The Incredible Relationship Between Our Mind And Our Body.
Years ago when I was unripe ( er ) and dumb ( er ) I went to a Deepak Chopra seminar.
Someone had dragged me along to hear this chap who, apparently, was some benevolent of doctor, philosopher, teacher, occult and leader.
I ' d never heard of him.
Ignorant Aussie.
It was a Saturday and I was misplaced the merriment on TV to listen to a weirdo.
That ' s all I cared about.
" He better be amazing ", I told my friend.
He blew me away with his insight into the incredible relationship between our psychology and our physiology; the ability we have to influence our own veritable health and wellness through our thinking and our emotions.
He was teaching me stuff that I ' d never heard before but beneath down, I somehow knew to be true.
On some level his message resonated within me; it made sense.
" Of course my thoughts and heart will have a ' real ' effect on my right body ", why didn ' t I imagine of that before?
We can wittily fancy about something ( something that scares us possibly ) and it will have an immediate effect on our physiology; our heart proportion increases, our mouth becomes dry, we plunge into to perspire, our respiration changes, hormones are released, blood pressure increases and our pupils get.
Amazing, when we consider that bagatelle has actually happened, we ' ve only thought about it... but the truth is, our mind often doesn ' t know the difference between a thought and an experience; imagination and materiality.
Both of my parents suffer from hypertension ( high blood pressure ) and being the healthy little band that I try to be, I have always done my best to live a lifestyle which would not lead to hypertension ( and all right, I acknowledge there is a genetic role ). Periodically I have worried about ending up with high blood pressure but regularly, it ' s not something I have thought about too much.
A couple of years ago I went to the doctor ( a bold step for the alpha - male, I know ) through I wasn ' t responsiveness well. Anyway, virgin informed me that tomato was response to take my blood pressure. No sooner had those words single her lips than I could literally endure my blood pressure rising, my living get faster, my heart percentage increasing and anxiety invading every cell of my being.
Clearly, I ' m a big baby.
I didn ' t realise it, but on some level, I was so worried about having high blood pressure, that I was creating it.
I made my self anxious.
Sure enough, queen took it and it was high.
" But I don ' t drink, smoke, eat bad food ( okay cheesecake... but that ' s therapeutic ) and I exercise every day of my life! "
" Well, Mr non - drinking, non - smoking, exercise - aholic... you ' ve got high blood pressure. "
She prescribed me some drug and I walked out of there sense very sorry for myself.
I got in the car, headed back to work and considered what had just happened.
I arrived at the gym and went to our fitness assessment room ( where I can inspection my own blood pressure ). Deciding that I didn ' t really have high blood pressure, I figured would check myself just to be certain.
I sat down, put the cuff on my arm and this day I felt my heart create to pound in my chest; I was scared about the determination.
What an amazing thing the mind is.
I merely thought about having my blood pressure scrutinize... and I became anxious.
How derisory is that?
I measured it; it was high.
I felt sick.
' Oh well ', I thought.
' That ' s it; I ' m humble to a life of taking medication. '
I sat there for a few periodical wallowing in my own self - pity.
After a little while the anxiety was replaced by suffering and a level of reluctant acceptance.
I was just about to dispensation the room when, for some unperceived, actuation I decided to check it for one last time.
I was relaxed and didn ' t worry about the recital for I knew it would be high.
It was low.
I away felt happy and relaxed.
I tested it besides.
It was low also.
I went and did some research and learned of a virtue known as pallid - coat hypertension; the doctor cleverly mentions taking my blood pressure and up it goes!
I make it high.
Plenty of people suffer from the corresponding character.
One of the responses to stress and anxiety is an increase in blood pressure and if having your blood pressure measured stresses you, then there ' s every chance you can be mis - diagnosed.
Hey, that makes sense.
Okay, so back to my Deepak story.
You know when someone articulates something that you instinctively knew but could put into words or account for properly; that ' s what he did.
He talked about the undeniable relationship between mental and emotional stress and intrinsic indisposition. For the first time I began to really sympathize that we have the ability to make ourselves sick.
He told a story of two friends who went on a roller coaster ride together:
Sally loves disagreeable rides.
Tom hates them.
Sally can ' t wait for the ride to enter upon.
Tom is petrified.
Sally has dragged Tom along and he is reluctantly in need into the seat next to her.
The continue starts.
Sally is thrilled and smiling; having a fireworks.
Tom is hushed, aggrieved, rival and sensitivity nauseous.
His mouth is waste and his hands are perspiring profusely.
The really interesting thing is what ' s energy on physiological level inside their particular nation ( as they both go through the alike experience ).
Both Tour and Tom experience chemical changes in their heads.
Both of them are serviceable a whole parcel of hormones in response to their conceptualization of what they are experiencing; their verisimilitude.
Sally, who ' s having the best time ever, is direct a truck charge of endorphins ( fondle - good hormones ) and life ' s good, while her off - sider in the headquarters next to her is drawn, begrudging and petrified and releasing gallons ( partly ) of cortisol ( a reprobate hormone ) around his body.
Isn ' t that amazing; they ' re both proposition through the corresponding experience at the equivalent time ( voyage a roller - coaster ) and yet one of them ( Constitutional ) has got some great ( health - promoting ) hormones being pumped around her system while Tom ' s body is effectual the ' Mr - make - you - poorly - in - no - time ' hormone; cortisol.
It ' s not about the spot, chance or transaction... it ' s about what it represents to us; it ' s about how we process it, rationalise it and deal with it.
How we let it affect us, physically.
Deepak also told us about a chemical that our body produces when we ' re having lots of fun.
It ' s called interleukin 2.
He then told us that interleukin 2 was being produced synthetically to treat some cancers.
Can you believe that.. when we ' re happy our body produces a chemical used to fight cancer!
Get happy I jaw.
I brood over itemizing a book years ago by Andrew Weil ( MD ) who discussed at twist the ability our body has to heal itself of many conditions. He explored the relationship between beliefs and actuality ( how we create our own reality ) and the fascinating ( but not fully undeclared ) relationship between our mind and our body.
He spoke about a man who had suffered from cutaneous warts over most of his body for years.
No treatment had worked.
He visited a doctor who informed him that there was a new framework of empitic radiation treatment available which was moderately deadly but was so powerful that it had a very high success standard.
The man who had been embarrassed by his warts for years jumped at the chance to have this ' revolutionary ' treatment.
The doctor and a radiologist friend took the patient into a dusk Mush - glint room, had him remove his clothes and stand still for a couple of almanac while he had the ' treatment '. The ' treatment ' had been to make an Endearment - gleam machine rush loudly without actually doing concept!
The next day all the warts were gone and never reciprocal.
There was no treatment; his belief and expectation healed him.
He created a cure.
There ' s much we still have to learn about the mind - body relationship but here ' s what we do know:
We are a collective of people who are ( typically ) taut on a regular basis.
We make ourselves sick.
There is a good stress ( eustress ) and bad stress ( distress ) but here I ' m conversation about the modern.
Stress is a personal, internal response to an outer locus, pass, circumstance.
Many of us have no stress - management strategy.
Stress causes inflammation.
Inflammation causes disease.
Our body is an amazing, incredible vehicle that gets us around the planet for eighty years or so; conceivably we should learn how to drive it.
Or at antecedent start declaiming the guidebook.
