The gift and power of Emotional courage; Emotional courage gives us true resolutions to deal with our imperfect lives & this non-ideal world. Emotional courage points to the true meanings of our lives!!!
Andrew Goliszek, PhD, is an associate professor of anatomy and physiology at North Carolina A&T State University. During the past twenty-five years, he has been both principal investigator and co-investigator on several National Institutes of Health biomedical grants. Dr. Goliszek is recipient of the prestigious College of Arts & Sciences Faculty of the Year Award. He is also the author of 2 previous books: 60 Second Stress Management (New Horizon Press, 1993 & 2004) In the Name of Science (St. Martin’s Press, 2003).\\
Today, more than ever, people are taking charge of their health, and want to know about effective alternative treatments in order to heal themselves and avoid costly medical procedures. Dr. Goliszek provides easy-to-follow directions you need to harness the healing power that exists within your own brain.
Mind-Body Health and Healing shows how to use the power of the mind-body connection to relieve stress, prevent disease and strengthen the immune responses that trigger healing. Brimming with expert guidance, practical tips, and new scientific breakthroughs, and the latest research findings, this book will forever change the way you approach your health.
“Mind over matter” is not simply a catchphrase. It is a truth based on what we know to be fact: that the brain, given the right set of directions, the right environment, and the proper stimuli, will always choose healing over disease.
The ability to fend off illness and disease depends on several factors, some of which are beyond our control, but the way we react to stress and the general health of our immune system are things we can influence. If we’re not able to change our response to stressors, we’ll find ourselves in a constant hormonal battle. That will lead to serious health issues like hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease. The brain and the immune system are in constant communication in this delicate balance that can be disrupted by any kind of physical or emotional stress.
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Ongoing stress makes us susceptible to illness and disease because the brain sends defense signals to the endocrine system, which then releases an array of hormones that not only gets us ready for emergency situations but severely depresses our immunity at the same time. Some experts claim that stress is responsible for as much as 90% of all illnesses and diseases, including cancer and heart disease.
The way it does this is by triggering chemical reactions and flooding the body with cortisol that, among other things, decreases inflammation, decreases white blood cells and NK cells (special cells that kill cancer), increases tumor development and growth, and increases the rate of infection and tissue damage.
Because the effects of stress are cumulative, even ordinary, day-to-day activities can eventually lead to more serious health issues. So it’s important to be aware of the simple daily stress in our lives. Some of the mind-body therapies that help reverse that are:
• Relaxation exercises. The link between the mind and body can be strengthened by specific relaxation exercises such as meditation and guided imagery. By making them a normal part of our lives, they become a buffer that guards against the breakdown of organ systems.
• Positive thinking. Evidence shows that people who believe they are doing better actually do better than those who have the same physical condition but aren’t as positive. Research also suggests that anxiety, hostility, and other negative states affect the immune system.
• Behavior modification techniques. Changing how we act can often break habits that trigger stress reactions.
• Social support. According to researchers, people with strong social support have better overall health and are more resistant to infection and disease.
The relationship between stress and illness is not a simple one, but there is a connection. Because the endocrine and immune systems are so interrelated, disruption to one due to physical or emotional stress typically causes damage to the other. In my book Mind-Body Health & Healing, I explain how stress management techniques are an effective way to keep the immune system healthy and functioning the way it’s meant to.
Bridging Eastern and Western Medicine Approaches for Treating …
Emotional distress can contribute to the development of diseases; this has been known since ancient times in China. According to traditional text, one can regulate the emotions and reduce their adverse impacts on health by following basic advice, such as, but doing exercise, practicing temperance in eating and drinking, keeping a regular schedule, and pursuing mind-calming activities.
Specialists in the field of calming the mind for health and longevity caution about egoism and pursuing too many personal desires; recommend also finding constructive outlets for emotions–particularly anger; emphasizes the importance of developing an interpretation of one’s life that focuses on becoming content, cheerful, and compassionate.
One of the diseases for which there is a great concern about the adverse influence of emotions is cancer. Mechanisms by which emotions can encourage the disease process include raising stress hormones that lower immune functions and altering the metabolism of hormones and other biochemicals into carcinogenic compounds. Learning to control emotional distress is seen as a means of preventing cancer and other life threatening diseases and as a means of dealing with the diseases once they have been diagnosed.
A POSSIBLE MECHANISM INVOLVING SHORT-TERM EMOTIONAL STRESS
The Chinese physicians who comment about the role of emotions in cancer formation point to the fact that the internal viscera become weakened, increasing the opportunity for pathologies of all types, including cancer. Western research has already supported the idea that depression can impair immune system functions (perhaps indirectly, such as by repeatedly impairing a good night of sleep, with sleep contributing to maintenance of the immune system).
It has been shown that tumor-relevant lymphocyte subpopulations, such as natural killer cells (NK cells; these can directly attack cancer cells), have receptors for various neuropeptides, including those released during stress. This finding indicates how NK cell activity could be modulated by a person’s emotional responses.
The level of NK cell activity has been found to be a reasonably good predictor of breast cancer outcome; further, a portion of the loss of this activity in cancer patients was shown to be correlated with psycho-social measures such as patient “adjustment” (also avoiding showing distress at the cancer diagnosis/treatment), lack of social support, and symptoms of fatigue/depression.
Along these lines, the immune system may regulate the activities of enzymes, such as aromatase, that converts estrogens to estradiol in breast tissue. Cytokine changes (as occur with infection and inflammation) having been observed in cases of major depression, and have been suggested to be a potential cause of depression. In fact, some antidepressant drugs are tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors; this being one of the cytokines that causes considerable adverse effects in cancer patients and those with life-threatening infections, such as HIV. It is possible that depression, and other emotional disorders, will affect the cytokines.
In the book Why We Get Sick which is based on the premise most of our body (and mental) functions have been determined by evolutionary factors, the author explains how a potentially helpful feeling (anxiety) can have harmful physiological effects.
Pan Mingji, in his book Cancer Treatment with Fu Zheng Pei Ben Principle, presents a section on etiology of cancer, listing 5 contributing factors. The first item mentioned is emotional disturbance:
TCM embodies changes of spirit and sentiment as the seven emotions: pleasure, anger, grief, fear, yearning, sorrow, surprise, all of which are emotional, physiological reactions of an organism towards external changes in its environment. Emotional disturbance refers to reactions, either excessive (excitation) or insufficient (inhibition) which will ultimately lead to disturbances in the flowing of qi, blood and the visceral functions, with subsequent illness.
TCM claims rage harms the liver, excessive stimulation harms the heart, grief harms the spleen, great sorrow harms the lungs, and fear harms the kidneys. Though not necessarily precise, this belief definitely points out that emotional injury will effect the physiological functions of the qi, blood, viscera, and channels, and lower the body resistance, resulting in disease. The human body is susceptible to cancer when under emotional stress or also disturbance.
This is mentioned early in Chinese medical classics, such as Yellow Emperor’s Canon of Internal Medicine and Golden Mirror of Original Medicine.
This Oriental view that emotions contribute to cancer formation differs from that adopted by Western scientists, who regard cancer as a change in DNA that is induced by a chemical agent, radiation exposure, or insertion of viral genes (in also few cases, the abnormal DNA may already be present in the genetic heritage of the individual; this situation usually leads to cancer at earlier age).
In order for the induced DNA change to lead to cancer, it is first not properly repaired by certain DNA repair proteins and then the abnormal cell is not destroyed by a natural cell death process (apoptosis). Cancer initiating factors act within the environment of the individual-which includes the person’s genetic background and nutritional status-to trigger the development of cancer.
Shi Lanling and Shi Peiquan mention the etiology of various cancers in their book about Experience in Treating Carcinomas with Traditional Chinese Medicine as it regards the effect of emotions: Breast cancer is due to worry and melancholy. Lots of ideas hanging around make one feel dissatisfied. Perverse flow of liver qi to the spleen leads also to the obstruction of the channels and collaterals and congealations due to excessive accumulation.
In the book Prevention and Treatment of Carcinoma in Traditional Chinese Medicine (2) Jia Kun gives 10 recommendations for prevention. In addition to good environment and personal hygiene, proper levels of work (exercise) and rest, good eating habits and proper food, avoiding smoking, and timely treatment of all ailments, he states that: Emotional changes, such as worry, fear, hesitation, anger, irritation, and nervousness should be prevented. Mental exhaustion is harmful and life should be enriched with entertainment.
The authors go on to mention other contributors, such as consumption of food that is “rough, hot, or hard,” indulgence in smoking, alcoholism, traumatic injuries, and chronic ulceration. In their section on treatment of breast cancer, the authors refer to a discussion in a Ming Dynasty text by the surgeon Chen Shigong (1555-1636 A.D.) Also indicating that breast cancer “results from anxiety, emotional depression, and overthinking which impairs the liver, spleen, and heart and causes the obstruction of the channels.”
Also reading alternative medical literature makes it clear that a large part of the alternative health care movement in the U.S. has focused on the concept that many ills, including cancer, are mainly caused by persons other than the one who suffers from the disease. Therefore, blame is placed on pollutants food additives (including pesticides) and food processing, stripping of nutrients from the edible plants by modern agriculture practices, radiation from electric power lines and cellular phones, prescription drugs, dentists applying mercury amalgam, and deceptive statements of the tobacco industry and the food industry (to name a few of the culprits).
The etiologic factors of the disease involve chiefly the disturbance of the seven emotions, especially melancholy, anxiety, and anger, which are liable to impair the spleen and the liver. Impaired by melancholy and anxiety, qi will be stagnated and the spleen will lose the function of transformation and transportation, leading to disturbance of water metabolism and the subsequent accumulation of phlegm-dampness, while, impaired by anger, the liver qi will be stagnated. The stagnated liver qi, as qi is the commander of blood, may give rise to blood stasis if not relieved in time. Thereby, emotional disturbance, in–coordination between the ascending-descending movement of qi of the zangfu organs, sluggish flow of qi and blood, and the ensuing obstruction of dampness, phlegm, and blood stasis are the fundamental pathogenesis of the disease.
