People health - the healing power of the mind
Research has increasingly shown that there is a strong
correlation between a positive attitude and the immune system.
Scientists have firmly proven that the brain and immune
system interact with each other like other systems in the body. There are
hundreds of powerful biochemical compounds that carry messages in both directions.
Imagine the following situation: You calmed down for a
moment to enjoy the sun's rays that caress your face. Your loved one is sitting
next to you, holding hands and feeling peace and serenity. Those are happy
moments! However, scientists today believe that the positive moods that create
such moments can have a positive effect on health.
A health field called psychoneuroimmunology reveals a link
between the brain and the immune, defense system. Studies have shown that
socially active people and those who are married live longer than less active,
separated, divorced, as well as those who are not married. People living in a
happy marriage have also been found to have a stronger immune system. Contacts
with other people and various social activities seem to contribute to health
and longevity.
Our immune system is in constant contact with many
microorganisms and substances that we bring into the body - it responds to
substances that harm us while tolerating beneficial substances. But in some
situations, especially with children, oral tolerance for certain foods has not
been established. Discover how!
Sharing your feelings with others can be helpful, that is,
it can have both physical and psychological benefits for the confessor who
opens up.
Optimism is a powerful health factor. Research has shown
that those who were the most pessimistic in their 20s were more likely to have
the disease with severe illnesses of 40, 50 and 60 years. Maybe pessimists
become passive when dealing with the disease and do not care enough about
themselves.
An optimistic attitude has its value in combating disease.
Studies of women with advanced-stage breast cancer have shown that the longest
survivors of therapy survived, of course, those who no longer had symptoms of
the disease, but at the same time maintained a high level of joy and
satisfaction.
Love protects you from the cold
Even in cases of significantly less serious illnesses such
as the common cold, there is a certain link between illness and psychological
factors. One study found that pessimists were more likely to contract the cold
than others. Interestingly, even the sense of love, or more precisely the
experience of loving feelings, in some people has resulted in increased
secretion of immunoglobulin A in saliva, a chemical compound that protects
against respiratory infections.
Scientists have firmly proven that the brain and immune
system interact with each other like other systems in the body. There are
hundreds of powerful biochemical compounds that carry messages in both
directions. Many of these compounds are known to have a strong effect on moods
and emotions and, through their molecular composition, make it possible to
understand the connection (which has long been assumed to exist) between mental
state and state of health.
Today, monocytes - immune cells that help wound healing,
tissue repair and bacterial destruction - are known to be sensitive to
neuropeptides, chemical compounds that are created in the brain. Surprisingly,
a particularly high concentration of neuropeptide-secreting cells is found in
the parts of the brain that control emotions.
Relaxation, motivation, and hope
One of the experimental programs conducted at The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute showed interesting results. Program
leaders focused on cancer patients whose disease was in the withdrawal phase.
Given that there is a high risk that cancer will recur, the goal of the program
was to try to increase the resilience of patients with psychological training.
Patients underwent a two-month program of relaxation exercises and
non-accepting defeat training to fight the disease.
The goal was to teach patients how to deal with the disease
and make them more optimistic. Scientists have found that in those patients who
were enrolled in the program, natural killer cells (which protect the body from
tumor growth) were more active than in those patients who received only
standard medical care.
What can we learn from those who discover the
values of positive thoughts?
Hope and an optimistic attitude can improve the quality of
our lives. The challenge for scientists is to determine whether hope can affect
the immune system. Careful, systematic research to figure out the link between
psychological factors and immune function may require years of scientific work,
but the benefits will be extremely large.
I'm sure scientists will come up with solid evidence very
soon to prove the connection between a positive attitude and the condition of
the immune system, and until then, I'll still be glad to listen to that old
good song from Bobby Mc Ferrin “Don't Worry, Be Happy “😊
No comments:
Post a Comment