More evidence of the mind-body connection and what you can do

Just read this article in The Atlantic (thanks to my subscription to Pocket - sending me the best articles on the internet):
Why One Neuroscientist Started Blasting His Core - A new anatomical understanding of how movement controls the body’s stress response system

There's a lot of neuro-tech jargon and information that I don't really follow, but I got the main idea, which is that I should be able to reduce my stress level by engaging in a lot more core exercises (such as pilates and yoga). It certainly explains why I always feel better after my weekly gym training session.

However, it's the last few paragraphs that really caught my eye with the obvious connection to what we have learned in our work here:

With this come implications for what’s currently known as “psychosomatic illness”—how the mind has an impact over organ functions. The name tends to have a bad connotation. The notion that this mind-body connection isn’t really real; that psychosomatic illnesses are “all in your head.” Elaborate connections like this would explain that, yes, it is all in your head. The fact that cortical areas in the brain have multi-synaptic connections that control organ function could strip the negative connotations. (Jan's underline)

The Pitt team has previously injected the heart and seen cortical areas that are involved in controlling its rhythm. They believe that may explain cases of sudden unexpected death—from epilepsy, from brain injury, even from strong emotional stimuli (positive and negative) leading to heart attacks. There is also the emerging field of neuro-immunology, which is looking at the effects of stress on the immune system.

All of this lends some credence to people who may once have been dismissed by people like Strick himself, who are skeptical of anything that isn’t borne out by a concrete mechanism. As he put it, “How we move, think, and feel have an impact on the stress response through real neural connections.”
​

And, of course, TMS folks, the real bottom line is that WE are the ones who have the power to change how we feel - both emotionally and physically - because the two are inextricably linked.

 

very cool.