Shift Perspective: How the Mind/Body Connection Affects How You Feel
Approximately 58 million people in the US have mental health concerns, with 254 million prescriptions for antidepressants alone being prescribed annually. As public policy is shifting in the realm of health care, there is a renewed interest in prevention of mental and physical health concerns, as well as promotion of overall wellness. Integrative intervention strategies, like yoga, meditation, Reiki, and other holistic approaches are gaining ground, as more research illustrates their efficacy as treatment options for overall health. This focus does make sense in the context of how our bodies work.
Stress has been shown to lead directly to not only behavioral health issues like substance abuse, depression, anxiety, and eating disorders, but to physical health issues like ulcers, IBS, frequent colds, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, PMS, chronic pain, and migraines. In the body, stress revs up the sympathetic nervous system, causing the body’s systems to be flooded with adrenaline and cortisol. This further stimulates the brain to the point of weakening the body’s response to stress, effectively suppressing the immune system. Studies have shown just how much yoga practice, for example, really does help.
When we talk about yoga, by the way, we are talking about the holistic approach to yoga: breathing purposefully, mindfulness meditation practice, yoga postures or asanas as well as ethical approaches to living. This type of yoga increases parasympathetic activity, or the relaxation response, correlating with reduction in the amount of stress we accumulate over time. Studies have shown it leads to improved immune function, and improvements in the brain chemistry associated with anxiety and depression. The practice of yoga has been called “the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind”, which is a perfect complement to those who are in therapy or seeking help with mental health concerns.
Moving into this shifted perspective of overall health, we begin to see how deeply connected the physical body is with the brain, the mind, and the body’s basic physical functions. If we wish to heal physical concerns, we must also address emotional/mental concerns and healing. By the same token, if we wish to heal mental/emotional concerns, we must also address the physical body. By approaching our own healing this way, we can begin to slowly shift into a more holistic approach to wellness, one that welcomes relaxation, gentle movement, breathing practices, and mindfulness practices, showing up in how we concentrate, how we relax, how we create, and even how we eat.