news report declared "Nationwide AMA Tests Show
Krebiozen to Be Worthless as a Cancer Treatment." The man died
within two days.
The Stress Response
The stress response is a set of changes in the body that result
when the person experiences what they perceive to be a challenging
or threatening situation. This matter of perceived threat is
important because the effects of the stress response on the body
are the same whether the threat is real or just imagined in the
mind.
The magnitude of these changes is influenced by how serious the
person thinks the situation is and what they think about their
ability to handle the threat effectively (their appraisal of their
ability to respond). Of course, the more confident the person is
in their ability to handle a challenge easily, the less stress is
involved. The more the person appraises the challenge as a
threat—even at the subconscious level—the more intense will be the
stress response.
Commonly called the fight-or-flight reaction, the stress response
has the beneficial effect of preparing the body to function at a
higher level of efficiency, which of course enhances the
likelihood of survival. The physiological changes include:
* Increased blood pressure
* Increased respiratory rate
* Increased heart rate
* Increased oxygen consumption (burning of fuel)
* Increased blood flow to skeletal muscles
* Increased perspiration
* Increased muscle tone
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While all these changes clearly contribute to one's ability to
fight or flee in an emergency, they also have a downside. If the
person is experiencing the stress response regularly and for
extended periods of time, these physiological changes have the
effect of weakening the body's resistance to illness and lowering
the effectiveness of its mechanisms of self-repair.
The Relaxation Response
Another key principle is the relaxation response, which was
discovered and named by Herbert Benson, M.D., and his colleagues
in 1974.7,8 They were studying a pattern of physiological changes
that occurs in people practicing transcendental meditation (TM).
This pattern of changes has been found to represent a very
beneficial state, one that is virtually a mirror image of the
stress response. The relaxation response includes the following
changes:
* Reduced blood pressure
* Reduced respiratory rate
* Reduced heart rate
* Reduced oxygen consumption (burning of fuel)
* Reduced blood flow to skeletal muscles
* Reduced perspiration
* Reduced muscle tension
The relaxation response is an antidote to the effects of the
stress response and it has also been found to enhance the
effectiveness of the body's defenses and self-repair mechanisms.
Regular practice of techniques that elicit this response also
brings improved emotional well-being and better handling of
stressful life events.
The relaxation response is a physiological state, not a technique
as such. As we shall see later, there are many techniques that can
be used to produce it and, indeed, learning to do this is at the
heart of mind/body medicine.
Coping, Emotions, and Health
Researchers have identified how the ways we cope with emotions and
stressful situations—our coping styles—can influence our physical
health. Most firmly established are the links between coronary
heart disease and the Type A behavior pattern. Type A is a way of
coping characterized by constant hurriedness, intense
competitiveness, and free-floating hostility.
A more recent concept is the Type C pattern, which in many ways is
the polar opposite of Type A. It involves the non-expression of
anger and other unpleasant emotions such as fear and sadness,
unassertive and overly appeasing behavior in relationships with
others, and a preoccupation with meeting the needs of others,
often to the point of extreme self-sacrifice. The theory of the
Type C pattern was put forward by Lydia Temoshok, Ph.D., a leading
health psychologist and PNI researcher. She has found compelling
evidence for a link between emotional expressiveness and the
progression of cancer.
The middle ground, or Type B. is considered a more balanced way of
coping that involves appropriate expression of all emotions and
the ability to meet one's own needs while responding to those of
others. People who cope in this more balanced way tend to be less
at risk for serious illness. The cultivation of these behaviors is
often a goal in mind/body medicine programs, especially for heart
disease and cancer.
Lifestyle Change
The use of mind/body medicine takes place within a broader context
of changing one's lifestyle to promote health. Making a daily
practice of mind/body techniques is but one of several areas of
lifestyle change that work together in a synergistic way. Other
areas include proper diet, exercise, and social support.
While the health benefits of diet and exercise are obvious, there
is a growing body of research now indicating that supportive
interpersonal relationships are strongly associated with better
health. They seem to ameliorate or buffer the harmful effects of
stress on the body.
Turning Down the Pressure
Alice, suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), undertook a
two-week intensive treatment of intravenous Acyclovir therapy in
the hospital. Acyclovir is a drug that inhibits the reproduction
of herpes viruses, a family of viruses thought to be cofactors in
CFS. One of the side effects of this therapy is elevated blood
pressure, which needs to be closely monitored.
Alice was about halfway through her treatment protocol when she
enrolled in a group mind/body medicine program. She brought her
stainless steel drip apparatus with her from the hospital and
stood it up beside her in the circle with the other patients and
their spouses.
The first day involved a series of relaxation and deep breathing
exercises. The next day Alice returned to the group bubbling with
excitement. She reported that the previous evening her blood
pressure had returned to normal. The nursing staff were mystified
and wanted to know how she had done it
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