Photo by Silvia
Introduction
Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) is an exciting field of study that has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of health and wellness. It is an interdisciplinary research area that investigates how psychological processes, such as emotions and thoughts, interact with brain chemistry and the immune system. This multidimensional approach to health has been gaining momentum over the last few decades, leading to a growing body of evidence demonstrating the profound ways in which mental states can influence physical health. Thankfully, more and more people are understanding what psychoneuroimmunology offers and how it can help us live happier lives.
A Relationship Between Mental Health and Physical Immunity
It seeks to understand the relationship between mental health and physical immunity, exploring how our thoughts, emotions and behaviors can affect our health in both positive and negative ways. PNI has already made significant discoveries into how different parts of our biology are interconnected.
In recent years, PNI has been used to develop therapies for a range of issues from anxiety to chronic pain. By understanding how our thoughts influence our body’s ability to heal itself, we can take control of our wellbeing in new ways. With this knowledge comes a newfound appreciation for how powerful the mind-body connection truly is. By taking simple steps like managing stress levels or practicing mindfulness, we can strengthen the body’s natural defense mechanisms at any age.
Listen to Your Body and Give it What It Needs
One way to help your body is to listen to it and give it what it needs. If you are not feeling well, do not ignore this. You should take care of yourself before anything else. Think about what your body has been through recently, like if you’ve had a lot of stress or have been traveling or have been sick with the flu. What does that mean for how you’re feeling physically?
If your body feels tired, then maybe it’s time for some sleep! But if instead you feel hungry and decide you want a snack, then by all means you should eat something since our bodies need energy from food in order to function properly.
Mindfulness is Key
Mindfulness is a way of paying attention to your thoughts and feelings in the present moment. When you’re mindful, you focus on what’s happening right now instead of thinking about the past or the future. This can help you be aware of your emotions and body’s physical sensations, which helps you interpret them more clearly.
Mindfulness can also help you cope with stress better because it teaches people to slow down their thought processes and take things one step at a time instead of worrying about everything all at once. In this way, mindfulness acts as a buffer against stress by giving people time to process their feelings before reacting unhealthily (like drinking alcohol or eating junk food).
Boost your Mental Health with Better Food Choices
Psychoneuroimmunology is the study of how your brain and immune system interact. It’s also known as “mind-body medicine,” because it shows that our thoughts, feelings, and emotions can influence how well our bodies perform on a day-to-day basis.
Your mental health affects your physical health. And vice versa. Your gut (or digestive system) is a part of your body that’s involved in both processes, so when you’re feeling stressed or anxious, food choices can have an even bigger impact than usual on both aspects of your life.
What foods affect my mind/body connection?
Foods with a lot of sugar are least conducive for wellness as they raise blood sugar levels quickly and that spike can cause problems throughout the body! You may notice some changes right away (like jitters or headaches), but over time, high blood sugar levels can lead to diabetes and health issues such as heart disease and cancer. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found an association between eating a daily serving of a 25-gram processed meat daily and 44 percent increased risk of developing dementia. Eating more plant-based options can be helpful for
Exercise
Exercise can be an effective way of reducing stress and anxiety. It’s important to start slowly, though, as sometimes too much exercise can be stressful or even cause physical injury.
A recent study showed that light physical activity such as a daily walk or stretching exercises can reduce levels of stress hormones by up to 35%. Light exercise also increases the amount of good bacteria in your gut (the microbiome), which may help reduce inflammation and improve overall health.
You should aim for between 30 minutes and an hour of activity every day if your goal is mood enhancement (though starting with 10 minutes is fine). If you want to see other health benefits from exercise, aim for at least 60 minutes per day—but if you’re just starting out on an exercise plan, try not to add over 15–20 minutes per week so that it doesn’t feel overwhelming!
If you have trouble getting motivated about exercising regularly, here are some tips: make sure the time of day works well with your schedule; try listening while working out—music may help you focus better. But most of all…make your physical activity playful and fun!
Consider How Different Aspects of Life Can Influence Each Other and Try to Live a Balanced Lifestyle
While it’s important to consider how different aspects of life can influence each other, the most important thing is to find your own balance. The key is to find what works for you and stick with it. If a balanced lifestyle feels overwhelming or difficult, don’t worry! You may need a little trial and error before finding the right fit for yourself.
To experiment with what leads to happiness for you, try changing your daily routine that will bring you closer to balance.
- Try eating three meals instead of just two. This will help regulate your blood sugar levels throughout the day so they don’t spike or fall too low—making it easier on both body and mind!
- Take up meditation as an exercise in mindfulness (i.,e., being aware of one’s self without judgement). This can help improve mental health by reducing stress symptoms like anxiety attacks while also improving focus when doing tasks requiring high cognitive function like studying or working out math problems at school/workplace, etc.
Conclusion
Psychoneuroimmunology is an incredibly powerful field that has the potential to revolutionize the way people understand and treat their mental and physical health. By exploring how our thoughts, emotions, and environment interact with our immune system, we can develop holistic approaches to wellness that can help us create healthier lives. Psychoneuroimmunology provides a foundation for effective treatments that are tailored to each individual patient and that may help them break free from many of their chronic illnesses. By paying attention to the way your thoughts affect your body and vice versa (like with mindfulness), you can help yourself lead a happier, healthier life!
The following is a transcript and video for “Dr. Chris Bjorndal – Psychoneuroimmunology”
Psychoneuroimmunology is the growing field study that blends behavioral science with neurological, endocrine and immune processes. Instinctively, we have known for a long time that how we think affects how we feel.
This new field explains the scientific understanding of how psychology and physical body processes interact. What we are discovering is that there is a bi-directional conversation happening between the body and the mind meaning that the body can affect the thoughts we have while our thoughts can also affect physical bodies through the immune hormone and neurological systems starting with the mind.
The brain communicates with the body through the autonomic nervous system, which is composed of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. Generally the sympathetic system is known as the excitatory fight-or-flight system. The parasympathetic nervous system is the more relaxed rest and digest system. Both systems are necessary, and what is most important is the balance between the two.
You need to be stimulated enough to wake up in the morning to focus and work and to exercise and to be energized well. You also need to be restful enough to sleep at night, recover energy and properly digest food. When the balance is off, the body gets a one-sided signal from the brain that has downstream effects on many symptoms.
A constantly stressed brain will create changes to the physical structure of the brain and lead to decreased immune function. It does this by creating neuro peptides within the brain the travel to the bloodstream and reduce the number and the effectiveness of immune cells as well as changing the balance hormones in the body to reflect a more stress-responsive state. This is how our thoughts and worries can lead to physical changes that have real consequences like getting sick more often, decreased ability to fight serious infections, and increased inflammation, digestive issues.
And this pathway can work the other way around as well. Having chronic inflammation autoimmune conditions, recurrent infections for even chronically elevated blood sugar levels also affect the functioning of the brain. These inflammatory states create molecules called cytokines that carry the signal to the brain that cause a person to experience things like stress, anxiety, worry, repetitive thoughts when someone is experiencing physical or mental symptoms. It’s now becoming very apparent that both the mind and body need to be addressed if we want to get to the root cause. Psychoneuroimmunology explains how interconnected our systems truly are and how we must look at the person as a whole to make real changes to our health and well-being.
Author: Bliss
Dedicated to making a positive difference for people, animals, and this beautiful planet!
