2009 July | PreEmptive Healing

Friday, July 24th, 2009

Bad moods. Bad attitudes. The dawn of mind and body medicine tells us that bad moods and unhealthy attitudes have a great impact on the body’s health and well-being. Research has shown that many diseases have rooted from bad moods, pent up emotions, an angry disposition, and unhealthy behavior towards everyday stress. Mind and body medicine helps us learn how to manage our mental and emotional state to achieve a healthier body and a better outlook of life.

Hippocrates wrote, “The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well.” In his quote, Hippocrates has given a definition for mind and body medicine, emphasizing on the moral and spiritual aspects of healing. He believed that the person’s attitude, the environmental influences and the many natural remedies available are essential for health treatment.

What is Mind and Body Medicine? Mind- body medicine has revolutionized our modern healthcare. Mind and body medicine is an approach to healing that explores the complex and profound interconnection of the mind and the body. The power of thoughts and emotions are used to influence and achieve good physical health. It suggests that there is an innate healing connection in the body and that there is a role of self-responsibility in the healing process.

Mind-body medicine dates back to 2000 years ago, when the concept of the mind became an integral part of the treatment of diseases. This points back to the healing approaches of traditional Chinese and Ayuverdic medicine. It is after then than science was redirected and focused on the separation of human emotional dimensions from the physical body. At present, mind-body medicine has become an important consideration in the medical community, utilizing this approach to treat diseases and maintain a better and balanced quality of living.

MIND-BODY TECHNIQUES

Mind and Body techniques work on the theory that physical health is achieved and is influenced by mental and emotional factors. Other factors that help preserve health and prevent diseases are behavioral, psychological, social and spiritual methods.

In recent years, the use of mind-body techniques has become massive, with the abundance of scientific evidences that these techniques are effective and beneficial to one’s health. Mind-body techniques are used to treat chronic pain, depression, anxiety and panic disorders, insomnia, incontinence (loss of urinary control), childbirth, coronary artery diseases and many more.

Mind-body techniques aim to train the mind to focus on the body. It is believed that when one achieves a state of “focused concentration”, he will be able to be more in control of his mind and emotions, to change his outlook, his general health and wellbeing.

MOST COMMON MIND-BODY TECHNIQUES
Biofeedback. Biofeedback is a technique of bringing unconscious biological processes under conscious control. In this method, the individual is taught and trained to control internal and involuntary bodily processes such as blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension and brain surface electrical activity. A machine is used to measure these internal activities, with a monitor that allows the patient to view his or her body’s internal processes. This allows him to use this information and gain control over these “involuntary” activities. Biofeedback is found to be effective in treating pain such as tension headache, migraine headache and chronic pain. It has also been found to achieve effective results when used to treat stress, insomnia, urinary incontinence, attention deficit disorder, tinnitus and Reynaud’s syndrome.

Relaxation Techniques. Relaxation techniques aim to reduce the activity of nerves that trigger the stress response, the sympathetic nervous system. During the time of stress, the body responses in alert, and thus vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure and respiratory rate increase. Relaxation techniques help relieve tension and strain, by lowering blood pressure, easing muscle tension and slowing metabolic processes. There are three major types of relaxation techniques:

Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR). This PMR technique involves a two step-process. The first step is to deliberately apply tension on a certain muscle group, and then very slowly releasing each muscle group individually. Start with the toes and up the head. Notice how the tension flows away as the muscle relaxes. Do this repetitively and you will learn to distinguish the associated feelings of a relaxed muscle and a tensed one. This simple knowledge will allow one to activate muscular relaxation as soon as muscle tension is experienced.
Autogenic Training (AT). This technique is used to train the body to respond to verbal commands. AT teaches one to create a feeling of warmth all throughout the body until a profound state of physical relaxation, mental peace and bodily health is achieved. In this practice, the individual uses verbal commands to tell the body to control breathing and relax. All other internal processes follow suit – blood pressure, heartbeat and temperature. Also called Autogenics, this technique is used to manage stress, overcome addictions such as smoking or alcoholism, to resolve anxieties and fear such as flying or fear of heights or change unwanted behavior such as procrastination or nail biting.
Meditation. Meditation is probably the most popular method to achieve a profoundly relaxed bodily state. In the United States, there are two forms of meditation. One is the Transcendental Meditation, wherein the individual is asked to repeat a single word or phrase (Mantra). The second form, Mindfulness Meditation lets an individual focus on their moment-by-moment thoughts and the sensations they currently feel. Meditation helps to achieve physical relaxation, metal calmness and other emotional states such as loving-kindness and even-temperedness.

Hypnosis. The term hypnosis comes from the Greek word “hypnos”, which means sleep. This technique focuses on achieving a trance-like state of mind, where the body relaxes and the thoughts become more focused and attentive. This is done with the help of a hypnotherapist. When this state of concentration is achieved and the body is deeply relaxed and calm, the individual become highly responsive to a hypnotherapist’s suggestions and less critical or disbelieving. Today, hypnosis is used to treat people with certain addictions, with anxiety disorders, phobia and chronic pain.

Guided Imagery. Guided imagery is one technique that is used quite frequently. It is a program of directed thoughts and suggestion, making one imagine toward a relaxed, focused state. This process is achieved with the help of an instructor, an audiotape or a script. The individual is asked to imagine details that are comfortable and safe like a beach or a garden or recall happy moments they has when they were young. The individual usually responds positively, achieving a more relaxed and peaceful state, making him more in control of his emotions and thought processes. Guided imagery can improve a person’s attitude, health and sense of wellbeing.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). This technique helps an individual recognize and therefore change dysfunctional thoughts that usually lead to maladaptive emotional patters and behaviors. Cognitive restructuring is used, wherein the therapist examines assumptions behind the individual’s thought patterns. Behavioral therapy techniques are also used. CBT is used as a treatment option for psychological disorders such as depression, eating disorders, insomnia, obsessive-compulsive disorders, anxiety, phobia and panic disorders.

HOW MIND-BODY MEDICINE WORKS
Mind and body medicine focuses on how the mind, the emotions and other internal body processes can influence the physical body’s health. Studies have shown that emotions can have a great link or influence in the development of a disease. Stress influences our everyday emotional response. When a person is under a stressful situation, stress hormones are activated. These stress hormones are the ones responsible for unhealthy emotional responses such as anger, depression, hostility and etc. these unhealthy emotional responses are associated with many disease conditions, particularly the development of high blood pressure and coronary heart diseases.

The goal of mind-body medicine is to reduce the stress responses and activate the relaxation response. When a person is relaxed, he develops in himself improved coping skills to reduce tension and pain and lessen the need of medication. A relaxed body will also have a great influence on the immune system, making it efficient and increasing one’s susceptibility to infection.

OTHER DISEASES TREATED WITH MIND- BODY MEDICINE

Depression
Insomnia
Anxiety and phobic disorders
High blood pressure
Asthma
Coronary heart disease
Obesity
Cancer-related symptoms such as pain
Nausea/vomiting related to chemotherapy
Diabetes
Stomach and intestinal disorders (indigestion or dyspepsia, irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, diarrhea, ulcerative colitis, heartburn, and Crohn’s disease)
Fibromyalgia
Menopausal symptoms such as depression, irritability and hot flashes
Tempomandibular joint disorder
Neck and lower back pains
Muscle tension and involuntary muscle spasms
Headache such as tension or migraine headache

88341740.thbhappy Mind-body medicine promises many potential benefits and advantages. Further research and study on this medical approach leads to a more enhanced and effective mind-body interventions, giving opportunities to individuals to tailor their thinking about their moods, emotional responses and physical health. The mind-body medical approach is proven to have positive effects on psychological functioning and a balanced quality of life.

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The Biology of Fear and Anxiety

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

Your emotional and physical reactions to fear and anxiety are initiated by a series of chemical reactions deep inside your body. When you are fearful or anxious about something, for example a medical procedure, your system perceives it as a threat and swings into action. The human body goes into emergency mode, known as the “fight or flight” response, where energy and resources are diverted from general maintenance to deal with the danger. It is an instinctive reaction that floods your body with hormones such as cortisol and adrenalin to increase heart rate and blood pressure, boost the volume of sugars (glucose) available for fuel, and divert blood to major muscle groups. At the same time essential bodily functions that are not particularly useful in an emergency situation, such as reproduction and digestion, are temporarily slowed down.

The human body’s response to fear and anxiety (stress) is exactly the same whether a threat is real or imagined. It is a remarkable example of the effectiveness of one of our internal communication systems, and is intended to help you fight off, or run away from an adversary.

The biological and chemical mechanisms that govern our emergency responses hark back to primordial times and helped our ancestors deal with threats from predators, and other tribes. Without them they would have been easy pickings. These days the things that make us fearful and anxious are benign by comparison to life as a caveman, (there are no saber-toothed tigers lurking around the corner) but our bodies deal with threats in the same way, and it is the stress hormone cortisol which regulates this red alert sabertooth system.

Hormones are Chemical Messengers
Hormones are powerful chemical messengers that help our bodies to function. They travel through the blood stream and control or regulate the activities of groups of cells or organs. Hormones are named after the Greek word hormaein, meaning “to excite” or “set in motion.”

Cortisol
Under normal circumstances cortisol is continually secreted throughout the day by the adrenal glands. These are triangular-shaped, and they sit on top of the kidneys. Cortisol secretion follows a 24 hour, or circadian rhythm, with peak levels occurring in the morning (from about 6.00am-8.00 am) and the lowest levels are at about midnight. There are many factors that influence cortisol levels including fasting, exercise, and anxiety.

The Biology of Fear and Anxiety
During periods of fear and anxiety your muscles need more oxygen and glucose, and these are carried in the blood. So the heart has to pump faster and blood pressure must increase if your body is to get more of the vital fuel that it needs. The entire process involves several different steps and many chemical reactions, and it starts with sensory cells alerting a part of the brain known as the hypothalamus that there is potential danger. Cells in the hypothalamus transmit a signal to another area of the brain called the pituitary gland which then releases a chemical messenger into the bloodstream. This chemical is called ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone) and its destination is the adrenal glands.

When ACTH arrives it stimulates both glands to crank up cortisol production. Molecules of the chemical bind to small receptors on the surface of adrenal cells and this initiates a complex manufacturing process that turns cholesterol into cortisol. The newly-created hormone is then pumped out into the body to start a cascade of reactions that leads to increased heart rate and blood pressure.
Cortisol’s main job is to increase the sensitivity of the heart and blood vessels to the stimulating effects of two other hormones, called epinephrine (also known as adrenalin) and norepinephrine (also known as noradrenalin). Epinephrine and norepinephrine work by stimulating receptors in heart cells which increases the rate at which the heart beats and the force with which the heart muscle contracts. And you can feel it happen when your heart starts to pound wildly during fearful and anxious moments. That’s the hormones going to work!

Simultaneously, cortisol ensures that blood vessels are also receptive to epinephrine and norepinephrine. The two hormones bind to specific proteins, which brings about the narrowing of blood vessel walls. This increases blood pressure and it enables blood to be diverted to essential organs and muscles.

Worried Sick
In today’s modern world our stress response system is activated so often that the body is not given a chance to return to normal. High levels of cortisol are required during an emergency situation, but over time they can wreak havoc on our cardiovascular system and long term health. It is true that we can become worried sick.

Prolonged high levels of cortisol can damage the heart, contribute to obesity, and weaken the immune system. The scientific literature is full of research studies demonstrating the downsides of constant exposure to high levels of the hormone. A team of researchers from the School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles discovered that increased levels of cortisol actually prematurely age immune cells, making people more susceptible to illness. The hormone suppresses the action of an enzyme called telomerase which keeps cells young. (Rita B. Effros et al. Reduced telomerase activity in human T lymphocytes exposed to cortisol. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. 2008; 22 (4): 600-605).

Further negative implications include high levels of cholesterol, reduced bone density, and depression. And scientists at Heidelberg University in Germany discovered how cortisol production leads to an increased amount of fatty deposits in the liver, which creates a range of metabolic disorders. (Stephan Herzig et al. The Glucocorticoid Receptor Controls Hepatic Dyslipidemia through Hes1. Cell Metabolism, 2008; 8 (3): 212-223).

Learn to Chill Out
Avoiding the harmful effects of cortisol can be achieved by relaxing and resetting your body. If you experience a stressful situation you need to give yourself time to calm down and recover, otherwise your life could turn out to be one continual emergency. Visit PreEmptiveHealing.com to learn more.

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Archive for July, 2009