News - Chiropractic
Thoughts = Health
Healthy Thoughts = Healthy You
May, 2010
Prepared by: Shane J. Lynch, D.C.
Throughout the past thirty years there has been sufficient data showing that our thoughts and emotions can have a dramatic effect on our health. In short, a negative thought process is associated with poor health and vice versa for a positive thought process. Perhaps most significantly, recent research has shown that the nervous system is connected to and controls the immune system. Other research data, such as the article referred to this month, shows that nerve cells originating in the areas of the brain associated with emotions (prefrontal and oribitofrontocortex) have direct, physical attachments with other nerve cells in the hypothalamus (maintains homeostasis/order in the body and located in the brain) and the spinal cord. This is significant because these data show a direct connection between nerve cells in conscious, emotional centers of the brain with nerve cells in subconscious regions of the brain and spinal cord responsible for homeostasis of the internal organs, glands and blood vessels. This mind-body connection is refered to as psychoneuroimmunology, and is becoming widely accepted in most healing arts.
Key points:
“We found densely distributed projection neurons in medial prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortices (emotional centers of the brain) leading to the hypothalamus (located in brain and controls all physiolological processes that keep us alive), as well as hypothalamic axonal terminations in several brainstem structures (nerves from here project to the heart and lungs) and the intermediolateral column (location of neurons/nerves that innervate the internal organs. This area starts at the base of the neck in the spinal cord and runs down to the upper part of your low back), which innervate peripheral autonomic organs (i.e. internal organs-heart, lungs, stomach, etc.).”
“Here we provide direct evidence that pathways synapsing in the hypothalamus link high-level prefrontal association cortex with low-level autonomic structure (neurons/nerve cells in spinal cord). These serial pathways may allow direct cortical (emotional centers in brain) control of autonomic functions in response to complex emotional situations”.
What you can do:
Recognize that your thoughts and emotions can have a direct effect on your health and can also influence how quick you recover from illnesses or injuries. This can be a good or bad thing depending on your outlook, and fortunately it is never too late to change this out look.
For more information on the mind-body connection consider the following media.
Books:
Lipton, Bruce H. The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter, & Miracles. California: Hay House, 2008.
Pert, Candace B. Molecules of Emotions: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999.
Movie:
What the Bleep Do We Know!?. Dirs. Mark Vincente, Betse Chasse and William Arntz. Perf. Marlene Martin, Elaine Hendrix and John Ross Bowie. 20th Century Fox. 2005.
Reference:
Barbas H, Saha S, Rempel-Clower & Ghashghaei T. Serial pathways from primate prefrontal cortex to autonomic areas may influence emotional expression. BMC Neuroscience 2003, 4:25.
