Can Emotions Boost Your Immunity?

You’re familiar with your 5 basic physical senses: sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing. And you also know about your sixth sense – intuition. But… scientists now tell us we have a 7th sense –  our immune system. And it actually talks directly to the brain. Here’s how it works, and how to use your emtoions to boost your immunity.

A Very Brief History
Back in the 1970’s a Harvard study provided the first scientific evidence that our immune system is directly affected by moods and emotions. The evidence came in the form of the discovery that our immune cells contain neuropeptides – the brain chemicals connected to our emotions.

Immune system research has since taken off, and is today known as psychoneuroimmunology PNI.

A Surprising Two-Way Highway
Today PNI research has confirmed that every part of our immune system is connected to the brain in some way -either by a direct nerve connection, or through the brain’s chemical language of neuropeptides and hormones.

There is actually a two-way highway between the immune system and brain. The immune system acts as an emotional sensory system. It receives information about our emotions FROM the brain, and also sends its own signals back TO the brain. And these immune system signals then directly alter our behavior, thoughts and moods.

The brain and the immune system are actually part of a single, fully integrated defense mechanism. Dr Candice Pert, a neuroscientist who pioneered early body-mind research, says: I can no longer make a clear distinction between the brain and the body.

Moods and our Immune System
As a result of this two-way highway, what happens in your mind has an immediate effect on your immune system. We all know, for example, that certain stressful experiences increase our risk for disease, and even death.

Jane Goodall, the famed primate researcher, says this same phenomenon occurs in other animals. Goodall saw one chimpanzee become listless after the death of its mother, and then die in less than a month.

Several major studies have determined how our mental states influence our immune system. The results are conclusive: Negative mental states, chronic stress, and low self-esteem dramatically reduce our immunity.

Proven immune reducers include: Chronic stress, bereavement, pessimism, low self-esteem, depression, divorce, poor marital or intimate relations, loneliness, and financial loss.

Want to increase your immunity? And there is likewise proof that positive mental states and activities can increase your immunity. Proven immune boosters include: Aerobics, humor and laughter, a sense of hope, relaxation, physical exertion, social support, and satisfying relationships.

The Surprising Issue of Self Confidence
Do you often find your moods and emotions less positive than your would prefer? Most of us would rather feel up than down. But emotional ups and downs are a normal part of life.

But the chronic emotional lows that go hand-in-hand with low self-confidence are different. Low self confidence is NOT just a psychological issue. It sets you up for chronic stress. And chronic stress damages the ability of your immune system to resist disease, infections, and even heart disease.How can you win over chronic low-level stress, and the resulting weakened immune system? Obviously, one important move would be to take steps to=> Boost Your Self-Confidence.

A PROVEN IMMUNE BOOSTER
There is NEW SOLID scientific evidence that subliminal messages absolutely DO register in our brains, and go straight into our powerful subconscious mind. Give yourself a self-confidence mental edge.  Click here to=> Put subliminals to work in YOUR life.

Houseplants Reduce Stress Symptoms?

Do you know how to recognize the symptoms of dangerous stress levels?

Typical symptoms of dangerous stress levels include headaches, poor mental focus, slipping memory, confusion, feeling spaced out, disturbed sleep patterns, feeling tired or run down, weight loss or gain… the list goes on and on.

But there’s hope – and even some remarkable evidence that just caring for a houseplant can help reduce your stress symptoms. Read on.

Most people are NOT aware of the degree to which they are suffering from stress.  Our society admires those who show grace under pressure, and we all want to believe we can handle whatever life throws at us.  But the stakes are high. People who can’t reduce chronic stress live shorter lives, suffer more illness and disability, have less satisfying relationships, and often are plagued by anxiety and/or depression.

We all know that stress contributes to weight gain, diabetes and many other ailments – but few realize just how harmful stress is for the physical brain itself. And fewer still know how to recognize their own stress symptoms.

Although chronic stress has long been known to trigger the release of excessive amounts of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline, new studies show that both hormones actually KILL brain cells, and interfere with the production of new ones.

Is stress really an issue? Consider this: Research shows that chronic stress seriously disrupts our immune, endocrine and digestive systems. This has important implications for our physical health And killing our gray matter (the brain’s information processing center) from long periods of even minor stress is also not a pretty picture..

The Best Proven Stress Reducers
Changing our thought patterns can help us better control stress. This can allow us to prevent and even reverse some of the adverse changes such as loss of brain cells in our hippocampus — where our memory resides.

Research shows that people who spend just 20 minutes a day focusing on their breath, or on calming thoughts, experience lower blood pressure, less anxiety and reduced chronic pain from stress.

Moderate exercise is also an excellent stress fighter. Other good stress reducers are feeling we have a purpose in life, or having a pet to care for.  There is also quite a bit of evidence that engineered brainwave training, which has actually been around for almost 40 years is a very effective stress fighter, and has lasting stress management effects.

How a Plant Can Help
But here’s a research study that may really surprise you: In one study the residents of a nursing home were split into two groups. Half of the residents were told that they were responsible for taking care of a house plant.

After one year, the people who were caring for a house plant were healthier and had fewer illnesses. They also lived longer than the group who did not have a plant to care for. So yes, DO go buy a plant – or give one to your Mom, Dad,  Grandma, or even your boss 🙂

Does Relaxation Really Change Your Genes?

Scientific studies now show that deep relaxation actually changes our bodies on a genetic level.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School discovered that long-term practitioners of relaxation methods such as yoga and meditation have far more “disease-fighting” active genes compared to those who do not practice relaxation.

This includes genes that protect from: pain, infertility, high blood pressure and even rheumatoid arthritis. The changes were induced by what they call “the relaxation effect” — a phenomenon  just as powerful as medical drugs,  but without the side-effects.

The experiment, which showed just how responsive genes are to behaviour, mood and environment, revealed that genes can switch on, just as easily as they switch off.

“Harvard researchers asked the control group to start practising relaxation methods every day,” explains Jake Toby, hypnotherapist at London’s BodyMind Medicine Centre, who teaches clients how to induce the relaxation effect. “After two months, their bodies began to change – the genes that help fight inflammation, kill diseased cells and protect the body from cancer, all began to switch on.”

More encouraging still, the benefits of the relaxation effect were found to increase with regular practice – the more people practised relaxation methods, the greater their chances of remaining free of arthritis and joint pain with stronger immunity, healthier hormone levels and lower blood pressure.

The research is pivotal because it shows how a person’s state of mind affects the body on a physical and genetic level. But just how can relaxation have such wide-ranging and powerful effects? Research around the world has described the negative effects of stress on the body. Linked to the release of the stress-hormones adrenalin and cortisol, stress raises the heart rate and blood pressure, weakens immunity and lowers fertility.

“What you’re looking for is a state of deep relaxation where tension is released from the body on a physical level and your mind completely switches off,” he says. You can only really achieve it by learning a specific technique such as self-hypnosis,  meditation, or neural brainwave training.”

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